MEDU VADA

Ingredients:
1) Urad dhal - 2 cup
2) Onion(chopped) - 1 cup
3) Green chillies (finely chopped)- 6 no.
4) Curry leaves - 1 sprig
5) Pepper corns - 10 no.
6) Ginger - 1 tsp
7) Hing powder - 1 tsp
8) Cumin seed - 1 tsp
9) Corriander leaves (chopped) - 1/4 cup
10) Salt to taste
11) Oil for frying

Method:
1) Soak the urad dhal in water for 4 hours.
2) Grind to a coarse paste, adding very little water.
3) Heat oil in a kadai for frying.
4) Take a bowl, add blended dhal,onions, green chillies, hing, ginger,pepper corns,cumin,curry leaves, corriander leaves and salt. Mix all these ingredients.
5) Make a donut and deep fry in oil till it turns to golden colour.
6) Serve with venn pongal and coconut chutney.

Note: Make sure you grind batter with minimum water or no water at all is the best.

KUSKA BRIYANI

Ingredients:
1) Chicken - 1 cup
2) Basmathi rice - 1 cup
3) Ghee - 1tbsp
4) Cinnamon - 1 stick
5) Cardamon - 3
6) Cloves - 3
7) Bay leaf - 2
8) Green chillies(sliced) - 6
9) Onions(sliced) - 1 cup
10) Ginger/Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
11) Tomato(chopped) - 1
12) Mint leaves/Corriander leaves - 1/4 cup
13) Red Kesar powder - pinch
14) Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
15) Lemon juice - 1 tsp
16) Salt to taste

Method:
1) Soak rice for minimum 15 minutes.
2) Cook chicken with 2 cups of water and salt. Once the chicken is well cooked, filter the water called as "Broth"(should be 1 1/2 cup) and keep it aside.
3) Filter and fry the soaked rice with ghee for 3-4 minutes & keep it aside.
4) In a pressure pan, add little ghee and fry cinnamon,cardamon,cloves, bay leaf and green chillies.
5) Add onions and fry till it becomes golden colour. Add tomatoes and fry till it becomes soft.
6) Add ginger/garlic paste and saute it.
7) Add mint/corriander leaves, red chilli powder, kesar powder and lemon juice. cook for few minutes.
8) Add rice and saute for a minute.
9)Add broth and required salt and pressure cook it till 1 whistle sound.
10) Serve with raita.

VADA CURRY

Ingredients:
1) Onions(sliced) - 1 medium size big red onion
2) Tomatoes - 2 medium size
3) 1 sprig curry leaves
4) 1 tsp mustard seed
5) Fried Vadas (Break into small pieces) - 7
6) Ginger/Garlic paste - 1 tsp
7) Cumin powder - 1 tbsp
8) Corriander powder - 1 tbsp
9) green chillies - 4-5
10) red chilli powder - 1 tsp
11) coconut milk - 1/4 cup
12) water - 1 cup
13) oil - 1 tbsp
14) salt to taste
15) corriander leaves(chopped) for seasoning -1/4 cup

Method:
1) Heat oil in kadai and add mustard seed. When it pops, add curry leaves and green chillies. saute it.
2) Add onions and fry till it becomes golden colour.
3) Add tomatoes and let it cook for few minutes.
4) Add ginger/garlic paste and salt. saute it.
5) Add all masala powder & cook it for few minutes.
6) Add coconut milk, water and salt to taste.
7) When this mixture boils, add vada pieces and cook till the curry becomes to semi-solid consistency.
8) Add corriander leaves for seasoning and serve with dosas and idllis.

GULAB JAMUN

Ingredients:
1) 1 cup milk powder
2) 1/4 cup All Purpose flour (maida)
3) Pinch of baking soda
4) 3 tablespoons butter at room temperature
5) 1/4 cup whole milk at room temperature
6) 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
7) 1 1/2 cup water
8) pinch of cardomom seeds
9) Oil for deep-frying

Method:
Syrup preparation:
Please note that - you can vary the amount of sugar as you required as the sweetness of sugar might vary for different brands.

1) In a large pan, add water, sugar,cardomom seeds and mix while it is on med-high heat. Bring it to boil.
2) When it starts boiling, remove from the heat and keep it aside.

Gulab Jamun:
1) In a bowl, mix milk powder, maida and baking soda.
2) Add butter little by little and mix well.
3) Add milk little by little and knead to make soft dough.
4) Let the dough sit for a few minutes so that milk powder will absorb extra milk.
5) Make sure the dough is soft else add little milk to make the dough soft.
6) Divide the dough into 15-18 equal portions and roll them into smooth round balls.
7) Heat the oil in a frying pan on medium heat. The frying pan should have at least 1 ½ inch of oil.
8) Take a pinch of dough and drop it into the oil. If the dough sits on the bottom of oil for a second and comes up right away then it's time to fry Gulab Jamun.
9) While frying keep rolling the jamuns to get evenly become to dark brown.
10) Take out the jamuns and cool for a minute and place it in a hot sugar syrup for about 15 minutes.
11) Now, it's ready to have a delicious sweet.

MODAK

Ingredients:

For the Filling :
1) 1 1/2 cups shredded fresh coconut
2) 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
3) 1 tsp poppy seeds
4) 1 tsp rice flour
5) 3/4 cup jaggery or sugar as needed

For the Cover:
1)1 cup rice flour
2)1 tsp. ghee
3)1 cup water
4)1/2 tsp oil
5)a pinch of salt

Method:
Prepare the filling first.
To prepare Filling:
1) Combine and cook coconut and jaggery together on medium heat. Stir continuously until they are mixed properly and do not overcook.
2)Add cardamom powder, poppy seeds and rice flour to it and cook for some time.

3) Remove from the heat and allow it to cool.

To prepare Cover:
1) Boil water and when it has reached a steady boil, add ghee, salt and oil.

2) Add the rice flour and stir quickly so as to remove all lumps.

3) Remove pan from the heat. Take off all the mixture on a flat plate and Knead while it is hot. Make a soft dough.
To make Modaks:
1) When the dough is warm, divide the dough into small balls .
2) Make each ball to a cup shape and add coconut fillings into this cup.
3) Bring them together on top and join them together to form a peak.
4) Place modaks in a streamer/pressure cooker without using whistle and steam for 15 minutes.