Semiya / Vermicelli Kesari

As a Friday pooja ritual I was racking my brains over what to do and that too in very short time. As our new home has a separate pooja room I bought new framed pictures of Gods and filled up the room. I also let the children to decorate them with flowers and the other arrangements. Earlier it usually used to be store bought sweets or fruits for neiveidhyam, but now I have made it a point to cook something at home itself.


Fridays evenings are always busy for me as after I reach home I have to do the pooja, make prasadam, prepare tea and snacks for the kids, prepare an elaborate dinner as the next day is holiday for the kids and they can go to bed late as they also get to help me in making dinner, do the laundry and ironing of the first 3 or 4 days, prepare a questionnaire of my kids weekly school portions, cut out veggies for the next day, preparing a to do and shopping lists for the next week, scheduling my own studies for the week end as my books have arrived. Thinking back it is always like this.

There were times I had truly wished I had someone to help me out but unfortunately that remains to be a wish only. So coming back to now I had made Dal kheer last Friday and rawa kesari the week before. So this Friday I thought of doing semiya kesari and that too in Microwave as that would be easy and I don’t have to stand near the stove and keep stirring. Since I had not done this earlier in Microwave I was a bit scared to experiment it but it turned out amazingly well. So now for the recipe.

Semiya / Vermicelli Kesari

Ingredients:

Semiya / Vermicelli – 1 cup

Sugar – 1 cup or less

Ghee – 1 tbsp

Broken cashewnuts – 1 tbsp

Water – 2 cups

Cardamom powder – 2 pinch

Kesari or red colour – 1 pinch

Method:

In a microwave safe bowl spread 2 tsp ghee and place the semiya in it. Mix it well so that semiya gets coated well with the ghee. Microwave for 1 to 1 ½ min @ high. Mix in between if needed. Keep the roasted semiya separately. Like wise roast the cashews too and keep it aside.

In another microwave safe bowl pou the water and micro @high for 1 minute. Take the bowl out put the sugar, kesari color and roasted semiya. Stir it well. Micro @ high for 2 – 3 minutes till all the water gets absorbed and the semiya is fully cooked. Now add the roasted cashew nuts, cardamom powder and remaining ghee. Mix well and micro @ high for a minute for the flavors to mix well. Leave a standing time of 3 minutes. Serve hot.

Tip: You can also replace 2 cups water with 1 cup milk and 1 cup water.  Check it out give me the feedback.

This is off to Paru who is hosting Microwave easy cooking event this month featuring sweets 'n ' savories a brain child of Srivalli

Raw Banana Pepper Fry

The first visitor I had after I shifted into a new residence was my FIL. My MIL had sent us some raw bananas (plantains), broad beans and gongurra leaves with him that was grown in their backyard. How I wish I had a garden that I can indulge in. He also brought with him jasmines, roses that were grown in the garden too. Any way the moment I saw the plantains only this event came to my mind as the month is coming to and end and I have not updated my blog in over a fortnight. What could be fresher that the ones that my FIL brought with him and more over organically grown. This is my side dish for sambar rice today. So here goes the recipe.

Raw Banana Pepper Fry

Ingredients:

Raw bananas – 2

Black pepper powder – 1 tsp or more if you desire

Grated coconut – 3 tbsp

Garlic – 2 pods

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp

Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

Urad dal – ½ tsp

Curry leaves – 2 sprigs

Water – 2 tbsp

Oil – 1 tsp

Salt – to taste

Method:

Peel the skin of the bananas. Cube them and immerse in water to prevent them from turning black. In a mixie jar grind coarsely the grated coconut, garlic, turmeric powder, black pepper powder, 1 sprig of curry leaves, cumin seeds and salt without adding water.

In a microwave safe bowl place the cubed bananas; sprinkle 2 tbsp of water and 2-3 drops of oil. Mix well. Close the bowl and microwave @ high for 2-3 mins till they become soft. In another microwave proof vessel add the remaining oil, mustard seeds, urad dal and 1 sprig of curry leaves. Mix well and microwave @ high after partly closing the vessel for 1 min. Now add the micro waved bananas and coarsely ground paste and mix well. Keep the vessel open and microwave @ high for 1 ½ to 2 mins. Give 3 mins standing time and serve with sambar rice or rasam.

This is off to Suma who is hosting Microwave easy cooking event featuring Fresh Produce this month a brain child of Srivalli.

Sweet Corn Soup

This Sunday a cousin of Hubby visited our house with her family from Cuddalore. As I was in the process of cleaning our house before shifting to a new place they couldn’t have visited a messier house ever before. It was a reprieve that we opted to have lunch out as the kids were running around and the place was full of empty cartons ready to be packed. Thank God for that. After finishing lunch we all went to a kids carnival hosted in Chennai trade centre along with our kids. The kids had a wonderful time. They started to Cuddalore from there itself being an easier option.

After returning home nobody was in a mood for any dinner as we had lots of ice creams and snacks at the carnival. But I didn’t want us to go to bed on an empty stomach (well almost). As I had some left over some from the pooja I decided to make corn soup which was quite filling and which was meal in itself. Quite light and not at all heavy on the stomach. As soups are Arjun’s favorite I didn’t have to entice him too much to have this.

Sweet Corn Soup

Ingredients:

Corn on Cob - 4

White onions – 1

Butter – 1 tbsp

Milk – 1 cup

Water – ½ cup

Soy sauce – few drops

Ginger – ½ inch piece

Aji-no-moto – ½ tsp

White Pepper powder - to taste

Salt – to taste

Sugar – to taste

Method:


Heat the butter in a frying pan and sauté the chopped onions till they turn translucent. Grate the corn with the help of a grater. In a pressure cooker add the sautéed onions, grated corn, milk, water and the ginger piece and cook it for 10 minutes. Let it come to room temperature. Remove the ginger piece. Take 2-3 tbsp of cooked corn and keep it separately. Liquidize the remaining corn in a mixie. Pour it through a strainer. To the strained liquid add enough water or milk or a combination of both to the consistency you prefer.

Heat this soup along with salt, sugar, Aji-no-moto.. Add the cooked corn that you have kept separately. It is enough if just comes to a boil. While serving just add a few drops of soy sauce and sprinkle white pepper powder as per your taste. Sweet corn soup is ready to serve.

This Sweet Corn Soup is off to EC’s WYF: Light Meal Event.

Chick Peas Sundal

These holidays proved to be more fruitful. I couldn’t have asked for a better one. You see we had been house hunting for the past one and a half month but without any success. Either the kitchen is too small or the water is not good or there is not enough lighting and windows for air circulation. It seemed a nightmare. We wanted to move in before the Diwali but with the ones we saw it seemed so hopeless that we almost gave up the idea.



We were to go on a trip for the two days, but it never materialized. So we did the pooja on Saturday in the office and did a very simple at home on Sunday and started again with renewed vigor. I never dreamed that we would hit upon the one that we had been searching for and that too on the first stop itself. We found the right one that is very comfortable and spacious and also near by to our kids schools and our office. Woo hooo….. hoping to move in before Diwali. The packing and unpacking before settling down is already giving me nightmares. Just waiting for an auspicious day to perform pooja before shifting into our new home.


I have made this chick peas sundal very often as a snack for kids school break. They would never touch it if I seasoned it. But this time around all vanished without any whining.

Chick Peas Sundal

Ingredients:

Chick peas / Kabuli channa / Garbanzo Beans – 200 gms

Freshly grated coconut – 2 tbsp

Dry red chillies – 2, broken

Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp

Asafetida – 2 pinch

Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Salt – to taste

Oil – 1 tbsp

For Garnishing:

Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp

Lemon – a wedge

Method:

Soak the channa overnight. Pressure cook till soft with salt and just enough water. Drain and keep aside. In a kadai heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds, when they crackle add the asafetida, dry chillies and curry leaves and sauté. Now add the cooked channa and grated coconut and cook till all the moisture gets absorbed and the sundal becomes dry. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and squeeze a few drops of lemon for the tangier taste, if preferred. Tastes absolutely best when served hot.

Microwave Chocolate Cake

This sunday it was just me and my kids at home. Hubby was out of station. Kids turned over a new leaf and were studying for thier upcoming quarterly exam without watching T.V. Evening came and they were quite hungry and wanted to go out for a quick bite of some samosas or ice cream. I was not in the mood to step out of my haven as I was so tired with cleaning house for the forth coming pooja.

My younger son Arjun wanted to have chocolate cake that he loves so much which I used to make and the elder one Arun also went for it. I too went along as I had all the ingrdients in hand. So they turned into chefs for the evening. Except for breaking the eggs all the other process were done by them. We had a great quality time spent together and enjoyed it very much with a cup of tea while watching the cartoon movie 'Madagascar'.

Microwave Chocolate cake

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1/2 cup

Powdered sugar/ castor sugar - 1/2 cup

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Cocoa powder - 1 tbsp

Eggs - 2

Any vegetable oil - 1/2 cup

milk - 1/4 cup

vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Sieve together all purpose flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Beat the eggs well. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla essene. Beat well to a creamy consistency.

Add the dry ingredients to the mixture along with oil and mix well. Add milk and check for consistency. It should be slightly thinner than the idli batter.

Transfer to a greased tupper ware container or a microwave proof container. Fill upto half of the container leaving space for it to raise. Microwave for 4 minutes. Let it stand for 10 minutes.

Enjoy them over a cup of coffee ot tea.

This cake goes to the following events:

CFK: Chocolate hosted by Hema

Microwave Easy cooking and kids delight hosted by Srivalli of Cooking 4 all seasons