சுசியம்

என் சிறு வயது நினைவுகளில் மிக பசுமையான இடம் சுசியத்திற்கு உண்டு.  பள்ளி முடிந்து வீடு திரும்பும் வழியில் இருக்கும் ஒரு கடையில் இந்த வடையை சுட சுடப் போட்டுக் கொண்டு இருப்பார்கள். வாசனை சுண்டி இழுக்கும். தேர்வில் சிறப்பாக தேர்ச்சி பெற்றால் கண்டிப்பாக அப்பா இந்த வடையை வாங்கிக் கொடுப்பார்.

வெளியே மொறு மொறு வென்றும், உள்ளே  அதற்கு நேர்மாறாக  மென்மையாக இனிக்கும் இந்த வடை எப்போதும் என் மனதுக்கு நெருக்கமானது.

இந்த வடையை செய்வது மிக எளிமையானதே. உணவு பல நினைவுகளை தூண்டி விடும் என்பது எவ்வளவு உண்மை!  வாருங்கள், செய்முறையைப் பார்ப்போம்.

Click here for the Susiyam recipe in English

தேவையான பொருட்கள்:

மேல் மாவுக்கு:

பச்சரிசி                   - 3/4 கப்
உளுத்தம் பருப்பு  - 3/4 கப்
உப்பு                          - தேவையான அளவு

பூரணத்திற்கு:

கடலைப்பருப்பு      - 1 கப்
வெல்லம்                  - 1 கப்
ஏலக்காய்                  - 4 அல்லது 5
நெய்                           - 1 தேக்கரண்டி

எண்ணெய்               - தேவையான அளவு


செய்முறையை கீழ் காணும் லிங்கில் காணலாம்.

ஆயத்த வேலைகள்:

அரிசியையும், உளுத்தம் பருப்பையும் நன்றாக கழுவி ஒரு மணி நேரம் ஊற விடவும்.

ஏலக்காயை தட்டி வைத்துக் கொள்ளவும் அல்லது ஏலக்காய் பொடி 1/4 தேக்கரண்டி பயன்படுத்தலாம்.

வெல்லம் தட்டி வைக்கவும்.

செய்முறை:

ஊற வைத்த அரிசியையும், உளுத்தம் பருப்பையும் நன்றாக மைய , தண்ணீர் குறைவாக தெளித்து கெட்டியாக ஆட்டிக் கொள்ளவும். தண்ணீர் அதிகம் சேர்த்து விட்டால் பூரணத்தின் மீது மேல் மாவு நன்றாக ஒட்டாது. மாவில் உப்பு சேர்த்துக் கொள்ளவும்.

கடலைப்பருப்பை வேக வைத்து எடுக்கவும்.  தட்டி வைத்த வெல்லத்தில் 3 தேக்கரண்டி தண்ணீர் ஊற்றி கொதிக்க விடவும். வெல்லம் தண்ணீரில் கரைந்ததும் வடிகட்டி வைக்கவும். வெல்லத்தில் இருக்கும் கசடுகளை நீக்கவே இவ்வாறு செய்கிறோம்.

வேக வைத்த கடலைப்பருப்பையும், வடிகட்டிய வெல்லத்தையும் அடி கனமான பாத்திரத்தில், மிதமான தீயில் கொதிக்க விடவும். இடை இடையே மசித்து விடவும். பொடித்த ஏலக்காய் சேர்க்கவும். பாத்திரத்தில் ஒட்டாமல் இருக்க சிறிதளவு நெய் சேர்க்கலாம்.

நன்றாக தண்ணீர் வற்றியதும் அடுப்பை அணைத்து விட்டு ஆற விடவும். பூரணம் ஆறியதும் நன்றாக இறுகி விடும். சின்ன சின்ன உருண்டைகளாக பூரணத்தை பிடிக்கவும்.

பிடித்து வைத்த உருண்டைகளை மேல் மாவில் தோய்த்து சூடான எண்ணெயில் பொரித்து எடுக்கவும்.

சுசியம் தயார். இந்த அளவில் சுமார் 25 சிறிய சிசியம் கிடைக்கும்.


மேல் மாவு மீதம் இருந்தால் சிறுது கடலை மாவு, வெங்காயம், பச்சை மிளகாய், கருவேப்பிலை, இஞ்சி, உப்பு சேர்த்து கார வடையாக செய்யலாம்.






     

Diwali Recipes

For your easy reference,  I have added added many recipes of sweets, savories, vadai and payasam to prepare and cherish on Diwali in a single post which follows.. Wish you all a Happy and Safe Diwali!!

Sweets:

Athirasam 

Boondi Laddu

Rasagulla

Kadalai Parupu Pooranam Poli

Jalebi

Sweet Pongal

Savories:

Ribbon Pakoda

Ragi Muruku

Kodubale

Kai Muruku

Kaarasevu

Maida Kaara Chips

Vadai:

Moongdal Vadai

Vengaya Vadai

Kara Vadai

Parupu Vadai

Urad Dal Bonda

Pakoda:

Mixed Vegetable Pakoda

Cabbage Pakoda

Payasam:

Arisi Payasam

Moongdal Payasam

Jalebi

Traditionally Jalebi batter needs to be fermented for about 24 hours. We are simplifying the process, by adding yeast to it and hence jalebis can prepared instantly. And i prepared as small jalebis for my kid. The tasty recipe follows...

Yields: Around 8 mini Jalebi

Ingredients:

Maida                     - 1/2 cup
Corn Flour              - 1/2 tbsp
Lemon Food color  - a pinch
Sugar                       - 1 cup
Instant yeast            - 1 tsp
Yogurt                     - 1 tbsp

Procedure:

• Take a bowl. Add 1/4 cup of  lukewarm water to it. Add also 1 tsp of sugar and 1 tsp of instant yeast to it. Mix everything well and keep it aside for 10 minutes. The water should be only warm. It shouldn't be neither too hot or cold.  
• Take another bowl. Add maida, corn flour and lemon food color to it. Mix it well.
• After 10 minutes, you can see that the yeast has foamed. Now add foamed yeast mix to dry ingredients in small instances. Add also yogurt and mix everything well together. Cover the pan with a lid and set it aside for an hour.
• In mean time, take a sauce pan. Add 1 cup of sugar and 3/4 cup of water to it. Cook in high flame, till sugar dissolves and after that reduce the flame to low and cook till it reaches one thread consistency. To check one string consistency ,touch sugar syrup between your thumb and fore finger. When you extend both your fingers, you could see it form a string in between. That is the needed consistency.
• After an hour, add enough water and make a watery batter. The batter should be in free flow consistency. For making jalebi, you can use either sauce bottle or zip lock bag. If you are using sauce bottle, add batter to it and use it as such. If you are using zip lock bag, add batter  to bag and close it. Make a tiny hole at the end and use it.
• Heat oil in a pan. The oil heat should be moderate. Now add batter to hot oil in circular motions so as to make jalebi. If the oil heat is low,  jalebis won't  get the needed spiral shape, instead they will become flat. If the oil heat is more, your jalebis will get broken. So see to that oil heat is as needed. 
• Your jalebis will get cooked in very less time. Now add cooked jalebis directly to sugar syrup and take it out immediately. You can also add saffron strands to increase the flavor and taste. Enjoy your Jalebis hot!!

Athirasam

This is the recipe which i learnt from my Mother In Law.. You have to prepare Athirasam dough at least a day in advance. The dough can stay up to two days even if it is left outside. So take your own time and enjoy athirasam when ever needed. The recipe follows..

Yields : Around 12 Athirasam

Ingredients:

Raw Rice         - 1.5 cups (Pacharisi)
Jaggery            - 1 cup (Vellam)
Cardamom       - 4 (Elakkai)
Sesame Seeds  - 1 tsp (Ellu)
Oil                    - for frying

Procedure:

• Wash and soak raw rice for an hour. Drain excess water and hang it in a Muslin cloth for an hour. This is done to absorb excess water from rice. Grind it to a powder along with cardamom. You can use even Mixer-Grinder to grind the rice. Sieve the flour well. Your rice flour for making athirasam is ready.
• Take s sauce pan. Add jaggery and enough water just to soak jaggery to it. Heat it till jaggery melts and after that filter it. This will help to remove impurities from jaggery.  Heat it again  in medium flame till it reaches soft ball consistency. Soft ball consistency is nothing but, when you drop little jaggery extract to a bowl of water, it shouldn't disperse. Instead you should be able to form a loose ball out of it with your fingers.  You can check for the consistency every now and then. Switch off the flame after jaggery has reached required consistency.
• Take a bowl. Add prepared rice flour and sesame seeds to it. Now add jaggery extract in small instances and start mixing with the flour. Your athirasam dough will be wet only. When we take it out to prepare athirasam the next day, the dough would be perfect. It would have absorbed all the water. Now add little oil to the top of the dough and cover it with a cling wrap and keep it in an air tight box.
• After 24 hours, take a small lemon size ball and press it in an greased plastic sheets. Put a hole in the center of athirasam. Always press the dough thick. 
• Heat oil in a pan. When it is hot, slowly transfer it to the hot oil. Take it out after it has been cooked on both sides. Athirasam will always absorb lot of oil. So drain well excess oil and enjoy your athirasam!!!

Kaara Sevu

Kaara Sevu is one of our native special snacks. We used to add also crushed black pepper to increase the taste and it can be prepared easily in just 30 minutes. The recipe follows..

Preparation Time : 30 minutes

Ingredients:

Gram Flour         - 1.5 cups (Kadalai Maavu)
Rice Flour           - 1 cup
Salt                      - As required
Chili Powder       - 1 tsp
Black Pepper       - 8 to 10
Garlic Pods          - 3
Cumin Seeds        - 1/2 tsp
Oil                        - for frying

Procedure:

• Sieve Gram flour and Rice flour together. Crush Black pepper. Grind garlic pods and cumin seeds adding little water. 
• Take a bowl. Add sieved flour, ground paste, crushed black pepper, salt and chili powder to it. Mix everything well. Heat 2 tbsp of oil and add it to the bowl.
• Start kneading the dough adding little water. Be careful while adding water to the flour. The dough should be little tight only. If you ended up adding little more water add only gram flour and not rice flour.
• Heat oil in  a pan. Take a muruku press with 3 round holes plate. Add dough to it and  start pressing in hot oil. Take it out, when its done on both the sides and drain excess oil. Break kaara sevu into pieces and enjoy!!!

Rasagulla

Rasagullas at home?? Yes!! you can prepare it instantly. You will need just 3 ingredients and you can prepare it in an hour. Give a try to Rasagullas this Diwali, and surprise your dear ones.. The recipe follows..

Yields : Around 8 Rasagulla

Preparation Time : 1 hour

Ingredients:

High  Fat Milk        - 500 ml
Sugar                       - 1.5 cups
Water                       - 5 cups
Lemon Juice            - 1.5 tbsp

Procedure:

• Boil milk. After it boils, switch off the flame ,add lemon juice to it and mix well. You can see milk start curdling. Let it sit for 10 minutes and after that strain curdled milk. The lemon juice specified would be enough for making the milk curdle. But if the milk dint curdle yet add some more lemon juice. Transfer the curd to a cloth which can absorb water.. here in my case i have used a cotton cloth.Squeeze out water, Tie the knot and hang on to a high place. leave it for 30 minutes.
• You needn't hang paneer for a longer time for making rasagullas. The paneer should be little wet only. Keep on kneading paneer, until all of it joins together. It took 15 minutes for me to achieve the required consistency. Kneading paneer plays an important role in this recipe. If you didn't knead paneer well, chances are there that rasagullas will get broken when it boils in sugar syrup.
• After kneading well, make small balls out of kneaded paneer.

• Take a heavy bottomed pan. Add 1.5 cups of sugar and 5 cups of water to it. You can increase the sugar quantity according to your taste. You can taste sugar syrup and conclude on the amount of sugar needed.Cook it in high flame. You will see sugar has dissolved and when the sugar syrup boils, add paneer balls to it. Cover with a lid and cook in medium flame for about 15 minutes. The sugar syrup should always be boiling. Keep on stirring in between in 5 minutes interval. 
• After 15 minutes, you can see your rasagullas are ready. It should have doubled the size. You will be left out with lot of sugar syrup. Use it for any other sweets. Adding lot of water to sugar syrup is mandatory since you are cooking rasagullas directly in sugar syrup, otherwise you will end up with rasagullas sticked to the bottom of pan.   Transfer rasagullas along with enough sugar syrup to a bowl and let it sit for atleast 6 hours. It wold have soaked well after 6 hours. Enjoy your Rasagullas!!

Kai Muruku Prepared with Muruku Press

I would like to confess a thing about this recipe. Traditionally it is prepared without Muruku press and using just hands. Since i couldn't do it, i used star shaped nozzle and prepared this muruku. This muruku stands unique in two things. 1. It is prepared with Par-boiled rice 2. And instead of preparing muruku with flour, rice is soaked and ground to a batter and it is used to prepare muruku.

Over to the crunchiest and tastiest muruku recipe..

Yields : Around 20 muruku

Preparation Time : 30 minutes + Soaking Time

Ingredients:

Par Boiled Rice             - 1 cup (Pulungal Arisi)
Urad Dal Flour              - 1/4 cup
Butter                             - 2 tbsp
Sesame Seeds                 - 1 tsp (Ellu)
Salt                                 - As required
Oil                                  - For deep frying

Procedure:

• Soak Parboiled rice for 2 hours and after that grind it to a smooth batter adding very little water. See to that you add very little water, just enough to grind rice or else it will be difficult to press muruku.
• To prepare Urad Dal Flour, dry roast urad dal till it leaves nice aroma and after that grind it to a powder. Sieve the flour. Your urad dal flour is ready now. Make a note that we are adding 1/4 cup of Urad dal flour and not urad dal.
• Take a bowl. Add ground parboiled rice batter, Urad dal flour, salt, sesame seeds and butter to it. Start kneading the dough till it reaches tight consistency like below.

• If you have added more water while grinding rice, the dough consistency will be little watery. In such case, you can place the dough in a cloth for some time, so that cloth will absorb excess water. If the dough is very much tight, it will be difficult for you to press. In such case you can add little water to loosen the dough.
• Take a  muruku press. Place little dough in it and start pressing it on a greased sheet. pressing it in a greased plastic sheet helps to transfer muruku easily to hot oil.

• Heat oil in a pan. When its hot, slowly transfer pressed muruku to it. Fry it in medium flame, till muruku is cooked completely and it turned crispier. Drain oil and enjoy your muruku. If you are preparing it in correct consitency, muruku won't absorb oil at all.. Your crunchy, munchy muruku is ready!!

Boondi Laddu

Rather than telling the recipe for making Boondi laddu, I can very well say the reasons why your laddu fails. I could make perfect laddus only in my third attempt. These are the reasons because of what my laddu had failed out earlier.

1. The First and foremost thing to be taken care is Sugar syrup consistency. Just add enough amount of water and cook till it reaches one string consistency.  If you keep on cooking still after reaching one string consistency, sugar will start crystallizing. If you stop cooking sugar syrup  before reaching  its consistency, Boondi will become soggy and you won't be able to shape it out.
2. You needn't cook Boondi for a longer time. Take it out immediately as soon as you add it to oil and oil should be really hot, when you add boondi to it.
3. Always buy Gram flour only when needed. Laddus made with fresh and new gram flour always taste good.

Just take care of above things. You will be able to make super delcious laddus in just 20 minutes. Over to the recipe..

Yields : Around 8 medium size laddu

Preparation Time : 20 minutes

Ingredients:

Gram Flour             - 1/2 cup (Kadalai Maavu)

Sugar                       - 1/2 cup

Baking Soda            - a pinch

Food Color              - a pinch

Cashew Nuts           - few

Raisins                    - few

Cardamom Powder - a pinch

Oil                           - for frying

Ghee                       - 2 tbsp  

Procedure:

• Take a bowl. Add Gram flour, Baking soda and food color to it. i didn't add any food color. You can add if you wish. Add water to bowl in small instances and start preparing the batter. The batter should be of Dosa batter consitency i.e it should be free flowing. Heat oil in a frying pan. A special Boondi ladle is available for making laddus. You can use either that or any other ladle with holes. Place boondi ladle above hot oil. Add small amount of boondi batter to the laddle and tap it so that boondi falls down in oil. If the batter is too watery, boondi will absorb much oil.  Take boondis immediately as soon as you add it to oil or else it will turn crispier. It will get cooked in some seconds itself.  Drain excess oil from boondis and keep it aside. In the same oil fry Cashew nuts, raisins and add it to boondi. You can also use ghee instead of oil for frying boondis.
• Take a sauce pan. Add 1/2 cup of sugar to it. Add also 1/4 cup of water  and cardamom powder to it.  Cook sugar syrup in high flame till sugar dissolves and after that cook in medium flame till it reaches one string consistency. To check one string consistency, touch sugar syrup between your thumb and fore finger. When you extend both your fingers, you could see it form a string in between. Thats the needed consistency. Let the sugar syrup cool for 2 minutes and after that add ghee, boondi to sugar syrup. Mix everything well and after that take it out in a plate.
• Let boondis cool for 2 minutes. Start making laddus when boondi is still hot itself. Grease your palms with ghee and start making laddus. Take little boondi in your palm and shape it out to a ball. Let it cool for 30 minutes. Your Boondi laddu is ready to eat by now. Enjoy your laddus!!!

Kadalai Paruppu Pooranam Poli (Channa Dal Poli)

Bringing you delicious Kadalai Paruppu Pooranam Poli (Channa Dal Poli) recipe today in this festive season.. You can also prepare this poli, with just Gingely oil to make it much more healthier. The recipe follows..

Yields : Around 10 Poli

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour       - 1 cup (Maida)
Rava                           - 1 tsp (Sooji)
Rice Flour                   - 1 tsp 
Salt                             - a pinch
Channa Dal                - 1/4 cup (Kadalai Parupu)
Jaggery                       - 1/4 cup
Cardamom Powder     - a pinch
Ghee                            - 2 tbsp
Gingely Oil                   - 4 tbsp

Procedure:

• Boil Channa Dal for 5 whistles. Add jaggery and cardamom powder to boiled channa dal and cook in low flame so that jaggery melts. Switch off the flame after the stuffing reaches thick consistency. Let the stuffing cool. After it cools down completely, stuffing will get more thick.
• Take a bowl. Add All purpose flour, rava , rice flour and salt to it. Add water in small instances and start kneading the dough. The dough should be little sticky only so that we can expand it easily. Add 2 tbsp of gingely oil to the dough.. Make sure dough is covered fully with oil. Close the bowl with a cling wrap and let it sit for 1 to 2 hours.

• Take a small lemon sized ball. Place it on a greased plastic sheet. Expand it with your palm.

• After stuffing  cools down, make small balls out of it.

• Place the stuffing on expanded dough.

• Close the dough and expand it again with your palms.  Always use oil for expanding poli.

• Heat a dosai pan. When its hot, place poli on it. Add Ghee+Gingely oil to it. When its cooked on one side, slightly turn it to other side. Serve the poli after it is cooked on both the sides.
• You can prepare the poli with Ghee alone. You can also prepare poli with Gingely oil alone.
• Enjoy delicious poli!!!

Sandesh

Sandesh

Sandesh is a high calorie milk sweet which is prepared using paneer. This is a slight variation from original recipe . we are using condensed milk to reduce the manual effort of keep on continuously stirring the milk and you can prepare this sandesh easily in minimum time and with minimum effort. The recipe follows.. 

Ingredients:

Paneer                                                  - 1 cup

Sweetened Condensed milk            - 1 cup

Ghee                                                    - to Grease

Grated Pistachios                             - 1 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Take a plate. Grease it with ghee and keep it aside.
2. In a non stick pan add Paneer and Condensed milk and heat it.
3. Once it gets heated reduce the flame and keep on stirring until it loses all the water.
4. Once it becomes dry transfer it to the already greased plate and allow it to cool.
5. Add pistachios to the top of it.
6. Cut it into desired shape when its still warm using knife or using any cookie cutter.