Aloo Rasedar (Vrat)

This recipe can be taken during your Vrat.

Ingredients:

• Boiled and peeled potatoes - 4
• Ghee - 2 tsp
• Yogurt/Curd - 1/2 curd
• Salt as required
• Sambar/Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
• Finely chopped ginger - 1/2 tsp
• Carom seeds - 1/2 tsp

Method:

• Chop potatoes into small pieces.
• Heat ghee in a pan, add ginger and carom seeds, then add sambar powder and salt, finally add potatoes, curd, and 1/2 cup of water.
• Simmer the heat and cook it for 10 minutes, until the gravy thickens.
• Serve this with poori.

Oyster Mushroom Kulambu

Ingredients:

• Oyster mushroom - 250 gm
• Pearl onion - 10
• Tomato - 1
• Sambar powder/Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Salt as required
• Coconut milk- 1 cup
• Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
• Bay leaf - 1
• Cinnamon - 1
• Cardamon - 1
• Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Ginger-garlic- green chilli paste - 1 tsp

Method:

• Clean and cut oyster mushroom. Cut pearl onion and tomato, keep this aside.
• Heat oil in a pan, add fennel seeds, cardamon, cinnamon, and bay leaf, saute this for few minutes and add pearl onion, tomato, and ginger-garlic-green chilli paste, saute this for few minutes.
• Add sambar powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, and salt. Add one cup of water and let it boil. 
• When it starts boiling, add coconut milk and boil it for few more minutes.
• Serve this kulambu with rice.

Karthigal Recipes/ Karthigai Deepam Recipes

Karthigai deepam is all about wonderful earthen lamps, sweets, new clothes, and firecrackers. Here are a collection of recipes to celebrate deepam with taste.

Nei appam
Kadalai Urundai
Pori Urundai
Adai
Pidi Kozhukattai
Paruppu Payasam
Vella Seedai

kadalai urundai/ Peanut Balls/ Verkadalai Urundai

Ingredients:

• Peanuts - 1 cup
• Jaggery - 1/2 cup
• Rice flour - 2 tsp

Method:

• Dry roast peanuts, remove the skin, and slightly crush it into small pieces.
• Heat jaggery with enough water. Test the consistency of jaggery syrup by simply adding a drop of syrup in water, if it rotates into ball, then your syrup is ready.
• Filter and add the jaggery syrup to peanuts and mix it well.
• Dust your hands with rice flour and make small peanuts balls. 

Nei Appam

Ingredients:

• Raw rice - 1 cup
• Jaggery - 3/4 cup
• Banana - 1
• Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
• Ghee as required

Method:

• Soak raw rice for at least 3 hours. Grind it along with jaggery.
• To the batter add mashed banana and coconut. Mix this nicely and let it ferment for 2 to 3 hours.
• Add ghee in paniyaram pan, and add batter in each hole.
• Flip and cook on both sides. Serve hot.

Mohan Dal

Ingredients:

• Besan flour- 1 cup
• Milk powder - 1 cup
• Ghee - 1 cup
• Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
• Vanilla essence - little
• Chopped nuts(Almonds, pista, walnuts, cashew) - 1/4 cup

Method:

• Heat ghee in a pan and roast besan flour until nice smell comes out. Then mix milk powder with the roasted besan flour without any lumps.
• In another pan add sugar and water(enough water to cover sugar) and heat it until you get one-string consistency.Finally add vanilla essence  to it. 
• Immediately add besan-milk powder mix to the sugar syrup and mix it well in low heat. 
• Coat a plate with ghee and pour the above mixture, top it with nuts. Cut the mohan dal into your desired shape after 5 minutes. Let it cool further. After an hour separate the sweet pieces, store it in airtight container. 

Deepavali Recipes / Diwali Recipes

                      தீபாவளி நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்

Deepavali or diwali is the festival of lights. Exchanging sweets among neighbors and relations increase happiness. Here i have listed few sweets and savories to make your diwali day even brighter.

Murukku 
Rava Laddu
Carrot/Beetroot Vadai
Rava Kesari
Javvarisi Semiya Payasam
Oma Podi
Thattai
Pista Burfi
Check out other sweet and savories recipes from "Desserts & Snacks" Section in "Other Delicacies".

Murukku

Ingredients:

• Rice flour - 2 cups
• Urad dal flour - 1/4 cup (used store bought flour)
• Sesame seeds - 1 tsp (i have used white seeds)
• Oil - 3 tbsp
• Hing - 1/2 tsp
• Salt as required
• Oil for frying

Method: 

• Knead rice flour, urad dal flour, sesame seeds, oil, and hing with water into soft dough without cracks.
• Heat oil in a pan, fill dough in murukku maker with murukku hole plate.
• Make murukku in greased laddle and then drop it in hot oil. 
• Turn heat to medium flame, cook murukku till it turns golden color.
• Store this murukku in airtight container and it taste wonderful for weeks.

Appala Kulambu

Ingredients:

• Appalams -6
• Onion -1 
• Tomato - 1
• Garlic - 4 pods
• Ginger - small piece
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Urad dal - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Sambar powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Curry leaves - few
• Salt as required

Method:

• Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and roast chopped onion, tomato, ginger, garlic, cumin seeds, and turmeric powder. Grind all the roasted items into paste.
• Heat oil in a pan and add urad dal, mustard seeds, and curry leaves, then add ground paste, saute this for few minutes, add sambar powder, salt, and coriander powder along with 1 cup of water.
• Break appalams into 4 pieces and add this to gravy, cook this in medium flame for 3 to 4 minutes. 
• Switch off the stove and serve this kulambu with cooked rice.