JackFruit Jam

At home its JackFruit every where, I wanted to make the best use of the fruit without wasting it and causing a damage to the health( by over eating the fruit). I decided to make Jam out of it. So here goes the preparation for it .

Ingredients:

Jack fruit - 3 cups

Sugar - 3 cups

Method:

Cut the Jackfruit into small pieces and steam them, without water. When its done, cool it and then blend it in a mixer to a smooth paste. In a thick bottomed wok pour the jackfruit paste.

Now add sugar to it . Since this fruit that I used was very sweet I used little less amount of sugar. Sugar can be added according to each family's taste.

Blend the fruit pulp and sugar, keep stirring under moderate heat. Care should be taken such that the mixture does not stick to the bottom of the pan.

When the mixture starts to boil make sure you are not hurt by the drops that bubble out , as they are very hot.

Keep stirring , till the mixture is reduced in quantity . By thia time the Jackfruit pulp and sugar , would blend so well.

This is the time when we need to keep stirring continuosly, to ensure that the color is maintained and jam is in the correct propotion.

JackFruit Jam is ready for you. You can have this with Bread or Roti. This will surely be a hit among kids.

JackFruit Soy Milkshake - Arusuvai Ingredient 2 - Soya Beans

JackFruit is a speciality fruit of Kerala. Its a fruit that is famous in this season of summer. You can see vendors along the roadside selling them. One of our family friend had send us a Jackfruit lastweek and I was waiting for it to get ripe to clean it and take off the tasty fruit from it. Yesterday I spent nearly two hours cleaning it . There was a whole lot of fruit that we distributed to our neighbours and relatives , having some for ourselves. I took some to my office too.

I had planned to make Soya milk from the Arusuvai Ingredient - Soya Beans that Jayashree send me. After I saw the Jackfruit , I decided to make JackFruit SoyMilk Shake. Here is how I made SoyMilk

Ingrdients:

1/2 Kg Soy beans

Method:

Soak the beans in water for 10- 16 hours then rub off the skin. Rubbing the skin off makes the extraction process efficient and reduces the beany taste.An alternative is cracking the soya beans before soaking. When you use soya beans you need 6-8 hours soaking time.Rub off the skins then wash the beans .Grind the now clean beans and add one litre of water. You can mix manually or using a blender I used the blender. Filter the soy pulp through a thin cloth and blend the pulp again with little water. This can be done for 3 time Heat the soymilk until it boils and let it boil for 5 to 10 minutes. Cool it and this soy milk can be refrigerated for 3 days.

Now for the preparation of MikShake:

Ingredients:

Jack Fruit pulp - 1 cup

Soy Milk - 2 cups

Sugar as per taste.

Method:

Blend the jack fruit pulp, soy milk and sugar in the blender till smooth. Chill it and serve when required in a tall juice glass.

I have to continue the Arusuvai Chain to Swati which I will be sending very soon.

I wish to thank Jayashree for patiently checking my blog for the receipes using the secret ingredients. To Srivalli and Bharathy for following up with me and making sure I get the ingredient. Thanks a ton foodies for your support, patience and love.

Healthy Saturday

Last Saturday was our dear friend Selvi's Birthday. We girls wanted to celebrate it the whole day. So here is what we did..

• Started of the day at around 7 am in the morning to Satyam to see Santosh Subramanian, 7.45am. Trust me there were only 30 people in whole theatre so we had out and out fun. Making wild comments and thoroughly enjoying ourselves.

• Since we started early , we ate sandwich and drank cold coffee at the theatre at the beginning of the film.
• By 11 am the film got over and we were out in the hot sun. We headed out to Isphani Center , having in mind Cafe Coffee day. But the very next door was Cool by Nature.
• Its a cozy little place where you are served various salads, sandwiches and healthy natural drinks.
• The one you see below is a mosambi, mint cooler. It was fantastic
• Followed by Gelatno Ice Cream, Indian Farmers Salad, Indian Spicy Salad, Tropical Slush

We thorougly enjoyed the salads , they were very much refreshing and filling. Hence we decided that we would take a salad per day and end up eating healthy. The ambience is good and its worth a try.

The place is called Cool by Nature and is located in Isphani center, next to Cafe Coffee day. Try it and enjoy healthy eating.

Urlai Curry

Today's lunch was Simple Urlai curry and Tomato thokku. Urlai is a veggie that comes in handy, at many situations. When there is no other veggie in the fridge or when you have guests dropping in without prior notice or when you have no time for an elaborate preparation. This Urlai curry is a huge hit with children and with older people.

Ingrdients:

2 big potatoes cut into small pieces

2 spoons Red chilli powder

1 spoon dhaniya powder

Salt to taste

Mustard seeds, broken urad dhall and oil for seasoning

Method:

Boil the cut potatoes till they are just enough to be eaten. Do not over boil because it might spoil the appearence of the dish. When the potatoes are done , run them through cold water and keep aside. In a frying pan , heat oil and add mustard seeds along with urad dhall when its hot . Wait till the seeds sputter , then add the potatoes followed by the red chilli powder, dhaniya powder and salt. Keep tossing the potatoes till they are done , make sure they do not turn black or stick to the bottom of the pan. Simple and easy Urlai curry ready. Tastes great with curd rice.

Eggless Chocolate Cooker Cake - Arusuvai Ingredient 1 - Cocoa Powder

Ingredients:

2 cups maida

2 cups powdered sugar

2/3 cup oil or butter

2/3 cocoa powder

1 cup water

1 tsp vanilla essence

1.5 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk

Some almonds and walnuts

Method:

Line the base of the vessel with butter paper or grease the bases and dust either with maida or sugar till well coated. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder and transfer into a mixing bowl. Add the salt, sugar, fat, water and vanilla. Beat the mixture using a wooden spoon or a beater till well blended. Add the milk and  to the cake batter and beat till smooth. To this mixture add the broken almonds and walnuts.The batter looks almost glossy when done. Pour in into the greased vessel and place it in a cooker.

Instructions for baking in cooker:

Pour enough water in the cooker , invert a flat vessel on it. Placed the greased bowl along with the batter and steam for around 30 - 45 mins. Make sure that a tooth pick comes out clean to indicate that the cake is cooked well.

Ive not tried icing, so we had the cake as it is. Will try icing next time I bake a cake. My receipe with the other Arusuvai Ingredient will follow soon.

Chakarai Pongal for May 1st 2008

Hi Foodies,

You guys must have read about the Chennai Bloggers Meet in my blog. I made Chakarai Pongal for the meet. But been so late to post the receipe. Here it goes..

Ingredients:

2 cups Raw Rice

3 cups jaggery

Cashew nuts and raisins

Ghee as required

Method:

Cook the rice with three parts of water until its soft and mushy. Dissolve jaggery in water and strain it off using a thin cloth or strainer. This is to ensure that no sediments form a part of the sweet. Generally Jaggery will have some minute mud particles owing to the method of its preparation, when you strain it, we can avoid such particles. In a big wok heat ghee , fry raisins first and keep aside. Then fry Cashewnuts. This is because Raisins will become brown when the ghee is very hot. Mash the cooked rice , to make a semi solid paste. Add this to the wok along with the jaggery water. Allow the mixture to boil, under simmer. Turn in occasionally to avoid the mixture sticking to the base.

The color of the pongal will depend on the type of jaggery that you use. So if your pongal does not have a golden brown color it doesnt mean that it lacks sweet. Its just the color but the sweetness will surely be there. Be generous with ghee for it will add on to the taste of the Chakarai Pongal. I hope all who came to the meet enjoyed eating it.

Channa Masala - Simple Way

I had channa masala with Idiyappam for breakfast today. I was in a rush and made a very simplified form of channa masala.

Ingredients:

1 cup channa dal

1 spoon red chilli powder

1 tomato coarsely cut

2 spoons dhaniya powder

1 spoon ginger garlic paste

1 spoon garam masala powder

Cinnamon stick and clove

Salt to taste

Method:

Soak the channa dal overnite . Pressure cook them for 20 mins , till they become soft. In a wok add oil and fry the spices, cinnamon and cloves. To this add the boiled channa, along with Red chilli powder , dhaniya powder and salt. Add a little water along with ginger garlic paste and bring it to boil. When the masala consistency is reached , you can sprinkle garam masala powder and serve it with garnished cilantro.

Though this was done in a hurry , the taste turned out to be good and delectable.

Gobi Curry

I had mentioned in my earlier mail about my love to veggies and in particular Gobi. So here goes another dish with the same . Gobi Curry.

Ingredients:
1 Gobi cut into small florets
Red chilli powder , Dhaniya Powder , salt as per taste
Oil for frying

Seasoning:
Mustard seeds , curry leaves and oil.

Method:
Boil the gobi florets in warm water for 10 to 15 mins. When they are done , run them through cold water and keep it aside . In a wok heat oil and start the seasoning. Add mustard seeds and curry leaves. When they are done add the gobi florets. Add red chilli powder, dhaniya powder and salt as per your taste.

Stir fry the gobi until they are done well. This goes well with Roti or chapathi. My favorite combo with this gobi curry is a creamy curd rice.... be it the color combo or the taste combo its the best.

Wedding Gift :-)

Today my very first colleague got married and this is what I gifted him. I normally prefer gifting personalised things rather than buy a readymade gift from a shop . This painting took 2 hours for me to complete. A very nice frame shop guy , did the frame work in less than 20 mins . I hope he likes it .. will update this place after I receive the comments.

This is how the packing was. I got appreciation from my dad , which is very rare for the packing.

Gobi Mattar - Simple

I make it a point to make gobi atleast once a week , I put it in sambhar, make poriyal or subji for chappathi. I love all the veggies except bitter gourd, which my mom says I will start liking later in my life. The point I wanted to stress here is that in all my posts you will surely find the line , that the veggie is my favorite .. please dont get bored of reading the line again and again. Ok here I go on to make Gobi mattar in a simple jiffy way.

Ingredients:

1 Gobi cut into small florets

1 big onion sliced

1 tomatoe cubed

5 full cashews

Red chilli powder, dhaniya powder , garam masala powder, salt.

Oil for frying

Cilantro leaves for garnish

Method:

Cut gobi into small florets and soak it in hot water for 15 mins. This must be done religiously everytime, to ensure that gobi is free of small particles and worms. Cook them in hot water till a knife goes in. Microwave green peas for 10 mins. Saute onion and tomatoes along with red chillie powder and dhaniya powder.in a wok with a little oil, set aside to cool. I have not mentioned the quantity of the powders , since it depends on each household. In my house we prefer bit too spicy food.Blend the contents to a smooth paste along with cashewnuts.

In the same wok heat a little oil and fry cumin seeds. As the seeds sputter add gobi and peas to it along with paste of onions, tomato and cashews. Add salt and allow it to boil . When the subji consistency is reached , garnish with fresh cilantro and serve hot with roti, chapathi or even with idiyappam.

Ive been Tagged :-)

First Meme

I was surprised when Lavi left a comment in my blog saying that I was tagged. Ive read many people writing about their meme and tagging people. I was very excited on being tagged for the first time. Thanks a ton Lavi for this Meme..

First Meme:
Here are the rules for the Meme..
Link to your tagger and post these rules.Share 5 facts about yourself.Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them)Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.
Five facts about me...? Ok Here They are...
1. I Love Cooking, to be specific cooking what other people like and make them feel happy.
2. I am a creative person and love painting.
3. Am my own favorite .. It goes like this Love thyself
4. Ive been throughout Chennai or rather roamed 80% of the city.
5. Im a very tech savy person, who loves programming, writing codes etc.,
Here I go to tag Bharathy, Sra, Rachel,Kamini and Renuka .. Sending you foodies all my love and waiting to see what you write about yourselves.

I enjoyed writing about me , I owe this happinesss to Lavi.
Hope you foodies enjoy reading it.

Aloo Kurma

This Aloo Kurma is my grandma s speciality dish which my mom inherited and now I make it often for dinner in a jiffy. One more interesting aspect of this dish is that I will surely get appreciation from my dad when I make this .

Ingredients:

Aloo - 2 boiled , peeled

Onions - 1 sliced

Tomato - 1 Sliced

Coconut - 1 cup

Green chillies - 2

Cilantro - a handful

Ginger Garlic paste - 1 Tea spoon

Clove , Cardomom , Cinnamon - 1 each

A Pinch of Garam Masala Powder

Salt to taste

Method:

Boil the potatoes and peel them. Cut them into small pieces and keep them aside. In the blender mix Coconut and green chillies to a fine paste . In a wok heat a little oil , add the spices followed by the sliced onions and tomatoes. Saute till the onions are light brown in color. Add the boiled potatoes and the coconut paste . Bring it to boil. Add a pinch of Garam masala for the aroma . When the kurma is done , that is when the flavour of raw green chillies is gone , remove from fire add salt and garnish with fresh cilantro. This goes well with chapathi or roti.

Rasagulla

Ingredients:

1 litre milk

05 ml lemon juice

300 gm sugar

1 litre water

3 drops rose essence

Method:

For the preparation, heat the sugar and the water in a deep pan and bring to a boil. Boil the milk. Add the lemon juice and curdle the milk. Remove from fire and strain through a muslin cloth.Hold under running water or dip in a bowl of cold water for 1 minute. Squeeze out the excess water.Knead till very smooth. Add a pinch of cooking soda, while kneading. Also, for better result, kneading can be done in a mixer.Make balls of desired size.Now place the cheese balls in syrup and cook for 15 minutes.Switch off the flame and let the dumplings stand in the liquid until cool.Chill for a minimum of 2 hours. Mix in the essence before serving.

This was also made on the same day when I made cheese balls for my dear Kozue.

Glass Vase for Kozue.

When Kozue Kawashima left for Japan, I wanted to give her something that she would treasure a lot. I did not want to buy something and gift it , rather wanted to make something and give her.

After a long thought I opened my Painting box and found a plain glass vase lying to be painted. I started painting it at aound 11 pm and finished at 1 am. Happy that it came out very well. Kozue liked it a lot , this vase got me lot of appreciation from my team mates.

Miss you Kozue !! Hope to meet you soon

Corn Cheese Balls

I got this receipe from a Chef in Taj Connemara, that is were I tasted these cheese balls for the first time. I do not make them often as its highly fattening. Last week my colleague and good friend of mine Kozue Kawashima was in India for a training purpose. She had asked me to cook something for her.

For a long time, my team mates were troubling me to prepare cheese balls , and hence they cashed in the opportunity and pushed me to prepare this.

Ingredients

Cheese bar - 400 gms

Corn Kernels - 100 gms

Maida - half cup

Bread crumbs - 2 cups

Oil for deep fry

Method:

Grate cheese and mix corn kernels with it . Roll into small balls . Make a batter out of maida and water. Heat oil in a wok. When the oil is hot, dip the cheese balls in the maida batter and roll it over the bread crumbs such that it is evenly coated and put them in the oil . Deep fry three at a go. Wait till they turn golden brown. Remove on a tissue paper and serve with tomato sauce.

Kozue liked the Cheese balls very much .. and enjoyed it .

According to me the most important aspect about cooking is when people relish your cooking and the bowl is completely empty . This happened when I made these Corn cheese balls and took them to office. I was completely satisfied with my cooking . And was very happy that day . She has gone back to Japan, but still keeps telling about the cheese balls that I made for her.

Carrot Salad

Carrots are my all time favorite veggie .. I can eat in any type of dish .. Salad , Poriyal , Halwa or even like that grab a carrot sometimes when I go to buy veggies in the market. Here I made a very easy and quick Carrot Salad, that can go well as a main course for lunch with a glass of mint cooler of lime cooler

Ingredients:
Carrots - 2 Grated
Onion - 1 Finely chopped
Green Chilli - 1 Finely chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
Juice of half lemon

Method:
Mix the grated carrot , chopped onions and green chillies together in a bowl. Before serving , mix in salt, pepper powder as per taste and drizzle lime juice over it and toss a bit.

Nice and crunchy carrot salad ready !!

Chennai Bloggers Meet - 1 May 2008

What happens when ten some ladies with a common liking to cook , eat and blog meet ... Fun and tasty food ... what else ... It was absolutely exciting when we all met on May 1 st . I know that my post is rather too late, but still wanted to share my bit of memories that I carried from the meet.

It was a very hot day .. but still we foodies met at 11 am at Lakshmi's House . Rather I was the late comer who went in at around 11.45 am .. I was asked to guess each other person's name . Kamini felt pity for me and helped me out of it.

The most special feature of the whole day was Potluck Lunch .. Each bringing in a food item and hence made up for the lunch menu. For starters Kamini made some wonderful Aloo Tikkis, Rachael baked excellent Ladenia, Arundati made a traditional keralite dish along with idiyappam, though on diet I relished Sra's Panner Curry.Nirmala made Florentines, Srivalli's channa Pulao and Coconut Burfi was a treat by itself. Lavi literally fed me with her rasagulla. Jayashree brought chakkavaratty payasam.. It was tooooooooooooo sweet , and I liked it a lot. I made Chakarai Pongal which is my speciality dish either at home or outside. Renuka and Bharathy were able to make it to the meet at the last minute. Very sweet of them ...

Arundati gave Banana Cake to us as she left. It was lovely , I will surely try the cake as its void of Yeast :).

It was a wonderful meeting, I was able to meet a different set of folks from varied spheres of life and share my thoughts with them .. Wish to meet you all soon ...

Arusuvai Arrived !!!

Ive been a bit too lazy and tied up with work .. that I could not post this for a long time ... Today I decided that I would not being doing justice if I make any further delay .Bharathy found me from Jayashree's Blog and mailed me saying that Jayashree will send me the Secret Ingredient. Jayashree was very prompt to send me the package



Thanks Jayashree for the lovely package along with my all time favorite Fruit and Nut Cadburys. I will be posting the receipes very soon . And for those who guessed what the ingredients are ... its Choco Powder and Soya Beans.