Sprouted moong muffins

I felt like having something different for lunch, so threw together the contents of my fridge, and came up with something that was actually pretty good.

1/2 cup sprouted moong

1/3 cup rice flour

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tsp paprika powder

1 tsp oil

Salt to taste

Method:

Mix the rice flour, paprika powder, salt and sesame seeds. Add the oil, and mix till it is crumbly. 

Add the moong, mix well. Add water gradually, incorporating it thoroughly, so you get a thick batter. 

Grease a muffin tray, pour the batter in, and level the top. 

Bake at 175 degrees for 15 minutes. 

Delicious with hot hibiscus juice. 

Ami kozakottai

This is a recipe that is normally made with leftover dough during Ganesh Chaturti. I made it for lunch and loved it.

3/4 cup rice flour

Salt to taste 

1 cup water 

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1 sprig curry leaves

A pinch of hing

Cooking oil

Method:

Bring the water to boil. Add salt and let it dissolve. Reduce the flame. 

Carefully add the rice flour, stirring continuously so no lumps are formed. Cook till the mixture comes together and starts leaving the side of the vessel. 

Cool. Knead it for a minute or two. Roll into marble sized balls (I got about 25). 

Grease a steaming plate and place the balls on it. Steam for 7 to 10 minutes. 

Heat about 1 tbsp oil. Add mustard seeds, and when they stop spluttering, add hing and curry leaves. 

Add the steamed balls and toss around for a minute. 

Serve hot. 

Neer dosa

I've always been very fond of Neer dosa, but never really got down to making it. It wasn't too bad for the first attempt but it can be much better. Next time, I'll make the batter even thinner and see how it works out.

3 cups rice flour
Sufficient water to make batter
Salt to taste

Method:
Take the rice flour in a mixing bowl, and add water very slowly till you get a thin batter (thinner than dosa batter). Ensure that no lumps are formed. Add salt, mix well and keep aside.
Heat the non-stick tawa. Pour the dosa batter with the help of cup onto the tawa from outside to inside, forming the outer circle first and then moving inwards. Don’t try to spread it- you need to pour in such a way that the circle is formed.
Put some oil on the sides of the dosa, and let it cook. When  it changes colour and starts leaving the tawa, remove it- you can also cover the tawa with a lid to ensure it cooks more evenly.

Upma kozhukattai

A couple of weeks back, a couple of Tam Bram friends were talking about popular "tiffin" items, and the name upma kozhukattai came up. It looked interesting, and I immediately wanted to make it, but I put it off, and other things took over. Yesterday, I saw the dish again, and since both the kids were home for lunch today, I made it right away.
My mother tells me that this is not the authentic version, but it works for me, and I am sticking to it.

¾ cups rice flour
1 cup plus 2 tbsp of water
1 tsp gingelly oil
1 mor mozhaga
½ tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp chana dal
1 tsp urad dal
1 large pinch jeera
1 large pinch hing pwd
1 green chilli – chopped
Curry leaves – 1 sprig chopped
Salt to taste
 
Method: 
Heat oil in a pan and add mustard, wait till it splutters, add all the other ingredients except rice flour, salt and water. 
Once the dal starts to turn brown, add water and salt, then pour in the rice flour, stirring all the while. 
Switch off the fire and continue to stir till the rice forms a ball around the spoon. Let cool a bit and then shape into tiny balls (I made 36 balls from this amount). 
Place in a greased colander and steam for 7-8 mins on high till soft but springy. Serve hot with sambar, rasam or chutney.

Dosas in a Jiffy

I am not particularly good at meal planning, and when I found myself stuck for a "meal" to rustle up for the kids, my mother suggested I try this out. It worked better than I expected, and I am definitely making it at least once a week from now on.

1 measure rice flour
1 measure whole-wheat flour
A pinch of baking soda
Salt to taste
Water to make a batter
Cooking oil

Method:
Mix the dry ingredients well. Add water, and keep mixing it slowly till you get a batter of consistency similar to that of dosa batter.
Keep aside for 15 minutes, and make dosas in the regular way. Serve with any regular chutney.

Mor kuzhu

When I was a kid, I associated mor kuzhu with summer holidays at my favourite grandmother's place. No matter which city she was in, Patti would always make this family favourite for breakfast at least a few times during every holiday.
After I grew up and moved out of home, my mother started the tradition. Knowing I loved mor kuzhu, she started making it for breakfast at least once during every visit. That however, only lasted as long as I was her daughter and not the mother of her grandchildren. Once the kids came along, the menu became what she assumed the kids would like, and mor kuzhu was resigned to spend the rest of its life in the recesses of my memory.
And then, very hesitatingly, I asked her for the recipe, and she offered to teach me how to make it. Her attempt, unfortunately, didn't come out well, but since it passed the taste test, I was embolded to try it for myself.
Call it beginner's luck, if you will, but not only did the mor kuzhu set perfectly, it allowed me to cut it into (near) perfect squares.

2 tbsp rice atta
1 cup sour curds, diluted with 1 cup water
Salt (a little less than usual)

For tempering
5 tsps cooking oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
5-6 mor molahai* broken into pieces
hing, optional

Method
Mix the rice flour with the buttermilk and salt and keep aside
Heat the oil, add the ingredients listed under "tempering", and fry till the mor molahai gets done.
Add the buttermilk- rice flour mix, and keep stirring on a low flame, till it changes colour and starts pulling away from the sides of the pan
Pour onto a greased plate and cut into squares after cooled.


* mor molahai will be available in any store that stocks Tamilian stuff. To me, the taste of mor kuzhu is in the mor molahai, but you can substitute it with a regular tempering of urad dal and green chillis.

Birthday cake that wasn't

The cake I made for my son's tenth birthday was supposed to be special. More so because of all the people in the house, he is the only one who consistently enjoys and eats the stuff that I make. I had it all planned- a Harry Potter themed cake, with cup cakes sporting spells, and a sketch of HP's face with his trademark glasses and lightning bolt scar. I even got a bunch of icing supplies in anticipation and cupcake liners.
But the best laid plans go awry. Something seemed wrong even while I was stirring the batter, but it was only after I put the cake in the oven that I realised what was wrong- I had used rice flour instead of all purpose flour.

The cake took ages to bake, the batter which should have smoothened out continued to show it's crests and troughs, and I had to make a hasty trip to a cake shop so the kid would have something to cut at night. But, it tasted quite lovely, and I only wish I had the courage to make it again!

Modak

I made kozakattai/ modaks for the first time last year, and was over confident this time round. Pride does come before a fall, and I could get barely half a dozen "decent" ones this time.
But since I did make them, and since some of them did come out well, I guess, a photograph is in order!

Butter cookies

My mother's butter cookies, fresh out of the over, and waiting for the kids to come back home from school and gobble them up. Cooking does give so much happiness, doesn't it?

100 gms sugar
100 gms butter
50 gms rice flour
100 gms maida

a pinch of salt

 

Method:

Preheat the oven at 175 degrees for about 10 minutes
Cream together sugar and butter
Add rice flour and beat well
Add maida and salt and knead to a soft dough (without adding any water)
Spread on  a greased baking tray, and make notches with a knife. Bake for 12-15 minutes till golden brown on top.
Remove from oven, and cool before digging in! 

Kozakattai/ modak

One of the most arcane dishes in the world, according to me, is kozakattai. Which is when, once I started entering the kitchen, it was the first dish I wanted to try out.
"Mamma, do you think I can ever do it?", I asked.
"You can, but the results depend on the quality of rice flour", my mother assured me. "Don't expect perfection, and you might not be disappointed."
I could get only a handful of decent looking kozakattais, but that's not bad for a start, is it?

For the casing
1 measure rice flour
1 measure water
1 tsp oil
pinch of salt

For the filling
half coconut
jaggery
elaichi/ cardamom powder


Put water in a heavy bottomed pan and bring to boil. Add the oil and let it mix. Gradually add the rice flour, stirring constantly to ensure that there are no lumps. Cook on low flame till the dough leaves the walls and forms a "dough" in the middle. Take it out, cover in a damp cloth and keep aside.
Grate coconut (do this after making the dough, so the dough gets time to cool and "settle"). Depending on the amount of rice flour you have taken, estimate how much coconut you will need for the filling and take slightly less than same amount of jaggery (for one tea cup of rice flour, I took half of a small coconut).
Take a little water in a heavy bottomed pan, add jaggery, and keep stirring till it dissolves/ melts completely. Add the grated coconut and cook on low fire till all the water disappears. Take off heat. Add cardamon powder and stir.
Grease palms (!) with cooking oil, knead the dough, adding a little extra warm water, if it is too brittle. Divide into balls (bigger than marbles, but smaller than ping pong balls), flatten, make a depression in the middle, and work around the edges with your finger and thumb to form a katori shape.
Put stuffing in the "katori", and close the ends to make a "ponytail" (you can also use a modak mould if you have one).
Grease an idli maker, and place the kozakottai/ modak on them. Steam for 10 minutes in a pressure cooker with the whistle off.
Send up a prayer that it comes out okay (they are unpredictable creatures, since everything depends on the quality of rice flour), take out of the cooker/ steamer. Allow it to cool before taking it off.