Simple Stir Fried Shredded Cabbage with Cured Indian Chilies ( Stir Fried Cabbage with Mor Milagai)

This has to be the simplest and tastiest side dish that you can ever whip up a storm in no time. It's quick, hassle-free and simply budget friendly. What makes it so Indian is that we are using Indian pickled or cured dry chilies or we call 'Mor Milagai' in Tamil. You can buy it with all other tempering ingredients from the Indian grocery stores in your place. Pickled dry chilies are nothing but fresh green chilies like Jalapeno type to be mixed with curd/yoghurt and lots of salt, and later sun-dried for a couple of days. That's why it has to be fried in the oil until it changes to dark brown colour to release that exquisite pungent heat from the chilies. They can be pretty daunting spicy and salty, so you need to season with salt only if needed. As you cook, taste your food for salt and if you are mild spice eater go slow with the chilies. If you don't have that pickled dry chilies, you can substitute with normal dry red chilies. The taste would be slightly different, but that doesn't matter. My recipes are just providing an idea for you to come up with your innovative dishes. You can always improvise the recipes as per your taste. You just have to follow your instinct and stick to your gun when you are cooking in the kitchen. Good luck.

Stir Fried Cabbage with Mor Milagai

INGREDIENTS: 

Finely shredded cabbage - 10 cups

Finely sliced big red onion - 1

Chopped garlic - 1 clove

Grated coconut - 6 tablespoons (optional)

Salt to taste

TO TEMPER:

Oil - 1 tablespoon

Mustard - 1 teaspoon

Urad dal - 1 1/2 teaspoons

Curry leaves - a few

Pickled dry chili (Indian Mor Milagai) - 3 broken into pieces

METHOD:

1. Heat a pan with vegetable oil, add mustard and allow it to sputter, then add urad dal and broken pieces of pickled dry chilies (Indian Mor Milagai). Wait for the urad dal and pickled dry chilies to change to brown colour. 

pickled dry chilies (Indian Mor Milagai)

2. Next, chuck in sliced onion, chopped garlic and curry leaves. Sauté lightly and add shredded cabbage. 

Sliced onion and curry leaves

Shredded Cabbage

3. Give a stir with some salt added. Once, the cabbage has cooked well. Switch off the flame and sprinkle some freshly grated coconut. Mix together and serve as a side dish with any of your favorite meal.

Thank you

Abby 

Yoghurt with Full Cream Milk Powder

My mother has been making yoghurt from Full Cream Milk Powder for forty years now. She has never run to the grocery to get a carton of yoghurt. It's always available in our fridge. This is a staple food for us. We never liked thick and creamy yoghurt as we are using it almost everyday. Our yoghurt is neither too thick nor too runny. But, this is never like the Greek yoghurt. This is just a simple rustic homemade version of yoghurt which is always tastier than the store bought one. Plus, I personally find store bought yoghurt to be having artificial thickness, you know, like added flour...    Once you start making yoghurt at home, you will find the yoghurt making process to be fun, easier and satisfying. This is also a budget friendly food to make at home. The milk powder has to be Full cream not skimmed or low fat. When you add more milk powder and less water, you get thick and luscious yogurt. When the water is more and milk powder is less, the yoghurt is a bit runny.. 

Yoghurt making may sound too simple, but I warn you it is never the way it seems to be. I have tried this for many times, sometimes, I succeed and some other times I flop very badly. The amount of starter used, the right warm temperature and frothiness of the milk make lots of difference. This recipe works for me. Besides that, when I measure milk powder and other ingredients, I use the measuring spoons and cup measurement for precision. For this recipe, I have taken a heap of milk powder for every tablespoon. I wasn't skimping on that.  The water has to be boiling. The pouring and pulling method is necessary to give the frothiness and volume to the yoghurt. Too many rules to follow? No. You just have to play with the ingredients and follow your intuition.  Do give a try and let me know..

Full Cream Milk Powder Yoghurt

INGREDIENTS: 

Full cream milk powder - 10 tablespoons (heaped)

Boiling water - 1 1/2 cups

Starter Yoghurt - 2 teaspoons

METHOD:

1. In a bowl, measure out 10 tablespoons of full cream milk powder.

Full cream milk powder

2. Gradually, pour 1 1/2 cups of hot boiling water onto the milk powder. 

3. Quickly, use the pouring and pulling method with two bowls or cups. You can do this process five times, and this form frothy milk which is really good for making super yoghurt.

Milk after the pouring and pulling method

4. Then transfer the milk into a glass bowl, ensure the milk in neither too hot nor cold. It has to be warm to touch when we add starter yoghurt. The warm heat helps to active the yeast in the starter. You may add 2 teaspoons of the starter yoghurt. If you add a lot of the starter yoghurt then your yoghurt will become too sour.

5. This milk will turn into yoghurt within 8 hours time. Put a lid to the glass bowl and leave it outside at room temperature. But sometimes, if you live in hot and humid country, it takes less than that hour for it to set. Once, after it has become yoghurt, keep it in the fridge. 

Thank you

Abby

Indian Style Mini Semolina Dumplings - Rava Ammani Kolukattai

I find this breakfast to be the cutest and further more it's healthy because they are steamed dumplings. Of course, frying them with little bit of oil will take it to the next level. The dumplings are infuse in Indian tempering spices that gives nuttiness, spice and salty flavor. Sometimes, I also add shredded carrot into the dough so that it adds color and nutrient to the dish. 

Indian Style Mini Semolina Dumplings - Rava Ammani Kolukattai

INGREDIENTS: 

Fine semolina/ Bombay rava - 1/2 cup

Rice flour/ Idiyappam flour - 1 cup

Butter - 1 teaspoon

Red chili powder - 1/2 teaspoon

White sesame seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Shredded carrot - 1/8 cup (optional)

Water - 1 cup plus 1/2 cup

Green chilies - 2 to 3

Ginger - 1/2 inch

Salt to taste

TO TEMPER:

Oil - 2 teaspoons

Mustard - 1/2 teaspoon

Urad dal - 1/2 teaspoon

Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon

Curry leaves - 2 sprigs

Grated fresh coconut - 2 tablespoons

METHOD:

1. Heat a pan, add a cup of water, red chili powder, butter, white sesame seed and salt to taste. 

2. Let the water boil. Then, gradually add the semolina or Bombay rava. Stir vigorously until there is no lumps. If you find the rava is still uncooked, you may add a bit more water. Make sure the semolina is cooked well. Let it cool slightly.

3. When the semolina is warm to touch, mix rice flour, chopped green chilies, shredded carrot (optional) and chopped ginger. Knead well into a non sticky pliable dough with enough water. 

Pliable dough

4. Next, oil your hand and shape the dough into mini size balls. 

Mini size balls

5. Later, steam the mini balls in a steamer until the balls are cooked to perfection.

6. In pan heat two teaspoons of oil, temper all ingredients under the 'TO TEMPER' section. 

7. Add in steamed mini dumplings into the pan, and start frying the balls until the tempering ingriedients have coated the ball well for 5 minutes. 

8. Lastly, after switching off the flame, sprinkle some fresh grated coconut and give a light toss.

9. Serve hot for breakfast. 

Thank you

Abby 

Healthy Carrot Kheer a Refreshing and Revitalizing Drink

Carrots are full of beta carotene and they are good for your eyes. Children and adult sometimes detest carrot in their dishes, but everyone will be fond of this carrot juice or Kheer. It is a creamy refreshing beverage that's healthy and has lots of calcium too. Once in a while why not try something different to satisfy our palate. Go a head and try this drink in your kitchen with your lovely kids. 

Healthy Carrot Kheer a Refreshing and Revitalizing Drink 

INGREDIENTS: 

Medium sized fat carrots - 3

Full cream milk powder - 1 cup
Boiling water - 5 cups

Raw almonds - 10 pieces

Brown sugar to taste

Cardamom - 5 pods

A pinch of saffron (optional) 

METHOD:

1. Peel the skin of the carrots and wash thoroughly. Chop roughly.

2. Set deep bottom pan with enough water to submerge the chopped carrots. Boil the carrots with 3 cardamom pods which I have just scrapped seeds inside leaving out the skin. This adds nice aroma to the carrot at this stage.

3. Insert a fork to the carrot to check whether it has become nice and soft. Now when it is ready to go, place them in a jar and give a blend to form smooth orange colored paste.

Brown sugar, milk and carrot paste

4. By using 5 cups of water, mix full cream milk powder and allow the milk to boil for 10 minutes. After that, add the carrot paste, a pinch of saffron and two  crushed cardamom pods. Stir and let it boil for another 10 minutes.

5. Switch off the flame. The kheer or Indian beverage can be taken hot or cold. 

Carrot Kheer

Thank you

Abby 

Arisi Upma With Basmati Rice

This dish is really apt for breakfast, and it is very commonly prepared by Indians. It's basically made of rice and Toor dal that are turn into semi-coarse grits along with other ingredients such as black peppercorns and cumin seeds. Pepper and cumin are really good for digestion and to increase your immune system. It soothes your throat infection and increase your appetite. Fresh coconut is added in the end to elevate the flavor of upma to another level. Every ingredient has it's own benefit, so using it in our breakfast will be a guarantee to a healthy lifestyle.

Arisi Upma With Basmati Rice 

INGREDIENTS: 

Basmati rice - 1 cup

Toor dal - 1 tablespoon

Cumin - 1/2 teaspoon

Black peppercorns - 1/2 teaspoon

Water - 5 cups 

Grated white coconut - 1 big handful

Salt to taste

TO TEMPER:

Gingerly oil - 3 tablespoons

Mustard - 1 teaspoon

Cumin - 1 teaspoon

Urad dal - 1 teaspoon

Channa dal - 1 teaspoon

Green chili - 1

Dry red chili - 1

A sprig of curry leaves

Asafoetida - 1/2 teaspoon

METHOD:

1. First, wash rice and toor dal thoroughly for three to four times. Drain them in a colander for 15 minutes, and after that spread them onto to a clean white cotton towel to air dry leaving no water. 

2. Now, we can move to the grinding process. Take the dry rice and toor dal along with 1/2 teaspoon of cumin and black pepper into a jar and grind into a slightly coarse but not too coarse just like the semolina texture. This you can store in an air tight container for an instant upma anytime for breakfast.

Coarse upma grits

3. This is prepared for three people, so I used all the ground rice-dal grits. 

4. Heat a deep bottom pan, and start pouring 3 tablespoons of gingerly, and temper all ingredients under the 'TO TEMPER' section.

5. Add 5 cups of water, salt to taste and grated coconut and allow the water to boil. At this stage, gradually sprinkle all the ground rice-dal mixture into the rolling water. Start stirring vigorously and continuously in order to avoid lump formation. 

6. Allow this grit to cook by closing the pan with a lid. This will make the cooking process faster. 

7. Switch off flame when the grit has absorbed all the water and seemed to be semi-dry. You can see the edges has developed oil, and it's good. 

8. Serve this hot with tomato chutney

Thank you

Abby 

Gooseberry Juice - Mulu Nellikai Juice

Looking for thirst quenching and yet refreshing healthy beverage to drink. Here is Gooseberry juice that is full of vitamin C that increase your immune system or I should say it's your immune booster during this pandemic. I like to add Vellam/ Jaggery/ brown sugar to sweeten the tartness in the juice. 

Gooseberry Juice - Mulu Nellikai Juice

INGREDIENTS: 

Big Gooseberry - 1

Water - 1 cup

Vellam/ Jaggery/ brown sugar as per your taste

METHOD:

1. First wash the Gooseberry in turmeric and salt water to clean any dirt. 

2. Deseed and chop the Gooseberry into small pieces, and then add to the blender jar.

3. Give a blend with a cup of water. 

4. Strain the juice with a filter to remove the pulp.

5. Now you have clear juice that you can sweeten up with Vellam/jaggery/brown sugar.

Thank you

Abby 

Savory Fenugreek Coconut Milk Porridge - Vendeya Kanji

This is a delicious, warming savory coconut milk porridge that is good as a cooling agent during heatwave or summer. You can eat this porridge with a Horsegram tuvayal or Vellam or jaggery.

Savory Fenugreek Coconut Milk Porridge - Vendeya Kanji

INGREDIENTS: 

Raw rice or pacharasi - 1 cup

Yellow moong bean/ pasiparuppu - 1 tablespoon

Fenugreek - 1 teaspoon

Garlic - 1 whole pod(Peeled and no need to chop)

Water - 5 to 6 cups of water

Grated coconut from 1/2 coconut

Salt to taste

METHOD:

1. Rinse the rice thoroughly for three times. 

2. Dry roast the yellow moong bean and fenugreek. 

3. In a deep bottom pan, cook rice, fenugreek, garlic and roasted yellow moong bean with 5 to 6 cups of water until the rice is slightly mushy. 

4. There will be some water in the rice and this dish has to be semi flowing consistency. At this stage, after the rice is done switch off the flame and add salt as per your taste.

5. Lastly, using 1/2 coconut, grate and extract thick coconut milk from it. You may use 1 cup of water to extract coconut milk. 

6. This coconut milk is added after switching off the flame. Stir well to combine. This porridge is served best with horsegram chutney.

Savory Fenugreek Coconut Milk Porridge - Vendeya Kanji

Thank you

Abby