Easy ullivada

Psalms: 34:8

                     There is no better option than hot crispy Ullivada for a tea time snack. It is so easy to make that you can make it every day. Its ingredients are those which are commonly available in every kitchen. Preparation time can never exceed half an hour.  There is no exact measurement for the ingredients which makes it a child's play to cook it. Let us get cooking!!

Ingredients (Quantity as per your taste and requirement)

Onion: Thinly sliced
Ginger: Crushed
Green chilli: Sliced to small pieces
Curry leaves: Cut to small pieces 
Gram flour
Rice flour
Chilli powder
Asafoetida
Garam masala
Salt
Oil

Method

Step 1: In a bowl add the onion, ginger, green chilli, curry leaves and some salt. Crush them together with your hand so that water starts oozing out from the onion. Keep it aside for 15 minutes.

Step 2: After 15 minutes you can see that a good amount of water has come out of the onion. No extra water has to be added. Now add chilli powder, asafoetida, garam masala and about two tablespoons of rice flour. Mix well.

Step 3: Add gram flour and mix well to form a thick coating on onion slices. Add salt if required.

Step 4: Heat oil in a frying pan. Add the onion-flour mixture in the size of the Ullivada you want. Fry it over medium heat until it turns to a nice brown colour. 

Yummy crispy Ullivada is ready to serve. Serve it hot.

How to make dosa batter at home

Wisdom 7:7

                          Home made is always good. So why do you buy ready-to-make dosa batter, whose ingredients we never know, when you can easily make it at home? Making the batter fresh at home does make a difference in the taste of dosa we make out of it. It tastes amazing and is very soft. It is very easy to make the batter and let us see below how.

Makes 10-15 medium sized dosas.

Ingredients:

Parboiled rice / Idli rice : 1 cup

Split black gram / Urud dal : 1/2 cup

Fenugreek seeds : 1 table spoon

Cooked rice : 1/4 cup

Salt : as required

Water : as required

Method:

 

Step 1: Wash idli rice, Urud dal and fenugreek seeds and soak them separately in water for 7 hours. (We use the water in which they are soaked for grinding them. So add sufficient water.)

Step 2: After 7 hours, grind the soaked idli rice, urud dal and fenugreek seeds along with cooked rice in a mixer adding the water used for soaking. Grind them to form a smooth batter (not too loose).

Step 3:  Pour the batter to a glass container and keep it in a warm place for 8 hours to ferment.

Step 4: After 8 hours, you can see that the batter has risen. Add salt and mix well. The batter is ready to make soft dosas.

Easy Banana Bonda - A delicious kerala snack recipe

Leviticus 26:12

                   Is it not mouth watering to see those hot sweet 'bondas' (or some call it Undampori) stacked inside the glass cupboards in the small bakery near the bus stop? Mmmm yummy.. But did you know that it is very easy to make them at home? As easy as making chappati or may be easier. Below is an easy recipe to make bonda.

Makes 7 - 8 medium sized bondas.

 

Ingredients:

Wheat flour : 2 cups

Ripe banana : 6 (small)

Cardamom powder : 1/2 tablespoon

Baking powder : 1/4 teaspoon 

Sugar : as per your taste

Salt : 2 pinches

Water : as required 

Oil : as required (to fry)

 

Method:

Step 1 : Grind banana and sugar in a mixer.

Step 2 : In a mixing bowl add wheat flour, baking powder, salt and cardamom powder. Mix well.

Step 3 : Add banana and sugar paste to the above mixture.

Step 4 : Mix well to form a dough of consistency (not too firm or too loose) where you can hold it in hand and form a ball. Add water if necessary.

Step 5 : Keep the dough in a warm place for three hours to rise. (If you do not want to wait for three hours, jump onto step 6. You can still get a decent bonda)

Step 6 : Heat the oil in a frying pan. Dip your hand in water and take some dough. Shape it into a ball and drop it in the oil. 

Step 7 : Fry it on medium heat until it turns to a dark brown colour.

There you go..the sweet hot bonda is ready to serve with a hot cup of coffee.

Note :  

• You can substitute sugar with jaggery. Dissolve jaggery in half cup water and add instead of sugar. Make sure you don't add too much water. 
• In case your dough is too loose, add a little extra wheat flour to correct the consistency. Add extra water if too firm.

Creamy custard without custard powder

                                                                                   Isaiah 43:1

                                  Hello friends, have you ever wondered what are the ingredients in the custard powder that you buy from store? If not, now you do. I had always thought that the only way of making custard was using custard powder and I never bothered to read the ingredient list printed on the side of the packet until I visited one of my friends. I was there for lunch and she served fruit salad for dessert . It was so creamy and smooth and delicious, I couldn't resist asking for one more cup. I asked her which brand she used for the custard powder and to my surprise she said she never buys custard powder but she has her own way of making custard, which she explained. Thereafter custard powder has never been on my grocery list. Homemade custard recipe uses only ingredients that you always have at home. Below I have written how to easily make custard without custard powder.


Homemade Custard Recipe

Ingredients:

1.Milk :  2 cups (500ml)
2.Corn flour :  2 tablespoons (20g)
3.All purpose flour (maida) :  1 tablespoon (8g)
4.Vanilla extract : 1 teaspoon
5.Sugar :  8 tablespoons (100g)
6.Egg : 1
7.Egg yolk :  2      (How to separate egg yolk from egg white)

(yes, that's it!)

Method:

Step 1. In a bowl add corn flour, all purpose flour, 1/4 cup of milk, egg and egg yolks. Mix them well so that there are no lumps.

Step 2. In a milk pan add sugar and the remaining milk. Combine it well.  On a medium heat, bring it to boil.

Step 3. When the milk just begins to boil, turn the flame to low and add the flour-egg-milk mixture by constantly stirring.

Step 4. Keep stirring until the mixture thickens and begins to bubble.

Step 5.  Add vanilla extract and stir. 

Step 6. Turn off the heat.

Step 7. Strain the mixture to a container and refrigerate it for 2 hours. Your custard is ready to be served.


 TIPS:

•     You can completely avoid flour. But make sure that the temperature of the mixture does not exceed 185 degrees otherwise you will have scrambled egg in milk. You can cook over a double boiler to maintain a low temperature.

•     Make the custard more creamy by increasing the count of egg yolks to 3 or 4 and also by melting two tablespoons of unsalted butter into the hot custard.