This mango halwa goes to Srivalli’s Mithai Mela.

We have started using brown rice quite often these days. The first dish I ever tried with brown rice was pongal and I have to agree that I did not get it right. Only after 2 failed attempts I figured out the ratio of water and brown rice. Cooking brown rice in a pressure cooker is a breeze. The brown rice, water ratio is 2 and 1/2 cups of water for 1 cup of rice, if you are preparing dishes like pongal, bisi bele bath etc. For these dishes the rice has to be cooked well, so leave the cooker on for 5-6 whistles. If you are going to make fried rice or any other dish which doesn’t require sticky rice, the ratio of water is 2 and 1/4 cups of water and leave it just for 1 or 2 whistles and remove the cooker from the stove.

These days I prefer brown rice pongal to the traditional white rice pongal. This is healthy and definitely very filling. The only one negative thing I observed with brown rice is, it may give stomach cramps initially. Let me stress here again on “may”. My husband did not have any problems at all. On the other hand I developed severe stomach cramps on the second day after eating brown rice consecutively for two days. I spoke with my nurse to find out the reason and she explained that since brown rice is whole grain, drinking more water would help with easy digestion of the fiber. Now don’t make this an excuse to avoid using brown rice because it’s not the case with everybody. Since our(my) body is used to white flour and rice, it may take some time to tolerate the extra effort it has to put to digest whole grains. So increase your consumption of brown rice gradually and also drink a lot of water.

Last week I tried Pongal with brown rice and it came out very well, which made me think why not bisi bele bath with brown rice? Earlier I was very hesitant about using brown rice, wondering if we would like the taste or not. To my surprise both of us like it very much. I think this is one of the few things we both agree upon! Brown rice when cooked has a rubbery (is it even a word?) texture. Or simply it is not as soft as its white counterpart. You feel very full after eating a cup of rice, as against wanting more after eating white rice. I made zucchini raitha to go with the bisi bele bath. That’s easy to prepare too. You can find other facts about brown rice here.

Pumpkin payasam (Kheer) is our favorite kheer next to carrot kheer. The speciality of this kheer is, you will not be able to taste the pumpkins at all. It’s also very easy to prepare.

This is my entry for AFAM – Pumpkin hosted by me this month.

Usually I add little sugar to the cooked beet water and give it to my son as juice. This time my mother gave the idea of preparing Rasam (Chaaru) using it. Back in India, my grandmother and mother used to prepare Goddu Chaaru, which does not require toor daal, rasam powder. It’s prepared when you want rasam immediately, or when you are not cooking daal that day. As simple as it may look, it’s very tasty though. I had some toor daal water so I used it in the rasam, but it’s not at all necessary for this rasam.

Ingredients
Beets cooked water
Tamarind – 2 teaspoons or sour tomatoes (I used 2 tablespoons of crushed tomatoes)
Salt
Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon
Ghee – 1/2 tablespoon
Red Chillies – 1 (or as per your taste)
Mustard Seeds
Cumin – 1 teaspoon
Garlic cloves – 2

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

For this month’s Open Sesame 2 Contest I chose box no.1 and got the following riddle:

“A moniker in my name for a city
A phrase with me will make you cherished
I am so good for you in my utter simplicity
In Medical dictionary the fact so furnished

I am so famous in the world of bytes
Known for many aspects of usage
I am fat and rotound and make crunchy bites
My fame known from many religious traditions – right from the old age

Am, I forbidden? Or mystical ?
or the eternal giver of Youth
I consists of five internal carpels
Am good for good health of your mouth

I am as basic a fruit as you can think of
Or as hard if you dont try enough
If You eat me on a day to day basis
Then you dont have worry about anything – be it cold or dry cough”

At first I thought that it was difficult because Siri had mentioned that this month’s clue will be difficult than the previous month.  The mind was playing it’s trick telling me that it was difficult even before I could read the riddle completely.  But once I gave it a thorough reading, I was able to guess the answer right away.  That’s a brilliant riddle DK!

I was wondering what I can cook using apples apart from the famous pie and milkshake.  I was searching Food network’s site for some interesting recipes.  Then I saw an announcement for another event “Sweet Series”, this month’s theme being puran poli.  All of a sudden I got the idea of making an apple poli.  I thought of making apple halwa, like carrot halwa and then stuffing it inside the all purpose flour dough to make polis.  To my surprise it turned out very very tasty.  The halwa was so delicious by itself and so was the poli too.  Thanks once again DK and Siri, I would have not come up with this recipe if it was not for your  contest.

As it was my test recipe, I tried it with small quantities only.  But the next time I make this poli I’m going to double the measurements.

For the dough:
All purpose flour (maida) – 1 cup
Salt – pinch
Ghee – 1 tablespoon

For the stuffing:
Apple, small, grated – 1 (be sure to check that it’s sweet)
Milk Khoa (Khova, Mawa) grated or crumbled – 1/4 to 1/2 cup
Sugar – 2 tablespoons (or as per taste)
Cardamom powder – 1/2 teaspoon
Ghee – 2 teaspoons
Powdered dhalia – optional

 
Procedure:
1.  Combine all purpose flour, salt and water to form a ball of dough, just like chapathi dough.  Then add the ghee and knead it thoroughly.  Cover the dough and let it sit for atleast one hour.

2.  Cut the top and bottom of the apple. 

 3.  Slice the apple.

4.  Peel the skin. 

5.  Grate the apple slices. 

 Grated apple, grated khoa and sugar.

6.  For the halwa/puran, add the ghee in a microwave safe bowl and the grated apples, cook it for 2 minutes. 

7.  Then add the sugar and khoa to the cooked apples.  

8.  Cook it for another 3 minutes or until you don’t smell raw apples.  Alternatively you can prepare this on stove top also.  Add 2 teaspoons of ghee in a frying pan and sautee the grated apples, until they are cooked well.  Then add the sugar, let it dissolve and then add the khoya and combine it toghether.  If this mixture is a bit watery add some more khoya or the powdered dhalia, so that the stuffing will hold together properly.

 Apple puran and all purpose flour dough.

9.  Now divide the dough into 4 equal size balls.  Also take 4 equal portions of the stuffing.  Make the stuffing smaller in size than the dough.  Eat the rest of the halwa just like that.  Everybody will ask for more.

10.  Roll the dough into a small circle.

 11.  Place one portion of the stuffing on the the rolled out dough.

 12.  Cover the stuffing using the dough.

13.  Press the tip of the dough and flatten it into a disc. 

 14.  Roll out the stuffed dough into a circle, like roti.

 15.  Meanwhile pre heat the tava (griddle).  Place the poli on the hot tava, cook it on both sides, applying little ghee.

The taste was unbelievable!  I was really proud of my creation.  My mother and my son loved it very much.

This also goes to Mythreyee’s Sweet Series Event – Puran Poli, Sweet Chapathis/Rotis.

When I was growing up, my favorite after school snack was the pela pindi undalu my grandmother used to prepare for me. It’s powdered toasted rice, shaped into balls adding either jaggery or sugar. It’s nothing fancy but I just loved it and still am a big fan. My grandmother used to prepare the powder for me in bulk and send it to me until she passed away last year, so I did not get a chance to make it myself. I wanted to introduced this traditional dish to my son, so I started the process. I can’t believe how painstaking task it is and I’m floored by the fact that she made this for me each and every time I wanted this. She prepared it for me even 2 years back when I was pregnant and she was 77 years old. I think I should have chosen this recipe to pay my tribute to my grandmother for the JFI – Love event. Now let’s proceed to the recipe.

Ingredients:
Raw Rice – 3 cups (I used 3 cups of rice and got 2.5 cups of powder.)

Procedure:
Wash the rice a couple of times, drain it in a colander completely and spread it on a clean cloth or unprinted paper. Let it dry for 3 hours. Now toast a handful of rice in a dry frying pan. It has to be nice and golden brown. Don’t toast all the rice at once. The key point is that all the rice should be toasted evenly and should not get burnt. That’s why it’s done little by little. This is how it’s done originally. By the time I toasted 1 cup of the rice, my knees were paining like anything and moreover the rice was not toasted evenly also. I think if it’s a gas stove the process can be completed a little quickly. I have an electric range. When I reduced the heat, it was not getting browned, but when I increased the heat, it was getting burnt.

So I got an idea of toasting it in the microwave oven. But that also did not give the result I expected. Then I spread the rice in a cookie sheet and toasted it in the oven at 350 F until the rice was golden brown (approx. 35-40 minutes). Keep checking it every 10 minutes and give it a toss. The rice was toasted perfectly. Let it cool down for a while and then powder it in a blender/food processor. Store it in a clean air tight container.

Here is the close-up shot of the rice toasted using a frying pan.  Notice that it is not toasted evenly. 

Rice toasted in the oven.

Comparison:

Ingredients for the undalu/urundai:
Toasted Rice Powder
Powdered Jaggery or Sugar
Ghee, 1-2 teaspoons
Milk, as required.

Procedure:
Combine all the ingredients and shape into balls, like you would prepare rava laddus. Add ghee or milk as required to get the correct consistency.  Personally I prefer the jaggery undalu.

Can you let me know what this dish is called in your language?

Also please vote for me here, if you like my Ragi Kozhukattai.

I saw this recipe in a tamil magazine a couple of months back.  I was very hesitant to try it because I was wondering how ridge gourd would taste in a sweet dish.  Finally I got the courage and prepared it yesterday.  The experiment was a grand success.  I did not tell my husband what I was preparing.  After it was done I gave him little payasam and asked him how it was.  He told,  “It tastes like any other payasam.  Why do you want to post it in your blog?”  He has a very sensitive nose, so he can guess what’s cooking even with the mildest aroma.  He himself could not believe that it was made with ridge gourd.

Ingredients in the original recipe:
Ridge Gourd, Big – 1
Milk – 4 cups (I used 2% milk)
Water – 1 to 2 cups for cooking the ridge gourd
Sugar – ¼ to ½ cup as per your taste
Cardamom powder – little

Optional:
Condensed Milk – 2 tablespoons
Cashews, raisins for garnishing
Ghee for frying the nuts, 2 teaspoons
Green food color

My variation:
Milk – 2 cups for cooking the ridge gourd (I used skim milk instead of water)
Cashews, whole – 5 (to cook along with the vegetable)

Servings:
For 6 cups of milk used, I got 4 cups (exactly) of ridge gourd payasam.

Procedure:
1.  Wash the ridge gourd under running water and peel the coarse ridges.  Discard it and then peel the skin and save it for grinding chutney.

2.  Cut the gourd into small pieces.  I pressure cooked the gourd, 2 cups of skim milk and 5 cashews for 2 whistles.

3.  While the ridge gourd is cooking, boil the 4 cups of milk in a heavy bottomed vessel.

4.  Wait for the pressure to release and grind the cooked vegetable in a blender.  I used an immersion blender and got a very smooth ridge gourd puree.

5.  Add this puree to the boiling milk and let it cook for another 10 minutes or until you are not able to smell the vegetable.  Keep stirring once in a while so that the bottom of the vessel does not scorch.

6.  Add the condensed milk, sugar and cardamom powder and the food color if you wish.  Let this mixture simmer for a while.

7.  Meanwhile heat the ghee in a small frying pan and fry cashews, raisins and add it to the kheer.

8.  Serve it hot or cold.

My Notes:
1.  The paysam was very delicious.  At first I added ¼ cup of sugar but felt that it was not sweet enough.  So I added another ¼ cup, but this made the payasam very swweeeeeeeet.  I will reduce the quantity of sugar  the next time (more than ¼ cup but little less than ½ cup) .

2.  In case you choose to cook the vegetable with water, just remove the cooked vegetables alone and blend it.  Reserve the liquid for some soup or stew.  If you use milk, you can blend everything together.

3.  The author of the original recipe has also given recipes for potato, chayote squash (chow chow), cabbage, cauliflower, green peas, bottle gourd and red pumpkin kheer in the same method.  I have prepared the red pumpkin kheer a couple of times and it tastes very good too.  I have not yet tried the other vegetables.

4.  I also prepare chutney with the ridge gourd peel and chow chow peel always.  Yesterday morning I prepared chow chow kootu (daal), so I had reserved those peels too.  So I prepared a chutney with the peels of both the vegetables.  I know that many of you do it already.  Those who are not aware of the recipe, if you are interested I will post it here.  Let me know.