Diamond Chips

Ingredients:

• Maida - 2 cups
• Sugar - 1/2 to 3/4 cup
• Cooking soda - a pinch
• Oil to fry

Method:

Sieve maida and cooking soda together.
Powder the sugar and measure. In a bowl mix the flour, powdered sugar with little water. Divide them into equal balls.

Dust the floor with maid and spread it to thin chapathi. Dust a plate and transfer the chapathi to it. With the help of a pizza cutter (Somas cutter) cut the chapathi as shown in the picture.

Heat oil in a kadai and push the pieces into the hot oil. Fry them till golden brown.

Note: Also the chips could be made as a savoury, with needed salt instead of sugar, for flavor we can also add a teaspoon of jeera powder or even omum if u like the flavor.

Athirasam

Ingredients:

• Raw rice - 4 cup
• Jaggery - 4 cups
• Water - 2 cups
• Vanaspathi or Ghee - 4 tb sp tp 1/2 cup
• Cardamom - 4 pods

Method.



Soak the rice for 1 hour. Drain till its 3/4th dry. Run it in a blender. Sieve it. Sive 1/4th of the flour coarsely.
Disslovle the jaggery in two cups water filter and heat it.
Boil till up to 1 string level (1 Kambi Patham).
Sprinkle the flour on the jaggery syrup and keep mixing.
Add crushed cardamom. Discard the skin.
Mix all the flour gradually.
Keep stirring, simmer the stove.
Cook till the water is absorbed. say 5 to 10 minutes.
See to that it dous not get caramelised or burnt.
When it is done add ghee or dalda.
Keep it in a container and tie a cloth covering it. Do not cover with a lid.

The next day make the athirasams.

Heat ghee or vanaspathi in a kadai.
Rub your palm in fat (ghee or vanaspathi).
On a plastic sheet apply fat.
Take a lemon sized ball keep it on the sheet and press with the tip of the fingers.
Drop the athirasam in hot fat cook on one side after a minute turn it on the other side and cook for half minute.
Drain and take it out.

Note: When hot you may feel the inner content little uncooked but when cooled the texture will be changed.
Take it out when it turns brown. If the jaggery you added is a bit more than the measure it may not retain the shape, or it may not be cooked well, in such cases try adding a little flour. But this may not be more successful in extreme cases. Even when the flour is over cooked or undercooked things may go wrong. So try in small quantities than that i have mentioned. 

Karupatti Paniyaram

Karupatti Paniyaram is sweet made for occasion like pillayar nombu or for padaippu. its so simple that its ingredients are just raw rice and karupatti.

Ingredients:

• Raw rice - 1 kg
• Karupatti - 4 to 5 molds
• Oil - to fry

Method:

Soak the rice for an hour drain and keep. when it is 3/4th dry run it in the mixie not so smooth, slightly coarse.
break the karupatti into small pieces and with a little water heat it until it is completely dissolved. the karupatti pagu should be thick so carefully add very little water. Leave it to settle and cool. add this karupatti syrup to the flour and make a dough (like that of chapathi).

When you are about to make the paniyaram take the amount of dough you need add little water and karupatti pagu according the to the sweet you need and make a batter. The remaining dough you can store in fridge in an air tight container for a weeks time.

Heat oil in a kadai. beat the batter well and pour a ladle full slowly into the oil. splash the oil over the paniyaram so that it rises, turn it on the other side and cook for few seconds.
Note the outer part of the paniyaram in my picture that is called "karai koodi varuvathu" if the texture is like that then it means you have done a good job !


Note: The ends of the paniyaram will only be crispier and not the inside. If the batter is too thick the insides of the paniyaram will not be completely cooked and you can see the raw batter. in such cases add a little water and make. Before each paniyaram you have to beat the batter well as the rice tends to settle down. If the batter is too thin also the paniyaram will not have a good shape and will start drinking oil. The consistency should be a little thicker than the dosa batter, say like for Adai.

Also if you add too much of karupatti the paniyaram may not be cooked well inside but will become brown soon. so add karupatti little by little. We cannot say the exact measurement for karupatti as some may be less sweet some may be very sweet but less color. the excess karupatti pagu can be stored in fridge for later use, like for aadi kummayam or for karupatti kaapi. People make this in vanaspathi or ghee also but health conscious people should stick to just oil. 

Cheepu cheedai

Cheepu cheedia is again a typical chettinad snacks made of raw rice urudh dhal green gram and roasted bengal gram with coconut milk. When done in coconut oil its taste is doubled. usually made at house hold for snacks and stored.

Ingredients
For the flour

• Raw Rice (Pacharisi) - 8 glass
• Urudh Dhal (Ulundhu) - 1 1/2 glass
• Moong Dhal (Paasi Paruppu) - 1 glass
• Roasted Bengal Gram Dhal (Pottu kadalai) - 1 glass.

To make cheepu cheedai

• Flour - 5 cups
• Coconut - 1 (medium sized)
• Salt
• Water
• Oil

Method
To make the flour

Dry roast urudh dhal. keeping it asaide now dry roast green gram dhal (paasi paruppu). Do not roast till brown just till it is heated slightly. this way of dry roasting to a lesser degree is called "Vethuputhal".
Pick and clean the rice wash and sun dry it. (If the rice is of good quality need not wash and dry).
Now grind the rice urudh dhal green gram dhal and the roasted bengal gram dhal (Pottukadalai) in a flour mill.
Sieve the flour and store in an air tight container for later use.

To make the cheedai.

Grate a coconut. and take milk out of it. Probably 1st and 2nd and keep it together. Heat this coconut milk, turn off the stove when a foamy layer begins to form. see to that you do not boil it as it will curdle the milk and the cheedais will go hard.

take 5 cups of the flour in a basin. dissolve salt in little water. pour this coconut milk and salt water and make a nice dough as that for chapathi (little loose than for chapathi).

Use the cheepu cheedai's mold and pull long strips on a paper. cut it into short strips with a knife. dip the knife in oil so that the dough do not stick to the knife. let each piece be 2 to 2 1/2 inch long.

 Twist it around the finger and press the edges slightly.



Heat the oil in a kadai.When it is hot enough drop the cheepu cheedias carefully and fry well drain and take it.

Masala Cheeyam

This is a typical Chettinad Dish often done to serve along with Breakfast at households as snacks.

Ingredients:

• Raw rice - 1 cup
• Urudh Dhal - 1 cup
• Green chillies - 2
• Sago - 3 tbsp
• Small onion - 1 cup
• Curry leaves - 5 string
• Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp
• Coconut - 1 cup
• Mustard - 1 tsp
• Salt to taste 
• Oil to fry

Method:

Pick, wash and soak the rice and dhal together for about an hour.
Soak the sago separately
In a grinder grind the batter little water than we do for Vadai. While grinding add the green chillies also.
When the batter gets smooth add salt and let it run for a couple of minutes.
Slice the onions finely, grate the coconut, chop the curry leaves.
In a kadai heat a spoon of oil, season with mustard add the sliced onions and chopped curry leaves and coriander leaves. Sauté for a couple of minutes. Turn off the stove and then add the grated coconut. Mix well. Add this to the batter.
Drain the soaked sago and mix it with the batter.
Heat oil in a kadai as for vadai. Take a hand full of batter and drop dumplings of batter into the hot oil.

Tastes good with Thengai chutney or Vengaya Kosu.

Note: This dish should be very soft when you see the inner part it should have pores and should not be hard and stuffy with solid batter inside. If it is add it means you have not added enough water. So sprinkle water to a portion of the batter and try. When it turns out good do the same for in portions. If the batter is too watery the cheeyams will starts drinking the oil from the kadai, in such cases add a hand full of rice flour mix well and do.

Paal Kozhukattai

Ingretiends:

• Rice flour - 1 cup
• Coconut - 1/4 cup
• Jaggery - 3/4 cup
• Green gram dhal - 1/2 cup
• Milk - 2 cup
• Elachi - 2
• salt - 1 tsp

Method:

Cook the green gram dhal (Paasi paruppu ) well in water. Mash it well.

Run the coconut coarsely in mixe. Take a bowl and mix the flour, salt and the coconut. Add little water as the coconut may have water content. Make a dough. Make small small kozhukattai like pills (Tablets).

Keep the dhal boiling, Pour the milk in it. Keep stirring. When it is boiling nicely drop the kozhukattai in it. Do not mix it as soon as you put as it may break the kozhukattai. After a minute leave a flat ladle preferably Dosa ladle do not stir or sauté scrape the vessel from the bottom so that you don't disturb the kozhukattai. 

Now grate the jaggery or break them into small pieces and mix it inside the boiling dal milk and kozhukattai.

Season with elachi powder.

Note: If you feel that there may be dust and sand in jaggery, Crush the jaggery and heat it with little water (say less than 1/4 glass). When the jaggery dissolves leave it to settle and filter and pour it into the kozhukattai. Instead of milk if you add coconut milk the taste will be really yummy.

Stir fried Spicy Baby Corn

Ingredients:

• Baby Corns - 10
• Onion - 1
• Capsicum - 1
• Red Chilli Sauce - 1 tbsp
• Tomato Puree - 1 tbsp
• Chilli flakes - 1 tsp
• Garlic - 1 pod
• Green Chilli - 1
• Aginomotto - 1 pinch
• Corn Flour - 1 tsp + 1 tbsp
• Butter - 1 knob
• Salt to taste

Method:

Clean the baby corn and slit them length wise into four piece.

Cut the onions and capsicum length wise. Chop finely or grate the garlic

Melt butter in a pan add the chilli flakes and garlic sauté for a minute. Add the onions and chilli, sauté till light brown.

In another pan melt a little butter. Take the baby corn in a plate and sprinkle the cornflour mix well using fingers. Sauté till golden yellow in the melted butter.

To the onions add the sauces, salt and aginomotto, mix well.

Now toss in the corn and capsicum into it. Dissolve one tea spoon of corn flour in 1 table spoon of water and sprinkle. heat it not more than a minute as the flour may start to stick on the pan and burn.

Maavu urundai

Ingredients:

For the flour

• Paasi paruppu (Green gram dhal) - 1 kg
• Raw rice - 1 cup

To make the urundai

• Flour - 1 cups
• Ghee - 1/2 cup
• Sugar - 1 cups

Method:

Dry roast the dhal in a kadai. Take care that it is not overly roasted. Initially keep in high flame and keep stirring, then simmer it. Roast till the smell of the dhal begins to disperse in the air. When you over roast to brown color the taste of the final dish goes bad. 

Same way roast the rice also. 

Now cool it and give in a shop and get it ground to a fine powder.

See to that it is only rice and not any other ingredients was run through the machine, as that flavor or color may be imparted on the maavu urundai flour. Its always better you take 1/2 kg of rice and run through the machine before grinding the flour for maavu urundai.

Once ground to a fine powder, Sieve it in a sieve to a fine powder.

Once cooled and air dried put it in an air tight container and store for later use.

Take one cup of the flour in a basin. Grind sugar to a fine powder in a mixe and measure one cup. Now sieve the flour and sugar together so that they blend well. Heat the ghee slightly. Sprinkle spoon full of ghee in a small area of the flour and rub gently. Gather the flour with the ghee and press to make a ball. Repeat this for the remaining flour.

Store the urundais made in an air tight container.

Note: Making maavu urundai may seem easy, and yes it is actually easy but one have to be very careful while roasting the dhal and rice, and see to that rice has been ground in the machine before you grind the flour. And do not pour the ghee all together. You should not make it as a chapathi dough as it will not form a firm round ball if the ghee is too much as the ghee melts the shape may keep changing. So you have to only rub the fat in the flour. Gather the flour and make a ball. 

French Fries

Ingredients:

• Potatoe - 3
• Corn flour - 6 tb sp
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Oil to fry

                                     

Method:

Peel and cut the potatoes into long strips. Soak it in salt water for 2 minutes. Take it out and pat dry on kitchen towel.

In a dry plate put the dried potato strips sprinkle salt and pepper and corn flour. Mix with fingers so that the flour coats the potatoes. Do not add water.

Heat oil in a kadai and fry the potato fingers. Keep the flame high while frying. When it turns to golden color drain and take it out of the oil. Serve hot with Tomato Ketchup.

Note: You can also Indianise the fries with Indian flavor by using Chilli powder instead of Pepper or Chilli flakes, little methi leaves, or crushed or dried pudhina leaves.