Mrs.Mano's Tamilnadu Delicacies - Part 2

Dear Suvai!

I regret for the delayed response. Here is the recipe for ‘Kamarkat’. This recipe belongs to Mrs. Mallika Badrinath.

KAMARKAT:

Ingredients:

Shredded coconut- 1 cup
Mashed jaggery- 1 1/2 cup
Cardamom powder- half spoon
Rice flour- 1 tbsp
Ghee- 1 tbsp

Procedure:

Fry the coconut in the ghee to a golden colour. Prepare jaggery syrup to a two thread consistency. Then add all the ingredients to it and cook for a minute stirring continuously. Then put off the fire and stir the mixture twice or thrice when it is still hot. When it is cooled a little, spread a little ghee on the palms and make small balls out of the mixture and place them on a plate. Thus finish all the mixture.

I am going to post two different recipes here which I tried last month.

CAPSICUM PULAU:

Ingredients:

Basmathi rice- 1 cup
Diced capsicum- 1 cup
Frozen peas- 1 cup
Ghee- 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
Fried cashew nuts- 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Chopped coriander- 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder- half spoon
Grind the following to a paste:
Cinnamon- 1 piece
Aniseed- half spoon
Cumin seeds- half spoon
Big tomato- 1
Chilli powder- 1 tsp
Cardamom-1

Procedure:

Marinate the capsicum and the peas with the masala and the turmeric powder for 30 minutes. Prepare the rice with enough salt. Heat a pan and add the ghee. When the ghee becomes hot, add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the vegetables with a little salt and the coriander. Fry the vegetables until they are cooked well. Add these to the rice with the cashew nuts and mix well.

IDLI PODI:

Ingredients:

Red chillies- 2 cups
Black gram- 3/4 cup
Bengal gram- 1/4 cup
Curry leaves- 1 cup
Tamarind- a lime size
Asafetida- a small piece
Salt to taste

Procedure:

Chop the tamarind into small piece and fry them in a little oil. Fry the remaining ingredients with the curry leaves in a teaspoon of oil to golden brown colour. Grind them with enough salt to a fine powder.

Dear Anuu!

Thank you very much for the New Year wishes and I wish you the same for you and for yr family also!

And thanks a lot for the nice feedback on Chicken Briyani.
Regarding yr doubts on Gulabjamoon- when you make the dough, make it to a soft and smooth dough. Little more drops of water will do that. So when you make the balls, they will be firm and will not break. Also, do not give much pressure to the balls when you make them. You can add baking powder and soda bi carbonate in equal measures instead of mixing only soda bi carbonate-for example-if you are going to add 1/2 tsp of soda bi carbonate, you can change it with 1/4 tsp of soda bi carbonate and 1/4 tsp of baking powder. By this method, the Gulabjamoons will not be too soft.

Dear Mrs.Mano,

Hope ur doing fine.Thanks a lot for ur reply.I shall try making gulab jamun sometime soon as per ur suggestions and shall definetly let u know of the outcome.

I wish you and your family a very Happy Pongal!!!!

I have decided that my pongal menu would be venn pongal,sakkarai pongal and pongal kuzhambhu(all recipes shared by u) .Thanks for sharing all ur wonderful recipes.

Dear Anuu!

Thank you very much for yr nice Pongal greetings.
I wish you also a VERY VERY HAPPY PONGAL!!!

I am really happy to know that you are going to try my recipes of Pongal!
Here I wish to give some tips on them.

SARKKARAI PONGAL:
Try to buy brown coloured jaggery or achu vellam. I am always combining brown coloured achu vellam with urundai vellam. If you couldn’t get the urundai vellam, then achu vellam is enough. This will give more taste.

VEN PONGAL:
If there is any left over, immerse it in enough water and it will be delicious to eat it in the following morning with fresh curd and the left over pongal kuzhambu!

I wish all the hubbers a very HAPPY PONGAL!

Wish you a very HAPPY PONGAL, Mrs.Mano... I'm planning to try out ur sarkkarai pongal & milagu pongal tomorrow... maybe with some gothsu...:)

Made sakkarai pongal & milagu pongal with sambar & vengaya gothsu(by Shoba) y'day... it was a super hit among the guests...esp the sweet pongal... It came out very well inspite of me using thai fragrant rice in place of paccharisi...

Thanks a ton for the recipes, Mrs.Mano & Mrs.Shoba...:)

Dear Mrs.Mano,

Hope your doing fine and I hope you had a good pongal celebration.Thanks a lot for your wishes and reply.I made ven pongal,sakkarai pongal,pongal kuzhambu and vadai.I had invited a few of our friends home for lunch and they thoroughly enjoyed the food.Though I made lots of every dish there were no leftovers except a little pongal kuzhambu for dinner.
Thanks a lot for your tips.I don't get good jaggery here hence I had carried achu vellam from India.Sakkarai pongal tasted heavenly.Thank You sooo much cos if not for you I don't think I would be cooking this well.

Dear Dev!

Thank you very much for the feedback on sarkkarai pongal!