Finger millet Idly (Ragi Idly) 

Idly, an ideal breakfast dish, liked by all. Even it’s popular in other countries too as it’s light,tummy friendly, no fats or cholesterol. Idly is steamed savory cake made out of fermented rice and lentils batter. 

As people turning out more health conscious, it’s obvious to look out for alternatives, thus I’m trying to prepare Idly with Finger millet as substitute for rice. 

Its very delicious and easy to mak. 

Idly batter:

Wash 2 cups of  finger millet two to three times and soak it overnight. 

Avoid washing several times as it tends to loose vital nutrients and vitamins. The water in which it was soaked can be used while grinding. 

In an another container, soak 1 cup of Urid dal for about 4 to 5 hours. 

Soak 1/4 cup of beaten rice/poha 10 minutes before grinding. 

Grind dal and poha together in a mixer to a smooth paste. 

Similarly, grind finger millet to smooth paste and mix both batter together and leave it to ferment for about 8 to 10 hrs. 

Add required salt and check for batter consistency. Ensure its not too thick or liquid. The batter consistency should be slow dripping. 

You may add a spring of fresh curry leaves roughly chopped to the batter for a flavorful idly. This recommendation is purely optional and individual preference. 

Heat idly steamer with 2 cups of water over low flame. Grease the idly moulds. Fill all moulds and steam cook for about 10 minutes. Put off the flame and let the steam settle and cool. 

Serve finger millet Idly along with Sambar & Coconut Chutney or Onion & fennel chutney. 

Happy Cooking! 

Crepe Millet & Jackfruit

A unique, delicious dessert prepared out of  raw Jackfruit flour, foxtail millet flour and filled with jackfruit pulp, honey and butter sauce. 

Ingredients required:

For Batter:

• Raw jackfruit flour 1 cup

• Foxtail millet flour 1/2 cup 

• Caster sugar 1/4 cup

• Egg 2 nos

• Butter 3 tbsp

• Milk 1/2 litre

• a pinch of salt

For filling & Garnish

• Ripe Jackfruit deseeded & finely chopped 1 cup

• Honey 4 tbsp

• Palm sugar 2 tbsp

• Melted Butter 4 tbsp

• Pistachio flakes 

• Blue berry or cranberry

In a mixing bowl, take raw jackfruit flour, foxtail millet flour, pinch of salt and combine well. Break in two eggs, add milk and melted butter. Using a hand blender or whisk to derive a smooth flowing batter consistency. Keep it aside and allow to rest for 15 minutes. 

Heat a pan over low flame. Once the pan is hot, add in the butter and when melted, add the chopped jackfruit and saute till it’s mushy. Add now the honey and palm sugar. Stir well and once it start to caramelize, put off the flame.

Heat a non stick pan over medium flame. Grease the pan. Pour one large ladle full of batter and spread across 

the entire pan. Once the sides start releasing out, turn upside and cook for 2 minutes. 

Each crepe should be filled with the sauce evenly and roll it form cylindrical shape. 

Garnish with berries and pistachio flakes. 

Happy cooking! 

Millet & Makhana pudding

( Millet & Fox Nut pudding) 

A very unique pudding made out of two superfoods – Millet & Makhana. Truly very healthy and delicious. 

Ingredients required:

• Millet* – 250 gms washed and drained

• Makhana – 50 gms 

• Ghee – 4 tbs

• Milk – 1 litre

• Khoya (milk solids) – 50 gms

• Green cardamom powder – 1/4 tsp

• Almond – 10 nos soaked, peeled & chopped

• Cashew nut – 10 

• Raisins – 2 tbs

• Saffron – few shreds

• Sugar# – 1 cup

* Millet could be choice of any one Barnyard millet, Little millet or Kodo millet. Wash and soak it for minimum 8 hours or overnight. 

# You may also use 🌴Palm sugar instead of refined white sugar. 

Cook the millet with water and  milk in equal proportion. Cook until it’s soft but not to mushy consistency. Switch off the flame. 

Take a thick bottom pan and heat over medium flame. Once pan is hot, add ghee to it and saute the makhana till it’s light golden color. Remove them from pan and set aside for later usage. 

You may fry the cashew nut and raisins in the same pan and keep it aside. 

Use the same pan with leftover ghee in it. Crumble the khoya(milk solids) add to it and saute till its aromatic. Ensure its not catching at bottom or getting brown colored. 

Add now the remaining milk ,combine well and cook for about 5 minutes. Add sugar and mix well and cook till it’s melted and combine with milk solids. 

Now add the cooked millet and mix well. Check for desired consistency and sweetness

Should you require it to be diluted, you may do so by adding milk or hot water as per your choice. Mix well to avoid any lump formation at bottom. 

Add now the fried makhana( keep few for garnish), chopped almonds, cardamom powder, saffron shreds and combine well. 

Switch off the flame, cover the pan and allow it to rest for few minutes

Garnish with fried makhana, cashew nut and raisins. 

You may serve it hot or cold. 

Happy Cooking! 

Chettinad Vellai Kurma

A delicate,luscious and mild vegetable kurma cooked with selected organic fresh vegetables, mildly spiced,enhanced flavor with coconut milk.

Ingredients are

• Potatoes 2 medium size
• Carrot 1 medium size
• French beans  6 nos
• Cauliflower 3 florets
• Fresh Green peas 1/2 cup
• Coconut milk 1 cup
• Grated coconut 1 cup
• Cinnamon 2″ length
• Green cardamom 4 nos
• Cloves 4 nos
• Green chilly 6 nos
• Black peppercorn 1/2 tsp
• Fennel seeds 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds 1/4 tsp
• Garlic 4 cloves
• Poppy seeds*2 tbsp
• Cashew kernel* 2 tbsp
• Bay leaves 2 nos
• Shallots 6 nos
• Sesame oil 2 tsp
• Curry leaves 1 Spring
• Rock salt as required

# Cut potatoes, carrots and French beans in dice of equally size. Boil them for about 5 minutes and keep aside.
# Soak poppy seeds and cashew kernel in water for about an hour.
# Grind grated coconut along with cumin seeds, garlic, soaked poppy seeds, cashew kernel,shallots and green chilly to a fine paste.

Heat a pan over medium flame. Pour oil and when it’s hot, add mustard seeds and once it starts sputtering,add fennel seeds, cardamom, cinnamon, black peppercorns, cloves, bay leaves, curry leaves and saute for about 2 minutes. Add the grounded paste and mix well. Add in the parboiled vegetables required salt and check for consistency. If water is required, use the boiled vegetable water and cook for 5 minutes.
Now add coconut milk,stir well, cover the pan and allow to simmer for another 5 minutes. Occasionally stir it down and once you find it mild creamy consistency, put of the flame cover thr pan and allow the vapour to settle down.

Happy Cooking!

Lauki Makhani –

Calabash in cream butter sauce

Ingredients required:

• Lauki* 750 gms

• Finely chop’d red onion 2 medium sized

• Finely chop’d Tomatoes deseed 3 med sized

• Ginger paste 1 tsp

• Garlic paste 1 tsp

• Finely chopped green chilly 1 tsp

• Hung curd 1/2 cup

• Cashew paste 2 tbs

• Lime juice 1 tsp

• Kashmiri chilly powder 2 tsp

• Red chilly powder 1/2 tsp

• Garam masala powder 1 tsp

• Cumin powder 1/2 tsp

• Coriander powder 1 tsp

• Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp

• Kasuri methi 1 tsp

• Butter 3 tbs

• Cooking oil 1 tbs

• a pinch of sugar

• Salt to taste

Preparation:

**Lauki

Wash lauki and peel out the skin. 

Discard the whitish pulp and seeds if any. If you go for tender ones, this isn’t applicable. 

Grate the lauki, add, lime juice, little salt, mix well and allow to rest for few minutes. Pls do not squeeze out the water from lauki. 

Heat a hard bottom pan on medium flame. Once it’s hot, add oil and saute the onion and green chilly untill onion turns translucent. 

Add now the chopped tomatoes and cook till it’s mashy. 

Add now 1 tbs of butter, chilly powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, ginger garlic paste and cook until its raw smell is gone. 

Mix both curd and cashew paste, combine well and pour it in to pan. Add required salt, stir well, cover and cook for about 3 minutes. 

Add now the grated lauki along with the water content in it. Stir well, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Ensure intermittent stirring to avoid getting stuck to bottom of pan. 

Add now the remaining butter, cumin powder, garam masala powder, crushed kasuri methi, stir well, check for salt,add the sugar, cover and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. 

Switch off flame and allow it to rest for 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves. 

Please note that no water being added to this –  here the water/liquid content is primarily from the curd, cashew paste and the lauki. Should you require to adjust it’s consistency, you may add little hot water. 

However avoiding this would retain the desired taste to Lauki Makhani. 

Happy cooking👨‍🍳

Bitter Melon Theeyal (Bitter melon in tamarind sauce)

Ingredients required:-

Good quality tender bitter gourd(green or white) 500 gms cut in roundles in 2 to 3 cms thickness. Do not scoop out the seeds if it’s tender. Sprinkle little salto, rub it nicely and leave to rest for 30 minutes. 

1) Dried red chilly 8 nos

2) Coriander seeds 2 tbs

3) Cumin seeds 1 tsp

4) Black peppercorn 1 tsp

5) Fenugreek 1 pinch

6) Shallots 1 cup sliced

7) Curry leaves 2 sprigs

8) Ginger 1″ Long chopped

9) Green chilly 4 nos slitted

10) Finely grated coconut (optional) 

11) Coconut oil 4 tbs

12) Tamarind paste 3 tbs – diluted in 1 cup water. 

13) Salt to taste

Procedure:-

Dry roast items – serial no 1 to 5 in low flame and once essential oils start emitting, remove from flame and allow to cool. 

Now use the same frying panpan, add a tbs of coconut oil and roast the left over items ( from sr nos 6 to 10) Reserve 1 sprig of curry leaves for later usage. 

* Avoid coconut at this stage in case if you do not wish to have the theeyal with coconut. 

Saute above till it’s golden brown. Put off the flame and allow it to cool. 

Once it’s cold, grind all above ( roasted whole spices and the rest)together to a fine paste by adding little water if required. 

Meanwhile, squeeze out the water from bitter gourd and stir fry them on slow fire until it’s getting light golden brown. ( use 1 tbs of oil and reserve balance for later use. Once it’s done, Remove from flame. 

Now heat a pan over medium flame. 

Add 1 tbs of coconut oil, once it’s hot, add grounded paste and saute for about 3 minutes. Add now the fried bitter gourd and give a good stir without breaking the roundles. 

Add now the tamarind liquid and salt to taste. Make sure you are not adding more salt as we rubbed salt in bitter gourd earlier. 

Check the salt and consistency of the sauce. 

Cover the lid and cook in slow fire for 5 minutes. 

Add now the remaining curry leaves sprig, and pour over the reserved tbs of coconut oil. Cover the lid and let it remain undisturbed for minimum 1/2 an hour. 

Please note:

It’s my recipe and the preparation process is bit lengthy. Normal Kerala style theeyal can be made very quick. 

An additional tips:

Even you can cut few pieces of coconut in equal size, fry it till it’s light golden and add to it. 

Also you may add 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder if you wish so. It’s not mandatory for this recipe.

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