Aval Vellam Thengai Payasam

Another Aval recipe - AVAL THENGAI PAYASAM.

Ingredients:

1.Aval.......1/2 cup

2.Grated coconut......1/4 cup

3.Jaggery/vellam........ 1/4 cup +1 tbsp

4.Cardamon powder....1 tsp

5.Ghee.....1 tbsp

6.Dry grapes and cashews few for garnishing.

7.Milk...1/2 cup

Procedure:

1.Grind aval and coconut with water to a coarse paste.

2.Mix milk and 11/2 cup of water to the paste and bring it to boil.Keep stirring until the aval cooks completely.

3.Once the aval is done add jaggery,cardamon powder and ghee fried grapes n cashews.

4.Cook for 5 more minutes and switch off the flame.

5.Serve it hot or cold.

Jaggery is rich in iron.Coconut has good fat in it,heals ulcer problem.Beaten rice has good source of fibre.Overall its a very healthy and tasty recipe :)

Gulab Jamun

Happy new year friends...Its been a very long time since i blogged!!I'm gonna start tis year with everyone's all time favourite recipe 'GULAB JAMUN'.I guess everyone knws the procedure well,tis is from my side to all the beginners!!!Come lets start....

Ingredients:

FOR MAKING JAMUN

1.Gulab jamun mix-500 gms

2.Water-less than 100 gms

3.Oil to fry

 Procedure:

1.Mix 1/4 portion of water to 1 portion of mix(gulad jamun powder).Mix well and allow it to rest.

Note:While mixing the flour,apply lil oil/ghee to the hands to avoid stickiness.

2.Make small balls out of it.

3.Heat oil in low flame,fry them till golden yellow.Drain excess oil and keep them aside.

4.Add the fried Jamuns into the hot sugar syrup.Wait till they are completely soaked.

5.Serve them hot or with any flavoured ice cream :)

For Making SUGAR SYRUP

1.500 gms pack needs 800gms of sugar and equal volume of water.

2.Cardamon powder......1 tsp

Procedure:

Mix water n sugar well,so tat sugar dissolve completely.Then heat it for 15 minutes.Add cardamon powder before switching off the flame.

Rava Kesari

Me and my mother-in-law made this sweet together for our guest,few weeks back.There was no tension about the measure or the consistency as she was beside me LOL :)!!It was great cooking with her...then here comes the recipe :)

Ingredients:

1.Upma Rava............1 cup

2.Water..............2 cups

3.Sugar..............1 3/4 cup

4.Elachi powder...........1 tsp

5.Cashew nuts and dried grapes.........few

6.Ghee....................1 cup

7.Food color(orange/red/sunset yellow)......a pinch,dissolved in water.

Procedure:

1.Place a kadai on flame,roast cashews and dried grapes with a tsp of ghee and keep it aside.

2.In the same kadai, roast rava dryly until the raw smell leaves also wait for slight color change.Then transfer the rava to a plate and let it cool down.

3.Now place the same kadai on flame,add 2 cups of water and let it boil,then add the roasted rava slowly.Keep it stirring to avoid lumps.

4.Once the rava is cooked,add sugar and stir well.Add food color and then a 1/4 cup of ghee when all the sugar is dissolved.

5.Keep stirring to avoid burning,add the remaining ghee in another 5 minutes.Add the roasted cashews and grapes and atlast the elachi powder.Mix well so that the ingredients mix well together.

6.When the rava mixture becomes non-sticky(Note:Take a spoon full of kesari and roll between ur fingers,if u get a  non-sticky ball,then its ready),the kesari is ready.

7.Serve hot with any savory.Njoyy ur day :)

6.Stir well so that 

Vella Seedai

A Krishna Jayanthi special !!

Ingredients :

1.Rice(sona masoori)........1 cup

2.Jaggery...........3/4 cup

3.Fried Urad dhal four......2 tbsp or channa dhal powder(potukadalai podi).....1/4 cup

4.Dried coconut pieces.... 2 tbsp

5.Cardamom powder............1/2 tsp

6.Black sesame seeds..........1 tbsp

7.Butter.....2 tbsp

Procedure:

1.Soak rice in water for about 2 hours.Drain and dry it in shadow (or under fan) for 1 hour.

2.Grind the wet rice to 3/4 th consistency(without water).

3.Fry this powder dryly in kadai for 3 to 5 minutes.

4.In a pan heat jaggery with 1/4 cup of water,allow tis to boil for few minutes,when it starts to thicken,add in all the ingredients,and stir constantly until it turns out to be a soft ball(this stage is usually reached in 3 or 5 minutes).

5.Now,let this cool down,and later make small balls out of the mixture,deep fry them in oil.Always do this in low or medium low flame.Take them out of oil,once they turn golden brown.

This vella seedai is mostly prepared as prasadha during janmashtami and sometimes during semantham function.Try tis out once!!

Moong Dhal Ladoo

I love ladoos a lot,especially the one made of moong dhal and bansi rava.As always Moong dhal ladoo is my all time fav.This is not my first time,i've prepared this many times before with my mother,for diwali.This is a quite easy,interesting and less time consuming recipe.I would say even a beginner can give it a try,with no worries.

Ok here comes my golden laddoos....:-)

Ingredients:

1.Moong dhal - 1 cup

2.Sugar - 3/4 cup

3.Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

4.Golden fried cashew (broken) - less than quater cup

5.Ghee(melted,hot) - 1/2 to3/4 cup

Preparation:

1.Fry moong dhal on a dry hot pan,until golden-brown.

2.Grind moong dhal and sugar SEPARATELY to a fine powder.

3.Take a big bowl mix powdered sugar,moong dhal,cardamon powder and cashew together.Give it a gud mix, until all the ingredients blend well.

4.Heat ghee until a lite smoke comes out.Pour this ghee on to the mix.Stir it with a wooden spatula or with any flat spoon.

5.Before it cools down,take a hand full of mix,hold it tightly and tightly,try to make it to a round shape(follow the same procedure as u do for other ladoos).

6.Once cooled down,store them in a air tight container.Consume within a week or 10 days.

Note:1.Try to make ladoos as soon as possible,"before the heat goes down".Bcoz,once the mix becomes warm,the flour wont stick together and it will break so easily.
         2.If u r making in a large quantity,then divide the flour(mix) into small portions and heat ghee for each portion separately. 

 This hardly takes 1 to 2 hours to make.If u already have moong dhal powder ready,then it wont even take an hour.The highlight is the crunchy part,cashews in between adds a great taste.

Moong dhal is known to be the queen of dhals,as it contains more protein than any other cereals/dhal.So njoy having this extremely good sweet and stay healthy :-)

Ashoka Halwa /Moong dhal Halwa

Ashoka halwa is one of my fav sweet,n i will proudly say that my mom is an expert in doing this.The measures & method are given by her(not me).So even a beginner can make it easily.I bet u that,the texture n taste will be great.Try it out once.

Successfully did halwa yesterday.Halwa came out very well and here i've posted the snaps!!

Ingredients:

1.Moong dhal - 1 cup(say 150 gms)

2.Sugar - 2 cups(300 gms)

3.Ghee - 1 1/2 cups

4.Cardamon powder - 1 tsp

5.Fried cashew nuts - 15 - 20 nos

6.Food color - any(optional) dissolve 1/2 a pinch of color in water.

7.4 tbsps of wheat flour(roast the flour thoroughly till the color changes lightly).

Method / Procedure:

1.Firstly,fry the moong dhal dryly until it becomes light golden yellow.

2.Soak it for 15 mins.Steam cook this with 3 cups of water.Switch off the flame,once it is done.

3.Add all the sugar to the steam cooked dhal.Mix it fastly.Dhal mashes well n sugar dissolves immediately due to heat.

4.Now place a thick bottomed kadai on flame,add a spoon of ghee,pour in the dhal-sugar mixture and keep on stirring.If u want u can add any food color(water solved)after a while.

5.Keep on adding ghee,in a 5 mins interval.Always do it in a low flame.

6.Almost after 15 minutes,the mixture becomes non-sticky.At this stage add cardamon powder n fried cashew nuts.

7.U don hav to wait until the ghee separates out.The non-stickyness is the halwa's right consistency,the halwa has to come like a ball,when it is rolled between ur thumb n fore finger.So switch off the flame at the right time.

8.Transfer the halwa to a greased plate.

9.Have it hot / cold.

This is little time consuming,but the taste really worth it :-) !!!

This is a famous recipe/sweet of thanjavur district(tamil nadu).Also,this wont be ghee dripping,like the other halwas we purchase outside.Consume it with in 3 to 4 days.Can be stored in refrigerator.Enjoy this protein rich sweet n have a gr8 day!!

Paal Paayasam

This is one of my favorite paal payasam which my mom used to prepare often for festivals/poojas.I should say my mom is a professional in this "payasam area".She has made more than 8 varities of paal payasam,each has different taste and aroma... I'm here posting one of her variety (payasam), uniquely prepared in my mom's way!!

Ingredients:(serving-2 persons)

1.Boiled Milk.......... 250 ml

2.Sugar............ 150 gms

3.Soaked Rice............. 5 Table spoons

4.Soaked Channa dhal(besan)................. 3 table spoons

5.Cardamon................. 5 nos

6.Cashew,Raisins.............. 10 nos

7.Ghee................... 1 table spoon

8.Grated coconut.................. 50 gms

9.Water.........2 cups

Procedure:
1.Soak rice and channa dhal separately for 1 hr.

2.Grind soaked rice,grated coconut not to a fine paste(rice should be in rava(sooji) /broken consistency,add 2 -4 spoons of water)

3.Place a medium sized bowl on stove,add 1 table spoon of ghee,then add cashew & raisins to it.
Add boiled milk to the golden fried cashew.After 2 minutes add the grounded paste and soaked channa to the milk and stir continously.Add 1 or 1 1/4 tea cups of water to it.

4.Let the Paayasam to boil for 8-10 minutes,then add 170gms of sugar to it,allow it to boil for 10 more minutes.Atlast add cardamon powder to it.

5.Sweet Paal paayasam is ready.

Note:
Before adding sugar,make sure that the grounded rice is fully boiled,bcoz after adding sugar,the uncooked rice will not get fully boiled.

Enjoy the recipe.

THANX.

Rava Kesari

Ingredients:

Serving 2 persons

1.Upma Rava - 1 cup

2.Water - 2 cups

3.Sugar - 3/4 cup

4.Ghee - between 1/4 and 1/2 cup

5.Food color (Red/Orange/Yellow) - a pinch

6.Cardamon Powder- 1/2 spoon

5.Raisins and cashew few



Procedure:

1.Place a thick kadai on flame,pour a spoon of ghee,fry raisins and cashew nuts till golden.

2.Keep them aside.Now fry rava in the same kadai dryly, till the raw smell goes off.Again keep this in separate plate and let it cool down.

3.Place the kadai on flame,add 2 cups of water and allow this to boil.Now add the roasted rava to that slowly.

4.Let this boil for 5 to 7 minutes till the rava gets completely cooked(keep on stirring the mix,otherwise lumps may be formed).Now add sugar to this and mix well.

5.Dissolve a pinch of food color in a spoon of water,now add the color liquid to the rava mixture.Stir well.

6.Add ghee side by side.Keep on mixing the kesari.Atlast add roasted raisins & cashews and cardomon powder.

7.Mix well.The kesari should not stick to the kadai,it should come out like a ball,that is the right consistency.

Note:If u didn't get that consistency,then the ghee u've added is not sufficient,hence add adequate ghee and mix nicely.

8.Now the kesari is ready to serve.This is the most easiest sweet to make, also can be made in few minutes.

_displayNameOrEmail_ - _time_ - Remove

_text_

Cashew Burfi

Ingredients:

1.Cashew nuts........100gms

2.Powdered sugar......100 gms

3.Milk........1/4 cup

4.Cardamon powder.....1/2 spoon

5. Little saffron(optional)

6.Ghee.....50 gms

7.Maida flour............. less than 1/4 cup



Procedure:

1.Soak cashew for 30 mins in hot water and grind nuts to a paste.

2.Place a thick bottomed kadai on flame.Add milk and let it boil for 10 minutes.

3.Later add cashew paste and maida flour,stir well.Now lower the flame to avoid burning.

4.Stir constantly,when it starts sticking to the kadai, add sugar.

5.Now it takes more than 20 minutes to harden.Add little ghee in little intervals.

5.Add cardamon powder & saffron.Stir well.Switch off the flame,when it becomes non-sticky( kova state).

6.Spread this on a ghee-greased plate evenly.Make pieces of desired shape once it is cooled down.

_displayNameOrEmail_ - _time_ - Remove

_text_