Shanthi Krishnakumar's cook book

INGREDIENTS:

Pottukadalai (Roasted gram) - 2 cups
Crushed Jaggery - 1 cup
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp.

For a very quick. easy and hazzle-free deepam arrangement during karthigai festival, see the above video which is self-explanatory. A quick note again.
1. Make a semi-thick paste of chandan and kumkum and keep ready. Keep 2 ear-buds ready.
2. Dip the wicks in oil, squeeze lightly and keep ready.
3. Dip ear-buds in the paste and apply chandan, kumkum for the lamps.
3. Place 2 wicks in a lamp, pour little oil in each lamp.
4. Your lamps are neatly ready to be lit without any spilling.

Some more tips:
1. Soak new earthen lamps in water for about 5 to 6 hours two days before and dry it.
2. Cut small squares from newspaper and keep under the lamps. 
3. Dry roast pori to get crispier urundais.
4. Keep butter paper between each layer of pori urundais to avoid sticking to each other.

Unniappam has almost the same ingredients as neiyappam, with a slight variation of adding mashed ripe bananas and fried in coconut oil. It can also be deep-fried in ghee. Unniappam is a traditional kerala prasadam in temples and also offered to the Lord during festivals.

INGREDIENTS:

Rice flour - 1 1/2 cups
Small ripe bananas - 2 (I used elakki variety)
Crushed jaggery - 3/4 cup
Water - 1/4 cup (or as needed)
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Dry ginger powder / Sukku podi - 1 tsp.
Sesame seeds (white or black) - 1 tsp. (optional)
Chopped Coconut bits - 3 tsp.
Coconut Oil / Ghee - to deep fry

METHOD:

Dry roast the rice flour until hot. Heat a ladle of water, melt jaggery, strain the impurities, keep aside. Mash the bananas. Ghee fry the coconut bits. Dry roast the sesame seeds.

Mix rice powder, jaggery syrup, mashed banana and grind together to form a semi-thick, smooth batter. (Add water as and when needed). Add fried coconut bits, sesame seeds, dry ginger powder, cardamom powder and mix well. Heat coconut oil or ghee in an "appakaral"(appam mould), pour the batter to 3/4th of the holes. Ensure medium heat. When the bottom portion is light brown in colour, flip with stick or spoon to the other side and cook until golden brown on both sides. Take them out and drain in a kitchen towel. Pour some more ghee / oil while doing the next batch. Kerala unniappam is ready to offer to the Lord.

NOTE:
Do not keep the stove in high flame. Be careful not to burn the appams.
Make sure to have ghee/oil in each of the hole while making the other batches.

It is a melt in mouth sweet for my Blog Anniversary! Yes, my blog has completed 6 years and stepping into the 7th year  and also crossed 21 lakh hits. I thank all my readers, bloggers and friends who spend their time in reading my posts , commenting and trying my recipes. A special THANKS to each and every one of you for your support.

INGREDIENTS:

Cashews (whole) - 2 cups
Crushed Jaggery - 1 cup
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp.
Ghee - 2 tablespoons



METHOD:

Keep cashews in sun until crisp OR dry roast without changing the colour until crisp. Dissolve the crushed jaggery in water, strain and make a soft ball consistency syrup. Switch off the stove. Add cashews to the syrup. Mix well. Grease your hand with ghee and shape to balls when warm.

INGREDIENTS:

Mixed millet flour OR any millet flour - 3/4 cup
Jaggery crushed - little less than 3/4 cup
Dry ginger powder (sukku podi) - 1/4 tsp.
Curd  - 1 tablespoon 
Cardamom powdered - 1/4 tsp.
Chopped coconuts - 2 tsp.
Ghee / Oil - for deep frying

METHOD:

Fry the coconut pieces in ghee. Mix all the ingredients well. Add water little by little and whisk well to form a batter. The batter consistency should be semi thick(not too thin or too thick). Keep aside for 2 to 3 hrs.  Heat a paniyaram mould, drop in a spoon of ghee and pour the batter in each dent, little more than 3/4th. Simmer the stove, cook covred for 2 minutes, turn to the other side and fry unitl golden brown.

TIPS: Adding curd gives the airy holes and soft appams.  

NOTE: Millets flour are available at stores. Alternatively you can mix 1/4 kg.each of any millets of your choice and grind to a flour in a flour mill.

HAPPY KARTHIGAI TO ALL 

For all karthigai recipes click the recipe names.

In Tamil Nadu, Karthigai deepam or Karthigai pandigai is celebrated for three days. It is celebrated on the full moon day of the Karthigai month, which coincides with Krithikai star. It is a festival of lamps. Crackers and fireworks are burnt at home. Bonfires are lit in front of the temples.

How to celebrate?:

Naivedyams:
In addition to general pandigai menu, the offerings to the Deepam are Nel pori urundai, Aval pori urundai, Kadalai urundai, Vadai and Appam. Some other special recipes can also be made.

• Basic sugar syrup consistency
• Nel pori urundai
  
• Aval pori urundai 
  
• Kadalai urundai 
  
• Vadai 
• Appam
• Multinuts chikki
• Dry fruits and nuts ladoo
• Pottukadalai urundai
• Manoharam
• Cashew balls  
• Maa laadu
• Rava laddu
• Thengai burfi /Coconut burfi
• Rava laddu
• Kadalai urundai/Peanut balls
• Aama vadai
• Medhu vadai
• 18 payasam varietiess 

Lamps used:
Earthen lamps, Copper and brass lamps, pure silver lamps.

NOTE:
Buy earthen lamps atleast 2 days before, immerse in water overnight. Drain and allow it to dry completely.

Things to be arranged before:
Wash the lamps and when dry, keep chandanam and kumkum for the lamps. Wick the lamps. Put a kolam in the frontyard.

Wear nine yards saree. Arrange the naivedyams and thamboolam. Oil and light the lamps. Offer the naivedyams to Deepalakshmi along with karpoora arathi. Place the oil lamps on the kolam, thulasi maadam, and decorate the house with lamps. Arrange the oil lamps near doors, windows, balconies, compound walls and also on the parapet walls of the open terrace. Celebrate for three days like this. The third day is called "Kuppai karthigai" and oil lamps are lit also in the backyard, sideyard, toilets and bathrooms.

MEDHU VADAI

KARTHIGAI CELEBRATIONS

NEL PORI URUNDAI

AVAL PORI URUNDAI

MULTINUTS CHIKKI

APPAM(TANJORE STYLE)

BADAM KHEER

For all karthigai recipes click on the captions of the pictures towards the end of this post. Now the thengai burfi...


INGREDIENTS:

Coconut - 1 big (soft scraps)

The signature recipe of my MIL is cashew chikkis using jaggery for karthigai. My memories go 25 years back when I first made it for thalai karthigai. Though I knew cooking, I was novice in making chikkis. My husband told me about cashew chikkis, and the method. I was not able to shape it due to lack of knowledge, poor consistency of the jaggery syrup, to shape into rounds while hot etc. My tension level rose to unlimited levels. Then, I called upon my neighbour maami and she helped me in making cashew urundais. From then till now, I was suffering from a phobia of making this. After making this, the PHOBIA POYE POCHU.

Coming to the recipe.... I was having lots of dry fruits in my refrigerator and was planning to make LONAVLA TYPE CHIKKIS for diwali. Very easy one and need not worry about the sugar syrup consistency etc. It came out perfect, crispy and was melting in my mouth. So decided to make these lonavla type chikkis for Diwali.

INGREDIENTS:

Mixed nuts (cashew, badam and pista) - 1 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Ghee - 1 tablespoon

METHOD:Crush the nuts slightly (as shown in the picture). I used a stone crusher. You may not get perfect shapes if the nuts are big. Warm them in a kadai.(DO NOT DRY ROAST).

Grease a wooden plank and a roller pin (chapathi roller) with ghee and keep it ready.





















Heat a heavy bottomed pan, add ghee and when melted, swirl it on all sides, add the sugar and saute till it caramelises to a light brown colour. Now, add the crushed nuts. Switch off the stove and mix it quickly. Transfer the mixture to the wooden plank. Flatten out to a uniform medium sized layer using the rolling pin. Cut into desired shapes when warm and break into pieces when cool. Store in an air-tight container. I got 15 - 20 medium sized chikkis.

INGREDIENTS:

Roasted groundnuts - 2 cups
Crushed Jaggery - 1 cup
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp.
Ghee - 2 tablespoons

METHOD:

Roast groundnuts until crisp. Take a wide plate and put the groundnuts in it. Dissolve the crushed jaggery in water , strain and make a soft ball consistency syrup. Remove quickly and add it to the peanuts. Mix well. Grease your hand with ghee and shape to balls when warm.

INGREDIENTS:

Nel pori - 4 cups
Crushed Jaggery - 1 cup
Coconut sliced - 1 ladle
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp.
Pottukadalai - 1/2 ladle
Rice flour - 2 tablespoons

METHOD:

Take a wide plate and put the nel pori in it. Dissolve the crushed jaggery in water , strain and make a soft ball consistency syrup. Remove quickly and add it to the nel pori. Mix well. Tap your hand with rice flour and shape to balls when warm.

INGREDIENTS:

Aval pori - 4 cups
Crushed Jaggery - 1 cup
Coconut sliced - 1 ladle
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp.
Pottukadalai - 1/2 ladle
Rice flour - 2 tablespoons

METHOD:

Take a wide plate and put the aval pori in it.

Dissolve the crushed jaggery in water , strain and make a soft ball consistency syrup. Remove quickly and add it to the aval pori. Mix well. Tap your hand with rice flour and shape to balls when warm.

Variation: 50:50 flour ratio 

Avani Avittam is an important festival for gents. They change the sacred thread (PooNool) and wear a new one on this day. The next day they do Gayathri Japam. In addition to general pandigai menu for the lunch, we also do idli and appam for breakfast. This is also made on thirukarthigai festival. As we make it with ghee it is called neiyappam.

INGREDIENTS:

Raw rice - 1 cup
Crushed jaggery-3/4 cup
Cardamom - 4
Ghee - for frying

METHOD:

Soak rice in water for about three to four hours.

Crush cardamoms to powder.

Grind the soaked rice with very very little water to a thick batter. Then add the jaggery, and grind it to a smooth batter(like dosa batter). Add the cardamom powder and mix well. Set aside for 2 hours.

Heat an "appakaral" or "paniyaram mould" to a medium-heat, pour ghee upto 3/4th in each mould and pour in a small ladle, preferably a tablespoon of the batter in each mould.

When cooked, flip to the other side, using a small rod, add more ghee if necessary, and cook till both sides are golden brown.

Note: You can also mash a plantain and add scraped coconut to the mixture. And for those who do not have a mould, heat oil or ghee in a pan and pour a ladle of batter in it and take out when done. In this way, you should do it one by one.