Suiyan

A recipe that I searched on net and couldn't find any hint of this delicacy in any site. Not sure if I searched the right name or may be its in another name on the web. This is a sweet usually offered as a neivedyam during festivals. 

During the navarathri that just went by, I learnt and made it for the first time and it turned out delicious. It's very simple and easy to make.

Prep time: 3 hours                   

Cook time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

For batter

1/2 cup raw rice

1/2 cup urad dhal

A pinch of salt

For filling:

4 tbsp grated jaggery

1 tsp ghee (clarified butter)

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/4tsp ellaichi powder

Water to dissolve the jaggery

Oil for deep frying

Preparation:

- Wash and soak the rice and dhal together for 3 hours.

- Grind the above into a thick batter adding little salt to taste. Should be lose enough to coat the filling well. Do not add water like you would for idli or dosa batter. Should be of thicker consistency than that.

- In a kadai, add the jaggery and pour little water to cover the jaggery. Wait for the jaggery to dissolve well and come to a boil.

- now add the coconut and the elaichi powder and cook until they come together.

- Add ghee and switch off heat. Let the filling cool to make them into dumplings.

- Once oil is heated, make small dumplings of the filling, dip in the batter and add to oil for frying.

- Remove from oil when golden brown.

- Tasty suiyan is ready to serve😀

Carrot Halwa - Gajar ka Halwa

Thank goodness for blog hop wednesdays:-) It really pushes me to sit with the system to try and post a recipe. I knew I had to work for the bloghop but somehow it slipped my mind until this afternoon when I hopped into my partners blog for the week. I had to pick and try a recipe from the blog "Palakkad Chamayal" of Kaveri. She has got a very simple and neat blog with lovely pics and briefly explained recipes:-)! I loved the simplicity of her recipes and instantly zeroed in on Gajar Ka Halwa:-)

It has been a long time since I tried some desserts and we had bought these "Delhi Carrots" which are available in Chennai only during Dec-Jan! For some reason these are referred as Delhi Carrots here in Chennai. For one I know they are available in plenty in Delhi! They taste really sweet by themselves than the ordinary carrots and suit best for making halwa or kheer.

Inspired by the very simple steps on Kaveris blog, I instantly set upon preparing the dessert. Should I say it turned out awesome....look for urself:-) They were just out of the world. A very simple and easy to make dessert that can please everyone at the table.

Ingredients:

- 4 cups shredded carrots
- 2 cups milk
- 1 or 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp elaichi or cardamom powder
- 2 tbsp ghee, divided
- Few cashews and raisins

Source: Palakkad Chamayal

Prep time: 20 mins           Cook time: 1 hour

Preparation:

- Peel and shred the carrots finely.

- Heat a deep or wide pan and add the ghee. To this add the shredded carrots and fry it for 10 minutes.

- To the fried carrots add the milk and let the carrots cook till the milk is completely absorbed and reduces fully. This may take approx 30 minutes in low flame.

- When the milk has fully evaporated, add the sugar and cardamom powder.

- Now, the carrots will loosen up again. Cook it for a further 10 minutes till the sugar is absorbed into the carrots and the halwa comes together without sticking to the sides of the pan.

- Fry the cashews and raisins in some ghee and garnish the halwa. Serve hot for best taste!

Sending the recipe to Blog hop Wednesdays hosted by Radhika of Tickling Palates

Sending the recipe to Jingle all the way at Edible Entertainment

Apples- Almonds-Cashews Milk Halwa

The blogosphere is raining with sweets and savouries for Diwali! Being a part of it and being in the mid of the most happening city for Diwali, it would be a shame to not post a single recipe on Diwali specials! With best wishes for a happy and prosperous Diwali here is a recipe using the forbidden fruit and milk. I have posted a simpler microwave version of this recipe using Ricotta cheese & Apple. This recipe calls for a lot of time and patience but the end result is worth all the effort:-) One among many of my MIL's specialty recipes! So go on and give it a try but make sure you have another extra hand to help you with the process.....this recipe calls for continuous stirring of the ingredients:-)

Ingredients:
- 750 ml milk( 3 cups + 2 tbsp)
- 1-1/2 cups sugar (adjust as per choice)
- 1 tin sweetened condensed milk (I used 400gm amul condensed milk)
- 3 apples
- 3 tbsp almonds
- 2 tbsp cashews
- 1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
- few saffron strands soaked in 1 tsp of milk

Prep time: 30 mins           Cook time: 2 hours

Preparation:

- Soak the almonds and cashews separately in warm water for 30 minutes.

After soaking

 - In a large deep pan, heat the milk and once it comes to a boil, lower the heat and let the milk simmer for 30 minutes until it reduces to half the quantity.
- Keep stirring the milk every 5 minutes to make sure it does not coat and stick to the pan.
- Meanwhile, peel the skin of the almonds and apples. Core the apples and cut them into big pieces.

- Add the cashews, almonds and apples to a blender and make a fine or coarse paste as per your preference.
- If needed add 1 or 2 tbsp of milk to grind the apples and nuts.
- When the milk has reduced to half, add the apple-nuts paste, sugar and ghee to the pan and stir them all together.

 - From now, you need to keep stirring the mixture for atleast one and half hours to reach the halwa consistency. Now is when you will need that extra hand to help you:-))

- Keep the heat on low through the whole process. High heat will cause th mix to boil and spill all over the counter.
- Towards the end add the saffrom strands for added colour and flavour.
- When all the ingredients thicken and come together without sticking on to the pan, you know your halwa is ready!

Foot note:

- If you have more patience, you can stir it for a little more time to thicken the halwa more and then spread it on a greased plate. On cooling, you can slice into cake pieces as well!

Jeera Poli

This is a traditional TN dessert, usually prepared on Boghi, the day before Pongal or Shankaranti. Its is a very simple dessert to make and takes very little of your time. Easy to make, tasty to eat and is a winner all the way. So, try this out during this festival season and relish!

This is a variation to the usual Puran Poli that is made in many parts of India. You need to make poori's and dip them in sugar syrup and set aside. Thats it! Your dessert is done...:-)

Ingredients:

For the poori dough

- 1 cup maida or all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup fine rava or sooji
- pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp oil
- water as required

For the Sugar syrup or Jeera

- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- flavouring of your choice...I added cardomom, nutmeg and saffron
- a bit of food colour either orange or yellow (optional)

Oil for deep frying

Prep time: 5 mins      Dough standing time: 2 hours         Cook time: 30 mins

Preparation:

- Knead together all the ingredients given under "poori dough" above. Make a firm yet soft dough. More like a chapathi dough consistency.
- Let the dough sit for 2 hours.
- Before making the pooris make the sugar syrup. Add the sugar and water in a deep pan and heat them together. Once the sugar dissolves, continue boiling the syrup for 10 mins or so. Switch off heat once the syrup reaches a one string consistency.

Sugar Syrup boiling

 - Add all the flavouring and food colouring to the syrup and let it cool.

Sugar syrup with the food colouring and flavouring

- After 2 hours, make  big gooseberry sized balls of the dough and roll them flat into small poori sized rounds.

Ready to roll into pooris

 - Meanwhile, heat the oil on medium.
- Once all pooris have been rolled, start frying them one by one.

All pooris rolled out and ready for frying

- As soon as you fry them, drain them on a paper towel for a few seconds and then dip them in the sugar syrup.

Dipping them in the syrup

- Turn the pooris over in the sugar syrup. Let both sides coat. With a tong, remove the poori from the syrup and place in a wide plate or pan.

Remove them over to another plate

- Likewise, repeat this process for all pooris. Place all the pooris around the plate or pan. Eat them fresh or after they soak in the syrup coating for a good 8 hours. Top with pistas or any nuts of your choice.

Syrup coated pooris....let them soak for 6 to 8 hours for best taste

- Tastes best after it has been allowed to soak for 8 hours.

After soaking overnight....ready to be eaten!

 Foot note:

- Roll out all pooris and fry them one after the other and dip them and set aside. The pooris will be soft but the rava will give little stiffness as it soaks in the syrup. Rava helps them to stay together and not tear apart.
- Do not fry all pooris in a batch and then start dipping them one after the other.
- The syrup should not be too hot. It needs to be warm while you dip the pooris.
- Sometimes, after soaking, you might find the sugar has crystalised on the pooris. This is because you have made the syrup too thick by over boiling.
- In this case, heat the pooris in microwave for a few seconds before serving.

Aval Payasam - Poha Payesh

When am restless I either write a lot or just go and hit the bed! Well, yesterday I decided to snore and today I have decided to write...so, all my readers can get some tasty, lip smacking recipes to try:-) This is one of my favourite and quick payasam recipe! It tastes great and is really easy to make as well! So, go on and give it a try....

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup thick aval or poha
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 tbsp sweetened condensed milk(optional)
- 2 tbsp sugar ( add more if you like additional sweet or if you are not using condensed milk)
- few cashews and raisins
- 2 tsp ghee
- few strands of saffron dissolved in 1 tsp warm milk

Prep time: 5 mins         Cook time: 25 mins

Preparation:

- Give the aval a pulse in the blender/mixer. Wash the aval and set aside.

- In a deep pan, heat the ghee, add the raisins and cashews and on roasting add the pulsed and washed aval. Roast it for a couple of minutes until the ghee is absorbed and the aval is soft to touch.

- Set aside the roasted aval and in the same pan, bring the milk to a boil and then let it simmer on low for 15 mins.
- Meanwhile, remove a little of the warm milk to soak the saffron strands.
- At the end of 15 mins, add the condensed milk and sugar and simmer the milk for a further 5 mins.

- Now, add the aval and the saffron soaked milk. Mix well and simmer the whole mix for a further 5 mins.

- Switch off and enjoy hot and sweet aval payasam! Tastes best while it is still warm!

Thirattupal or Milk Halwa with Ricotta Cheese & Apple

As you keep reading my blogs you will conclude that I have a sweet tooth and one that is too strong...:-)) I am crazy about sweets from childhood though I would say my craving for sweets has come down to a very large extent in the recent years! Thanks to consciousness about health and fitness.

But if someone places a plate of sweets in front of me and expects me to behave like a Sage....sorry...am not in for that game! Well, this time around no one gave me a platter of sweets but my fridge presented itself with all the leftovers I needed to satiate my cravings:-)

It had the left over ricotta cheese from my Lasagna evening, left over condensed milk from krishna jayanthi day, left over 3/4 of an apple...now that is not strange in our house! As I have mentioned in my earlier post on the Apple milkshake ....this is truly a forbidden fruit..;-) and ofcourse there was this exactly half stick of butter too....that was some coincidence! The outcome of all these leftovers was this supper yummy "thiratupal" or "milk halwa" which I would say is now hardly left over....

Now, this recipe I know is all over the net and I have made it myself a couple of times before but not with Apples! That was quite an idea! I simply wanted to use the left over apple and decided to grate it in and the result was this super yummy and perfectly coloured halwa! Ofcourse I made it in the microwave....

Ingredients:
(alter proportions as needed...below is all what I had & used up:-))

- 3/4 of 15oz pack Ricotta Cheese
- 1/3 of 14oz tin of sweetened condensed milk
- 1/2 stick of unsalted butter approx 4 tbsp
- 3/4 apple, skin peeled & grated
- 6 tbsp of sugar - powdered
- 2 tbsp milk, i used 1%

Prep time: 5 mins                     Cook time: 30 mins

- In a microwave safe  bowl, add the ricotta cheese, butter, grated apple and condensed milk.
- Warm the milk and pour it in the condensed milk tin. Milk is mainly to get all of the condensed milk from the tin:-)!

Apple changes to this caramel colour the instant you grate them

- Place it in the microwave and heat for 3 minutes. At the end of 3 minutes, remove the bowl, mix all ingredients together. Now, add the powdered sugar to this and mix well.

End of 1st 3 minutes of heating

- Place the bowl in the microwave and heat for a further 3 to 4 minutes. Keep checking so that the mix does not spill out.

At the end of 8 minutes

- Every 4 minutes, stop heating and stir up the bowl to ensure the sweet gets cooked evenly.

At the end of 15 minutes

- The sweet is ready once the ingredients come together and all the butter and milk gets absorbed well.
- It took me about 21 minutes to finish up! This time might vary depending on your microwave. So, pls use your judgement.

At the end of 21 minutes....Done!

- The addition of apples gives a very nice colour and flavour to this halwa. You could add some coarsely ground dates too for additional taste and colour!

This recipe is participating in ABC Series - A for Apple being hosted by Ramya..

Sending the recipe to Friday Potluck at Show and Tell by Vatsala

Puran Poli

Poli-boli-bobatlu-puran poli....so many names all over India...all referring to the sweet lentil stuffed chapathi covered with maida and cooked in ghee:-)! This sweet is very popular across India and is made on many festive occasions and weddings too! Its simple and easy to make too...I can guarantee it cause I tried it for the very first time and it came out perfect!

Ingredients:

For the cover:

- 3 tbsp maida or all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp of sesame oil or other
- a pinch of salt
- a pinch of turmeric
- 1 tbsp of water more or less based on need

For the stuffing:

- 1/2 cup channa dhal
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 cup powdered jaggery...adjust as per preference
- 1/8 tp elaichi powder
- 1 tsp of ghee

Prep time: 30 mins            Cook time:  30 mins

Preparation:

Stuffing:

- Boil the channa dhal about 5 to 6 whistles in a pressure cooker.
- Strain the boiled dhal and let it dry and cool out for 10 mins
- On cooling, grind the dhal in a blender without adding water
-



- In a pan, heat the ghee, add the dhal paste, jaggery, sugar and elaichi. Fry this on medium heat until the jaggery melts and mixes well with the dhal and gets absorbed.

- Fry it until the dhal paste comes together without sticking to the pan. It may appear little flowy but will thicken as it cools.


Covering:

- To the maida or all purpose flour, add the salt, turmeric and oil and mix it well.

- Add water as needed and make this into a fluffy dough.

Making the Poli:
- Make small lemon sized balls of the stuffing and keep aside.

- Take small portions of the covering dough. This should be half the size of the stuffing portions.

- Using a smooth  surface or a zip lock bag as base, place some drops of oil and pat the covering with the palm of your hand into a small chapathi.

- Place the stuffing portion in the middle of this and cover the stuffing with the dough from all side.

- Now, pat the covered stuffing again with the palm of your hand into a nice round shape.
- While you do this, the stuffing should be visible through the covering. This means that your covering is thin and your poli will be soft .

- Heat a pan and tranfer the poli to the pan. Pour little ghee around the corners and cook it on medium heat on both sides.

- Tasty puran poli is ready to eat! You can eat this plain or serve with a topping of sugar and ghee too!

Foot note:
- If you prefer you could add some fresh grated coconut too while making the stuffing for additional taste.