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Friday, September 07, 2007

Janmashtami treats

Lord Krishna was my first love. Nope, Iam not kidding...when most other kids were content with bowing their heads before the lord to seek his blessings before exams, I could be found hugging a mini-statue of his and making grand proclamations of my plans to marry him and none other than him. A streak of atheism during my high school days made sure that I did not become wife no. 16,001. Past high school, I got over my atheism and chose a middle path....neither extreme belief nor total disbelief.

Celebrating Krishna's birthday has always been something that I've enjoyed mostly because of the food. This year I tried my hand at making uppu cheedai and vella cheedai for the first time. Here's a peek at what I made to celebrate His birthday.


Uppu Cheedai

Raw rice flour - 1 cup
Urad flour - 1/4 cup
Jeera - 1.5 tsp
Pepper - coarsely crushed,3/4 tsp
Water
Salt
Butter - 3 or 4 tbsp, softened
Oil - for deep frying

Dry roast both the flours if you are using store bought flour. Mix the flours, jeera, pepper, butter and salt with enough water to form a stiff, firm dough. Shape this into small balls and spread on a newspaper for a few minutes so that it becomes just a little bit dry. Heat oil and gently drop into it a few cheedais at a time. Fry until the cheedai turns reddish brown. Drain oil and store in an air tight container.
I've often been told that cheedai, if not prepared properly will result in disastrous explosions. Expecting nothing short of tiny blasts, I stood a safe distance away from the kadai and dropped a few cheedais in...but luckily for me...there were no explosions...not even a tiny one....and the cheedais turned out quite crisp and brown.


Vella cheedai

Raw rice flour - 1/2 cup
Urad flour - 1 tsp
Jaggery - 1/4 cup
Water - 1 cup
Cardamom powder - a little

Boil water in a pan. Add jaggery to this. When it melts completely, add the two flours, cardamom powder and stir well until it comes together into a smooth dough.
Let it cool for a bit and then shape it into balls. Deep fry a handful at a time in hot oil. Remove when dark brown, drain oil and store in an air tight container.

Neyyappam

Raw rice - 1 cup
Jaggery - 3/4 cup
Cardamom powder - 3/4 tsp
Ripe banana - 1
Ghee - a little

Soak the rice in plenty of water for about two hours. Grind it using as little water as possible to a fine paste. To this, add the rest of the ingredients and grind again until everything is well mixed. Some people swear by certain kinds of banana to get soft appams..I've tried several kinds and found that if you make sure that the batter is ground really well, it doesn't matter which kind u use. Set the batter aside for an hour or two.

Season your appakarai(an aebelskiver pan can be used) with a few drops of ghee( I use a non-stick appakarai...so I use just about a drop or two of ghee in each hollow). Fill about three-fourths of each hollow with the batter. Enjoy the sizzling sound and the delicious aroma that will wrap you up in a loving embrace. When the under side is done to a delicious brown flip it around so the top gets cooked too. Remove....let it cool just a little bit and store. Repeat this process until all the batter is used up.

This is my entry to Latha's Janmashtami event.
Iam also sending a plateful of appam to JFI Banana hosted this month by Mandira of Ahaar
All three snacks are a huge favourite at home....which makes it a perfect entry to the WYF Snack event hosted by Hima.

17 comments:

Latha Narasimhan said...

Hi jayashree,
Nice recipes for janmashtami! You can include picture in your blog to make them interesting! Have you registered with Food Blog Desam? I too learnt all this from other bloggers.

FH said...

Shiva was my love! I love tall, dark and handsome guys, can you tell!;D
Snacks sound good Jaya. Ganesha next:))

Padma said...

Nice post for Krishnashtami Jayashree
I feel I also wanna make them....

Jayashree said...

Latha, thank you for your suggestions.
Asha....Iam all geared up to make modakam next.
Padma, do try it out.

bee said...

jayashree, just discovered your blog. i love the way you write. i've added you to our blogroll.

Seena said...

Hi Jayasree,
how r u, went through your other blog too..interesting to read..
nice recipes, see u

Sharmi said...

I too made them!! I have to try nei appam. dont have the pan!

Rajitha said...

Jayashree..love uppu cheedais and hot naiappam....and coming to who was my first love..like asha it was shiva for me too..someone who gave equal rights to his wife much before it was demanded ;)

Cynthia said...

Hi Jaya, thanks for stopping by my blog, it's a pleasure to discover yours! Do come back and visit when you can.

Prema Sundar said...

HI jayashree,
Nice recipe for seedais.. I can see lots of seedais for krishna jayanthi but u know Iam scared to make them..

Kajal said...

Yes your crispy and brown Uppu Cheedai is send for me my dear....I also love it. Vekka Cheedal is new recipe for me. Rice flour with jagger is nice taste and after that you deep fry than it is also become more taste of sweetness. You send this recipe to snack event my dear. Event name is Whats Your Favorite Snack? Neyyappam is also nice and new iteam and also healthy with banana you also send this to JFI-banana event this is new recipe and rocking also my dear......

mb said...

Hi Jayashree, just discovered your blog. Thank you for participating in JFI. The treats do make a festival special :) - Mandira

Indian Khana said...

Everything looks yum.... Happy Janmashtmi

AJ said...

Looks super!! I made Makhane ki Kheer for Janamashtami. Hope I am able to put up a post later tonight.

Apu

Nidhi said...

I too celebrated Janmashtmi..Will be posting about it today. All that you cooked is looking very nice.

Vaishali said...

Wow, my hubby was longing for some cheedai, but I didn't get around to making any. These look so delicious.

Dhanya Ganesh said...

Yummy recipes."Happy Janmashtami"