Masala Paal

Masaala Paal ( Masaala milk) is very famous amongst the road-side vendors specially during the night times. Milk is heated till some of the water content is evaporated then various spices like clove, cardamom are added and the milk is sweetened.

Warm milk is said to induce sleep. Thats why we drink a cup of warm milk just before bed time. YES !! Our ancestors are more intelligent than we all presume!!!! There is certainly SOME reason behind their practices and we are just naive not to understand the true meaning and to QUESTION those practices..

Ok. Back from my side-track about the masala paal. On days that my father has enough patience at home and peace in mind he used to prepare masala paal at home to drink just before sleeping. He would meticulously heat the pasumpaal ( Cow's milk which is bought from our neighbours who have cattle ) until it is thick. Then he will add strands of kashmir saffron, kalkandu ( sugar candy ), powdered cardamom and powdered badaam powder.

He will heat it until the sugar candies have dissolved and then he will cool it down by transferring the milk to and from a bigger vessel ( called aatharadhu in tamil ) and give me, my sister and my amma glassfuls of milk. The taste of the thick, rich, frothy, fragrant and sweet warm milk still lingers at the tip of my tongue.

We would be sooooo full of sleep that we will gulp down the milk with closed eyes. And my father will not stop there. He will get the emptied milk glasses from me (and sometimes from my elder sister) and then give us some water to gargle so that we dont have sweet sticking to our teeth ( lest we have tooth decay )..

No thanks nothing.. My sleep would be by that time further deepened by the milk. This months' JFI by Vineela is a tribute to all the pains taken by my father at the end of his busy day to nourish us with - Masaala Paal, Masala milk.

Chicken - Barley Soup

One pot dishes like stews, soups are very filling and easy work. Especially when you spouse is away for a while and you are in no mood to cook elaborately just for you !! Not to forget the kitchen needs major cleaning!!!!

I make a variety of soups and this soup is very special because it has barley in it. Like Ragi, barley is one often forgotten grain supposedly very good for health. If you have never tried barley, the taste is very nutty and earthy. Because of the starch content its a natural thickener without the need to add any corn flour. Pregnant women are recommended drink barley water to reduce the swelling in legs, it essentially helps draining the water.

There is no one consistent recipe for my chicken-barley soup except ofcourse for the chicken and barley. Soaking a handful of barley beforehand really helps. This dish is a very good slow-cooking crockpot recipe if you dont want to soak the barley.

Its a no-hassle process to cook it.

• Cut a couple of chicken breasts into small pieces and saute in two tsp of olive oil.

• Add whatever veggies you have at hand. Make sure all the veggies are the same size as the chicken. Good choices of veggies would be carrots, peas, potatoes, bell peppers, zuchini.

• When the chicken pieces are brown add a carton of chicken stock, handful of soaked barley, two tablespoons of tomato paste or puree.
  

• Boil and cook well for atleast half an hour until the desired thickness.
  

• If your stock does not have salt, add some salt. Just before switching off the stove add pepper powder, cilantro ( or parsley ).

The recipe can be made entirely vegetarian by using veggie stock and paneer ( or soya or tofu ) instead of the chicken. Try this recipe when you are in no mood for too much cooking or eating oily take out food !!!

Everyday Dishes - Keerai Masiyal

Dont we all know that greens are extremely good for health and loaded with vitamins and minerals ?? At my house with just the two of us, I usually make greens with dal mostly. Because I need good quantities for the lunch box next day. Today I wanted to make puli keerai masiyal, which is mashed keerai with puli, ie. tamarind. Back home it is made in a clay pot (chatti) my mother used to make it often. I googled for this recipe and hardly found any. So I sprung into action ( he he heee ) to blog about this dish. Have any of you blogged this recipe ??? Please let me know
For this dish I used Arai keerai. Does anyone know what arai keerai is in other Indian languages ???. You can also use siru keerai ( again I dont know the English name), Spinach, Fenugreek leaves.


Arai Keerai - Other names anyone ?????

- Two bunches of any greens. ( keerai or aaku koora )
- half an chopped onion
- garlic cloves
- half a lime size tamarind
- for tempering : gingelly oil, tsp of mustard, tsp of cumin, 6 or 7 curry leaves, 2 red chillies, a pinch of asafoetida


Keerai Masiyal with Bottlegourd curry, Eggplant curry - Our Sunday Lunch

• Pressure cook the greens with a couple of garlic pods.
• Heat oil in a clay pot and temper it with all the tempering ingredients
• Add onions and saute for a couple of minutes
• Mash the cooked greens and add it to the tempered oil with onions.
• Squeeze in the extract of tamarind and boil for a minute
• Add salt. Serve with hot rice with a dollop of ghee.

From My Rasoi - Round Up

Here you go !!! The round up finally !! Forgot to mention in the other round ups... The order of the entries is the same order sent to me.. Once again thank you lovely foodie buddies for keeping up the spirit and sending all these wonderful entries.

If reading this or posting these recipes made you nostalgic, wipe that drop a tear, heave a big heavy sigh, or smile on looking at these food... There it is the success of this Food blog event !!! Like a train journey that makes your heart heavy and happy at the same time.. Thanks for walking the memory lane with me and posting all these lovelyyy dishes.

See you all in FMR #8 hosted by Katherine-

	Chocolate Pudding by Haalo of Cook almost anything
	Fish Curry by Mandira of Ahaar
	Ulli Sambar by Jayashree of LuvGoodFood
	Clams Ambat by Shilpa of Aayi's Recipes
	Beef cutlet by Shaheen of Malluspice
	Soya Varuval by Pushpa of Pusiva's Culinary Studio
	Food in Banana-leaf by Inji Pennu of Ginger and Mango
	Uniappam by Priya of Daily girl blog
	Murukku by Radhika of Radhi's kitchen
	Mirchi Bajji by Indira of Mahanandi
	Hyderabad Marag by Manisha of Indian food rocks
	Chocolate mountains by Meeta of Whats for lunch honey
	Roasted Cashew by Chandrika of Akshayapatra
	Buttered vegetables by Chandrika of Akshayapatra
	Gaajar ka Halwa by Vee of Keeptrying
	Chickpeas in golden karhi by Priya of Sugar and Spice
	Tomato bath by Sudha of En-Samayal
	Arisim paruppu of Indosungod
	Puri & chicken therakal Karthi by of Kitchenmate

From My Rasoi - Part 2 Round up

	Pepper Rasam by Sumi of Sumi's Kitchen
	Milk Shake by Vineela of Vineela's Cooking
	Cherupayar by Surya of Healthy N Spicy
	Chilli Chicken by Meena of Hooked on Heat
	ChattiPathiri by Shynee of Isouthpotpourri
	Moongdal Thove by Madhu of Ruchii
	Uppumaanga by Annita of Deepann
	Ripe Plantain Pie by Paz of thecookingadventuresofchefpaz

From My Rasoi - Round up Part 1

Finally, the round up of the FMR event. I thank every one who participated in this event. I learnt a few valuable lessons. First and foremost is to appreciate ( from the bottom of my heart ) Tony who hosts Curry Mela EVERY week!!!! Hosting is noo joke girls !!! Then I discovered about so many F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S blogs out there !!! No further ado.. To the round up!! Right now I have 6 dishes. By the weekend I will round up all the dishes ! Thanks all for your patience

	Pomegranate Rasam by Nandita of Saffron Trail
	Vellai dosai with Jaggery by Krithika of Manpasand
	Chicken Stew by Anupama of Food-N-More
	Chicken Biriyani by Sumitha of Kitchen Wonders
	Brocolli Soup by Ashwini of Food for Thought
	Pork curry by Tony of Anthony's Kitchen

FMR Round-up update !

Thank you all for your wonderful entries for FMR #7 - Comfort Foods. I was really scared whether someone will even visit my blog and send entries to the event that I am hosting. But so many entries, 31 to be exact !!! Best of all I discovered so many wonderful blogs out there.

I am caught up at work - I will do the round up this week. Thank you all very much and see you all in FMR 8 !!!

Koozhu ( Fermented Ragi Porridge )

Koozhu with pearl onion - JFI-Flour

The month of aadi and the thiruvizha (festival) is something that every kid in Tamilnadu would remember. I am sure that there would be several analogous festivals in different states. It signifies the start of sowing seeds again. The festival is primarily to please Goddess Amman. All the streets in the temple vicinity would be adorned with rows and rows of neem leaves. Compulsarily LR Eeswari (famous playback singer who sings Amman songs) would be blaring in all the street corners via speakers.

Generally people would pray for some blessings and in return would offer to please God either by cooking and serving sweet pongal in the temple ( Venduthal ), or walking on fire, or serving food to people, so on and so forth.

I remember vividly how many ladies would be pretexed with God and they will be shaking violently. They beleive that God "enter" their bodies for a short time. After a while they kind of faint and means God "left" her body. Only women are pretexed by God.

During this festival, koozhu** ( fermented ragi porridge ) will be made at home and donated to the temple. The koozhu from all homes will be mixed in giant vessels and donated to the people of the village.

Koozhu the drink has many health benefits. It is made of millet (ragi) which is very healthy. It is fermented and its properties are increased many folds by this process. Also koozhu is very very cooling on the body and suits apt for the hot summer the festival is conducted. You can drink a glass of this and not feel hungry for alteast 8 hours. Its so filling, hearty and very healthy.

I am sure I missed several key points about the festival. I googled without much success. Please let me know if you have more information about it. I found a forum with a detailed way to prepare koozhu. Also check out the unfermented version - Indira's Ragi mudda. Here is how I prepared after asking my mother about it.

Ingredients

• A cup of ragi flour
• A couple of tablespoons boiled rice
• half cup of non-fat yoghurt/buttermilk
• a tsp of kosher/crystal salt
  

Cook ragi to the consistency above. Ready-made ragi flour (below)

• Mix a cup of ragi flour ( Store-bought ) with two cups of water nicely with your hand.
• Leave it overnight to make it sour
• Cook the ragi on medium-low heat till almost all the water is evaporated and raagi is well-cooked. Around 10 to 15 minutes
• Be sure to be stirring every second to avoid any lumps. Add more water if needed.
• When the koozhu is the right consistency ( cake batter consistency ), add a tablespoon of cooked rice and switch off.
• Let it cool and mix with half a cup of yoghurt and a tsp of crystal or kosher salt
• Perfect accompaniments would be raw pearl onions, black-eyed beans curry ( karakozhambu ), dried fish curry ( karuvaatu kozhambu ), fish curry.

Tips

• If the raagi lumps out, transfer contents to blender and whip up
• You can let the koozhu sit after cooking it and it will continue to ferment
• Cooking it in clay pots enhances the flavour
• To test that the ragi is cooked ( as Mr. Gopinath says - Wet your hands and slightly dip your finger inthe boiling solution. If the raagi + rice sticks to your finger it is not yet cooked. Allow it tocontinue. Then test again, if it doesn’t stick to your hands then it is cooked. )
  

** As to how to pronounce Koozhu, z and h has no significance, it could be said roughly as "Koolu" though Tamil-lovers consider it as a cardinal sin. I will try to search for an audio file on how to pronounce the all-famous "zh" in Tamil.