Sangom Kheer- Manipuri Cusine

 For this January 2019 Ssshhhh secretly  cooking, we are making dish from Manipur. I had manipuri classmates during my undergraduation . I had tasted the store bought snacks which my Manipuri friends bring after the summer vacation  like salted sunflower seeds and mango candy . Other than that i heard of them eating a lot of dry fish. 
      I was paired with Sujata Roy  of . She gave me Cardamom and bay leaf as my secret ingredients. I decided to make this delicious kheer Sangom Kheer. In Manipuri , sangom means Milk and Kheer generally means Indian Style Pudding.

 Though , the milk kheer is made commonly around every state of India , I find adding bay leafs , edible camphor makes this kheer different from other counterparts. 

 I followed the recipe from here pusphita's chakhum.

Requirements :

A lit  of cow's milk 
A handful of aromatic Gobindo Bhog / Basmati / Rawrice 
3 cup of sugar
4 tbs milk powder
2 bay leaf
6 whole green cardamom
A pinch of edible camphor ( Pachai Karporam in Tamil )
2 tbs cashew
2 tbs raisins
1 tsp ghee 
Half cup of freshly grated coconut

Method : 

Wash and soak rice for 30 minute.

Boil the milk in a thick bottomed pan. Then let the milk simmer with the Bay leaf and cardamom till it reduces to 3/4 th of its original volume.

Add the soaked rice into the milk and cook on slow flame with stirring in between . 

When the rice grains are boiled , add the sugar and milk powder and mix well.

Add the cashew , raisins , edible camphor , grated coconut and ghee , mix well and take off flame.

Let the kheer cool down.
Serve the kheer with silvers of almond and pistachios as toppings.

If the kheer is very thick after cooling you can add boiled milk to get the desired consistency.

Indian Maize Pudding / Corn Payasam

  This was my first post in this Shhh secretly cooking . Mayuri patel mailed me whether I am interested in joining , I immediately said Yes .

   Pallavi purani  was paired with me  for this March. She gave me two secret ingredients – Maize and Cardamom.

  The term maize derives from the Spanish form of the indigenous Taino word maiz for the plant. It is called as Maize in united kingdom and Ireland , where it is called now as sweet corn.

  We usually buy the maize as a whole – corn on cob and steam cook and have it. It is a common snack in our home.

  Dried corn has the antioxidant activity , which reduce the chance of heart disease and cancer . Dried corn is a good source of many nutrients like thiamine ( Vitamin B1) , Pantothenic acid (Vitamin B5 ) , folate , dietary fiber , phosphorous and manganese . Its effect in heart health lies not just in its fiber , but in the significant amounts of folate that corn supplies .

 I thought of making some other recipe and bought dry corn but finally made the  payasam with the fresh corn.

  I boiled the whole corn with the cob and shreeded the corn .

Requirements :

Shredded corn from one whole corn cob

2 cup Milk

½ cup sugar

2 cardamom

6 cashew

One tbs clarified butter ( Ghee )

Method :

Dry roast the cardamom and grind into fine powder.

  I shreeded the corn from the whole boiled corn cob. Then grind the corn with little milk to a fine paste.

Melt the Ghee in a pan , add the grounded corn and sauté for two minutes .

Add in the milk and let it boil on the medium flame.

After around 15 minutes of boiling , add the sugar and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Add in the cardamom powder and cashew and mix well.

Serve warm or cold .

Indian Maize pudding is ready to serve.

Note :

I didn’t add any other flavouring other cardamom  , if you wish to add can add rose water.

The payasam was so flavourful and tasty.

Sending  to here.

Palada Pradhaman – Onam Special

  Happy onam to all the readers and followers ,

  I thought of posting onam recipe on this auspicious day. So , I choose to post a sweet dish. 

    Everyone know that onam sadhya consists of many varities of pradhaman / payasam.  Of all the pradhamans -  paladapradaman is  unique and a common dish in sadhya.

   I made this paladapradhaman with homemade ada. I  followed the recipe which I saw in a Malayalam channel long before I started blogging.

    I had never tasted it before , but was eager to make this pradhaman. It is not possible till yesterday, yesterday , I made fresh ada and made this paladapradhaman.

   I will share the preparation of ada soon , though there are many recipes to prepare ada in the blogosphere , I want to post my preparation of ada as it will be in my memory……..

   The pradhaman was so delicious and flavorful. Little angel  Akshara liked it  too…….

Requirements :

Homemade Ada - ½ cup

Full fat milk - 2 cups

Water - 1¼ cup

Condensed milk - ½ tin / 200 gms / 4 tbs

Sugar - 2 tbsp optional

Cashew -  5 -6 nos

Crushed cardamom - 1

Ghee - ½ tbsp.

Method :

  In a pressure cooker , add together milk , water and    condensed milk , mix well.

  To this add the homemade ada and mix well.

  When the contents boil , close the lid and cook for two whistles .  Take  off from flame and let the pressure drops.

Check whether ada is cooked , add the sugar if needs extra sweetness.

Heat ghee in a pan and fry the  split cashews till golden brown, add this to the payasam along with crushed cardamom.

Serve hot, warm or chilled.

Chef’s suggestion :

If you want to substitute condensed milk with sugar, add ¾ cup of sugar. Sugar must be added after the ada are cooked well.

It can be stored in the fridge for 3 days. We finished off on the same day.

Moongdhal Payasam And Chitragupta Pooja

  Moongdhal payasam was my favorite payasam of all the payasams my mom makes. Yesterday , was the Chitra pournami , Full moon day of the month of chitirai. Chitrai was the first month of the  year according to Tamil calendar. This month falls between april 14 – may 14.
                                                      

 This full  moon day was celebrated as birthday of the Chitragupta , who was the Minister of Lord Yama , God of Death , according to Hindu mythology.

 My mom will make variety rices and this payasam for offering to chitra gupta , We won’t celebrate this before , started for the past 6 years.

 As chitragupta , will take a note on our everyday doing and inform to Lord yama. We has to pray to him for our well being. This pooja is perfomed in open space under the moon light.

 As Chitragupta was te son of kamadhenu , cow god , We must not use cow’s milk for that whole day. So Buffalo’s milk has to used in making the recipes.

As offering to god , all the recipes are made with cooked raw rice ( pasarisi )

The recipes in the platter are

Sakkarai Pongal

Pulisadam / Tamarind Rice

Elumichai Sadham / Lemon Rice

Thengai sadham / Coconut Rice 
Thayir Sadham / Curd Rice
Paysiparrupu payasam / Moongdhal Payasam

 Here , I am sharing the recipe of the Moongdhal payasam.

 Moongdhal is used in India , for preparing curry , salad and payasams. It is protein rich and easily available.

In this payasam , as we are adding jaggery which is iron rich .

Requirements :

Moongdhal – ¼ cup

Buffalo’s Milk – 1 cup

Jaggery – ¼ cup

Ghee – 1 tbs

Cashew – 4

Raisins – 5

Cardamon powder – a pinch

Grated coconut – 1 spoon

Method :

Wash and cook the dhal separately.

Boil the milk with a cup of water .

Then add in the cooked dhal and mix well.

Now , add the jaggery and mix well. Let it simmer for 5 minutes or more.

In the mean time , melt half of the ghee , fry the cashew and raisins . Add them to the boiling payasam along with the ghee.

Melt the remaining ghee and roasted the coconut and add in to the payasam.

Now , add the cardamon powder and mix well.

Take off from flame and serve.

Delicious moongdhal payasam is ready to serve.

Serve hot or cold.

I like the chilled version of this payasam most.



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