VIRUNDHOMBAL

Plantain Paratha - super yummy parathas stuffed with the precooked plantain masalas. The first time I made this, it was a big hit in my family and my son told me it's a paratha filled with plantain podimas. Because he likes plantain podimas (puttu) very much and finish it completely as a salad. This paratha is good for breakfast and you can simply have it with a bowl of curd. Plantain paratha has few simple ingredients like plantain, wheat flour, chopped ginger, chopped green chillies, coriander leaves and grated coconut. The plantains are cooked and then grated finely. I use the carrot grater to grate it, you may use a potato masher to mash it. If you have nice soft plantains, it will be easy to cook and grate them, otherwise you will have small small chunks in the paratha. After preparing the plantain gratings simply saute them in a pan along with chopped ginger, green chillies, coriander leaves and curry leaves. Once you are done with the plantain mixture, prepare the stu...

Black urid dal porridge (Karuppu ulundhu kanji) - prepared with just four ingredients like split black urid dal, palm jaggery, grated coconut and milk. This kanji is one the best dish to include in your diet for breakfast because it reduces the body heat plus it keeps you energetized for the whole day. This kanji can be easily prepared within 15 minutes. In this porridge I have used black urid dal and palm jaggery. If you do not have black urid dal, you can replace it with white urid dal also. In most of our Tirunelveli dishes we use split black urid dal.  Black urid dal has an excellent flavour when compared with white urid dal. Next, an important star ingredient in this kanji  is palm jaggery. Nowa days, many of us forgotten its amazing nutritional values in it. Palm jaggery is high in iron and several other nutrients. So if this porridge is prepared with these two star ingredients (black urid dal with palm jaggery) you can have a healthy protein iron dish for yo...

Karthigai Pori - a classic prasadam prepared for karthigai festival. This karthigai pori looks different from the regular rice pori and you can get these pori during karthigai tamil month in pori shops. They are one my favourite, favourite...... prasadam dishes. This tastes so good on the next day because the jaggery will enter each poris after cooling down. For this karthigai pori dish you will need the nel pori, jaggery, black sesame seeds and coconut. To prepare jaggery syrup, I recommend to use pagu vellam (jaggery) which is dark brown in colour because it gives a nice taste and colour to this dish. You have to dissolve the jaggery with little water and then strain it if needed. Then continue boiling the syrup on low heat, stirring occasionally, until it reaches to a thick consistency. Watch your jaggery syrup closely as it gets thicker or browns quickly. Before preparing the jaggery syrup, add the nelpori in a big container or in a vessel. Add the roasted sesa...

Nanjil Sambar - prepared with the  combination of seasonal vegetables, toor dal and flavoured with freshly prepared sambar powder. Another interesting recipe from my Rema athai. As Nagercoil is her hometown, I learned many nanjil recipes from her. Nanjil refers to the area around Nagercoil, Agastheeswaram, Thovalai etc. Last month I prepared 30 varieties Nanjil recipes for the Aval Vikatan magazine. I have no time to take step by step pictures for all the 30 recipes, but took some pictures for a few recipes. All the 30 varieties are evergreen recipes of Nanjil. This Nanjil sambar is one of my favourite sambar for lunch. This sambar is similar to our Tirunelveli idi sambar but there is no need for any coconut paste.In both Tirunelveli sambar and idi sambar we add coconut paste in the final stage. For this sambar, you need fresh vegetables like drumsticks, brinjal, lady's finger, raw mango, yellow pumpkin, potato and carrot. Plus sambar onions, green chillies and freshl...

Carrot Burfi is prepared with grated carrot, grated coconut, milk powder, sugar and ghee. This is similar to my mango coconut burfi but it is quicker than mango burfi.  The moisture in the mango pulp takes some time to get thick whereas in this carrot burfi it gets easily thick and perfect for kids birthday party and also for potlucks. If you use fresh, juicy carrots it will be easy to grate it finely. No need to grind the carrots. The milk powder gives a nice texture to the burfi and it also helps to give perfect consistency to cut the burfis. When it comes to burfi the sugar level is high when compared to other varieties. The first step is to saute the grated carrots and coconut for a few minutes on medium heat to remove the raw smell of the carrots and the moisture from the coconut. Then you have to combine the milk powder and sugar. This burfi does not require any sugar syrup consistency, so you can start stirring the carrot coconut mixture on medium heat. You have to a...

Manapparai Murukku - crispy and addictive travel snack for many of us. This Manapparai Murukku is a famous snack and in most of the trains and buses as soon as when we cross Trichy we hear the sound murukku.. murukku...manapparai murukku...... It's an all time favorite snack. It's a nice alternative to the packed chips as there is no artificial flavors or colours in it. This Manapparai murukku dish is very easy to prepare with simple cooking steps. A few years back, I saw this recipe on a TV show. They shoot it from Manapparai from where it was prepared. He explained the steps beautifully with easy cooking methods. I tried this murukku in my home and it was so nice. The murukku was so crunchy because we have to double fry it. Another secret to achieve even crispiness in the murukku is that we have to knead the flour with the water mixed with salt and the spices like ajwain, jeera and sesame seeds. For frying the murukku, I have used coconut oil and you can use your favourite ...

Easy milk sweet - prepared with condensed milk, unsweetned kova, powdered sugar and ghee. You can easily prepare this milk cake within 30 minutes. Traditionally milk sweets are prepared with milk, which will take more time. We like almost any sweets based on milk products, but most of the milk sweets require some time and patience. So for a change, I planned to prepare an instant and easy milk sweet for this Diwali with unsweetened kova and condensed milk. The taste is similar to the regular milk sweet, and my son Siva enjoying it very much. Sure to become your favourite milk sweet also. To make this easy milk sweet you need unsweetened kova, condensed milk, cardamom powder, powdered sugar, chopped pistachio nuts and ghee. The  kova are sauted in ghee for a few minutes and then mixed with the condensed milk. The kova dough will look like milk halwa and when it gets thick the powdered sugar are mixed well. We have to mix the powdered sugar in two stages so that the sugar ...