Ela Ada (Version -1)

Ingredients:
Raw rice - 1 cup
Grated coconut ¾ cup 
Sugar - 1 cup
Cardamom seeds 2-3, crushed 
Banana leaf 6-8 nos (alternately you can use parchment paper if banana leaves are not available) 
Water- As needed

Method:

Clean and soak rice over night or 3 hrs.Grind in a mixer with less water. Dough should  be of tight consistency.

Meanwhile wash and cut the banana leaves into rectangular shapes. Place each ball on the banana leaf and flatten them thinly on to the leaf with your fingertips or hand palm (Dip your fingertips occasionally in water as it helps the flattening easy.

In a bowl, mix together grated coconut , Crushed cardamom  and sugar. Keep this aside. Place a tablespoon or two of the coconut- sugar mixture onto one side of the dough. Fold the leaf from the other side and seal edges by pressing with our fingers. Set aside. Repeat the same with the rest of the dough.

Steam cook for 20-30 minutes in an idli cooker or steamer. 

Switch off flame and take the ada outside and allow to cool for 10-12 minutes before serving. You can either serve it on the banana leaf itself or take it off onto a plate ..Serve warm....

Chakkakuru - Murungayila Paruppu Curry (Jackfruit seeds- Drumstickleaves lentil curry)

Ingredients:

Tuvar dal - (Split pigeon pea, Tovar dal, Tur dal, Thuvaram paruppu) - 1/2 cup

Jackfruit seeds, Outer White skin peeled and halved - 1 cup

Drumstick leaves - 1 Cup

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup

Green chillies - 2 tsp 

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Garlic cloves - 4

Fennel seeds - 1 tsp

Dry red chillies - 3

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - Few

oil - 1 tbsp

salt - to taste

Method:

Wash  jackfruit seeds and pressure cook it adding chillies, turmeric Powder,salt and enough water. Keep Aside.

Wash toor dal and pressure cook it adding garlic and enough water.

Once the dal is cooked add cleaned drumstick leaves and keep boiling till the leaves are cooked. 

Grind grated coconut, and fennel seeds  to a smooth paste. Once the leaves are cooked add ground paste along with 1 cup water and boil for few minutes. Check the salt. Switch off the flame and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, add dry red chillies and curry leaves and fry. Pour this over the curry.

AAnd serve hot with rice...

 
Recipe courtesy: Prassana Sugathan

Garam Masala Powder

Ingredients:

Elachi/ cardamom - 2 tbsp

Cloves - 2 tbsp 

cumin seeds - 1 tbsp

Cinnamon - 4 sticks (1 inch) 

Nutmeg - a quarter or half 

Mace (mace is the dried "lacy" reddish covering  of the nutmeg seed - 4

Bay leaves - 2 

Star anise - 3 - 4

Pepper Corns -  2 tbsp

Method:

Dry roast all ingredients separately over medium flame with constant stirring to ensure even roasting. Stir for about 30 seconds. Transfer all to one Plate. I hv posted the pics of only some of the ingredients.

Crush the nutmeg and then dry roast.

 When cool grind the mixture to a fairly smooth powder.

  Store your freshly  home made garam masala in an airtight glass container.....

Recipe Courtesy : Mrs Usha Shashi bhushan tripati

Fish Biriyani

Ingredients:

For fish masala:
Fish pieces - King Fish/ Ayakoora / Pomfret  or any other firm fish - 6 nos
Ginger, Garlic, Green chilly paste - 3 tbsp
Big Onions - 3
Small onions - 15 nos
Chilli powder - 1 tbsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1⁄2 tsp
Tomato - 3
Grated coconut - 1 cup
Poppy seeds -1⁄2 tsp
Fennel seeds- 2 tbsp
Garam Masala Powder- 1 tsp
oil- as required
Salt -as required

For biriyani rice:
Basmati rice/Kaima rice - 2 cups
Onion sliced - 2
Cardamom - 1⁄2 tsp
Cloves-1⁄4 tsp
Cinnamon sticks- 3
Boiled water - 4 cups
Refined Oil - 2 tbsps
Ghee - 2 tsps
Salt as required

For Garnishing and layering:

Onion sliced- 1/4 cup
Cashew nuts- 1 tbsp
Raisins- 1 tbsp
Garam masala- as required
Mint leaves chopped -  1 tbsp
Coriander leaves chopped - 1 tbsp
Garam masala powder - 1⁄2 tsp
Fresh lime juice - 1 tbsp

Method:
Wash the rice thoroughly and soak in cold water for 25 – 30 minutes.  Drain and keep aside.

Add 2 tbsp of ghee to a large vessel. Fry the cashews, raisins and one finely chopped onion in oil until its golden brown in colour, one after the other. Keep them aside for garnishing and layering. Add cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves and cardamom and fry for a minute. Add sliced onions and saute again till they are soft.  Add the drained rice and fry for 5 - 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile, keep the water on another stove and let it boil. Add the boiling water, 1/2 tsp turmeric Powder and salt to the fried rice. Cook the rice with the vessel closed with a tight lid. Also gently stir in between to make sure that the rice does not stick on the bottom of the vessel. Once the rice is done keep it aside.

Wash and clean the slices of fish pieces and marinate with Chilly Powder, Turmeric Powder, Ginger-garlic Paste,Pepper powder and Salt. Keep it aside for half an hour. 

Take a pan and pour oil. Heat the oil and fry the marinated fish pieces until golden brown. Keep this aside.

Grind green chillies, garlic and ginger to a fine paste. Keep them aside.Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Saute the sliced onions and crushed small onions in oil until they become translucent. Add the ginger, garlic and green chilly paste. Add coriander Powder,turmeric powder, Red chilly Powder and garam masala and fry for 5 minutes. 

Grind coconut and poppy seeds to fine paste and add to the masala and cook well. Add chopped tomatoes and let it cook until mashed to this and 1/2 cup water and boil. Add the fried fish once the gravy starts boiling. Let it boil for few minutes. Gravy should be thick and not watery. Be very careful not to break the fish while stirring.

Now we need to start layering for that, divide the cooked rice into three Portions. Chop coriander leaves and mint leaves. keep lime juice and garam masala ready. 

In a big wide open vessel start layering by spreading the first layer with rice. Sprinkle one pinch of garam masala, few tsp of chopped coriander and mint leaves on each layer of rice. Sprinkle 1 tsp of lemon juice also . On top of this spread fish masala. only two slices of fish need to be kept in each layer. cover this layer with cooked rice. 

Again repeat the same layers. finally end with a rice layer. 

After layering we can either bake this in a preheated oven for 180 degree Celsius for 15- 20 minutes or keep in dum on a stove top method by heating a thava/dosa kallu, when it is really hot, place the biriyani vessel on top of that. Reduce the heat to the lowest flame & cook for 10-15 mins. Keep the heat at the lowest flame throughout, otherwise it might get burnt. Also place a pan of boiling water on top of the biriyani vessel at the same time. When its time to serve remove the lid and carefully keep the fish pieces separately and mix the rice well with the masala. 

To serve, on the plate keep the fish piece and cover with the rice. Garnish with fried cashew nuts, raisins and onion. Fish biriyani Ready...:) Enjoy with salad, Pickle,  Pappad and Coconut Chutney.

Recipe Courtesy:Mrs Prassana Sugathan

Biscuit coffee Pudding

Ingredients:

Unsalted Butter: 1/2 cup

Powdered Sugar: 100 gms

Marie Biscuit: 150-200 gms ( 1 Packet)

Milk - 1 liter

sugar - 7 tbsp ( to taste) 

Custard powder (Vanilla Flavor) - 5 tbsp 

Coffee powder ( Bru/ Nescafe/ Expresso) - 2 tsps

Hot water - 1 cup.

Cashew nuts and Raisins- 50 gms

Method:

Prepare coffee  decoction in 1 cup of boiling water. Filter it and leave it to cool. Or 1 tbsp instant coffee powder can be mixed into 1 cup hot water.

From 1 litre milk,remove 1/2 cup milk and keep aside. Add custard powder to the 1/2 cup milk that has been kept aside. Mix well, till all the lumps are dissolved. when the milk comes to a boil add the custard milk mixture, Keep on stirring while adding the custard mixture. Cook till the custard mixture thickens a little.Take off the flame and add required sugar and let it cool.

Dip the biscuit one at a time in coffee decoction and arrange it in the pan as shown in the picture below. It doesn't matter, if the biscuits overlap.

Beat together butter and Powdered sugar until light and fluffy. You can use a wooden spatula or an electric hand mixer. With a spatula, spread the butter and sugar mixture over the biscuits evenly filling all the gaps and corners.Repeat with another layer of biscuits dipped in coffee decoction and top it  with another layer of cream.

Continue layering biscuits and cream alternatively until all the cream and biscuits are over . Spread raisins and cashew nuts either on the last layer Or on each alternative layer.

After the custard has fully cooled  and become thick, pour this custard over it. Finally, Garnish with nuts and raisins. Let it set in the fridge for about 5 hours. 

When the pudding is set slice into pieces and enjoy....:) Another alternative of this recipe is adding cocoa powder. we can add cocoa powder to the butter mixture and to the custard we make and follow the same procedure.....

Recipe Courtesy: Mrs Lalitha Valsaraj....laliaunty