7 dishes from across the country to welcome the new year

New Year is celebrated in different parts of the country

Sweet Potato Pies

Cooking Time: Preparation Time – 10 Minutes | cooking time – 30 minutes

Serving Size – 6

Component

• Grated Sweet Potato – 1 cup

• Milk (or soy milk) – 3 cups

• Sugar – 1 cup

• Cardamom powder – a pinch

• Ghee (or vegetarian ghee) – 2 tbsp

• Broken cashews – 7-8 pieces

• Khoya – 40 grams

Preparation

1. Grate the sweet potato and put it in a thick bottomed pan with a tablespoon of ghee. Fry for a couple of minutes.

2. Add milk to the pan and continue cooking till it reduces to about three-fourth of the quantity.

3. Add sugar and khoya to the pan and mix well till it dissolves. Make sure there are no lumps.

4. Heat the remaining ghee and fry the cashews. Add ghee, dry fruits and cardamom powder to the payesh.

5. Mix well and serve.

Recipe by Chef Ashutosh Nerlekar, Executive Chef, The Park, Chennai

Raw Papaya Vada

Cook Time: Prep Time: 40 – 45 minutes | Cooking Time: 10-15 minutes

Serving Size: 15 – 20 Vadas

Component

• Toor Dal – 1/2 cup

• Chana Dal – 1/2 cup

• Red chili – 3

• Grated Ginger – 1 tsp

• Garlic cloves – 3

• Saunf – 2 tsp

• Turmeric Powder – 1/2 tsp

• salt to taste

• Curry leaves – 1 sprig

• Small onions – 6, finely chopped

• oil for frying

Preparation

1. Wash and soak the pulses for 30 minutes.

2. Drain the water and coarsely grind the soaked pulses along with fennel seeds, garlic, ginger and red chillies.

3. Add grated raw papaya, turmeric powder, chopped onions, curry leaves and salt to the coarsely ground flour.

4. Take oil for frying in a pan. Keep it on medium flame.

5. Tip: It is important to fry on medium flame to ensure even cooking of both inside and outside of the vada. You can drop a small portion of the batter to see if the oil is at the right temperature for frying. If the batter settles to the bottom of the pan, the oil is not hot enough and if it turns dark brown, the oil is too hot.

6. Mix the batter well, shape it into a vada and gently drop it into the hot oil.

7. Fry them on medium heat till they turn golden brown.

8. Best eaten when hot and crunchy.

curry leaves pudding

Cooking Duration: 30 – 35 minutes

Serving Size: 4

• Curry leaves – 2 cups

• Grated Coconut – 2 cups

• Dates with seeds – 10

• Cardamom powder – 1/4 tsp

• Dry ginger powder – 1/4 tsp

• Powdered Palm Candy / Pure Jaggery – 3 tbsp

• Honey – 1/2 tbsp

Component

Preparation

1. Wash and grind fresh curry leaves with a cup of water and filter the juice of curry leaves.

2. Grind the grated coconut with 2 cups of water and extract the thick coconut milk by squeezing it well.

3. Soak dates in lukewarm water for 10 minutes and grind them to make a paste.

4. Mix curry leaves juice, coconut milk, date paste, cardamom powder, dry ginger powder, palm candy powder and honey.

5. Stir well and refrigerate.

6. serve chilled.

Recipes by Devibala Chandrasekhar, www.kitchendb.in

Carrot-Sweet Potato (Sakkarai Valli Kizhangu) Sweet Som

Cook Time: Prep Time: 10 – 12 minutes | Cooking Time: 15-20 minutes

Serving Size: 8-12 som

Component

• Carrot grated – 1/2 cup

• Mashed Sweet Potato (Sakkarai Valli Kizhangu) – 1/2 cup

• Jaggery powder – 1/2 cup

• Cardamom – 1 tsp

• Wheat flour (atta) – 1/2 cup

• Ghee – 1 tbsp

• oil for frying

• salt – a pinch

Preparation

1. Mix wheat flour, salt and ghee in a mixing bowl.

2. Knead a hard dough by adding 1/4 cup of water to it. Cover and keep aside.

3. one in wok, Add some ghee and mash the sweet potatoes well for two to three minutes.

4. Add finely grated carrot and mix well.

5. Add jaggery powder to the mixture and mix slowly on low heat. Add cardamom powder to it and let it cool.

6. Take a small ball of dough and make small balls Complete.

7. Put a spoonful of carrot stuffing in the middle Complete,

8. Fold the dough and seal it by applying little water on the edges.

9. Deep fry on low flame till golden brown

Kiwi Semolina Appam

Cook Time: Prep Time: 40 – 45 minutes | Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Serving Size: 15 – 20 Appam

Component

• Kiwi Fruit Mash – 1/2 cup

• Rawa – 1/4 cup

• Sugar – 1/4 cup

• Water – 1/4 cup

• Ghee – 2 tbsp

• Cardamom – 1/2 tsp

• Wheat flour (atta) – 1/2 cup

• Maida – 1/2 cup

• Oil – 1/4 cup

• salt – a pinch

Preparation

1. Fry the rava in ghee for three to four minutes.

2. Add water and cook on low heat till it absorbs water completely and becomes dry.

3. In the rava mixture, add sugar and continue cooking it for three to four minutes.

4. Now, add mashed kiwi fruit and cook for another two to three minutes. Keep it aside and let it cool down.

5. In another vessel, add salt and salt to both the flours and knead a soft dough by adding water gradually. Soak this flour in oil for five to ten minutes.

6. Heat oil or ghee in a pan wok on medium flame and make sure it is not smoking hot.

7. Spread the dough on a plate, put a big marble size ball of the kiwi stuffing mixture, close the ball with the dough and cover it from all sides.

8. Dip fingers in oil and press to make ball of dough flat and less than 1/4 inch thick.

9. Slowly and carefully remove it from the plate and drop it into the oil.

10. Fry till golden brown and serve hot

Recipe by Nalina Kannan, Proprietor, Thaligai Restaurant, Chennai

hard dough

Cooking Time: 15-20 minutes

Serving Size: Serves 2

Component

• Ghee – ½ cup

• Wheat flour – ½ cup

• Water – 1½ cups

• Sugar – ½ cup

Preparation

1. Heat ghee in a pan.

2. Put refined flour in the utensil and cook stirring with a spoon till the ghee separates from the mixture and turns brown.

3. Take a pan and add water to it. When it becomes hot, add sugar to it and stir till it dissolves in hot water.

4. Slowly and carefully add the sugar-water syrup to the ghee and whole wheat flour mixture.

5. Keep stirring till the ghee separates from the mixture.

6. Transfer to a bowl and garnish with chopped nuts

Paramjit Kaur, Chandigarh-based home cook and culinary enthusiast

niramish mangsho

Cooking Time: Marination Time – Overnight | Cook Time: 90 minutes

Serving Size: 4-6

Component

for marination

• Thick curd – 1/2 cup

• Mustard oil – 1 tbsp

• Ginger paste – 2 tbsp

• Turmeric Powder – 1/4 tsp

• Red chili powder – 1/2 tsp

• Bengali garam masala powder – 1/2 tsp

• salt to taste

for tempering

• Bay leaf – 2

• Cloves – 4

• Green cardamom – 4 pods

• Fresh grated ginger – 2 tbsp

• Kashmiri red chili powder – 1 tsp

For Masala Paste

• Kashmiri red chili powder – 1 tsp

• Cumin powder – 2 tsp

• Coriander powder – 2 tsp

• Fennel powder – 1 tsp

other material

• tomato 1

• Green chili – 2-3

• Bengali garam masala – ¼ tsp

• Nutmeg powder – 1 pinch

• Mace (Javitri) – 1 petal

• Sugar – 2 tsp

• salt to taste

• Ghee – 1 tbsp

• Mustard oil – 2 tbsp

• Large potato halved – 4 (optional)

Preparation

1. Wash and dry the mutton pieces. Add all the ingredients for marination.

2. For the masala paste, add the spices and a little lukewarm water in a bowl. Let it marinate overnight.

3. Finely chop the tomatoes and keep them aside.

4. Peel the potatoes and cut them in half. Fry lightly in mustard oil.

5. Temper the ingredients in the same pan.

6. Mix the masala and add little water if required. After this, add tomatoes to it and stir well.

7. After this add mutton pieces and fry on high flame.

8. After five minutes increase the flame and add the marinade. Fry the mutton till it turns light brown.

9. Add the spice paste and mix on medium heat for another 10 minutes.

10. Adjust the salt and add sugar and potatoes.

11. Cover and cook on low heat till the mutton becomes soft.

12. Once the mutton is cooked, add garam masala, green chillies, nutmeg powder, mace and lastly ghee. Boil till you get the desired consistency.

13. Serve hot with luchi and boiled rice

Recipe by Chef Sushant Barui, Head Chef, Bayleaf, Chennai

(Poila Boishakh special menu served at Bayleaf, Gopalapuram. Tel: 04428114557/9600094242)