Carrot Payasa (Carrot Pudding/Kheer/Payasam)

Before posting this recipe, I did like to wish all my readers a very happy and safe deepavali (a row of lights). True to the word, this festival is celebrated by lighting up homes with lots of diyas (oil lamps), flowers, rangoli, and crackers. And how can one forget sweets? This is the time to indulge in lots of caloric sweets and forget about the weighing machine for a while. After all diwali comes once in a year.

Talking about sweets, we still like to keep it traditional at home by making payasa along with other varieties of sweets.

Payasa (in Kannada), Payasam ( in Tamil), Kheer (in Hindi), Pudding (in English), Athough the names are different in different languages, the ingredients which go in to the making of this dish is the same. It has the combination of Rice, Milk, Sugar, flavoured with Cardamoms, Raisins, Cashews, Almonds and Saffron (kesari). Although rice is commonly used to make payasa, we also use vermicelli, sago, poppy seeds. This year for diwali, My mother-in-law prepared payasa with Carrot as the main ingredient. Its very different from the usual rice pudding and tastes delicious too!!!!

Ingredients: (Serves ~6)

Carrot - 4

Sugar - 1 cup

Milk - 1 and 1/2 cup (boiled)

Cardamom - (8-10)

Raisins and Cashews - (8-10 each)

Almonds - 5 (coarse powder)

Saffron - few

Preparation:

1. Pressure cook carrots. Grind them with 1/2 cup milk.

2. Take a deep bottomed vessel, and boil the ground mixture for 5 mins along with 1 cup milk, sugar, cardamoms, saffron and raisins.

3. Fry the cashews in 1 tsp ghee and add it to the above.

Serving tip: Best served when slightly chilled.

KG4YXETGBYKE

Rajasthani food - Aloo Ki Subji

Although I enjoy all kinds of cuisine, I must admit I have a soft corner for Mexican, Italian and specially Rajasthani food! My dad gifted me this book sometime back. Its a book by Tarla Dalal on Rajasthani cuisine. It has some basic recipes like Gatte ki kadhi to some very complex and mouthwatering Motichur ladoos. Over all a very good book for people who like rajasthani food!

This recipe below is a very simple one and the best one can think of on a very tiring day. All it requires is a just a few spices, yoghurt, gram flour and Potatoes. No special ingredients that you have to rush to the market for. Everything is in your kitchen for this dish!

Ingredients:

Potatoes - 4 (boiled, peeled and cubed)

1 cup fresh curds (beaten)

1 tspn Bengal gram flour (besan)

1/2 tspn mustard seeds

1 tspn cumin seeds (jeera)

1 tspn fennel seeds (saunf)

1/2 tspn nigella seeds (kalonji)

1 bay leaf

2 cloves

2 sticks cinnamon

A pinch of hing

2 tspns chilli powder

1/4 tspn turmeric powder

1 tspn coriander-cumin seed powder

1 tbl spn Ghee

Salt to taste

Preparation:

1. In a bowl, combine the curds and gram flour and whisk well. Keep aside.

2. Heat the ghee in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they crackle, add the cumin seeds, fennel seeds, nigella seeds, bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon and asafoetida and stir for a few seconds.

3. Add the curds and gram flour mixture, chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander - cumin seed powder and continue stirring till it comes to a boil.

4. Add the potatoes and salt with 1/2 cup of water and mix well. Bring to a boil.

Garnish with coriander leaves and Serve hot with chapathis or pulkas.

Note: Adding fennel seeds and nigella seeds is very important to this dish because they give a distinct flavor.

Spring Onions and Fenugreek seeds in Tamarind concentrate (gojju)

I am officially back to posting recipes here from today! Phew! It has been such a long time! last couple of months it has been really strenous for me. Moving places, setting up a new home, new school for my daughter, but with family around here, everything seemed much more easy!

This concentrate (gojju) is prepared to eat along with chapathis as well as rice. A very good travel food because it doesnt get spoilt. We often make this at home with different ingredients. I get fresh batch of greens 2 days in a week delivered to my door step. You will always get to see atleast 2 types of greens in my fridge every week. This time around I bought Gongura leaves (was tempted to make Gongura Pappu from Indira's Mahanandi and beleive me it was so good there was not even a drop left to take a picture!!!!! ), 2 bundles of Fenugreek leaves and 1 bundle of lovely and fresh Spring Onions.

Spring Onions have to be used quickly like within a day or two or else they lose their freshness. I divided the bundle in to two. One for Veg Hakka Noodles (recipe will be here soon) and the other portion for this Gojju.

Adding fenugreek seeds to this gojju enhances the flavor and also we all know the benefits of using fenugreek in our daily diet. Right?

Ingredients:

1 bunch Spring Onions (wash well and chop them)

1 Tbl spn Fenugreek Seeds

1 Tbl spn Jaggery

1 lemon sized tamarind soaked and extract the juice

1-2 Tspns Rasam powder (Refer to the recipe here)

Salt as per taste

Seasonings:

2 Tbl spns Oil

1 tspn Mustard seeds

A pinch of Hing

1-2 strands of Curry leaves

Preparation:

1. Take a non-stck pan and add the seasonings one by one starting with oil, mustard seeds, hing, curry leaves.

2. Roast the fenugreek seeds until it turns slightly brown. Add the spring onions and fry well.

3. Add little water, jaggery, rasam powder, salt and allow it to boil.

4. Once the fenugreek and the onions are cooked, add the juice of tamarind and 1 tspn (gramflour mixed with water) to make it slightly thick. Boil it for a couple of minutes.

5. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve it with chapathis or curd rice.