Happy Vinayaka Chathurthi

Hi All,

Happy Vinayaka Chathurthi to you all!!!

Sowmya

Vella Kozhukattai (வெல்ல கொழுக்கட்டை)

Happy Vinayaka Chathurthi to all!! This is the first festival I am celebrating on my blog and what a better start than to start with Lord Ganesha's festival!!! Vella Kozhukattai is a traditional sweet prepared during Vinayaka Chathurthi. It is one of the difficult sweets to prepare. Vinayaka Chathurthi is celebrated on the birthday of Lord Ganesha. Main Ingredients for the Vella Kozhukattai are rice flour, Coconut and Jaggery. There are many forms of kozhukattai and vella kozhukattai is the main form. I love this preparation my mom makes and I am trying my best to recreate her magic!! Still trying!!

Ingredients for the maavu / dough:Rice Flour – 1 cup (No need to roast)
Water 1 ¼ cup
Salt – ½ tea spoon
Sesame Oil – 2 tea spoon
Ingredients for the pooranam / stuffing:
Coconut grated – 1 cup
Cardamom – 4
Jaggery – 1 ½ cups
Water – 3 table spoons
Method
For Maavu / dough:
Heat water in a pan
Add oil and salt to it
Once the water comes to a boil, add the rice flour and blend it well
Stir it continuously till it becomes into a soft dough
Remove from heat and close with a lid and keep aside
For Pooranam / stuffing:Heat the jaggery with water and stir occasionally
Stir well till all the jaggery is dissolved and starts to froth
Stir it well again for couple of more minutes. Ensure that the mixture has very little water.
Add the cardamom to it
Now add the grated coconut to this and mix well
Remove from heat and allow it to cool
For the Kozhukattai:
Coat the palms with little sesame oil to avoid the sticking
Make small balls of the maavu
Press the balls and make a small choppu
Keep the pooranam inside and seal the top making it look like a kozhukattai
Do the above for all the maavu and pooranam
Grease the Idli plates with little sesame oil
Keep these kozhukattai on it and steam cook it (without weight) for about 10-15 minutes
After 10 minutes, check status.
Kozhukattai is done when it looks like it has sweat.
Generally it takes about 10-15 minutes to be done in steaming
Remove the Kozhukattai from the idli plate and is ready!!

Sending this to Taste of the Tropics - Coconut hosted by me, Mireille's page, Pari's Show me your Dessert, Jagruti's I'm well stuffed, Srivalli's giveaway, FFNF in Archana's page, Priya's page, Sumi's Rice Event, Festival Food - Ganesh Chathurthi, South Indian Cooking#2, Anu's page, Steamed Foods, Priya's page, Gayathri's WTML, hosted by Smitha,  Celebrate - Indian Sweets

 

 

Eggless Oreo Cookies

My blog views crossed 10000. yayayyyyy!!!!!! Celebrating with a sweet!!! Oreo Cookies, ah so many kids favorite.. I bet there are many adults also in that list.. This is one such cookie which has lot of products from it, like I have seen an Oreo Cookie Ice-cream, Oreo Cookie Cheesecake, Oreo Cookie stuffed chocolate etc.. Oreo Cookies is so famous and to do them at home is not easy as the first thing that people relate to is the fabulous taste. This recipe however made that challenge much easier and yes the taste was awesome and it was so heavenly to eat and the fresh chocolate smell all over the house.. It was yummmm!!! I am so happy to be part of Baking Partners group and is very interesting to try these varieties!!. I added a few drops of color to the filling as my daughter loves pink cream in her cream biscuit!!. Original recipe had eggs and I have used flax seed powder to make a substitute.

Ingredients
Butter - 6 table spoons (softened)
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Brown Sugar - 1/3 cup
Salt - 1/2 tea spoon
Baking Powder - 1/4 tea spoon + 1/8 tea spoon
Baking Soda - 1/4 tea spoon
Vanilla - 1 1/2 tea spoons
Flax Seed Powder - 2 table spoons
Warm Water - 6 table spoons
Cocoa Powder - 1 cup
All Purpose Flour - 3/4 cup
For Filling
Butter - 4 table spoons (softened)
Powdered Sugar - 1 cup
Vanilla - 1 tea spoon
Salt - A pinch
Milk - If needed

Method
Mix together flax seed powder and warm water and set aside for 5 minutes. Now whisk vigorously until it becomes gooey. Set aside.
In a mixer, cream butter and both sugars together
Once creamy, add salt, baking powder, baking soda and vanilla until combined
Add the flax seed mixture and mix until combined
Sieve together flour and cocoa and add it to the wet ingredients all in once and mix until most of the dry is hydrated
Now turn on the mixer and mix until uniform
Knead to form a smooth ball. At this stage you could either proceed or refrigerate up to a week
If refrigerating, bring it back to room temperature before rolling
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
Line the cookie sheet with Parchment paper and set aside
Sift cocoa powder on counter and roll the dough with hand initially and then finish it off with a rolling pin to 1/8th inch thickness. Do not start with the rolling pin as it might stick a lot. Do some with hand and finish it with rolling pin
Using a 2" round cookie cutter, cut the cookies and transfer to the cookie sheet with the help of a metal spatula
Knead the remaining dough and work it all the way until most of the dough is used up.
You need not leave much gap between the cookies as they will not spread
Take a small 1 inch size dough and add 1/2 tea spoon warm water to it and mix vigorously until it becomes like a frosting
Take a toothpick and dip inside the frosting and design on top of the cookies. I wrote letters to form the name of my blog and also my daughter's name. My daughter was so excited to arrange the letters to get her name!!!. It was fun

Bake the cookie in the preheated oven for 15 - 18 minutes until they are firm to touch. Mine took about 17 minutes. It is a good practice to rotate the pan half way through (say about at 8 minutes) to ensure even cooking
Remove from oven and move the cookies with the parchment to a cooling rack and allow it to cool completely
For the filling - add all the ingredients to a mixer and beat until combined and comes to a frosting consistency. You may add milk to bring to the desired consistency.
Once the cookies are cooled completely, flip half the cookies upside down and add about a tea spoon of the frosting and close it with the remaining half of the cookies
Apply even pressure to ensure that the frosting is evenly spread and take care not to squeeze them out
Refrigerate for at least a few hours to give time for the frosting to set and serve



Sending this to Vaishali's Kid's Delight - Chocolate, Srivalli Page, Pari's Show me your Dessert, Vardhini's Bake Fest hosted by Archana this month, Fair Foods Event, Jagruti's I'm well stuffed, International celebration, Jagruti's page,  Dish it out hosted by Foodomania, Srivalli's giveaway, Spice n Sugar Tales - Cooking made easy with Chocolates

 

Tomato Chutney

Chutneys are a boon to have on hand. If you do not have on hand, then they can be done in a jiffy.. They are the best accompaniments to Idli, dosa and completes a meal. There are lot of things you do with this tomato chutney – some I can think of are – accompany with idli, dosa, paniyarams, spread it on bread, roll it with chapathi.. So many more..  I made this to serve along with dhokla and the combination was awesome.

Ingredients
Tomato – 4 (chopped)
Onion – 1 (chopped)
Green Chili - 2
Red Chili Powder - 1 tea spoon
Salt - 1 tea spoon
Tamarind - small lemon size
Warm water - 3 table spoons
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tea spoon
Asafetida - 1/4 tea spoon
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tea spoon
Red Chili - 2
Oil - 2 tea spoons
Method
Soak the tamarind in warm water for 10 minutes and extract pulp and set aside
Heat a tea spoon and half of oil in a pan and sauté onions, green chili and tamarind paste for around 3 minutes.
Add tomatoes, turmeric powder, chili powder, asafetida and sauté for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat and allow it to cool
Grind the above mixture to a smooth paste and set aside
Heat 1/2 tea spoon oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds and once it crackles, add the red chili and pour it over the chutney and serve


Sending this to Pickles and Chutney Event, Dish name starts with T

Oats Dosai

For blogging marathon, under low cal breakfast, I chose Oats Dosa which is a quick and easy breakfast or tiffin item. It tastes best when served hot and best accompanied by Sambar, coconut chutney or tomato urugai. We loved it with sambar. I got this recipe from here. I love the rava dosai my mom makes and this resembles and also tastes like rava dosai but much more healthier.

Raisins Oatmeal – A perfect breakfast

Oats is always on my list when I think breakfast and happy to share this recipe as part of BM for Low Cal Breakfast. Raisin Oatmeal is a quick and healthy breakfast that can be prepared in less than 10 minutes with only a few Ingredients. If a chewy texture is desired, add the oats and salt when the water is cold and then bring all to a boil. Some of topping that can added to this oatmeal are dried fruits, nuts like almonds, brown sugar, cinnamon, cream etc. This recipe is the basic version and will serve 2 with ¼ cup of oats per person. Adjust the amount of milk needed as per preference.

Aval Upuma

For this week BM, I am doing low cal breakfast and I instantly thought of Aval upuma. Upuma is such a homey and comfort food and always reminds me home.. Aval (Poha) upuma is a quick and easy dish that can be made in less than 15 minutes. It tastes best when served hot. Cut the potatoes very small to make it cute and also blend with the aval. You can also garnish with some freshly grated coconut if desired.