sesame brittle / til ki chikki

Ingredients

200 gm til (white sesame seeds)
500 gm jaggery
1 cup water
1 greased dish to set the chikki

Directions-
Dissolve the jaggery in water. Let it come to a boil.
In the meanwhile, roast the til in a kadai.
Check the syrup now. Let the syrup thicken so that when a drop of it is dropped in a bowl of cold water, it forms a lump.
To this syrup, add til and stir well. Cook for a minute and remove from heat.
Pour in the prepared dish to set. Let it cool. Once it cools down, cut into desired shapes. Let it cool further so that it hardens.
This is a Makar Sankranti recipe :)

This is going to-
Kiran's CWF- Sesame seeds

Amla Jam

Ingredients-
Amlas - 10
Clean, wash and pressure cook for one whistle with 1/4 cup water. Keep aside
Jaggery - 3 tbsps
1" stick cinnamon, 3 cloves, 1 cardamom

Directions-

Once the amlas have cooled down, deseed them and mash them roughly with a potato masher. Meantime, get about 1/4 cup water to boil and add the jaggery and amlas to it along with the spices you are using. Simmer and keep stirring the mixture till it turns thick. Let it cool. The mixture thickens further and becomes sticky on cooling.  Store in fridge, it stays for upto a week.

Pudina rice with avrekai / hyacinth beans

Ingredients-
1 tbsp oil / ghee to cook
1 tsp panch phoran
1 cup plain rice - cooked
2 tbsps pudina / mint- chopped
1/2 cup avrekai / hyacinth beans ( shelled, cleaned, soaked overnight and then peeled)
1 onion, 1 tomato chopped
salt to taste
1 tsp turmeric

Directions-
Heat oil and add panch phoran, wait till they splutter.
Fry the chopped onions till golden. Add avrekai and tomatoes and cook till raw smell of tomatoes disappears. Add turmeric and salt and cook for a minute. Add chopped mint and cook for another minute. Add plain rice and mix well. You can also use paste, another recipe for pudina pulav is given here!

This is going to Flavors of Tamil Nadu. Avrekai is found abundantly in Karnataka and TN. 

Matar kebabs

Ingredients-

1 cup peas shelled and boiled
1 raw banana
2 medium sized potatoes
1 onion chopped
Coriander leaves chopped - 2 tbsps
2 green chillies
salt to taste
Oil or ghee to shallow fry
Optional - Besan 2 tbsps

Directions-
Pressure cook the bananas and potatoes. They should not get very mushy so be careful. Let cool, peel and mash together with peas. Follow the same steps as given here. 

This is going to -

MLLA 43 of Susan from The Well-seasoned cook hosted by Claire at Chez Cayenne

It is also going to HLI- Peas started by Kalyani hosted at Veena's blog

Chicken Biryani Sanjeev Kapoor's recipe tweaked

Ingredients-

Chicken 500 grams - cut into small pieces
Rice 1cup
Oil and to deep fry - 2 tbsps
Cinnamon 1 inch stick
Bay leaves 2
Cloves - 4
Cumin seeds  1 tsp
Cardamom- 2
2 Onions chopped

2 tomatoes chopped
Green chillies to taste
Turmeric powder 1 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

garam masala - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsps
1/2 cup curd mixed with 1/2 cup water

Directions-
Clean chicken and keep aside.
Boil rice and keep aside too. Rice should be three-fourths done. 

In a pan, heat oil, add cinnamon, bay leaves, cloves, cumin seeds, cardamoms and fry. Add onions, green chilles and saute. After a minute, add the chicken pieces. Add tomatoes. Add salt, dry spices, ginger-garlic paste, curd mix and add the boiled rice on top. Mix well.
Keep the flame on lowest and cook on low heat for about ten minutes. Turn off flame, check for done-ness. Let it rest for about 10 mins or so before serving.

Linking this to Kaarasaaram's Royal Feast - Biryani 

and also entering the giveaway announced!!

Cucumber Sambar

Ingredients-
4 tbsps dal / Toor dal
1 tsp Turmeric
salt to taste
1 tsp Ginger garlic paste
Tomato -1 chopped
Tamarind- Small lemon size
Onion-1 chopped
pepper - 1 tsp
sambar powder- 1 tsp
1 chopped cucumber, 1 carrot

For tadka-
Oil - 1 tsp

Jeera- 1tsp
Mustard seeds -1tsp
Curry leaves- 5-6 (I didn't have them!)
Hing- pinch

Method-
Pressure cook dal with salt and turmeric.
In the meantime, prepare the veggies- cut the cucumer, carrot and onion. Add veggies,  ginger garlic paste, tomato to the dal. Pressure cook this again.
Make the tamarind pulp.
Tip- to make the pulp quickly, microwave it for a minute in a bowl of water. Let it cool and squeeze the pulp.
When the pressure is off, take the lid, add the tamarind to dal and let the sambar boil for few more minutes. Turn off flame.

Now it's time for tadka. In a tadka pan, heat oil, add the ingredients for tadka and add it to sambar.

This is going to my event- Veggie / fruit of the month- Cucumber. 

Cardamom and lemongrass tea

Masala Chai
Ingredients-
1/2 cup milk

2 cups of water
2 whole cardamom pods

2 tsps lemongrass
Optional-1tsp crushed fresh ginger
3 tsps black tea

Directions-
Lightly crush the cardamom. Boil the milk and water together. Add tea, cardamom, ginger , lemongrass and sugar in the pot. Add the boiled contents to the pot. Allow to steep to desired strength.

Strain in cups and serve.

This is going to sizzle your food and health with spices- Cardamom at Anu's Kitchen-