With Love from my Grandma - Pecan Pie!

This is my Grand Ma is US ..she is our neighbour. She is a very lovely lady and a affectionately called as Grandma bear by all the kids in the block (not just kids....it includes me too :) ...). My son loves her and not a day passes by without paying a visit to her! My son talks about her even in his pretend and play...and when we went to the trip to California...all he said was let us go back to Grandma's house....

I was talking to her one day about making pecan pies and mentioned that whatever I see on the internet uses eggs and hence I am not able to make them at home....I knew that she was good at it and wanted to learn the recipe...and  then later that week I got busy with prep work for my son's birthday party....I had called Grand Ma and Grand Pa for my son's birthday party...and they were more than happy to be invited for that!! Grand ma had got a bunch of Hot Wheels vehicles for him ...he loves playing with them...but guess what she baked for me....the pecan pie wrapped with warmth and love....it was truly a big (pleasant) surprise....and it was heavenly! I have never had a home made pecan pie before and it was delicioso ....YUMMY..I have ran out of words to express it!! We are still enjoying it..I do not want to leave even a morsel of it and planning to empty it all...Even my son enjoyed it when I told Grand Ma made it for him....She has given me the recipe for it and I will make the eggless version of it some day....It might not be as good as what she made for me...but I will definitely give it a try.

This reminds me of my Grand Ma (my beloved Patti) back home...who used to make whatever I asked for....what are Pattis for right?? You will all agree right "Who else in this world can you turn to..other than your Grand Ma when you crave for something yummy to eat"...Thanks a lot - "Grand Ma" .....

Sevai (Idiyappam)

I haven't cooked for the past few days except preparing rasam and veggies for my son...have been relaxing after my son's birthday ...I had so much left over that it lasted for 3 days. I prepared Veg puff, Rava Idli, Chutneys, Bisi Bele Bath, Curd rice, Peanut Thai noodles and gulab jamun...everyone loved the food and the party was a big hit! I have been relaxing a bit after the party preparations...sleeping, eating and relaxing....

I tried the rice noodles at the Indian store in our town but they do not carry it. I have heard that the chinese store in our town have it but I did not have time to check it out at that shop. Called my manni (SIL) this morning but the recipe that she gave me for making the sevai was pretty cumbersome and she gave me couple of ideas for making it and I went with the easy one!! I have been thinking of making this for almost 6 months....once we had a pot luck and a friend of mine had made this. I have been thinking since then to make it....at long last "my craving and wish fulfilled". It turned out easy and simple..

Sevai:

2 Cups Rice Flour
1 Cup Hot water (it need not be too hot and must not be too warm)
1/4 Tsp Hing (it is generally not added but I like the touch of it!)
Salt to taste
Murukku/Idiyappan press
Sesame Oil
Sevai/ Idli plates

Add the hing and the salt to the rice flour. Knead the rice flour by adding water little by little. The dough should be similar to the one we make for seedai/thattai etc but a little bit softer.
Grease the sevai/idli plates with sesame oil.
Grease the press on the inside with sesame oil inorder to prevent the dough from sticking onto the press. Put the dough into the press and squeeze them direcly on the greased plates. Two cups of rice flour can yield 16 of these sevais (as seen in the picture). Steam them for about 10 minutes in the idli cooker...guys note if you are going to use the plates in pressure cooker do not put the weight (as we do while making idlis).
Some people sprinkle fine coconut powder on the greased plates and then squeeze the sevai on the plate...I did not do that while making the sevai..you may do it if you want. This goes well with (as a plain sevai) with Black Channa Dhal Gravy/  Stew/ Veg Kurma.

You can mixed varieties sevai too -
Lemon Sevai:  Do it the way you do the lemon rice and add the sevai (by making them into bits) instead of the rice
Coconut Sevai: Do it the same way we do the coconut rice and the sevai to it crumling them into pieces.

Other things you can try are mix veggies to it or making coriander sevai or mint sevai....let your imagination run and try diiferent things from it.


Enjoy!!

Black Channa Gravy

I made this to go with sevai this time...but I make it as a side for rotis too. I got the recipe for this from my friend. She had got this for lunch and it was so yummy ...that was long back when I was working....it has taken me so long to try this at hime. It is called as Kadala Curry and very popular in Kerala. They make this as a side for sevai and vella appam too (white appam).
I know there are lot of recipes floating around from different bloggers for sevai and kadala curry....but since I made it...I wanted to post it too....

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups Black Channa (soaked for 10 hours or over night)
2 Cardamom
1 inch Cinnamon Stick
1/2 Cup Chopped Onion
2 Small Tomatoes
1 Tsp Coriander Powder
1 Tsp Jeera
1/2 Tsp Red Chilly Powder
1 Medium Sized Green Chilly
1 inch Ginger chopped finely
1/4 Tsp Turmeric Powder
1/4 Tsp Garam Masala
Salt to taste
1 Tbspn Olive Oil (or any other cooking oil)
6 Curry Leaves

Boil the Black Channa with a cardamom and crushed ginger up to five whistles.
Heat the oil. Add the Jeera, Cardamom, Cinnamon Stick, Green Chillies, the remaining Ginger and Curry Leaves. Add the onions and saute till it turns light brown. Add the tomatoes and cook well.
Add the cooked black channa and nicely mix it. Add more water if needed.
Add the turmeric powder, red chilly powder, coriander powder and garam masala powder. Cook well.
Turn off the gas. Garnish with cilantro. This curry can be had with roti too. But I made this as a side for sevai this time.

Vegetables Simmered in Coconut Milk

It was one of the days when I spent time cleaning and did not have time to prepare anything elaborate but my heart longed for something different - in two aspects "cooking" and "eating". I tried something similar to thing in a restaurant in downtown Chicago - I think people from in and around the Windy City must have heard about this one. My friend's family and our family dined at this restaurant during the Memorial Day weekend. Everything was good and especially this one ( I do not remember the exact name of it but the only vegetable that was added to it was cauliflower but I added couple more)...and my friend told me to make this and let her know about it...so there it goes...It turned out pretty easy... simple to make and delicious to eat!

Ingredients Needed:

3 Cups Cauliflower Florets
1 Capsicum (bell pepper) Cut into 1 Inch Pieces
1 Potato Cut into pieces (boil and keep them)
1 Cup Onion Cut into Big Pieces
2 Cardamom Whole
1 Bay Leaf
2 - 1 Inch Piece Cinnamon Stick
2 Green Chillies
1 Inch Piece Ginger
1 Tin Coconut Milk
3/4 Tsp Turmeric Powder
1/2 Tsp Coriander Powder
1/2 Tsp Jeera Powder
1/2 Tsp Jeera
3 Tsp Oil
Salt to taste

Take oil in a pan. Add the green chillies, ginger, jeera, bay leaf, cinnamon stick and the cardamom. Saute the onion till they are light brown. Add the turmeric and add the capsicum. When they are half cooked. Add the cauliflower and the boiled potatoes. Fry them for few more minutes.

Now add the coconut milk and turn the heat to low and let it boil till it gets creamy (say for about 20 minutes at least). The end result was delicious. The fragrance of cardamom infused in it....wow ....excellent. I have to say you must make this few hours before you eat since the essence has to soak into the veggies....I made it and ate it then and there....but it was yummier when I had it the next day since it had all the essence from the spices absorbed in it by then. I tried it with roti on the day I made it and the next day I had it with basmati rice....I liked both...but loved it more with rice...my mouth is watering as I write....will definitely make it in another couple of weeks....

Sithurundai (Sweet Poornam Koftas)

This is also one of my favorite's. It is very simple and easy to make. They are also referred to as "Sugiyan" or "Seeyam" but only when they are made for Shardhams (Ceremonies). We prepare this for Sri Jayanti and Kaarthigai Deepam.

Items needed for making this :

For the Filling (Poornam)

1 Cup Fine Coconut
1 Cup Jaggery (about 6 pieces of Achchu Vellam)
4 Elaichi/Cardamoms

For the Outer Layer (Koftas)

1 Cup Rice Flour
1 TBSPN Urad Dhal Powder (Click here for the recipe of Dhal Powder)
Water

Oil for Frying

Dissolve the jaggery in little water and add the elaichi and coconut. Make it into a smooth ball.
Let it cool.

For the outer layer - Mix the rice flour, urad dhal powder in enough water. It should have the consistency of bonda/bajji.

Heat the oil. Take the poornam and dip it in the rice urad dhal flour mixture and coat it well. Add it to the oil. Fry it well in the oil. The yummy sithurundai is ready!

Vennai Seedai (Rice Flour Balls)

This is one of the items I prepared for this year's Sri Jayanthi...am going with the word Vennai Seedai because this does not have coconut added to it just rice flour, urad dhal flour and butter.... and also happens to be son's fav!

Let us get to the method of making it  -

1 Cup Rice Flour
2 Tsp Urad Dhal Powder
3/4th Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Zeera
3/4th Tsp Till (vellai ellu)
1/2 Stick UnSalted Butter

This seems so easy to make but lands us in difficulties if something goes amiss.....like it might burst all over...

So you keep in mind not to make it totally round as for the shape is concerned, make sure the urad dhal is sifted well, do not make the dough too hard and also the urundais hard and if you are adding coconut especially the frozen are fresh ones make sure the water is not too much in it...

And one more point you must not try just by putting one or two ....you must put as much (say the ones you make it with a cup of rice flour) with just enough oil to immerse them ...that is also one important point to avoid it bursting!

Hey! do not get scared seeing all this....like the way I gave it a try you can do too....when you make it it is absolutely delicious....crunchy....my son calls it seeda and loves it....

I use the rice flour available at the grocery store...in general they make it at home but I did not take that much strain.  I just make urad dhal at home. Microwave the urad dhal for about 2 minutes stirring it every 30 secs or you can do it on the stove top too...do not turn it too brown. After it cools down grind it and sift it. Use the smooth powder you get after sifting it. Having all the prep work done...let us move on to the fun part of making it....

Take a cup of rice flour. Add urad dhal flour (as prepared above), hing, salt, zeera, butter, till and make it into a soft dough by sprinkling water. Roll into small marble sized balls. Back home they will spread this on a clean muslin cloth..

Take oil that is required for frying the seedais that you made with one cup of rice flour. After the oil gets heated as mentioned do not put one or two try seeing how it works...put all of them in the oil. Leave it for some time and then turn it slowly. You can take it out when the salasala sound of the oil stops....when the sound stops that means it is done.....The yummy seedai is ready for Sri Jayanthi.