Mini tiffin - a South Indian breakfast platter and the recipe for Mysore bonda

BM #74 Week 3 Day 1
Theme : Thalis
Dish : Mysore bonda

Buffets, thalis, quick meals, mini tiffins - any meal where an assortment of dishes is served on one platter is something that I can never resist. The last time we were in the husband's hometown, we went to a small restaurant where I tried out the breakfast tiffin thali. With small portions of pongal, vadai, kesari, sambar, chutney, puri masal and dosa served in a visually and gastronomically appealing manner, this is one breakfast that has been fondly talked about and remembered very often.  In fact, every time I've felt even slightly hungry, I've wished that there was some place here that served this kind of thali.  Making a large number of dishes when I don't have company is usually not my style of cooking, but  this time, I decided to make an exception.

In the platter are an Onion Dosa, mini idlis soaked in sambar, rava kichdi, rava kesari, mysore bonda and coconut chutney.

Some of these recipes have been shared on the blog before and I have included links to older posts with the recipes.
Today, I will be sharing the recipe for Mysore bonda - a deep fried snack that, though a little time consuming, is not very difficult to make.

What you need :
Urad dal - 1 cup, soaked in plenty of water for an hour and drained
Curry leaves - a few, chopped
Green chillies - 3, minced
Black peppercorns - 7 or 8, coarsely crushed
Coconut sliced into tiny bits - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - for deep frying

Grind the drained urad dal, adding as little water as possible, in a grinder (recommended) or a blender (second best option). When well ground, the batter will be light and fluffy, floating when a bit of it is added to water.
Remove this batter into a container and add all the other ingredients except salt. (*)
Heat oil in a pan for deep frying. When the oil is hot, add salt to the batter, mix it well and drop small balls of batter to the oil. Fry on a medium flame until well browned on all sides. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain off excess oil using a paper towel.
Serve hot with coconut chutney.

* Salt, when added to the batter, makes it watery and difficult to shape. So, add it at the very end, just before you start frying, and mix it in well.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#74.

Rava kesari

BM # 73
Theme : Festival Recipes
Recipe : Rava Kesari

I may have mentioned a few times many times in my previous posts that my mother is a wizard in the kitchen when it comes to sweet making. She has perfected the art of making Indian sweets and is a master at it. Kesari, though one of the relatively easier sweets to make in her repertoire, is one that she makes exceptionally well and with great ease. She generously adds ghee and cashews to her kesari and doesn't measure any of the ingredients. She puts in a bit of this and a pinch of that, the aromas rising tantalizingly all the while, but the best part of it is when she ladles out some of this hot kesari into a plate and hands it to you. While I don't possess her finesse or prowess in the kitchen, I still can make a decent kesari.


What you need :

Rava/Sooji/Semolina - 1 cup
Sugar - 1.5 cups
Water - 2.5 cups
Food color(Yellow/Orange) - a few drops

Cardamom powder - a pinch
Ghee - 3 tbsp.
Cashews and raisins - a few, to garnish

In a large saucepan, heat 1 tbsp. of the ghee and roast the rava in it over a low flame. The rava should not start to brown. When it gives out a good aroma, remove from heat, transfer it to a plate and leave it aside to cool.
Heat a teaspoon of ghee and roast the cashews and raisins separately in it until golden. Set aside to cool.
Heat water, sugar and the food color in the saucepan until the water starts to boil. Add cardamom powder and the roasted rava, little by little, stirring carefully all the while, to avoid lumps. Let it cook over a medium flame, stirring every now and then, until thick. Add in the rest of the ghee. Stir well and switch off the heat when the kesari looks shiny. Mix in  the roasted cashews and raisins.
In my family, we usually eat kesari by the spoonfuls. So we don't bother to cut it into squares, but if that's how you like it, you can choose to pour this out onto a greased tray and then cut it into squares.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#73

Navaratri - 9 days of celebration - Day 1

I love navaratri. The memories associated with it are precious to me. As a child, I used to go around to other houses that had a golu (arrangement of dolls depicting Gods) with my friends, sing a song and come back home with some tasty chundal. At the end of the day, the plastic bags in our hands would be filled and we'd come back home, sort through chundals made of the same beans, combine them and share them. I like Navaratri in Chennai for the music concerts in its temples, the festive look that its crowded shopping streets wear, the several beautiful bommais (dolls) that line the streets of Mylapore, and for the little girls and mamis all dressed up in their best. I have set up a small golu this year at home and though to many, it is not a big feat, Iam busy patting myself on the back. Here's a pic of my golu.

Golu at our home

Neivedyam on Day 1 - Rava Kesari