Vella Seedai ( Sweet Seedai)

    Vella seedai means seedai made out of jaggery (Vellam).  I learnt the uppu seedai and could do it with out any fault, but this sweet seedai was a herculean task for me.
     It always turned to be very hard. Sometimes it was so hard, that we could not break it. My son jokingly says, that he will share this hard sweet seedai to his class bullies, who usually grab his lunch, so that they would never touch his lunch box.
    For the past two years my sweet seedai's turned out be crunchy and soft inside At last I learnt the recipe. My previous recipe missed the butter. But now I add little butter to make it crispy outside and crunchy soft inside. The secret is butter!!!...
     Coming to the recipe
                                     
                                          Vella Seedai (Sweet Seedai)   

Cuisine: South Indian Sweet                                                                  Ratio
Preparation Time: 20 minutes                                                   Rice Flour: Urad Flour
Cooking Time: 20 minutes                                                                      6: 1

Ingredients:
Rice flour: 6 tea spoons heaped
Urad flour: 1 ta spoon heaped
Cardamom: 2 nos crushed
Jaggery (pounded): 4 tea spoons heaped
Unsalted butter: 1 tea spoon
Sesame or Til seeds: 1/4 tea spoon (Optional)
Water as needed
Refined oil for frying

Method:
1. Place a pan on the stove over a medium flame and add rice flour and fry it for less than 2 minutes, the flour should be hot lukewarm, ie you can feel the heat when you touch the flour.
2. Likewise do it for urad flour and take both the flours in a wide bowl.
3. Pound the jaggery and melt in the same pan and filter it for impurities (ie sand). Add this to the flour.
4.  Melt butter to liquid form and add it to the flour and mix well
5. Add sesame seeds,crushed cardamom and add water little by little and make it into soft dough.
6. Divide it into small marble size balls using your palms.
7. Place a pan with oil for frying over a medium flame.
8. When the oil is hot, fry the seedai 5 at a time slowly over a medium flame, so that it cooks evenly inside.
9. Drain oil and take it out and cool completely.
10. Th seedai will be soft while it is hot, once it cools down it will be crunchy.
11. Store it in a air tight container.

Note:
1. It stays well for 4 to 5 days.

Uppu Seedai

      A savory snack usually prepared during Krishnajayanthi in Tamil Nadu.
      In my mom's house, we do not prepare seedai, as a usual fear of seedai bursting in oil while frying. Once during 1988, my dad ventured to make seedai, but it bursted in hot oil. So after this attempt, they never ventured to make seedai.
      I too believed in their view that it may burst. But my friend Vidhya gave me the confidence and the recipe to make seedai's both uppu and vella seedai at home with out much fuss.
      Few important steps needs to be follow to get crispy and crunchy seedai. She made me understand that only moisture will make the seedai to burst in oil. So the moisture from the flour has to be completely removed by slightly heating, you should not fry the flour, only slight heating will do.
      Coming to the recipe

                                                        Uppu Seedai

Cuisine: South Indian                                                                                 Ratio
Preparation Time: 20 minutes                                                       Rice Flour: Urad Flour
Cooking Time: 20 minutes                                                                           6: 1

Ingredients:
Rice Flour: 6 tea spoons heaped
Urad Flour: 1 tea spoon heaped
Salt ass needed
Unsalted Butter: 1 table spoon
Jeera: 1/4 tea spoon 
Water as needed
Refined Oil for frying

Method:
1. Place a pan on the stove over a medium flame, add rice flour and heat it for less than 2 minutes.
2. The flour should be lukewarm, take it out in to a wide bowl.
3. In the same way fry urad flour and add it to the rice flour.
4. Mix it well using your hand, add salt, jeera and mix well.
5. Place a small pan on the stove over medium flame, when it is hot, add butter and melt it. When it is just melted put off the flame, add this melted butter to flour and mix well.
6. Add water little by little and make it into a soft dough and divide it into smaller portions, ie size of a marble.
7. Roll into balls using your both palms, as we do for Gulab jamuns.
8. Spread the balls in a clean paper or white cloth, till all the dough is made into balls.
9. Place a pan for frying on the stove over a medium flame with enough oil for frying the seedais.
10. When the oil is hot drop in the seedai's one by one and fry it over medium flame till it turns golden brown.
11. Drain oil and take it out and cool it completely.
12. Store it in a air tight container.

Note:
1. While frying or heating rice and urad flour, make sure that you don't burn the flour. It should be of bearable heat by your hands.
2. You can fry seedai by batch of 10 to 15 at a time.
3. While seedais are hot it will be slightly soft, once when it cools completely it will be crispy and crunchy.
4. It stays well for a week.


 

 

Krishna Jayanthi Special

      This year Krishna Jayanthi falls on 25th August. In our country some celebrate Gokulalastami, while others Jayanthi.
      Gokulastami is the evening before Krishna was born. Krishna Jayanthi is the day of birth. It is celebrated all over India, with festivity.
      In South India, Krishna jayanthi is celebrated with offerings (bakshanam) to Krishna and using rice flour, drawing of foot prints of infant Krishna from the entrance of the house till the pooja room, which depicts the arrival of Lord Krishna into the house. The offerings made to Lord Krishna includes fruits, curd and butter.
      Savories believed to be Krishna's favorite like Seedai, Appam, Murkkku, Sweet Seedai are prepared for neivedhyam.
      The festival is celebrated in the evening as Krishna was born in the midnight. Coming to the recipe of Appam, it varies from household to household.
      Some prepare it using maida, while others do it with wheat flour. I am following the wheat flour version, which my friend Vidhya taught me.

                                                                Appam

Cuisine: South Indian
Preparation Time: 10 minutes 
Resting Time: 1/2 an  hour 

Ingredients:
Wheat flour: 1 cup
Ripe Yellow Banana: 2 nos
Sooji: 1 table spoon (Optional)
Ghee: 1 tea spoon
Baking Soda: 1 pinch
Jaggery: 1/4 cup finely grated
Cardamom: 2 pods crushed
Raisin: A few nos
Cashews: A few nos
Water as needed
oil for deep frying

Method:
1. Mash the bananas to a fine smooth paste.
2. Finely pound the jaggery.
3. Take a wide bowl, add wheat flour, sooji and soda and mix well.
4. Add thee mashed bananas and the pounded jaggery to the wheat flour.
5. Add cardamom powder and mix well, add water little by little and gently mix it.
6. The batter should be of Idli batter consistency.
7. Take a small pan, add ghee and place it on the stove over a medium flame.
8. When hot, add cashews and fry it till it turns golden brown, then add raisin, it will puff up. Now put off the flame.
9. Add this to the batter and mix well. Keep it for half an hour.
10. Take a kadai and pour enough oil for frying and heat it over a medium flame.
11. When the oil is hot, pour the batter using small ladle.
12. It will immediately puff and raise, flip it and allow it to cook till golden brown color.
13. Drain oil and take it out  or  You can avoid deep frying and instead you can use a non-stick paniyara pan to fry it, using minimum oil or ghee.

Note:
1. It stays well for a day or two.
2. For 1 cup it yields 15 appams approximately.

 

Pani Puri

    A famous street food found all through India, but the name differs, it is called as golgoppa in Delhi and in Mumbai Panipuri. Usually it served with boiled potato, raw onion and sprout filling with pani over flowing.
     In my previous post, I have mentioned how to make puris. In this the assembling part.When my Geetha chithi ( My Mother's younger Sister) and her family stayed in Satatra, near Pune, we went for holidaying there. That was the time when I heard of the name Pani puri. My cousin Harish mentioned this very name and he said, he is going to eat that evening.
    I was wondering what and how it would be, saw my cousin relishing it. I did not even try to taste it. I felt the pani puri very alien and reused to taste it. Even in my dream, I have never thought I would make at home.
   Here is the recipe for it.
                                                           Pani Puri

Cuisine: Indian
Preparation Time: 25 minutes
For Pani's: 10 minutes
Boiled Potato: 10 minutes 

Ingredients:

For Green Pani:
Coriander leaves: 2 tea spoon
Pudina leaves: 2 tea spoon
Green chili: 2 nos
Pani puri masala: 1 table spoon
Water: 1 litre

For the sweet liquid or Pani:
Imili chutney: 1 table spoon
Panipuri masala: 1 table spoon 
Water: 1/2 litre

For Stuffing:
Big boiled and mashed potato: 3 nos
Finely chopped Onions: 1 big
Sprouted moong dhal: 1/4 cup
Salt as per taste

Method:
1. In a mixie jar add the washed coriander leaves, pudina, green chili and grind it in to fine paste.
2. Transfer into a bowl, add water, pani puri masala and mix well and keep it aside.
3. Take imili chutney in a bowl, add enough water and pani puri masala and mix well and keep it.
4. Mash potatoes and add chopped onion, sprout dhal and salt mix well and keep.
5. Now assembling, break puri on the top using a spoon or with index finger, fill in the potato mixture and pour pani either sweet or spicy one. of your choice and serve immediately.

Note:
Imili chutney recipe, I have mentioned in my Vada Pav post.
 

Pani Puri's

       Recently I saw a video in the FB of how puri's for pani puri made, shocked me. I googled to find recipes for it, saw 2 to 3 recipes and finally derived one. I have previously tried pani puri recipe during 2015 summer in a very small quantity. This time for posting recipe, I ventured to make nearly many puri's.
       Usually I have the habit of trying recipes of food, which I have tasted in restaurants. By trail and error method, I somehow reach the taste to 95 % as my son says. He likes the taste of the food although.
       Now to the recipe
                                                          Pani Puri's (Puri)

Cuisine: Indian
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Resting Time: Half an hour 
Cooking Time: Half an hour

Ingredients:
Cheroti Rava: 3/4 cup
Maida: 1 table spoon
Baking Powder: 1/2 tea spoon
Water as needed
Oil for frying
Salt to taste 

Method:
1. Take cheroti rava in a wide bowl, add salt, maida, baking powder and add water little by little and make into soft dough.
2. Let the dough rest for half an hour till all the moisture is observed by the rava.
3. Make tiny marble sized balls out of it.
4. Roll out in to puri's of even thickness.
5. Place a kadai on the stove and pour in enough oil for frying.
6. Heat oil over medium flame, when the oil is hot, drop in puris 3 to 4 at a time.
7. Wait till it puffs up and now gently flip it.
8. Fry till it attain golden yellow slightly with brown spot on it.
9. Drain oil and take it out.
10. Cool it completely and store it in air tight container.

Note:
1. While making the dough it can even be sticky, as the cheroti rava will absorb the excess moisture in it.
2. It stays well for a week, you can even refrigerate it.