Nel Pori Urundai and Aval Pori Urundai

With the onset of karthigai ,the city buzzes with lights and ayyapan swami poojas.I am always fascinated by the Pori Urundai recipe because this was the first recipe which I tried with jaggery syrup in the soft ball consistency .my favourite one is Aval Pori Urundai as aval Pori is very crunchy .But the Nel Pori though soft has to be made on the Thirukarthigai festival as it is  a very auspicious offering to the Lotd Muruga.My mil told me that if we dry roast Nel Pori then it will be not soft as it would be otherwise .I am providing the recipe of the Nel Pori Urundai in this and the same can be followed for Aval Pori Urundai though dry roasting of Aval Pori is not necessary.

Makes :15 urundais approximately

Preparation time :45 mins

Ingredients :

Nel Pori/Aval Pori-4 cups

Jaggery-3/4 th cup ( or 1 cup of you are sweet toothed)

Chopped coconut pieces-1/4 cup

Ghee-3 tbsp

Cardamom powder-2 tsp

Dry ginger powder-1 tsp

Water -necessary to make jaggery syrup

Procedure:

1.Dry roast Nel Pori in slow flame till its gets heated up and light without changing its colour.If using aval Pori skip this step.

2.Powder the jaggery and keep it ready . 

3.In a pan add a tbsp of ghee and roast the coconut slices till it is golden brown .

4.Heat a wok and add the powdered jaggery and water just enough to soak it and dissolve the jaggery in slow heat.once dissolved switch off the flame and strain it to remove impurities .

5.add this strained jaggery mixture back to the wok and heat it till you get a syrup which thickens and reaches a soft ball consistency.

6.To identify  out soft ball consistency keep a bowl of water nearby and add a small amount of syrup into it and check whether you are able to make a soft ball out of it.this is possible when the syrup boils like the above picture .

7.Once This stage is reached add the Pori immediately and stir well immediately keeping the flame low.Add the cardamom powder ,dry ginger powder and the fried coconut pieces and switch off the flame .(Some people add a spoon of rice flour here to get firm balls or urundais ,but I didn't use it).

8.Mix everything well fast and switch off the flame .apply some ghee to your palms and take a small amount of the mixture and make small balls out of it by pressing hard.

9.Repeat the process for the rest of the mixture and make it quickly as it will be difficult to make firm balls if the mixture cools off completely .

10.The delicious Nel Pori urundais are ready  as an offering to Lord Muruga and later to us.Store them in an air tight container and stays fresh at room temperature for upto a week.

Aval Pori Urundai

The process of making Aval Pori Urundai is the same as that of the Nel Pori except that dry roasting of the pori is not necessary as it is already crispy in texture.So they can be made using the above procedure .

Ulundu vadai /Medhu vadai recipe( Lentil Fritters)

Who doesn't like the crispy Medhu Vadai? I wanted to post this recipe for a long time but somehow it got postponed ! Though the ingredients are simple making a perfect vadai which is crispy on the outside and soft and airy on the inside is a skilled task which one can maneuver through practice. My initial vadais were either too hard or the batter was too watery and absorbed more oil. Then I asked my mom for some tips to get a perfect vadai and also took few ideas from vahchef and finally started making nice and perfect vadais.

The outcome will be great if you use a wet grinder to make the batter but for a small family of two or three ,grinding in wet grinder would be a huge amount of effort and a waste of time.So there are some points to take care when grinding in a mixer or blender and voila you can achieve the same great result from your mixie. Also make sure to use a good quality urad dal as it plays an important role in getting perfect vadais.

So please read every step in the procedure and follow them to get good vadais.

Preparation time:20 mins(+1 hour for soaking)

Makes:12 to 15 vadas

Ingredients:

Urad dal or ulundu -1 cup

Green chillies-2(based on your spice level)

Curry leaves-few

Asafetida or Hing-1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Finely chopped onion-1 no

Finely chopped coriander leaves-1 tbsp( optional) oil- to fry

Procedure:

1.Soak urad dal along with green chillies and curry leaves for an hour.i used udhayam brand urad dal.

2.After one hour drain all the water and place the ingredients in a mixer and use the pulse mode to beat the ingredients by stopping in between for few seconds.If you feel the mixture is too thick then keep sprinkling water and continue to use the pulse mode for a minute by stopping in between as told above.Then grind it in the normal mode for few seconds and stop.Then repeat it again till the dal has become a smooth and fluffy paste.The stopping in between helps in incorporating air to the batter which helps in getting us a good vada.

3.Add salt,asafoetida and onion to the mixture and stir the mixture by hand for minute.This mixing by hand is very important as it also helps in making the batter light and fluffy.

4.Take a small amount of the batter and drop in to a cup of water .The batter must float .If so, the consistency is correct.if not then keep mixing the batter by hand and try the water test again.Then take a plastic cover or banana leaf and place a small amount of batter on it.Then dip your hand in water and flatten it and pierce a hole in between .

5.Heat oil in a medium heat and drop the vadai in to  it carefully.Then grease the cover or leaf with water and repeat with the next vadai.The application of water to plastic cover or leaf helps in getting the vada out of it easily without sticking to it.

 

6.Fry till they are golden brown in colour under medium heat so that it ensured even cooking of vadas. 

7.Serve hot with coconut chutney.It tastes great just like that and hence I couldn't resist!

Tips:

• Use very little water by sprinkling as needed.Do not add at one stretch as the batter may become watery.
• Avoid onions if you do not want them.
• You can add a small piece of ginger to the urad dal before grinding.
• Instead of green chillies,you can either add whole peppercorns or pepper powder.

Sweet Appam /Nei Appam

I have never made sweet appam before even though my mom always make it for a lot of festivals.Last week I went for a family function on my father's side and happened to taste the most delicious sweet appam prepared by one of my aunt named Gomathi.The taste lingered in my mouth even after I returned home and I called my aunt to get the recipe and voila !here goes the recipe of the delicious sweet appam for this karthigai!!!!

I made these sweet appams in paniyaram pan so they take up less calories but you can deep fry them for a even richer and lovely taste.

Preparation time :15 -20 mins

Makes:approximately 17 appams

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour-3/4 cup

Maida/All purpose flour-1/4 cup

Rice flour-1.5 tbsp

Jaggery-3/4 cup

Ripe banana-1 small no(optional )

Water -1 1/2 cup approximately

Cardamom powder-1 tsp

Ghee -for frying in paniyaram pan

Procedure:

1.Take all the flours in a bowl.dissolve the jaggery in water and heat it in low flame till it boils slightly.Then switch it off and strain it to remove any impurities in the jaggery.Add it to the flours and mix well.

2.Mash the banana and add it to the flour and jaggery mixture.

3.Mix well so that they are mixed well and form a smooth and thick batter like that of idli batter.Add the cardamom powder also.Allow the batter to stand for a minimum of 30 mins at least.

4.Heat ghee in a paniyaram pan and pour a ladle of the batter into it.Keep the flame in medium throughout.

5.Once it is done on one side flip it using a spoon or stick.Once both sides are cooked till golden brown and take them off from the heat and place it on a paper towel to drain excess ghee if any.

Soft on inside and lightly crisp on outside sweet appams are ready to be served.Celebrate this karthigai with these Nei appams /Sweet appams offered to the almighty!!!

 Tips:

*You can deep fry them in oil/ghee for a even crispier texture and rich taste.

* If you don't want to add all purpose flour or maida then replace it with whole wheat flour.

* Adding banana gives a soft texture to the sweet appam and is optional.

*Make sure you add only 3/4 th cup of jaggery for 1 cup of flour.if you add more jaggery then the appams might break when deep frying in oil.

* Add less rice flour as increase in its quantity leads to harder sweet appams.

*Keep flame to medium otherwise the appams will brown faster in high flame due to the addition of jaggery.

*The appams comes out well if you leave a standing time of 1 to 2 hours for the batter before pouring them on to the paniyaram pan.