Methi Chaman Recipe – How To Make Paneer Methi Chaman

Last week my friend Shalini was telling me about methi chaman gravy (Methi = Fenugreek leaves in English, Vendhaya keerai in Tamil, methi in Hindi, Menthe soppu in Kannada) she had in a restaurant. She told her family loved the gravy a lot and suggested me to give a try. She also shared me a link with a recipe close to the restaurant style methi chaman. Actually speaking, I have no idea about this recipe and its origin. So I browsed few more recipes to know its birth and came to know methi chaman is from Kashmir and it is very popular in Mumbai too. It is a mildly spicy curry/ gravy made using palak, fenugreek leaves/Methi leaves. It is popularly known as Hariyali Methi Chaman.Today I have shared Paneer methi chaman recipe. I am not sure this is the authentic recipe because I found many variations in this basic methi chaman recipe by adding paneer, Palak,  sweet corn etc. In fact my friend Shalini tasted makai methi chaman in which sweet corn and methi leaves were the major ingredients. It is without paneer and palak. But its my first attempt for this recipe. So I blindly followed the recipe shared in the link. It came out finger licking good.Its a good side dish for roti, naan, kulcha, ghee rice and mild pulao varieties. I loved it like anything and found “Kitchen King Masala” is the star ingredient for this particular recipe. Friends, do buy a pack of kitchen king masala if you don’t have in your hand.It gives restaurant style taste and flavor to North Indian gravies. If you don’t have fenugreek leaves, you can use crushed kasuri methi ( Dried frenugreek leaves) too.Ok, lets see how to make methi chaman gravy with paneer.
Don't forget to check out my other paneer recipes in THIS LINK

Paneer methi chaman gravy recipe

Paneer methi chaman gravy recipe - Mildly spiced gravy with Indian cottage cheese & Fenugreek leaves- Side dish for roti,naan, kulcha and mild pulao varieties

Cuisine: North Indian

Category: Side dish

Serves: Serves 2

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 20 Minutes

Total time: 30 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 200ml Fenugreek leaves/Methi - 1 cup Paneer/Indian cottage cheese - 1/2 cup Cooking oil - 1+1 tbsp Big onion - 2 nos Tomato - 2 nos (big) Ginger – 1 inch piece Cumin seeds/Jeera – 1/2 tsp Cashews or melon seeds - few ( I used 3 cashews) Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp Red chilli powder - 1 tsp ( Add more for spicy gravy) Dhania powder - 2 tsp Cumin powder/Jeera powder – 1/2 tsp Kitchen king masala powder - 1 tsp ( I used Kwality brand) Boiled Milk - 1/4 cup Salt & water - as needed

METHOD

Cut paneer into cubes.Chop tomato, slice onions. Boil 2 cups of water till water starts to roll boil.Add the paneer cubes. Take fenugreek leaves ( methi leaves) & wash it thrice to remove the dust. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadai. Crackle cumin seeds. Saute onion till transparent. Add ginger pieces,cashews. Then saute tomato till mushy adding some salt. Let the mixture cool down. Grind to a smooth paste adding required water.  Heat 1 cup of water & add 1/2 tsp sugar and the washed leaves. Boil for few minutes till the leaves cook well. Cook till all the water drains out. For variation, you can saute the leaves in oil instead of blanching to reduce the bitterness.Also you can grind the cooked leaves to a paste and add to the gravy. This gives green colored base to the gravy. Heat 1 tbsp oil in the kadai. Saute the tomato-onion paste, 1/4 cup of water, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, dhania powder, kitchen king masala powder, required salt. Mix well till oil starts to ooze out. To this add the blanched methi leaves and some water, mix well and let it boil.Check for taste and add more salt, spice powders if needed. Add the paneer cubes, boiled milk and let the gravy boil for a minute. Check the consistency and switch off the flame. Add fresh cream if you like. Mix well and serve hot with roti/Pulao/Naan. Enjoy ! Don't forget to check out my other paneer recipes in THIS LINK

Enjoy restaurant style Paneer methi chaman recipe with roti/naan !!

 

Technorati Tags: methi chaman recipe,paneer methi chaman recipe,paneer methi chaman,methi chaman recipe in hindi,methi chaman recipe with paneer,methi chaman,paneer methi chaman curry,paneer methi chaman curry recipe,paneer chaman gravy

Very good recipes Tags: recipe, paneer methi chaman, methi chaman recipe in hindi, methi chaman recipe with paneer, methi chaman, paneer methi chaman curry, paneer methi chaman curry recipe, paneer chaman gravy

Continue Reading...

Vegetable Uthappam Recipe – Mixed Vegetable Dosa

Basically I am a big dosa lover and love to try dosa varieties at home.I make them mostly for breakfast. But I couldn’t share all of them in my blog as I don’t get time to click the pictures in the busy morning hours.Today Sendhil is working from home. So I prepared this mixed vegetable uthappam for his breakfast and clicked it too. Onion uttapam and vegetable uthappam are our favorite among all the uthappam recipes in restaurant. So most of the time, this would be in our daily routine menu. 

More than the restaurant ones, I love this dosa version from small road side dosa corner. I have tasted and seen the making of mixed vegetable dosa several times in road side 101 dosa varieties stalls in Salem and Bangalore as well.

 Topped with the mixture of colorful, finely chopped vegetables & with lots of butter, this dosa tastes awesome with a watery coconut chutney, spicy Kara chutney and sambar served as a side dish. Literally I am drooling while writing this post and feel like running to a nearby dosa stall. 

At home, we can make a low calorie version by using less oil/butter and more healthy by adding more quantity of vegetables than hotels.Do try this for breakfast & kids lunch box. They would love to eat this colorful dosa. Sprinkle some cheese & make it more attractive for kids. 

Lets see how to make this yummy vegetable uthappam recipe with step by step photos.

Vegetable Uthappam Recipe

How to make mixed vegetable uttapam - Healthy dosa varieties for breakfast/dinner !

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Main- Breakfast

Serves: 4 

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 5 Minutes

Total time: 15 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

Idli dosa batter - 1 cup Finely chopped carrot - 1/4 cup Finely chopped onion - 1/4 cup Finely chopped tomato - 1 no Finely chopped coriander leaves - a handful Finely chopped capsicum - 2 tbsp (optional) Finely Chopped green chillies - 2 nos Cooking oil/ghee/butter - as needed Check out my MIXIE DOSA BATTER recipe too.

How to make vegetable uthappam  - METHOD

Wash and finely chop the carrot, onion, tomato, green chillies, capsicum and coriander leaves and mix everything together.Instead of fine chopping you can grate carrot. If you like ginger flavor, add a tsp of grated ginger.  In addition to this vegetables, you can add finely chopped cabbage, beans if you like. Heat a dosa tawa and pour a ladleful of dosa batter. Spread it slightly and make thick dosa if making uthappam. If you want to make as a dosa, spread more. As soon as you see some holes on the top of the dosa, start sprinkling the mixed vegetables all over the dosa. Drizzle 2 tsp of oil around it. By this time, the bottom portion of dosa would have cooked. Flip the dosa, press it lightly with the dosa flipper and cook the dosa in medium flame for 2-3 minutes. For variations cover and cook the dosa without flipping it.

Continue Reading...

Idli Sambar Powder Recipe – How To Make Hotel Idli Sambar Podi

Homemade idli sambar powder – Idli sambar can be prepared in many ways. But most of the people like hotel idli sambar ( restaurant style idli sambar) as it has got a special flavor.Usually my Mom & MIL makes Idli sambar adding freshly ground spices in addition to our usual Kuzhambu milagai thool/sambar powder just like hotels. My mom calls this powder “Mel podi” in Tamil. My MIL makes this sambar podi every time freshly whereas my mom makes this powder in bulk quantity and stock it for a week. She adds this powder to idli sambar and lunch sambar as well. Its a very simple recipe with just 5 ingredients. Sendhil loves hotel style idli sambar as it is more flavorful than the plain idli sambar. But most of the time especially during busy morning hours, I make a simple onion sambar for idli without adding mel podi. Recently my mom suggested me to grind and store this idli sambar powder and use it whenever needed. I gave a try and it really helped me for quick & easy cooking. Its smell & flavor lasted for more than 2 weeks even though I made in small quantity. If you have leftover lunch sambar in hand, you can add this powder to convert into idli sambar. Check out Notes section in this post. I have shared in detail.Friends, do try this idli sambar powder and make restaurant style sambar at home easily. Lets see how to make it.

Idli sambar powder - Hotel idli sambar podi

How to make idli sambar powder at home for making hotel style sambar

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Homemade powders

Serves: 1/2 cup

Prep time: 5 Minutes

Cook time: 10 Minutes

Total time: 15 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp - 15ml : 1 tsp - 5ml Dhania/Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp (heaped) Chana dal - 2 tbsp Methi seeds/ Fenugreek - 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds/Jeera - 1 tsp Red chilli - 5 nos ( I used byadge & guntur chillies for color & spiciness) Cooking oil - 1 tsp For variations you can few curry leaves while roasting. Dry grated coconut can be added while grinding but not more than 1 tsp.

METHOD

In a small kadai, heat oil. Add the methi seeds, when it starts to sizzle add the chana dal, pinched red chillies, cumin seeds and dhania seeds.Roast everything in low to medium flame. Make sure no dals or spices are burnt. Let them cool down. Grind everything to a fine powder. Store in an air tight box and use it whenever needed. This sambar powder stays good for one week if stored in an air tight box. Please refer my HOTEL IDLI SAMBAR post for the procedure of making sambar. In that recipe, I have shared the ingredients of spices to roast & grind. No need to make that powder. Instead add 1 tbsp of  this sambar powder at the end.Give a boil.Switch off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves. If you have left over lunch sambar in hand, you can easily convert that into hotel style idli sambar. For that : Season mustard seeds, cumin and curry leaves in ghee ( Add chopped small onions if needed). Add 1 tbsp of this idli powder in the ghee,saute for a second and add to the left over sambar. Dilute 1 tbsp of besan flour in 1/4 cup of water. Add to the sambar. Mix everything well. Let the sambar boil nicely. Check for taste and add more salt or sambar powder if needed.Enjoy ! Note : In this recipe, I have used less number of chillies. So I add either green chilli or add some sambar powder or red chilli powder for extra spiciness. So please add more chilli powder or chillies as per you need. Try to prepare this sambar 1-2 hours before serving. This standing time helps for all the flavor to enhance while serving. You can use this powder for making sambar 3-4 times.

Try this homemade idli sambar powder and share your feedback with me.

Technorati Tags: idli sambar powder,idli sambar powder recipe,idli sambar podi,idli sambar podi recipe,how to make hotel style sambar powder,how to prepare idli sambar powder,recipe for idli sambar powder,homemade sambar powder recipe

Very good recipes Tags: idli sambar powder, idli sambar powder recipe, idli sambar podi, idli sambar podi recipe, how to make hotel style sambar powder, how to prepare idli sambar powder, recipe for idli sambar powder, homemade sambar powder recipe

Continue Reading...

Mini Tiffin Recipes – South Indian Breakfast Thali

Mini tiffin is very popular in Tamil nadu restaurants. It is served mostly for breakfast. I guess most of you would have tasted mini tiffin in hotel Saravana Bhavan, Chennai. But I tasted this first in  hotel A2B (Adayar Ananda Bhavan), Bangalore and liked this concept very much. 

One could relish varieties of South Indian tiffin items like Idli, Vada, Masala Dosa,  Pongal, Kesari along with different types of chutney and sambar – all in one plate. A South Indian food lover, especially a big Idli, dosa fan like me would enjoy this breakfast menu like anything. I can have this for dinner too :)). Even kids would love this menu a lot. So whenever I go to Tamilnadu, I ask for mini tiffin in restaurants and have it happily. 

Recently I had this in hotel Aadithya of Kumbakonam. They served almost the same menu with a small cup of filter coffee (Mini coffee) as a compliment. After tasting it, I got tempted to try this South Indian breakfast thali at home and blog it. So I prepared all these dishes for our weekend breakfast. Usually we make this kind of menu for our guests. It took nearly an hour for me to make this platter. But the final result was very tasty and enjoyable. 

Sendhil & Raksha loved it to the core. You can try this menu for special days like anniversary, birthday and treat your family members. I have shared the recipe links and method of preparation with time saving tips. Lets see how to make restaurant style mini tiffin recipes at home.

Mini Tiffin Recipes - South Indian breakfast thali

Mini tiffin ideas - Idli, Vada, Dosa, Pongal, Kesari, Chutney varieties & sambar

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Main - Breakfast

Serves: 3

Prep time: 20 Minutes

Cook time: 40 Minutes

Total time: 60 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

Idli, dosa batter Ven pongal Urad dal Vada in mixie , batter in grinder Rava Kesari Coconut chutney Red chutney Green chutney Idli podi Hotel sambar ( I made this sambar ) Filter coffee

How to make mini tiffin - METHOD

Keep Idli, dosa batter ready in hand. Soak Urad dal for vada in the early morning. You need to soak it for one hour minimum. I soaked 1/2 cup of dal and ground the batter in mixie adding green chilli, ginger. Then added pepper corns, cumin seeds and hing to the batter. Do Not add salt while grinding the batter. Add salt at the time of deep frying. First make Ven pongal in a small pressure cooker adding 1/2 cup of raw rice, 1 tbsp of moong dal and 2.5 cups of water.Refer my Ven pongal post for the recipe with video.It takes nearly 20 minutes to cook. In another cooker base, cook toor dal along with carrot, potato, pumpkin pieces( If using), chopped onion, 2 whole tomatoes. It takes 15 minutes. In the mean time, you can prepare other dishes. Make Rava kesari and let it set. Grind the coconut chutney & green chutney. Saute tomato, onion, red chilli and grind with salt to smooth paste. Lastly temper mustard, urad dal and curry leaves.Add to all the chutneys. Now steam idli in an idli pot. By this time, ven pongal and dal for sambar would have been cooked.So open the cooker, add some ghee to pongal, mix well till mushy and close the cooker.Let it sit till serving. Open the dal cooker and mash it well. To this, add the  tamarind extract, sambar powder, salt, diluted besan flour and let it boil. Temper with ghee and garnish with coriander leaves. I din’t add freshly roasted sambar powder in this recipe. I just used my usual sambar powder and prepared this sambar in a simple way. After making all the dishes, serve them in a plate and keep it ready. Lastly make dosa and vada.Serve it.Make filter coffee at the time of eating.serve hot immediately.Enjoy !

Note

For variations in this menu, you can make poori and potato masala, khara bath /Upma recipes. Instead of kesari, you can keep any other sweets like gulab jamun, badam halwa, kaju katli You can also keep tea/chai instead of coffee. Actually in the hotel, they ask for choices between tea and coffee.

Try this special breakfast menu for your guest or your husband/kids birthday, anniversary and enjoy restaurant style menu at home.

Technorati Tags: mini tiffin recipes,mini tiffin,mini breakfast recipes,mini tiffin ideas,mini tiffin menu,tiffin items in tamil,tiffin recipes for kids,south indian mini tiffin recipes,mini tiffin recipes in tamil,south indian breakfast thali,south indian breakfast recipes

Continue Reading...

Dal Baati Recipe – Rajasthani Dal Bati Recipe

Dal baati is a very famous Indian dish that is made of Dal ( lentils) & wheat flour/Atta as major ingredients. It is most popular in Rajasthan, Madhya pradesh and Uttar pradesh. I tasted this dish in Rajdhani restaurant and started loving it a lot. Whenever I visit Rajdhani, I ask dal bati for the second serving and have it without any guilt. Actually I planned to post Chole batura recipe this week but I was not happy with the clicks.I should try again and take pics in good lighting. Somehow I wanted to make a North Indian recipe post in my blog as per the schedule. So I made a simple, mini Rajasthani thali for our lunch yesterday. I prepared Rice, Dal bati, Churma, Marwari Potato curry( Aloo Ki sabji) recipes and ate it heartily with curd & pickle.I will post the thali pictures this weekend. Today I would like to share the recipe of Rajasthan’s Signature dish – Dal baati. Actually Bati can be made in Oven, tandoor, microwave or deep fried in ghee/oil. I tried in oven as its my first attempt. If you have Bati in hand, making churma/Choorma is so easy. I will share that recipe soon. Now lets check how to make Dal bati recipe with step by step pictures. For this recipe, I referred Rajdhani’s website, Tarla dalal and Ruchis kitchen.

Continue Reading...

Kadala Curry Recipe – Kerala Kadala Curry For Puttu, Appam

Kadala curry is the most popular, traditional side dish for puttu and appam/palappam in Kerala. Its a very healthy side dish recipe which is ideal for breakfast. In Tamil, we call this as Kondakadalai Kurma, Chana gravy in English, Kala chana kurma in Hindi. Last week I shared Kerala Puttu Recipe in my space. As I promised in that post, here is the Nadan kadala curry recipe with coconut.I watched this You tube video to try the authentic recipe as its my first attempt. It came out very well and tasted yummy with Puttu. I am sure it tastes well for appam and dosa too. Though the procedure seems little bit lengthy, its worthy to try. Even though Black chana is widely used for this recipe, I think even white chana would do. After trying this authentic version, I am looking for a simple kadala curry recipe without coconut. Friends, please mail me the recipe in my inbox if you have any. Ok, now lets see how to make Kerala style Kadala curry recipe for Puttu, Appam.

Continue Reading...

How To Make Tamarind Paste – Tamarind Pulp / Puli Paste Recipe

Tamarind paste/Tamarind pulp  ( Puli Paste) is one of the most important ingredients for making sambar, rasam, vathakuzhambu in South Indian cooking. I have seen my friends buying tamarind paste from stores every month in their grocery purchase. But I don’t have the habit of using store bought tamarind paste as I am concerned about the use of preservatives. So I soak tamarind everyday before I start cooking and take tamarind pulp freshly. But most of the time I forget to soak and do it in last minute by heating the tamarind in water for quick soaking. Recently when I was talking with my friend Shalini, she told about her homemade tamarind paste. She said its handy for quick cooking and the wastage of tamarind would be very much reduced. She told me to try it once to believe.Last week I made tamarind paste just for 1 week usage and stored in refrigerator.As she told, its really useful and I am impressed with this. It saves more time especially while cooking during busy morning hours. I am sure it would be a big help for working women. You can make it in bulk quantity and preserve for months by keeping in refrigerator. It would be much better than store bought tamarind pulp. Lets see how to make tamarind paste at home and store it.

Homemade Tamarind Paste

How to make tamarind paste at home

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Coking basics

Serves: -

Prep time: 30 Minutes

Cook time: 20 Minutes

Total time: 50 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 250ml Tamarind - 200gms Water - 1 cup Salt - as needed

METHOD

Soak tamarind in 1 cup of  hot water for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Tamarind will become soft and well soaked.Squeeze the tamarind and remove seeds, grits if any. ( If you feel, there are more hard shells/ grits, add 1/2 cup more water while soaking so that all the grits will settle down, remove the thick tamarind OR squeeze the tamarind hard so that the grits will settle in your hand)  Grind the soaked tamarind adding little water. Grind to a thick paste. Mix with the soaked water and transfer the paste through a colander and squeeze the paste well. Discard the waste if any. Add the required salt and store in an air tight glass bottle ( preferably) and refrigerate it. You can follow this method if using the paste for one week to 10 days. If you want to preserve the paste for more than a week, proceed to the next step. In a wide bowl, take the tamarind pulp and boil for 5 minutes in medium flame.  It may splash everywhere. So keep it closed and stir it once or twice in the middle carefully. Switch off the flame. Mix well and let the paste cool completely. Tamarind paste resemble like a cream. After the paste is cooled down completely, store in an air tight glass jar and preserve it for months. You can also keep it in a porcelain jar( Peengaan jaadi). Add 1.5 tbsp of this paste for sambar, 2-3 tbsp for vathakuzhambu and 1 tbsp for rasam based on the number of serving.

Note

You can preserve this tamarind paste for months only if its cooked. If the pulp is raw, you can store it only for a week or max 10 days.  You can add 1 tbsp of cooking oil to the paste while it boils which acts as a preservative. But I used only salt.

Make your own homemade tamarind paste and use it for your quick cooking !

Technorati Tags: tamarind paste recipe,homemade tamarind pulp. homemade tamarind paste,how to preserve tamarind paste,how to store tamarind paste,how to make tamarind pulp,tamarind pulp recipe,how to prepare tamarind pulp,how to store tamarind pulp,how to preserve tamarind pulp,tamarind paste recipe indian,tamarind paste,how to make tamarind paste at home,what to do with tamarind paste,how to make tamarind pulp at home,tamarind sauce uses

Continue Reading...

Kerala Puttu Recipe – How To Make Soft Rice Flour Puttu

Rice Puttu - Kadala Curry is the most popular, worldwide known breakfast dish of Kerala. We call it as Kola Puttu ( Kuzhal Pittu) in Tamil. I have tasted this only once in Trivandrum(Thiruvananthapuram) in a small hotel and that too before my marriage.  After that, I never got a chance to try that. I always have a fascination towards Kerala recipes.So I keep trying one or the other recipes at home. Last week, we watched a cookery show in which the chef showed how to make Kerala Puttu with Kadala curry. Sendhil told me to try it as its a healthy choice for breakfast. 

I have already tried & posted different types of puttu recipes like Ragi Puttu, Kambu puttu and sweet puttu using idli pot learning from my MIL. So this time I wanted to make Kerala Puttu in an authentic way using Puttu maker as shown in the TV show. On the same day, we bought a puttu kudum ( Puttu kutti in Malayalam) and Instant Puttu rice flour mix ( puttu podi) from a nearby shop. I watched few YouTube video and browsed through some websites to get some tips on how to make super soft puttu recipe. I got one perfect recipe from HERE. I tried it for our Sunday breakfast and it was tasting great. Even though its my first attempt, I was very happy with the result. Sendhil loved it a lot and gave a big thumbs up.

 Making Puttu and Kadala curry is not so difficult and tricky as I thought. Anyone can make it easily if you follow the steps with care and patience. You can try this puttu without a puttu maker and by using homemade puttu flour too. I have shared those points in Notes section. Friends, do try this Kerala special breakfast dish – Puttu, Kadala curry at home and enjoy with your family. You can serve it with Kadala curry, Papadam Or just mix it with some sugar, ghee and banana. It tastes great !! I will post   have posted  Kadala curry recipe in this link. Now lets see how to make soft puttu using instant puttu podi.

Here is a picture of Puttu maker/ Puttu kudum/ Puttu kutti

Kerala Puttu Recipe

How to make Kerala Puttu recipe - Soft Puttu using Instant Rice Flour

Cuisine: Kerala

Category: Breakfast Recipes

Serves: 3 

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 10 Minutes

Total time: 20 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 250ml Instant Puttu flour - 1 cup  ( I used Double Horse brand white puttu podi) Fresh grated coconut – 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp Salt - as needed Hot water - as needed Puttu maker - refer the above picture For serving : Kadala curry OR Sugar, ghee and cardamom powder

HOW TO MAKE SOFT KERALA PUTTU - METHOD

In a wide plate, take the puttu flour. No need to sieve the flour. Add salt and mix well. Heat 1 cup of water in a bowl till water starts to bubble. No need to roll boil the water. Sprinkle this water little by little and mix the rice flour with a wooden ladle. There would be lumps in the flour. No issues. After all the puttu flour turns slightly moist, stop adding the water. Make sure you don’t see any dry flour. When the mixture becomes warm, use your finger tips and break the lumps roughly. Do it lightly. Do not apply pressure. Take a handful of flour and press it between your fist, it should hold its shape. When you press the flour with your thumb finger a little harder, it should crumble. This is the right consistency. Do not make the flour too wet or too dry. This consistency is more important to get a soft puttu. Now add 2 tbsp of freshly grated coconut to the rice flour. Mix well. In a medium sized mixie jar, take a handful of puttu flour and pulse it once or twice ( Pulse for just 2 seconds) and grind it to remove the lumps. You should grind the puttu flour only in batches. DO NOT grind all the flour together. It will become sticky with full of lumps. We need fluffy, feathery soft flour after grinding. So do it only in batches. You may need to grind 3-4 times. Collect all the ground flour in a wide bowl. Again check the consistency of flour by holding it in your fist as mentioned in the previous step.Now your puttu flour is ready to steam. In the bottom of puttu maker i.e Puttu kudum, add 3 cups of water and let it roll boil. In the mean time, take the long cylindrical puttu kutti and put the perforated steel disc on the bottom of the cylinder. First layer it with 2 tbsp of grated coconut and above that add a handful of puttu flour. Do not press the flour. Put it loosely. Repeat this till the rim of Puttu kutti. Finish it with coconut layer. Close the puttu maker with the lid. Place it over the boiling water. Place it lightly else it will become difficult to remove the cylinder after steaming. So place it gently but securely. Let the Puttu cook for 5 minutes in high flame ( Do not cook the puttu for more time because it will become dry if you over cook). After the steam starts to come out from the lid holes vigorously with a nice smell of cooked puttu, switch off the flame and let it rest for 2 minutes. Then remove the rod shaped puttu kutti ( careful) and place it in a plate. Use the steel rod and push the bottom of puttu maker. Puttu will come off easily with the perforated disc. Remove the disc and enjoy the puttu with kadala curry OR simply mix the puttu with sugar, cardamom powder and ghee. Enjoy !

Note

Addition of hot water and grinding the puttu flour in mixie helps to give soft puttu. If you want to follow the authentic method, just use the plain water and mix till right consistency. Sieve the flour in a puttu sieve if having or just break the lumps using your hands.Proceed for steaming. If you don’t own a puttu maker, just fill the grated coconut & puttu flour in layers inside a small tumbler and steam in idli pot for 5-7 minutes OR you can just spread a layer of coconut in all the idli plates and place a layer of puttu flour above it. Steam it for 5 minutes and remove.It resembles idli shaped puttu. You can also use an empty coconut shell for steaming puttu. If you don’t like to use store bought puttu flour, you can make it at home. For this, soak raw rice in water for 2 hours. Dry in a shade over the white cloth for 5 minutes. Grind it to a slightly coarse powder and  dry roast the flour till it starts to leave vapour.Remove the flour and let it cool down. Then use it for making puttu. Do not cook the puttu for long time. It will give you dry, hard puttu. Adding grated coconut in between layers gives softness and better taste to the puttu. If you don’t want to use more coconut, just skip this step. You can also use processed store bought rice flour i.e Idiyappam flour.

Puttu, Kadala Curry OR mix with sugar, ghee and banana – Enjoy Kerala style breakfast at home !

Technorati Tags: Kerala Puttu recipe,Puttu recipe kerala style,kerala puttu,how to make soft puttu,how to make puttu with instant puttu podi,how to mix puttu podi,kerala dish puttu,instant puttu recipe,Kola puttu,Kula puttu,Puttu maker,how to steam puttu using puttu maker,how to prepare kula puttu

Continue Reading...