Paniyara Dosai

I was craving for an evening time snack when Gayathri mam called me up on phone. This topic obviously came up and she told me about Paniyara Dosai amongst a million other Dosai recipes. It made me wonder why I did not even hear about it during the many years at a Tamil Nadu hostel. Anyways, I tried out the recipe immediately with some Idli batter I had at home, and it tasted awesome with Idli podi.

Ingredients:
Idli Batter - 3 big ladles
Onion - half, chopped fine
Green chilly - 1, chopped fine
Curry leaves - A sprig, chopped fine
Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp, chopped
Mustard seeds
Urad dal

In a little oil, splutter some mustard seeds, and add the urad dal
Add onion, chillies and curry leaves to it and saute well
Add a little salt(as needed for this onion mixture as the batter already contains required salt)
This mixture can then be added to the idli batter along with coriander leaves and mix this well
Make small Dosais(even smaller than uthappam as it tends to stick to the pan)
Enjoy with idli podi/coconut chutney/tomato chutney

Snackable Aval

Feeling lazy in d evening but still feel like a spicy-salty-sweet snack? Then this is for you. Best part is that this can be stocked up.

Ingredients:

Aval / Rice flakes - 1 cup (substitute with pori/puffed rice)

Peanuts - 1/2 cup

Cashew nuts - 2 tsp

Raisins - 2 tsp

Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Chilli powder - A pinch

Turmeric powder - A pinch

Heing (Kayam) - A pinch

Sugar  - 1 tsp

Salt - As per taste

Method:

Roast Aval in oil for about 3 mins. By then it will become a lil crisp. Now transfer it to a plate and roast peanuts n cashewnuts in about 1 tsp oil.   After a couple of minutes, add curry leaves. Once it turns stiff, add raisins. Stir fry for a minute. Add salt, heing and turmeric powder. Mix well. Add the previously roasted aval to this and mix again. Sprinkle chilli powder and sugar. Let cool. Time for tea :)

Little Hearts

Ingredients :
Puff Pastry sheet - 1
Sugar - 4 tbsp

Roll out the puff pastry sheet. Sprinkle sugar on top. Roll it gently so that the sugar gets incorporated and do the same on the other side. And now its time for rolling. Roll as per the image below and cut them with a knife.
Bake at 400F for 8 minutes. Let them cool for 5-6 minutes and then turn them around and bake again for additional 4-5 minutes. And lo, little hearts are all set to be devoured :)

The above image is something I found online,  and this is how my own lil hearts turned out to be :)

Butter Cookies

I badly wanted to make cookies after seeing them in all shapes and sizes in various stores here, and I set out to experiment. The cookies which came out tasted great but didnt look all that great (I dont have a cookie cutter). The recipe, though, is simple enough even for kids to follow.

Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Sugar                  - 1/2 cup
Butter                  - 1/2 cup

Whisk together all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Make small rounds and press them to shapes as you wish.  And bake them at 375 F for 10 mins. Let them cool. And crispy cookies are all so ready for you to taste. Isn' t that easy?

Alteration:
You may use ghee instead of butter and that comes out great too.

Ila Ada (without ila)

From the time I decided to start a recipe blog(just a couple of days ago), I have been thinking of what the first recipe should be. And today I decided that it should be ila ada. Ila Ada or Ileda(as its pronounced tat way) is made from rice flour flattened on a piece of  banana leaf. with a wonderful filling It has always been my favourite sweet.
I had this craving for Ileda since I moved to NJ, but couldn't find any banana leaves, which was when I decided to experiment with Aluminium foil.

Ingredients:
Rice flour -  1 cup
Water      -  1 cup
Coconut    - 1 cup
Jaggery(Vellam/Sharkara)  - 5-6 medium sized pieces
Cardamom - 1 or 2, as per taste

Recipe:
Bring water a boil. Add the rice flour to it, mix well and take it off the stove. Once it has cooled down, mix it again with hands and make a dough.
Melt the jaggery in the stove, and add shredded coconut to it. You may increase/decrease the quantity of coconut and jaggery to make it taste the way you want. You may also add cardamom to suit your taste since it adds to the flavor. But since my husband totally hates the taste of cardamom, I generally do not add any.

Now, cut aluminium foil in a square shape(for those of you blessed enough to procure banana leaves, please use it since its smell is more than enough to add to any recipe). Place a ball of the rice flour dough on the center, and flatten it into a spherical shape using your hands. place some coconut-jaggery mixture to the center and fold the foil so that the 'Ada' is folded onto half and the sweet mixture spread within it evenly.

Steam for 15 mins (I used my idli thattu), and Ila Ida(or shall I call it 'foil ada'? :)  is ready to be placed on the table.

An alteration:
You may use sugar instead of jaggery if you do not like the taste of it. I have heard a lot of friends saying that they like the coconut-sugar mixture better than the coconut-jaggery version. That depends totally on your taste.

Hope you enjoy this sweet.