Jackfruit has been a fruit that I have always loved since my childhood. Whenever Amma used to take us shopping in T.Nagar, and I would get the aroma of ripe jackfruits, neatly arranged on plantian leaves, covered with wire mesh, I would beseech her to buy it for me. Amma used to tell me stories of her childhood, when Maduraiamma would get an entire jackfruit for Vishu. It used to be an elaborate procedure to oil your palms and patiently take out the ripe fleshy parts encased so delicately between rows and rows of fibers. But the labor would be well worth the wait just to take a bite of the succulent fruits.
Jackfruit is definitely high in sugar and carbs but eating it once a while is definitely not a problem. It`s said to be rich in potassium and lowering blood pressure levels. It`s also believed to cure ulcers and rich in anti-oxidants. The seeds of the jackfruit is also edible and used in many preparations . I had been craving for this fruit for a long long time and when I saw this fruit stocked in Patel`s in Chicago, I had to have it. I enjoyed its sweetness and aroma everyday over the last week. almost felt I was in Madras !!!!
The best thing about summers when I was a little girl was the fact that I had unlimited supply of books to read, time to play, helping amma in the kitchen, shopping walks now and then, cutting veggies, and most importantly, mmy favourite cousins would visit us for 2 whole months!!! Reading in my opinion is the best way to spend lazy summer vacation afternoons….Summers also remind me of juicy Banganapalli Mangoes, fragrant in their aroma from miles away and of course the water fruits like watermelons and the tender cucumbers. The footpaths would be lined with mounds of green watermelons stacked one on top of the other. We would buy a big one, get it home, and make little crescents for all of us to eat. At the end of it, we would be so messy with the watermelon juice and seeds, that amma would send us right in to wash up and have a bath!!!
This summer, my daughter S was also excited to see watermelons and honeydew and cantaloupes. She loves to help me in the kitchen so I got this little Melon Scooper from Walmart which is a really creative way of scooping out little rounds of fruit. We both do that and pop them in to a large glass bowl, covered with cling film , ready to be served chilled.
We scoop out entire fruits which are firm like apples and bananas and refrigerate them so you have little cups of mixed fruit ready for your little ones when they come home from school or from a tiring evening at the park.
Kids love the variety of the shape and the infusion of colour which makes this a healthy and interesting snack.
Add a scoop of ice cream for a lovely after dinner dessert!!
Add custard to have a whole new taste. Pop a few in your morning cup of cereal for your fruit serving for the day.
Use as a topping over oats.
Pack a boxfull for an easy travel snack.
The simplicity of the shape renders them easy for kids/toddlers to scoop and eat!!!
Madurai amma`s favourite all time chips was the Raw Banana Chips. When we were in school, she would suddenly pick a fresh bunch of green and firm Raw Bananas from her favourite street hawker in Ranganathan Street and immediately would decide on making chips with them. That was the criteria…the raw bananas HAD to be fresh, firm almost just plucked from the tree!!! She would come back home and instruct me to peel it and with the help of the Anjali Slicer, would directly slice them on to the hot oil and flavour them with spices and powders. She would then place them on a cool dry container and store it air tight for almost a week. With the advent of Hot Chips, I must admit that much of our chips making was cut down quite a bit. But there is nothing like home made chips!!! This week when I saw the raw bananas that my husband had picked from the Indian Store, I was suddenly reminded of my grand mother and her impulsive plan to make Raw Banana Chips and I was suddenly craving for them. This weekend I treated my family( and me of course!) to some fried goodness…..
INGREDIENTS:
2 Fresh Raw Bananas which feel firm to touch.
Oil to fry.
1 1/2 spoon of Red Chilli Powder.
1 spoon of Salt.
Hing.
PREPARATION:
Peel all the raw bananas and using a Mandolin or your knife, slice them cross section in to thin circles.
The more thin the slices are the easier to fry to crispness.
Place them all on a plate to dry out a little and this also makes it easier to pop them in to the oil.
Combine the red chilli powder, the salt and the hing in a little dish and keep ready.
Keep sufficient oil on a kadai and place on a stove set to Medium High.
When the oil is sufficiently hot , pop the sliced Raw Banana pieces one by one.
Keep the number always at a manageable level and dont crowd the kadai with too many chips as they wont fry well.
Allow to fry well on both sides.
Keep a collander lined with tissue on the side and drain all the chips on to the collander.
When still hot from the oil. sprinkle the spice powder liberally on both sides of the chips.
As the fried slices do not have any salt on their own, its the spice seasoning that renders the taste .
Repeat procedure until all the slices are fried.
Store in an air tight container and serve as a side with Rasam or as an awesome evening snack.
Sending a canister of these fried goodness to WYF – Fried Snack Event getting hosted at SimpleIndianFood.
This week was particularly hot and my daughter was yearning for her favourite Sno-Cones.Of couse she would`nt mind having it even on a cold winter day…but that’s a totally different story altogether. Last weekend when I had been to the store I picked out some colourful Sno-Cone serving cups. It was in colourful plastic and it seemed to serve as a drinking /sipping cup for juices. I was waiting to use them and when S wanted a Sno Cone so I decided to have one for myself.
Sno-Cone Cups.
INGREDIENTS:
10 pieces of Ice .
Cotton Candy Flavouring.
Sno-Cone Cups.
PREPARATION:
Pop 10 -12 pieces in to the mixer and crush the ice and immediately drop it in to a glass or the Sno-Cone Cup.
Dash 4-5 spoons of Cotton Candy Syrup on to the crushed ice.
I distinctly remember the first time ever I made a sandwich using a sandwich maker. My aunt had got us a Rowenta Sandwich Maker from the US some fifteen years ago…when it was still unheard of in India. My mom was not too keen to switch to alternate ways of making bread. In her mind, it was pretty satisfactory to toast the bread on a tawa and have it with butter once in a blue moon. My sister was way too young. The others could simply not muster enough time to sit through the ardous task of getting a pin converter and reading the instructions to even start operating it. I had rememberd seeing litttle gadgets in the Home Life Exhibitions, where they had a little bread shaped steel thing, where you could place the bread with the filling and manually toast it over the flame, holding it with the handles provided. It was a novel way of presenting the mundane bread. So I set aside a sunday morning to experiment…and my cousins were only too happy to sample the results of my venture!!!
The first time, I greased the electric plates, placed the bread slices on both sides and wondered what to fill in? I simply pulled out an onion and a tomato and sliced them in to very thin pieces and gingerly placed them on the bread. Sprinkled salt and pepper and some cilantro and covered the filling with the second slice of bread. We all waited with bated breath and were rewarded with the sweet smell of the onions and tomatoes and cilantro roasting in the little apparatus. Three minutes later, the red indicator light switched off and I used a pair of tongs and retrieved the sandwich pieces which were already sliced in to two by now. Crisp on the sides, yet cooked on the inside, it was a tasty treat that morning. From then on it was my own little piece of work as I would find creative fillngs for sandwiches. Bread now had a new intonation in our home….The sandwich had finally arrived!!!
INGREDIENTS:
4 slices of bread.
1 tomato sliced very thin.
1/2 onion sliced thin.
Salt.
Pepper.
Cilantro chopped fine.
A handful of Part Skim Mozzarella Cheese.
Sandwich Maker.
PREPARATION:
Grease the 4 electric plates with cooking spray and allow to preheat for a few minutes.
Place the bread slices and arrange the tomato and onion slices alternately.
Sprinkle salt and crushed pepper and then generous helping of Mozzarella Cheese.
Sprinkle the cilantro and then place the second slice of bread and close.
After about 3 minutes, take out golden brown, crusty on the sides, Tomato Cilantro Cheese Sandwich.
Serve HOT with yummy tomato ketchup.
HINT:
Serves as an excellent breakfast and quick snack for kids when they come back from school.
Great for packing for short trips and Picnic Lunches, as they are easily eatable with no fuss.
Variations in the filling give an almost completely different taste to the sandwich.
Use peanut butter, apple butter, Alu Masal, Cheese, fruit slices, grilled veggies etc for fillings.
Bhajjis – and I remember pouring rain and my family sitting at home, watching tv or chatting sipping piping hot cups of decoction coffee. A favourite of my uncles though would be the Balajee Bhavan bhajji which would be an astounding reddish orange colour and smelling so heavenly. The bhajjis would be served with thick coconut chutney and spicy tomato chutney and would be devoured in no time. Everytime my uncles would come from Delhi, they would have their monring breakfast the very first day, only from Balajee Bhavan. And he would take one of us to go with him….there would be an unwritten rule, that the child that accompanies him, would get to eat the bhajji and Venn Pongal piping hot at the restaurant and then there would be a considerable parcel packed for home. On one such occasion, as we were eating, my uncle asked me ” You are so lucky to be living in T.nagar that too so close to BB. When was the last time you came here?” and I promptly replied “When you came here the last time uncle”!!! and he was astounded…The truth really was that we live so close to many hotels and restaurants. but we never frequent them…Now living so many thousands of miles away….my thoughts wander around my home and its niceness and familiarity.
Last weekend, it poured so much that my husband was suddenly hungry for bhajjis. I hardly ever make it these days because of the oil and the general laziness of making a batter, cutting the vegetables so thin and then frying it in oil. This time, even I felt like having it, and so I set round to making them. I was out of brinjals and so I made them with Onions, Green Plantain and Alu.
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup Gram Flour or Besan.
1/2 cup Rice Flour.
1 spoon chilli powder.
1 spoon salt.
Hing
1 cup of Water
Oil for frying.
1 Alu, 1 Plantain, 1 Onion.
Alu & Plantain sliced.
PREPARATION:
Pour sufficient oil in to a medium sized kadai with a flat base. Keep the flame on low so that the oil is ready to be used by the time the other prep works are done.
Peel the onion, plantain and alu. Slice them in to thin cross sectional circles and set aside.
Keep the batter mixing to the end as besan tends to change consistency over a period of time.
Add besan, rice flour, hing, salt and red chilli powder to a mixing bowl. Measure out the required water.
Although I have mentioned 1 cup, first add 3/4 cup and then slowly if needed ,you can add the remaining 1/4 cup little by little.
The batter should be thick and NOT a thin pouring consistency.
Sliced Vegetables in Besan Batter.
Now dip the vegetables one by one, and carefully drop in to the heated oil.
Allow to cook well on both sides and drain on to a collander lined with kitchen tissue.
Serve HOT with thick coconut chutney and a hot cup of freshly brewed coffee.
The word sundal to me conjures up two things – One – Navarathriwhere “Sundals” are the main naivedhyams to the Goddess Devi and two – Marina Beach where hawkers sell the awesome Thenga Manga Pattani Sundal literally which translates to Coconut Mango and Green Peas. Although my mom has never ever allowed me to even look in to the hawker`s basket, all of us cousins secretly hoped to taste it some day as the aroma wafting in the air would be simply too much for us.
Navarathri again is an altogetherly different option. Every day of Navarathri, we would be invited by the mamis next door and in the neighbouring apartments for “tamboolam“. So my sister and me would be dressed in our finest pattu pavadais, resplendant in their colours and happily go to their homes. Normally, we would be asked to sing a song on Devi, which we would and then after some time we would be given little baskets with turmeric, kumkum, and hot sundals wrapped in newspaper. As days went by, these newspaper parcels were stylishly replaces with little ziploc covers, but I missed those days of simplicity, where people had time to listen to little girls sing, enquire about each other in all sincerity, explain significances of the navarathri dolls etc.
Last night when I saw the little canister of yellow Peas in my pantry, I decided to soak it up overnight so I could make sundal the next day. Yellow Peas is an excellent source of protein as its a healthy legume. Many days, its an easy snack for the kids when they come home in the evening from school as its both healthy as well as filling.
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup Yellow Peas.
1/4 cup of dessicated coconut.
3 green chillies.
Salt.
Hing.
Seasoning:
Mustard, Curry Leaves.
PREPARATION:
Soak the yellow peas the previous night for about 6-8 hours. If you plan to make it for an evening snack, it is enough if you soak it that morning.
Drain all the water and pressure cook with a little salt and just enough water that they just reach the top of the vatana peas. Do not add too much that the peas drown in the water. This will render them mushy.
Switch off after 2 whistles and open after pressure is released.
Grind the coconut and green chillies without any water in to a coarse mix. Set aside.
In a kadai, add a spoon of coconut oil and when it is hot, add mustard, curry leaves and a dash of hing.
Immediately add the cooked yellow peas and a little salt and hing as required.
Garnish with the coconut-chilli mix and incorporate it well in to the peas.
Switch off the stove and serve with Sambar and Rice or as an evening snack for the kids – a healthy side/snack ready in minutes.
NOTE:
One variation is to season with only mustard and garnish with finely chopped coconut slivers, and finely chopped mango pieces. The crunchiness from the coconuts and the tang from the mangoes are incomparable.
Madras Masal is probably the name I have heard people referring to this side dish and so the name stuck. Many hotels in Chennai like Woodlands Drive-In, Balajee Bhavan, Saravana Bhavan, Arya Bhavan etc, serve Pooris strictly to go with this Madras Poori Masal. This probably a watery version of the “Sago” that my friends in Karnataka are familiar with. Its spicy from the flavours of the ginger and the green chillies, but succulent from the potatoes, and all together, this sidh dish greatly enhances the taste of the poori that its had with.
My mom makes the best masal that I have ever had. There was this time that my mom was visiting us, and we decided to go out and have supper in the park, one lovely spring evening. Mom made the masal, and I quickly finished making the Pooris. We packed them in insulated food boxes and laden with picnic plates, spoons and ladles, we set out our spread n that lovely park. It was an amazing evening, sitting in that lovely California park, overlooking rolling greens dotted with specks of lavender and lush yellow, enjoying a meal cooked by mom with love….
INGREDIENTS:
5 potatoes cooked with salt for one whistle in cooker .
1 onion sliced in to thin pieces.
7 green chillies finely chopped.( Use Serrano Peppers for added heat)
1 inch ginger chopped in to little pieces
Salt as accordingly
3 spoons of besan dissolved in 1/4 cup of water.
A pinch of turmeric.
Seasoning: Mustard, Curry Leaves, Channa Dal.
PREPARATION:
Mash the cooked potatoes and set aside.
In a kadai, add 2-3 spoons of oil and when hot, add bengal gram, curry leaves and the ginger, chopped chillies and the thinly sliced onions.
Allow the onions to get sauteed well and then add the mashed potatoes, salt and turmeric and allow to cook.
Now add 1/2 cup of water and let the mixture come together as one.
Finally add the besan dissolved in water to get a creamy finish.
Garnish with a dash of chopped cilantro and serve HOT with soft fluffy pooris.
Pooris are a favourite everywhere. My husband loves pooris and would welcome the idea If I could fnd a way to make it for him everyday!!! Pooris are a part of my childhood, as they are special sunday tiffin preps. Sunday evenings, with piping hot pooris and masal and a cup of coffee….They were also an easy day-ahead preperatory travel foods. Mom would make soft fluffy pooris and wrap them up in a layer of banana leaf and insulate them by wrapping them n newspapers – Just like in the hotels. Pooris are great with channa, masal, pickle and hey even sugar, when I was a little girl! My little one has it with Nutella or Apple Butter….
I am guessing the secret to make soft fluffy pooris is in the making of good dough thats well knead. And there is also this frying technique….Let`s go over it here. I also use a Poori Press that I bought from the Patels in Devon Avenue, Chicago for a mere 8 bucks. The best part of using the Poori Press is that even after frying 40 pooris, ,the oil stays clean and without a speck. Kneading the dough well, would anyway render soft pooris on using the manual belan or rolling pin.
Poori making in the Poori Press.
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups of Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/2 spoons of salt
Water as accordingly.
Oil to fry the Pooris.
PREPARATION:
Pour only sufficient water and knead the dough well to make a smooth ball.
The dough should not be sticky and not too dry too.
Cover and keep for at least ten minutes, and roll in to small lime sized balls.
Use the Poori Press and make pooris which are uniform in texture and shape.
Rolled out Pooris ready to be fried.
Pour out the oil in to the kadai, and allow it to heat. The oil should be hot but not smoke.
Gently slip in the poori and allow a second for it to cook. Gently press the poori with the back of the ladle and allow it to fluff.
Now turn over and allow to cook on the other side.
Drain out the excess oil and place the fried pooris in a container lined with kitchen tissue to wear out the excess oil.
Serve Hot with Madras Poori Masal.
This is my entry for JFI-Wheat which is a brainchild of Mahanadi and hosted by RomaSpace.
Wednesday was the surprise baby shower of one of my close friend, so I had voted on making an eggless cake. There was this bottle of Organic Gulkhand that I had bought at the Global Foods store that was beckoning to me for a long long time. I had wanted to make a Falooda, but some how the timing was not exactly working out too well!!! I experimented with this Rose-Vanilla cake with no icing, as I some times feel that the taste of the icing, overpowers the aroma and taste of a cake. This cake was extremely moist and spongy and very tasty in its own right.
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups of All Purpose Flour.
1 3/4 cup Whole Milk .
1/2 cup Oil.
1 1/4 cup Sugar.
1 tsp vanilla essence.
4 spoons of Organic Ghuklhand or Rose Essence.
1 Tsp Bakng Soda.
1 Tsp Baking Powder.
PREPARATION:
Preheat the oven to 350 F and line your cake pan with butter spray, butter, oil or flour.
In a bowl, measure out the dry ingredients – Flour, Baking Soda, baking powder. Mix and keep ready.
In another mixing bowl, start with the millk and add oil, sugar, and pure vanilla extract and whisk well to dissolve any lumps. Take caution NOT to over mix as this may rob the cake of sponginess.
Remove a small portion of the readied vanilla batter to add the rose essence.
To this portionm briskly mix in the ghulkhand or rose essence. If you find the ghuklhand a little thick, pop it in the microwave oven for a few minutes till it becomes a thick syrup!
Pour the plain vanilla batter on to the greased cake pan and now randomly pour the rose mixture on to this vanilla batter.
Use a toothpick and make little patterns on the cake batter to create a marble effect.
Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick thats inserted comes out clean.
Enjoy delicious Rose-Vanilla Marble Cake warm with ice cream!!!
Anubhavati -Tastes from my kitchen 