Papaya halwa

Ingredients :

• Ripe papaya pieces - 4 cups
• Ghee - 1 / 4  cup
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Milk or koa - 1 / 2 cup
• Kaju and raisins - 1 / 4 cup
• Cardamom powder - 1 / 4 tsp
• Vanilla essence - few drops

Method -
Remove outer skin, inner seeds etc from the papaya.Cut into small pieces. Mix fruit with sugar, milk  and heat in heavy kadai stirring constantly till it becomes thick and fruit becomes soft [ complete moisture is absorbed ]. Add ghee and stir well till it leaves side and keep stirring till thick halwa consistency is reached. Fry kaju, raisins in little ghee, mix cardmom powder,  essence and  add  to  halwa  and  remove from fire. Your tasty papaya halwa is ready to eat.

Mezuku varati [ dry subji ]

Ingredients :

• Diced malabar yam [ senai kilangu ] - 1 cup [ 1 inch cubes]
• Raw banana - 1 cup [ peel and cut into 1 inch cubes ]
• Salt - as required
• Turmeric powder - 1 / 2 tsp

For Seasoning:

• Curry leaves - little
• Coconut oil - 2 tbl sp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Grind together for masala :

• Coriander seeds - 1table spoon
• Cumin seeds - 1 / 2 tsp
• Black pepper - 1 / 4 tsp
• Dry red chillies - 3 to 4
• Poppy seeds - 1 / 2 tsp

[Fry all these ingredients except dry red chillies in kadai without oil.] Fry red chillies in little oil.

Method:

Peel the skin of the vegetables and dice them into small pieces. Add salt & turmeric, boil them in enough water till the vegetables becomes soft. Drain the water & keep aside. Take one kadai, add coconut oil, season with mustard seeds & curry leaves. When the mustard seeds pops, add those vegetables along with masala powder & fry for 5 mins till the masala quoted to the vegetables become dry. Garnish them with curry leaves.

Pulikuthe uppery

Ingredients :

• Tamarind paste - 2 tsp
• Raw rice - 1 tbls.
• Asafoetida - 1 / 4 tsp
• Fenugreek seeds - 1 / 2 tsp
• Dry red chillies - 7 to 8
• Salt - as required
• Turmeric powder - 1 / 2 tsp

Used vegetables :

• Ladies finger - 4 to 5 [ cut in to 1 inch pieces ]
• Red pumpkin - 1 / 2 cup [ peel and cut intosmall pieces ]
• Green chillies - 2 [ slited ]

Grind together:
Red chilllies, fenugreek, asafoetida, and  raw rice [ fry above spices in little oil and grind in mixcer to smooth powder. ]

Foe seasoning :

• Coconut oil - 2 tsps.
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Urad dal - 1 / 2 tsp
• Curry leaves - little

Method :

Boil the vegetables in tamarind water, adding salt, turmeric powder. When the vegetables become soft add the ground  masala  powder to that. Allow to boil in low flame for 10 mints till the kuzambu becomes little thick. Season mustard seeds, and curry leaves in coconut oil and add to the kuzambu. Serve hot with steam rice.

Chikku milk shake

Ingredients :

• Sweet ripe chikkus - 2 to 3
• Concentrated cool milk - 4 cups
•  Chopped chikku pieces - few
• Sugar - as required

Method :

Wash chikkus, peel the  skin and cut into pieces. Put in a mixie, add sugar, milk and blend well. Add the remaining milk, chooped chikkus and mix well. Keep inside the fridge to cool till serving time. Serve in glasses.

Drumstick leaves poritha kootu

Ingredients :

• Drumstick leaves - 1 cup [ heaped ]
• Moong dal - 1 / 4 cup
• Potato - 1 big [ cut in to cubes ]
• Salt - as required
• Turmeric powder - 1 / 2 tsp
• Tamarind - gooseberry size
• Asafoetida - 1 / 4 tsp
• Curry leaves - little

For wet grinding :

• Urad dal - 1 tsp [ fried ]
• Red chillies - 2 to 3 [ fried ]
• Fresh grated  coconut - 1 cup

For seasoning :

• Coconut oil - 2 tspn
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Urad dal - 1 / 2 tsp
• Grated coconut - 1 tbls
• Curry leaves - few

Method :

Pressure cook moong dal, potato adding enough water, salt, turmeric powder , tamarind paste. Fry leaves separately in little oil till it shrinks.[ do not over fry ] Heat one tspn oil in a kadai, fry urad dal and red chillies till urad dal is golden in colour. Add grated coconut and powder finely or grind to a fine paste. Add this to the boiling vegetable mixture.Check for salt, and add more water to get required consistency. Simmer and boil for 5 mts. Season with mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves and 1 tbspn grated coconut in coconut oil. When the coconut turns golden, pour over along with drumstick leaves to  the  boiling mixture. Mix well and remove from the heat. Serve hot with rice.

Vengaya kara kuzambu

For this recipe seasoning is done in the beginning
For seasoning :

• Till oil - 3 tbspn
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Channa dal - 1 / 2 tsp

Other ingredients :

• Sambhar powder - 2 tsp
• Tamarind - lemon size [ extract the plup ]
• Turmeric powder - 1 / 2 tsp
• Salt - as required
• Asafoetida - 1 / 4 tsp
• Jaggery - 2 tbspn

Vegetables can be  used :
 [ red pumpkin, brinjal, drumstick cut it in a cubes ]

Grind together :

Grind 1 big onion, 1 big tomato, and 2 table spoon fresh grated coconut in a mixer and keep aside. 

Method :

Heat oil in a kadai, add the ingredients given in order. When channa dal is golden in colour, add sambhar powder and fry for 2 mintues in low flame. Then add any one  vegetables and fry some more time.When the diced vegetables are roasted well add the extracted tamarind plup. Add  salt, turmeric,asafoetida, jaggery and boil well till it is  reduced to 1 / 4 of the quantity. Now add the ground masala with required water and boil well adding curry leaves. When the required thickness is achieved, remove from the gas.Serve with hot rice, papads, wafers, kootu or roasted curry.

This recipe i learnt  from  my  elder  sister  lakshmi.

Home made cookies

Ingredients :

• Maida flour - 2 cups
• Dalda ghee - 2 cups
• Powdered  sugar - 1 3 / 4 cup
• Rawa - 1 / 2 sp
• Baking powder - 1 / 4 tsp
• Vanilla essence - 1 / 2 tsp
• Cardamom powder - 1 / 2 tsp
• Almonds - 1 / 4 cup [ blanched and chopped finely ]

Method :

Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit. Cover a baking tray with foil neatly and grease the foil. Blend sugar and dalda ghee smoothly. Add vanilla essence, maida flour, baking powder and mix well without lumps and kneed a dough. Make small pedas from that.  Press in the middle with thumb and keep little grated almonds. Bake in a heated oven for 30 mts. When a good smell  check with a sharp knife.If the knife comes out without sticking, it means the cookies are ready.When completely cooled it becomes  more crisp.Store in an air- tight container.