Menthi Sankati / Venthaya Kali / Fenugreek & Rice Balls

Winters are depressing, while Mother Nature laughs at us with loads of snow and chilly wind gusts, requiring every single soul to pack each and every part of the body; letting nothing exposed, turning a beautiful girl into a pile of yarn and fleece. Among all these there is a thing that keeps one warm and wanting winters to come - yeah the NFL and of all the Superbowl... Pretty much nearing the end of the NFL season, what I realized was; one - the patriots were nowhere close and two - to ease the tension we had munched on loads of crap!!! Both are painful, and the loads of crap naturally does one thing increase the BMI and ultimately eat well to be well...

mmm, so I thought why not start with breakfast which reminded me of the recipe that my MIL taught me... She knows that I always fall back on Fenugreek to keep my body cool and hence she made Menthi Sankati - in Telugu; for breakfast while she was visiting us... I asked her how could one take so much sweet in the morning, she smiled and said "well you have cereals, muffins, pancakes etc which is just nothing but sweet in the morning while Menthi Sankati is healthy, try it once and if you dont like then let go of it". That sounded so agreeable, but things changed I simply liked it, now to the recipe...



Ingredients:

Par Boiled Rice - 1 cup (Idly Rice)
Fenugreek Seeds - 1/8 cup
Sugarcane - 3/4 cup
Sesame Oil - 3 tbsps
Water as required

Method:

1. Wash and soak Rice nd Fenugreek Seeds Separately in enough Water for about 3-4 hrs or overnight.
2. Grind the Fenugreek Seeds with some Water, then add Rice and make a fine paste. If you have added more Water to the dough dont worry the cooking definitely needs more Water.
3. Take 2 cups of Water and heat it with Sugarcane once dissolved let it cool and filter removing the sediments off.
4. In a deep non stick pan heat 2 tbsps of Oil and pour the Rice dough and keep stirring it with an wooden spatula not letting any lumps to form, keep the flame on low or medium.



5. In about 2 mins the dough will start to thicken add the Sugarcane Water + 1 1/2 cups of Water little by little, while stirring all the time.
6. Now put down the flame and you can rest your arms, but ensure no lumps are formed.
7. In about 10-15 mins the dough will leave the corners of the vessel and form a ball, do not stop stirring continue until you are able to turn the ball upside down it might take another 15-20 mins, cook on low flame.
8. Once the entire ball becomes glossy add the remaining 1 tbsp of Oil and mix well and remove from flame.
9. When warm make them into desired shapes like balls or you can have it like halwa (Indian Sweet).

Serve with: Sesame Oil & Sugarcane

P.S.:

1. Since 1/8 cup of Fenugreek Seeds are used the kali/sankati will give a slight Fenugreek taste and smell. But it helps a great deal in reducing the body heat.
2. Cooking in a mud vessel will enhance the flavor and aroma.


I am sending my Menthi Sankati to:

Silpa's APS - Rice Event



SE's Cooking With Seeds