Veena's Sambhar Powder

Recipe for Sambar Poddi

 

Malli full       -- 1kg

Mullagu       -- 450 gm

Ulluva          -- 100 gm

Kadalla Parappu  -- 200 gm

Urad dal               -- 200 gm

Hing/Kayam(LG)  -- 100 gm (dont buy powder hing )

Curry leaves few

 

Roast each one by one, and keep it aside, see that you should not burn anything fry till it becomes brown in colour, to test whether it is done just bite and see urad dal and channa dal it would taste crisp and crunch and then you can give them to your nearest mill to grind to powder.

 

Note : everthing should be fried seperately and no need to put any additional oil fry them in a big pan.

 

Recipe for Dosa Poddi

--------------------------------

urad dal       -- 1kg

channa dal   -- 150 gm

rice              -- 250 gm

Kayam         -- 50 gm

 

note : for 1 glass urad dal 20 kollam mullagu, very little salt and few curry leaves

Beef Fry

                                                                                                                                                                 

  

Indhu aunty's white coconut chutney

Cashew nuts - 4-5
Poppy seeds ( white) - 1 tbl sp
Coconut - 1/2 coconut
Green Chillies - 2
Jeeragam - 1/4 tsp
Salt

Grind all of the above and temper well.

Indhu aunty's Simple Chutney for Idli/Dosa

Thakkali - 2
Poondu -  6-7 cloves
Kanja Mulaka 4-5
Salt

Grind the above
Temper with coconut oil, curry leaves, mustard seeds, red chillies

Indhu aunty - Easy Peasy Side dish for chappathi

Garlic - 1 entire bulb
Peanut - 100 gms
Red Chilli - 3-4
Salt

Grind everything. Enjoy with  Hot Chappathi.

Indhu Aunty's Idli Podi

Urad Dhal - 200 gms
Channa Dal - 50 gms
Green grams with out skin - 50 gms
Dry Red Chillies - based on your spice level
Asafoetida
Salt

Dry Roast all above ingredients
Add garlic ( atleast 15 cloves while frying)
Add Curry leaves while frying.
Add 1 tsp jeera ( do not fry)

Grind all the above. Enjoy with Idli, Dosa

Hannah's Brocolli Cheese Casserole

I had this casserole for the very first time at our house church, made by my friend Hannah. My family fell in love with this casserole. She was kind enough to share her recipe with me 💖. Love you my dear friend Hannah ! This is a must try. There is no doubt, I am sure that even if you are not a broccoli fan, you will become one, once you have this.

What you need to get started...

• 2 Boxes frozen broccoli
• 2 Eggs
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup Dukes mayonnaise

 For Toppings

• Additional Shredded Cheese
• 1 Sleeve Ritz crackers
• 3/4 stick of butter.

Instructions:

1) Cook and drain broccoli, then dice
2) Combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl.
3) Add broccoli to the mixture.
4) Pour into 9*9 dish.
5) Add additional shredded cheese layer to cover the mixture.
6) Melt butter in a pan.
7) Crush Ritz crackers.
8) Mix with butter.
9) Sprinkle topping over broccoli.
10) Bake 15 minutes at 400


Alternate recipe which I also tried and was good, was from Pioneer Woman. Hannah's recipe was definitely better, but just to note the recipe that I tried out. here it is -

• Saute chopped onion( 1 medium) in butter.
• Add 1/4 cup flour.
• Saute well, make sure the flour does not burn.
• Add some milk
• Add 1/2 block of cream cheese.
• Add salt if needed and some garlic powder ( i don't think recipe called for it , i think i just added a tad)
• Add shredded  sharp cheddar cheese and stir.
• Cook the broccoli in boiling water for 3 mins and drain and dice.
• Add the creamy mixture over the broccoli in a baking dish.
• Top it with crushed Ritz crackers and extra sharp cheddar cheese.
• Bake for 30 mins at 350. Enjoy it hot !!!

Christmas Plum Cake

Christmas Plum cakes are the best not just because of their taste but because of the beautiful memories of past Christmas'. This cake tasted better after a week of baking it. So plan to bake ahead of time for the best taste.

This is the recipe that I have been following for several years. I should say, the cake is really moist and full of flavor. I make this with fruits and nuts that have been soaking in the wine /spiced rum for almost a year. Well, you don't have to soak it for that long. If you use wine or spiced rum, you would need to soak it at least for 2 weeks. I would think soaking it on the day or the day after Thanksgiving will be a nice tradition to follow. If you don't want to use wine or rum, you may use orange juice, which would need just 2 days of soaking max and not more than that.

Here are some preparation pics :-)

Dates and Figs

 Getting stuff ready :-)

 Figs

 Getting all the nuts, rasins, crasins, etc., ready to be soaked

 Chopped Fig

 Chopped Dates

Fruits and Nuts that  I use for soaking


(I'm not including the quantity as I soak in bulk and make several of these cakes through out the year. So, you can judge how much you would need. You can adjust according to your taste and availability of materials). For a single time baking, you would need 2 cups of these soaked fruits and nuts.

• Almonds - Chopped
• Cashew Nuts - Chopped
• Pecans - Chopped
• Walnuts - chopped
• Dates - Chopped
• Figs - Chopped
• Raisins 
• Cranberry 
• Craisins
• Cherry
• Orange Peels
• Candied Lemon
• Candied Ginger

Spices ( all powdered) needed to bake one time ( you can reduce the amount to suit your taste):

1 tsp Shah jeera

1/4/ tsp cinnamon

1/4 nutmeg

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 cardamom

Caramel ( This would be the 1st step that I would start with, just so that the caramel can have enough time to settle into room temperature before adding it to the batter)  :

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp water
1/2 cup warm water.


Take the 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1 tbsp of water in a saucepan and start making the caramel on medium flame.
Keep swirling the sauce pan as the sugar is being caramelized. DO NOT stir. Let the sugar be caramelized to the color that you would like for your cake. Remember the darker the caramel, the more bitter it would taste so keep an eye on the caramel to make sure that the caramel is not too dark or burnt. When you get the desired color, switch off the flame after adding the 1/2 cup of warm water. Keep it aside let it become lukewarm before you add it to the batter.

Ingredients  ( all ingredients should be in room temperature):

1 and 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
3/4 cup butter at room temperature
1 and 1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large egg yolks
3 large egg white
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp wine
1 tsp vanilla essence

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C / 350 F.
2. Preferred pans ( cake tins) would be an 8" and a 6 ". Do not try to fit in all of the batter in a single pan. Fill the batter only till half of the cake tin, to give it enough room to rise.
3. Line the pans with parchment paper.  Grease the pans ( parchment paper) with butter.
4. Sift the flour, spices and the baking powder. Keep it aside
5. Start next with the egg whites.Pour the egg whites into a dry bowl and beat well till soft, smooth shiny peaks are formed. To know whether you have done a good job with beating the egg whites, try to hold the bowl over your head, if nothing drips on your head.... well done !!!  😉 you have done a good job. You have to see soft, shiny peaks.
6. Beat the butter and sugar until very creamy.
7. Add to the creamy mixture, egg yolks one after the other, keep beating as you add them and once this is complete, add the vanilla essence and beat again. To this, add the wine and caramel, and mix well.
8. To the above, add the dry ingredients ( sifted flour, spices, baking powder - save 1 tbsp of flour) little by little and keep beating as you add the dry ingredients.
9. Next, very gently fold in the egg whites and gently give a mix with the spatula till there are no white streaks of egg whites seen in the batter.
10. Take 1 and 1/2 cups of soaked fruits and nuts, and gently fold in to the cake batter.
11. Add this cake batter to the greased cake tins ( I used an 8 " and 6 " cake tins).
12. Add the reserved 1 tbsp of flour to the remaining 1/2 cup of soaked fruits and nuts and give a quick mix and add to the batter in the cake tins. ( This is done so that you would have fruits and nuts on the top of the cake without having everything sunk to the bottom of the cake)

Bake at 350 F for 1 hour, this may vary depending on the oven, test by inserting a skewer into the middle of the cake tin and if it comes out clean, you would know the cake is cooked through.

Take the cake off from the pan after 5 mins onto a wire rack. Let it cool. After this cools, I cover the cake with an aluminum foil and put it in an airtight container. I open this once in 3-4 days, add a tbsp of rum to the cake, just to let the flavors sink in and allow the cake to be kept moist.

Happy Baking!

Uppumanga

The uppumanga that you see in the picture above is the one prepared by my dear amma. I remember the yummy ones my ammachi ( maternal grnadmonther) used to make too...
Making uppumanga is kind of a tradition back home that is followed every year during mango season. Those who have eaten this know what I am talking about :-)

This morning when I spoke to mummy over the phone, mummy said that she has started collecting the mangoes for making uppumanga for this year. I was reminded of the delicious ones that I ate last summer and remembered that I had pictures of the uppumanga that I had at my mom's house during the summer of 2018.  Before I forgot, I made sure I wrote down the recipe from mummy. Here it is...

1. Naattu manga  - wash and pat dry ( Naattu manga are the smaller mangoes)
2. Salt  - as needed
3. Water - Enough to cover the mangoes
4. Boil the water with the salt together and let cool.
5. Once its cooled add it to the mangoes in a Bharani.
6. Temper some red chillies, curry leaves, and uluva podi and once its cooled add it to the Bharani with the mangoes. Mix well and keep container closed for atleast for a month. Enjoy it !!!

Snow Ball / Mexican Wedding Cake

Snow Balls or Mexican Wedding Cakes Recipe:

• 2/3 cup nuts ( pecans, walnuts or cashew nuts)
• 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping:
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

How to make it?

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in center of oven.
2. Place nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes, or until lightly brown and fragrant. Cool. Once the nuts have cooled completely place them, along with 2 tablespoons of the flour from the recipe, into your food processor, fitted with a metal blade, and process until they are finely ground if you like to bite the nuts in between, don't have to make it finely ground.
3. In the bowl of your mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). 
4. Add the vanilla extract. 
5. Add the remaining flour and salt and beat until combined. 
6. Add the crushed /ground nuts. Cover and refrigerate the dough for about one hour or until firm. 
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F . Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
8. Form small balls and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for about 15 -17 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to brown. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, place the 1 cup sifted confectioners sugar in a bowl. Take the still-hot cookies and roll them in the sugar, one at a time. Place on a wire rack to cool. Or you can simply place the confectioner's sugar in a strainer and sift the sugar over the tops of the cookies. Let cool completely before storing.