Karchikai

Happy Gowri -Ganesha Festival to you all. Karchikai is a sweet dish and many sweet dishes are prepared during festival time. Karchi Kai, Karjikai or Karanji will be a perfect sweet dish which can be prepared for prasadam. Karchikai is prepared using Maida (all purpose flour), rava (used medium sized), jaggery, copra (dry coconut), poppy seeds and cashew nuts. And the twist I gave is adding an apple while mixing jaggery and coconut.

Here is a recipe of " KARCHIKAI " which will be liked by all the age group and every member of the family. You can also take them for picnic and outings. You can pack them in your kids munching box as snack.

Things Needed :

Maida : 1 Cup
Rava (Semolina) : 1 Cup (used medium sized rava)
Jaggery : 3/4 th cup
Apple : 1
Poppy Seeds : 2 Table spoons
Cardamom : 5 to 6 Pods
Cashew Nuts  : 10 to 12
Salt :  a pinch
Cooking Oil : 2 Cups ( to fry ).

Method :

1. Dry roast Maida  and Rava for 2 to 3 minutes. Leave it for cooling.

2. Cut cashew nuts into small and keep it aside

3. Dry grind the coconut along with cardamom.

4. Put maida and rava in a big bowl. Add  pinch of salt and a table spoon of ghee. Mix it well. Add water (little by little) and prepare dough. (Poori consistency). Cover the dough and keep it aside.

5. Now keep a pan on the fire and put jaggery and little water. Let it melt completely. Now sieve melted jaggery and keep it aside.
6. Now keep the sieved jaggery on the fire and add dry ground coconut, cardamom mixture. Mix it well.

 8. Grate apple (with skin) and add it to the coconut mixture.Add cut cashew nuts to the mixture.

7. Add poppy seeds (no need to roast) and mix it again.

9. Stir it till the mixture is thick. Now remove the mixture from the pan. Let it cool.

10. Take the prepared dough and divide them into small balls.

11. Roll them as pooris and place the sweet mixture in the middle and bind the edges with fingers. Prepare the same with the remaining dough.

12. Keep a pan and add oil and heat. Fry ready Karjikaion low flame till they turn brown on both sides.
13. Remove from the oil and put it on kitchen tissue, so that it absorbs extra oil.

14. Arrange them on a tray and serve them as Prasadam.

Note : 

Roasting maida and rava will help to get the crispness and also you can use less oil or ghee while preparing the dough. It does not absorb much oil. It stays crispy for 2 days.

Sweet Potato - Onion Curry

Sweet potato curry is a gravy dish and we can have chapatis, Poori, idli, dosa, roti and almost all the main dishes. Its 100 % simple, easy and quick preparation. All we need is some sweet potato, onions, green chilly and some spices.

Let us see some benefits of using "Sweet Potato" in our daily life.
Though Sweet potatoes grow well in winter, we get this vegetable round the year. It is one of the healthiest vegetable. They are high in Vitamin B6. Vitamin B6 helps to reduce the chemical homocysteine in our body. (Homocrysteine is an amino acid made in our body from dietary protein and it is regulated by Vitamins B6, B12 and folic adid to work properly). Sweet Potatoes are good source of Vitamin C, which is very important for bone and tooth formation, digestion and blood cell formations. It helps accelerate wound healing. Vitamin C helps to cope up with stress. It even helps to protect our body against toxins. Sweet Potatoes contain Vitamin D and Vitamin D plays an important role in our energy levels, moods and helps to build healthy bones, heart, nerves, skin and teeth. It also supports the thyroid gland. Sweet Potatoes contain iron and iron plays an important role in our body. They help to increase resistance to stress , proper immune functioning and the metabolizing of protein. Sweet Potatoes are a good source of magnesium.

Here is a recipe of " Sweet Potato - Onions Curry " as I said it earlier it is very easy to prepare and all age group will surely enjoy eating this curry. This is a quick recipe too.

Things Needed : 

Sweet Potatoes : 2
Onions : 3 Medium sized
Green Chilly : 3 to 4
Lemon : 1 Tea spoon
Ginger : 1 Tea spoon
Salt : according to taste.
Oil : 1 Table spoon
Mustard Seeds : 1/2 Tea spoon
Urid Dal : 1/2 Tea spoon
Jeera : 1/2 Tea spoon
Curry leaves : 5 to 6
Coriander Leaves : 2 Table Spoons.
Turmeric Powder : a pinch

Method :

1. Wash and boil sweet potato for 6 to 8 minutes. Remove the outer skin  and smash the boiled sweet potatoes when it is cooled.


2. Remove the outer skin of onions and wash it. Cut it in to thin slices. (long slices).

3. Wash and cut green chilly , coriander leaves and curry leaves. Wash ginger, remove the outer skin and wash again and grate it.
4. Now keep a pan on the fire and heat. Put oil  urid dal and mustard seeds. Let the mustard seeds splutter.

5. Add jeera , cut green chilly and curry leaves. Fry for 1 minute.

6. Add cut onions and fry them nicely for 2 minutes. Add turmeric powder and 1/2( half)  cup of water.

7. Let the onions turn soft. Add grated ginger, smashed sweet potato and salt. Mix it well.

8. Cook for 2 minutes. Stir in between and put coriander leaves and lemon extract. Mix it well and shift the curry to a serving dish.

9. We had Sweet Potato -Onion curry with Pooris.

Note :

Do not over cook sweet potatoes. Adding green chilly more or less is your choice. You can also add a little garam masala if you want. But the taste differ. ( I did not). Do not add more water. The does not taste that good. But do not cook as very dry too.
Time : 20 minutes.
Serves : 3 to 4.