Coriander(Parsley/Cilantro) Rice

I fondly call Coriander rice as green rice. I have never said no to this rice even when I was a naughty kid who used to deny food. :) Its simple, yummy and attractive. :)

Ingredients:

Raw rice - 1 cup
Coconut milk - 1 cup
Water - 1 1/2 cup
Coriander leaves - 1 bunch
Green chillies - 4-5(according to your taste)
Garlic - 10 pods
Salt - for taste
Oil

Method:

Grind coriander leaves, garlic and green chillies together into a fine paste adding little water to it and keep it aside. Cook the rice, coconut milk and water together in a pressure cooker. When you find steam coming out, open the pressure pan, add the ground paste, oil and adequate salt to it and mix well. Close the pan and allow it cook for just one whistle.

Coriander rice is ready to eat :) Serve it with your favorite choice of raitha.

Happy eating :)


Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Parsi Peni - A simply tempting sweet ! & Awards

Are you bored with cakes and cookies!!! if so just go a little desi ;) Parsi peni is a simple fried sweet that would tempt your tongue. Its all about putting your favortite ingredients together in a different form. ;) Enjoy making :)

Ingredients:

All purpose flour(Maida) - Required quantity to make the dough
Powdered sugar - 1 1/2 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Ghee - 1 cup
Oil - For deep frying

Method:

Beat ghee and 3/4 cup of powdered sugar together in a bowl. Now pour in milk and mix well.

Once done add all purpose flour little by little and mix well until the contents roll into a ball(Poori dough consistency). Approximately 1/2 kg of all purpose flour would be requited for making it.

Make marble sized balls and press them in a poori press or just by pressing them in between two plastic sheets. Now in a pan of oil, deep fry the flattened dough till it puffs up like poori. Do not over roast, it just has to change to light golden brown. Never mind if it really does not puff up much, it would still be tasty. Remove the pooris from the oil and sprinkle the remaining 3/4 cup of powdered sugar on the pooris.

This quantity would make around 60 Parsipeni.

Yummy Parsi peni is ready to eat.. Absolutely drool worthy simple dish and I am sure you would agree with me. :)

Note: Sprinkle the powdered sugar on the pooris right after they are removed from oil, otherwise it would not stick to it.

I am sending this to Fall in Love - Ghee event conducted by Sanghi. :)



Now for the Awards!!! :)

I am so glad and happy for being the winner of Priya's 'Diwali 2009' contest which she had conducted in her super good blog - 'Priya's Feast'.

Thanks a lot for the lovely award Priya :) I am absolutely excited.

I am all the more excited to be showered with more awards this season. What else do you think can get me going. :)

Thanks a lot to Priya, Sanjana, Kanchan, Palidor and Rohini for showering me with such lovely awards. They make me lot more responsible to give you all the best. :) Love you all.

I would like to pass it to all my fellow bloggers. :)


Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Indian Special Kai Murukku :)

Kai murukku is a super good Indian snack. I just love it plain, spicy, along with pickle and with rasam rice too. :)

I bet no one can eat just one ;)

Ingredients:

Par-boiled rice - 4 cups
Roasted Gram - 1 cup
Butter - 75 gms
Salt - For taste
Oil - For deep frying

Method:

Soak rice in water for 2 hours. Grind it smoothly without adding much water. Powder roasted gram smoothly and now add this to the ground rice along with butter and salt. Mix well to make a smooth dough. Now make the kai murukku on a clean cloth. Once you make around 30 murukkus, take them out slowly and deep fry them turning it once till done. Kai murukku is ready to eat.

Variation: Add a little chilly powder or pepper powder to the dough and make spicy kai murukku.

This measurement would yield 60-70 Kai murukkus.

Making the kai murukku perfect is literally an art. Mom is an expert and I just tried my hand on it this time. I was pretty bad for the first try. Anyways practice makes anyone perfect na.. :)

Here is My Try VS My Mom's Try :)

I just love seeing my mom make it with so much ease.. So thought of sharing a video of how she makes it. :)

Making of - Kai Murukku :)

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Diwali Dhamaka :)

They are savory crackers designed by me :)

DIWALI - the name by itself makes us so excited! isn't it??!! Yes.. its one of the most interesting and fun filled Indian festival.

Diwali or Deepavali is a significant festival in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Deepavali is the festival of lights.

There are two different beliefs for the origin of this celebration.

One says that it is the home coming of Raama after the 14-years exile in the forest and his victory over Raavana. It is believed that the people of Ayodhya welcomed Rama by lighting rows of lamps. Grandma says avali means "a row" and so a row of lamps is called "Deepavali".

In South India, it marks the victory of Krishna over Narakasura(Evil power).

Whatever the story may be.. But its one lovely celebration with loads of happiness at home. :) Do we ever need a better reason to celebrate??!!! :)

As always we celebrated this diwali in a grand scale starting from a small kolam in the entrance by me.

Then a row of lamps in the pooja room with a small pooja performed by mom.

Next is to get blessings from dad and mom. Dressing up in new clothes is no exception for this lovely festival too :)

Tring tring.. Remembering our near and dear is something that makes it all the more interesting. Wishes shared by calls, messages, mails and in person. :)

Then comes the fun part of fireworks.. :) Dum dum dumeel damal pata pata pata bussssss.. all kinds are my favorites..

Each one is so well designed that we really cant stop getting excited. Thanks to all the work put behind it. :) Enjoyment never ends with crackers.

How can I forget to mention the verrrry long list of TV shows that are lined up to watch. ;)
'Ulaga tholaikatchi varalatril mudhan murayaaga.....!!!'(First time in television history) all feasible new films in channels that clash in timings, absolutely funny debate shows, our favorite and unfavorite stars talking about themselves for years, reality shows, music concerts etc etc. Flip the channels every min with the intention of not missing any good show. But at the end of the day I am pretty sure none of us would have watched even one show peacefully!!! ;)


Hello hello.. is that all!!!!!! How could we skip the tummy ticklers??!!! Really cant afford to right?!.. The Best choice of sweets and savories are made well in advance and is shared with all on this special day to make it all the more special. :)

We never mised it too.. 9 dishes on the whole. 5 savories and 4 Sweets. ;)

*Thenkuzhal
*Kai murukku
*Pakoda
*Butter murukku
*Coriander murukku
*Adhirasam
*Sweet seedai
*Halwa
*Parsipeni

Inky pinky ponkey!! is what I am saying to choose what to eat :) I love them all.. Would surely post the recipes of the dishes soon. :)

The day never ends without fireworks that decorate the sky. Wow!!!! astonishing colors and mechanics behind it. Just enjoyed looking here and there for 2 hours in the terrace. Wondering how all these were designed!!!!

100 shots - my first blogger video :)

I enjoyed thoroughly.. Hope you all did too.. :)

Wish you all a very Happy Deepavali :)

I am sending this post to Priya's Diwali event :) And Purva's Diwali Dhamaka event too.


Regards,

Garnish The Dish - The Award Goes to????!!!!

Hurreh!!! Our first event has come to an amazing end. :)

Thanks a million to all of you who had voted and supported us throughout the event.

Check out the grand results at :

www.innovative-inlaws.blogspot.com



Regards,

Kadappa - A Tongue Tickling Sidedish!

Idly and dosa are awesome comfort food as well as neutral in taste. They are so versatile that you can spice it up with any side dish as per your choice. Kadappa is my first and best choice for idly and dosa. :)

Ingredients:

Moong dhall - 3 tbsp
Potato - 2
Onion - 2
Coconut scrappings - 4 tbsp
Poppy seeds - 1 tsp
Ani seed - 2 tsp
Cloves - 2
Marathi Mokku (dried flower pods) - 1/2 flower
Garlic - 10 pods
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 6
Salt - for taste

Method:

Cook moong dhall, potato and onion and keep it aside. Grind all the other ingredients in a mixie adding some water to it. Now take the the ground paste in a bowl and add the cooked moong dhall, potato and onion to it and let this boil for ten min. Once done, simmer the stove and add lemon juice to it and mix well.

Kadapa is ready to eat. Serve it with hot idly or dosa. :)

Decoration: I used mini idlies to decorate around the kadappa.

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Garnish the Dish - Finale

I am really excited and pleased to let you all know that the "Garnish the Dish" - our first event has reached its Finale. :)

We got in 35 exciting entries and all of them were drool worthy and a treat to the eyes.

Thanks a lot to all the lovely participants, all of you are really talented. :)

We have the top 10 entries selected and sent to the next stage, being the poll.

You can find the poll here: http://www.innovativein-laws.blogspot.com/

You are the judges now! Go through the post and cast your vote for the deserving entry :)

Good luck to all the contestants.

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Plantain Flower Usili (Vazha poo/ Anti poo)

Plantain flower(Vazha poo/Antipoo) is one of the most delicate ingredient(Should I call it flower/vegetable!!!! I am not sure) that is used for cooking. You need a lot of patience and time to remove the petals and clean them up. But the pains taken are absolutely worth it. The usili curry is so yummmm :)

Ingredients:

Plantain flower(Cleaned and Chopped) - 1 cup
Red chillies - 5
Thoor dhall - 1/2 cup
Coconut scrapings - 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Salt - for taste
Mustard - 1 tsp
Curry leaves


Note: Take a look at this link to know what parts of the flower you need to remove before cooking.

Method:

Clean and chop the plantain flowers into small pieces and soak it in watery butter milk until you use.

Cook the chopped plantain flower in the pressure cooker for 2 whistles and keep it aside.

Soak thoor dhall in water for 1 hour and grind along with red chillies, coconut scrapings, cumin seeds, asafoetida , turmeric powder and salt. The batter should be coarse and thick. Do not add excess water while grinding.

Now steam cook the batter in a pressure cooker like idly. Once it it done let it cool for a while. Crumble the idly finely with hands. For best results, cut the idlis into small portions and run it in the mixie slightly to crumble it well. Keep this aside.

In a pan take a tsp of oil, cracle mustard, add the curry leaves and then add the cooked plantain flower and fry for few min till it becoms dry. Finally add the crumbled powder and then fry for 2-3 min till it all blends well.

Plantain flower usili is ready to eat. I bet no one can hate it :)

Serve it with curd rice or just mix it with steamed white rice along with some ghee. :)

Decoration: I have used the plantain flower petals to mock a lotus design.

I would like to thank Ambika for giving me the giant bear hug and thanks to Sangeetha Subash for giving me the one lovely blog award :) I should thank Raje for sharing her love by awarding me both together. It gives me so much energy to go on :)

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com