Thinai Nei Appam Recipe/Foxtail millet Sweet Appam recipe-Karthigai Deepam Recipes

People in Tamil nadu usually make pori urundai and nei appam for Karthigai deepam.As i had already shared varieties of appam recipes like appam recipe using wheat flour,instant nei appam and appam-deep fried version,i wanted to try an appam using millet as we are fond of eating millets nowadays.Actually i wanted to try with kuthiraivali,varagu or saamai but then i changed my mind to try with Thinai as Lord Muruga is fond of thinai,Right??. So i tried with thinai(Foxtail millet in English,Kangni/Rala in Hindi,Navane in Kannada,Korra inTelugu,Thina in Malayalam) & it came out very well.I made this appam using paniyaram pan.Actually i made one batch with ghee and remaining with oil.Both were tasting awesome.We liked it very much.I am glad i could make a healthy nei appam recipe using millets.Tomorrow i will try to share how to make nel pori urundai recipe.Please click this link to view full collection of Karthigai deepam recipes in my blog.Happy Karthigai Deepam

Thinai nei appam recipe

Nei appam recipe using Thinai/Foxtail millet

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Sweet

Serves: 12-15 nos

Prep time: 2 Hours

Cook time: 10 Minutes

Total time: 2H 10Minutes

INGREDIENTS

To grind Thinai/foxtail millet - 1/2 cup Wheat flour - 2 tbsp Banana - 1 no ( small-yelakki,poovan) Grated jaggery - 1/2 cup( use 1/3 cup for normal sweet) Cardamom - 2 nos Grated coconut - 2 tbsp Rice flour - 1/2 tbsp Cooking soda - a big pinch To cook Ghee/Nei - as needed

METHOD

Wash and soak the thinai/Foxtail millet for 2 hours.After 2 hours,grind it to a slightly coarse paste adding cardamom & little water.To this,add wheat flour,rice flour,Chopped Banana,grated jaggery,grated coconut and grind to a smooth thick paste adding required water.Batter should be of pourable consistency. Leave the batter for 2-4 hours.Before making appam,add a big pinch of cooking soda and mix well.Heat paniyaram pan and add a tsp of ghee in each hole.Pour a small ladle of appam and cover cook it for few minutes in medium flame.Flip it and again cook for a minute.Remove and serve hot ! Enjoy !

Note

Adding rice flour is optional.This appam itself comes out slightly crispy outside and soft inside. U can also add rave in place of rice flour. Adding cooking soda and banana is essential.It gives u the soft appam.Suppose if u ferment the batter for 8 hours,then cooking soda is not needed. Serve & eat hot to enjoy its best taste.

Make this healthy,Lord Muruga’s Favourite Thinai Nei appam for this Karthigai Deepam and get his blessings !

Technorati Tags: Thinai recipes,Millet recipes indian,Foxtail millet recipes,Karthigai deepam recipes,Nei appam,Sweet appam recipe,Thinai sweet paniyaram recipe

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Brinjal Masala Kuzhambu/Kathirikai Kuzhambu Recipe

I learnt this brinjal masala gravy recipe from my friend Megha. Its a kurma kind of gravy that goes well with rice, idli, dosa and even chapathi too. Here in Bangalore, people make a brinjal gravy named as “Ennegaayi gojju” as a side dish for akki roti. This gravy tastes similar to that but not exactly. I will share authentic ennegaayi recipe soon.

I tasted this gravy once in Megha’s house and liked it a lot. I got the recipe from her immediately and wrote in my cook book. I have made this many times in my kitchen but somehow I couldn’t blog it. Today I made this brinjal gravy along with tindora curry(yet to post) for Sendhil’s lunch box and thought of sharing here. 

Basically I am a big fan of brinjal recipes. I keep trying one or the other new recipes using brinjal. When I made this gravy, I became very happy that I got yet another easy, interesting brinjal gravy recipe just like my Ennai kathirikai kuzhambu and brinjal kara kuzhambu recipes. Brinjal lovers, do try this gravy. Its very simple to make and yummy too ! The best part is this brinjal gravy can be made directly in a pressure cooker. Do try this brinjal masala gravy for rice and enjoy !

Brinjal masala kuzhambu

Brinjal masala kuzhambu recipe - A kurma kind of gravy for rice,idli n dosa !

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Gravies

Serves: Serves 2

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 15 Minutes

Total time: 25 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

Brinjal - 6 nos Tomato - 1 no Big onion - 1 no(finely chopped) Salt & water - as needed To grind Grated coconut - 3 tbsp Big onion - 1 no Ginger & garlic paste – 1 tsp ( heaped)  Cinnamon - 1 small piece Cloves - 2 nos Coriander leaves - a fistful( 2 tbsp,chopped) Red chilli powder - 1 tsp ( add 1.5 tsp for spicy gravy) Dhania powder - 3/4 tsp Turmeric powder - 1/8 tsp To temper Cooking oil - 1.5 tbsp Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp Urad dal - 1/2 tsp Curry leaves – few Coriander leaves – little ( to garnish)

HOW TO MAKE BRINJAL MASALA KUZHAMBU - METHOD

Wash and slit the brinjals into 4. Keep it immersed in water till use. Grind all the items given under “ to grind” to a smooth paste. In a pressure cooker base, heat oil and splutter mustard seeds,urad dal and cumin seeds. Saute finely chopped big onions till transparent. Add curry leaves and then add the slitted brinjals. Saute till the skin of brinjal shrinks lightly. Now add the ground masala paste and saute till raw smell vanishes. Then add a roughly chopped tomato and saute till slightly mushy. Lastly add water and pressure cook in low flame for one whistle. Remove the lid after the steam is released completely. Mix well.Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and serve with plain rice adding ghee. Enjoy !

Note

You can replace brinjal with avarekalu/mochakottai/hyacinth beans. This gravy tastes the best when mixed with plain rice adding ghee. Ghee is a must here. You can also have this as a side dish for idli, dosa Here I have not used tamarind.If u want u can replace tomato with a small gooseberry size of tamarind. Garnish with coriander leaves for more flavor.

Enjoy this masala gravy mixing with plain rice and ghee.

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Karthigai Deepam Recipes - Karthigai Deepam special recipes (with video)

Here is the collection of Karthigai deepam recipes with video in this post. Thirukarthiagai/Karthigai Deepam is one of the most important festival of lights in South India especially in Tamil nadu. It usually falls on Tamil month Karthigai ( pournami day) when the moon is in line with the six star constellation called Karthigai. It is celebrated in a very grand manner in Tiruvannamalai where they lit Annamalai deepam on the hill and and it is believed that Lord Shiva's jothi will be visible on this day. Lord Muruga took the form of six babies in a lake called "Saravana Poigai". On this day, all his six forms were united by Parvathi(his mother) and this way, he had six faces. Special poojas are performed to Lord Muruga.

Karthigai deepam 2023 i.e this year it falls on 26th November (on Sunday). The idea behind this festival is to keep away bad things from life and welcome the good and holy things of life. On this day, we clean the house and draw rangoli ( kolam ) in front of pooja room & house entrance. We light oil lamps all over the house in the evening and we make some Karthigai deepam special recipes like nei appam, Pori urundai/Nel pori urundai, aval pori, Maavilakku for neivedyam and my MIL also makes kara appam along with these stuffs to finish our dinner. 

My mom makes a special karthigai deepam kozhukattai and rice flour lamp for the well being of family members. Here I have shared the links for all neivedyam recipes of karthigai deepam with a video recipe for making pori urundai. All are very easy to make and even beginners can give them a try. I have also planned to share few more recipes from tomorrow. Hope you will like these recipes and try it.

I wish you all a very happy Karthigai Deepam. Lets see the collection below.

Click the below picture for Karthigai deepam pooja procedure

Pori urundai recipe - Full Video !

KARTHIGAI DEEPAM RECIPES

 

 

 

 

 

  

  

 

  

  

  

 

 

  

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Kuthiraivali Puli Upma Recipe|Barnyard Millet Recipes

Barnyard millet/Kuthiraivali in Tamil, Oodalu in Kannada, Odalu in Telugu, Jhangora in Hindi and Kavadapullu in Malayalam is a healthy millet which has 6 times high fiber content when compared with wheat. Its a gluten free millet with high calcium,phosporous & fiber. It is high in carbohydates & fat too. It helps to maintain the body temperature.It acts as a good anti oxidant too. This puli upma with kuthiravali is an easy and yummy breakfast and dinner recipe which can be made under 20 minutes. Its a flavorful one pot meal. Its a great time saving recipe for people who look for quick breakfast/dinner options.We usually make this puli upma with rice or broken rice/Noi arisi.

Last week I just tried it with kuthiraivali for a change following my Puli sundal recipe & it tasted yummy when drizzled with few tsp of gingely oil. The best side dish for this puli upma is finely chopped sambar onions/pearl onions. This is not only a tasty combo but also it helps to balance the heat of tamarind & keeps the body cool. 

Friends try this easy, tasty puli upma recipe with any millet. I am sure you are going to love it. You can also replace kuthiravali with varagu or samai. Cooking procedure & water quantity are the same. This upma can be done in electric rice cooker too. In that case, add 1/2 cup of water more than the mentioned quantity. Ok, Lets see how to make this tasty puli upma using healthy barnyard millet. It stays good for one day travel too. Check out my varieties of millet recipes here.

Kuthiraivali puli upma recipe

Kuthiraivali/Barnyard puli upma recipe

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Breakfast/Dinner

Serves: 3

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 15 Minutes

Total time: 25 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

Kuthiravali/Barnyard millet - 1 cup Toor dal - 2 tbsp Water - 2.5 cups Tamarind - Big gooseberry size Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp Hing/Asfetida - 1/8 tsp Curry leaves - few Salt - as needed To temper Cooking oil or gingely oil - 2 tbsp Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Urad dal - 2 tsp Red chillies - 4-6 nos Curry leaves - few Hing/Asafetida - 1/8 tsp

HOW TO MAKE KUTHIRAIVALI PULI UPMA - METHOD

Soak tamarind in warm water for 10 minutes and take the extract using 2.5 cups of water as mentioned above. Its not necessary to use all the 2.5 cups for taking tamarind extract. U can use 2 cups of water for extract and add the remaining 1/2 cup of water directly to the cooker.To this tamarind juice, add curry leaves, turmeric powder, salt and hing. Set aside. In a kadai, heat a tsp of oil & roast the toor dal. Remove in a plate. In the same kadai, roast the millet/kuthiravali till it changes to white & puffy. Remove it in toor dal plate. Heat a pressure cooker base with oil and temper all the ingredients given above in the same order. Now add the tamarind extract taken using 2.5 cups of water. When the water comes to boil, simmer the flame and add the roasted dal & millet. Mix well without lumps. Pressure cook in low flame for one whistle or 3-4 whistles if high flame. It takes 10-12 minutes. After the steam is released, open the lid and fluff it with a fork. It will look mushy when it is hot but it becomes grainy & separate as it cools down. Don’t forget to add a tsp of gingely oil while serving. Enjoy this upma with small onions as side dish.

Note

Roast the dal & millet carefully in medium flame. Make sure nothing gets burnt. Adjust the quantity of chillies based on your spice level. Add less water ( around 2.25 cups) if you want more fluffy upma.

Enjoy this healthy kuthiravali upma with small onions as side dish. Tastes yumeee !!

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Eggless Tutti Frutti Cake Recipe-Basic Vanilla Sponge Cake Recipe

Eggless tutti frutti cake recipe without condensed milk. Baking would be a fun & breeze if you have the perfect recipe in hand. Its so easy and most probably with just 2 steps.You don’t have to look for any consistencies like sweets. Even a beginner can make it without hassles. 

Though I know this very well, I bake once in a blue moon thinking about all the high calorie stuffs like maida, butter, sugar, condensed milk etc. If you are a controlled eater, you don’t have to worry about all these things. But in my family, no body knows what is controlled eating. Even If you give us a loaf of cake or bread, it would vanish within no time. We can’t resist our temptation to eat if it is a deep fried snack or cake. So to satisfy our cravings, I make one minute microwave cake recipes ( Refer side bar) very often in which the quantity of consumption would be greatly reduced. And When I plan to bake a conventional cake, I make sure to exclude at least one or the other ingredient from the above said ones. I always watch out for cake and cookies recipes that uses cooking oil and curd than butter and condensed milk.

 Being a vegetarian it should be eggless too. As Christmas is around the corner, I wanted to share some yummy eggless, butterless cake recipes in my blog. Last year this time, I posted eggless vanilla cake recipe using fresh cream. It took one year for me to post yet another delicious,eggless basic vanilla sponge cake recipe.To make this cake interesting, I’ve used tutti frutti  & nuts here. Recently I bought a loaf pan to try whole wheat bread. 

I baked this cake in that pan. You can try this in a round, square or heart shaped pans too. Its one of the best eggless cake recipes I have ever baked & I adopted this recipe from here & here. This recipe was a super duper hit among my friends and family. Its one of the best tea time cake recipes and you can keep this cake as a base for making birthday and anniversary cakes too. It tastes even more rich and tasty if you decorate this cake with icing !! 

Try this yummy tutti frutti cake for this Christmas and share your feedback with me. I am waiting!. Check out my eggless pressure cooker cake recipe too. 

You can refer this post, follow the same procedure and make this cake in pressure cooker too. I hope it comes out well. Lets see how to make this eggless vanilla sponge cake recipe with tutti frutti.

Eggless tutti frutti cake

Eggless tutti frutti cake using basic vanilla sponge cake recipe - The best sponge cake ever !

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Baking

Serves: 12

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 40 Minutes

Total time: 50 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 cup = 200 ml For sponge cake batter All purpose flour - 1.5 cups Fresh Curd - 1 cup Baking powder - 1.25 tsp Cooking soda/Baking soda - 1/2 tsp Cooking oil - 1/2 cup (I used saffola oil,use any odourless oil) Vanilla essence - 1 tsp Fine sugar or powdered sugar - 3/4 to 1 cup ( I used 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp) Salt - A pinch For tutti frutti mixture Tutti frutti - 1/2 cup( add more based on ur taste) Raisins - 1 tbsp ( optional) Cashew nuts - 5 nos ( chopped finely) Maida – 1tsp For greasing the pan Cooking oil – 2tsp Maida – 2 tsp OR Butter paper/Parchment paper

METHOD

First take the baking pan and grease with oil all over the bottom and sides till the rim of pan completely. Then sprinkle maida and rotate the pan. Maida should coat the pan in all the sides. If you don’t want to do this step, just line the pan with butter paper or parchment sheet. Make sure you cut the butter paper in proper size before lining the pan. In a bowl, take the tutti fruit, nuts and raisins. Add 1tsp of maida and mix it well. This step is to avoid sinking of tutti frutti in the bottom of pan. In a big bowl, take the curd( my curd was slightly watery. I used nandini packet curd) and beat it with a whisk. Do not beat it vigorously. Just mix till it becomes smooth. To this curd, add baking powder and baking soda. Mix it slowly & gently. As you mix, you will see bubbles rising from it. Stop mixing and keep the bowl aside for 5 minutes. In the mean time, sieve the maida, a pinch of salt once or twice in a bowl and keep it ready. Now if you check the curd mixture, it would have risen well with foamy texture. Add the fine sugar or powdered sugar to it. Mix it with the whisk gently. Do not beat it. Just do it such that the bubbles should not subside. After mixing the sugar, add the vanilla essence and oil. Mix it slowly and nicely. The mixture should not lose its air particles. So be gentle. Add half of the sieved maida and fold it gently. Again add the remaining half and mix well. Lastly add the tutti frutti mix and fold it. Make sure there are no lumps formed. Batter should be of dropping consistency and not too thick. Transfer it to the cake pan and pat the pan well for uniform distribution. Preheat the oven in convection mode for 10 minutes in 180c. Keep the cake pan and bake it for 35-40 minutes at 180c in convection mode. Remove the cake just 5 to 10 minutes before completion  and brush it with milk. This gives a golden crust . Keep an eye after 30 minutes and check with a skewer.If it comes out clean with little crumbs, your cake is done. Else keep it for another 5 minutes. Mine took exactly 42 minutes. It may vary slightly. After the cake is done, remove and let it cool. Run a knife all through the sides of pan and invert the cake in a plate. It will come off easily. Slice it and serve with coffee/tea or enjoy as it is !

Note

This cake doesn’t come out white in color. It would be slightly yellowish in color. Do not over bake the cake than the mentioned time. Keep an eye after 25 minutes. Brushing with milk is very important to get golden colored crust on top. Adding cashews and raisins is completely optional. Tutti frutti alone gives you great taste to this cake.  You can also make this cake plain without adding nuts & dry fruits and enjoy. For variations, you can add orange zest or lemon zest in the batter to make orange & lemon sponge cakes. To make this as chocolate cake, add a tbsp of cocoa powder to the batter and mix well. This cake stays good for 2 days without refrigeration.

Try this yummy tutti frutti cake for this Christmas and enjoy !!

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