Bisibelabath

Have been meaning to write this post for such a long time. Pulled up my fingers to type them today finally!!

Ingredients

• 2 cups of Raw rice                                                   
• 1 cup of veggies(mix of carrots,beans,peas,potato) 
• 1/2 cup of Toor dal                                      
• 1 Onion                                                        
• 4 or 5 small onions                                               
• 1 big Tomato                                                      
• 1 tsp of Jaggery or sugar                                         
• lemon sized ball of Tamarind                                                    
• 1 Tsp of Turmeric powder                                         
• Few strands of fresh Coriander leaves                                        
• 1 tsp of Saunf  
• 1 tbspn of Corainder seeds  
• 1 tbspn of Channa dal  
• 2 tsp of Grated coconut 
• 5 or 6 Red Chillis   
• 1 tsp of pepper corns 
• Mustard
• Curry leaves
• asafoetida or Hing

Pre-cooking

• Soak the tamarind in hot water and extract the juice. Alternately you can use tamarind paste.

Method

• Dry roast all the ingredients highlighted in yellow color and grind them to a powder.
• Pressure cook dal along with tomato and turmeric powder. Dal should be cooked fully and must be mashed completely.
• Take the pressure cooker and add oil.
• Put the ingredients highlighted in green for tempering. 
• After mustard seeds splutter add the onions and saute them,followed by the veggies.
• After sauting for few minutes add the ground powder and mix well.
• Then add the tamarind extract along with some water.
• Add jaggery and salt to taste.
• Now pour in the mashed dal and check for spices.
• Atlast add the rice and close the pressure cooker for nearly 5 to 6 whistles.
• Measure the amount of water you add to the rice.Take care to keep the rice:water ratio in 1:2.5 ratio.
• Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Serving suggestions

• Add a few spoons of ghee after the rice is done.
• This goes well with chips or pappad.

Tips

• Bisibelabath is well done when the rice is mashed well with all the ingredients. So when in doubt with the water alway add more. Do not add less.
• To get a good consistency of mashed dal, pre-soak the dal for half an hour before cooking it.

Almond Candy

Dont give me looks hearing the title.This is just the basic badam halwa rolled in the shape of candy to feast my eyes :)

We were travelling to a friends place in St. Louis & I wanted to prepare some sweets to take to their home and thus ending up preparing the badam halwa.

Ingredients

• Whole badam(almonds) - 1 cup
• Sugar                           - 1 cup
• Milk                              - a few tablespoons
• Ghee(melted butter)       -  as per your taste
• Cardomon Powder          - a pinch (optional)

Pre-cooking

• Soak the almonds(badam) in normal water overnight or hot water for minimum of one hour.
• Peel the skin after that and keep them ready.

Method

• Grind the almonds with sugar with as little milk as possible to a fine paste.(Use milk just to cover the almonds)
• Take a kadai and keep in medium flame .Add few drops of ghee and pour in the grounded paste.
• Keep stirring the mixture(this might take nearly 10-15 minutes). Take care as the mixture will spill all over.
• After a few minutes the texture will start to change and you will notice the badam will leave the sides.
• This stage add few more table spoons of ghee and the cardoman powder and keep stirring  for 5 more minutes.
• Take off the flame to have your badam halwa.

Serving suggestions

• You can take the halwa and eat them directly with a spoon.
• You can pour them into greased plate and cut them into desired shape after it cools down.

Tips

• Peeling of badams will be easier when they are very tender.
• Always keep the flame in medium or lower than that. Increasing the heat will burn the badam.