கோயில் புளியோதரை / Temple Style Pulikachal (Pulikaichal) and Puliyodharai /Tamarind Rice

Well should I give an intro for this.....?
This is a Popular Naivedhyam / Prasadam in many Iyengar Temples
Puliyodharai / Tamarind Rice can be packed during travel also
I have gone through many recipes across blogs and books
This is my own version.Believe me follow this step by step the result will be just vowww

Pulikaichal Mix / Paste can be stored for at least 3 months in refrigerator
Make sure to store in a sterile bottle

Part 1 - Tamarind Extract

• Tamarind - 2 big lemon sized balls
• Warm water - 4 cups

Soak tamarind in 4 cups of warm water

Part 2 - Dry Roast and Grind

• Pepper - 1 teaspoon
• White Sesame Seeds - 2 tablespoons
• Methi seeds - 1 teasppon
• Coriander seeds - 1 tablespoon

Part 3 - Fry and Grind

• Gingelly oil - 2 teaspoons
• Dried Red Chilly - 10 to 12 nos
• Channa dhal - 2 tablespoons
• Broken (or even whole) Urad dhal - 1 tablespoon

Part 4 - Seasoning 

• Gingelly oil - 1/2 cup
• Mustard seeds - 2 teaspoons
• Hing / Asafedita - 1/2 teaspoon
• Raw Peanuts - 1/2 cup
• Curry leaves - 15 nos

Part 5 -Others

• Salt - 2 teaspoons or more
• Jaggery - 2 tablespoons

Method
Step 1 - Tamarind Extract

• Soak tamarind in 4 cups of warm water for half hour
• Squeeze out the pulp and extract thick tamarind water

Step 2 - Dry Roast and Grind

• Dry roast the items listed under "Part 2 " on a medium flame
• Make sure to roast methi seeds at last since it burns quickly
• Cool and grind it to a fine powder

Step 3 - Fry and Grind

• In the same kadai heat 2 teaspoons of oil and fry red chillies first
• Then add channa dhal fry for a minute
• Now add urad dhal and fry for some more time
• Cool and grind it to a fine powder

Now the tamarind extract and the powders are ready.Let's see the Pulikaichal Preparation

Pulikaichal

• Take a deep bottomed vessel and heat oil in it
• Season with mustard seeds, hing and curry leaves
• Fry peanuts in it
• Now pour in the tamarind extract.
• Put the "Part 3  Powder" ie the one which is prepared after frying in oil 
• Add salt and allow it to boil for 10 minutes

• Put jaggery to it and let it boil for sometime
• It will start thickening after 10 minutes
• Now add the dry roasted powder "Part 2 Powder" and mix well
• Keep stiring till it gets more condensed and forms a thick paste
• Switch off the stove
• Let it cool and then transfer it to a clean bottle / container

Puliyodharai / Pulihora / Tamarind Rice

• Take 1 cup of cooked rice (make sure to cook 1 cup of rice with 2 cups of water)
• Add 3 teaspoons of Pulikaichal paste 
• Mix well using a fork
• Add a teaspoon of gingelly oil and mix again

Hot yummy puliyodharai is ready

Homemade Shallow Fried Gulab Jamuns - 300th Post Special

This is a popular sweet / dessert in India.It is made during Diwali / Krishna Jayanthi and also served in marriages
This particular sweet goes well with Ice Cream
This is a shallow fried version which will ensure that diet conscious people can enjoy the treat without any guilt
Also look out for Deep Fried Gulab Jamuns

Ingredients
Part 1 - Jamun

• Gulab Jamun Dough - as needed
• Dry fruits / Chocolate chips - for stuffing
• Ghee - shallow frying

Look out the previous post for Homemade Gulab Jamun Mix / Dough

Part 2 - Gulab / Sugar Syrup 

• Sugar - 2 cups
• Water - 1/2 cup
• Elachi - 2 nos
• Saffron strands - 3 or 4

Method
Step 1 - Jamun Balls

• Make dough as mentioned in Gulab Jamun Dough
• Leave it for 10 minutes

• Pinch small sized balls from dough
• Place dry fruits / chocolate chips inside each and every ball
• Knead each ball smooth.Ensure they are crack free and put 3 or 4 small holes using a tooth pick in the balls

Step 2 - Gulab / Sugar Syrup

• Take sugar in a deep bottomed vessel.Pour water in it mix well
• Add saffron strands and start heating it in a medium flame
• Sugar will dissolve and you will notice bubbles.Now switch off the stove
• Add chopped dry fruits and cardamom pods to the clear sugar syrup

Step 3 - Gulab Jamun

• Now we have jamun balls and sugar syrup ready.Let's make gulab jamuns
• Place a paniyaram mold over the gas / induction stove
• Add 1/2 teaspoon of ghee in each and every hole / mold
• Place jamun balls in each and every mold / hole
• Cook it in slow flame.You will notice brown crust in the sides
• Now carefully flip over to the other side using a spoon / spatula that comes with paniyaram mold
• Cook on this side for a minute 

• Take out the cooked jamuns.Let it become warm
• Carefully drop into sugar syrup.Let it soak for 4 hours before serving

• You can slightly warm it before serving the jamuns

Homemade Gulab Jamun Mix

There are plenty of gulab jamun mix available in the market but this one is special as it is completely "homemade" Eventhough it is time consuming and lengthy I was over whelmed with joy after seeing the output
I have split into three posts
First one explains dough preparation
Second one will explain "Shallow Fried" Jamnuns for "Weight Watchers"
Final post is regular "Gulab Jamun"

Ingredients

• Homemade Paneer - extracted from 1L milk / 1 cup
• Homemade Khova - taken from 2L full cream milk / 2 cups
• Milk Powder - 2 tablespoons
• Ghee - 1 tablepoon or more
• Dryfuits / Chocolate chips - for stuffing

Click on these links for Homemade Paneer and Homemade Khova

Method

• Crumble paneer and rub with your palm.Knead it to a dough.Do not add water

• Crumble khova / khoya.Add paneer and milk powder to it.Knead it to a smooth dough.Use ghee while kneading
• Make sure the dough is crack free

• Leave it for 10 minutes before making jamuns

This is Homemade Gulab Jamun Mix.Let's see in the next post how to make gulab jamuns

Check out for Homemade Shallow Fried Gulab Jamuns and Deep Fried Gulab Jamuns

Homemade Khoya / Mawa / Sugarless Khova

Iam sure this post will be really useful because we make use of mawa / sugarless khova in many sweets preparation.Sometimes we do add it in gravies to give a creamy texture
The time consumption is more when you make mawa at home.But nothing can beat any home made fresh items

Ingredients

• Milk - 2 L
• Thick Bottomed Kadai..Calcutta kadai works best
• Spatula

and ofcourse loads of "time" and "patience"

Method

• Take milk in a thick bottomed kadai and let it boil in high flame

• Once it starts boiling reduce the flame to medium and keep stirring it.Put a small cup inside so that it prevents milk from boiling and coming out

• After half hour or so the milk volume would have reduce to half the quantity.You can find out this difference see my first and third picture

• Now take off the small cup carefully using a holder
• Keep stiring it you will notice the milk colour changes to pale milk

• Simmer the flame and keep stirring it.The milk will start condensing / solidifying
• During this process you will see layers of milk cream around the walls of kadai scrape it with spatula and add it to milk

• As you move the ladle / spatula the milk will condense even more

• After 10 minutes you will see the change in colour again and it will be a semi solid mass

• Keep on churning the whole mass till it leaves the sides of kadai.It will look like halwa

Now mawa / sugarless khova is ready.I normally use fresh khova in my cooking but you can refrigerate till 3 days

Extraction of Coconut Milk - Simple Method

"Coconut Milk: has wide application in cooking including tradtional sweets, gravies, rice items etc.It is believed to cure mouth ulcer also
There are many ways in which coconut milk can be made I follow this simple method which Iam sharing in this space.Hope its useful

Ingredients

• Coconut pieces - 1 cup
• Luke warm water - 1/4 - 1/2 cup
• Mixer jar
• Cheese cloth

Method

• Take coconut pieces in a mixer jar
• Add luke warm water little by little and run the mixer

• Transfer it into a cheese cloth

• Bring both the ends of the cloth together and squeeze well

• This is the first extract.You can extract 2nd extract by taking the residue in mixer jar and repeat the same process once again
• Similarly 3rd extract can be done

Vatha Kuzhambu Podi / Vatral Kuzhambu Podi / வத்தக் குழம்புப் பொடி

Vatha Kuzhambu is an interesting and mouth watering recipe.And here is the recipe to prepare "Vatha Kuzhambu Podi"
You can make it and store it for month's together

Refer this link for making Onion Vatha Kuzhambu

Ingredients

• Coriander seeds / தனியா - 150 g
• Channa dhal / கடலைப்பருப்பு - 50 g
• Dried red chillies / காய்ந்த மிளகாய் - 15 - 20 nos
• Urad dhall / உளுத்தம்பருப்பு - 1/2 tablespoon
• Toor Dhal / துவரம் பருப்பு - 1/4 tablespoon
• Methi seeds / வெந்தயம் - 1 teaspoon

Method

• Dry roast these items one by one

• Cool to room temperature and powder it in a mixer

• Store it in an air tight container (food safe plastics).Use when required

Home Made Paneer

"Paneer" is used in many gravies, pulav , parathas as well as sweets.Now here is the simple recipe for Home Made Paneer
Use "Full Cream Milk" for "Kids" and "Skimmed Milk" for "Weight Watchers"
Check out his link for making Brown Rasgulla using fresh home made paneer

Ingredients

• Skimmed / Full cream Milk - 500 ml
• Curd - 1/4 cup
• Strainer
• Cheese cloth
• Weight

Method

• Boil milk in a sauce pan / vessel in a medium flame
• When it starts boiling add curd little by little and stir it

• Milk will start curdling soon

• Keep on stirring it, the whey water will start separating

• Once the whey water completely separates switch off the stove

• Place the cheese cloth over the strainer and pour the curdled milk over it

• Collect the whey water.Do not discard it.It is highly nutritive.You can refrigerate it and use in gravies, soups, pulav preparation and also while kneading roti dough

Click this link for Whey Water Veggie Soup

• Bring the edges of the cheese cloth together, tie it together using a knot.Hang it up for 3 hours.Place a small cup underneath it so that the remaining whey water drips in it

• Now place it on a tawa and keep a weight over it.Leave for 1 hour like this

• The paneer would have set by now

Paneer is ready.You can store it under water in a steel container and refrigerate it upto 3 days.Change water daily