Masala Paal

                           

Masala Paal is also called as spiced milk. It's a famous drink back home in Chennai. This drink has an amazing taste with a hint of saffron and richness from nuts like almond & pistachio. We were stuck home due to a brutal winter storm in Chicago and I decided to spice things up with my all time favorite drink. Masala Paal can be served hot in winter and cold in summer. It's a healthy drink for all ages. Let me stop here and get to the recipe. 

                               

Ingredients 

• Milk (2%) - 2cups
• Sugar - 2tsp 
• Palm sugar crystal - 1tsp
• Cloves - 2
• Cardamon - 3
• Cinnamon stick - 1/2 stick 
• Pepper corns - 1/4tsp
• Almond - 5
• Pistachio - 4
• Saffron - few 

Method 

• Soak Almond and Pistachio in hot water for 15 minutes then peel off the skin and chop them finely. Soak saffron in luke warm milk and keep it aside.
• Meanwhile coarsely powder cardamon, cloves, cinnamon and pepper corn all together and keep aside.

                           

• In a sauce pan heat milk and bring it to boil. Add the spice powder, in medium flame, boil for 1-2 minutes without getting burnt at the bottom. 
• Now add saffron, palm sugar crystal and sugar. Allow it to boil for 3 minutes. 
• Switch off and serve it hot with chopped nuts and saffron for garnish.

Tips 

• You can add whole spice to the milk without coarsely powdering. When it starts to boil discard the whole spice. 
• After discarding the whole spice mix, you can add chopped nuts and allow it to boil.
• Adding palm sugar is optional, if you don't have just add sugar. 
• You can also grind the nuts to fine paste. 

                                 

Enjoy the milk hot or cold!   

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Curd Rice/Thayir Sadam

Curd rice is a popular South Indian dish and very easy food to make. It tastes great with pickle or potato fry or simple kootu. If curd rice is made with fruits and nuts it's called as Bagala Bath. My husband is a big fan of seasoned curd rice, he'll be very happy even if I temper with mustard and curry leaves alone. Me too!!

Curd has a semi solid and creamy consistency. Curd helps you beat the heat in tropical countries. It's a diary product with the following health benefits like instant relief from diarrhea and dysentery, enhances digestion, zero carbs, sugar and trans fat.
                            

Ingredients

• Sona masoori - 1/2 cup
• Curd/ Yogurt - 1/2 cup
• Milk - 1/2 cup
• Mango (finely chopped) - 2tbsp
• Carrot (finely chopped) - 1tbsp
• Cilantro (finely chopped) - 1tbsp 
• Green Chilli (finely chopped) - 1
• Ginger (finely chopped) - 1tsp
• Salt - as needed

To temper 

• Oil - 2tsp
• Mustard - 1tsp
• Urad dhal - 1tsp
• Asafoetida - pinch
• Curry leaves - few 

Method

• Wash the rice and pressure cook with 1 & 1/2 cups of water for 4-5 whistles in medium flame. Once done immediately mash the rice well and add hot boiling milk, mix well. Add more water if needed. Allow the rice mixture to cool down.

                             

• Now add curd along with salt, all the chopped ingredients one by one.
• Then temper with the items given under 'to temper' table and mix well.

                             

 

Tips

• You can add cashew nuts, dry grapes, cucumber, pomegranate, grapes, apple etc. It's your call. 
• If your preparing for occasions then add butter for creamy and rich flavor.
• While tempering you can also add red chillies, that also gives a nice flavor  to the recipe. 
• Before adding curd, ensure the rice is cooled down, because it tends to cause curdling when rice is hot. This will cause the killing of bacteria in the curd, which will not be comfortable to the tummy!
• Always add hot milk to the rice. 
• If you are packing for lunch then add more milk and less curd, which will prevent the rice turning too sour/tangy. 
• If packing for kids, avoid green chilli. 

                               

 

Jelly Custard

Hello, my dear friends! It has been a while since my last blog post.I had few busy weeks. But yeah, I know - no excuses ! I admit that I was too lazy to type out a post. But here is a special treat to make it up for the delay.

We are heading towards peak summer, and I am sure some 'cold treats' to ourselves will definitely make our day. Hot summers reminds me of my childhood memories where I picture me having having ice-cream or popsicle after lunch with my amma (mom). I happened to go through my recipe book & I came across this recipe. I am clean bowled when it comes to Jelly. I love its shiny and shaky texture. Usually we make custard with fruit salad, but this time I wanted to make it with jelly. This is very easy to make & a healthy dessert too. Here you go with the yummy recipe....