Oats Puliyodharai and "THE OATS : WATER" ratio

Those in my fb friends list, would be aware, that there was a cookery demo i had taken a month back with Oats as the main theme. So, the weeks prior to it were literally trial and error days. Trying a new recipe each evening, taking pictures to prepare the notes, and ofcourse, for positng in here...see if its worth demonstrating....in terms of easness , time taken...

This was one of the trials for the main dish item using OATS. Didnt demonstrate it for the session thou...as i finally decided to stick on to some non-veg item..(beef-oats biriyani, which will follow shortly)

Basically, the recipe is the same...the prOcedure is the same, as with all other regular puliyodharae.

Just need to fix two things in mind.

1. NEVER use quick/instant oats for these type of cooking. They mush up and is one big mess. Always used the Old Fashioned Rolled Oats.
(refer to "this post" for the different types available)

 

2. The "oats-water" ratio. Some recipes for  upma would recommend soaking the oats in water for a few minutes before cooking. I dont follow it, rather prefer to add it as such. But (a big BUT) keep in mind the proportion.

 

1 cup hot water to 1 and 3/4 cup oats. (Less than that would result in mushy oats, higher than that would result in too dry and undercooked oats) - Stick to this !

1(water) : 1 and 3/4 (oats)

 

To the recipe.... you need:

 

Old fashioned rolled oats - 1 and 3/4 cup
Hot water - 1 cup
Gingelly Oil (Nallena) - 3 tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 4 tsp
Channa Dal - 1 tbsp
Urad Dal - 1 tsp
Dried Red chillies - 2
Curry Leaves - few
Powdered jaggery - 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Hing (Perungayam) - a generous pinch
Tamarind - lemon sized ball
Peanuts - about 10
Salt - to taste

To roast and grind :

Oil - 1 tsp
Channa Dal - 1 ½ tbsp
Urad dal - 1 tbsp
Coriander Seeds - ½ tbsp
Fenugreek Seeds - ½ tsp
Sesame seeds - 1 tbsp

Procedure :

 

Heat oil and roast the ingredients  under the "to roast and grind" heading above until golden brown. Allow it to cool and grind it coarsely. Keep aside.
 

Add 1/4 cup water (from the already measured 1 cup) to the tamarind, let it soak for 15mins. To save time, you can just microwave it for a minute and then squeeze out thick tamarind pulp. Keep aside.

 

Heat gingelly oil in a kadai on medium low heat and add the peanuts. Roast until slightly browned.

Splutter the mustard seeds, channa dal, urad dal, curry leaves, red chillies, turmeric powder and hing. Toast until they are browned evenly.

 

Now add the tamarind extract (1/4 cup) followed by remaining water (3/4 cup) and allow it to boil . Check and add salt.

Now add the measured oats, the roasted items, mix gently till well coated.
 

 Close and cook for a few minutes (4 or 5)

 

Mix again, gently..till all the water has been soaked, and oats cooked, yet not soggy. Can add a tsp or two of water, if the oasts seems a bit too dry for your taste..but its optional.

 

 

Serve hot with any chutney of your choice.



Avalose - podi - Cookies (instant no-bake treats) with chocolate and pecans

Avalose Podi (fried rice flour with grated coconut and cumin) and Avalose Unda (Balls made of this roasted rice flour) is soo typical to a Keralite household, and believe it is one of the staple items most "non-resident keralites" carry with them back from vacations. I have never had to prepare it myself, coz most of the time, it would be already prepared and ready for us , by the time we reach our paternal homes.

 

Home-made Avalose Podi in its packaging. Usually, it is taken with honey or sugar in its powder form, or mixed with honey/jaggery syrup to form balls aka the Avalose Unda.

 

Read about the making of the Avalose powder and ball versions here.

 

And this pack was there, in my pantry shelf...staying as such and to be honest, i am not than keen a fan of it...be it in any form.  So, on a wild instinct, last weekend...decided to give it a facelist...a makeover kindof.  Unlike the regular honey or jaggery, decided to use condensed milk as the liquid base. A trial...

You need ( i took)

Avalouse poowder - 2 cups

Condensed milk - 1/4 cup or more

Ghee - 1 or 2 tsp

Milk - few tbsps

Vanilla essence (optional)

Cooking chocolate

Chopped pecans

 

Thats 2 cups of Avalose podi . Not being specific on the quantity for the condensed milk. May be 1/4 - 1/2 cup, coz we need it sweet.

 

In a wok, added 1-2 tsp tsp ghee, added the powder and condensed milk mix. Warm on medium flame.

Added some regular milk, a few tablespoons, until we get the right consistency to shape it. It has cumin and grated coconut within, so didnt try with much added flavours.

 

I tried with these cookie cutters, round and star shaped, but finally decided to stick on to handshaped ovals.

Now..for the choco-touch.

 

Take the cooking chocolate in a M/W safe bowl. And mind it..do not leave it by its self..lest these mini hands would snatch it in no time.

Break to roughly small chunks and microwave on high for 1 minute. Sitr and then go less on time. Say 30 secs more.

 

 

This was about 4 cubes from the choco bar at 1 minute and 30 secs in M/W.

 

 

Stir well.

 

 

Line the shaped cookies (alright..from now on..we call them...cookies! ) and drizzle the melted chocolate in lines.

 

 

For a change, dipped one portion of the cookie into the melted chocolate and later into chopped pecans to coat over the chocolate.

 

 

There you go. Instant no-bake- Avalouse Cookies with chocolates and Pecans !!!

 

 

LoR 08 - Instant Tomato Chutney

(LoR - Leftover Remake )

 

 A quicky post on an even quicky remake.

 

 

 Instant tomato chutney with leftover tomato thokku.

 

Had posted  a remake version of the Tomato thokku (recipe "here") to make Egg Burji some time back. This chutney is yet another version I do almost regularly .

 

 

Infact, i always prepare the simple tomato thokku a bit more than necessary to make way for the remakes..either of them...depending on what i have in hand to pair up with.

 

If for some chapathi, i go for the egg burji remake, but

 

if for dosa or idli, its this chutney version.

 

Its basically just two steps involved :

 

 

Take the tomato curry (thokku) in a mixer , add some grated coconut. Have used dessicated ones in here, as i was short of the fresh ones. Either ways , its fine.

 

Give a pulse, and thats it.  Maybe, you can add in a green chillie if required, for some extra spice, but I dont as my kids are the spice-repellant type.

 

Salt..yes..a tad bit more could go in.

 

Quicky, yeah ?

 

;)

 

click "here" to go to the previous post in the LoR series.

Sago - Banana Kheer/Payasam



 

Ingredients 

 

1/4 cup Sabudana/Sago/Tapioca pearls

4 and1/2 cup water

1 cup Milk

1/4 cup sugar (or less)

1 tablespoon ghee

2 no cardamom pods

2 tbsp condensed milk(or according to the sugar level)

vanilla essence

 

Soak the sabudana for 20 minutes with 1 cup water, wash well and remove all the starchy particles. Then cook the sabudana for another 20 minutes with 1 ½ cup of water until it becomes transparent. Wash once again with water and drain it in a colander.

To this add milk, cooked sabudana , sugar , condensed milk and cook for another 10 minutes.

Cut a banana (shouldn't be very ripe..lest it gets mushy) into small chunks, slightly fry in ghee and add it to the sago - milk mix. Add crushed cardamom and a few drops of vanilla essence, mix. Swith of the stove when it becomes thick and reaches the right consistency.

Want to know more about Sago/Sabudana/Tapioca Pearls?

well..firstly,dont go by the name, They have nothing to do with tapioca.

Sago is a starch extracted from the pith of sago palm stems.  while Tapioca is a starch extracted from the root of plant species Manihot esculenta.

Whilst Sago is from the pith, or middle part, of the trunk of a Sago Palm (Metroxylon sagu), Tapioca comes from Cassava or Manioc (botanically Manihot esculenta), a popular tropical crop.

Sharing few shared imges of the sago palm. ..Images courtesy - www.ARKive.org

Sago Palm Plantation

 

 

as terrace plant

 

the leaves look great, after the rains..

 

 

Sago Palm leaves uncurling..

 

gorgeous !

 

 

Palm Inflorescence

 

 

Infertile sago palm seeds

 



 



alright !..back the Kheer, you dont want it to turn cold and thick.



coz, its best when served hot.

Recipe adapted from here . Zesty South Indian Kitchen by Swathi dearest .

 

 

  

 

Strawberry Custard Powder Biscuts (eggless)

These cute pinky cookies goes perfect for some lille girle parties..but me being the only girl (woman) among the 4 men in my household...well...got to admit, i got partial .... ending up having most of it by myself . Yeah..i know...the selfish me...but...pink is for girls, is it not, after all :P

 

 

Eggless Custard Powder Cookies (strawberry flavour)

 

 Ingredients:

 

2 cups maida/ All purpose flour

1/2 cup custard powder

3/4 tsp backing powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup oil

1/4 cup milk or less (as required)

1 tsp Strawberry essence (optional)

 

Method

Combine the flour, custard powder(i used Strawberry flavour) baking soda and baking powder.

Sieve them together for even mixing. 

 

Combine the sugar and oil and mix this till the sugar gets dissolved.

 

 Slowly add this to the dry ingredients(flour mixture) and combine well.

 

Add few tsps of milk to the mix till we get the right consistency, about to roll into a soft dough. Addition of milk brings out the pink colour of the custard powder. Can add a few drops of red food colour and essence too, if required..but, optional.

 

 Heard about these ?? ...Kohleria 'Strawberry Fields'. More about these "strawberry" look alike foliage in here. 

 

 



Make it into a smooth dough.Pinch small portion of your dough. Make it into a smooth ball and flatten it onto a baking tray lined with Parchment paper. Insert a cherry - cut into the centre of the cookie dough.

 

Place them slightly away from each other and bake it for 10-15 mins minutes at 170 degree C.

 

Take out from the oven and cool them in a wire rack.

Once completely cooled they will become firm and crispy.

 

Note:

Never over bake the cookies. Take out them when they are soft.

Recipe source - Jeyashri's Kitchen and it asks for 1cup butter. I reduced the quantity to 3/4 and added milk instead to get the right consistency

 

 

.....says the cookie..and

 

 

YES !!! we did !!!

 

Like a COOKIE MONSTER !!

 

 

 

.

 

 

 

All-purpose Eggless Bake-Dough .

Hey , friends ! Take my word. This is simple, quick and a healthier option  to a

   "FOOL-PROOF ALL PURPOSE DOUGH"...and, its EGGLESS too.  

You can use it for flat bread , bun , pizza , roll , bread loaf , fatayer....

 

very versatile !!

 

Back from school..and..straight into action :)

The method is slightly different from the regular means. You first make a "sponge" mix , which is basically proofed yeast plus a portion of the flour to which later, the remaining ingredients are added.

You need:

 

2 cups warm water.
2 Tablespoons instant yeast.
4 Tablespoons Sugar.
5 cups flour, unbleached, whole wheat, or a mixture of the two, (you can use 3 cups white+2 cups whole wheat).
1\4 cup oil.
2 teaspoons salt.

How to do:

 

 

1 ) For the "sponge," mix the yeast, sugar, and water.

     Mix in 2 cups flour. Cover the bowl and let rise for 10 minutes.

 

2) Place all ingredients +"sponge" in the bowl of mixer, beat 10 minutes to make soft dough.

3) The dough is now ready to use.

 

 

 

Do note that this recipe gives quite a large mass of the dough, as it keep raising. You can make 2-3 large sized pizzas, and quite a few mini's .

Assorted variations getting baked. Basically, you shape it the way you want..open, closed. topped or stuffed....

 

Stuffed dough sandwich , which here, in the middle-east they called "fatayer". Used Za'atar (oregano, mixed with olive oil) as the filling in here.

 

Some dough remains, shaped into a flower and sprinkled with sugar and cinamon powder.

 

 

Indulgance ! ;)