A SNEAK PREVIEW

ASOKA HALWA/ ASHOKA HALWA/ THE SOUTH INDIAN MOONG KA HALWA

ASOKA HALWA/ ASHOKA HALWA/ THE SOUTH INDIAN MOONG KA HALWA

I had Asoka halwa or is it Ashoka halwa in a restaurant in Singapore and was instantaneously in love with this sweet. I bought a few small boxes(about 2 tablespoons in each box), but it wasn’t enough to satisfy the sweet indulgence of the family so I thought why not try making it at home and thus started my search for the perfect Asoka halwa recipe. I found a no-fail recipe on the internet and decided to follow suit and got the perfect Asoka halwa. Asoka halwa is the south Indian version of the North Indian moong ka halwa. Ashoka halwa is famous in the Thanjavur district of Tamilnadu. I don’t know where this halwa got its name from. The best part is that this halwa is made from yellow moong dal which provides high protein and is easily digestible.

Ingredients

Yellow split lentil (moong dal/ paitham paruppu) -1 cup

Sugar - 2 to 2.5 cups

Ghee - 1 cup (upto 1.5 cups)

Whole wheat flour (atta) - 0.5 cup

All purpose flour (maida) - 0.5 cup

Milk - 1 tbsp

Red food coloring - few drops

Saffron - a big pinch

Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Method

Soak saffron in 1 tbsp of milk, add food colouring and cardamom powder. Keep aside.

Rinse the yellow split lentil nicely and soak it for about half an hour. Pressure cook it with about 3 cups of water till soft. Mash till smooth or else use a hand blender to make a smooth paste. Mix sugar with this paste.

In a non-stick wok, heat one cup of ghee in a pan, add the wheat flour and all purpose flour. Stir until there are no lumps. Keep stirring on a low-medium flame until there's a nice aroma and it turns golden.

Now add the yellow split lentil + sugar mixture and stir well until well cooked, add the milk mixture and stir well and cook for a few more minutes until the halwa leaves the sides of the pan. Ashoka Halwa is now ready to serve. Serve garnished with nuts or just like that. Try the south Indian moong ka halwa.

KARANJI (THE INDIAN COCONUT FILLED SWEET PUFF)

I would like to WISH all my visitors A VERY HAPPY & PROSPEROUS DEEPAWALI.

This Diwali was extremely busy for me as I was juggling between my work, kids, home, meeting decorators for my new home and in the process of moving out of my current home which is being painted for Diwali and it was getting difficult to reach my laptop amidst all this confusion.

On top of all this Diwali shopping for the entire family, lighting up the house, making Rangolis and ofcourse preparation of sweets and savories. I always make it a point to make sweets and savories at home, coz the house feels and smells festive.

We can always buy sweets/savories from a shop and share with neighbors, friends or relatives during the festive season but these people can buy it from the shop and eat as well. When we make something by taking efforts and share it with others there is a personal touch to the gesture. Homemade sweets and savories have a different feel to it. It may not be perfect like the one’s you get in a shop but the key ingredient in it is “LOVE”.

We can involve the whole family in the sweet –savory making process, this creates a bonding, an anticipation for what’s going to come out of the group efforts, an excitement and a festive feeling with lovely aromas wafting in the air at home. The feeling of celebration is there as this is an activity we don’t indulge in usually. We must keep this beautiful tradition alive instead of buying off shelves.

This Diwali I made Chakli and Karanji alongwith a few other things. I would like to share with you’ll the recipes. Wish you’ll a happy, safe and fun-filled Diwali again.

KARANJI (THE INDIAN COCONUT FILLED SWEET PUFF)

Karanji or the Indian coconut filled sweet puff. Karanji is a sweet that is usually prepared in most Maharashtrian houses for Diwali. In north India karanji is known as Gujiya. Preparing Karanji requires a lot of patience and maybe a bit time consuming especially the rolling, filling and sealing, but the pleasure of popping this delectable sweet. Crispy on the outside and the light coconut sweet filling inside which literally melts in your mouth is insurmountable. My daughter is so excited about biting into the puff for the pleasure of getting to the filling hidden inside. The filling is like a sweet hidden treasure.

Ingredients

Ingredients For Dough:

Maida -1 cup

Ghee – 1 tbsp

Salt a pinch

Warm milk / water to prepare dough. I used milk so that my karanjis are whiter in color.

Ingredients For Filling:

Grated Dry Coconut - 1 cup

Powdered Sugar – ¾ cup

Cardamon powder - 1 tsp.

Nutmeg Powder - a pinch

Poppy Seeds (Khuskhus)

Raisins - 10 to 15 raisins

Method

Method For Dough:

Mix all the dough ingredients & knead using water. Add enough water to make soft pliable dough, similar to the chapatti dough.

Method for filling:

Roast the grated dry coconut flakes lightly. Keep aside. Roast poppy seeds. Grind them once in a mixer. The mix should be coarse not to fine. Mix the powdered sugar and all the above ingredients. Fry the raisins in ghee until plump and add to the mix

Method for making Karanji:

Make small oval shaped puris from dough, not too thin not too thick. Place the filling in one half of round. Fold over the other half, sealing in the mixture. This is a task which has to be done with patience. If the dough rolled out is too thin it will crack and the filling will fall out. If it is too thick then the karanjis will not taste good.

Seal edges by twisting or pressing together. Apply some water or milk so that it will seal properly (don't apply too much of water as it will not seal properly).You can use a Karanji / Curry puff mould for neater karanjis. Deep fry in hot ghee on a low flame till light brown on both sides. Drain on tissue paper to absorb excess ghee and cool completely before storing. Karanjis can be stored for weeks and is ideal to prepare during Diwali as we need to pack sweets and share with relatives while visiting them during the festive season.

CHAKLI (SPICY SPIRALS)

CHAKLI (SPICY SPIRALS)

Chakli a crispy, spicy, spiral shaped treat. Chakli is an all time favorite and loved by all at my home. It’s an excellent tea-time snack and the best part is it has a shelf life of about a month if stored properly. Masala chakli tastes heavenly with ginger tea. Do try it out sometime.

Ingredients

Rice flour – 3 cups

Gram flour (Bengal gram flour) - 1 cup

Udad dal flour (white lentil flour) – 1 tbsp
Butter – 2 tbsp

Coriander powder - 2 tsp

Cumin powder – 1 tsp

Red chilly powder – 2 tbsps

Turmeric – ½ tsp

Asafetida (hing) - 1½ tsp.
White sesame seeds (Til) - 1 tbsp.

Carom seeds (Ajwain) – ½ tsp
Salt as per taste

Oil to fry

Method

Mix the flours, Sieve the flours together, add all the dry ingredients like coriander powder, cumin powder, red chilly powder, turmeric powder, asafetida, sesame seeds, carom seeds and Salt as per taste. Add the butter and mix with the flours. Mix everything well before adding water. Now add a little bit warm water and make a soft dough (dough should be softer than the chapati dough.). Taste dough and season with salt. Mix well. Keep for a while (about 10-15 minutes) for everything to come together. Now knead once more. In the meanwhile, heat oil on a medium flame. Put the chakli dough in the mould. Use the plate with the star design on it. Hold the chakli mould over the frying pan. Hold it a bit high as once the dough drops into the oil hot steam will come up and you can burn yourself with the steam. Press dough and let it pass though the mould as spirals into the oil or you can also alternatively press out spirals onto a baking sheet /plastic cover and then deep fry in oil on medium flame till golden brown in colour. Fry till they are crisp. Put the fried chaklis over a tissue paper so that it soaks extra oil.

Once cool store it in an air tight container.

Can be stored for a about a month if stored properly.

BEET ROOT PARATHA

BEET ROOT PARATHA

Many people don’t like Beet-root, they don’t like the color, the look of it or even the taste of it, but Beet root is a it is a healthy food which is a rich source of natural sugar along with containing sodium, potassium, phosphorus, chlorine, iodine, iron and various important vitamins. The high nutrient value of beet root makes it an invaluable food in terms of health benefits it provides and it is thus used for therapeutic purposes.

Benefits of Beet Root

• Drinking beet root juice every day can help reduce one’s blood pressure.
• Beet root has natural property of cleaning the kidneys and gall bladder.
• The potassium present in it helps in providing nourishment to the body for daily functions while chlorine organically cleans the liver and kidney.
• In addition, it has positive effects on one’s digestive system as it helps in the treatment of digestive disorders and problems like jaundice, nausea and vomiting due to dysentery or diarrhea.
• Beet root combined with carrot juice can prove extremely beneficial in building the red corpuscles thereby helping in treating low vitality and anemia.
• Being an excellent solvent for inorganic calcium deposits, beet juice helps in the treatment of hypertension and other cardiovascular disorders.
• It is also extremely beneficial for women as it aids in the regulation of menstruation.

Along with having numerous health benefits, beet root is also beneficial for the skin.

• The water in which beet roots have been boiled proves effective for the treatment of boils, inflammation and even for skin breakouts like pimples.
• Similarly, the decoction of beets mixed with little vinegar can be used for the treatment of dandruff.

Though beet root has various health benefits, it should be avoided by diabetic patients since it is high in sugar content.

With so many benefits that the humble beetroot has, we should be including it in our diet shouldn’t we?, but it wouldn’t be fair for me to advice as I myself am not a beetroot lover, so I looks for ways to include beetroot in my food and getting the nutritious benefits out of it without feeling yucky about eating it.

Beetroot paratha is one such recipe, which is so tasty that we won’t be realizing how many parathas we are gobbling and enjoying the inherent qualities of beetroot at the the same time. So do try this recipe and enjoy it.

Ingredients

Wheat flour - 3 cups

Gram flour(Besan) – 1 tbspn

Beetroot - 2 (peeled, boiled and grated)

Fresh ginger -1 tspn of each

Green chillies - 2-3 (finely chopped)

Red chilli powder - 1 tspn

Turmeric powder- 1 tspn

Coriander powder- 1 tspn

Cumin powder - 1 tspn

Asafetida – ½ tsp

Salt to taste

Oil - 2 tspns

Sesame seeds – 1 tbsp

Method

Peel the beetroot and pressure cook it with a little salt upto 2 whistles, grate the cooked beetroot in a bowl. Make a paste of ginger and green chillies and add this to the grated beetroot, add 2 tbsps of oil, turmeric powder, red chilly powder, asafetida, coriander powder and Cumin powder, sesame seeds and salt and mix well with the grated beetroot, allow this to marinate for 10 minutes. After this add the wheat flour and gram flour and mix well, add some more salt at this point as salt added before may not be enough. Mix without adding water so that the flour and beetroot becomes one mixture. Then slowly add about 3/4 cup warm water, just enough to form a firm dough, and knead till smooth. (like chappati dough). Cover, let rest at least 1/2 hour, and knead again briefly. If resting more than 1 hour, punch and knead dough again before rolling out.

Divide into small balls about golf-ball size, and roll out into 12" rounds on a smooth surface. You can roll and keep on a newspaper in the picture and cook one after the other. This works out faster for me.Heat a tava(flat non-stick pan) on medium flame, cook the paratha on one side first then flip to the other side after 2 mins. Flip one or two times more on either sides, adding vegetable cooking oil until you see brown spots on either sides. Serve hot. This dish can be eaten with vegetables or with chutney and sauce as well. It can be served as a nutritious breakfast or a main course for lunch or dinner. This dish is not only healthy but also tasty.

I would like to send this recipe to Raks "Cooking for Guests" Event as I made these when my friend had come over for breakfast and served it with a dollop of butter and chutney and hot masala tea.

POORI (The Fried, Puffed Whole Wheat Bread), Awards & a Tag

POORI (The Fried, Puffed Whole Wheat Bread)

A puri or poori or boori is a South Asian unleavened bread prepared in many of the countries in South Asia including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is consumed for breakfast, or as a snack or light meal. Puri is also the Georgian name for bread.

Puri is most commonly served at breakfast. It is also served at special or ceremonial functions; they sometimes are part of ceremonial rituals along with other vegetarian food offered in prayer as prasadam.

Puri can be made with Whole wheat flour (Atta) or with all purpose flour (Maida). Puri is often served with potato masala, chana masala, korma, and goes well with most North Indian gravies. In some Indian states it is served with halwa and in Maharashtra it is relished with Aamras.

In the north east of India, Puri is served with a special mixed vegetable which is prepared during puja and its also eaten with mistanno, a special kind of dessert prepared with rice, milk, sugar.

A variant of the puri is the bhatura which is three times a puri and thus a single bhatura, served with chole (spicy chick peas), often constitutes a full meal.

Another variant of the puri popular in the eastern states of West Bengal and Orissa is the Luchi.

(Some of the info courtesy:-Wikipedia)

Ingredients

Mix together in a bowl:

2 cups Indian whole wheat flour

1/2 Tablespoon vegetable oil

Salt to taste

Method

Slowly add about 3/4 cup warm water, just enough to form a firm dough, and knead till smooth. Cover, let rest at least 1/2 hour, and knead again briefly. If resting more than 1 hour, punch and knead dough again before rolling out.

Divide into small balls about golf-ball size, and roll out into 6" rounds on an oiled board. Heat vegetable oil in a wok or saucepan. Add a little salt to the oil to keep it from smoking. Fry the puri one at a time, holding them under the oil on the first side until they puff. Turn and fry till light brown; drain. While frying, the bread puffs up. After they become golden-brown in color, they are removed and served hot along with some accompaniment.

Serve as soon as possible as Puris are not so good later.

For spicy puris:

When making the dough, add the below mentioned dry ingredients:

Turmeric – a pinch

Red chilly powder – ½ tsp

Coriander powder – ½ tsp

Cumin powder – ½ tsp

Asafetida – a pinch

Salt as per taste

Oil – 1 tbsp

Mix the dough well then add water and mix and follow as above.

AWARDS & A TAG

Coming to the awards, I received the Kreative Blogger Award from Priti.

Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful awards with me I truly appreciate this.

The

Kreativ Blogger awards have some rules …

1. You must thank the person who has given you the award.

2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog

.

3. Link to the person who has nominated you for the award.

4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.

5. Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers.

6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.

7. Leave a comment on which of the blogs to let them know they have been nominated

So 7 things about myself.. Let's see if you find this interesting...

• I am a very social person

• I love blogging and in the panel to write for a few other blogs as well.

• I am a real estate agent which was not my field of study and I was featured on TV in Singapore

• I love singing and have won many accolades in the past.

• I love to cook and especially find street food extremely tempting.

• Iam a vegetarian and always find alternative recipes that vegetarians can enjoy.

• Iam a very straightforward and emotional person and expect people to be the

same with me.

And here are some of the tags I received:

•What is your current obsession?

Real estate & blogging

•What are you wearing today?

Iam at home and wearing my well worn and comfortable cotton gown

•What’s for dinner?

Pav bhaji

•What’s the last thing you bought?

Pants

•What are you listening to right now?

Teri Ore from Singh is King

•What do you think about the person who tagged you?

I think she is very talented

•If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?

Mumbai anytime - Amchi Mumbai is where my heart is

•What are your must-have pieces for summer?

I think 4 quarter cotton pants and soft, pastel colored Cotton kurtis, I love to wear pastel colored Lucknowi Suits, Iced Sugarcane with ginger and lemon (my favorite) gallons of cold water.

•If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?

I think I would love to go to Venice

•Which language do you want to learn?

Mandarin, Telegu & Kannada

•What’s your favourite quote?

God helps those who help themselves

•Who do you want to meet right now?

God

•What is your favourite colour?

Blue

•What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own clo

set?

I think my latest wine color formal top which looks professional & slick.

•What is your dream job?

Cook and serve people with no expectation in return except for compliments

•What’s your favourite magazine?

Womans Era

•If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?

Buy a decent purse and wallet as both of what I have are worn out.

•What do you consider a fashion faux pas? (faux pas mean error in etiquette.. )

To wear bindi and jumkas with western outfits

•Who are your style icons?

I like Simi Garewal…she is class personified…..

•Describe your personal style.?

Classic & simply elegant

•What are you going to do after this?

Watch TV

•What are your favourite movies?

Jaane Bhi do yaaron, Khubsoorat, Jhooti, Golmal, Amol Palekar movies are my absolute favorite.

•What are three cosmetic/makeup/perfume products that you can't live without?

Bodywash, Face Powder and Lipstick

•What inspires you?

Compliments, gratitude and encouraging words.

•Give us three styling tips that always work for you:

Hairstyle that you are comfortable in, Eyeliner to define your eyes and lipstick to define your lips. As Priti said I would like to say the same, Know what's suits you, never overdo your makeup, try to keep it simple and comfortable.

•What do you do when you “have nothing to wear” (even though your closet’s packed)?

Go Shopping

•Coffee or tea?

Tea

•What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed?

Hug my little ones. Listen to some soothing music or try to catch up on an old comedy movie

•What is the meaning of your name?

Sukanya means “A good girl”

•Which other blogs you love visiting?

There are millions of blogs and every blog is creative

•Favorite Dessert/Sweet?

Gulab jamun and Gajar ka halwa

•What's the best feeling?

To love and be loved in return

•Who do you love most and why ?

I love my kids the most, because they are the most perfect beings in the world to me

Here is my new question: Reason(s) for you to blog?

I love blogging

Respond and rework – answer the questions on your own blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, and add one more question of your own. Then tag eight or ten other people.

So now it's time to award & tag others and I would like to share all the awards and tag with. Sireesha , Sowmya , LG, Purva , Priyanka, Usha, Asha, Sanghi and Priyaraj

Please accept the awards and ignore the tag if you have done before.

Sireesha of mom’s recipes has passed me the Scrumptious Blog Award. Thank you Sireesha!!!

It is the Scrumptious Blog Award -a blog award given to sites who:

Inspire you

Encourage You

May give Fabulous information

A great read

Has Scrumptious recipes

Any other reasons you can think of that make them Scrumptious!

The rules are:

Put the logo on your blog or post.

Nominate at least 7 blogs

Let them know that they have received this Scrumptious award by commenting on their blog.

Share the love and link to this post and to the person you received your award from.

Sireesha also passed me the Fabulous Blog award

I would like to pass this award to my following blogger friends:

Sowmya, LG , Purva , Priyanka, Usha ,

Sanghi

and Priyaraj

I would like to send Puris to the Festive food event organized by Purva & Priti, as Puris are cooked during most festivals in many parts of India

I would like to send this recipe to Raks "Cooking for Guests" Event as I make these when guests come over and serve it with aaamras, potato masaala or chole.

I would also like to send Puris to EC’s WYF: Festive treat as Puri is a festive treat.

COCONUT ICE-CREAM

COCONUT ICE-CREAM

I saw the recipe of Coconut Ice-cream on Priyanka’s blog and a wave of nostalgia engulfed me as I reminisced about my college days when I use to patronize the Naturals Ice-cream parlor which was a rage then(mid-90’s), the reason was I think people were tired of the Vanilla, strawberry, pista and tuti-fruity flavors and the other thing was the ice-cream at the Naturals parlor were so fresh, creamy, delicious and completely organic with no additives or preservatives and the best part was it was eggless(no eggs), so it was suitable to vegetarians. I am a vegetarian since time immemorial, but sadly I am not a complete vegan, I am a lacto vegetarian. Lacto-vegetarianism includes dairy products but excludes eggs.

Coming back to the Naturals Parlor they used to have some exotic flavors like

watermelon, sitaphal(custard-apple), guava, mulberry, kala-jamun, tender coconut etc.

I used to try out the new flavors and one such flavor that had left its memory etched on my tongue was the tender coconut flavor, so light, smooth and refreshing, almost like a sorbet and it got over so soon. I got the opportunity to have this again in some 5 star hotel at Thailand, after marriage the name of which I can’t remember and I almost forgot about it until I saw Priyanka’s recipe, but her recipe had eggs and I wanted to make it without eggs, so here is my original recipe for Coconut Ice-cream with coconut milk and tender coconut and some healthy agar-agar.

Ingredients

Tender coconut – 1

Coconut milk – 500ml

Milk cream – 170gms

Full cream boiled milk – 2 cups

Condensed milk – 4 tbsps

Sugar – 2-3 tbsps

Agar – Agar powder – 2 tbsps

Method

Take 1 cup water, put in 2 tbsps of the Agar-Agar powder and keep it on the gas on a low flame. It will become viscous. Turn off the flame. Let it cool.

Agar agar is a seaweed derivative and because it is gelatinous in nature, it is used as a quick setting base for many desserts. It is flavorless in nature and will set even in room temperature. I have used Agar–Agar powder in this recipe as it gives the ice-cream a softness that can’t be achieved using an agar-agar stick. You can use either of the two.

Break the tender coconut and use ¼ cup of the coconut water, mix it with the agar agar solution. The coconut inside I cut into small pieces and kept aside.

Boil 2 cups of milk and let it cool down.

Beat the cream until it thickens a bit, put in a vessel. Keep aside.

I used coconut milk straight from the packet, which saved a lot of time & energy involved in grating the coconut, grinding and straining it.

Take the full cream boiled milk, the coconut milk, the condensed milk & sugar and blend in a food processor.

Mix this with the thickened cream in the vessel and blend with a whisk, then add the agar-agar and coconut water solution and whisk some more. You will see that the mixture is becoming frothy. Whisk it well and put this into the freezer compartment of your refrigerator. After it sets, blend it again in the food processor and keep it for setting, check the texture of the ice-cream, if you feel it is icy-crisp, blend once more, until it becomes smooth and uniform, add in the pieces of the tender coconut, into it and whisk and let it set. You can even add coconut flakes instead of tender coconut pieces. So when you dunk into your exotic coconut ice cream, you get some chunky soft coconut pieces in your mouth.

Make this simple & exotic ice-cream and chill yourself during the hot summers.

I would like to send my coconut Ice-cream to PJ's Let's Go Nuts Event featuring coconut

FRUIT SALAD WITH JELLY

FRUIT SALAD WITH JELLY

Its Yo’s birthday and he loves sweets. I had already prepared Aamras(Mango pulp sweet) for the main course and wanted to prepare something special for the dessert, I wanted it to be quick, nutritious and exotic, what better than Fruit salad.

I had already prepared Jelly the earlier day. Since, I am a strict vegetarian. I prepared Weikfield Jelly which uses a vegetarian formula and doesn’t use gelatine (an animal derivative), which is normally used in Jelly powders available in the market. I had a few fruits at home and bought a few seasonal fruits from the market. Within 5-7 minutes I had this exotic dessert ready and sent it to the refrigerator to be chilled before Yo arrives for his grand birthday lunch.

Ingredients

Apples – 2

Bananas – 2

Mango – 1 diced

Chicku – 2

Diced Pineaapples – 1 cup

Grapes - 1/2 cup

Milk – 2 cups

Condensed milk – 4 tbsps

Vanilla powder – 1 tsp

Roasted cashew nuts – 1 tbsp

1 packet of Weikfield Jelly Mix (Raspberrry Flavor)

Method

Prepare the jelly according to the instructions on the packet and allow to set. Boil the milk and wait for it to cool. Chop the apples into thin squares as apple doesn’t absorb the flavors so fast. Peel and cut the bananas into roundels. Peel and cut the mangoes into cubes. Use ripe and sweet mangoes. Cut the chickus into cubes also. Diced pineapples and a cup of red seedless grapes, these were all the fruits I had, you can add any fruits of your choice or seasonal fruits available.

Mix Vanilla powder in the cool milk

In a big bowl, put in all the chopped fruits, add in the condensed milk and toss, then add in the milk. While serving put in this exotic fruit mix and top it up with jelly. Decorate with roasted cashew nuts. Serve chilled. You can even top it up with a scoop of your favorite ice-cream. Enjoy this exotic and nutritious dessert.

I would like to send this exotic dessert to Priti of Indian Khana who is hosting Festive food – Summer Treat.

Srivalli's Mango Mela

Send this to Mansi's Sugar High Fridays, a event started by Jennifer

AGATHI KEERAI THUVARAN / PORIYAL

AGATHI KEERAI THUVARAN / PORIYAL

Agathi Keerai is classified under the green leafy vegetables category. For those who are not familiar with this green, Agathi Keerai is also known as;

Hummingbird Tree Leaves or West Indian pea tree.

Botanical Name: Sesbania grandiflora

Agathi keerai is used in cooking in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam , mainly in the South east Asia pacific regions wherein its widely grown and eaten.

There are two kinds of West Indian Pea tree - one with red flowers and the other with white flowers. It’s the white flower West Indian Pea Tree that’s suitable for cooking.

My grandma used to say that Agathi keerai which is also known as “Aathu keerai” at my home has cooling properties and she used to insist on eating our greens without making a fuss when we were kids.

Eating Agathi keerai has a lot of benefits -

It is a tonic

It is cooling

It helps in digestion

It will cure ulcers in the stomach

It is a laxative

It balances pitta and kapha

It is an antidote for poisons

It is good for fever

It cures insanity

It is a very satvic food

Crushed leaves are applied to sprains and bruises of all kinds.

A tea made from the leaves is believed to have antibiotic, anti-thelmintic(a medication capable of causing the evacuation of parasitic intestinal worms), antitumour and contraceptive properties.

The principal medicinal effects are due to the trees’ astringency, hence it is used against inflammation, venom and other poisons, bacterial infections and tumors.

The bark is considered as a tonic and an antipyretic, a remedy for gastric troubles, colic with diarrhoea and dysentery.

A bark decoction is taken orally to treat fever and diabetes.

Juice of flowers put in the eyes is said to relieve dimness of vision.

The leaves also have medicinal value and are reported to cure night blindness in cattle.

In India, all plant parts are reputed to cure night blindness.

The root is a well-known medicine for malaria.

Root juices are used for poultices and the leaves are applied for rheumatism, swellings, bruises and itching.

For systemic disorders, decoctions are taken internally.

Root resin, mixed with honey, is taken orally for phlegm and root juices are taken as an expectorant.

Sinus congestion is reduced by taking a flower decoction.

Agathi keerai is very good when mixed with milk and boiled and then made into curd and that made into buttermilk if taken twice a day all female related problems like white discharge, vaginal discharge with odour, over heat etc.can be solved.

This is not advised during medication, since it will reduce the power of medicine.

You can read more about the benefits by clicking on the link below.

http://www.medindia.net/alternativemedicine/ayurvedaanddiet/Herbal-Plants/Hummingbird-Tree-Leaves.asp

Although its bitter in taste, don’t you think we need to eat this occasionally considering the health benefits associated with it.

Here is a wonderful Kerala recipe of the

“Aathu Keerai” / “Agathi Keerai”

Ingredients

Agathi Keerai – 1 bunch

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Udad dal - 1 tsp

Green chillies – 2-3

Red chillies – 1 broken into 2 halves

Turmeric -1/4 tsp

Asafetida (Hing) - a small pinch

Cooked Toor dal – 2 tbsps

Freshly grated Coconut – 1-2 tbsps

Cooking oil - 1 tbsp (Prefer coconut oil)

Salt as per taste.

Method

Remove the Agathi leaves from its stem. There’s one easy way to do this. Hold the stem between your thumb and index finger and slide down de-stemming the leaves. Rinse well under running water in a colander. Chop the leaves into small pieces. Keep aside

In a Kadhai (wok), Add 1 tbsp of coconut oil, when it is hot, Add the mustard seeds and when they begin to crackle, Add udad dal and the red chillies, when the udad dal becomes slightly pink, add the green chillies and fry well, Add the chopped Agathi keerai leaves. Add turmeric, asafetida and salt, stir and close with lid and cook on low flame till it is cooked. Once it’s cooked add in the 2 tbsps of cooked tuvar dal, stir well, wait until the water drains completely and then add in the freshly grated coconut and stir fry till everything is mixed well.

Serve hot with Rice and Rasam.

I would like to send this dish to SWC-Cooking with greens event hosted by my blogger friend Sowmya.

CRISPY BITTERGOURD CURRY

CRISPY BITTERGOURD CURRY

Bitter gourd, I think everybody gets finicky about this vegetable sometime or the other. Its not something people happily buy from the grocery store. It’s more like people think about the health benefits of eating this vegetable. Bitter gourd when cooked in different styles changes the dynamics of the taste and could be well loved by the kids. I made a paste of Rice flour and Urad flour and spices and threw in the bitter gourds and fried them and lo and behold there was a crispy delight waiting at the table and my kids loved it and so did my husband and I didn’t know how fast it flew off my table. The secret of the crispiness lies in the Urad flour. Urad flour has a quality which makes everything extra crisp and the flour in itself has a different taste which enhances the taste of the batter.

Ingredients:
Bitter gourd – ½ kilo
Rice flour – 5 tbsp

Urad flour(White lentil flour) – 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder -1/2 tsp
Cumin powder -1tsp

Sambhar powder – 1 tbsp
Red chilli powder:1/2 tsp
Asafoetida – a pinch
Salt as per taste
Oil for deep frying
Method

Cut the bitter gourd in thin semicircle and sprinkle salt and leave it for about an hour
after an hour squeeze out the moisture
In a bowl, take Rice flour, urad flour, add turmeric powder, Red chilly powder, cumin powder, sambhar powder and asafoetida and make a paste, now throw in the bitter gourd rings and mix well.

Heat the oil in a kadai, when the oil is hot drop in the bitter gourds and deep fry them until reddish brown.

Enjoy this crispy delight with Sambar rice.