Cucumber Buttermilk / Vellari Neer More

Cucumber is the one which makes an entry to my home when summer comes. Slicing it into four and sprinkling salt, red chilli powder is my way of eating it. If it is too tender, I eat it as such.

I make cucumber buttermilk often at home during summer and I use only tender cucumbers. When a reader requested to post summer drinks, I prepared this buttermilk last week. But I didn't have the tender cucumber by time of preparing it. So, I used the cucumber which were about to become fruit. There was no difference in taste, but additionally I ended up in filtering it out to remove seeds as it was not tender. I kept on hold to post this recipe, Since I was not satisfied with the pictures. Badly, I didn't have any other recipes to post today and this cucumber buttermilk made an entry here.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: <15 minutes
Cooking Time: Nil
Serves: 2-4 persons

Ingredients:

Cucumber - 1 cup, skin removed and sliced
Plain yogurt / Curd - 2 cups
Cold water - 2-3 cups
Ginger - 2 inch length piece, sliced
Curry leaves - 4 strings, roughly torn
Asafoetida - a big pinch
Salt - to taste

Method:

1) In a deep vessel, mix curd and water. Churn it using whisk / hand blender / Mathu. Keep it aside.
2) Take sliced cucumber and ginger in a mixer / food processor and make a smooth paste. Coarse paste is fine too if you are not able to blend it smooth.

3) Add this to the butter milk and mix well. If you find seeds, then filter it to discard seeds.
4) Add asafoetida, salt and curry leaves. Mix well again.

5) Pour in glasses and serve chill.

Notes:
1) Increase or decrease the water and salt quantity as per your preference.
2) You can also do seasoning for this buttermilk. Since I prepare it often, I skip the seasoning to avoid oil to the healthy drink.
3) If you use tender cucumber(Baby Cucumber), grind it without removing skin and directly mix it with buttermilk and consume. No need to filter it out unless you find seeds.

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Spinach Paneer Kofta Gravy

Did you get a chance to see Tofu and pea curry from my blog which I had tried out from Anjum Anand's I love curry? If yes, then you would be knowing about my craziness about that book. Almost all vegetarian recipes had been tried out by me from that book and all were success. Among all,  I have posted Spicy Andhra chicken curry, Tofu and Pea curry and Paneer bruschetta. Another recipe from her book is today's recipe-Spinach Paneer Kofta Gravy.

It is a good and another way to eat spinach. The original recipe uses deep fried koftas and to make it more healthier, I used shallow fried koftas. Also, instead of grinding the spinach as said in the book, I chopped it very finely, squeezed out the extra juice after blanching it (I used this juice in gravy again) and then mixed it with paneer to make koftas. Try it out and say your opinion.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4 people

Ingredients:

For Spinach Paneer Koftas:

Spinach leaves - 200 grams, finely chopped
Cottage cheese / Paneer - 200 grams, crumbled or grated
Corn flour - 2 tablespoons
Salt - a pinch
Oil - for shallow frying or deep frying

For Gravy / For Tomato Sauce:

Tomatoes - 2 nos, large size, sliced
Ginger - 1 inch length
Garlic - 3 medium size cloves
Oil - 1 tablespoon
Onion - 1 no, large size, sliced
Cashew nuts - 50 grams
Turmeric - 1/2 teaspoon
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder - 1 tablespoon
Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Garam masala - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt -to taste
Water - 2 cups
Butter / Cream / Yogurt - 2 tablespoons (Optional)

Method:

For Spinach Paneer Koftas:

1) Wash Spinach leaves well and blanch it. Once it is cooled down, squeeze out the excess water from it.
2) Add paneer, corn flour and a pinch of salt. Mix well.

3) Make 1 and 1/2 inch round sized balls. Keep aside.
4) Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a pan or kadai. Shallow fry all the koftas. You can also deep fry them.

5) When the koftas turn golden brown, transfer to a plate covered with kitchen towel. Keep it aside till the gravy is ready.

For the Gravy / For Tomato Sauce:

1) Heat oil in a pan. When it is hot, add cumin seeds. Allow it to splutter.
2) Add sliced onion. Saute it till it becomes soft and turned brown.
3) Add chopped ginger and garlic. Saute for 1 minute.

4) Add tomatoes and continue sauteing till the tomatoes turned soft and mushy.
5) Add red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala, turmeric powder and salt. Mix well. Cook till the raw smell of masala goes off.

6) Finally add roasted cashews and allow this mixture to cool for a while.
7) Once the mixture is  cooled down, put it in a mixer / food processor and make a fine paste. Add squeezed out the juice from spinach to help grinding.
8) Bring back this paste to the same pan along with 2 cups of water. Mix well and bring it to boil. Turn the flame to medium for 10 minutes once the gravy starts boiling
9) When the gravy comes to single cream consistency, add the koftas and cook again for 5-7 minutes.
10) Garnish with double cream/ yogurt/ butter and serve with rice or naan.

Notes:
1) Instead of koftas, you can also add cooked lima beans to the gravy.
2) I used baby spinach and I finely chopped them before blanching it. So, it was easy for me to make koftas with paneer. If you are not able to make koftas, add more corn flour. You can also microwave the spinach and mush it slightly before adding it to paneer.
3) You can also deep fry the koftas. But make sure the blot off the excess oil after deep frying. It tends to absorb more oil.
4) Original recipe called for ricotta cheese and I substituted it with paneer.

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Eggless Coffee and Chocolate Cupcake

Yesterday was my cousin's birthday. We make an order for special cake and arrange a party every time to celebrate it. This time, for a change, We visited the orphanage nearby and spent time with the kids over there. Felt over filled by heart and we decided to visit there for all special occasions and whenever time permits.

I wanted to post something special for his birthday. But I got stuck up with few personal work and unable to spend time to prepare a special recipe. So, posting a simple, easy and moist egg less coffee and chocolate cupcake recipe which I adapted from here. I prepared these cupcakes for him when he visited home last time and I thought it is the correct time to post it now for him. Now, off to the recipe.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Makes: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

For Cupcakes:

All purpose flour / Plain flour / Maida - 1 and 1/2 cups
Cocoa powder - 1/4 cup, unsweetened
Granulated Sugar - 1 cup
Baking soda - 1 teaspoon
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
Brewed coffee - 1 cup
White vinegar - 1 tablespoon (see notes)
Vanilla extract - 2 teaspoons
Olive oil - 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons

For Frosting:

Butter - 1/4 cup
Cocoa powder - 1/4 cup, unsweetened
Icing sugar / Powdered sugar - 1 cup
Milk - 3 tablespoons (see notes)
Vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon

Method:

For Cupcakes:

1) Preheat the oven to 176C (350F). Line the cupcake tray with cupcake liners. Keep it aside.
2) In a large mixing bowl, take the brewed coffee. Add vinegar, vanilla extract and olive oil. Mix well.
3) Mix all the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, sugar and salt) in an another separate bowl. Add this dry ingredients to the coffee mixer.

4) Mix just until all the ingredients come together without any lumps.
5) Pour this batter to the prepared cupcake tray equally.
6) Bake it in the middle rack of the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until the skewer inserted in to it comes out clean.

7) Remove from oven and let it cool for 5 minutes and then transfer the cupcakes to the wiring rack to cool completely.
8) Once cooled down, apply the frosting and enjoy well.

For frosting:

1) Whisk the butter until it reaches the creamy consistency.
2) Add cocoa powder and mix again till it reaches smooth consistency.
3) Start with icing sugar, add icing sugar and milk or vanilla alternatively, stirring after each addition until the consistency you required.
4) Scoop the frosting to the piping bag with the desired nozzle shape.
5) Squeeze out the frosting to make a design.

Notes:
1) If you don't get vinegar, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to it.
2) To prepare coffee, add 1 or 2 teaspoons of instant coffee powder(I used Nescafe) to a cup of hot water and allow it to cool to room temperature. If you don't like the coffee flavor, use same quantity of plain drinking water to make this cupcakes.
3) The milk quantity mentioned for frosting can be increased or decreased as per the consistency you required. It the frosting is too thick, add more milk or if the frosting is too runny, add more icing sugar.

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Seem Paal / Junnu Paalu

We call this milk as Junnu paalu at home. Seempaal or Kadambu paal are the other names for this milk which is rich in protein and nutrients. It is prepared using cow's first milk, i.e, the first few days milk of cow after delivering a calf. It looks thicker than than the milk which we get regularly. It also looks yellowish in colour.

Here in my native, we buy fresh cow's milk and the milkman brings it daily morning and evening. Few weeks before, he brought seem paal asked me if I could buy it. My mind went back to my childhood memories which made me to say "Yes" and bought 2 litres of it. It is been ages since I tasted this and also getting a seempaal in chennai is like once in a blue moon. so, I made use of the oppurtunity I got. :-) The taste of  seempaal is liked by only few but if you like it, you never forget the taste even if you happened to eat it only once.

We usually make seempaal in two ways, one is simply boiling it in a sauce pan and the other one is prepared by steam cooking. I like (also showed here) the seempal prepared using the first method which is very easy and quick. The later one additionally uses regular milk, jaggery and dry ginger powder which is steam cooked to get a flan like texture. This is usually served as dessert in my home.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: <5 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 4 persons

Ingredients:

Cow's first milk / Colostrum milk - 1 litre (see notes)
Sugar  / Jaggery - 1/4 cup
Green Cardamom - 3 nos, crushed

Method:
1) Filter and pour the milk to a large sauce pan.
2) Boil it in medium flame.
3) In 3-5 minutes, you can see the foam that forms on top of the milk. At this time, stir well using a ladle.

4) In few seconds, you can see the milk starts coagulating and separates whey from it. It also looks like a curdled milk.
5) Add sugar now. Increase or decrease the sugar as per your taste.
6) Add crushed cardamom. You can also add 1/4 teaspoon of cardamom powder instead of crushed whole cardamom.

7) Continue cooking for few more minutes and turn the flame off.
8) Pour in bowls and serve warm or chill. It can be served with or without whey.

Notes:
1) Cows first milk here, refers to the milk produced after delivering a calf. Usually, this milk is collected for first 3 to 7 days.
2) If you add jaggery the texture of the milk slightly changes.

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Vetrilai Poondu Sadam / Betel Leaves and Garlic Rice

Betel leaves(Vetrilai or vethalai in vernacular language) are associated with rituals, festivals and functions in India. Till last year, I thought betel leaves are only used for those purpose only. But when My sister's would-be visited our home, he said about betel leaves dosa what his periamma prepared on that day for breakfast.  For the first time, I heard about some recipe using betel leaves. He also said some health benefits of it. I inspired by his words and with extra curious, checked about the recipes using betel leaves over web and surprised to see a few.

I found few recipes from Kaarasaram Reva's site. She had explained about betel leaves and also its Ayurveda health benefits. Thanks Karasaram Reva for wonderful recipes. I have tried couple of them and yet to try the green gold, the juice which uses betel leaves. First recipe using betel leaves is a rice recipe with garlic. With freshly ground masala, it really tasted unique and gave distinct flavor which I have not tasted before. Off to the recipe now...

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes + 20 minutes to cook rice
Serves: 2 persons

Ingredients:

For Masala:

Black sesame seeds - 1 teaspoon
Black pepper seeds - 1 teaspoon
Dry ginger / Sukku - 1/2 teaspoon
Dried Red chillies - 3
Dry Turmeric / Turmeric stick / Virali manjal - 1 inch length piece

For Rice:

Seeraga samba Rice / Basmati rice - 1 cup
Water - 2 cups +1 tablespoon
Gingelly oil - 2 tablespoons
Fennel seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Cinnamon sticks - 1 inch length piece
Curry leaves - 1 string
Betel leaves - 4 nos, finely chopped and stalk removed
Garlic cloves - 6 big cloves
Salt - to taste

Method:

For Masala:

1) Dry roast all the ingredients given under "For Masala". Allow it to cool to room temperature.

2) Make a powder of it once it is cooled down. Keep it aside.

For Rice:

1) Wash the rice well 2 or 3 times using water. Soak it for 30 minutes.
2) Drain the water and cook it with 2 cups of water. Once done, fluff it using fork and transfer to a wide plate and allow it to cool.

3) Heat oil in a pan. Add fennel seeds and cinnamon stick when it is hot. Let it slightly brown in colour.
4) Add curry leaves followed by garlic. Cook the garlic till it becomes soft.
5) Add cooked and cooled rice and reduce the flame to low. Add chopped betel leaves.
6) Add ground masala that we prepared already. Add salt.

7) Gently mix and sprinkle one tablespoon of water. Cover it using a lid and cook  it for 5 minutes. Make sure not to burn it.
8) Open the lid and mix well. Turn the flame off.

Notes:
1) I used 1/4 cup of Oru poondu (Pearl Garlic). You can also use more garlic. I prepared once using 1/2 cup of garlic.
2) Increase or decrease dried red chillies as per personal preference.
3) Use only Gingely oil and freshly ground masala for perfect taste.
4) Use only mid range betel leaves. It should not be too young and too matured

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