Rava (Orange) Kesari

The most simplest recipe ever. Hardly takes 10-15 minutes to prepare. You require only 4 ingredients. I wanted the Kesari to be in yellow, I think my mom added orange color to it (hmph!). Let my pictures speak this time. You can read the captions below every pictures and zoom into them.

Preparation time:- 15 minutes

Ingredients:-

1. Powdered Rava- 1 cup – 4-8 servings
2. Sugar – 2 cups
3. Ghee – 3 tsp
4. Water- 1 cup

• 

  Heat the pan with Ghee

• 

  Add the rava, roast them well and keep them aside.

Roast the Rava with Ghee

• 

  Remove the roasted rava content and Boil 1 cup water in the same kadai. Add 2 pinches of the color of your choice.

Add the roasted rava content to the boiling water and keep stirring continuously.

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  2 cups of sugar

• 

  Add them to the Kadai content and mix well. Ensure no lumps are formed.

Keep mixing the well and ensure no lumps form.

Add Cardamom powder and mix well.

Kesari ready! You can roast some cashews, raisins with ghee and splatter them on top!

Milk Peda/Doodh Peda

Doodh Peda has always been my favorite sweet ever since my childhood in Vizag. There used to be a particular shop (forgot the name!) in Vizag, where my dad used to buy a box full of these cute peda’s with flower shaped in between, almost once in every two weeks. Those days have gone by. Today we are all isolated with so much space and time to think and refresh those memories. My mom and I, decided to try our luck with this Peda. The result turned to be really good, not so soft, because we didn’t use the full cream milk. So, to get better results, please use full cream milk or you can directly use the khoa. You don’t need much ingredients for this- just 3 ingredients sweet and a lot of time to prepare and settle.

Preparation time :- 45 minutes

Cooling/Settling time :- 2 hours

Ingredients:-

1. Pasteurized milk- 1.5 litres
2. Sugar-1/4 cup
3. Cardamom- powdered-1/4
4. With more love.

• In a large kadai take 5 cups of milk. use good quality (full-cream) milk for a more creamy texture.
• Stir occasionally to prevent milk from sticking to the bottom and burning.
• Get the milk to a boil.
• Stir continuously, till the milk thickens.
• After sometime, the milk turns creamy texture.
• Keep stirring on low flame, to prevent milk from burning, to turn to paste like consistency.
• Add ¼ cup sugar. add more sugar if you prefer.
• Keep stirring till the sugar dissolves.
• Add 1/4 cardamom powder and keep stirring.
• Continue to cook on low flame until the mixture separates from the pan and holds shape.
• Cool the content for minimum 2 hours. Take a some and size to ball shape and design using the mould. You can also decorate using a toothpick or fork.
• Store doodh peda or milk peda in an airtight container and it will last for about a week.

• 

  Boil the milk. Keep Stirring to bring dowwn to creamy and paste consistency.

• 

  Add 1/4th cups of sugar to the milk

• 

  Don’t stop stirring. Continue.

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  Keep on low flame and keep stirring. Make sure the bottom doesn’t get burnt.

• 

  Cool down after transfering it to a plate

• 

  Shape them and cool them for atleast 2 hours for better results.

Keep stirring.

Don’t stop, Keep stirring 🙂

Almost there !!

Just one last time. Keep stirring as you can see the milk has turned yellow. Add sugar and Keep stirring!!

Oue version of Milk Peda 🙂

NOTE:-

1. Use Full fat /cream milk for better results.
2. You can also use khoa to reduce few steps and continue adding the sugar.
3. There is no shortcut method, only continuous stirring will give you best results.
4. You can use skim milk, but you may end up getting fewer milk solids with the same quantity of milk. You will have to double up the quantity of the milk.
5. Add any choice of flavours including the artificial flavours like vanilla, chocolate and even kesar.
6. Lastly, do not attempt to increase the flame and it has to be one low to medium flame. If you do so to evaporate at high flame, you may end up burning the content and the pan.

Sweet Boli- Sweet Flatbread

Boli looks similar to the Chappati’s/ Roti’s that we usually have. Boli prepared with channa dal/ split chickpeas and Jaggery.

Preparation time:- 25 minutes

Ingredients Required:-

1. Chickpeas/Chanadal- 1 cup

2. Shredded Coconut- 3/4th cup

3. Jaggery- 1 cup

4. Maida- 1 cup

5. Turmeric- 1 spoon

6. More love

For the filling

-Soak the chickpeas overnight. Filter the chickpeas and roast them well with shredded coconut, till they turn golden brown.

– Grind in a processor.

– In a Kadai, add some ghee. Mix the powdered chickpeas and make it to a paste consistency. Let it cool.

For Boli

– Meanwhile, in a vessel add 1 cup maida and turmeric. Keep adding water till they are soft in consistency and shaped in a round ball. Keep adding oil.

– Take some banana leaves, toss each leaf back and forth on the heated pan.

– Spread the boli content on the leaf and let it heat for some time.

– Add the filling in between. Roll and flatten the content till the filling is spread evenly. Keep tossing until they turn golden in color.

NOTE: Have it hot with ghee or butter spread on top. You can also dip this in hot milk.

Akaravadisal-Sweet Milk Pongal

Akkaravadisal is a sweet dish similar to sakkarai Pongal but prepared with rice, jaggery, and milk. The rice cooked in milk is a typical Tamil Brahmin recipe (Iyengar recipe) and made during the Pongal festival. (During the process, I completely forgot to click pictures, kindly excuse)

Preparation Time:- 20 minutes

Ingredients Required:-

1. Raw Rice- 1 tumbler

2. Split Yellow Moong dhal- 1/3 tumbler

3. Ghee – 3/4 tumbler

4. Milk- 4 tumblers

5. Jaggery- 2 and 1/2 tumblers

6. More love

– Roast the rice and split yellow moong dal in a pan until they turn golden brown. 

– Pressure cook the content mentioned above with three tumblers of milk up to 4 whistles. 

– Mix and mash the material to a thick consistency. 

– Meanwhile, Heat the jaggery in water and let it boil.

– 1 Tumbler of ghee to be mixed with the jaggery content and combine this with the pressure cooked items. 

– Season with saffron, raisins, and roasted cashews. 

– Serve hot with more love.

Roasted Bengal Gram Ladoo – Pottu Kadalai Urundai

The most easiest ladoo prepared within 30 minutes without any hassles. The ingredients are lesser in numbers, and one can vouch for being one of the healthiest Ladoo too.

Preparation Time:- 25 minutes

Ingredients Required:-

1. Roasted Bengal Gram Dhal/ Potu Kadalai- 1cup

2. Sugar – 1 cup

3. Ghee – 1/3 cup

4. Cashews (Powdered)- 10 pieces

5. Cardamom- 2 pinch

– Powder Roasted Bengal Gram+Sugar+Cardamom+ Cashews, as per the mentioned quantity.

– Heat the Ghee in a Kadai. Once it is slightly warm, pour and mix it with the content as discussed above.

– Mix well and mould them into a ball shape. Ensure they don’t break apart.

NOTE:- You can substitute sugar with honey or Jaggery. The ladoo can be stored in ambient temperature for two weeks.

Kozhukattai- South Indian Modak

During every birthday of Lord Sri Ganesha, in India we prepare Kozhukattai and make it as an offering to him.
It is supposed to be one of the favourite dishes of Lord Ganesh.
In Tamilnadu, it is called as Kozhukattai whereas in other parts of India it is known as Modhakam.
Mostly, this is prepared mainly from rice and in some parts it is prepared from wheat or maida.
In Kozhukattai , there is a sweet and a salt variety.
Have you ever wondered how these are made? Last year, during Vinayaka Chaturthi I got a chance to see how they prepare it.(Yes! It took me one whole year to write a post about it!)

INGREDIENTS REQUIRED

·       Rice                –                 1 cup 
·       Coconut          –                  one
·       Jaggery           –                  150g
·       Cardamom Powder     –        ½ tsp
                                                   

Dough Paste

Puranam

How to Prepare:

• Soak rice in 2 cups of water and keep it aside for an hour.
• After one hour, completely squeeze the water out from the bowl, powder it.
•  Boil 1 and ½ cups of water.
•  Add 2tsp of gingerly oil.
• Mix the powder in the boiling water and make soft-smooth dough.
•  Keep it aside by closing in a wet cloth.
• Meanwhile, grate the coconut.
• Add Jaggery and the grated coconut into the frying pan.
• Mix them till it turns golden brown and add a pinch of cardamom. This is called “Puranam” for making Kozhukattai.
• Now, Keep this “Puranam” aside and let it cool.

Dough Balls

Coming to the dough part, make them into small balls as shown in the picture.

(Picture above shows the small balls of the dough)

• Now, from each ball make a small cup like shapes.
• After the “Puranam” has cooled down, according to the size of the cups (Dough) keep the “Puranam” inside the cup-dough and close it.
• Here comes the final part of the preparation, keep these uncooked Kozhukattai’s inside the cooker and steam it for 10 minutes.

HAPPY Kozhukattai-ying!!!