Sweet kuzhi paniyaram / Guntapongalam

Ingredients:

1. Wheat flour - 1 cup
2. Sooji -3 tblsps
3. Poppy seeds - 1 tblsp
4. Coconut - 2 tblsps
5. Cashews - 6
6. Ripened banana - 1
7. Jaggery - 5 tblsps
8. Cookind soda - a pinch
9. Ghee - as required

Cooking Method:

1. Soak jaggery in water until it dissolves or boil little water and add jaggery to it, once it dissolves switch off the stove and let it to cool.
2. Meanwhile, soak poppy seeds, coconut and cashews in little water.
3. Now take wheat flour, Sooji and cooking soda, mix it.
4. Now grind soaked poppy seeds, coconut and cashews, then also add ripened banana and grind once again.
5. Then mix above all together to dosa batter consistency.
6. Make paniyaram with ghee.

Black Pepper Rasam II

Ingredients:

1. Coriander seeds - 4 tsp
2. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
3. Black Pepper Corns - 1 tsp
4. Red Chilies - 2 or 3
5. Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
6. Red Onion - 1 cut into small pieces
7. Garlic - 10 - 12 peeled
8. Curry leaves - 1 sprig
9. Cilantro - Some
10. Crushed Tomato - 1 cup
11. Thick Tamarind Paste - 3 tsp
12. Oil - 3 tbsp
13. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
14. Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
15. Salt - to taste

Cooking Procedure

1. In a mixer jar, first dry grind the ingredients 1 to 5 smoothly.
2. Next add items 6 to 9 and grind to paste. Keep it aside.
3. Now to a thick bottom pan, add oil and heat, when it is hot enough, add mustard seeds, wait to crackle, add asafoetida, then add the ground paste and fry,  then add crushed tomato, tamarind paste, water and salt. Bring it to boil and switch it off.

Serving Suggestions:

• It can be mixed and served as it is to the white rice or it can be filtered if one wants fine thin watery consistency. Can also drink as digestion drink.
• To taste better with rice, cook rice with little extra water, little mushy, so this rasam mixes well with rice.
• In cold weather or when suffering from cold or sore throat it can also be eaten with Sooji Upma. That is take a bowl add Upma and rasam, very thin consistency, eat like soup.

Black Pepper Rasam - I

Ingredients:

1. Coriander seeds - 5 tbsp
2. Black pepper corns - 1 tbsp
3. Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
4. Red Chilly - 1
5. Turmeric powder - a pinch
6. Asafoetida - a pinch
7. Fresh garlic pods - 7
8. Curry leaves - 1 sprig
9. Tamarind paste - to taste
10. Tomato paste - to taste
11. Salt - to taste
12. Coriander leaves chopped - 3 tsp
13. For Tampering:
1. Oil - 3 tsp
2. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
3. Red chilly - 1

Cooking Procedure

1. First, in a mixie jar, add coriander seeds, black pepper corns, cumin seeds, red chilly, turmeric powder, asafoetida, powder it nicely.
2. To this add fresh garlic pods, curry leaves, tamarind paste, tomato paste, grind it once again to a fine paste.
3. Now, add water and grind it once again.
4. Add this mixture to a big sauce pan and add lots of water, that is chaaru / rasam consistency, check for sourness and salt. At this time, you can adjust sourness by adding more tamarind and tomato.
5. Boil everything.
6. Once it starts to boil , add tampering and chopped coriander leaves.

Kitchen secrets:

• Enjoy with white rice. 
• Secret is, cook white rice with little more water than usual. That is little mushy. So that this chaaru / rasam mixes very well with the rice.

Suggestions:

• Can even drink a glass of this, steaming hot, to control the cold and chest congestion.

Spinach Kootu

Ingredients:

• Cook and Mash:
• Toor dhal - 1/4 cup
• Moong dhal - 1/4 cup

• Chop:

• Spinach - 1 bunch

• Dry fry each separately and wet grind together:

• Black Pepper - 1/4 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Red Chillies - 3
• Grated Coconut - 5 tsp
• For tempering:
• Ghee - 1/4 tsp
• Sesame oil - 1/4 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Urad dhal - 1/4 tsp
• Red Chilly - 1
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig
• Asafoetida - a pinch

• Salt - to taste

Cooking Procedure:

1. Add the chopped Spinach to the cooked and mashed dhal.
2. Cook Spinach.
3. To this add the ground mixture.
4. Add Salt.
5. Once it starts to boil, Yes! it is done.
6. Add the tempering.