SuvaiArusuvai - Veg Recipes of India: How to

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How to make ghee at home

Now a days there are lots of brands of ghee available in the market. They advertise it as Manal Manalaai Nei - Sand like textured ghee. I have grown up eating ghee that was made at home. Dad will purchase biutter - the Oothukuli butter from the famous Thayar Dairy stores in Ranganathan Street, T. Nagar, near the railway station. The butter will be pure white. I am not sure now if it is cow butter or butter from buffalo as the butter that I get now a days are slightly yellow in colour. The ghee made from this store bought butter at home smells great and the whole house will be full of that smell for almost the whole day. The best part of it is we kids get to eat a small ball of the butter which definitely we look for. The butter is not table butter. It is saltless and is of a smooth texture. I find that texture lacking in today's store bought cooking butter be it of any brand.

The steps to make butter at home might look very simple but one have to be careful enough to make it perfect. The heat should be medium and the butter once gets to the liquid form should be stirred constantly so that it doesnot settle at the bottom and get burned.

In a hard bottom pan place the solid butter and start melting it in a normal heat. Once the butter melts, then reduce the flame to medium and start stirring. When the butter have melted it will be in a kind of opaque state. When it starts bubbling reduce the flame even further and keep stirring so that it does not over flow. At this point of time, the aroma of ghee starts coming and the liquid turns transparent and you can be assured of that the ghee is ready.

Remove the pan from flame and rest it on a solid surface. Once cold transfer it to the ghee pot. There will be sediment at the bottom, it can be used in various ways. Let me share that in another post.

How to make low fat curd at home.

Indian house hold both North Indians and South Indians consume curd a lot. The regular curd have lot of fat content in it so it is better to consume low fat curds. Low fat curd is easy to make at home just like how the regular curd is made. Low fat curd is made using the low fat or slim milk. This curd is good for diabetics, heart diseases, weight loss, indigestion and also acidity. The healthy bacteria in it helps in easy digestion. Those who have tasted the regular milk might not like the low fat curds initially but once they start consuming it regularly they will get used to it.

To make the low fat curd one need low fat or skimmed milk. After boiling it let it cool and add just 1 spoon of curd to it and mix it well. The milk should be luke warm and it should be left to set atleast for 8 hours. It is always better to make curd in the night and let it settle over night so the next day morning one can consume fresh and unsour curd. It is better to refrigerate to avoid getting sour. Can keep it outside just 30 mins before serving.

How to make Brown Stock at home.

Wanted to make French Onion Soup, and as I wanted to get the texture and colour that we get in eat outs, I wanted to use brown stock. I have not prepared or used brown stock till date and was wondering how to do it. On a search in the net found it could be easily made using beans like brown chick peas, kidney beans etc. So now here is the making of brown stock.

Ingredients:
Brown chick peas - 1 cup
Kidney Beans - 1 cup
Yellow peas - 1 cup
Unsalted butter - 1/4 cup or 50 gms
Cabbage - 100 gms
Carrot - 2 nos
Yellow Pumpkin - 1/4 kg (after the seeds and peel is removed, it will definitely be only 100 to 150 gms)
Cloves - 2 nos
Bay leaf - 1 no
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Salt - 1 tbsp
Water - 12 cups

Method:
Wash and soak the peas for over night or for about 12 hours. Drain the water and pressure cook it for about 5 whistles with 3 cups of water. Remove from flame and let it cool. Cut cabbage into thin strips, carrot into small cubes, Yellow pumpkin to small cubes. Grate the ginger.

In a pan add butter and melt it in low heat. Add the bay leaves, cloves and the cut vegetables and saute for a while. Add grated ginger and the cut vegetables and saute again. Add 1/4 cup of water and cover it with a lid for about 10 mins. Cook in low flame.

Add 8 cups of water and salt and bring it to boil. When it starts boiling add the pressure cooked peas and beans along with the water and keep boiling it for another hour. All the while keep mashing it with the laddle so that all the essence of the vegetables and beans comes to the water. Keep cooking in medium flame for about an hour. Strain and let it cool.

Can be used for soups and also while making Chole or Rajma curry. The remaining stock can be refrigerated and used. (Ensure it is used with a week).

Note: Can also be made in lesser quantities by reducing the ingredients.

How to

How to make Dough for Soft chappatis

Ingredients:
Wheat flour - 4 cups
Salt to taste
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Water - 3 cups

How to make soft dough:
Put the flour in the large bowl. Add salt and ghee to it and mix well. Make a well in the middle and pour 2 cups of water to it. Mix the flour and water by rotating it from centre to the outside of the bowl till all the flour is moist and becomes rough and scrambled. Sprinkle a little water and sart mixing it to a non sticky dough. The dough knead to be elastic and smooth.

How to test the dough:
Press it with the tip of the finger and it have to spring back, then it is of the right consistency.

How to make soft chappatis:
Rest the dough for half an hour by covering it with a wet towel. Make lemon sized balls and roll it into thin rounds. Heat a tawa and place one chappati in it. Reduce the flame and keep turning the chappati in rounds, when it starts fluffing up turn it to the other side and heat it again. Remove from the flame when done.

How to store the excess chappati dough:
Spread oil in a container with lid. Make larger balls of the dough and place it in it. The dough made this way lasts for about2 to 3 days.

How to make unsour curd at home?

Due to lack of time and due to lack of practise many tend to buy curd at stores. At home kids too love to take thick curd that comes out of the cup and have infact named it Thachi in a cup. Here is how to make it at home

Ingredients:
Milk - 1 ltr
Curd - 1 tbsp

Method:
Boil milk and bring it to a boil and when the thick layer of fat forms on top reduce the flame and let it boil for few more minutes. Remove from flame and let it cool and bring it to room temperature. Add the curd and cover it.

Being a tropical country the curd gets set in 5 to 6 hours max. So it can be prepared in the previous night and refrigerated immediatly in the morning to avoid sourness.

To make thachi (curd) in a cup:
Pour the milk in cups of the desired shape and size and add a few drops of curd to it. This will make curd in a cup which can be had by the kids directly.

How to make Tomato sauce at home

Not just kids, but even adults love to have Tomato Sauce as a side dish for starters, tikkas, samosas etc.

Ingredients:
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Tomato Puree - 2 cups
Bay leaves - 2 nos
Cinnamon - 3 nos 1 inches long
Cardamom - 2 nos
Red chilly Powder - 2 tsp

Method:
Heat ghee in a flat pan. Add cardamom, bay leaves and cinnamon. Saute them till they crackle and release a fine aroma. Pour in the tomato puree slowly so that it doesnot splatter. Reduce the flame . Remove the cardamom, bay leaves and cinnamon sticks from the sauce and let it cool completely.

Store the sauce in the airtight container. Can be stored for 2 weeks. Makes a good side dish for dosa, idly, chappati and even Pizza.

How to make bread crumbs at home

Bread crumbs can be made out of any kind of bread. Wheat bread, Sandwich bread, sweet bread can all be used either individually or in a combination to make bread crumbs. Home made bread crumbs, also are quite inexpensive and also cost effective. Though fresh bread can also be used, dried bread makes the work easier. Place the breads in baking sheet (and if dont have oven place them on tawa. Brush the slices with ghee). Bake the bread in 300 deg C (if in oven). If in tawa turn the bread both the sides till both the sides become browned evenly. Allow the bread to cool, cut into small pieces. Grind the bread pieces to a powder to the required coarseness.

This can be used to make any kind of dish that require bread crumbs like cutlet, rolls etc.

How to make Tomato Jam at home

Ingredients:
Tomato - 2 kgs (firm and ripe)
Sugar - 5 cups
Lime juice - 2 tbsp
Cinnamon powder - 1 tbsp
Cloves - 4 nos

Method:
Make tomato puree out of the tomatoes. In a shallow pan add tomato puree, sugar, cinnamon powder, cloves and mix them together and bring it to boil. Reduce the flame when it boils and add the lime juice. Keep stirring till the jam thickens. Let it cool and store in air tight container.

How to prepare Kumbakonam Degree Coffee - Kaapi

Not a day starts without the filter coffee for every South Indian. Early in the morning, waking up to the aroma of the freshly made thick decoction blended with thick milk always makes the day a very fine one.

The coffee powder combination:
One can get the aroma and taste only when the proper combination of the beans are selected and they are properly roasted and ground too.

One of the popularly known combination is 200gms Peaberry+ 200gms A+50gms Robusta and the other is 200gms Plantation+200gms Peaberry+100gms Chicory. The chicory is known to give the aroma and taste that makes the coffee lovers go for it. Whatever be the combination, the beans are roasted properly and should also be ground finely. The ground powder should be stored in airtight container too.

The coffee making method:

In a coffee filter add the coffee powder to the top chamber up to half of the filter. Press the coffee powder lightly with the mushroom shaped umbrella. Do not over press it, if done there will be no decoction. Pour the water evenly. Close the lid and in 10 mins fresh thick decoction can be obtained.

While the decoction is getting ready, boil the milk and keep it ready. In a tumbler and dabara, add 1 spoon of sugar, and decoction upto 1/4th of the tumbler. Pour the boiled milk to it. (Never add decoction to milk). Pour the coffee from tumbler to dabara to get a froth. Drink it slowly by enjoying it. (Many men can be seen with their coffee tumbler in right hand and their favourite news paper in the left hand).

Coffee served in dabara tumbler

How to cure sore throat naturally

Unless and untill it is an infection, sore throat can be cured using natural ingredients.

1. Drinking warm tea (not so hot) mixed with one or two small pieces. The tannic acid in tea helps in releiving the soreness.

2. Many people think that lemon will increase the sore throat or cold. But the Vitamin C in the lemon will help in relieving sore throat. Make lemon juice with warm water and honey and it is a natural medicine for sore throat.

3. Taking 1 tspn of honey along with a pinch of cinnamon powder 3 times a day helps a lot.

4. The first and best thing that is advised whenever any one have a sore throat is gargling. Gargling with warm water added with rock salt. (add rock salt when the water is boiling and let it cool till it become warm so that the salt also gets dissolved).

Note: If the sore throat is along with fever, chills or severe pain, it is better to see a doctor. Avoid natural treatment.

How to develop healthy eating habits in kids

Children are always picky eaters. They have their own preferences of food when it comes to eating any course. It is always a challenge for mothers to make thier kids eat balanced diet. Mothers have to make the food appealing and tempting too.

Kids have their own taste and choices. On analysis one can get an idea as to how to present the food in an appealing way that will make the kids eat it. By this way nutritious food can be served to the kids.

Preaching while eating never works. Many mothers tend to talk to their kids about the benefits of eating greens, or benefits of drinking milk. By doing so, they are making the kids get an aversion towards the food that is presented before them.

Give the kids examples of their favourite heros and talk to them about how they have become so strong by eating healthy and nutritious food. But this talk should be done when the kids are in a very amicable mood and not while they are eating.

Be it a joint family or a nuclear family, it is better for the whole family to sit and eat atleast one meal together . This will help the kids observe the eating habits of adults(ofcourse adult should also follow a healthy and balanced diet eating habit).

Though occasional eating out is ok, it is better to make the kids prefer home cooked food. Be it full course meal or snacks for occasional munching, anything prepared at home is better than that is purchased from shops.

Importance should also be given to the choice of kids while cooking. If kids like to eat the food, especially curries a bit fried and crispy, making it that way once in a while, will make them eat the same in other forms too.

Filling the panrty and fridge with lots of nutrious things, fruits, fruit juices(fresh ones and not areated), will make the kids choose them first then going for high caloried fried snacks and chips.

Last but not the least, kids should never be offerred chocolates or other goodies as a reward for eating vegetables and fruits.

How to make Khoya at home

Many sweet dishes, especially north Indian dishes ask for Khoya in the recipe. It is good if it is made at home. Both sweet and unsweetened khoya can be prepared at home.

In a hard bottom pan, add one litre of fresh cream milk or whole cream milk and keep it on a high flame stirring occassionally, till the milk gets reduced. Once about 85% of the moisture in the milk is gone, remove from flame and let it cool. Store it in airtight container and use it to make Kajjar ka halwa, Cashew Peda etc.

Care should be taken that the milk does not get burnt. To ensure that the milk does not get burned, a shallow non-stick pan can be used. The whole process can take about 2 to 2.5 hours

How to get more juice from lemon

Roll the lemon with one hand on a counter top to release more juice.
While buying lemon or limes choose the bigger ones as they will be much more sweeter. The skin should be thin so that it will be much much more juicier.
To get more juice from Lemons/Limes microwave it in high for 30 seconds and then cut and squeeze

How to make Diwali Legiyam

Every Diwali it is a must to take Diwali Legiyam as it will ease out the stomach after eating a lot of sweets and savouries. Though now a days it is readily available in the market, it is something very easy to be made at home too.

Ingredients:
Coriander seeds - 1/4 cup
Cumin seeds - 6 tbsp
Sukku (Dried Ginger) - 1 inch piece (or) 2 tbsp of dried ginger powder
Pepper - 6 tbsp
Thippili (available in shops) - 5 gms
Saunf - 4 tbsp
Ginger Juice - 1/2 cup
Jaggery - 2 cups
Ghee - 1/2 cup

Method to make Diwali Legiyam
Fry saunf, cumin seeds, pepper and thippili in dry pan one by one and powder them to a fine powder. Soak coriander seeds in water and grind it to a fine paste. Drain the juice alone using a muslin cloth. Mix that coriander juice with ginger juice and ground powder.

In a pan add 1/4 cup of water and jaggery to make jaggery water. Strain jaggery water so that it is free of impurities. Heat the jaggery water again in the same pan and when it comes to a boil add the mixture and keep stirring. It will harden and start to come out from the sides of pan. Add ghee to it and mix well again.

This can be stored in fridge and used for 20 days.

How to make Sundal for Navarathri

Coconut Sundal or Regular Sundal
This type of Sundal can be made very easily and it is very simple too.

Ingredients needed:
Any kind of whole dal - 2 cups
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Red chilly - 2 to 4
Salt to taste
Asafodeita - 1 pinch
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Broken Urad Dal - 2 tbsp
Curry Leaves - a few
Turmeric Powder - 1 pinch (optional)

How to make?
Soak the dal over night. (if it is broken dal, soak for 2 hours and cook in open pan). Pressure cook the whole dal. Drain the water completely. Heat a pan and add oil add mustard seeds and when it splutters add urad dal, hing powder, turmeric powder and red chillies. Add the cooked dal and salt. Mix everything thoroughly. Add curry leaves and grated coconut and mix again.

Neivedhyam is ready.

Compulsive Eating - How to find the signs

Many of us want to do dieting but the main problem one faces is compulsive eating. Some vital signs of compulsive signs are:

Thinking about food, especially their favourite food a lot make them forget that they are in diet and make them eat those foods a lot.

Many people treat food as a stress relievers. They eat a lot and lot just to come out their stress and depression.

Even after feeling full and a heavy stomach, many people keep eating which is the resultant of Compulsive eating.

People who get too anxious while eating.

People who worry or keep day dreaming while eating.

People who over eat are also under the compulsive eating disorder.

People who eat too fast or too slow.

People who want to complete everything that is set on the table.

Those who feel guilty when they eat just because they are eating.

People who eat secretly as they think they should not eat.

People who cant indulge themselves even with one piece of a bar chocolate.

People who just jump to eat a lot and a lot of everything after a spell of long dieting.

People who became more fearful when they feel hungry.

If any 3 of the above fits true for any one, then they are under compulsive eating disorder. Such disorders have to be corrected by giving them proper counseling and proper diet. The diets could include, dairy products, juices, fruits.

How to make Cinnamon Powder at home?

Cinnamon is available in the market, in both rolled bark form or in powdered form. As Cinnamon powder tends to loose its flavour very easily, it is better to powder it at home in small quantities and store them.

How to grind cinnamon powder?
Break cinnamon to small pieces. Roast whole cinnamon in a dry pan. When cold grind it to a fine powder. Use small mixie jar to grind it. But it is better to grind it in a mortar or a pestle.

Cinnamon powder is used in marinades, stews, soups, cakes etc.

How to store green chillies for a long time

Green chilly is one of the ingredients that is used in many house holds to make chutney, sambar etc. It is necessary to store them properly, even though it is kept in fridge. If not stored properly, they tend to get spoiled very easily.

How to store green chillies?
To store green chillies, remove the stem and wash them. Wipe them dry. When it is dry and without any water, store it in an air tight container.

As it is washed and stored, it can be used directly in cooking.

How to make Instant Idly Mix

This recipe is definitely a boon for the working women.

Ingredients:
Boiled Rice - 2 cups
Raw Rice - 2 cups
Urad Dal - 2 cups

Method:
Wash and soak the dal and rice for about 1/2 an hour. Drain the rice and dal. Spread them in a clean cloth and let them dry. Grind the dal and rice together into coarse powder and store it in freezer.

When it is needed to make dosa or idly, the required quantity can be taken and add hot water to it to make the right batter. Add right kind of salt.

To make dosas let the batter set for 3 to 4 hours. To make idlies set the batter for almost 12 hours.

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