Neer Mor and Panakam(Panagam) /Rama Navami Festival Recipes

Rama navami is a Hindu festival,celebrating the birth of Lord Ram.It falls in the month march mostly and special poojas and prayers are held everywhere.The most common prasad offered to Lord Ram on this day are panakam(jaggery drink) ,neer mor(spiced buttermilk) and kosambari(salad with moong dal).These recipes are prepared for Rama navami because it comes in summer and these drinks keeps the body cool and refreshing a midst the intense heat.My mom prepares panakam and neer mor every year not only for ramanavami but also for tamil new year and for other bhajans or poojas held in our house.It is really very cool and soothing for our tummy.The recipe is very simple and is as follows.

For Panakam:

Preparation time:10 mins

Serves:3

Panakam/Panagam

Ingredients:

Purified water-2 cups+ 1/2 cup(for jaggery)

Jaggery(powdered)-4 tbsp

Cardamom powder-1 tsp

Dry ginger powder-1 pinch

Pepper powder-1 pinch

Lemon juice -from 1/2 lemon(optional)

Procedure:

1.Heat jaggery in half cup of water till it dissolves.

2.Switch off the flame and filter the jaggery mixture and add it to the 2 cups of water in a vessel .

3.Add the cardamom powder,pepper powder,dry ginger powder to it.Squeeze lemon juice out of half a lemon and add it to the jaggery drink.Panakam is now ready to be served.Add the cardamom peels to the panakam for additional flavor.

 For neer mor:

Preparation time-10 mins

Serves:3

Neer Mor

Ingredients:

Curd/yogurt-1 cup

Water-2 cups

Chopped coriander leaves-1 tbsp

Asafetida/Hing-1/2 tsp

Salt- to taste

Oil-1 tsp

To temper:

Mustard-1 tsp

Cumin/jeera-1 tsp

Curry leaves-few

Procedure:

1.Beat the yogurt/curd well and add two cups of water to it .Add the asafetida and salt to it and mix well.

3. Heat oil in a pan and add the tempering ingredients to it and once the mustard splutters , add it to the buttermilk. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve chill.

Panakam and neer mor are ready.

Tips:

*The leaf in panakam is thulasi(holy basil) as we put a little before offering it to god.
*You can avoid lemon in panakam if you wish.

Vegetable Spring Roll

Everytime I go to the supermarket,I peep in to the deep frozen section for puff pastry sheets and end up in vain as I won't be able to find puff pastry sheets.To my surprise,this time I was able to grab the spring roll pastry sheets out of the freezer and I was quite happy because this means, I could try out a lot of things like spring roll,samosa etc and their baked versions as well.I tried baked veg spring rolls and it came out pretty well but couldn't click pictures as it was my maiden attempt with these sheets.For the second time,I wanted to make deep fried vegetable spring rolls as it was for one of my friend who is pregnant and sounded ideal as a snack for a cup of tea and some chit chat in the mid morning.It came out super delicious and crispy and we enjoyed it thoroughly.I just wished my pastry sheets were a bit longer so that I could have made bigger spring rolls,otherwise it's perfect for a snack or as a party starter.

Preparation time:35 mins

Makes:18 rolls

Ingredients:

Spring roll pastry sheets-1 pack

Shredded Cabbage-100 gms

Carrot (julienne slices or finely chopped )-1 no

Thinly sliced capsicum-1 no

Thinly sliced onion- 1 no

Soy sauce-1 tsp

Salt-to taste

Pepper powder-1 tsp

Sugar -1 tsp

All purpose flour- 1 tbsp

Oil-for deep frying

To be grind to a fine paste:

Green chillies-2(mildly hot)

Ginger-1/2 inch

Garlic-4 pods

Vinegar-2 tsp

Procedure:

1.Grind the ingredients given for grinding to a fine paste and get the veggies ready.

2.Heat a tbsp of oil with a tsp of sugar.Once it caramelizes, add the onions and saute well.

3.Then add the ground paste followed by other vegetables.the vegetables needs to be sautéed and not cooked completely.

4.Add freshly ground pepper and soy sauce and salt.Switch off the flame once everything is sautéed well.

5.Now defrost the spring roll pastry sheets and make a thick paste of all purpose flour or maida using a tbsp of water for pasting the rolls.

6.Lay a single sheet on a board or large plate.Keep the filling in the left mid corner and fold the left edge to the centre.Then fold both the sides as in image 3 and glue it using the flour paste.Now apply the paste on the top open edge and paste it as in image 4.

7.Prepare the other rolls in similar manner and keep it ready.you can use a moist cloth to cover it and to prevent the rolls going dry.Heat the oil and deep fry the rolls till they are golden brown and crisp.

8.Drain the oil over a tissue and serve hot with tomato ketchup .

Tips:

*You can use chilli paste instead of grinding green chillies with vinegar.in that case you ginger garlic paste separately.

*You can also bake the rolls by keeping it in a preheated oven at 200 C for 25-30 mins.If you are baking them then brush the rolls with oil and keep it on a greased aluminum tray.

Thinai Akki Roti(Quinoa or Foxtail Millet Roti/Pancakes)

Recently I went to a restaurant where they served only millets and my folks were quite unsure whether a health restaurant can satiate their taste buds.But to all our surprise all the items we ordered were too tasty and delicious( ofcourse healthy!!!).One of the items which I liked the most was this akki roti made of millet flour instead of rice flour and it was too good.From that moment I wanted to try it at home and voila the outcome was too delicious for anyone to resist.I made ennai kathrikai kuzhambhu (fried eggplants in a spicy gravy) for lunch and the same kuzhambhu was an awesome sidedish for this Thinai akki roti/Quinoa pancakes.so we all had a scrumptious dinner that day .

For Ennai Kathrikai Kuzhambhu recipe click below:

Ennai kathrikai kuzhambhu

Preparation time :30 mins

Serves:2

Ingredients :

Thinai flour/Quinoa flour -1 cup( i powdered thinai/quinoa is my mixer but you can use the store brought flour too)

Rice flour-1/4 cup

Grated carrot-1 no (big )

Finely chopped onion-1 no

Finely chopped coriander leaves-1/4 cup

Curry leaves-15

Finely chopped green chillies-3 no(change according to your need)

Asafoetida/Hing -1 tsp

Salt-to taste

Oil-to roast them on pan 

Procedure:

1.Grind thinai/quinoa to a fine powder.Skip this step if you have quinoa/thinai flour from store.

2.Heat  1 and 1/2 cups of water in a wok.add the thinai/quinoa flour and rice flour to it and mix well with a ladle.

3.Add salt,hing ,carrot,onions,curry leaves,coriander leaves and green chillies to it and mix well till all the water is absorbed and you get a pila le dough .Allow it cool .

4.Once it has cooled down take a small size dough and apply oil on a plastic sheet/plantain leaf and place the ball on it and press it to get a roti.

5.Transfer this roti to a heated tawa and apply around it to roast it and after few mins turn it and allow it to cook on the other side as well.Apply oil after turning the roti as well.

6.Serve hot with Ennai Kathrikai Kuzhambhu or tomato onion chutney.

 Tips:

* As I grinded thinai to get flour I got a coarse powder but if you buy ready made thinai /quinoa flour then the texture will be more smooth.

*You can also add shredded cabbage or capsicum to this recipe while adding carrots.

* You can try the same recipe with other millet flours also.

Multigrain Atta Kesari/Whole Wheat Flour Kesari/Easy Wheat Halwa

This is one recipe which I made during one of my fasts on thursdays .And this is quite healthy and easy as I have used multigrain atta( or you can use whole wheat flour also) and jaggery. Its rich in iron and fibre and could be made as an evening snack for kids.Everybody liked it as it was different from the regular kesari and due to the color of the sweet my son thought that it was chocolate halwa and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Preparation time:15 mins

Serves:2

Ingredients:

Multigrain atta/whole wheat flour-1 cup

Jaggery-3/4 cup

Ghee-1/2 cup

Nuts (cashews and almonds)-2 tbsp

Raisins-10

Cardamom powder-2 tsp

Water-1/2 cup

Procedure:

1.Heat 1/3 of the mentioned ghee in a wok and add the flour and roast well till the flour turns light brown  in colour and nice aroma arises.Take care as you don't want to burn the flour.

2.Then add the water and mix well.Keep stirring so that no lumps are formed.Add crushed jaggery to it.I mixed jaggery directly to it as my jaggery is very clean and pure.If your jaggery has impurities then dissolve the jaggery in the 1/2 cup of water mentioned in the ingredients and filter it and then add it to the flour ( instead of adding water and jaggery separately).

3.Add the next 1/3 portion of ghee and cardamom powder to this mixture and keep stirring to avoid any lumps.The mixture will absorb all the ghee and will look like a Halwa/Kesari.Now switch off the flame.

4.Now heat the final 1/3 portion of the ghee in a separate pan and add the nuts and raisins.toast till they turn golden in color and then add it to the Multigrain atta kesari .

5.Serve hot with a teaspoon of melted ghee on top.

Tips:

*You can use sugar instead of jaggery but the color may be a little different .

*Use dark coloured jaggery for rich chocolate brown colour or else still the kesari will taste awesome but the end colour might vary.

*Do not try to reduce the amount of ghee as it gives the kesari or halwa texture to this sweet.

Bread upma

I am not a great fan of bread generally and if given bread I would like to make it 

spicy so even I could have it .Long back I made bread upma with normal white bread and somehow I felt the bread still tasted sweet even after onions and tadka were added to it .Then a neighbour of mine suggested to add milk so that the salt and spices get in to the bread also .After I tried it ,it was super delicious and spicy.From that time bread upma is quite regular on our family menu.To make it quite healthy it can be made with whole wheat bread or multigrain bread too. I added few veggies to this upma to make it colorful and healthy and it makes an ideal lunchbox recipe.

Serves:2

Preparation time:15 minutes 

Ingredients:

Bread slices-6 or 7

Diced carrot-1 no

Chopped onion-1 no

Chopped tomato-1 no

Peas-50gm

Ginger garlic paste-1 tsp

Chilli powder -1 tsp

Turmeric powder -1/2 tsp

Salt-to taste

Asafetida or Hing-1/2tsp

Coriander powder-1 tsp

Jeera or cumin powder-1 tsp 

Milk-3 tbsp

Coriander leaves-to garnish

Oil-2 tbsp

Lemon juice-1 tsp(optional)

To temper:

Mustard seeds-1 tsp

Jeera or cumin seeds-1 tsp

Slit Green chillies-1

Urad dal-1 tsp

Curry leaves -few

Procedure:

1.Cut the bread slices in to equal sized squares . 

2.Heat a wok with oil and add the tempering ingredients given above.Once the mustard and cumin splutter add the onions and saute well.

3.Add salt,hing,turmeric powder and ginger garlic paste after the onions turn transparent .Once the raw smell goes off add the boiled carrot and peas.

4.Then add the chopped tomatoes,chilli powder and coriander powder and saute well till the tomatoes are done.

5.Now add milk to the above mixture and mix the bread pieces immediately so that the flavours get infused with the bread slices.

6.Once it's mixed switch off the flame and add lemon juice and coriander leaves and serve hot.

Tips:

*You can use any type of bread like whole wheat or multigrain to make it healthy.

*You can use butter instead of oil for rich taste.

*Garam masala can be added in the end for an additional flavor.