Vella Seedai /Innipu Cheedai - Janmashtami Special

 Vella Seedai or sweet jaggery fritter balls are an essential prasad /offering made for Gokulashtami/ Krishna jayanthi to celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna .

We make two types of seedai; Uppu seedai (savory)  and Vella seedai (sweet) along with various other favorites of Lord Krishna to be offered on the special day when we all rejoice and celebrate lord Krishna's birth .

To know how we celebrate Krishna Jayanthy in a typical Tambrahm (Tamil Brahmin) house hold head over to my post, Krishna Jayanthy Celebrations where you can also find link to all the special recipes we make for the big festival .

Making seedai is an art and requires a little expertise and caution while making it . With practice we can easily master this and become a pro .

I am giving all tips and tricks to make a fail proof seedai so that even beginners and newbies can make it with an ease . These tips are applicable for flours which are either home made or store bought. 

Traditionally rice flour and udad dhall flour at prepared at home for purpose of maintaining hygiene and quality but now a days we get good quality ready made flours so we can use that even. 

In this recipe, I have used store brought rice flour and  udad dhall flour to make the recipe, thus making it easy for working women and those who are pressed for time.   

Points to keep in mind 

• Roast the rice flour in a dry pan until it feels warm. The flour should be roasted just until you can feel the warmth no need for the flour to change color . Sieve the flour well through a sieve once it cools down.
• Roast the udad dhall flour the same way and sieve it. If you are unable to find ready made udad dhall flour,  take 1 cup of udad dhall and dry roast in a pan until it turn crisp ,cool it and then blend into a fine powder using the blender . Sieve it to get a really fine powder without any grits . 
• Melt the jaggery in hot water and strain it to remove any impurities .
• Sieving the flours and jaggery syrup is very important as even a small particle or grit can cause the seedais to burst in the oil .

To know how to make Uppu Seedai and also on how to roast the flours check the video link below 

Ingredients 

1 cup rice flour 
1tbsp udad dhall flour /Ulutham maav
1/2  cup grated jaggery + 3/4 cup water to melt it
1/2 tsp white sesame seeds / yellu 
2 tsp grated coconut  (optional)
Pinch of cardamom powder
Oil to deep fry 
1 tbsp unsalted butter/ ghee at room temperature 

Method

• Take a wide mixing bowl and add the sieved rice flour and udad dhall flour along with the sesame seeds and grated coconut. 
• Meanwhile, heat the melted jaggery in a pan and let it come to a rolling bowl.we donot need ant string consistency.  When the jaggery is boiling add in the cardamom powder to this.
• Pour this hot jaggery syrup over the flours and mix it gently with a spoon so that the syrup gets incorporated well with the flours.
• Now add the melted butter and gently with your hands knead a soft and pliable dough.most of the times the jaggery syrup is enough to knead the dough but incase if you feel the dough is dry , sprinkle some warm water and knead until its firm but soft.  Cover with a damp cloth and let it rest for 30 mins.
• Heat oil in a kadai and start rolling small balls from the dough . The balls must be crack free and the same time not rolled very tight. 
• If you roll it tight there is a chance of the seedais bursting in oil . Grease your palms with ghee while you begin to roll the balls .
• When the oil is heated, reduce flame to medium and first drop one ball into the oil . It must not disintegrate in the oil. Incase it disintegrates means the moisture content is more . To fix this ,sprinkle some rice flour and knead the dough again until the dough feels dry and firm . Donot panic. 
• Once the dough is of righr consistency, drop the balls into the oil carefully and fry on medium flame by occasionally splashing oil over the seedais,this will prevent the seedais from bursting. 
• Fry until the oil stops hissing and the seedais have turn nice and brown. You can see cracks on the seedais once they are fried. This indicates that the seedais are perfectly done both from the inside and outside.
• Carefully take it off from the hot oil and let them cool completely before you can store in a dry container. 

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Thalipeeth (थालीपीठ) - Multigrain flat bread

 Thalipeeth is a very popular flat bread from Western India ,specially from Maharashtra and North Karnataka. Thalipeeth is a filling and sumptuous breakfast option often served with fresh home made butter and pickle .

Thalipeeth is made using a special flour called Bhaajanee prepared from  various grains and  legumes . The  grains and legumes are roasted until crisp and then pounded to a fine powder which is used to make the dough for Thalipeeth. 

If we have no time to prepare the bhajnee we can use different flours like rice flour , jowar flour, bajra flour,  wheat flour, gram flour etc and knead the dough using various spices and herbs . Most common spices used are corriander, cumin,green chillies .

 If making thalipeeth on days of fasting then flour made from amaranth grains and sabudana (sago) is used ,as consumption of regular grains and legumes is avoided on such days .

Finely chopped onions and spring onions are also added to the flour while kneading for added taste. 

This month we are looking at various types of Flat bread in our Facebook Gourmet group as suggested by Anu Kollon . Anu's blog has the popular flat bread of Kerala Arisi Pathiri which is what I would want to try soon.

It was fun reading about so many varieties of flat bread that are made all over the world and my partner Renu has dished out Polish Onion Flat Bread  while I made this Thalipeeth .

To know more about this fun and vibrant food group ,click on the image below to visit the Facebook page.

Preparation Time - 20 mins
Cooking Time - 2 to 3 mins per thalipeeth 
Complexity - Medium
Makes - 7 to 8 thalipeeth 

Ingredients 

1/2 cup Jowar flour
1/4 cup Wheat flour 
1/2 cup Rice flour 
2 tbsp Besan / gram flour 
Handful of soaked sago/sabudana
1 tsp Til seeds
2 Green chilli finely chopped 
1/4 tsp turmeric 
1/2 tsp Chilli powder
Handful of finely Corriander leaves 
Salt as needed
1/2 tsp Ajwain /carom seeds 
Oil for roasting the thalipeeth

Water to knead the dough

Method 

• Sift all the flours in a mixing bowl . Add the chopped corriander,  green chillies ,sesame seeds, cumin, salt, turmeric, chilli powder ,ajwain and mix it well with your fingers .
• Add the soaked sabudana and knead the dough by adding water in stages . The dough has to be soft and pliable as we need to pat it with our hands .keep the dough covered until use .
• As the gluten content is very less ,we cannot roll the dough but have to spread  the dough by patting it .
• Heat a tava /griddle . Most preferred is iron tawa but you can also use non stick tava.
• Take a parchment/butter paper or even a banana leaf and grease it with some oil.
• Grease your palms with oil and pinch out a big lemon sized ball from the dough and start patting on the paper with your palms .
• Start from the center and start patting towards the outer end.  Wet your palms with water for ease of patting.  Pat it as thin as you can .
• Carefully lift the parchment paper with the patted thalipeeth and invert it on the hot tawa .
• After 2 or 3 seconds slowly peel off the  paper from the thalipeeth (2nd row 1st image) 
• Drizzle oil all over the thalipeeth like how we do for dosa and cook on one side and then flip it over and cook on the other side by drizzling some more oil.
• Take it off the pan when both sides are well cooked and serve hot with butter and pickle. 

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Butter Murukku | Benne Murukku

Butter (Benne) Murukku is the

south indian version of the chakli made by Gujaratis or Maharashtrians . It is very simple and easy to make with the ingredients  available in our pantry. There can be various proportions to the ingredients used in making this murukku , my recipe uses rice flour, besan(gramflour/kadalai maav) and unsalted butter.
The slightly extra quantity of butter is what gives the soft crunch to these murukku.
You will need a chakli maker or a murukku press to prepare these crunchy bites .

Preparation Time : 10 mins
Frying Time : 20 mins
Complexity  : medium

Ingredients
1 cup rice flour (100 gms)
2 tablespoon besan
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (room temperature)
Salt as needed
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp white sesame /til/ellu (optional)
Water to knead
Oil to fry

Method
In a wide mixing bowl , add the rice flour , gram flour ,salt , cumin and mix it well .

Now add the butter and rub it well into the dry ingredients to form a crumbly mixture.

Slowly add water little by little and form a nice soft and pliable dough.

Grease the murukku press from the inside and fill it with a handful of this dough .

Heat the oil , drop a small piece of dough and it should sizzle up immediately.  This indicates that the oil is perfectly heated up .

Now , press the murukku maker over the oil carefully and fry the murukku /chakli.
Stir the murukku in the oil carefully and take it out once the hissing sound stops .

Note:
Keep  the oil temperature constant by  adjusting the flame of the gas . Too much heat will make the murukku dark from outside while less heat will keep it uncooked from within.

A little red chilli powder can also be added to the dough if you want the murukku to be a little spicy

Kodubale | Kodbale - Karnataka Delicacy

Kodubale / Kodbale - Spicy rings is a very famous Karnataka deep fried snack which is made during Diwali , Gokulashtami etc . This can also be made as a normal tea time snack on regular days.
"Bale" in kannada means " Bangle", and since this snack are shaped like rings and resemble Bangle , hence the name.
These can be made as big rings as well as tiny ones depending on our liking and taste. I prefer making small rings, since they look cute and are easy to pop into the mouth.
There could be various recipes for making Kodubale as each family may have their secret and traditional recipe. This one is what my mom used to follow and I have recorded that.

Preparation Time : 20 min
Cooking Time : 30 mins
Complexity : Medium

Avarekaalu Akki Roti - karnataka special - Video recipe

It is Avarekaalu Time in karnataka !! 

Avarekaalu is known as 

Mochhai in Tamil, 

Hyacinth Bean in English ,

Vaal papdi Hindi/Marathi , 

Surti papdi / lilva in gujarati.

The most sought after bean in this season and it makes its way into many many recipes like upma,sambar,rasam,pallya,kootu and the most famous Akki rotti commonly known as Avarekaalu Akki Roti .

I have already posted the recipe for Avarekaal Kootu in the last season . Check the recipe here 

The video illustrates how to make cruncy and tasty avarekaalu rotti at the comfort of your home..

Preparation Time : 15-20 mins

Cooking Time : 20-30 mins

Complexity : medium high

Thenkuzhal | Thengozhal | Thengol - Video recipe

ThenKuzhal literally translates to Honey Pipes ("Then" meaning Honey & "Kuzhal" meaning Pipe) .. though the names sounds like a sweet dish it is actually a Savoury Snack made using rice flour and Udad dhall flour . A very crunchy and melt in mouth snack which is why its called Honey Pipe. you can eat it seamlessly and effortlessly when you take bite.