Halloweeeeeeeeeen!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Spooky Halloween Wishes to all!!!!

I have attended a lot of parties ranging from birthday to baby shower but this Halloween party and the scary food that we made was one of the best I ever enjoyed :)

Yes! I was yet again a student back to college but this time truly the lessons that I loved to learn and not a day of class was boring :)

I finally did a certified course in baking and cake art at Lavonne Institute, Bangalore. Had a great two months of time learning loads of pastries and baked goodies each day. 

I take this opportunity to thank my three favorite chefs Vinesh, Avin and Joonie for teaching me loads of new techniques in my favorite subject - Baking :) They are best at what they do! 

As a final touch to the course we as teams had to organize a tea party on a specific theme and what did we do????? 

HALLOWEEN!!! The Ghost Party :)

We totally enjoyed making all these cute yet scary props to decorate for the party :)

Our menu included various scary looking delicious bakes!

The first was called the Spooky fingers - Ginger cookies which the kids at the party loved :)

Next was the Mud Mousse - Oh yes you read it right. This one was for sure one of my most favorite :)

Mummy Sausages were gone in first half an hour!!! The best seller for the non vegetarian lovers :) 

Graveyard Cakes - The delicious Sacher Torte dressed up like a edible graveyard. One of the most pretty looking set up of the show :)

Eye Ball Canapes - The dill bread covered with garlic cream and olive eyes were one of my creations for the show :) Ofcourse I loved it :P

Headless cookies - The headless men were yummy orange cookies with a super zesty flavor :)

The show stopper was this Blood bath - the drink behind the deadly name was a mix of cranberry, orange and lime :)

Posing time for the little chefs with the big Chef Vinesh :) Miss you all buddies, will see you all soon as big pastry chefs with success stories!! :)

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here. 

Puffed Rice Upma / Pori Upma

My mom is the upma queen. I would easily crown her for her amazing varieties of upmas and the taste too :) 

I was someone who used to sulk at the sound of the name upma but now have changed a lot and have started enjoying a lot of new varieties of upma that she makes :) All thanks to her!

This is one of my favorite upma from her collection. Puffed rice is an easily available ingredient in India and most of them would like eating it just like that or as bhel. This upma would be really light in your tummy and easily digestible with very simple ingredients in it. 

Just after Aayudha pooja most of you would be having puffed rice at home, so why wait?!!! Go ahead and make this simple one pot meal!! :)

Ingredients:

Puffed rice / Pori - 6 cups (3 cups per person on average)

Green chilly - 1

Coconut - 3 tblsp

Onion - 1 large

Tamarind paste - 1 tblsp

Water - 1 cup

Channa dhall - 1 tsp

Urad dhall - 1 tsp

Mustard - 1/2 tsp

Salt - for taste

Method:

Take the puffed rice in a large bowl and pour just enough water to immerse it. Allow it to soak for just one minute and remove it from water. Squeeze the water out of the puffed rice and collect in another bowl. 

Chop onion finely. 

Grind coconut, green chilly and salt together. 

Take a large wok and add 3 tblsp of oil. Crackle mustard seeds and add the urad dhall and channa dhall, fry until golden brown. Now add the chopped onion and fry for a while. 

Add the ground coconut chilly mixture along with the tamarind paste and the water. Let this mixture heat up well. 

Now add the puffed rice and mix well. Close with a lid and allow to cook for 10 mins in low flame. Mix inbetween and if it feel dry or sticking to the wok, add one more spoon of oil and sprinkle just a little more water. 

Serve hot and enjoy eating :) 

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here. 

Ammini Kolukattai / Undrallu / Rice balls sundal

Sundal Sundal every where!!! Its Navarathri and feels like it only when you eat loads of sundal everyday!! Varieties of it, with legumes and so on :) 

My treat for god this time was Ammini Kolukattai also called as undrallu in telugu. I love this sundal a lot because its different, soft and yummy. 

This dough is just the same as Kolukattai dough. Mom used to do this when there is excess dough when she makes kolukattai and I just love eating it plain :) Atleast one or two cups that way!! Now have grown up to like some spice in everything hence made this sundal!! :)

Ingredients:

Rice flour - 1 cup
Water - 1 1/4 cups
Green Chilly - 3

Ginger - 1/2 inch piece
Coconut - 1 tbsp
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida(perungayam) - a pinch
Salt - for taste
Lemon extract - 1 tsp
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves

Method:
Boil 1 1/4 cups of water adding a little salt to it. When it boils, simmer the flame and add the rice flour stirring it constantly. See to it that it does not form lumps. Now switch off the flame and leave the vessel closed for around ten min. Then sprinkle some water and a tsp of oil over it and kneed the dough to make it smooth.

Roll it into small balls and place them on a well greased plate and pressure cook it for 15 min.
These white rice balls alone can be the best snack for kids.

Now grind coconut, green chillies, ginger, asafoetida and salt together.

Take a pan and add 2 spoons of oil to it and crackle the mustard. Add the curry leaves, cooked bean and the ground paste to it and fry for a while. Now add the white rice flour balls to it and saute for two min. Finally add lemon extract and coriander leaves to it and saute well.
Ammini kolukattai is ready to serve. :) 

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

Kalkandu Pongal / Candy Sugar Pongal

 

How delicious does Kalkandu pongal sound!???! The moment I saw this on my best buddy Sharmis blog, I started drooling for it. I was sure I was going to make it sometime and now was the time. Mom sent me a pack of Kalkandu ( candy sugar) a couple of days back and I ofcourse had to do it :)

I made my pongal a little runny since I dont like them really thick and sticky, alter the recipe by reducing half a cup of water to get a thick pongal.

I am sure you would love to make this as prasadam for god this Navarathri just like how I did :)

Ingredients:

Kalkandu - 1/2 cup

Rice - 1/2 cup

Moong Dhall - 2 tblsp

Water - 2 cups

Milk - 1 cup

Cashews - 10

Raisins - few

Cardamom powder - a pinch

Ghee - 3 tblsp

Method:

Take a tsp of ghee in a pan and fry cashews and raisins separately and keep it aside in a bowl.

Wash rice and transfer to a pressure cooker. 

Dry roast the moong dhall and add it to the pressure cooker. Now pour 2 cups of water and 1/2 cup of milk to the cooker and pressure cook until 4 whistles in medium flame. 

Once the pressure releases remove the lid of the cooker and then put it back on flame. Mash the rice nicely using a masher or a laddle. 

Powder the candy sugar (kalkandu) finely and add it to the rice mixture along with the remaining 1/2 cup of milk. Now add ghee and mix well. Keep stirring until it becomes thick and sticky. 

Finally add the elachi powder and the fried nuts to it and mix well. 

Serve hot and enjoy eating! :)

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.