Boli with paruppu poornam

This sweet is my all time favorite.  There are many variations of boli depending on the filling we use. For this particular boli we are going to use a filling made of ground lentils and jaggery. There are many steps to make this but it is all worth it at the end. This boli is made for Tamil New Year, Avani Avittam and Bogi (the day before pongal).

Ingredients

For the filling

Bengal Gram(kadalai paruppu)  – 100 gm

Toor Dhal (Thuvaram paruppu) – 100 gm

Shredded coconut  – 100 gm

Cardamom  – 2 or 3

Jaggery  – 400 gm

For the outer cover

Maida (all purpose flour) – 500 to 600 gm

Water

Sesame oil – as needed (for dough and for making the boli)

Ghee  – as needed

How to Cook

  1. Maida is used the dough for the outer cover.
  2. Add water and sesame oil slowly and knead it until the dough is nice and smooth. Make sure it is not dry. Also add more oil and less water to make this dough so the boli remains soft.
  3. Add a few spoons of sesame oil on the top of the dough and set it aside for an hour.
  4. Pressure cook toor dhal and bengal gram together, strain it and grind it along with the shredded coconut and cardamom to fine paste.
  5. Add the ground paste and jaggery to a pan and keep stirring it on a low flame until you are able to make a ball with the poornam. That is the right consistency. Now the poornam is ready.
  6. To make the boli take a small lemon size amount of the dough. Roll it with greased fingers to a make a small circle. Now take a big lemon sized amount of poornam and place it on the rolled dough and then wrap it well by slowly stretching the edges. Then slowly roll it again into a roti with your fingers. Use sesame oil for your greasing fingers.
  7. Heat a tawa and when the tawais hot, gently place the boli on the tawa and cook it on a low flame. When the sides turn slightly brown, with a spoon or brush spread 1/2 tsp of ghee on both sides. Then cook the boli until both sides are golden brown.

Tips:

  1. If you want a healthier boli, then use wheat flour instead of maida. Just remember to give the dough more resting time until the dough is very smooth. Otherwise the boli can become hard.
  2. If you want the boli to be cripsy then roll it into a thin roti.
  3. If you want soft ones then make the boli thick and cook well.
  4. Use a good amount of poornam for the boli to taste yummy

Thayir Pachchidi

This is a simple yet yummy recipe which my grandmom used to make regularly. My grandmom was a great cook. She used to make a variety of dishes that tasted heavenly. We used to spend most of our summer vacations with her.

Ingredients

Grated coconut – 1 cup

Green Chilli – 1 or 2 based on the type of chilli and required spice level

Curd or yogurt – 1 cup

Salt – to taste

Fresh coriander – few strands

To Temper

Oil – 2 tsp

Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp

How to Cook

  1. Grind the coconut, green chilli and coriander together in a mixer.
  2. Beat the curd and then add salt to it
  3. To this add the ground mixture.
  4. Let the mustard splutter in hot oil and add it to the pachchidi.
  5. And voila you have a simple and yummy pachchidi!

Serve this as a side dish on any festive occasion. Coconut is a good source of vitamins and minerals and also lauric acid which increases HDL levels in blood.

Tip: Saute 1 cup of ladies finger (okra) or tomato with one green chili and add this to the pachchidi above for that extra taste and also for that extra serving of vegetable!

Veppam poo (neem flower) pachchidi

Veppam poo (neem flower) pachchidi is one of the main dishes made for Tamil New Year / Ugadhi. The key ingredient here is the neem flower. Around mid march is when you see a lot of these flowers in neem trees. You need to pick these flowers and clean them thoroughly, remove dirt if any. You can also find people selling in Maada Street, Mylapore just before new year.

For this recipe, you need dry roast the flowers till they turn black and powder them.

Ingredients

Raw mango, peeled and sliced – 1 cup

Jaggery, powdered – 1/2 cup or 3/4 cup if mango is sour

Salt – a pinch

Rice powder – 2 tsp

Neem flower powder – 1 to 1.5 tsp

To temper

Oil – 2 tsp

Mustard – 1/2 tsp

Green Chilli – 1

How to Cook

  1. Boil the mangoes with little water. When it is completely cooked , mash the mangoes well.
  2. Add the powdered jaggery and let it boil till the jaggery dissolves completely and the raw smell goes off.
  3. Add a pinch of salt.
  4. Mix the rice powder with little water and add it to the pachchidi.
  5. For tempering use the ingredients under “To Temper” list and add it to the pachchidi.
  6. Now the remove the pachchidi from the flame.
  7. Finally add the powdered neem flower.

Neem, as we all know helps improve digestion and also helps in treating skin problems. Raw mango is an excellent source of Vitamin C  which strengthens our immune system. It is available in abundance in summer. It guards you from the ill effects of high temperature typically dehydration.

Tamil New year

Chiththirai is the first month of the Tamil calendar year. It is usually on the 14th or 15th of April. Traditionally the following special items are made for Tamil New year:

Payasam

Veppampoo (neem flowers) Pachchidi

Thayir Pachchidi

Boli

Vadai

The following items also feature in the New year meal:

Sambar

Rasam

Curry

Curd

Rice

Koottu or avial (optional)

Veppampoo pachchidi has all the 6 different tastes sweet(inippu), sour(pulippu), Salty (uvarppu), pungent(kaarppu), bitter (kasappu) and astringent (thuvarppu). This symbolically represents how life will be in the new year! Going to be one roller coaster ride with ups and downs but in the end it is all going to end well.

My first blog post!

You might be wondering that this is just another food blog and that there is nothing new that I am going to tell you about cooking. And you are right! I stand nowhere near those wonderful food blogs maintained by some highly motivated people. This is just a humble effort to keep all the recipes, that my mom so painstakingly wrote down for me and my sis, in one place. I wish to pass it on to my daughter one day.