VIRUNDHOMBAL

Chickpeas (Kondaikadalai) sundal is a perfect dish for poojas and evening snacks. I like this sundal for lunch with tamarind rice or lemon rice . Plus chickpeas add protein to our diet. Make sure to soak the chickpeas for 8 to 10 hours to get a soft sundal. After that, you have to pressure cook the chick peas until soft and do the tempering. The three main ingredients for chickpeas sundal are ginger, asafoetida powder and fresh coconut. In addition to these, you can add roasted coriander seeds powder or sambar powder. In Andhra Pradesh, they grind the coconut, greenchillies and coriander leaves and add it to the sundal which gives a nice flavor and colour. Now a days this chickpeas sundal is becoming a popular snack box dish for our kids. Now let's see how to prepare this chick peas sundal. Similar Sundal Recipes Poomparuppu (Kadalai paruppu) Sundal  White Peas Sundal Moong dal - Green gram sweet Sundal Peanut Sundal

Chana dal modagam - traditional prasadam for Ganesh Chathurthi Pooja with chana dal, jaggery, coconut and rice flour. This modagam is a popular South Indian dessert that’s easy to make and healthy too. The filling (pooranam) inside the modagam is prepared with cooked chana dal, coconut and jaggery. How to prepare chana dal pooranam You need 3 basic ingredients to make this delicious poornam. Of course I like to eat this pooranam very much before filling in the modagam. So I always keep some pooranam to eat as it is. After offering to the God, we( me and my son) enjoy this pooranam. This is the same pooranam we prepare for sushiyam dessert for Diwali. The First thing you will want to pressure cook the chana dal. If you soak the dal for 30 to 45 minutes, then it will be perfect for mashing. Do not add more water for pressure cooking. Then mash the dals with a wooden spatula or a ladle. In a separate bowl, dissolve the jaggery with little water and keep it ready. The gra

Samba Pacharisi Kozhukattai - prepared with red raw rice, jaggery and coconut. Anyone who wants a quick evening dessert without much effort should try this samba raw rice Kozhukattai. In our family, we call this kozhukattais as avarakkai kozhukattai because it looks like the vegetable avarakkai. The first step is to grind the samba raw rice flour.This samba raw rice is a medium grain rice which is purple in colour and wider in size. It is common in Tirunelveli and can be used in a variety of dishes like kozhukattai, puttu, sarkkarai pongal and aapam. In Tirunelveli, for Pongal festival we cook this rice in the pot and then offered to the God. Compared to other varieties of raw rice, this samba raw rice has a mild sweetness in it. During shasti fasting days, we eat this cooked samba rice along with freshly grated coconuts and jaggery. Whenever we visit Tirunelveli, we buy this rice and prepare the flour. To prepare this flour, just sun dry the rice for a few hours and then grind

Tapioca bonda - soft bondas prepared with mashed tapiocas and besan flour. We had this yummy bondas in a  small tea shop in Thrissur. The bondas were very tasty and I asked the recipe from the master. He explained the recipe clearly with simple steps. Then I prepared this bonda for a potluck lunch as a starter and everyone liked it. And also I prepared this bonda for my 30 varieties potluck recipes for the Aval Vikatan magazine. This is the perfect starter for parties and potlucks.  If you like tapiocas, then definitely you must try this bonda for your family. Make it for your next weekend evening snack. How to make the tapioca stuffing Try to use fresh tapiocas which are firm without any soft spots.  After a day or two the tapioca will be hard to cook and after cooking it won't be soft like the fresh tapiocas. Peeling the skin is the tough job, but you can easily peel it with a knife. Use a sharp knife and slightly tear it in the centre of the root and peel the skin comp

Aloo  paratha - easy and tasty paratha stuffed with mashed potatoes. This is the perfect parathas for parties, potlucks and also for short picnics. In  this recipe, the wheat flour is combined with salt and ghee and kneaded to a soft dough as we prepare for chapathi. The ghee is added to retain the softness in the parathas. This recipe I saw in Tarla Dalal's cookbook. This aloo paratha can be prepared in different ways. In this method, the mashed potatoes are sauted in a pan with required seasonings and then stuffed in the parathas. I will tell you some important tips for perfect aloo paratha. 1. First, do not prepare the chapathi dough too soft, because after stuffing it will be difficult to roll out the parathas. 2. Cook the potatoes just enough to mash, but not mushy. When they are warm, mash it with a potato masher or with a small tumbler. 3. After preparing the potato mixture, allow it to cool completely and then start preparing the parathas as you like. Generally, I