Paanagam - A iron rich drink

In our villages when there are festivals there is no dearth for food. Atleast some 15 years before.

In fact there is a festival conducted in my aunt's village in TamilNadu, where all people from neighbouring villages visit to pray to the God.

The beauty is anyone can go to anyone's house and eat. All houses are open with lots of food prepared and anyone who enters the house are given such warm welcome.

I have seen a room full of white cooked rice prepared and ready to be served to people.

Everywhere you look you can see people eating. :)

In those festivals, a drink that is called Paanagam is prepared.




Very simple ingredients.

Jaggery, water, dry ginger powder, lemon juice.

Method:

Soak Jaggery in water and filter.

In a glass fill with jaggery water, mix dry ginger powder, lemon juice.

A yummy healthy drink enriched with iron.

Its time to post about food, its texture, its taste, its consistency and its origin

Been thinking for years to write about food. Especially authentic TamilNadu cuisine which was cooked by our grandmothers and mother. Each dish has a combination of nutrients and it is so nourishing. My objective is to maintain authenticity and create awareness about the goodness of traditional food.

My Mom Kausalya is a great cook (Whose mom is not?) But then she really has a passion towards cooking. She wins all competitions, she judges lots of food competitions and she talks about food always. She ran her own Sweet and Savories Shop, but closed it down few years before because of  lack of labour. Now she is busy with her own organic vegetable garden where she gets fresh lemons, bananas, different types of greens, and a lot more.

Thought will share lots of recipes from her and my other aunts in the family who are all great cooks.

The speciality of this blog will be sweets and savouries, but we will write also about other day-to-day cooking, party recipes, lots of tips, recipes for beginners etc.

Sweets and savouries are difficult to prepare as these needs lots of care in terms of measurements, consistency etc. Even experienced person can go wrong if they miss a single beat. But then we are going to make it easy for you.

Today's recipe is called "Somas" a lovely delicacy. It is easy but laborious. But the result is worth all of it.

This has got an outer shell with a mouth-watering filling.

Ingredients
For the shell:

1 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup flour
a pinch of salt
2 tsp ghee


Put all the ingredients together in a bowl, pour little water and make it into a thick dough.
Keep it aside for 1/2 an hour.

For the filling:

1 coconut grated
1/2 cup roasted gram
1/4 cups almonds and cashews
4 cardamoms

1. Shred coconut and saute in a pan till light brown.
2. Dry grind sugar, roasted gram, few almonds or cashews, a two cardamoms
3. Remove coconut from the pan and mix it with other ground ingredients.


Assembling

1. Make small ball from the dough and roll it out into thin round sheet.
2. Put the filling in the middle
3. Smear little water with your finger on the edges of the circle dough and close in semi-circle shape. The water will seal the ingredients and while frying will not come out.
4. Heat oil for frying. Add one somas at a time. Simmer. This has to cook slowly. When the oil is totally still remove it from heat and transfer it into a paper napkin.
5. If you want more sweetish, dust a little powdered sugar on top.

Yummy somas ready

Dough ready.

 Method for filling:

 Saute shredded coconut in low flame till light brown.

Dry grind roasted gram, sugar and cardamom

Mix the ground mixture and coconut together and place it in the middle of the dough that you rolled.

Seal the edges with little water and close it to a semi circle. Cut the ends with a pizza cutter.

Deep fry in oil and dont forget to keep tossing it carefully in oil

Hot Somas ready