Mor milagai / Thayir mulaku / kondattam mulaku / Sun dried chillies

Ingredients:

Green Chillies  - 250 gms

Curd -  250 gms

water - 1 cup

Salt -  4 tblsp or as needed

Method:

Clean the chillies well by soaking in water for few minutes. Do not remove the stalk. Stain water and keep chillies aside.

Whisk curd (you can use sour leftover curd also) add water, if too thick. Add salt and mix well.

Slit a little along side or at the bottom of the chilli. This is for salt and buttermilk ( mor) to get inside easily while soaking. Add slit chillies to the buttermilk, stir well and soak it overnight. 

Next day take out the chillies from butter milk and spread on a plate and dry in hot sun. Let it dry for the whole day.

By evening, again put the chillies back in the buttermilk, mix well and keep closed overnight. 

Next day, repeat the process......

Likewise, repeat drying until all the whole  buttermilk gets into the chillies. Then just keep drying the chilli alone in sun for few days in hot sun until the chillies are dried up completely. Number of days that it will take for drying depend on the heat of the sun.

Store in a closed container and fry when every needed... 

Heat enough oil and fry the chillies until deep dark brown. My brother like it blackened he says it tastes great that way :)

And there......its ready..... thair mulaku or mor millagai tastes excellent with rice or thair sadham....

Biriyani masala

Ingredients:

Cinnamon - 3,1"sticks
Cardamom - 5-6
Cloves -5-6
Caraway seeds/sa jeerakam - 1⁄4 teaspoon
Cumin seeds - 1⁄4teaspoon
Fennel seeds  -  spoon 1⁄4
Star anise - 2-3nos
Mace -1-2nos
Nutmeg -  1⁄2 piece 
Bay leaves - 2 nos

Method:

             To prepare  home made biriyani masala  roast all the ingredients separately and make fine powder by grinding in a mixer all together. keep it in an air tight container.

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

Elachi / cardamon powder

Cardamon is a common ingredient in Indian cooking. Ground cardamom is very fine, almost like a powder.To make cardamom powder:

Ingredients:

Cardamon - 1 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup

Method:
Grind cardamon pods and sugar in a mixer. Store in an airtight container and use.

Ground cardamom tends to lose its flavour and aroma soon as it loses its volatile oils. Hence, prepare in small quantities and store in an airtight jar in a cool, dry place.

Butter (Making butter at home)

Ingredients:

Milk  

Method:
After the boiled milk  cools down, the cream get accumulated on the top of the milk. collect them with a spoon and store it a container. If the milk is refrigerated  we can get thick layer of cream .

In a bottle or container add one spoon of curd. Then Collect cream daily to this bottle. (For about 20 days or till your container is full). keep  the bottle refrigerated. You can use cream from both curd and milk.

Wait till  your bottle / container is full...Keep the filled bottle outside the fridge for two days before making butter.

Transfer the collected cream from the bottle to the mixer jar. Pour 1/2 to 1 cup of chilled water also. Use whip option or swirl 2-3 times. Once the froth completely turns to a collective buttery mass stop.

Open and check you can see the butter accumulated. Transfer the butter to a vessel. The buttermilk reserved at the bottom can be disposed.

Wash the butter 2 -3 times in water until water is clear by pressing with a spoon. Allow the butter to float in water for 5mins. 

Your homemade butter is ready for use.......... :) Collect it in a clean container and refrigerate it by pouring water also in the vessaL....:)

Recipe Courtesy: Mrs.Prassana Sugathan (Amma)

Curry masala Powder

Ingredients:

Coriander powder- 1 kg
Chilly powder-200 gms
Turmeric - 50 gms
Cumin seeds - 100 gms
Pepper-100 gms
Curry leaves- 1 cup

Method:

Heat a pan, dry roast all the ingredients one by one separately for 4-5 minutes or till aroma comes. Coriander seeds will pop lightly when u roast them, so roast until the popping sound stops. Roast Everything in medium heat. Allow the mixture to cool for a while and then blend it to a fine powder.

For this measurement you need to give to a flour mill to get it Powdered.  This can be kept in an air tight container and can be used for a longer period.

If you prefer grinding in smaller quantities at home. .Measurement for home grinding:

Coriander powder- 1 1/2 cup
Chilly powder-  1/2 cup
Turmeric - 4 tsp
Cumin seeds -  1/2 cup
Pepper- 1/4cup
Curry leaves- 1/2 cup

Roast all ingredients separately, except turmeric and while grinding the roasted ingredients add turmeric powder.Store in an air tight container

Recipe Courtesy: Uma's Mother,Pondicherry.

Coconut milk

Ingredients:

Grated coconut
Water

Method:

Grind grated coconut in a mixer with required water(We can also use warm water). Strain the grind coconut and you get coconut milk. 

The first extract of coconut milk is the milk that we get after straining for the first time. when we again add water and grind in mixer and strain we get second extract of coconut milk.

when we use coconut milk as a side dish we use first milk. But for some recipes we need to use both first milk as well as second milk.

Coconut Milk...:)

Recipe Courtesy: Mrs.Prassana Sugathan (Amma)