Mani Puttu/Mani Pittu

By now, you shall guess how this beautiful looking puttu get it's name..all because of those sweet little steamed balls. Mani puttu or mani pittu are fun to make (atleast it was for me) and as much fun to eat it as well. While making this puttu it reminds me of mani kozhukattai. The process are almost the same with some minor changes on.. the recepi. I shall say they tastes almost the same while the mani puttu's flavors are enhanced with the steamed grated coconut.

You may double up the recepi accordingly but make sure there's no cracks on the rice balls, to prevent them from cracking while steaming. Always cover the tiny balls and remaining dough with clean kitchen towel to avoid the dough from drying up.

The moment i served this eye catching puttu on my breakfast table, Dandelions was excited and started to pop in those soft and smooth rice balls to savour the goodness. Puttu are one of healthiest breakfast and quite filling too. The warm coconut milk make a best pair for the hot puttu. The combination of creamy and rich coconut milk sweetened with vellam drizzle over the soft rice balls steamed with grated coconut are indeed a perfect way to enjoy our weekend breakfast.

Ingredients

For The Rice Balls

1 1/2 cups rice flour

1/3 cup grated coconut

1 or 1 1/2 cups boiling hot water

2 tbsp gingely oil or ghee

Salt to taste

For Coconut Milk

1/2 cup grated coconut

1/3 cup water

2 tbsp organic vellam/jaggery

Pinch of salt

2 cardamom pods, crushed

Methods

In a bowl add rice flour and salt. Stir to combine.

Gradually, add hot water and using a spatula mix to form a dough.

Once the dough are warm enough to handle, knead the dough for 1-2 minutes for a smooth and soft dough. 

Apply some gingely oil or ghee on your palm and pinch a small amount of dough and make small balls without cracks on them. 

Cover the balls and remaining dough with clean kitchen towel to prevent from drying.

Boil water in bottom part of puttu maker (puttu kudam) for steaming.

Layer one table spoon of grated coconut in the bottom of puttu cylinder and fill halfway with the rice balls. 

Layer another tablespoon of grated coconut and fill the remaining half of the cylinder with the rice balls, leaving little space for the final layering of another tablespoon of grated coconut. 

Cover with lid and steam for 10 minutes. Switch off the heat and remove the puttu cylinder.

Meanwhile, add the grated coconut and water in a blender. Grind for 1-2 minutes.

Using a strainer, strain the coconut milk. You may grind the again the coconut with little water if you prefer a thin consistency of coconut milk. I grind only once for thicker consistency.

In a saucepan over medium heat, add the coconut milk and caardamom pods. Cook just for few seconds to warm the milk. Do not boil the coconut milk.

Transfer to a bowl, season with salt and vellam or jaggery. Stir well till completely dissolved. Keep aside.

Using a wooden laddle gently push the puttu to unmould.

Serve with generous drizzle of sweetened warm coconut milk.

Notes

• If you're not using organic vellam or jaggery, always boil them with little water and strain the mixture to remove impurities.
• Make sure to cool the boiled mixture complety before adding to the warm coconut milk.

Purple Sweet Potato Thosai

Thosai as we all know, can be made in many variations. Stuffed,seasoned,multiple flavors,toppings & etc. One of such are my purple sweet potato thosai or ube thosai. Recently i purchased few homemade fruits & vegetable powder online. Since it's homemade and i'm confident with the way the seller making the powders, i decided to place my orders.

It's 100% original without any coloring or preservatives. One of my many purchase, are this premium quality purple sweet potato powder. I'm totally impressed with the vibrant natural colur of the powder and can't wait to experiment with it.

That's how purple sweet potato thosai comes in. As i said, the colur are absolutely beautiful and the thosai turns out really well. The sweet potato flavor are not overhelming, it was in a right amount of taste and absolutely brilliant way to add the goodness of sweet potato into Indian cooking. Sweet potatoes are known for it's antioxidant and beneficial vitamins. I served my delicious purple sweet potato thosai with equally mouth watering magic chutney.

Ingredient

1 cup par boiled rice
1/4 cup urad dhal
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
Salt taste

1 tsp ube/purple sweet potato powder

Methods

For The Dosa Batter

Soak all the ingredients except salt & purple sweet potato powder, for atleast 4 hours or overnight.

Grind the soaked ingredients with little water. The batter should not be too thin or too thick.

Pour he batter into a large pot or vessel and add salt. Mix well. Let  the batter ferment for 7-8 hours.

Just before making the thosai, add the purple sweet potato powder and mix well without any lumps.

Prepare Dosa

Heat dosa tawa and drizzle with little oil. Take a ladleful of dosa batter and spread into a circle.

Sprinkle little oil along the edges of the dosa and cook on medium heat for 2-3 minutes.

 Transfer to a plate and serve hot with chutney

Rabri Gulab Jamun

The only part i find time consuming in this exotic recepi is the rabri making and process of chilling it. Other than that, all other process comes handy and easy to put up with. I made my own gulab jamun from scratch but, if you prefer a shortcut method store bought pre-mix gulab jamun will do the trick and it tastes good too. Time and energy saver in a packet. 

As much as i the rabri took my time but, at the end of the process it all worth the effort. The rich and decadent rabri compliments the gulab jamun really well. Do not taken aback with the amount of sugar in this recepi afterall, it's gulab jamun and what to expect. One in awhile it won't hurt anyone 😆.

Give atleast 2-3 hours for the rabri to chill well in the fridge to get the right consistency. It shouldn't be too thicked neither too thin. A light flowing consistency is what we are looking for and be extremely careful while getting the rabri done by avoiding the milk from getting burnt. Overall, the experience of having sweet little gulab jamun swim in the thickened milk is an awesome foodie experience. It's rich,sweet,milky and full with flavour and texture.

Ingredients

For The Gulab Jamun

1 cup milk powder
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp yogurt
1 tsp ghee/clarified butter
Pinch of salt
Pinch of baking powder
Oil for deep frying
Silver sheet for garnishing (optional)

For The Sugar Syrup

1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
2 cups water
3 cardamom pods, crushed
1 tsp rose water

For The Rabri

1 litre milk

1/4 cup granulated white sugar

2 tbsp chopped pistachios

2 tbsp chopped pistachios

1/4 tsp cardamom powder

Pinch of saffron

Methods

For The Rabri

Boil milk in heavy bottomed pan and lower the flame. Cook till the milk thickened by occasionally stirring and scrapping the sides of the pan approximately for 35-40 minutes.

Add saffron,cardamom powder and chopped pistachios. Cook for another 10-12 minutes by stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature before storing in the fridge to chilled for 2-3 hours.

For The Sugar Syrup

In a heavy bottom pan, boil sugar and water. Stir till sugar dissolved.

Add the crushed cardamom pods and cook till the sugar syrup thickens.

Turn off the flame, and stir in the rose water.

For The Gulab Jamun

In a bowl combine together milk powder,all purpose flour,salt and baking powder. Whisk well to combine.

Add ghee and yogurt. Mix well to form a soft dough.

With your palm, shape the dough into small balls.

Heat oil in a pan over a medium-low flame and deep fry the prepared balls till golden. Stir often to to brown on all sides.

Strain the oil and add the hot balls into a prepared sugar syrup. Soak the balls for 1-2 hours for the balls to absorb the sugar syrup.

Remove the gulab jamun from the sugar syrup and drizzle over with the chilled rabri. Sprinkle with more chopped pistachios and enjoy.

Instant Chutney

This is the easiest and simplest chutney recepi that i prepare when the lazy mood atracks. No tempering or hard cutting requires to the extend you may dump the garlic without peeling. Somehow, the garlic skin do lend some texture and taste to the chutney. As always adjust the chilly flakes according to your heat tolerance and the best thing about this recepi is, you may double or triple up the whole recepi. I just tempered the chutney for extra kick but, it was good on it's own. I had tried few times without temperin the chutney and no complaints. This is a thick consistency chutney, you may adjust the water if u prefer a thin consistency but, do not add too much of water which will alter the taste of it. Goes very well with idli,thosai or ponggal.

Ingredients

3 tbsp chilly flakes

1 large red onion,peeled 

5 cloves garlic with skin

1/3 cup mint leaves

1/3 cup coriander leaves

1 tbsp tamarind paste

Salt to season

Pinch of jaggery

3-4 tbsp water

Methods

Add all the ingredients in a grinder and grind into semi coarse texture. Not too fine neither too coarse.

Transfer to a serving bowl and serve alongside idli or thosai.

Moist Carrot Cake

 

Selamat Hari Raya or Eid Mubarak to all my Muslim friends. It's kinda chalengging celebratng festivals during pandemic but, life goes on so do the spirit of celebration lives on. Eventhough, i'm not Muslim, living in multi racial country Malaysia we join in the celebration by cooking some of special dishes for lunch and what is celebration without cake. I know carrot cake nothing to do with Hari Raya but, no harm having a piece of cake any time of the day 😃. 

Grab some carrot, keep shredding and bake a beautiful, delicious carrot cake frosted generously with cream cheese. I skipped on applesauce in the recepi as i don't have any at the moment yet, the cake turns out reallya well with perfect moist and crumbs. Use a fine grated for the shredding as it helps to lend a perfect texture for the cake.

My simple cream cheese frosting can be prepared in a jiffy yet, doesn't compromise in taste. It's rich and creamy with an addictive taste. I love the combination of crunchy walnuts,tenderness of finely grated carrots that you get on every bite and that drooling cream cheese frosting. Cut a big slice for yourself and enjoy 😋

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

3 cups finely grated carrot

1 cup granulated white sugar

1 cup granulated white sugar

3/4 cup soft brown sugar

3 eggs, room temperature

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup chopped toasted walnuts

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp salt

For Cream Cheese Frosting

2 1/2 cups cream cheese, room temperature

3 cups confectioners sugar,sifted

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup butter, room temperature

Pinch of salt

Methods

Preheat oven at 175'C or 350'F. Line an 9"inch baking tray with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, sift in the flour,baking powder,baking soda,salt,ground cinnamon,ground ginger and ground nutmeg. 

In a bowl using a stand or hand mixer, beat the white sugar,brown sugar and vegetable oil for 2-3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one by one with vanilla extract and and continue beating till light and fluffy.

Add the flour mixture and mix till combined. Stir in the grated carrot and chopped walnuts. Pour the mixture into prepared baking tray and bake for 45-50 minutes or till a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. 

Cool in the pan for 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Meanwhile prepare the cream cheese frosting.

For The Cream Cheese Frosting

Using a stand or hand mixer, beat the cream cheese for 1 minute. Add the butter and vanilla extract. 

Gradually add in the sifted confectioner sugar and beat till the mixture light and fluffy.

Once the cake completely cool down, frost the cake with the cream cheese frosting and decoare with toasted walnuts pieces.

Slice and enjoy.

Besan Fried Eggs

I invented this recepi with the fusion style of by combining besan flour with onion & garlic powder. The recepi kicks in when i'm crackinh for a simple yet, tasty egg dish as sides for our Sunday lunch. The sight of ingredients in my pantry produced this humble and easy eggs. 

I opted for black pepper powder for the punch. You may sprinkle some smoked paprika or even add paprika to the batter to enhance the taste. Goes very well with dhal rice or chicken gravy. 

Ingredients

5 eggs

1/2 cup gram/besan flour

Salt to taste

Water as needed

1/4 tsp black pepper powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Vegetable oil, for deep frying

Methods

In a pot, boil eggs till hard boiled. Remove the shell cut into halves. Keep aside.

In a bowl, add besan flour,onion powder,garlic powder,black pepper powder and salt. Stir to combine.

Gradually, add water to form a semi thick batter.

Heat oil in a pan for deep frying.

Gently, coat the halved eggs with the besan batter.

Fry for 1-2 minutes on both sides.

Sprinkle with pepper powder for the extra kick.