Kezhvaragu Koozh Recipe / Ragi Koozh Recipe

     I knew this recipe is going be a super lengthy post and that I would not be able to draft it in a single day. I started with the post when I was in Pondicherry during November for a short vacation. I was so greedy to complete this on the same day, as I wanted it to be published from my hometown, this being a special post for me, as it is the first one to feature in my blog under the category - Baby Food. But somehow I managed to edit the pictures atleast, just before I started to the post-cyclone-hit-Chennai 😀😀  

     I came across this Koozh atleast 2 decades back, when my cousin Aravind was a baby. I still have a good memory of the Koozh which my mami prepares for him, its aroma, its consistency !! (may sound unreal, but amazingly, I remember). He used to be a chubby kid. The reason for which may be due to many factors, but it somehow got into my mind that goodness of the kezhvaragu koozh played an important part in him being a chubby plumpy bubbly kid. So, I wanted to give this  iron rich, nutritious baby food to my little one Abhinav as well 😍
     As is the post being jumbo, overloaded with a lot of my memories penned down, so is the process of making ragi koozh powder too !!! It took almost a week (without sufficient sunlight to dry the ragi milk) and a lot of hardwork from 3 people - my grandma, my mom and me tooo...(atleast for taking the pics :P)

     The silver paaladai (the small vessel with handle in the pic) and another bowl was presented by my husband's periamma to Abhinav :) Many a thanks to Kalyani periamma for this valuable gift with a lot more utility :)
     Using a paaladai and giving medicine/food to babies is a very special skill that one can attain only by experience. I am still skeptical if I will be able to master that art, as I find it so fearsome to control a wriggling, squeaking child put on the lap and forcefully inject the food/medicine through the corner of its mouth, with the paaladai device tilted at an expertised angle, while the baby is crying so badly making gurgling sounds in gulping the liquid and paralelly crying..., . Omg... Uffff !!!! Hats off to MIL... I cant even stand beside and watch her give something to Abhinav. Yess I get tensed due to fear and ask her to stop after just 2 trials. I cant stand to watch him cry so hardly :( 

Okay okay, now over to the process of making the ragi powder :)

Prep Time: 4-5 days || Cook Time: 5 mins || Serves : 1 || Category: Baby Food

Ingredients:
1. Ragi - 1 kg
2. Sugar - 1/2 tsp (optional)
3. Ghee - 1/2 tsp (optional)

Method:
1. Soak ragi for about 36 hours. Rinse and change the soaking water once or twice.
(I will update with a pic of soaked ragi later). Grind the soaked ragi in a grinder with some of the soaked water. It took 45 mins to 1 hour for me.

2. Strain the ground ragi in a strainer with moderately big holes. It is okay if some of the ragi's skin escapes the holes.We are going to double filter this extract anyway.

3. Squeeze the ragi skin chunks for any more extract and then discard the squeezed dry mass of ragi. Again filter the extracted ragi milk in a strainer with more fine holes. Leave the ragi milk extract in a wide vessel covered with a lid, for overnight for fermenting. Mine took about 20 hours to settle and ferment.

4. After overnight, the thick ragi milk would have deposited at the bottom leaving a clear liquid with some froth on the top of the container. Discard the clear liquid without disturbing the settled ragi milk.

5. Now pour this ragi extract slowly over a fine mesh cloth tied around a vessel and knotted at the neck, to prevent the cloth from falling into the vessel due to ragi extract's weight. This is done to separate water, if any existing in the extract. After 2 to 3 hours, water from the ragi extract would have got filtered through the cloth, leaving a more thick paste of ragi extract.

6. Now untie the cloth from the vessel, while carefully holding it not to fall inside and touch the filtered water. Fold the cloth from all the sides and slightly squeeze the cloth with ragi extract to filter some more water. Then leave some room on top and tie the cloth into a small bag and hang it from any hook or surface, placing a vessel right beneath to collect the dripping water. 

7. After about 8-10 hours or overnight hanging, there would be no more water in the ragi extract and the ragi mass would have solidified slightly. Now carefully remove the bag and untie it. Break the ragi mass into small chunks, with a heavy spoon or laddle.

8. Give some time for the chunks to dry in sunlight and then break them down further. After drying under sunlight for 8-10 hours, finely powder the dried ragi extract in a mixi. Store in an air-tight container.

9. To make the koozh for 1 serving, take a table spoon of the ragi powder and add some water. Mix it thoroughly with a spoon and then after the ragi powder has mixed uniformly, add some more water and stir well. (I bought this small anodized vessel,  during my stay at Chennai, for the exclusive purpose of making Koozh for Abhinav :) as it is very easy with these type of vessels to cook as well as to clean.)

 10. Keep the vessel on stovetop in medium flame and keep stirring. 

11. After about 3 -5 mins, it would start thickening and boiling well with small bubbles forming and breaking. At this time give a final stir and switch off the flame. If you want a more thicker consistency, continue for 2 more mins and then switch off. If desired, a spoon of ghee and some sugar can be added when the koozh is warm.

Suggestions:

• Organic ragi can also be used. Can also try multi grains with various nuts.
• For toddlers, ragi can be directly powdered in mill along with cashews, badam, cardamom etc. Need not follow this ragi milk extract method.
• The traditional method of making the koozh powder follows, sun drying the ragi milk extract (after step 6). But as there was not enough sunlight during November, I had to cut short that to indoor drying process.
• Sundried Koozh powder lasts longer. 

   So painstakingly prepared ragi powder is definitely worth all the efforts for it nutritiousness.    

   Wish you all a very happy new year 2017 :) 

Lemon Pickle Recipe

     As I was editing the pics to create this post on Lemon Pickle, I was wondering what is new in this age old recipe. I made it for the first time all by myself !!!
I am in India for a short vacation of one month. Two weeks flew sooo very fast. Had a good time attending my husband's cousins marriage - needless to say that I ate a lot of delicacies, the lovely Vaazhai Ilai Saapadu (Food served on Banana Leaf) 4 times a day :P  a lot of variety !!! Dressing up... Taking photos.. Eating.. Shopping.. And finally the wedding is over. and the 2 days of gala time came to an end and I turned up to my blog. 
    Last ditch efforts to make a post, so that November 2016 is not left without any posts... Uffff...  So crazy... Sitting and editing the post at 10.45pm in India.. when all are asleep...ZZZzzzz..

Prep Time: 15 mins (plus a week resting time) || Cook Time: 10 mins || Yields: 150 gm || Category: Pickles

Ingredients:
1. Lemon - 2 or 3 (here we get only big ones so I used 2)
2. Gingelly oil - 3 tbsp
3. Fenugreek powder - 2 tsp
4. Red chili powder - 1 tbsp
5. Mustard seeds - 2 tsp
6. Salt - as required
8. Turmeric powder - a pinch
7. Hing - a generous amount

Method:
1. Cut lemon into small pieces. Sprinkle some salt and let it rest for a week. Make sure to give it a shake couple of times daily. Keet an iron kadai (preferably) with gingelly oil. Add mustard and allow them to splutter. Then add a little bit of fenugreek powder and then simmer the flame.

 2. Add a pinch of turmeric powder and then the cut lemon pieces. Stir well to get a uniform coating of all the ingredients. Switch off the flame.

3. Now add required amount of red chili powder and salt and mix well. Switch on the flame and then give a final mixing of chili powder and salt. and then switch off the flame.

Suggestions:

• Use gingelly oil for a flavourful pickle.
• Always use a clean dry spoon for serving the pickle.
• Keep it air-tight and never use your hands to take the pickle.
• Stir well every time when taking the pickle.
• Use optimum quantity of salt and red chili powder. Otherwise there are chances that pickle will decay sooner.
• It is better to refrigerate the pickle after keeping it outside for 2 days.
• A very important lesson I learnt by experience - Never keep pickles in stainless steel container, as the citric acid in it will corrode steel container and create a hole in it :P I experienced this with Narthangai pickle. My mother-in-law enlightened me with this fact !!

Bowtie Pasta in Bechamel Sauce Recipe

     A pasta dish again :P so soon... Yessss Pasta mania.. That is what I am caught with.  Came across a recipe for white sauce in facebook video. It looked simply attractive with all the colorful bell peppers and olives. As the saying goes "You first eat with your eyes". This seemed to be one such recipe when I saw through the video. Though it tasted good, I felt contented only after eating one piece of dosa for the finishing touch. I wonder how kids find the pasta dishes so engaging !!! 

Prep Time: 10 mins || Cook Time: 35 mins || Serves: 2 || Category: Pasta Recipes/Easy breakfast

Ingredients:
1. Bowtie Pasta - 100 gms (any variety of pasta)
2. Coloured bell peppers - (Green, red, yellow/orange)
3. Olive oil - 2 tbsp
4. Butter - 2 tbsp
5. Flour - 1/2 tbsp
6. Milk - 100 to 150 ml
7. Salt - as required
8. Nutmeg - 2 tsp
9. Parmesan Cheese - 1 tbsp
10. Olives, herbs and basil - for garnishing (optional)

Method:
1. Cook pasta as per the instructions in the package.

2. Heat a pan and add a spoon of butter. After it melts, add a spoon of flour and mix well. 

3. After the flour and butter combine well, add warm milk and keep mixing without any formation of lumps. Add some salt and nutmeg. 

4. In another pan, add some olive oil and saute the capsicum till it is almost cooked. Transfer the capsicum to the white sauce and mix well. 

5. Add grated parmesan cheese. Mix well for a few seconds and then switch off the flame. 

Suggestions:

• Garnish with fresh basil leaves, olives and oregano or other herbs.
• Any variety of pasta can be used.
• Nutmeg can be omitted if not available. Instead mixed herbs can be added for the flavour.

Butternut Squash Kootu Recipe

     It has been almost 2 months since my last post. Was feverishly practising to drive 4 wheeler and obtain my licence, due to which I had to abandon my blog for a longtime. During one weekend we visited a relative at Virgina, who gave us their fresh home grown produce - Butternut Squash. Thanks to Banu akka I could make a new recipe and here it is for the blog :) :)
Haven't tasted this vegetable before and was eager to make something with it. MIL made a spicy kootu the other day and I reserved the remaining to make a simple kootu which my mom makes. The name of the vegetable may sound hi-fi and long, but it resembles the pumpkin family :P in taste. 

Prep Time: 5 mins || Cook Time: 25 mins || Category: Side-dish for rice/roti || Serves: 4

Ingredients:
1. Butternut Squash - 1/2
2. Bengal Gram - 75 gm
3. Grated coconut -100 gm
4. Curry leaves - a sprig
5. Coconut oil - 1 tbsp
6. Mustard seeds - 2 tsp
7. Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
8. Hing - a generous pinch
9. Salt - as required

Method:
1. Rinse the bengal gram and add some water just enough to immerse it and then pressure cook the dal for 2 or 3 whistles. Give it a standing time of 10 mins and then open the cooker.

2. Peel the skin off butternut squash and cut it into small cubes. Wash them and cook them in boiling water for 8-10 mins or until they are cooked softly. 

3. Heat coconut oil and add mustard seeds. After they splutter add cumin seeds, curry leaves, hing and then grated coconut and fry it to light golden brown stirring in intervals.

4. To the cooked dal, add the cooked squash and give a stir. 

 5. Add the golden fried grated coconut tempering and required amount of salt and stir well.

 Suggestions:

•      Can also add dry red chili to the tempering. 
•      Instead of sauteing the coconut with cumin seeds, it can also be ground to a paste and added, so that the kootu is more of a gravy like consistency.
•      I have used coconut oil as it gives a nice taste and aroma.

Rajma Patties Recipe

     Potato..Breadcrumbs..Rajma..Spices..Yummmmmm !!!! Anything with potato would be yumm, no doubt about that. Had some leftover rajma masala from previous day's dinner. Or rather I should admit that I had wantedly taken a ladle of rajma and reserved it as a leftover :P just to try these rajma patties or rajma cutlets or tikkis or whatever. I was imagining that it would be so delicious.. How can it not be - when you put in two delicious ingredients for a recipe, the outcome is definitely a doubly delicious treat :)
     It was a nice weekend evening and I was keen to try something new to munch on. Luckily, I had the enthusiasm bubbling inside me :P thanks to the breadcrumbs which I had made at home few days back. I was determined that it shouldn't sit anymore in the fridge and so wanted to try this dish to use it up :P  Came out crisp on the outside and soft in the inside. Turned out to be a delectable treat for a quick evening snack..
     We gobbled some with sauce and had the remaining patties sandwiched between breads and finished our dinner. Try these easy to make patties and treat your taste buds !!

Prep Time: 10 mins || Cook Time: 20 mins || Serves: 8 tikkis || Category: Starters/Cutlets/Patties

Ingredients:
1. Rajma masala - leftover (I had some 5-6 tablespoons)
2. Potato - 1 (boiled and mashed)
3. Coriander leaves - finely chopped
4. Green chili - 1 
5. Cumin powder - 2 tsp
6. Amchur powder - 1 tsp
7. Hing - 1 tsp
8. Salt - as required
9. Bread crumbs - 100 gm
10. Oil - for shallow frying

Method:
1. Mash the leftover rajma, potato and mix them together in a bowl along with coriander leaves, salt, cumin powder, hing, amchur powder, green chili.  Sprinkle some breadcrumbs and mix well into a single mass.

2. Divide the mixed rajma potato masala into small portions and flatten them as tikkis. Dust them in breadcrumbs and roll the edges of the tikkis in breadcrumbs to give a complete coating. 

3. Heat 2-3 tbsp of oil in a pan and gently place the tikkis on it. Cook in medium flame for 3-4 mins and turn each tikki to the other side carefully without disturbing the other tikkis. Cook till the sides have turned golden brown. 

Suggestions:

• Instead of leftover rajma masala, you can dedicatedly soak rajma overnight and pressure cook for 5-6 whistles and then mash it and use in the recipe.
• As I used rajma masala, it provided some flavors to the tikki as it already had all the spices and tomato in it.
• If soaking and cooking rajma for this recipe, add in more spices otherwise the patties will taste bland.
• Need not overcook the patties. As the potato and rajma are pre-cooked, it is enough to stop shallow frying with just the sides browned and crisp.
• When combining the ingredients for the patties, if the mixture is loose or a little sticky, adding a good amount of breadcrumbs makes the mixture combine well into a mass.
• These patties can be used as a stuffing for bread sandwich.

Avocado Basil Pesto Recipe

      This is yet another simple quick recipe which I tried, to use up the abundantly grown basil leaves in our pot in the balcony :P I always look for new recipes to include avocado and some other veggies in diet which are not so regularly used. Avocado, spinach, kale, broccoli have entered our kitchen after I came to USA. We used to buy broccoli, capsicum once in a while in India. But these vegetables have become a part of the routine vegetable shopping here. 

     Whenever we are about to get a family size lays chips or tostitos, we would buy a Ranch or Salsa for it. I had been thinking of ways to avoid buying store bought dips for chips. Remembering the ingredients that were already back at home, I decided to make this avocado dip or pesto to start with the sauce/dip varieties. I wanted to use pine nuts in the recipe. But, I could not find one at the grocery store. I didn't have enough time to go to a Whole Foods store and look for it as Abhinav was at home with grandparents for a longtime without me. So I preferred to use Pistachios over Walnuts in this recipe which turned out to be good. These dips and pestos are a good way to use up the walnuts and pistachios sitting in the fridge :P 

     Enjoy this no-cook recipe and treat urself with your favourite chips and this dip or spread a lavish amount of this dip on a tortilla or a regular chappathi or phulka. Or add a dash of this pesto to your raw carrot/cucumber salad....Mmmmmm.... Yummmm...!!!!

Prep Time: 10 mins || Cook Time: 0 || Serves: 3 || Category: Dip/Condiments/Sauce

Ingredients:

1. Avocado - 1

2. Basil leaves - 20 to 25

3. Pistachios - 10 to15 (can use pine nuts or walnuts too)

4. Salt - as required

5. Olive oil - 2 tsp

6. Garlic - 1 pod (optional) 

7. Lemon - 1/2

Method:

1. Wash the basil leaves. Cut and de-seed the avocado. Scoop out the pulp. Soak the pistachios for 30 mins in warm water. Add the avocado pulp, basil leaves, pistachios, garlic (later I didn't add garlic as I felt it will dominate the flavor), salt to a blender/mixi and grind to a smooth paste. Squeeze lemon juice and mix well. 

Suggestions:

• Instead of soaking the pistachios, I microwaved it for a min. 
• Pine nuts or walnuts can also be used in the place of pista. Adding some of these nuts gives a good creamy texture due to their oil content. The dip by itself is creamy due to the nature of Avocado. 
• If refrigerating, add a little more lemon juice and mix well. Fill it to the brim of the glass or ceramic jar and drizzle olive oil on top and close tightly. Use it up within 2 days so as to not lose its freshness and flavor. 

Spaghetti Pasta in Tomato Sauce Recipe

     Pasta is a universal kids favorite recipe. Its been a long time since I tried pasta recipes after broccoli pasta. Every time I pass by the pasta aisle in Walmart, I will be so tempted to buy them. 
     When Mani's friends came to visit golu last year, they had so thoughtfully bought two saplings as I like gardening - one was mint and the other was basil. You may be wondering why I suddenly jumped into an irrelevant story !! Yes, there is a reason :P I could not save the basil plant from the snowstorm. I felt guilty and bought some basil seeds during spring this year. Planted them and they are growing so beautifully. I do not know much to do with the basil in cooking and at the same time I haven't tried many pasta recipes. So connecting both, I wanted to try many pasta dishes before the basil plant wilts :P
So here I come with a recipe of spaghetti pasta decorated with basil leaves!! (grown at home... hee hee..) 

Prep Time: 10 mins || Cook Time: 30 mins || Serves: 2 || Category: Pasta dishes/Kids recipes

Ingredients:
1. Spaghetti pasta - 150gm (or any kind of pasta)
2. Tomato - 3
3. Olive oil - 1 tbsp
4. Onion - 1
5. Oregano - 3 tsp (or mixed herbs)
6. Basil leaves - a handful
7. Salt - as required
8. Tomato sauce - 2 tsbp
9. Parmesan cheese - 1 tbsp (grated)

Method:
1. Slit tomatoes and blanch them in boiling water for 5 mins. Once the skin peels off, switch off the flame and drain the water. Run through cold tap water for a min and then peel off the skin from the tomatoes. 

2. Cool them and grind to a puree without adding water. In the same pan used for blanching tomatoes, add the spaghetti with required amount of water. Drizzle a few drops of olive oil and cook for 8-10 mins.

3. Cook with intermediate stirring till the pasta becomes soft and absorbs all the water. Transfer the cooked pasta to a plate. 

4. In the pan add some olive oil and throw in the onions, oregano and saute for 2 mins. Then add basil leaves and cook till the onions are translucent.

5. Add the chopped tomato and cook till it becomes mushy. 

6. Add the tomato puree and mix well. Allow it to cook for 3-4 mins. Then add the cooked pasta, salt and stir well. 

7.  Add a spoon of tomato sauce and mix well. Cook till the tomato puree has been absorbed by the pasta. Garnish with grated parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of oregano.

Suggestions:

• Regular canola oil or vegetable oil can be used in the place of olive oil. 
• If available, ready made tomato puree can be used.
• I have used spaghetti pasta here. It can be substituted with any other pasta variety like bowtie, fettucine etc
• Mixed herbs can be used to give more flavor.

Badam Halwa Recipe

     I remember tasting badam halwa only in marriages...That lovely butter paper wrap containing a single serving of halwa placed on banana leaf in the marriages is a bliss !!!  
     We have not tried badam halwa at home before. My MIL made this delicious sweet and sent it through my mom to USA. Thats when I tasted badam halwa at home. It was definitely yummier than the versions I had tasted before. Ever since the last spoon of halwa was over, I was craving for it so badly. Mom tried it on a small scale, getting the recipe from MIL. Even then I had an unquenchable greedy craving for some more of it. 
     My MIL and FIL are here with us this summer. I wanted to taste this yummy sweet again and was very eager to see how to make it. So I had asked her to make it sometime. Everyone went for shopping to Costco on a weekend and bought a big bag of Kirkland Almonds :P Right on the same day, she made this halwa for us and also for some of our friends. It took a lot of self restraint to not eat the Halwa while taking the pictures !!!! and waiting for the halwa to cool down to room temperature seemed like I had been waiting for ages :D

Prep Time: 30 mins || Cook Time: 25 mins || Yields: nearly 1.2 - 1.5 kg || Category: Sweet/Dessert 

Ingredients:
1. Almonds - 500 gm
2. Sugar - equal quantity as that of the ground almonds
3. Ghee - 500 gm
4. Saffron - few strands

Method:
1. To blanch the almonds,boil water and immerse the almonds in it. Let it sit in the boiling water for 2-3 mins. Switch off the flame and drain the water. Keep the badams immersed in cold water (tap water) for a min or two and then peel its skin. 

2. Grind the peeled almonds in mixi with some water to a crumbled state. Then transfer the semi-ground almonds to grinder and grind it to a very smooth paste adding some water as and when needed.

3. Take the badam paste in a heavy bottomed vessel. Measure sugar equal to the amount of ground badam paste and add the entire sugar, saffron to it and stir well. Switch on the flame and keep it in medium. The sugar will start to dissolve slowly. Keep stirring for 5-8 mins. 

4. Pour 1/4 amount of ghee initially. Cook for 10-12 mins with constant stirring and intermediately adding 1/2 the amount of ghee. The mixture will slowly attain yellow colour from saffron and ghee. Bubbles start to appear and it will splutter. Cook for 2-3 mins and then switch off the stove and pour the 1/4 portion of the ghee and mix well. If required, switch on the stove and cook for 2 mins with constant stirring.

Suggestions:

• Blanching the almonds helps to peel off the skins easily, without soaking it for 3-4 hours.
• If a more yellowish colour is required, a pinch of yellow food colour can be added. I do not prefer adding artificial food colour. So, I have left it as such with the natural colour given by saffron. 
• Adding milk will reduce the shelf life of the halwa. Hence, I have not added it. 
• Cardamom powder, condensed milk etc can be added if desired. As I wanted the original taste of badam halwa, I skipped these two ingredients. 
• Keep refrigerated if longer shelf life is needed.

Stays good for 4-5 days in room temperature and for 10-15 days when refrigerated.