Monthly Archives: October 2013

Chocolate chip and cashew nut cookies

Given that lots of people in my family have diabetes, my mother has taken to making her own sugar-free cookies or cookies with minimum sugar. Today’s recipe is her recipe for chocolate chip and cashew nut cookies.

Chocolate chip and cashew nut cookies

Time taken: 35 – 40 mins

Makes 12

Chocolate cookiesIngredients:

  • Oats – ½ cup
  • Wheat flour – 1 cup
  • Margarine – ½ cup
  • Milk – ½ cup (dairy or coconut milk)
  • Cashew nuts – ¼ cup, roasted and chopped
  • Chocolate chips – ¼ cup
  • Brown sugar – ¼ cup
  • Baking powder – ½ tsp
  • Baking soda – 1 tsp

Method:

  1. Whisk the brown sugar and margarine till it is creamy and smooth.
  2. Add the oats to the creamed sugar and margarine and mix.
  3. Sift the wheat flour together with the baking powder and soda and add to the cookie mix.
  4. Add the milk gradually, kneading the cookie mix into a slightly batter-like dough, not too firm and easy to mold into little balls.
  5. Fold in the chocolate chips and chopped cashew nuts.
  6. Divide the dough into little balls and leave them on the baking tray, for about 5 – 10 mins, before putting them in the oven.
  7. Bake the cookies for about 15 – 20 mins at 220⁰C/ 428⁰F.
  8. Remove the baking tray from oven when the cookies are golden brown and let them cool before serving.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Vegetable soup

Update (04/07/4014): I just came across the Soups with SS event being hosted by Sonal and Shruti through the delicious soupe au pistou post of Angie. I wanted to share the only soup recipe that I have posted on my blog to-date. It is a simple vegetable soup.

Today’s recipe is my mother’s recipe for her favourite soup which she makes almost on a weekly basis at home.

Vegetable soup:

Time taken: 40 mins

Serves 4

Vegetable soupIngredients:

  • Mysore dhal – ½ cup
  • Carrot – ½ cup, chopped
  • Cabbage – ½ cup, shredded
  • Potato – 1, small and chopped
  • Beans –  ¼ cup, chopped
  • Leeks – ¼ cup, chopped
  • Celery – piece (optional)
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • Garlic flakes – a big pinch
  • Vegetable cube – 1 (optional)
  • Lime juice – 1 tbsp (optional)
  • Water – 4 cups

Method:

  1. Clean and chop the vegetables and place them in a soup pot/ pan.
  2. Add 4 cups of water and cook the soup for about 20 mins.
  3. Remove from stove and let the soup cool a little.
  4. Transfer half the soup to a blender and blend. Return the blended soup to the soup pot.
  5. Add salt and pepper, to taste, and garlic flakes to the soup pot. Mix well. A vegetable cube can also be added, if you like. Cook for few mins and warm up the soup.
  6. Just before serving, add some optional lime juice.
  7. Serve with toasted bread.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

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Egg-less chocolate cake

Chocolate cake

Time taken: 1 – 1 ¼ hrs

Serves 20 to 25

Chocolate cakeIngredients:

  • Condensed milk – 1 cup
  • Water – ½ cup
  • Vegetable oil margarine – 1 cup (250g) + ¼ cup (for icing)
  • Sugar – 1 cup +  ½ cup (for icing)
  • Multi-purpose flour – 2 cups
  • Semolina – ½ cup
  • Cocoa powder – ¼ cup + 2 tbsp (for icing)
  • Vanilla essence – ½ tsp + few drops (for icing)
  • Baking powder – 2 tsp
  • Baking soda – ¼ tsp

Method:

  1. Whisk the sugar and margarine in a bowl until creamy. Then, add the milk and continue whisking.
  2. Add the water and whisk till it is smooth and creamy.
  3. Sieve together the flour, semolina and cocoa powder. Add the baking powder and soda and mix.
  4. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients, mixing until there is a smooth batter.
  5. Transfer to cake tray and bake for about 45 mins – 1 hr at 170⁰C/340⁰F. Make sure you do not forget to check in around the 40 min mark (as my mother did this time) and take the cake out, without letting it over-bake else it will turn out too dry.
  6. Let the chocolate cake cool while preparing the chocolate icing.
  7. Mix 2 tbsp of cocoa powder with ½ cup of icing sugar in a bowl. The sugar can be reduced based on your tolerance level for sweets.
  8. Add the margarine little by little and whisk till the icing is creamy and smooth. Add the vanilla essence and mix well.
  9. Spread the chocolate icing evenly over the chocolate cake.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Avocado and Lime juice

Today’s fresh fruit juice is avocado and lime juice. Native to Mexico, avocado is also grown in Sri Lanka. At home, we generally simply eat the fruit for dessert sprinkled with a little sugar or creamed with some milk.

Avocado is rich in fiber, potassium and Vitamin E. It is considered beneficial for those with cardiovascular disease, diabetes and those trying to manage their weight. It is also considered to aid inhibition and to fight oral cancer cells.

Avocado juiceSimply blend the pulp of half the avocado fruit and the juice of half a lime with sugar to taste.

Radish curry

I have never really liked radish as I do not like its smell. However, occasionally, it is cooked at home and this is a recipe of my mother’s that makes eating radish tolerable for even those who dislike it. Radish is supposedly good for lowering cholesterol and fighting cancer.

Radish curry

Time taken: 15 – 20 mins

Serves 4

Radish curryIngredients:

  • Radish/ Mullangi – 1
  • Onion – ¼, chopped
  • Green chilli – 1, chopped
  • Urad dhal – 1 tsp, roasted and ground
  • Pepper – ½ tsp
  • Turmeric powder (optional)
  • Low fat oil – 1 tbsp

Method

  1. Wash and peel the radish before chopping it into smaller pieces.
  2. Heat a tbsp. oil in a pan and sauté lightly the chopped onion and chilli.
  3. Then, add the chopped radish to the pan and mix well.
  4. Add 1 ½ cups of water to the pan and cook the radish for about 10 mins.
  5. If the water dries up, add another ½ cup of water.
  6. Add 1 tsp roasted and ground urad dhal and stir.
  7. Add pepper and optional turmeric powder. Mix well and cook for a couple of minutes before removing from stove.
  8. Serve with rice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Cabbage and carrot fry

Cabbage and carrot fry

Time taken: 25 mins

Serves 4

Cabbage and carrot fryIngredients:

  • Cabbage – 1 cup, shredded
  • Carrot – ½ cup, grated
  • Malu miris – ½
  • Onion – ½
  • Fennel – 1 tsp
  • Ginger – ½ “, chopped
  • Garlic – 2 or 3 cloves, chopped
  • Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
  • Scraped coconut – 1 tbsp
  • Crushed chillies – 1 tsp
  • Low fat oil – 1 tbsp

Method:

  1. Clean and wash the cabbage and add salt and turmeric to the shredded cabbage.
  2. Heat a tbsp oil in a pan and fry the chopped onion, ginger, garlic and fennel seeds for a couple of mins.
  3. Add the cabbage and carrot to the pan and stir fry for another 7 – 8 mins.
  4. Add the freshly scraped coconut, mixed with a pinch of turmeric, and crushed chillies. Stir fry for another 5 mins.
  5. Serve with rice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Dodol

To celebrate Eid, my mother made some ‘dodol’. This sweet has its roots in the Malay cuisine of Sri Lanka but has since become popular across the entire country.

The second best ‘dodol’ that I have tasted is the ‘dodol’ sold in a little family-run shop on a tiny road across the Peacock beach hotel in Hambantota district. The best was the exquisite dodol wrapped in woven reed that a relative had sent us. He unfortunately omitted to get the contact details of the entrepreneur he had randomly come across and purchased it from. So, I only have the remembrance of the taste by which I have compared all other ‘dodol’ since. I have also hoped that that entrepreneur would have been successful enough in his business and his products would be available at some popular outlet other than his previous door-to-door sales.

At my house, while everyone likes dodol, it is time-consuming to make. My mother doesn’t like to take much time over cooking so she created her instant ‘dodol’ version, which I would say is the third best in my dodol tasting experience.

So, today, I will share my mother’s recipe for her instant dodol as well as my grandmother’s recipe for regular dodol.

(a) Dodol (regular) – grandmother’s recipe

Time taken: 2 hours

Makes 20 pieces

Ingredients:

  • Coconut – 2 cup, freshly scraped
  • Roasted rice flour – 2 cup
  • Jaggery – 2 cup, grated
  • Crushed cardamom – 1 tbsp
  • Cashewnuts – ¼ cup, chopped

Method:

  1. Blend freshly scraped coconut with 10 cups of water and make coconut milk.
  2. Mix all ingredients in a large pot and keep stirring continuously over a medium heat for around 1 hour. Do not allow mixture to burn.
  3. Once it starts thickening and the oil starts separating. Separate the dodol from the oil and transfer to a tray and allow to cool for at least ½ hour. The separated coconut oil can be reused for cooking.
  4. Store in an air-tight container and slice and serve, when required. The regular ‘dodol’ can be stored for at least 2 weeks.

(b) Instant dodol – my mother’s recipe:

Time taken: 25 mins

Serves 4

DodolIngredients:

  • Coconut – ½ cup, freshly scraped
  • Roasted rice flour – ¼ cup
  • Jaggery – ¼ cup, grated
  • Cashew nuts – 1 tbsp, chopped
  • Cardamom – 3 or 4, crushed
  • Vegetable oil margarine – 1 tbsp

Method:

  1. Blend ½ cup of freshly scraped coconut with 1 cup of water to make coconut milk.
  2. Mix all ingredients in a pan and stir continuously over medium heat for about 10 mins.
  3. As the mixture thickens, add 1 tbsp of vegetable oil margarine and mix well. In the instant version, the stirring does not go on till the oil separates, hence the margarine is added before removing from stove.
  4. Transfer to a plate and allow the instant ‘dodol’ to cool for at least 15 mins before slicing and serving. The instant ‘dodol’ has to be served within 12 hours or so and cannot be kept for more time.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Vendhaya Kulambu

Today’s recipe is Vendhaya Kulambu/ Fenugreek curry, a Jaffna curry that is regularly made at home.

Vendhaya Kulambu

Time taken: 30 mins

Serves 3 or 4

Vendhaya kulambuIngredients:

  • Onion – 1 cup, chopped
  • Fenugreek seeds/ Vendhayam – 2 tbsp
  • Curry leaves – 2 sprig
  • Coconut milk – 1 cup
  • Tamarind juice extract – ½ cup
  • Curry powder – 1 ½ tsp
  • Salt – ¼ tsp
  • Low fat oil – 2 tbsp

Method:

  1. Soak the fenugreek seeds in water for about 10 mins. Drain and keep aside.
  2. Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan and fry the soaked and drained fenugreek seeds for a couple of mins.
  3. Add the curry leaves and chopped onion to the pan, along with another tbsp of oil.
  4. Saute till the onion changes colour and the aroma of fried onions wafts about.
  5. Add ½ cup of tamarind juice and ½ cup of coconut milk along with the curry powder and salt to the pan. Mix well.
  6. Increase the heat and let the ‘kulambu’ cook for about 5 – 10 mins. Do not let it dry up.
  7. Add the remaining ½ cup of coconut milk and let it simmer for another 5 mins before removing from stove.
  8. Serve with pittu or rice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Passion fruit cake

Today is Vijayathasami. The tenth day after the nine days of the Navarathri festival. It is considered auspicious to start new learning on this morning. Children who will be starting school in the coming year will have their ‘eadu thodakkal’ ceremony. The ‘eadu thodakkal’ is a ceremony where toddlers trace their first alphabets on a tray of grain and is usually held at the temple with the priest conducting the ceremony. One of my friend’s twins will be starting their ‘eadu thodakkal’ today and I feel sorry for her as they are two energetic boys who can’t keep still for a minute and I hope that she manages to keep them engaged at least for the alphabet tracing part.

For Vijayathasami, we have never really done anything at home other than visit the temple. At the start of the Navarathri, both at the temple and in the home, people plant the seeds of nine varieties of grain (nava thaniam) such as moong dal, chickpeas, urad dhal, kurakkan etc. and on the tenth day, the sprouts are collected and placed before the shrine in the home. The sprouts are supposed to symbolize growth, luck and prosperity. As a child, I used to keep a few of the sprouts in the school book of the subject that I wanted better grades on.

Today’s recipe for Vijayathasami is a non-traditional one – the recipe for my mother’s passion fruit cake as we enjoy baking at home.

DSC00110Passion fruit cake

Time taken: 55 mins

Serves 6 to 8

Passion fruit cakeIngredients

  • Low fat margarine (Sunflower or Canola) – ¾ cup + 2 tbsp
  • White sugar – ¾ cup
  • Passion fruit – ½ cup
  • Yoghurt – ½ cup
  • Water – ½ cup
  • Wheat flour – 1 cup
  • Semolina – ½ cup
  • Baking soda – ½ tsp
  • Baking powder – 1 tsp
  • Rose essence – few drops
  • Icing sugar – 6 tbsp
  • Lemon juice – 1 tsp
  • Vanilla essence – few drops

Method:

  1. Whisk the sugar and margarine till creamy.
  2. Add ½ cup of water, passion fruit, yoghurt to the creamed sugar and margarine and blend for about 2 mins.
  3. Add ½ tsp baking soda and 1 tsp baking powder.
  4. Stir in the flour and semolina gradually.
  5. Add a few drops of rose essence.
  6. Transfer to baking tray and bake for 45 mins at 170⁰C/340⁰F.
  7. Remove from oven and let the cake cool while you prepare the icing.
  8. Whisk 2 tbsp margarine, 6 tbsp icing sugar, 1 tsp lemon juice until creamy. Add a few drops of vanilla essence.
  9. Spread the icing over the cake evenly.
  10. Serve immediately or chilled.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Sundal

Today is the last day of the Navarathri, the third day of the Saraswathie poosai. Dedicated to Goddess Saraswathie, the goddess of learning, wisdom and the creative arts, it is a special day.

SaraswathieThis day is when a special ‘poosai’ is held in my home. Besides the ‘poosai’ itself and the food, we also used to keep a symbol of an area of learning that we wished to strengthen during the coming year on the ‘poosai’ table. I remember as a child that I used to be excited about this aspect of the ‘poosai’ and particularly selecting the area of education I wished to strengthen. I always used to be the one bringing several school books plus my creative writing notepads to the table. It used to be my hope that my school grades for that year would improve astronomically along with writing and turning out globally acclaimed fictional masterpieces, by having been blessed during the ‘poosai.’ I have retained a fondness for this ritual.

DSC00671After the ‘poosai’ and after the musically inclined in the family had sung a few devotional songs and played a couple of pieces on their flute or violin,  we would quietly read our respective chosen book for the hour. As a kid, I used to be quite impatient towards the end of the book reading hour anticipating the ‘prasadam’ that would finally be served.

For today’s Navarathri recipe, I would like to share my mother’s recipe for sundal, the quintessential ‘poosai’ food that is always made in Hindu homes and temples during festival or special ‘poosai’ days.

Sundal

Time taken: 35 mins + 6 hours (for soaking)

Serves 4 or 5

SundalIngredients

  • Chickpeas – 1 cup
  • Onion – 1 tbsp, chopped
  • Dried red chillies – 2
  • Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
  • Coconut chips – 1 tbsp
  • Curry leaves – 1 sprig
  • Low fat oil – 1 tbsp

Method

  1. Soak the chickpeas for 6 hours.
  2. Boil the soaked chickpeas for ½ hour. Add salt a minute or two before removing from stove and stir.
  3. Drain the chickpeas after removing from stove.
  4. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and fry all ingredients, except the boiled and drained chickpeas, for 5 mins.
  5. Add the chickpeas to the pan. Mix well before removing from stove.
  6. Serve hot.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.