Nagar Chathurthi - Godumai Appala Urundai / Wheat Papad Balls

Nagar Chathurthi is a festival dedicated to the snakes. We pray to Nagar the snake god and do pooja as well. :)

Snake worship without any doubt, owes its origin to man's natural fear for these reptiles.However, in Hindu culture, they own a prominent place. Hindu mythologies are filled with stories and fables about snakes, the most important being the Sheshnaga of Lord Vishnu.

This is a popular festival in Andhra, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

I had posted about this festival last year with more details on the pooja and a different set of offerings too. You can take a glance of it here.

Last year we made three kinds of sweet balls namely Sesame Sweet balls, Roasted gram sweet balls and peanut sweet balls.

But this time for a change we decided to make a new variety along with the usual ones.

Godumai appala urundai translated as wheat paapad balls is what we came up with. :)

I wouldn't claim it as new, but its pretty rare that you see this one. Its a simple yet very interesting snack.

Though the steps make it sound cumbersome, its really worth it. :) I can bet on it :)

Ingredients:

Wheat flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Oil - to fry
Salt - a pinch

Method:

Take wheat flour in a bowl and add a pinch of salt to it. Pour in just enough water to make a thick dough(Chapathi dough consistency).

Now roll out thin chapathis and let them dry on a paper for 20 mins. Later poke holes on the chapathi using a fork. Now deep fry it till crisp on both sides. Once you are done with all the chapathis, break them using your hand.

Powder the sugar and keep it aside. Run the broken papads in the mixie to powder it too. Mix both the powders on a paper and then once again put them in the mixie and run ones.

Transfer it to a plate and roll them into balls.

Appala urundai is ready to eat :)

Enjoy making :)

Other than the sweet balls, we also make Sweet poha and spiced poha too as offerings.

You can find the sweet poha recipe here.

Above is a small glance of the pooja at my sweet home :)

Happy Naga Chathurthi to all those who celebrate it :)

Written by: Nithya
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Plantain Pepper Curry

Banana plant is one of those kind where all the parts of the plant are very useful to mankind. :) I love bananas a lot, be it raw or ripe. They are so filling and yummy :)

Deep fry or shallow fry or simply fry or cook.. whatever you do, plantain would taste perfect and blend with all the spices you try to add to it. That is simply called as versatility.

This is one aromatic and different flavoring of plantain tat I recently tried out and it was really tasty. It got over in no time :)

Ingredients:

Plantain - 2
Onion - 1
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Saunf / Fennel(Sombu) powder - 1 tsp
Pepper - for taste
Salt - for taste

Method:

Peel and chop the raw banana into thin long pieces and keep it aside.

In a pan take few tsps of oil and add curry leaves, saunf powder, finely chopped onions, ginger garlic paste, chopped plantain pieces, turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt one by one and fry for a min. Now sprinkle some water and close the pan with a lid. Simmer the stove and allow it to cook for a while. This will take five minutes. Once the plantain gets cooked and the curry becomes dry, add the pepper powder and mix well.

Plantain pepper curry is ready to serve :)

Serve with with curd rice or ghee rice :)

Happy making :)

Written by: Nithya
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Eggless Mango Cake

Happy birthday to my cutie pie Grandma :) I made this eggless mango cake for her birthday last week :)

When I was hunting for eggless cake recipes, this cake caught my attention. I saw it first in Madhram's eggless cooking which was in turn a recipe tried from Holy cow! vegan recipes by Vaishali. Thanks to both of them for sharing a nice recipe. The cake was good :)

It would be a perfect tea time snack :)

That's my sis who helped me to bake the cake as well as posed for my clicks. She is truly my support :)

Ingredients:

Mango Puree - 1 1/2 cups
All purpose flour/ Maida - 1 1/2 cups
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Cardamom powder - A pinch
Canola oil - 1/3 cup
Sugar - 2/3 cup
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Method:

Sift all purpose flour, salt, baking powder and cardamom powder together and transfer it to a large mixing bowl.

Add the mango puree, sugar, oil and vanilla to it and mix with a whisk just until you have a smooth batter. Do not over mix or overbeat.

Line your cake mould with butter paper and grease with some butter. Pour in the batter into it and smoothen the top.

Preheated the oven to 375°F or 190°C. Bake about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Serve chilled with whipped cream topping. Decorate with cherries :)

Note:

Use fresh mangoes tat are sweet.

You can also use canned mango pulp. If so check with the sweetness and then go about adding sugar accordingly.

Written by: Nithya
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Mexican Chilli Relleno

Mexican cuisine has attracted me too much lately and I have been craving for tortillas and variety of salsas. :)

The hunger for Mexican food increased after I attended a 3 hour work shop of the cuisine conducted by Chef Suresh Thampan of Courtyard Marriott. He was truly professional in what he taught and gave us a lot of tips about the cuisine. Sweet pepper and red bean soup, Tortilla salad, Caesar salad, Chilli Relleno, Quesadillas and Spinach Enchiladas were the menu of the day :)

A glimpse of the workshop that I attended few weeks back :)

The chile relleno which means "stuffed chilli", is a dish that originated in the city of Puebla. It consists of a roasted fresh poblano pepper (a mild chili pepper named after the city of Puebla), sometimes substituted with non-traditional Hatch green chile or even jalepeno chili pepper. It is stuffed with cheese, or picadillo meat made of diced pork, raisins and nuts, covered in an egg batter or simply corn masa flour and fried. Although it is often served in a tomato sauce, the sauces can vary.

This vegetarian version of the mexican chilli relleno is truly sinful with lots of cheese and deep frying involved. But the taste is incomparable. Lip smacking is the right word I believe ;)

Ingredients:

Large chillies (Bajji molaga/ Poblano pepper / Chili pepper) - 6
Cottage Cheese (Paneer) - 120 gms
Cheddar Cheese - 60 gms
Mixed herbs (thyme / oregano / Mixed) - for taste
Salt - for taste

Method:

Slit the chilly neatly from top to bottom and deseed it using a spoon. Rinse them in cold water and keep them aside.

Grate required amount of cottage cheese as well as cheddar cheese. Put them in a bowl, add herbs and just a pinch of salt. Mix them well.

Now stuff just enough of cheese mixture into the chillies. Shallow fry them on a flat pan until the chilly gets roasted. Slightly turn them in intervals to get the sides of the chilly cooked. Do not turn upright. Remove them from the pan once it gets roasted on three sides.

Garnish with pineapple salsa. Serve them with tomato sauce and sour cream.

Hot and cheesy mexican relleno is ready :)

Enjoy making and happy eating :)

Note:

The more sinful version is to make a batter of all purpose flour, salt and water and dip the stuffed chillies in them and roll them on bread crumbs. Then deep fry the batter coated chillies to make crispy relleno.

Written by: Nithya
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Vegetable Oats Pancakes

Oats has always been my last resort or life saving ingredient ;) I mean to say I resort to them only when mom makes breakfast that I really hate ;)

But just as every story has a twist, my oats story too has one. Once I realized tat oats is not just for boring porridges and it can be incorporated in many other yummylicious dishes, I couldn't stay away from it :)

Being a south Indian, dosa or pancake is something so inevitable. Hence oats in dosa has become my family favorite now. :)

Handy to make, yummy to eat and healthy to the core. :)

Ingredients:

Oats - 2 cups
Chickpea flour(Basen/Kadalamavu) - 1/2 cup
Rice flour - 1/2 cup
Carrot - 1
Onion - 1
Bell peppers(Capsicum) - 1/2
Cabbage shredded - 1/2 cup
Green Chillies - 2
Coriander leaves
Curry leaves
Salt - for taste

Method:

Powder the oats in the mixie. Grate carrots and chop all the vegetables finely.

Take all the three flours, shredded vegetables, salt, finely chopped coriander leaves and curry leaves in a bowl and add just enough water to make a slightly thick batter.

Heat a tawa or non-stick pan and pour one laddle full of the batter and spread slightly with the laddle. Add few drops of oil and roast on both sides.

Healthy, quick and yummy vegetable oats pancakes are ready to eat :)

Serve hot with pickle or chutney of your choice. :)

Happy making :)

Note:

You can also reduce the amount of water and make a thick dough of the same and pat them on plastic sheets. Transfer them to the pan and roast them too.

You can also replace the chickpea flour with corn meal.

Written by: Nithya
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