Puffed Rice-Jaggery Ball's-a Visual Treat

Puffed Rice-Jaggery Ball's, I assume it is everyone's favourite snack. When we try this at home, its a real pleasure to present it before the family and say, that u prepared it. I did it and received raised eye-brows reactions and thus here i am presenting it before you all.It is not difficult to prepare, but You need to be little aware of the consistency of the jaggery syrup for this.

I prepared these Puffed Rice-Jaggery Balls for Karthigai Deepam. I could only find time, in this new year to post it for you all..

The Ingredients Here..

• Puffed Rice-200gms
• Jaggery-1/4 Kg(Grated)
• Chopped Coconut-10 pieces
• Cardamon pods-2
• Water-Just to the level of Jaggery in the pan.

Method:

Grate the Jaggery and put it in a pan. Pour the water so that the jaggery is made wet or just to the level of jaggery. say, if the grated jaggery comes to half cup, then half cup water is enough.

Let the Jagger Dissolve in the water. after it had dissolved, filter it and shift it to a thick bottomed vessel, and place it on high flame.

Let it Boil for Five minutes and keep checking the consistency, by dropping a drop of syrup into a bowl of water. the syrup should not dissolve in water, instead it should sit firm on the bottom of the bowl.

When the syrup sits on the bottom of the bowl, slower the flame and add the crushed cardamon pods to it. Now switch off the flame.

Have the Puffed Rice and the Coconut in a large bowl. Pour the Hot jaggery Syrup to the bowl and mix it with a Spoon or Fork.

After a minute apply Oil on your palms and slowly start shaping them into ball shape. keep applying oil on your palm's after shaping two ball's. The oil is to avoid sticking of puffed Rice and Jaggery on our hands.

Now place the balls in a air-tight container. Its texture is very good even for two days.

Look at the Chewiness......

The Chewy Texture is so good, if you don't want it to be so chewy, then choose the earliest stage of the jaggery syrup. There are different puffed Rice available, if you want the balls to be crispy, the you have to choose certain puffed rice.

Basket full of Delights..

Vegetable Fried Rice

My son started to take lunch to his school from last week. first i was very tensed on how he will adjust to eat all by himself. then i was worrying on what to pack for him. In this chennai climate, my curd rice could not withstand, even if i add lots of milk and less curd, climate spoils it! so our most comfort food curd rice cannot be packed for lunch! Past week was like a research period, as i am finding out, what he eats, what he brings back home, what he doesn't even touch and stuff's. till now, vegetable pulao is one safe food to pack. have to find out more. today i tried this fried rice, both my hubby and my son liked it very much and the boxes came empty. update: Now my son asks me to pack this fried rice quite often.

Last year i completely enjoyed my life along with this sweet blog, which gave so many nice friends. This year, i have few resolutions, of making my cooking with less oil, with less sugar. when i said this to my hubby, he said, don't make me feel old so soon. Then i just left the Sunday's as exceptions. I don't believe in implementing the resolutions right from Jan 1st. I planned them well before and am practicing for the past one month. This Veg Fried Rice, really impressed me, as it can be made in minutes and also i feel the nutrients in these veggies are not omitted, just by sauteing them till semi-cooked. I am sending this off to Eat Healthy-During Pregnancy Event.

                                                            Vegetable Fried Rice

Ingredients:

Basmati rice-150 gms
Sesame oil - 2  tsp's
Carrot - 1
Green Capsicum - 1/2
Cabbage - 1/2
Spring onions - 4
Small onion - 4 / white onion - 1
Garlic - 3 pods
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Soy sauce - 3 drops
Vinegar - 2 drops

Method:

Measure Basmati rice in a cup and set aside. for 1 cup of basmati rice, you need 1 and 1/2 cup's of water.
so measure the rice and water accordingly and set aside.

Wash and soak the basmati rice for 10 minutes. then drain the water completely. In a Pressure cooker, add 2 cups of water and place a bowl of basmati rice along with measured water. add 2 drops of vinegar or lemon juice and little bit of salt for rice. close the cooker with its lid and put on the weight. pressure cook for up to 2 whistles exactly. once the steam escapes, open the lid and remove the rice to a plate and wide spread the rice. add 1/2 tsp of sesame oil and mix the rice with a fork gently.

Cut the vegetables into very thin strips. use the spring onions, onions also. it gives a good taste to the fried rice. if not use small onions or white onions.

In a pan, add 2 tsp of sesame oil, add finely chopped garlic, then add onions and saute till they turn translucent. then add carrot and saute it. then add the capsicum and the cabbage. saute them, till the vegetables are half cooked. add very little salt and 1/2 tsp of pepper powder to the vegetables for taste. finally add 3 drops of soy sauce and mix with the vegetables. switch off the flame.

Add the cooled rice to the pan and mix well with the vegetables. finely chop the spring onions(green part) and add it to the pan and mix well. do all the mixing, when the vegetables remain hot.

Transfer the fried rice to the serving bowl.

Notes:

It is almost a rule for me to add spring onions to the fried rice. also make it a point to finely slice the vegetables.

You may add a bit of ajina motto at the end. but it is best avoided.

Tip:

We add mustard in our cooking, to remove if any poison present in the food. Before adding the mustard, check whether oil is heated and after adding the mustard let them splutter. this just takes less than a minute.

Over the years mustard has been prescribed for scorpion stings and snake bites, epilepsy, toothache, bruises, stiff neck, rheumatism, colic and respiratory troubles.

resource - Epicentre of Spices

Diwali Sweets

Diwali Sweets