Veppilai Katti

Veppilai Katti is an unusual condiment, a thick citrus-based paste. It's my favorite side-dish for thayir saadam. I have been craving for it since long... It reminded me wherever I saw lemon leaves or narthangai leaves I used to go around and pick the leaves from various places to make veppilai katti. Veppilai means Neem Leaf. I am not sure as to why our ancestors called this recipe Veppilai Katti when we don’t use Veppilai in it. The veppilaikatti is made by grinding up leaves of citron (narthangai) leaves, karivepilai (curry leaves), and lime or lemon leaves with red chillies, ajwain or omam seeds ,salt, and asafetida. This is ground with the juice of lemons or limes, and salt. The leaves used in this pickle are the tender leaves of lime or lemon trees, and citron (naarthangai) trees, . In this recipe, along with a few curry leaves (kariveppilai) the taste and smell of Ajwain over powers other ingredients and gives the some aroma and taste. Every ingredient in it is raw. There is no oil in it . The end result is a tangy, fragrant, mince that dances in your tastebuds. It enhances the food with an incredible flavor. The pickle is also an excellent digestive-aid.I often used to prepare this recipe in home. But for past two years I didnt get lemon leaves.so I cant able to prepare this recipe. This time veppilai katti brought by my friend from native exclusively for me.

My method of preparing veppilai katti.

Ingredients:

2 Cup- fresh, tender leaves of lemon or lime

1/2 cup -Curry leaves

1/2- cup citron leaves

2- tblsp Ajwain seeds

1/4 cup Dried Red Chili pieces

2 -tsps Salt

1- tsp Asafetida

Juice of 1 Lime + 2 teaspoons water

Method:

1.Wash the leaves well, and pat very dry with a kitchen towel.
2. If the citrus leaves are not tender and are a bit tough, remove the hard stalk/vein/petiole in the middle of the leaf.
3. In a dry-spice grinder, grind finely the following together: ajwain, red chillies, salt, and asafoetida.
4. In a blender, dry-grind (no water) all the grind all the leaves till it becomes a moist and crumbly paste. Using a spatula, stir it form time to time in between grinding cycles.
5. Put leaf mixture into a bowl. Add the ground spices, and mix thoroughly.
6. Add enough lime/lemon juice a little at a time so that the mince can be shaped into several walnut sized balls. You may or may not use all the lime juice indicated.
7. Store in a covered container, preferably in the fridge, so that it remains flavorful and moist.
8. Pinch off required amounts from each ball to serve with your curd rice.

Omapodi (Sev)

Omapodi (Sev)

Everyone likes omapodi in my home. who doesn’t like it?.I make them often at home .It’s awesome to have some omapodi with hot chai or coffee..I make omapodi in huge amount and try it to store it for a week but does not stay beyond a couple of days..... It’s a simple & tasty recipe

Ingredients

Kadalai maavu (besan) - 11/2 cup

Rice flour - 1/4 cup

Omum (ajwain)-1 tbsp crushed

Ghee/Butter - 2 teaspoons

Chilli Powder -1/2 tsp or Red chilli 4 to 5

Salt to taste

Hing a couple of pinches

Oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Soak omum in warm water for an hour grind it along with red chilli with water.

2. Then strain the grinded liquid and keep the water aside

3. In a small bowl mix together all the ingredients and knead the dough with omum water to form a smooth batter.

4. Add enough water to make a soft dough so that the dough is more or else similar to the chapati dough

5. Heat oil in a kadai on a medium flame. Fill the sev press with batter and add small portions of dough and squeeze it in small portions into the hot oil.

6. Cook both sides till the sound subsides. Drain well and repeat the procedure with the remaining batter.

7. Keep the flame high while pressing the sev and reduce the flame to medium or low while cooking. This will ensure a golden colour to your mixture.

8. Drain the excess oil. Server them with hot chai or coffee!!

Eggless Strawberry Vanilla Ice Cream Cake

Yesterday, was the birthday of my lovely daughter.. Yep, she turned twenty three. when it was her birthday decided to give her a special treat., My kids love cake so I decided to make cake while surfing I came through ice cream cake from joy the baker blog .Assembled the cake as per her instructions.Home made icecream was in freezer I made Vanilla& strawberry ice cream,So I decided to go on a "Ice-Cream Cake". This vanilla- cake is simply irresistible slathered with your favorite frosting or layered in whipped cream and strawberries. Not difficult to make, The process of making the cake itself was fun. Just sandwich some ice-cream with vanilla cake and frost it all over with whipped cream . The top of the cake that I sliced off to create a flat surface tasted delicious with ice cream. It was hard to resist licking my fingers as I spread the ice cream, and even the whipped cream was irresistible., I garnished the top of the cake with fresh strawberries and would go perfectly with the cake. Icecream melts faster! Look at the pictures below and you will understand. Due to continuous load shedding & summer heat makes my kitchen's temperature is just too warm. So while taken from freezer it started melting :(.This is the first time Iam making Icecream cake due to melted icecream it doesn’t came perfect.. Still kids enjoyed it!

Vanila Cake:

Ingredients

All Purpose Flour - 1 1/4 cup

Milk Powder - 3 tbsp

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Butter - 1/2 cup

Milk - 3/4 cup

Baking Powder - 2 tsp

Cooking Soda - 1/2 tsp

Vanilla - a few drops

Whipped Cream Frosting

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup powdered sugar

In a large bowl of an electric mixer add whipping cream and vanilla extract. Using the whip attachment, begin to beat the mixture on medium speed. Gradually add the powdered sugar, increase the speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form. Refrigerate until ready to use

Method for the Cake:

Sift all purpose flour, Baking powder ,baking soda , twice and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Grease a cake pan and set aside

Mix the flour and milk powder. Fold this into the butter-sugar. Adding the flour mixture and the milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Try to do this as quickly as possible so you don’t dry out the cake by over mixing.

Add vanilla and mix. Divide this batter into two parts.

Mix all the ingredients together gently. Do not over beat this. Refrigerate one part immediately.

Pour in a greased pan.

Bake in a pre heated oven till a tooth pick inserted comes out clean .

Allow to cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes.. Repeat step to bake another cake.

Slowly turn the cake upside down and remove pan..

Allow to cool completely for frosting.

Assembling the Cake

Once cooled, loosen the edges of the baked cake with a butter knife, Return 1 cake round to one of the 8-inch cakes pans and place the other cake round on a plate. Place both cake pan and plate in the freezer to begin to freeze the cake rounds.

Freeze the cake rounds for 1 to 2 hours. You’ll need the cakes to be firm enough to spread fairly hard ice cream over them. Take the ice cream out of the freezer about 15 minutes before you’d like to use it

Remove the cake that’s in the cake pan from the freezer. Using the back of a stiff spatula, spoon the strawberry ice cream into the cake round, on top of the first layer of vanilla cake.

Remove the plated vanilla cake layer from the freezer. Place the second layer of vanilla cake inside the 8-inch round, on top of the strawberry ice cream. Return pan to the freezer to set for about an hour, depending on how soft your ice cream became while you were shaping the cake.

Make Whipped Cream Frosting and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

After 1 to 2 hours in the freezer, remove the cake pan. Run a butter knife under hot water and run the knife along the cake, in between the cake pan and the ice cream cake to loosen the sides.

Quickly frost Ice Cream Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting. Return to the freezer to chill. Decorate the cake as you like.