Deepavali Treats # 2

Dear Foodies,

HAPPY DEEPAVALI WISHES FROM MY FAMILY TO YOURS :-)

Kara Mixture
( This one too wants to go to Vee's place)

This is another deepavali-special guest at our home :-) The recipe for boondi laddus is in the previous post.

For the mixture, make small batches each of

• Thenkuzhal
• Om Podi
• Mullu Muruku
• Kara Boondi
• Maida biscuits
  
• Fried : Kabuli channa and dried green peas,Putnalu/dalia, Peanuts, Cashews, Raisins, Atukulu/Rice flakes and curry leaves

All these are then tossed together with some salt and chili powder and a spoonful of sugar !! And I can assure you its the best mixture you will ever lay your hands on. (Though I am sure each one will give this title to your moms :-) )

I dont have the pictures for each one of them and so will share the recipes alone for now.

• Thenkuzhal:

Ingredients: 2 cups - Rice Flour; 1 small cup - Urad dal flour; 1 tsp -Sesame seeds; 1 Tbsp - butter; Salt to taste and Oil for frying.

Procedure: Bring all the ingredients together in a bowl and add some water to make a dough. No kneading of the dough required, just blend the ingredients together. Take very good care to avoid lumps. Any dry flour in the dough will lead to fireworks when put in the oil !! So be very careful. Now separate the dough into small portions and fill them one by one into the mould of the murukku press. Use the plate with three round holes for this one. Now using the murukku press transfer the dough to the oil and leave it to fry on one side and then turn it around so that it browns evenly on both sides. As soon as the dough hits the oil you will see a lot of bubbles, you will know that the murukku is done when all the bubbles subside. Use medium flame for frying.

• Mullu Murukku/Star murukku:

Ingredients: 2 cups - Rice Flour; 1 small cup -Moong dal flour; 1 small cup - Channa dal; 1 tsp -Sesame seeds; 1 Tbsp - butter; Salt to taste and Oil for frying.

Procedure: Follow the same procedure as above. Use the murukku plate with a star hole for this one.

• Om Podi:

Ingredients: 1 cups - Rice Flour; 1 cups -Besan; 1 Tbsp - Omam/Ajwain powder; Salt to taste and Oil for frying.

Procedure: Its the same procedure again and this time use the plate that has tiny holes. The dough might need a little more water than the ones above as the smaller wholes would nessesitate a looser dough.

• Kara Boondi:

Ingredients: 1 cups -Besan; 1/4 cup - rice floour; 1 tsp - chili powder; Salt to taste and Oil for frying.

Procedure: Its the same procedure used to make the boondi's for the laddu. But in this case fry the boondis till they are crisp.

• Kabuli Channa & Batani (dried Green peas)

Soak the channa and peas overnight and dry them on a paper towel the next day. Once they are free of the moisture fry them in the oil till crisp. Be VERY careful while frying these as these batani's and channa are mini atom bombs !! The WILL surely explode a bit when dropped into the oil due to the stored moisture within them. And so cover the kadai with a lid the moment you put them in the oil. After the initial 1-2 mins you can check to see if they are done, but until then COVER them well and stay AWAY from the stove top.

• Peanuts/Putnalu(dalia)/Cashews/Raisins/Atukulu/Curry leaves

Fry all the above in oil and drain the excess oil with a paper towel. For these you can use a large tea strainer kind of a spoon while frying. Its easier to evenly fry them using that.

Now that you have all your savouries ready, toss them all in to a huge bowl and add some salt and chilli powder according to taste. Add a few spoons of sugar too for added flavor.

And its done... :-) 'Home made Mixture' readyyy :D

Phew !! That was a huge list, never really noticed how many went into the mixture while I gobbled them up all these years !! Well, you can always add and subtract any of these , like in the picture above the mixture that my aunt made for us uses just Ompodi, boondi, peanuts, atukulu and putnalu/dalia.

Other festive treats:

Thattai

Seedai