Homemade Nannari Syrup, Nannari Sherbet And Nannari Ice-Cream - Sarasaparilla Syrup, Sarasaparilla Sherbet and Sarasaparilla Ice-Cream

                     A small push cart lined with bottles and bottles of rainbow coloured syrups parked along the shaded region of the roadside and the crowded region of a bus stand, is a sight that most of us would not have missed while travelling on the suburban roads in the South. I wouldn't have known what those pretty coloured syrups tasted like, if  a group of us had not mustered the courage to go and buy the drink, when we used to return from school. For once we did not bother about what water was used or how clean the cart was or the glasses were, for all we wanted to know was, whether it tasted as good as it looked and sure it did; our first taste of sherbet! Ignoring the hygienic part we continued to savour this new found taste for a few more days, not knowing that we were actually drinking nothing but artificially flavoured sugar syrup with synthetic food colour! Most of the commercially available concentrates are just artificially flavoured and coloured syrups, that includes even the most popular Nannari syrup, which is devoid of the real goodness of nannari roots.

                      Real nannari roots have rich therapeutic properties, especially a good coolant that our body requires during summer and is said to be good for digestion and curing stomach disorders. Nannari roots are available in Country drug stores ( Naatu Marundu Kadai) present in almost every locality and if you can't find one, you can go to Triplicane, where there's an entire street (jam bazaar market) lined with these shops on both the sides of the road. Making the nannari concentrate is a very easy procedure and when you can make it at home with all the goodness of the sarasaparilla roots why buy artificial syrups which is nothing but slow poison, especially with added synthetic food colours. 

After a litre of Nannari syrup made only a month ago got used up, this is my second batch and I know I will run out of it very soon, as we are yet to see the worst of the summer heat! Nannari sherbet is the best summer drink, that I can think of, to beat the heat.

Nannari Syrup

Ingredients

Nannari Roots       50 gms

Water                 350 ml

Sugar                  250gm

Lemon                 2 1/2

Method

Pound the nannari roots slightly and remove the white part in the centre and discard. Collect only the outer part of the roots and pound again to smaller pieces. 

Bring water to a boil, turn off the heat and add the nannari roots and leave it overnight. ( If you do not like the syrup to be strong in flavour, soak the roots in just plain water)

Filter the roots marinated in the water with a fine cloth folded three to four times, so as to remove even the fine particles. 

Add sugar to the filtered nannari water and put it on medium heat and stir to dissolve the sugar.

Let it boil until the syrup reaches one string consistency ( or just sticky consistency), add the lemon juice and continue to boil for a few more minutes ( approximately 5 minutes) and remove from heat.

Cool, filter the syrup ( honey like consistency) into jars and store in a refrigerator.

To make Nannari sherbet
Nannari Syrup       a few tbsp
Water                  to taste
Lemon juice           a few drops
Ice cubes

Take a few tablespoons of the syrup in a serving glass, add enough water to taste, a few drops of lemon juice, some ice cubes, stir and drink.

To make creamy nannari

Cream                    200 ml

Powdered Sugar        2 Tbsp

Nannari Syrup          3 Tbsp (or to taste)

Lemon zest              1/2 tsp

Walnuts 

Method

Whip Cream+ sugar until thick and soft peaks form.

Stir in lemon zest and the syrup.

Stir in some chopped walnuts, transfer to cups and chill overnight or until set.

Sprinkle a little lemon zest and arrange whole walnuts on the cream and serve.

Nannari Ice cream
Fresh Cream            200 gms
Condensed Milk        100 gms
Lemon Juice             to taste
Nannari syrup          to taste
Walnuts and lemon zest

Method
 To make ice-cream combine fresh cream and the condensed milk and whip until soft and frothy. Stir in lemon juice, nannari syrup, chopped walnuts and the lemon zest. Transfer to a container, close tightly and freeze till set. 

The ingredients are almost the same for both the recipes but the texture and the taste differs from one another. While the creamy nannari tastes more like a spongy mousse and easy to prepare, the ice cream tastes soft, creamy and cold that melts instantly in the mouth with a lemony zing.

                                                                    Nannari roots with and without the white part.

Thattu Idly

                            A little more than a decade ago, when I was offered ramasseri idlies brought from kerala, I hesitated to eat and said, 'these idlies are a day old and must be stale', but when I was told these idlies are different as they stay good even after a week and people carry these idlies even when travelling abroad, to my surprise, a few morsel of the idly changed my opinion immediately! Ramasseri idlies are famous not without a reason, as they were truly delicious and with that idly podi, all of us lost count on how many idlies we ate. Soon it became a habit.

                      Thus my decade long acquaintance with those famous idlies prompted me to make these thattu idlies which are just our regular idlies with a soft texture and I have used the same technique to cook these idlies by steaming them over an earthen ware. Except for the shape and the technique there is nothing similar to ramasseri idlies. But my thattu idlies are special in its own way, one because they can also be made using barnyard millet and two because they taste delicious with a wonderful soft texture. Served with a spicy podi these thattu idlies will be absolutely delicious.

Ingredients
Idly rice         2 cups
Urad Dal       1/2 cup
Salt              1 1/4 tsp

Method
Rinse and Soak idly rice and Urad dal separately for about 3 hours.
Grind the urad dal to a fine smooth batter like that of butter consistency.
Grind the rice separately and mix the two batters, stir in salt, close and leave it to ferment overnight.
The consistency of the batter should not be too thick. Add water if necessary, such that the batter spreads on its own in the plate when titled ( but not too thin).
Take two perforated idiappam plates, line the plates with wet cotton cloth (preferably ghaada cloth), pour a good ladle full of the batter and tilt the plate slightly to spread the batter. ( do not spread with the ladle)
Place the plate over a clay pot ( Paanai), quarter filled with water, cover the idly with a lid and steam cook for about 4 minutes on low-med heat.
Remove the plate and let it stand for a minute or so, turn it upside down over a serving plate and peal the cloth gently from the idly( if the cloth is dry and sticking to the idly, sprinkle a little water over the cloth and then peal).

Keep two plates and use them alternately as and when the idlies are cooked.
Repeat the same for the rest of the batter.
You can also use all the plates in the idiappam stand and make many idlies in one go or make one by one like I do.
Serve the idlies with Spicy Idly Podi.

Note:
Thattu idlies can be made using millet also, the idlies in the picture were made using barnyard millet.
Depending upon the availability, I make both rice thattu idly and millet thattu idly.
The cloth used for making idlies should be wet before the batter is poured.
The softness of the idly ( any idly ) depends on how well the urad dal is ground. It does not matter if the rice is ground roughly but the urad dal should be ground to a nice smooth batter. ( If grinding in a mixie jar you will see a lot of air bubbles in the batter )
The same batter can be used to make regular idlies too.
Though using cloth to steam the idlies is an option, I would strongly suggest to use cloth to make idlies, as it gives a lot of difference to the idlies made using them.

Verkadalai Arisi Roti, Thakkali Kaara Chutney - Groundnut Rice Roti, Spicy Tomato Chutney

                    A jar of rice flour will always come handy when you want to fix something quick to snack on. Verkadalai arisi roti is a quick fix breakfast or dinner recipe that can be done in no time. The recipe for the chutney is the spicy dip that you get along with the 'molaga baji' in the marina beach. These roties make a filling snack too for the late afternoon cravings and since there aren't any fancy ingredients in the recipe, I guess it will not be that difficult for everyone to give it a try. 

Ingredients 

Rice Flour                     1 cup (roasted) + 1/4 cup

Roasted groundnut         3/4 cup

Dried Red chilly               1

White Sesame Seeds      1 1/2 tsp

Water                         about a cup

Salt                             1 tsp

Method

Combine roasted peanuts and dried red chilly and blend to a fine powder.

Add this to the rice flour, add in salt, sesame seeds and mix well.

Add hot water and mix to form a dough.

Rest the dough for a few minutes and knead until soft.

Divide into balls, flatten using palm by flipping from one hand to another or roll into a thin circle by placing in between two plastic sheets.

Cook on a tawa on both sides until done.

Serve with spicy chutney or just jaggery.

( use the 1/4 cup of rice flour to knead the dough if it is sticky and to roll them into roti)

Spicy Tomato Chutney

Onion                    1 medium

Tomato                  1 large

Green chilly             1 large

Coriander leaves      1 tbsp

Salt 

Method

Heat 2 tsp of oil and saute roughly chopped onion.

Add chopped tomato and green chilly and stir.

Add chopped coriander leaves and stir until the tomato breaks down.

Add salt and blend to a paste when cool.

Temper the chutney with mustard+urad dal and curry leaves in 2 tsp of oil and serve. Goes well with idly and dosa too.

Note:
Can use roasted Sorghum flour instead of rice flour or a mixture of sorghum and rice flour.
When I say rice flour or for that matter any flour ( like millet flour - ragi, cholam, kambu or wheat), I always mean home made flour and never store bought flour.

Varagarisi Vengaya Vadaam - Kodo Millet Onion Fryums

                When I made these vadaams last January, it was still winter and it was hot. Lately, I am beginning to see no difference between summer and winter in this part of the earth. A few years back, I was teased by people around for wrapping myself in sweaters during winter,  but now, I don't remember pulling them out even once in the recent years. Now that the heat is on, Vadaams and pickles will be the talk of every household and almost every one of us will have a childhood memory of accompanying our mothers and grandmothers to the terrace while they made the vadaams, licking the cooked batter ignoring their warnings that it will cause stomach ache. The best part was, nibbling on the salty, spiced, half dried and half wet vadaams, that tasted more delicious even in its raw form.

    

                   It's a crazy obsession among south Indian women that no matter how old they are or ailing, they insist on making vadaams and pickles all by their hand and I still wonder how my grandmother was able to stir up a huge quantity of vadaam batter every year without complaining. Even though it involved braving the scorching heat, above the head and below the feet, this laborious task was performed with perfection, an amazing dedication and a unique quality that I see and admire in every grandmother on earth. I guess it their years of experience and the desire to impart their knowledge and skills on the next generation, that prevents them from sitting idle.

                       The following recipe for the vadaam is from one such old lady, who happens to be my better half's aunt from palayankottai. Inspired by her rice and onion vadaams that she brings us every year and since it tasted a little different and delicious than the vadaams made back home ( the addition of onion to the vadaam makes the difference) I adapted the recipe to use kodo millet to make these vadaams. 

Ingredients

Kodo millet           1 cup

Cumin                 1/2 tsp

Salt                     1 tsp

Asafoetida            1/4 tsp

Shallots                5

Dried red chilly       1

Water                 3 cups

Method

Rinse and soak kodo millet for 3 hours.

Grind the millet to a fine batter and leave it to  ferment overnight.

The next morning make a paste of cumin+Shallots+Red chilly and add to the fermented batter.

Stir in salt, asafoetida and 1 1/2 cup of water and cook on low heat stirring continuously.

When the batter begins to thicken add the remaining water and continue to stir until the batter is cooked and appears glossy. ( It is cooked when the batter does not stick to wet fingers when touched)

Spread a tbsp of the cooked batter on a greased banana leaf placed on a perforated plate and steam cook for about 4-5 minutes on medium heat. 

Peal the vadaam gently from the leaf and spread on a baking paper and leave it to dry. Usually a day of sun drying is sufficient. Mine took 3 days, because I made them last January when there wasn't much heat.

Note:

If the batter by any chance turns into lumps, run the batter in a mixie jar until smooth and continue to cook till done.

If the vadaams are not properly steamed it will stick to the baking paper, so make sure it is well cooked. 

You can follow the recipe using rice or any other minor millet.

Poached Apple In Strawberry Sauce

                 When I pulled out the box of strawberries and some bananas, all I had in my mind was to fix a drink for myself. But it so happened that, looking at the gorgeous ripe and dark red berries,  I didn't want it to blend them to a usual frothy drink, instead, wanting to make something exotic with my last batch of strawberries from this season; this beautiful was dessert was born without a second thought and it hardly took 20 minutes to fix this simple dessert. Sounds good?

                   Since, I was making this for myself, I used one large apple, but in the end, three spoons dug in and I was left with only the core and was scrapping every last edible bit from the apple. If you can manage to find some good strawberries now, try the recipe, every kid and every adult will love it! The poached apple, looking like a glossy candy apple, masquerades as one giant strawberry with a sweet and the tart taste of the fruit. Served warm with cold ice cream, the duo embrace each other and provides an ethereal experience, making it a perfect dessert. 

Ingredients

Strawberry    1 cup

Apple           1 large or 2 small

Sugar           1/4 cup

Water          1/4 cup

Cloves          2

Cinnamon     1

Star anise      1

Zest of an     orange

Method

Take strawberries, sugar and water in a pan, throw in cloves, cinnamon, star anise and the grated orange zest .

Bring to a boil, place the peeled apples in the sauce, close the pan and cook on low heat for about 5 minutes, turn the apple upside down and cook for another 5 minutes. 

Check if the apples are cooked and remove from the sauce. 

Raise the heat and stir until the strawberry sauce thickens.

Drizzle the sauce over the apple and serve with ice cream.

 Note:
You can add or skip spices of your choice.
I used Himalayan red apple and served with "fruits and cream" ice-cream.