Nei(Ghee) Payasam

Nei payasam takes me back to childhood and the Guruvayurappan temple in  Kerala, where it's served as prasadam(blessed food).  We arrived late and got to eat nei payasam prasadam on plantain leaves served by volunteers.  The temple was having a big celebration with elephants and drums and music.
 
It is also made for Bhagawati sevai puja, a religious function performed for the good of the family and the home.  This puja is performed annually by my sisters family.  I remember her mother-in-law making the decadent and delicious nei payasam in a huge metal urali(vessel/pan) placed over a kerosene stove.  The whole family taking turns to stir the payasam, it was a collaborative effort and the whole family came together to help. The mere thought has me drooling for some. 

Garnished with powdered cardamom(Elaichi)

Knowing how much I loved it, mom improvised the long, hard and time consuming recipe to a much simpler one.  So here goes, Nei payasam in my dysfunctional cooking style.


Ingredients:

•  3 to 4 tbsp - Ghee(nei)
•  2 cups Jaggery(grate for easy melting)
•  1 cup water (to melt jaggery)
•  1 cup cooked basmati rice  (any variety, cooled and separated)

Garnish:

•  1/4 cup golden raisins(kismish)
•  1/4 cup broken cashews or slivered Almonds
•  a pinch or two of elaichi (cardamom) powder 

Method:

1. Heat the water and jaggery and bring it to a slow boil. Allow the jaggery to melt completely, stir continuously otherwise it will burn (2-4 minutes)
2. Continue stirring on medium heat until it starts to thicken (4-5 minutes)
3. In another pan (wok) heat 2-3 tbsp ghee and stir in the rice
4. Stir fry for a couple of minutes
5. Add in the jaggery and stir well
6. Cook while stirring continuously until the ghee starts to glisten on the surface as seen in the picture (7-8 minutes)
7. Heat a tbsp ghee in a small pan, first roast the raisins, remove them with a spoon and add to payasam
8. Roast the cashew in the same ghee and add to payasam. 
9. Top with the elaichi powder and mix well
10. Enjoy delicious Nei payasam.  It is very rich so you can't eat a lot like sweet pongal.  it will stay good for a week or two in the refrigerator 

Served and ready to eat..


Notes: You could garnish with coconut slivers roasted in ghee and a pinch or two of dry ginger powder have seen mom use them on occasion.  I like the cashews and raisins to be soft and incorporated so I add them halfway in step 6 so they could also absorb some of the moisture.

Tomato rice (with variant Tomato Thokku)

Ingredients

- 4-6 large ripe tomatoes chopped small
- 1 Onion cut small
- 1/2 tsp Red chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric
- salt to taste
- finely chopped coriander leaves

For Tadka(Saute) and seasoning
- 1 - 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1-2 green chilli pepper diced fine (optional)
- 6-8 curry leaves

Rice for mixing
- 4-5 cups of cooked rice(any variety)
With a fork, separate the rice to avoid chunky portions

 Directions:

1. Take oil in a deep wok/pan with a lid, add cumin seeds, use medium heat until it splutters.
2. Add the curry leaves and cover for a minute.
3. Add the chopped chilli pepper and stir well.
4. Add the onion, cook, stirring occasionally until translucent(3-4 minutes).
5. Add the diced tomato and stir well
6. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt to taste.
7. Stir well and let cook in medium heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
8. Be careful, tomato splutters while cooking.
9. Also as it cooks, you will see it lets out all the juice, as it cooks, the juice is reabsorbed and it will thicken, soon you will see the oil glisten on top. 
10. Don't wait for the oil to separate, otherwise the tomato rice will become very dry instead staying moist.
11. In a bowl, remove a few spoonful's of the cooked paste.  I like to keep some on the side as it tastes great with yogurt rice.  Also helps if you have less rice to tomato base ratio.
12. Add the rice to the tomato base and mix it well.  You could add a tbsp of ghee to make it tastier.. :).  Adjust the ratio of cooked rice to tomato base according to taste.  Add salt if needed.
13. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with yogurt and chips.

Tomato rice will go well with any kind of raita(a yogurt based side dish).  Check Brinjal (eggplant) rice with tomato-onion-potato raita and veggie chips for the recipe.

The above is my dysfunctional style of cooking tomato rice.  A variant is the tomato thokku, the tomato base made spicier and to be eaten as a side dish.  Spread it on bread to make a sandwich or with yogurt rice. 

To make tomato thokku, skip the onion and add 1/4 tsp mustard seeds along with with the cumin seeds.  Increase the amount of red chilli powder used.  Continue to cook on medium flame until the oil separates almost completely from the tomato base an additional 10 minutes or less.  Let it cool and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Brinjal (eggplant) rice with tomato-onion-potato raita and veggie chips

Basmati rice and brinjal sabzi mixed for brinjal rice..  with raita and chips

Ingredients for brinjal rice
2 large variety brinjal chopped into small pieces
1 large onion chopped 
2-3 large tomatoes chopped
4-5 cups cooked white rice(any variety)

For Tadka(Saute) and seasoning
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tbsp ginger grated or chopped
- 1 green chilli pepper chopped
- 1 tbsp vanghibath powder(MTR) OR 1 tbsp mixed cumin-dhania-red chilli powder
- finely chopped coriander leaves
- Red chilli powder, Turmeric and salt to taste

Directions:

1. With a fork, separate the cooked rice..  so there are no chunky pieces.  Keep aside.
2. Take oil in a deep wok/pan with a lid, add jeera and keep in meduim heat until it splutters.
3. Add the chopped chilli pepper and grated ginger.  Stir well.
4. Add the onion. Stir and cook for a couple of mins.
5. Add the brinjal pieces, stir well
6. Add in the tomatoes stir well
7. Add salt and turmeric powder to taste and stir well.
8. Add 1/4 cup of water or less, since the brinjal will let out water when cooked but you do need some for cooking, so the vegetable does not burn. 
9. Stir, cover and let cook for a few minutes, repeat until the brinjal is semi cooked
10. Add the vanghibath powder OR the dhania, jeera and red chilli powder.  You can add more or less based on your taste, to make it spicier or less.
11. Stir well, cover and cook.  repeat until the brinjal has cooked completely, sprinkle water if needed
12. As the brinjal cooks and disintegrate.  You will see the oil glistening.  Cook for a couple of mins without the lid reduce heat to lowest setting.
13. In a bowl, remove a few spoonfuls of the cooked vegetable.  I like to keep some vegetable on the side as it tastes great with yogurt rice.
14. Add the rice to the wok/pan and mix it well.  You could add ghee to make it tastier.. :).  Adjust the blend of rice to vege to taste.  Add salt if needed.
15. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve with raita and chips

Ingredients and method for making for the raita

Chop fine a Boiled/steamed potato, an onion, and two tomatoes,

Add a cup of blended plain yogurt, mix well and spice with a 1/4 tsp cumin powder and salt to taste.  (Optional - Add sautéed in a drop of oil, 1 finely chopped green chilli and a pinch of mustard seeds)

Tip learnt from mom: Often times brinjal will causes the throat to itch, sprinkle some tamarind dissolved in water to the vegetable while cooking to neutralize the enzyme.

The above is my dysfunctional style of cooking the traditional vanghibath.  Often times, I make the brinjal sabzi to go with chappati's or with yogurt rice.

Savory and Sweet Pongal with rice and mung dal

Savory and Sweet Pongal

Ingredients:

Ponni Raw rice(can substitute with any variety of raw rice)
Mung Dal(skinned and halfed mung bean)

For savory pongal - Turmeric(haldi) powder, salt, ghee, broken cashews, curry leaves(kadi patta)whole black pepper and cumin(jeera) seeds

For sweet pongal - Ghee, Jaggery(gur), Cardamom(elaichi), broken cashews and Indian golden raisins

Directions:

1. Measure out 1 cup ponni raw rice and 3/4th cup of mung dal in a microwaveable container. 
2. Wash well and add 5 cups of water this will be used for both sweet and savory pongals.
3. Cook in the microwave(typically for 1500-1700 watt MW- 7 mins power2 to soak and 20mins power 8). 
4. Separate half or a third of the cooked quantity in another container for the sweet pongal.

 For savory pongal

1. Add salt as needed and half a tsp of turmeric(haldi) powder to the cooked mixture and mix well
2. Sprinkled 3-4 tsp of water and cook for an additional 3 mins on high. 
3. Roast broken cashews in ghee and add..
4. Also sauté slightly crushed whole black pepper and jeera(not powdered) in ghee with some curry leaves(kadi patta)  and add..
5. Mix well and cook for an additional minute or two on high 
6. Tip - Consistancy should be soft like kichdi not separate like for pulao.

For sweet pongal

1. Add 3-4 tsp of milk to the cooked mixture kept aside and cook additional 3 mins on high for the milk to be absorbed.  
2. In a kadai(deep wide pan) take required amount of jaggery(gur) and add a small amount of water(less than quarter cup). 
3. Heat on a low flame to melt.  Make sure there are no pieces of unmelted jaggary.
4. Add in the precooked mixture and stir well,
5. Add one or two tsp of ghee as desired and stir well.
6. Continue to cook on a low flame until all the liquid is absorbed and the ghee glistens. 
7. Sauté broken cashews and the golden raisins in ghee and mix in
8. Finally sprinkle some elaichi(cardamom) powder on top.

The above was my dysfunctional style of cooking the traditional pongal(my mom's) recipes to celebrate the festival of Pongal on Jan 14th 2013.