Pineapple Orange Agua Fresca

A perfect drink for a hot sunny day...

Pineapple chunks-1 cup
Orange-2 medium(juiced)
Sugar-4tbsp
Water-1/2 cup

Method of Preparation:
1.Grind the pineapple chunks with orange juice and sugar. Strain juice using a strainer and add water to it. Add more sugar if needed.
2. Serve with ice cubes and orange slices.

Notes:
1. Add sugar according to your fruits sweetness.

Dark Chocolate Cake

Made this cake for my sons birthday...Was super soft and moist.

Recipe Source here and here
For the Cake:
All purpose flour- 1 3/4 cup
Sugar - 2 cups
Cocoa powder - 3/4 cup
Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 1 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Eggs - 2 nos
Milk - 1 cup
Vegetable oil - 1/2 cup
Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
Boiling water - 1 cup

Method of Preparation:
1. Heat oven to 350 degree F. Grease and flour baking pan.
2. In a large bowl combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium for 2 mts. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).
4. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 30-35 mts, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Set aside to cool completely.

Butter-Cream frosting:

Butter - 6 tbs
Cocoa - 1/3 cup (for light flavor or you can add up to 1/2 cup for a richer flavor)
Confectioner's sugar - 2 2/3 cup
Milk - 1/3 cup
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Method of Preparation:
1. Cream the butter and blend in cocoa and sugar, alternatively with milk.
2. Beat to spreading consistency.
3. Blend in the vanilla extract.
4. Makes 2 cups of frosting.

Assemble The cake:
Once the cake is at the room temperature, frost the cake with the butter cream. Added few cherries and sliced Almonds on top.

Cherry Limeade

Love this color of the drink...perfect cooler for summer with lots of cherries around..

Cherry-25 nos
Lime juice-1-1/2 tbsp
Water-1 cup
Sugar-3 tbsp

Method of Preparation:
1. Pit the cherries and blend it with sugar and 1/4 cup water.Strain the juice and add lime juice to it.
2. Mix well add remaining water and serve on ice.

Chakka pradhaman(JackFruit Pudding/Payasam)

Chakka varatti-1 cup
Coconut milk-2 cups
Water-1/2 to 3/4 cup
Jaggery-2 to 4 blocks(as needed)
Cashew nuts-10 nos
Raisins-10 nos
Ghee- 1 tbsp

Method Of Preparation:
1. Heat a thick bottemed vessel and add the chakka varatti to it along with water.Keep stirring so that the varatti mixes with the water and becomes a liquid.
2. Now heat jaggery in a pan with little water to form syrup ,strain and mix it with the chakka varatti.Add 1 cup coconut milk to it along with 1/4 cup water and cook it on medium for 8 to 10 mins.
3. Once cooked,add the remaining 1 cup coconut milk to it and simmer for 5 to 6 mins.Do not boil.Turn off once done.
4. Heat a pan, add ghee and fry the cashews and raisins till golden.Add this to the pradhaman.Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes:
1. You can also add chukku podi(dry ginger powder), Ghee fried coconut pieces, and cashews to the pradhaman.in that case 1/4 tsp of chukku powder is added at the last step along with coconut milk and simmered, while rest at the end.
2. Add jaggery if you feel  sweetness is needed.Add accordingly.
3. Usually onnam paal(1st pressed coconut milk) and rundam paal(2nd pressed milk) is used.Rundam paal will be extracted with water, so its dilute.Since I used canned coconut milk, I added water to dilute it.

Sending this to The Kerala Kitchen event hosted by Erivum Puliyum.

Coconut Rice

Rice-1 cup
Water-2 cups
Ghee-1 tsp
Salt to taste
Urud dal-2 tsp
Grated coconut-1/2 cup
Mustard seeds-1 tsp
Curry leaves-2 sprig
Dry red chilli-3 nos
Coconut oil-1 tbsp
Cashew nuts-5 to 8 nos.

Method of Preparation:
1. Cook the rice in pressure cooker with ghee and salt.Once done fluff the rice with a fork.
2. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard, red chilli, cashew nuts and urud dal after sputtering add the grated coconut and toast it.
3. Then add the curry leaves along with the rice and mix well.
4. Serve with a side of spicy/tangy curries/gravy.

 Notes:
I used basmati rice, you can use normal rice like ponni or sona masoori.Add water and cook according to ur rice.
Instead of ghee you can use coconut oil only.

Sending this to The Kerala Kitchen event hosted by Erivum Puliyum.

Ari pathiri /Neriyapathiri

Ari Pathiri is a popular Malabar dish.Its thin flat breads prepared with rice flour.Its usually eaten with a spicy veg or non veg curry. or sometimes with coconut milk.

Roasted rice powder-1 cup
Water-1 cup
Coconut oil-1 tsp
Salt to taste

Method of Preparation:
1. Heat water to rolling boil and add the coconut oil and salt to it.
2. Turn off the heat and pour the water to the rice flour.
3. Mix roughly with a laddle and close this with a tight lid.
4. When the dough becomes warm(can be handled by hand),knead to form a soft dough.
5. Make small lemon sized balls and keep aside. Keep the lid of the vessel closed.
6. Dust the work board with rice powder and roll the dough to thin round with the help of rolling pin.
7. Cut to perfect round shape with the help of a sharp plate/vessel.Continue for the whole dough.
8. Heat a griddle.When  medium hot cook the pathiri on one side for few seconds and then flip and cook.
9. See that there are no dark spots and also it wont take much time to cook as it is thin.
10. Keep in a hot pot or serve with a spicy veg/non veg curry.

Method of making rice powder:
 Soak raw rice for 5 hours in water and then drain and spread on a paper to dry.Once it becomes almost dry, grind in a mixer to fine powder.Heat a  pan and fry this powder till the aroma comes.The powder should not change its color.Store in airtight jars.

Notes:
1. If the dough becomes dry while the rolling process just dip ur hand in warm water and knead the dough.If dough is dry rolling it thin is not possible.
2. See that too much of water is not there in the dough during kneading.The dough should be soft but stiff to make pathiris.
3. Different rice powders use different amount of water.+/-1/4cup extra.Knead with the minimum amount and add more if needed.In that case you wont go wrong with the dough.
4. Do use warm water only
5. DO not use too much of rice powder while rolling, this makes pathiri dry.
6. While frying do dust the griddle as sometimes the flour used to dust pathiri will be there  in burned form,resulting in dark powders on white pathiri.

Sending this to The Kerala Kitchen Event hosted by Erivum Puliyum.

Beetroot Halwa

Beetroot-1 medium sized(grated)
Milk-1/2 cup
Sugar-1/4 cup+more if needed
Ghee-2 tbsp
Cashew-few
Cardamom-Seeds of 2(crushed)

Method Of Preparation:
1. Heat ghee in a thick bottomed vessel.Fry the cashews in it.Drain and keep aside.
2. Now add the grated beetroot to the ghee and fry it for 3 to 4 mix, stir continuously.
3. Add the milk to this and cook it till the beetroots are cooked.Add more milk if needed.
4. After that add the sugar and mix well.Cook till it becomes shiny and starts to seperate from sides.Turn of the heat when it is little soft as halwa tends to thicken when it cools.
5. Mix the crushed cardamom and cashews and mix well.

 Notes:
1. Add more sugar if needed.
2. Milk can be added more which gives the halwa a lighter color.
3. Do not cook till it becomes dry as they turn hard on cooling. In that case end result may not be halwa.
4. I cooked it just as carrot halwa with less milk.
5. A very tiny bit of cooking camphor can be added at the final cooking stage to give added flavor.