Butter Murukku for Indian Cooking Challenge

Butter murukku or Jantikalu has been my ever favorite in savories. When this recipe was selected for Indian Cooking Challenge this month, I was pretty relaxed since I had posted it earlier. I dint want to make it all over again since there were loads of savories at home. So here I am reposting the dish for the challenge. :)

White/ Plain Butter Murukku (Jantikalu)

Ingredients:

Rice flour - 5 cups
Urad dhall flour(fry in dry pan and powder it) - 1 cup
Butter - 50 gms
Asafoetida - a pinch
Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
Salt - for taste


Method:

Beat butter nicely in a plate and add all the other ingredients to it and mix well. Partition the mixture into multiple parts. Take one portion of the above mixture and add adequate water to it to make dough. Now put the dough in the muruku maker and squeeze it in the oil and fry till it becomes crisp.

Note: Do not mix the entire mixture into dough at one stretch. Doing that would lead to change of color of the dough when left alone for a long time. So make the mixture into dough by adding water as and when required.

Now to make it more interesting, lets add flavors to the same dough.

Orange Butter murukku

Add little chilly powder and food color orange or red along with the above ingredients and make muruku in the same way. This would give you a gharam flavor and interesting look and feel.

Green Butter Murukku

Grind coriander leaves and some green chillies(according to your taste) very finely and add this to the above dough and mix well. This would give you the flavor of coriander leaves and would be hot with chillies too.. :)

You can make another variation of using mint leaves too.

Yellow Butter Murukku

Add a pinch of turmeric power and a little lemon extract to it and mix well. This would give yummy flavor as well as attractive color to it. :)

Along with this post I wanted to make a reminder for our ongoing event - "Garnish the Dish". We are happy to get a lot of entries so far, but we are pretty sure that lot more of you would be interested too. Do take part and make us more thrilled. :) Last date to send entries would be October 6th.

Click on the logo to find more details on the event or visit www.innovativein-laws.blogspot.com.

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Ayudha Pooja Celebration :)

Ayudha Puja is an integral part of the Dasara festival, a Hindu festival which is traditionally celebrated in India. In simple terms, it means “Worship of Implements”. The festival falls on the ninth day or Navami of the bright half of Moon's cycle of 15 days in the month of September/October, and is popularly a part of the Dasara or Navaratri or Durga Puja or Golu festival. On the ninth day of the Dasara festival, weapons and tools are worshiped.

The principal goddesses worshiped during the Ayudha puja are Saraswathi(the Goddess of wisdom, arts and literature), Lakshmi (the goddess of wealth) and Parvathi (the divine mother), apart from various types of equipment; it is on this occasion when weapons are worshipped by soldiers and tools are revered by artisans. The Puja is considered a meaningful custom, which focuses specific attention to one’s profession and its related tools and connotes that a divine force is working behind it to perform well and for getting the proper reward.

Top half: Dad's tax book, my music book, kitchen knife, scissors, my color pencils and so on are part of my worship. :)
Bottom half: Veneration of vehicles at home as part of Ayudha Puja!

Celebration does not end at home. The streets are busy selling pooja articles which include color papers to decorate the vehicles, thoranam for home, fruits, puffed rice etc :)

Now coming to my favorite part, the prasadam. :) We made two dishes as offerings for the god.
One being a sweet - Sogusa Boli (Semolina stuffed pancake/Rava boli/Soogi boli) and the other one is Cabbage vada. :)

I am not sure if God liked it, but I just loved it :) :)

Sogusa Boli (Semolina stuffed pancake)

Ingredients:

For the wrapper:
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Salt - a pinch
Cooking soda - a pinch
Cooking oil - 1/2 cup
Water

For filling:
Semolina/rava - 1 cup
Coconut scrappings - 1 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
Milk - 1 1/2 cup

Method:

For Wrapper:

Mix all purpose flour, salt and cooking soda together. Add adequate water to roll it into a soft dough. Finally add oil and kneed well to make the dough smooth. Roll the dough into a ball and coat it heavily with oil and leave it alone for 3 hours.

For Filling:
In a heavy bottomed pan, take semolina, coconut scrappings, sugar and milk together. In a medium flame keep stirring it until the semolina gets cooked and the contents roll out without sticking to the sides(Kesari consistancy) . Once done, leave it to cool.

To make boli:
Take a plastic sheet or kitchen foil and grease it with oil. Take a chunk of the wrapper dough, press it out to about 2-3 inches in diameter using your hands. Place a dollop of the semolina filing in the centre and fold it from all sides, proceed to seal at the top. Now press it on all sides with your hand to make a boli of 3 inches wide. Carefully remove it from the sheet and toast it on a pan. Flip and toast on both the sides by applying some ghee over it.

Sogusa Boli is ready to eat :) Serve it hot. Enjoy eating :)

Cabbage Vada

Ingredients:

Thoor Dhall - 1 cup
Urad dhall - 1/2 cup
Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Cumin - 1/2 tsp
Green chilly - 2
Ginger - 1/2 inch piece
Cabbage - 100 gms
Salt - for taste


Method:

Soak thoor dhall and urad dhall in water for 2 hours. Grind both the dhalls with pepper, cumin, green chilly, ginger and salt into a coarse mixture by adding very little water. Dice cabbage into fine pieces and add it to the ground mixture.

Now roll them into small balls and deep fry in oil.

Crispy cabbage vada is ready to eat :) You can make it interesting by putting them it in curd or rasam :)

Happy Ayudha pooja to all! :) :) :)

I am sending my Sogusa boli to the festive treats event of Simple Indian Food blog along with Krishnajayanthi Sweet poha and Polala ammavasya Thaligalu paravannam.


Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

International food feast : Mexican Tortilla and Salsa

The time has come to try out international food in fourth sense samayal :)

A sudden thought arose to celebrate a week of International food feast in my blog. So viewers the next 7 posts would be my trial of simple versions of various cuisines. :)

The first one is here.

MEXICAN TORTILLA AND SALSA

I made tomato salsa to go with tortilla as well as tortilla chips :)

Salsa - Pico de gallo

In Mexican cuisine, Salsa pico de gallo is a fresh uncooked condiment made from chopped tomato, onion, chillies etc. It is also called as Salsa picada.

Ingredients:

Fresh tomatoes - 3 large
Onions - 2 medium sized
Jalapeno(Chilly) - 1
Cilantro(Coriander leaves)
Red bell pepper - 1/2
Lime juice - 1 tsp
Paprika - 1/2 tsp
Olive oil - 1 tsp
Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Salt - for taste

Method:

Boil 3 cups of water in a vessel. Slightly slit the tomatoes and put them into the boiling water. Let it boil for another 5 min. Switch off the flame and remove the tomatoes from the water and let them cool for a while. Now gently remove the skin and and cut the tomatoes into halves to remove the seeds too. Chop the tomato into small pieces.

Dice onions, bell pepper and jalapeno into small pieces too. Take all the diced vegetables in a bowl and add finely cut cilantro to it. Now add salt, olive oil, paprika, pepper and lemon juice to it and mix well. Refrigerate for some time to blend flavors.

Tomato salsa is ready to serve. :) Serve it with tortilla or tortilla chips and enjoy eating :)

Tortilla

Tortilla is a flat bread that is made up of all purpose flour or corn base.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 2 cups
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Butter or Vegetable shortening - 1/2 cup
Salt - for taste
Hot water - 1 cup

Method:

Mix the flour and salt. Mix in the butter by hand until the mixture resembles small peas. Add the water slowly until you have a soft elastic ball. You may need to add a little more or less water, but do it slowly. You may not really need as much water as you think you do. Knead until smooth. Cover with a damp towel and then let rest 30 minutes.

Make about 7-9 equal size balls. Flatten and roll each ball into a flat round disk. Cook on a very hot cast iron skillet. Apply little oil on it if necessary. Flip when bottom side is golden, the top should be bubbling slightly when ready. Use a spatula to lift the edge and check for doneness before flipping completely. Keep the cooked tortillas warm by covering with a damp towel while you continue to cook.

Tortillas are ready to eat :) Serve it as you like. I have served it by making a pouch and filling it with salsa. :)

Tortilla Chips

Tortilla chips is an amazing snack food. They can be made in two ways. Either by deep frying it or by baking. They are extremely crispy and go awesome with salsa.

Method:

Make about 7-9 equal size balls from the tortilla dough. Flatten and roll each ball into a flat round disk. Now cut them diagonally 4 times to make 8 triangles. The shape is up to your creativity :)

Baking

Take a gresed baking tray and place the tortilla triangles on them leaving sufficient space between each other. Now apply some oil on the triangles using a brush. Place it in the microwave and bake for 5 min. Flip the triangles and bake for another 5 min. Crispy tortilla chips are ready.

The last pic of the post contains tortilla chips that were baked. :)

Deep frying

In case you decide to deep fry it, do remember to poke the tortilla triangles using a fork to makes tiny holes on it. This will not let the tortilla to puff up much. Now deep fry the tortilla triangles in a hot pan of oil till it turns light brown. Flip and fry for few min. Once done place it on a tissue.

Yummy deep fried tortilla chips are ready to eat. They go super cool with salsa. You can serve it by just sprinkling some paprika on top too :)

The first pic of the post consist of tortilla chips that were deep fried. You can see tiny bubbles in it.

For people who are not too conscious about oily food can surely try this one. :)

Happy making. Enjoy munching international food :)

I am sending this to Mexican fiesta 09.

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Hungry for Snacks??

Be it kids or elders... all of us love snacks and our tummy rings its alarm at 4 pm exclusively for snacks. :) I just demand for variety as well as healthy junk always..

So now here is a variety yet similar collection of snacks for you to enjoy :)

Desi Monaco Sandwich

I just love this and there are zillion variations you can make with monaco to make it extra interesting :)

To make Filling

Ingredients:

Carrot - 1
Beetroot - 1
Onion - 1
Cucumber - 1/2
Coriander leaves
Lemon extract- 1/2 tsp
Chilly powder- 1/4 tsp
Salt - for taste

Method:

Grate all the vegetables and add lemon extract, chilly powder, salt and finely chopped coriander leaves and mix well.

Now fill this in between monaco and just add a drop of tomato ketchup on top of it and serve. :)

Doesn't that look yummy... :) Happy snacking :)

Stuffed Vadam/fryums

This is an absolutely tempting one too.. Kids love these fryums. Having it just like that could be considered as junk food. But then adding such vegetables to it can turn it to be a very healthy snack. :)

Method:

Either get fried vadam/fryums or get them and fry them at home. Make the filling as said above and fill them in the rings. Serve it decoratively. In no time you would see the plate empty. :) Happy munching :)

You get longer fryums of this kind too. In that case you can slit open the fryums into two and fill them up with the vegetables.

Mixture Bhel

This is a very simple and quick snack that you can make too. Its absolutely yummy and makes mixture double interesting a snack. :)

Method:

Take a cup of mixture and mix it with vegetable filling that we made above. Since the vegetable filling contains lemon extract it would give the mixture a tangy taste. :) As a variation you can add tomato ketchup insted of the lemon extract too. :) Enjoy eating :)

Mr & Mrs. Marie Jam Sandwich :)

I generally eat marie biscuits only when my snack box is absolutely void of interesting stuff. I am not sure if this aversion came because this is a biscuit people used to eat when they are sick and get to people who are hospitalized.

I am such a Jam jam jammy fan.. So once when I tried marie with jam, I was thoroughly impressed and from then marie and jam are the best couple for me for snacking. :)

Method:

Apply the jam of your choice to your marie and enjoy eating :)

I have used the newly introduced Kissan green apple jam and home made red apple jam to make it look attractive. :)




I am sending my Desi monaco sandwich and Mr & Mrs Marie Jam Sandwich to Divya's Show me your sandwich event.


Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Peanut Butter Cookies and Awards

Digging into the history of my experiments, If you remember I had planned to make Irish potato candy for which I had got this peanut butter. Since I had the biggest flop show of turning it into disaster halwa, I had the peanut butter waiting to change its form for quite some time. So here is my cookies that amazingly turned out well. ;)

Ingredients:

Peanut butter - 1 cup
Butter - 1/3 cup
Light brown sugar - 1 cup
Egg - 1
Milk - 3 tblsp
Vanilla extract - 2 tbsp
All purpose flour (Maida) - 1 3/4 cup
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp




Method:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F(190 degrees C). In a medium bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar and peanut butter until smooth. Stir in egg, milk and vanilla. Now sift flour, baking soda and salt together and then stir into the peanut butter mixture until well blended. Now make small balls and press them with your hand and place it on the bake ware. Bake for 8 to 10 min. Once done transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

You can add your favorite topping to the cookies like cashews, almond, Hershey's kisses chocolates or even Cadbury gems. This makes it look more interesting. :) Peanut butter cookies is ready to eat. :) Enjoy making, happy eating :)



And now I should really thank Parita , Vineela Siva and Preethi for passing such cute awards to me along with a tag. Here it goes


Thanks a lot for the awards. :) It makes me fly...

Answers to the tag :

1.what is your current obsession?
Cooking!

2. What are you wearing today?
Cargoes and a Tee

3. What’s for dinner?
Ghee rice with veg kuruma

4. What’s the last thing you bought?
Art papers

5. What are you listening to right now?
Oye telugu movie songs by Yuvan

6. What do you think about the person who tagged you?
Parita - She is one of my best blogger buddy for now. She is absolutely friendly and really really sweet. :) I love her baking creations. She rocks. :)

Preethi - She is absolutely enthusiastic and a regular blogger unlike us. She is too friendly and always encourages me by commenting on my dishes. I guess there is no post without her comments in my blog. Thanks a lot for your support my sweet friend. :)

7. If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
Chennai - India. (will never want to leave my mother land) :)

8. What are your must-have pieces for summer?
Cotton pants, Tee's, cotton salwars, skirts etc

9. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
London

10. Which language do you want to learn?
Telugu - its my mother tongue. But I really dont know to read or write. :(

11. Who do you want to meet right now?
All my friends.. miss them all so much.

12. What is your favorite colour?
Aqua Blue

13. What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own closet?
A yellow churidar

14. What is your dream job?
Astronaut who can really fly to the space like Kalpana Chawala

15. What’s your favourite magazine?
Aanandha Vikadan

16. If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?
Clothes

17. What do you consider a fashion faux pas?
Badly matched clothes

18. Who are your style icons?
None.

19. Describe your personal style?
Indo western and simple.

21. What are your favourite movies?
Loads.. Kannathil muthamittal, Anbe sivam, Jab we met, Jaaney tu, Bomarillu, Osthanatey odhantana, Ice age, Finding Nemo etc etc

22. Give us three styling tips that always work for you:
Dress simple and neat. A dignified look attracts more than funky ones.

23. Coffee or tea?
No No. Complan :)

24. What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed?
Listen to music or talk to friends.

25. What is the meaning of your name?
Prosperity everyday :)

26. Which other blogs you love visiting?
All the blogs that I follow.

27. Favorite Dessert/Sweet?
Chocolate truffle with vanilla ice cream

28. Favorite Season?
Winter

29. What gift would please you the most now?
SLR camera.... I badly want one. ;)

30: Which is your favorite international cuisine ?
Italian and Chinese

31. Your favorite kitchen tool?
A spoon.. ;)

I have changed the dream destination question to what gift can please you the most now?

My question: Who loves your cookery the most?

The rules are:
Respond and rework – answer the questions on your own blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, and add one more question of your own. Then tag eight or ten other people.

I am nominating all my blogger friends for this award. :)

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Baby Corn Tikka

It has started raining in chennai and I really have to celebrate it with a nice hot tikka.. :)

Its just amazing to take a look at the city turning fresh with its super cool shower bath. I just love to enjoy the scene with a hot cup of tea and some refreshing hot snack along.

It servers as a super good started.

Baby corn tikka is the right choice for such a day and mood. :)

Ingredients:

Baby corn - 10
Corn flour - 2 tbsp
Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seed powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander seed powder - 1/2 tsp
Tomato sauce - 2 tsp
Salt
Oil



Method:

Mix the corn flour, chilly powder, garam masala, cumin powder, coriander powder and tomato sauce all together in a bowl. Add some oil to it and mix well. Now apply this batter on the baby corn and leave it aside in a closed bowl for half an hour. Now keep them on the dosa pan and roast it by adding some oil to it. Keep turning the corns so that all the sides get roasted evenly. Poke a tooth pic to the corn and serve it.

Baby corn tikka is ready to eat. :)

Serve it hot with tomato sauce or curd. :)



I am sending this recipe along with my carrot soup recipe to the 'lovely winter recipes' event by Shanthi Krishnakumar's cook book.



Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Rice Balls Bean Sundal :)

Sundal is a super good south Indian snack item. Navarathiri celebrations are well known for the varieties of sundal that people make for the deity. :)

This rice ball bean sundal is my all time favorite. I love it for the tangy taste of it.

The rice flour balls are a dish by itself that would absolutely attract the kids. The shape and the salty taste of it would be the best of most. :)


Ingredients:

Field Bean(Mochai) - 1 cup
Rice flour - 1 cup
Water - 1 1/4 cups
Green Chilly - 5
Coconut - 1 tbsp
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida(perungayam) - a pinch
Salt - for taste
Lemon extract - 1 tsp
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves




Method:

Cook bean in pressure pan and keep it aside.

Boil 1 1/4 cups of water adding a little salt to it. When it boils, simmer the flame and add the rice flour stirring it constantly. See to it that it does not form lumps. Now switch off the flame and leave the vessel closed for around ten min. Then sprinkle some water over it and kneed the dough to make it smooth.

Roll it into small balls and place them on a well greased plate and pressure cook it for 15 min.

These white rice balls alone can be the best snack for kids.

Now grind coconut, green chillies, asafoetida and salt together.

Take a pan and add 2 spoons of oil to it and crackle the mustard. Add the curry leaves, cooked bean and the ground paste to it and fry for a while. Now add the white rice flour balls to it and saute for two min. Finally add lemon extract and coriander leaves to it and saute well.

Rice balls bean sundal is ready to serve. :)


I am sending this recipe to Shruthi's Steamed treats event. :)




Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Madras Mirchi

Madras is famous for beach.
Beach is famous for....................................... what else mirchi bajji. :)

Sometimes its fun when we avoid sofestication, forget about the hygene, Stop analysing things and just freakout and enjoy. The bajjis available in beach are the best of taste.

Yeah true it would be awesome to have such hot bajjis on a rainy day.. But what to do???? Chennai is void of rain the entire year.. :( Its okay anyday is a special day when my tongue demands for BAJJI.. :)




Ingredients:

Chilly - 5
Omam - 1 tsp
Roasted gram - 2 tbsp
Bengal gram flour - 5 tbsp
Rice flour - 1 tbsp
Cooking soda - 1/4 tsp
Salt - for taste

The one in the right is sad that his friend got roasted. :( :)

Method:

Grind omam, roasted gram and required salt into a fine powder and keep it aside. Now slit open the chillies and remove the seeds. Fill the above powder into the chillies.



Take a bowl and mix bengal gram flour, rice flour, cooking soda and salt along with a little water to make thick bajji batter.

Now dip the stuffed chillies in the bajji batter and deep fry it until it gets roast.

Madras mirchi bajji is ready to eat. :)


Sending my Madras Mirchi to the JFI: Chilly event. :)


Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Variety Butter Murukku

Tongue is the most active organ I guess, it always wants change, wants more, keeps getting bored with things. Usssss. Here is a simple yet intersting murukku snack with a lot of choice for the tongue. :)

You might ask me whats that in the center??? Yeah... its a murukku dough Ganesha. There are lots of myth in out culture and tradition. Mom being a theist, always prays to god for the dish to come out well by making a small Ganesha everytime. :)

Myth is a myth, but when it brings happiness to someone anything is fine and agreed isn't it. :)



White/ Plain Butter Murukku

Ingredients:

Rice flour - 5 cups
Urad dhall flour(fry in dry pan and powder it) - 1 cup
Butter - 50 gms
Asafoetida - a pinch
Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
Salt - for taste



Method:

Beat butter nicely in a plate and add all the other ingredients to it and mix well. Partition the mixture into multiple parts. Take one portion of the above mixture and add adequate water to it to make dough. Now put the dough in the muruku maker and squeeze it in the oil and fry till it becomes crisp.

Note: Do not mix the entire mixture into dough at one stretch. Doing that would lead to change of color of the dough when left alone for a long time. So make the mixture into dough by adding water as and when required.

Now to make it more interesting, lets add flavors to the same dough.

Orange Butter murukku

Add little chilly poweder and food color orange or red along with the above ingredients and make muruku in the same way. This would give you a gharam flavor and interesting look and feel.

Green Butter Murukku

Grind coriander leaves and some green chillies(according to your taste) very finely and add this to the above dough and mix well. This would give you the flavor of coriander leaves and would be hot with chillies too.. :)

You can make another variation of using mint leaves too.

Yellow Butter Murukku

Add a pinch of turmeric power and a little lemon extract to it and mix well. This would give yummy flavour as well as attractive color to it. :)







Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com