Masala Pori (Puffed rice)

Masala Pori is also known by name kara pori.This is a perfect snack for masala lovers particularly in cold wheater.To prepare this awesome snack it hardly takes few minutes say roughly  5 mins.So without wasting the time will jump into the yummy kara pori procedure. :))

Ingredients

• Pori - 2cups

• Curry leaves - 10 to 15

• Roasted Groundnut - 2 tbps

• Roasted Cashew nuts - 10 to 15

• Roasted Gram dal - 2 tbps

• Garlic Pods - 4

• Red Chilli - 1/2 tbps

• Chat masala - pinch (1/4 tbps

• Sallt

• Oil

Procedure

• In a kadai add 1tbps oil and add crushed garlic pods with skin.

• Now add curry leaves,roasted gramdal,cashew and groundnut saute them for few minutes.

• Now add rechilli powder,chat masala and salt cook these for a minute.

• Turn off the flame and add pori into it and toss well such that the masala should evenly spread to pori.

• Your yummy masala pori is ready to eat.Store it in an air tighter jar and serve.

..:)

Guava Spritzer

I enjoy fruits having as it is,but imagine making a drink out of it for evening thirst isn't it tempting.

Guava spritzer is a drink made of guava, you can make large quantity in season and store it in a sterilized bottle and refrigerate. common let us jump into the procedure.

Ingredients

• Guava -2
• Sugar - 1cup
• Ginger juice - 2tbps
• Lemon juice - 2tbps 
• Soda

Procedure

• Clean and chop guava roughly.
• In a pan add water,sugar and allow it boil,later add guava pieces into it,allow it to boil till it becomes tender.

• Allow the above mixture to cool and grind it by adding lemon and ginger juice.
• Sterilize the bottle and store guava syrup
• Pour half of the serving glass with syrup and top it with chilled soda.
• Stir well and serve immediately.

...:)

Kezhvaragu Chimmili/Millet Balls

Here is an another easy to make ragi based recipe it is a power packed,healthy,tasty and easy to digest dish.

This is very often prepared in southern part of India.This is one of the favorite dishes my daughter would love to eat trust me it tastes yummy.

Ingredients:

• Ragi flour - 2cup
• Sesame seed/Ellu - 1 cup
• Peanut - 1 cup
• Jaggery - 1 to 2 cup
• Salt - pinch
• Water

Procedure:

• Add ragi flour,salt,water and knead it well.

• While kneading it heat a tawa,take a portion of ragi and flatten it on a tawa.
• Heat it on both the sides.

• On an other pan slightly fry ellu and peanut.
• Now grind ellu,peanut toghter and seperatley grinragi adai to fine powder.
• Mix all the grinded mixture toghter with jaggery.

• Now take the mixture and make into medium sized balls.You can store them in fridge,it tastes good for minimum 2 to 3 days.

Kezhvaragu Chimmili is ready to serve...:)

Butter Naan/Naan

Here is a very basic version of naan preparation,without yeast.
I love preparing naan as my family prefers homemade naan instead restaurant ones.It turned tasty the very first time i prepared and I am sure that even you will never fail at the first as it is very simple to prepare.
Let us now quickly jump into the procedure.

Ingredients:

• All Purpose Flour/ Maida - 2 Cup
• Warm Milk - 1/2 cup 
• Curd - 1/2 cup
• Baking soda - pinch
• Baking powder - 1 tbps
• Salt
• Butter
• oil -  1tbps

Procedure:

• Mix all the above ingredients except butter and knead it into a soft dough(take care that the dough has to be soft and loose).
• Take a 1 tbps of oil and knead it again,cover and allow this dough to rest for minimum 2 hrs to maximum 6hrs.
• Take a portion of dough and role it into round shape by dusting it later cut it from between to get naan shape.
• To the upper part apply water,now place this part on the tawa it immediately sticks to it now cover it with a a lid to get smoky effect.
• Lift the lid to see whether the naan as puffed up at this stage,take pulka stand of wire mesh and place it on a small burner.
• Flip the naan over pulka stand make sure that the uncooked part is facing the flame,increase the flame you would notice it puffing up and brown spots appear.
• Your basic naan is ready.
• For butter naan apply butter to the side which is directly cooked on the flame.

Butter Naan and Basic Naan are ready to serve..:)

Vinayaka Chaturti Special

Here is the month of Lord Ganesh which is one of my favourite festival as the preparations for this festival would start 2 or 3 months before vinayaka chaturti.The pandals,big big idols,now a days this is not only a popular festival it has become even a very important economic activity :) for many cities mumbai,bangalore,hyderabad,chennai etc.,

Here in hyderabad,Khairathabad Ganesh Idol is one of the tallest idol averaging upto 50 feet isn't it great and awesome,I don't miss visiting this place every year,lakhs of devotees visit daily for 12days event of ganesh utsav.On 12th day we sat tata bubye to this huge ganesh idol will be immersed with large cranes in Hussain sagar lake.

Not only at Khairatahbad each and every lane in Hyderabad, Ganesh idols are installed in a colorfully decorated mandapas by devotees. My family and friends visit as much as mandapas we can :),here is our Ganesh which is installed in our apartment :)

 Here is our favorite part of festival "Naivedyam".
The favorite naivedyam for lord ganesh is kozhukattai or sweet modak.

Here is the link for Kozhukattai/modak 

Kozhukattai/Modak

A modak or Kozhukattai is famous sweet dumpling in western and southern region of India,it varies only with name and few ingredients.Modak has a special importance as it is the favorite for Lord Ganesh.

The sweet filling inside modak depends on one's own taste it can be filled with n number of mixtures,few are listed here coconut, jaggery or chana dal,coconut,jaggery or moong dal,coconut,jaggery,sesame seed or sesame, jaggery here I am preparing with ellu i.e., sesame and jaggery,while the outer soft shell is made with rice flour.

Preparation:

Kozhukattai Mavu

• Raw rice - 1 cup
• Water- 3/4 cup
• Oil-1 tbps
• Salt as per taste
• Milk - 1 tbps (optional)

1. Wash and soak the rice in water for an hour,after an hour drain the water and allow it to dry.
2. When excess water is drained grind the rice to a fine powder.
3. Sieve this rice to get a fine powder.
4. Now heat water in a pan add water,oil and milk,when the water boils add rice flour an mix well and remove it from flame.
5. Knead the dough well with the hand,now the kozhukattai mavu is ready to prepare.

Filling Preparation

• Roasted Ellu/Sesame - 1/2 cup
• Jaggery - 2-3tbps

Grind the above ingredients.Now your filling is ready

Kozhukattai Preparation:

• Take a small portion of dough and form it into your desired shape and place the ellu mixture in it(preferably modak shape)
• Repeat this for rest.
• Now steam all these modak for around 10 mins 

Modak is ready..:)

GingerGarlic Paste

Homemade Ginger garlic paste,this paste is most often used in our kitchen,it even plays a major role in many of our dishes,this homemade ginger garlic paste is more flavorful and aromatic when compared to the ones which we get in store.
Store ginger garlic paste in a plastic or glass bottle and keep it in refrigerator and use them when ever needed.

Ingredients:

1. Ginger - 250gms
2. Garlic - 250gms
3. Lemon - 1
4. Oil - 2tbps

Procedure:

• Wash and peel the skin from ginger and chop them.
• In a blender add chopped ginger,garlic cloves,lemon and blend them well,while blending slowly add oil until the paste has a smooth consistency.

• Place in a container and store it in a refrigerator or freezer.