Kalakand / Paalgova

Paalgova as it is called in my native place is a milk sweet. The one available at the "Aavin" milk booths are most famous. It usually comes in bowls/tins and doesn't have any shape (just like kesari). Recently I had a similar sweet in my friends house and got to know its name as "Kalakand:. It was shaped square with some nuts garnished on top. She told its simple to make this with Ricota chesse and condensed milk.

I browsed for the recipes and used the one I found in Show-Me-the-curry. I made this for Krishna-Jayanthi and it was super simple and tastes fabulous. I did it in microwave and you can do it stovetop too by keep on mixing over medium heat. And most important, it takes just one bowl to make and you don't have much cleaning.  Just try it out wen u have a chance.

Ingredients:
Ricotta Cheese – 15 oz
Condensed Milk – 14 oz
Rose Water – 1/4 – 1/2 tsp (or 2-3 drops of Rose Essence)
Cardamom Powder – 1/4 tsp
Chopped Pistachios – 1/2 tbsp
Chopped almonds – 1/2 tbsp
Yellow food color - a pinch (optional)

Method:
1. In a microwave bowl, mix the Ricotta Cheese and the Condensed Milk well. Mash down all the lumps with a help of a whisk.
2. Cook in the microwave for 5 minutes uncovered. Take out and mix well. Make sure that you loosen the edges.
3. Back in the microwave 3 more minutes, uncovered. Take out and mix.
4. Microwave for 2 minutes, covered. Take out and mix.
5. Microwave for 2 minutes,cross covered, take out and mix.
6. Add the yellow food color, mix well and microwave for another 6 minutes, uncovered taking out and stirring every 2 minutes.
7. It is ready when it reaches a granule consistency but still sticky and together. you can make a ball together at this stage. Mix well then.
8. Add in the Powdered Cardamom and Rose Syrup/Rose Essence and mix well again.
9. Grease a square and rectangle bowl and transfer this mixture to that. Press down and flatten the mixture.
10. Sprinkle chopped Pistachios and Almonds on top and press them down to help them
stick.
11. Cover and allow to set either in the refrigerator for an hour or on the counter-
top for a few hours.
12. Cut into desired shape and serve

Linking this recipe to South Indian Cooking happening @ Anu's Healthy Kitchen.

Easy Banana Muffin

This is an easy dish with leftover bananas. Quick to make and can be served instantly. I did this on microwave and this can be done in conventional baking method too. I added some cereal to this and it added some extra crunch.

Ingredients:

Ripe Banana - 2
All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cups
Oil - 1/2 cup
Egg - 1
Baking Powder - 2 tsp
Left over cereal - 1/2 cup, crushed
Sugar - 1 cup

Procedure:

Mash the bananas well in a mixer

To this add egg, sugar and oil and mix for 2 minutes

Mix the flour and baking powder and crushed cereal. To this add the egg mixture and mix well with a spoon.

Grease the microwave muffin pan with oil and pour the muffin mix till 3/4th.

Microwave this for 3 minutes on 60% power. Check if its done by picking with a toothpick. If not done, microwave for another minute.

Cool for a while. Yummy Banana muffins are ready to serve.

Spicy Potato wedges

I usually make Potatoes with onions and tomatoes the way my mother does. This time I tried to cut them as wedges and added some peanuts which I don't add usually. The result was awesome. This is simple but tasty way of making potatoes. It goes well with any rice and good for snacking too. :-)

Ingredients:

Small Potato - 3 nos

Chilly powder - 1 tsp

Salt

Oil - 2 tbsp

To grind

Cut Onion - 1/2 cup (around 3 tbsp)

Ginger-1/2 inch

Garlic-3

Roasted peanuts - 1 tbsp

Procedure:

Wash and prick the potatoes with a fork throughut and microwave for 1-2 minutes till half done.

Cut the potatos as wedges and keep ready

Grind the ingredients for grinding as a paste

Mix the potato wedges with salt, chilly powder and ground paste and mix well

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add the potatoes and keep stirring frequently.

Since the potatoes are half cooked, this will get ready shortly.

Once the potatoes turns nice brown remove them from flame and serve.

I'm submimtting this recipe for Serve it-stir-fried event happening at kirthi's kitchen

 

Tindora (Kovakkai) Fry

These are tasty fries with very little oil. I did this in microwave and it came very well. I bet this will be a great combination with Sambhar and curd rice..Try out wen u get a chance...

Take good amount of tindora as it shrinks to 1/4th the regular size.




Ingredients:
Tindora - 200 gms --cut each into 4 pieces lengthwise
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Salt
Oil - 1 tsp


Procedure:

1. Keep the sliced tindora/kovakkai in microwave safe bowl/plate and cook it covered for 4 minutes

2. Add salt and chilli powder and mix well. Microwave again on high for 4 minutes stirring once after 2 mins

3. Now the tindora would have cooked well. If not microwave for another few minutes

4. Now heat oil in a pan on stove and the cooked tindora. Keep stirring on medium heat till it gets light browned.

5. Serve as side with rice.

Apple sauce chutney (Microwave)

This is an instant chutney which you can prepare with few readily available stuffs. I had some apple sauce which I wanted to finish before its expiry. So I browsed some recipes and made some alterations and cameout with this easy instant chutney. This has a sweet and very mild spice taste and the crunchiness of the onions adds the extra flavor for this. I tried with dosa and it tasted awesome. This can be used as the sweet chutney for chats too.

This can be made on stovetop also.



Wat u need:

Apple sauce - 2 tbsp
grated ginger - little
grated orange peel- little
finely chopped onion - 2 tbsp
water - 1/2 cup
chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
oil - 1/2 tsp
salt


How to do:

Mix onions and oil in a microwave safe bowl and cook on high for 1 min

Add all the other ingredients except water, mix well and cook covered for 1 min

Now add water and cook covered(or else it may boil over) for 3 mins stirring inbetween every min. Check for the desired consistency. If its too watery cook for some more time.

Garnish with coriander leaves, mix well and serve.

Eggplant kotsu

Wenever we talk of Venpongal, the best accompaniment I could remember is kotsu made of eggplant. This is a little variation from sambhar wherein the former one is thick as compared to the pouring consistency of the later one. Other than Pongal, this goes very well with Idly and dosa also.

Ingredients

Big Eggplant - 1
Onions - 1
yellow moong dal - 2 tbsp
tamarind juice - 2 tbsp
mustard seeds - 1 tsp
curry leaves
coriander leaves
salt
oil - 2 tsp
water - 1/2 cup

To roast and grind
Red chilly - 2
coriander seeds - 3 tsp


Method:

Getting prepared:

1. Cut the stem part and cook the egg plant in microwave for 3 + 1 mins on high (adjust more or less according to ur microwave). After it cools down, peel of the skin and mash it with ur hands. This can also be cooked on stovetop by chopping the eggplant into small pieces.

2. Pressure cook the yellow moong dal and mash well

3. Roast and grind the chilly and coriander seeds


Cooking Kotsu:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds to splutter

2. Add the onions and curry leaves and saute till tender

3. Then add the mashed eggplant, salt, ground powder and tamarind extract

4. Add water and let it boil for few minutes

5. To this mix the mashed dal and cook for few more minutes till it thickens

6. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with Pongal or Idly

Note:
This can also be prepared replacing eggplant with tomatoes.
The ground powder of red chilly and coriander seeds comes handy for many dishes even for sambhar. This can be prepared ahead in more quantity and stored in air-tight containers.