Semiya Payasam/Vermicelli Kheer

Be it any happy occasion, festivals or pooja at home, sweets are an integral part of south Indian cooking. Kheer is especially made on auspicious days, religious festivals and on any other occasion and offered as naivedya to god. My husband loves kheer and I made this on his birthday as a surprise. We really don't need an occasion to make sweets if we have sweet craving :) do we?? This is a very easy kheer recipe that can be made with easily available ingredients at home quickly. We often make this at home even on ordinary days and have it chilled.

The best part is this can be either served hot or chilled depends on how you prefer. Let's jump to the recipe.

Serves:4 bowls

Ingredients

1. Roasted Vermicelli - 1 Cup ( I used Bambino Roasted Vermicelli)
2. Ghee - 1 tbsp + 1 tbsp
3. water-1/2 cup
4. Milk-1 litre ( Full fat preferable)
5. Sugar-3/4 cup
6. Raisins-2 tbsp
7. cashews-2 tbsp
8. cardamom powder-2 tsp

Method

1. Take a thick bottomed pan, wok or kadai. Heat a tbsp of ghee and fry the cashews and raisins until the cashews turn golden brown and the raisins puff up on a medium-low flame. Keep it aside for final garnishing.

2. Add another tbsp of ghee and roast the vermicelli until they turn golden brown. Make sure the flame is medium low and keep stirring it continuously.

3. After it turns slightly golden brown, add water and cook until the vermicelli turns soft. This will take about 5 mins.

4. Add milk completely to the above and cook the vermicelli on medium low flame. Stir the contents intermittently by scraping off the sides of the pan. The cream gets deposited on the sides and hence ensure you keep scraping it off and give a nice stir. Do this until milk is reduced to half the quantity.

5. The milk gets reduced to half the quantity, by now the vermicelli is also cooked nicely and the mixture is thickened well.

6. Add cardamom powder and switch off the flame.

7. Add sugar and mix it well.

8. Garnish with roasted raisins and cashews and serve either hot or chilled :)

Notes,Tips & Add-On's

The kheer becomes thick in consistency with time. You can add milk and sugar and adjust the consistency accordingly.

Green Moong Dal and Oats Adai

Never knew a dish which is too good for health can even be tasty until I had this. This is an amazing low carb recipe which satiates your hunger and keeps you full for long hours. Highly rich in proteins and fiber, this aids in weight loss amazingly.There are innumerable benefits of green moong which you can check here. I generally make this for dinner as soon as I come from office. I soak them in the morning and grind them to make a tasty adai batter for dinner. Traditionally, they add some rice while grinding the batter make it more crispier. I have skipped it as this is completely low carb making it a guilt free indulgence. Let's look into the preparation of this healthy adai. This tastes best with coconut chutney,avial or even just plain butter.

Serves: 4 adai/pancakes

Ingredients

1. Green Moong Dhal - 3/4 cup
2. Oats - 2 tbsp (I used normal Quaker oats available at supermarket)
3. Green chili - 1 big
4. coriander leaves - 1/4 cup (chopped)
5. Ginger - 1 inch
6. Jeera - 2 tsp
7. Onion - 1 big (chopped)
8. Needed salt

Ingredients

Soaked green moong and oats

Method

1. Soak green moong and oats together with 1.25 cups of water for minimum of 4 hours.

2. Strain them after it has absorbed all water. Grind them with chili and ginger to a fine batter. Do not add any water while grinding. Let the batter be thick.

3. Add chopped onions,coriander leaves and cumin seeds and needed salt to the batter. Mix well.

4. Heat a iron girdle, once hot, take a ladle of the batter and pour it on the girdle. Spread them gently into small thick round shapes. Allow them to cook on a low flame for 5 mins. Drizzle some Olive or Coconut oil on the sides.

5. After 5 mins, flip the adai gently on to next side and cook again until the batter is cooked well.

6. Hot tasty adai is ready to served with your favorite accompaniment.

Batter ready!!!!!

Notes,Tips & Add-On's

1. You can also grind the coriander leaves along with batter if you do not want to add it separately.
2. Cooking of adai takes a long time than dosa as it is a thick batter. For better results, cover them with a lid to speeden up the cooking process.
3. I have paired it with oats, but trust me, you can add any accompaniment of your choice like kollu(horsegram), quinoa,chickpea,millet etc. Soak whatever you like along with green moong and grind them together.

Poori

This is one of the most favorite and famous delicacy from South Indian cuisine.The moment I think of poori my mouth starts watering. Can there be anyone who hates this dish,This is kid's most favorite dish.When you go out for a dinner with your family, there is at least one kid in the family ordering this dish. There are many Indian breads that have entered the menu cards but nothing can beat Poori and Aloo Masal. They are a heavenly combination.:)

Serves: 25 Pooris (approx)

Ingredients

1. Wheat Flour/Atta-2 Cups
2. Rava/Semolina - 2 tbsp
3. Oil for deep frying
4. water-as required for kneading the dough
5. salt to taste

                           

Method

1. Mix the atta, rava and salt together and mix well. 

2. Add water and start kneading the dough. 

3. Divide the dough into equal small balls and start rolling each ball on a roller pin.

4. Deep fry the rolled sheets in hot oil. 

5. Puffed pooris are now ready to be served with aloo masal.

Notes,Tips & Add-On's

1. Poori puffs only on high flame. Make sure you quickly flip it and remove off the flame after it has puffed. If you don't remove quickly,then it might get burnt.
2. Poori's puffness also depends on how hard you beat the dough. Knead well and beat hard so that the dough remains soft and also puffs well.
3. Make sure the dough is not too sticky. 
4. Semolina helps the poori to stay puffed up for longer time and also gives a mild crispiness.
5. Make sure the rolled atta sheets are neither too thick nor too thin. 

Aloo Masal

This is one of the most delicious side dish from south India and the best pair of poori.I don't think there is anyone who hates poori masala.I used to love the poori masala that is being served at Hotel Saravan Bhavan.It is one of the major menu item in any south indian restaurant predominantly had for breakfast.It is a very easy recipe that can be made in a jiffy.Now lets see,how to prepare this yummy aloo masala that goes well with Poori.

Serves:3

Ingredients

1. Potato - 4 nos (Medium/Large sized)
2. Onion - 2 medium sized(chopped)
3. Green chillies - 2 nos(chopped)
4. Ginger – 1 inch piece (Chopped)
5. Lemon - 1/2
6. Asafoetida- generous pinch
7. Turmeric powder - generous pinch *This gives the nice yellow colour for the dish.
8. Gram flour – 2 tsp
9. Salt to taste
10. Water - as needed to boil
11. Cooking oil - 1 tbsp
12. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
13. Cumin seeds/Jeera-1 tsp
14. Urad dal - 1 tsp
15. Chana dal/Kadala paruppu - 1 tsp
16. Coriander leaves for garnishing
17. Curry leaves - 4

Method

1. Pressure cook the potatoes for 3-4 whistles so that it is cooked well.

2. Once the potatoes are cooked,remove the outer skin and smash the potatoes.

3. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard and cumin seeds. Once the mustard and jeera crackles, add urad dal,channa dal and asafoetida.

4. Add onions,ginger,curry leaves and chili and saute till the onions turn transparent.

5. Add about 1/2 cup water to allow the onions to be boiled nicely.

6. Now add the smashed potatoes to the above combo.

7. Add turmeric powder and salt and mix nicely.

8. Mix gram flour with 1/4 cup of water(This varies based on the consistency required) and pour it to the aloo mixture.

9. Please follow the above process on low flame.The aloo will slowly start to thicken. When the required consistency is reached,remove the aloo masal from flame.

10. Squeeze a tsp of lemon to it.

11. Garnish with Coriander leaves and serve hot with fluffy yummy  Pooris:)

Notes,Tips & Add-On's

1. Don't smash the potato too much.Leave few small chunks of potato so that you can munch on it while eating. 
2. You can also use small pieces of carrot and green peas as add-on's. 
3. Goes well with Pooris.Check out GB's Poori recipe here.