Aval Payasam/Poha Kheer - Krishna Jayanthi Recipes

This year Krishna Jayanthi is only few days away. In my mom's place we don't follow much rituals or pooja. But its completely the opposite with VJ's family, they will do pooja for Lord Krishna by offering lots of sweets and neivedhyams. So I am trying to gear up for this year. Aval or Poha is one of Krishna's favorite. And hence people will offer aval in any form. Aval Payasam is one way of offering aval to Lord Krishna. It is very easy and less time consuming when compared to other payasams. I made it for the first time for last year's Krishna Jayanthi and it turned out very well. Have prepared this couple of times after that and I am planning to make this year too along with few more Krishna Jayanthi recipes.

Ingredients

Aval/Poha - 1 cup
Boiled Milk - 4 cups approximately
Sugar - 1/3 cup (adjust as per your sweet preference)
Cardamom/Elaichi - 2 (or)
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Saffron threads - 3 or 4 (optional)
Cashews - 10, broken into small pieces
Raisins - 1 tbsp
Ghee - 2 tsp

Method

• Soak saffron threads in a tbsp of warm milk and set aside
• Add a tsp of ghee in a pan and fry the cashews until golden brown. Remove the cashews and set aside. Reserve some for garnishing if you wish. Then in the same pan add the raisins and fry until they fluff up. Remove them and now add the poha and roast until it slightly changes color. Do not allow it to turn brown. 
• Now to this add 3 cups of boiled milk and stir well. Allow the poha to cook in this milk. The poha should turn soft. Meantime if the milk is fully absorbed add one more cup of milk along with the raisins, cashews and cardamom powder/whole cardamoms. Add the sugar and the saffron dissolved milk too.
• Stir until the sugar dissolves. Finally add one more tsp of ghee. This is totally optional but will enhance the flavor of the kheer. Garnish with the roasted cashews. Enjoy it hot or warm or even chilled. I like to have it cold, tastes very delicious!!

Vegetable Biryani In Pressure Cooker

Making Vegetable Biryani in pressure cooker is a very easy and quick method on any busy or lazy day. Biryani doesn't always need many ingredients and a lengthy process. My Veg Dum Biryani is one such which needs plenty of time in hand. This version of pressure cooking biryani is so simple and can be made in a jiffy. And it tastes equally good too. Here I did not use basmati rice as I was running short of it in my pantry. You can use your regular rice or basamti rice, but make sure the rice is cooked just right. Now to the recipe!

Ingredients

Basmati Rice - 1 cup
Mixed Vegetables - 1 cup (Carrots, french beans, cauliflower, potato, peas, capsicum, broccoli etc.)
Onion - 1
Green chilli - 2
Coriander leaves - handful
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Biriyani masala - 1 tbsp
Water - 1 1/2 to 2 cups (adjust depending on the quality of your rice)
Fennel seeds/Sombu - 1 tsp
Cloves - 2 or 3
Cinnamon Stick - 2 inch piece
Bay leaf - 1
Oil - 1 tbsp
Ghee - 1 or 2 tsp (optional)

To Grind 

Mint leaves - 10
Ginger - a small piece
Garlic - 3 or 4 pods

Method

1. Wash the rice well and soak for 20 mins. Meantime chop the vegetables and grind the mint leaves along with ginger and garlic. 
2. Heat oil in a pressure cooker along with the ghee, if using. Add the fennel seeds, followed by cloves, cinnamon stick and bay leaf. Saute for few seconds. Add the green chillies and then add the onions and saute until they turn transparent.
3. Now add the ground mint and ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw smell of the ginger and garlic goes off. Now add the cut vegetables and mix well until the mint paste coats the vegetables well. Then add the chopped coriander leaves, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, biriyani masala and required amount of salt. Mix well. 
4. Drain the water from the soaked rice. Add this rice along with the vegetables and saute for couple of minutes. Then add 2 cups of water, check and adjust the salt. Close the cooker lid and cook for 1 whistle in high flame and then for 5 minutes in simmer.
5. Allow the  pressure to subside. Open the lid, fluff it up with a fork and enjoy with onion raita.

Mixed Vegetable Kurma - Chapati Kurma, How to make mixed veg kurma

Kurma is a very popular side dish for chapathi's. I guess there are lot of variations all over India. But the South Indian style recipe uses coconut along with fennel seeds optionally including cashew or khus khus.  Here I have added a touch of pearl onion along with coconut. Personally I liked the flavor of it. You can also omit it if you don't want the flavor of the onion.

Ingredients

Onion - 1 chopped
Tomato -1 chopped
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Green chilli -1-2
Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp

Vegetables 

Carrot -1
Beans - 5-6
Potato -1
Green peas - 1/4 cup
Cauliflower florets -1/2 cup (blanched, I did not use this)
Coriander leaves - a fistful for garnishing

To grind to a paste

Grated coconut - 2-3 tbsp
Fennel seeds/sombu- 1 tsp
Pearl Onion - 1, peeled

For the seasoning

Oil - 1 tbsp
Fennel seeds/sombu - 1/2 tsp
Cloves -2
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Cardamom - 2

Curry leaves - few

Method

1. Soak the green peas atleast for 5-6 hours and set aside. If using fresh peas or frozen peas, soaking is not required.  Wash the vegetables, peel them and cut them into small cubes.
2. Heat oil in a pressure cooker, add the seasoning ingredients one by one and saute for few seconds. Then add the slit green chillies and the chopped onions. Saute until the onions turn transparent. Then add the ginger garlic paste and saute until the raw smell goes off. Add the chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder, coriander powder and garam masala powder. Stir until the tomatoes are half cooked.
3. Add the cubed vegetables, green peas and required amount of salt. Mix well and add approximately 1/2 cup of water. Close the lid and cook for 2 or 3 whistles.  Meanwhile grind the ingredients mentioned under "To Grind" section into a smooth paste by adding very little amount of water.
4. On the other side, once the pressure subsides open the pressure cooker and add the ground coconut paste and stir well. Add water if necessary. The kurma should not be too thick or too watery. Adjust the water as per the consistency you need. Cook on medium flame for 5 minutes, check and adjust salt. Turn off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves. Server as side dish for chapathi, poori or parotta.