VIRUNDHOMBAL

Paruppu podi is a healthy, protein rich dish with very simple ingredients. I personally enjoy this paruppu podi with (suda suda sadham) hot rice, appalam and ghee. I wanted to post this paruppu podi for a long time, and recently got the recipe from my mom with exact measurements. As it is the fasting season now, this paruppu podi will be perfect to mix with the pacharisi sadham. Also, this is a perfect podi to send to your children who study abroad.  There are many different ways to prepare paruppu podi. We usually follow this method, and it stays good for 2 months if stored in an airtight container. To make this paruppu podi, measure all the ingredients and keep them ready to roast. I would like to share some important tips to make perfect paruppu podi.  To get the best result, ensure the dals and spices are fresh and clean. For uniform roasting, I recommend roasting all the ingredients on a medium heat.  Red chillies and peppercorns are added for the spiciness. You can ...

Instant Milk Peda recipe with full video and step by step pictures. A simple way to prepare homemade milk peda is this instant milk peda recipe with just three ingredients within 15 minutes. Traditional milk peda is prepared by simmering the milk for 1.5 to 2 hours to prepare the khoya. Then the khoya is further combined with sugar to prepare pedas. For those deciding to prepare homemade milk peda for the first time, this method is the best. Once you become expert in preparing basic milk peda, you can start experimenting with different flavours. Various milk sweets in sweet shops quickly attract children with their colour and designs. Starting from my childhood days milk peda is one of my favourite sweets and I was very eager to search for milk peda recipe in cookbooks and tv shows to prepare homemade milk peda. Two years back, I saw this instant milk peda recipe in the living food cookery channel and prepared it for last year's Diwali without any tweaks. It turned out great a...

In most of the houses, ribbon pakoda with rice flour or ribbon pakoda with ground rice batter will be made for Diwali. A few months ago, bought this ragi flour ribbon pakoda from Sri Krishna's Lala shop in Tenkasi  and it tasted good with soft crispy texture. When I was planning to post Diwali recipes, my son Siva suggested to try ragi flour ribbon pakoda. To make this ragi flour pakoda you will need ragi flour, rice flour, fried gram flour, butter, asafoetida powder, white sesame seeds, asafoetida powder and oil. The butter gives the crispness and fried gram flour makes the pakoda slightly crumbly.  Tips for Ragi flour ribbon pakoda 1. Make sure to use fresh ragi flour because the old ragi flour has a nutty taste and not suitable for pakodas.  2. Roasted gram flour can be replaced with besan flour but, the texture will be slightly hard.  3. If you are not getting proper ribbon shape, then your dough is too moist, then add some rice flour and knead again.  4. If...

Saamai manathakkali keerai rice is a healthy one pot rice that takes just 20 minutes with easily available ingredients.  This rice consists of little millets (saamai rice), black nightshade greens (manathakkali keerai), small onions, tomato, garlic, moong dal and my secret masala powder. I use little millets in this recipe, you can also use Kodo millet or barnyard millet which also tastes good. You may also use regular ponni rice, but you need to adjust the water and cooking time. Before you start to cook this rice together, you need to prepare the masala powder for the rice. Chana dal, cumin, pepper, red chilli, curry leaves and coconut are dry roasted for a few minutes and then coarsely powdered in a mixer jar. Manthakkali leaves are easy to separate from the stem when compared to other greens. Once the chopping works and the roasting works are ready, saute everything together in a pressure cooker. To add protein, I used split moong dal as it tastes good with manathakkali leaves....

Yellow Pumpkin Eriseri is a curry made with yellow pumpkin,  karamani and coconut paste. It is one of the delicious and satisfying side dishes that takes just 25 minutes to make.  The flavouring comes from the ground coconut paste which is added in two forms. The first coconut paste is prepared by grinding coconut, cumin, red chilli and garlic to a smooth paste which is added when the pumpkins are done. The second coconut paste is prepared by grinding the coconut, red chilli and cumin coarsely which is then roasted well in the coconut oil and added in the final stage. This yellow pumpkin eriseri goes well with pulikuzhambu, theeyal and sambar. This pumpkin eriseri is another delicious recipe from my aunt Raji Tamilselvi from Nagercoil. She taught many of their traditional dishes from Nagercoil. This eriseri tastes good with green skin pumpkin which has deep orange pulp. You can also replace white chick peas instead of karamani. Coconut oil gives the eriseri a subtle aroma. The...

Today we are going to see an easy rava ladoo recipe that's perfect for Diwali, Krishna Jeyanthi or for any family occasions. This recipe can be easily doubled if you are preparing in a large quantity. Good news, no condensed milk, no sugar consistency syrup and no milk are needed for this rava ladoo. There are many easy methods for rava ladoo but this is the traditional method my grandmother used to prepare which stays good for more than 2 weeks.  Simply roast the rava and powder the rava and sugar separately in a mixer jar. And then combine the powdered rava, sugar along with roasted cashews and cardamom powder. Mix the dry ingredients well and then add melted ghee little by little. When it's warm enough to handle, prepare ladoos. Easy sweet recipe within 30 minutes with simple methods.  Tips to make perfect Rava Ladoo To make soft rava ladoos, do not roast the rava for a long time. Roast until you get a nice aroma.  For this rava ladoo recipe, I suggest using fine rava....

Today we are going to see our all time favourite Chana Masala. It's a simple yet complete food that's easy to make within 30 minutes. I got this recipe from our friend's mom who is from Bodi. The flavours are just delicious. She gave me one kg of her homemade garamasala powder and it is one of our new favourites! The garamasala powder is free from the addition of preservatives, artificial colours and mono sodium glutamate. Any masalas or kurmas made with a unique blend of spices, tastes good. I have been trying to make my own garamasala powder but just keep putting it off. Now I am confident to prepare homemade garamasala powder as she clearly explained the recipe with exact ingredients and measurements. I will try posting the homemade garamasala recipe in virundhombal soon. During our visit to their house, she prepared so many dishes and all of them were lip smacking and the masalas were perfectly balanced, not overpowering the other.  This Chana masala is not the authenti...