Rosemilk Agar-Agar / China Grass Dessert with rose flavour

Ingredients
Agar-agar /China grass - 20 strands (~ 20grams)
Sugar-1/4cup
Coconut Milk -1 cup [I used 3 tablespoons coconut cream powder in a cup of Luke warm water]
Rose essence -few drops
Red Food colour- few drops (optional)
Ice cube trays (optional)
Water -1cup

Method
Cut the agar-agar strands into small pieces and soak it in a cup of water for 2-3 hours or overnight.

Take the soaked agar-agar in a sauce pan and heat it till the agar-agar dissolves..

Add the coconut milk and sugar after the china grass has dissolved completely, Remove from the heat, add 2-3 drops of red colour and rose essence.

Mix it thoroughly, filter it once and fill in the ice-cube trays. Let it cool for 5-10 minutes and then keep them in the fridge.

After 2-3 hours, loosen them with a knife and take out from the ice-trays.

Simple and healthy pudding with a pleasant colour and flavour is ready!

Note: The pudding made with normal milk will be little delegate, if you compare them with the one's made with coconut milk. Also, if you use fresh coconut milk, the colour of the pudding may vary. :)

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Dear friends, I am going on a vacation. See you all in a while!

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Set Dosa/ Sponge Dosa / Kal Dosa

This dosa is served as a set of 2 and thus got the name. :)

Ingredients
Raw rice - 1 cup
Boiled rice -1 cup
Whole urad dal - 6 tablespoons [little less than 1/2cup]
Curd - 1 tablespoon
Salt

Method
Wash and soak the rices together for 6 hours.
Wash and soak the urad dal for 11/2hours separately.
Grind the rice with little water to a coarse paste.
Grind the dal with little water to a fine paste.
Mix the rice batter , urad dal batter with a tablespoon of curd and enough salt. Let it ferment for 8 to 10 hours.
Take the required amount of batter, add very little water to make it into pouring consistency.
Heat a griddle on medium heat, pour a big ladle of batter, make thick dosa. Sprinkle oil and cover it with a lid.
Take it out once dosa is cooked. Spongy and soft dosa is ready to serve..enjoy it with your choice of sambar / chutney / podi.

I always make Idli batter with the ratio 4:1(boiled rice : whole urad dal) with a teaspoon of methi seeds and a few castor seeds. It will be good enough for idli as well as dosa. This time I wanted to try "Kanchepuram Idli". Googled here and there and prepared the batter. ;)

I was running out of time for doing the rest of the process for kanchepuram idli in a morning rush, and ended up in this recipe. Glad that I did! :) Dosa's were perfect with sambar & podi! :)

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Almond & Chocolate chip Biscotti

Biscotti is an Italian cookie, which is nothing but twice baked biscuit. Here I have prepared the biscotti's with almonds and semi-sweet chocolate chips...a perfect snack with a cup of coffee are tea.

Ingredients
All Purpose Flour/Maida -11/2cup
Sugar-3/4 cup
Baking powder - 3/4teaspoon
Egg -1
Butter -1/4cup + tablespoon
Vanilla extract - 1teaspoon
Roasted almonds -1/2cup
Semi sweet Chocolate chips -1/4cup
Milk -1 to 2 tablespoons

Method
Sieve the flour and baking powder a couple of times.
Separate the egg yolk and reserve it. Coarsely chop the almonds and keep it aside.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Cream butter+sugar + egg white with Vanilla essence.
Add in the flour and mix it gently.
Now add the chopped almonds and mix it thoroughly.
Add in the chocolate chips and a tablespoon of milk, combine everything to form a lumpy mass.

Transfer it to a lightly floured surface, divide it into 2 equal parts.
Make them into 2 logs as shown in the picture.
Brush the logs with the reserved egg yolk and bake it for 30 minutes.
Take it out and let the logs cool for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, reduce the oven temperature to 300F.
Cut the logs diagonally into long stripes and arrange them on the baking sheet.

Bake them for 20 minutes, flipping the biscotti's after 10 minutes.
Delicious almond and chocolate chip biscotti is ready. Store them in airtight containers and enjoy with your coffee/tea/milk.


Note
To roast the almonds, preheat the oven to 300F, spread the raw almonds on a baking tray, bake them for 10-12 minutes. You can roast cashews and peanuts also in the same manner.

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Arisi Vadaam / Murukku Vadam / Rice-Sago Fryums

Ingredients
Rice Flour - 11/2 cups
Sago /Javvarisi - 1/2cup
Red chillies -15 to 20
Cumin seed - 2 tablespoon
Hing /Asafoetida - 1teaspoon
Salt

Method
Wash the sago/javvarisi gently, soak it for 45 minutes with water, then strain the water and let it soak with the remaining moisture for 4-5 hours or overnight.
Soak the red chillies in hot water for an hour and grind it to a fine paste, then add sago with the chilli paste, and grind it again.
With this mixture, add all the other ingredients , and 2-3 cups of water to make it as a thin batter.
Take the vadaam batter in a heavy bottomed vessel, cook on medium heat, stirring continuously, till the batter come to gather.(Don't panic, it takes only 5-6 minutes. :) )

Transfer it to a bowl immediately and let it cool for half an hour.
Take a wide plate, spread a plastic sheet and wipe it off with the damp cloth.
Using a Murukku press (with star plate), press the dough into long stripes.
Let the Vadaams dry on sunlight for 2-3 days and your vadaam is ready.

Store the Vadaam in airtight containers. Deep fry them when ever needed. Here is a glimpse of a simple South Indian lunch..Rice, Uppu paruppu topped with ghee, beans stir-fry, Potato podimas, rasam mor milagai and of course, the crisp and spicy vadaam! :)

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