Easy and joyful cooking

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Top 5 foods i like in my life

Thanks sra for tagging me for this meme(actual name is Top 5 things to eat before you die). Iam excited to sort out top 5 things but makes me difficult to think about life. It is not easy to pick only 5 from numerous favourites, anyhow i tried and here they are

1. Payasam made by my Mother: No calorie counting and no diet. Made with fresh and fat milk, with exact amounts of rice and sweetner(jaggery) my mother prepares this on birthdays and festivals. Eventhough i prepare this at home the taste is of no match. I even have emotional bonding to this sweet that my mother prepared this on my final coming out from my paternal home and i bursted into tears while eating. I laugh sometimes thinking about that but still payasam remains my top favourite.

2. Mango: Even now i crave for this fruit. Summers are sweet for me with this fruit. Not only ripe mangoes i like eating raw mangoes topped with salt and chilli powder shared with my sister and brother. There are even days that i ate only mangoes for breakfast and lunch.

3. Fish Curry: Fish cooked in tamarind sauce eating with hot rice on rainy day..ah what a joy.

4. Fruit of
Palmyra Palm: The palmyra palm trees are most important trees in India and is widely grown in our grandmothers region in EastGodavari District. Just like coconut, this fruit also has thick juice in it usually in three compartments in the fruit and we have to slurp with the help of fingers. It is fun to eat and enjoy.

5. Poori/Batura: It is my favourite restaurant breakfast esp in India. I don't know how they puff so perfectly, seeing them from distance itself makes me hungry.

and so on...

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Dasara Celebrations- Kajjikayalu and Boorelu

Being in Vijayawada famous for Durga temple, the Festive season for me starts from Dasara to Deepavali(diwali). Vijayawada city will become more colorful with bright lights and with devotees coming from various parts of the country.
When i am at college i used to go daily passing by the hill, seeing the Goddess in the temple below and the Krishna river. In a way Dasara brings all those memories back.
Holding all those memories i also did a little participation in celebrating the festival here by preparing Poornam boorelu and Kajjikayalu. Also this year Dasara is special for me as it was anish's first day of school.

I prepared kajjikayalu for first time seeing the post by sailaja. May be i added more ghee than specified in the dough, i didn't get that crispy texture. But i liked it and surely will prepare again.

Another sweet my husband likes a lot is Poornam Boorelu.


Regarding boorelu i always had this misconception that it is difficult to prepare and only experienced people can do, but actually it is easy.

Ingredients:
1 cup urad dal soaked for 5 hrs
1 and 1/2 cups rice flour
1 cup chana dal soaked
Jaggery
1/4 cup shredded fresh coconut
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cardamom powder

Preparation:
Pressure cook chanadal with 1/4 cup water. Add enough jaggery, coconut and cardamom powder to the cooked chanal dal and mix. Make small balls with this mixture and keep aside. Grind urad dal into fine paste and add rice flour, salt to it. The batter should be like pancake batter but little bit thick. Dip each chanadal ball into the batter and with spoon carefully dip the ball coated with urad dal batter into the hot oil and fry until the ball becomes golden color. Can stay fresh for a week if not finished.