412: Kasi Halwa/Pumpkin Halwa

Pumpkin halwa or popularly called as Kasi halwa. This traditional sweet is served in every Tamil weddings. I tried this delicious halwa for this Diwali and It came out very well. I am sure you will also would like to give a try.

Ingredients

Grated White Pumpkin                       2 cups

Sugar                                               1 ¼ cup

Ghee                                                3 tbsp.

Freshly crushed cardamom                 1 tbsp.

Orange color                                      a pinch

Cashews                                            1 tbsp.

Raisins                                               1 tbsp.

Edible camphor (Pachai Karpuram)        a pinch  

Method                          

• Peel the white pumpkin skin and grate it. I used my food processor for shredding which made the job easy and no mess.
• Drain the excess water from the grated pumpkin.
• Microwave Cook the grated pumpkin for 10 minutes.(If you don’t have microwave, use the idli cooker to steam cook).
• Mash the vegetable easily once it is cooked.OR grind the pumpkin to a paste.
• Heat 1 tbsp of ghee in the nonstick pan, and saute the pumpkin for 5 minutes until the water gets absorbed.
• Heat a pan and add sugar with 1/4 cup of water. Let sugar dissolve and bring it to a boil. When the syrup starts thickening add ground vegetable and mix well.
• Cook in medium flame for about 20 min keeping the pan closed. Stir it after every 5 minutes
• Mix the food color in a few drops of water and add it to the pan and mix well.
• Once the mixture becomes semisolid, add ghee and crushed cardamom and  eatable camphor stir it well.
• When it starts leaving the sides of the pan and becomes thick, remove from heat.
• Fry the cahsews and raisins in ghee, until golden brown and add to the halwa.

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400th Post - Soft Mysore Pak

Mysore pak is one of the most popular sweet from Karnataka. It is made of generous amounts of ghee (clarified butter), sugar and gram flour. I love Krishna Sweet’s Mysore Pak. It has golden color, soft and ghee laden and neatly arranged in blocks in a plastic box. They put liberal amount of ghee to makes it soft.

 Here I tried to make like Krishna sweets, I could not completely recreate like that , but almost 90% succeed .The original Krishna sweets recipe is Besan: Sugar : Ghee in the ratio 1:3:3. Because of health reasons in my recipe  I  used 1:1 1/2:1.

Try my recipe and share your feedback.

Ingredients:

Fresh Besan                       1 cup

Sugar                                1 1/2 cups

Homemade Ghee                1 cup

Cooking oil                        ½ cup

Water                                ¼ cup 
Lemon color                         1 drop (optional)       

         

Method

• Grease the dish with a little ghee and keep aside.
• Dry fry the Besan till you get the aroma.
• Sieve the flour and mix with oil, without any lumps and keep aside for 20 minutes.
• In a pan heat sugar and water. Boil until you get a one string consistency. Add lemon color(optional)
• (Drop the syrup on a plate; it should be like a pearl, without moving).
• In mean time, heat the ghee separately and keep aside.
• Once you get the one string consistency, add some ghee and slowly add the gram flour mixture and keep stirring continuously without any lumps.
•  Reduce the stove heat. Cook on low-medium heat
• Add ghee little by little stirring continuously.
• Keep stirring till the Mysore pak will gather like a halwa and ghee starts leaving sides and mixture comes out from the vessel.
• Pour it into the greased dish and spread it evenly.
• Let it cool for 15 minutes and then cut into rectangular or your desired shapes.
• Store them in an airtight container.

TIPS

• Before start to make Mysore pak, all making materials should be ready and keep it one place.
• Always use fresh Besan flour. Otherwise the Mysore pak will not taste good.
• Stove heat should be medium.
• The consistency of the sugar syrup is very important so wait till you reach one string consistency.
• Use pure ghee, preferably home made ghee, to make soft and delicious Mysore pak.

Here is how to test the sugar syrup:

• Take out the spatula from the sugar syrup. Touch the sugar syrup with your index or middle finger.
•  Press the finger you touched the syrup with the thumb and then move apart the fingers. The syrup must stretch like a string.
• If the syrup does not stretch, heat the mixture for some more time and test again.

Restaurant Type Gulab Jamun/Kala Jamun – Version 2/

I already posted my version of gulab jamun with khoya recipe in my blog. This jamun are made with milk powder only. This recipe is used in many Indian Restaurants around the world.

Ingredients:

Dry Milk powder                       - 2 cups

Self-rising flour                        - ¾ cup

Milk                                           ½ cup

Water                                       ¼ cup

Thickened cream                         150grams

Oil                                            for deep frying

Almond pieces for decoration

For Sugar Syrup:

White sugar                                 2 ½ cups

Water                                         2 ½ cup-3 cups

Saffron                                        – a few

Cardamom powder                        -1/2 tsp.

Rose water – ½ tsp. (OR) Rose essence – 2 drops

Method:

Jamun Preparation:

• Take a bowl, Sieve in the flour, milk powder together. Add cream and milk into it.
• Mix well to form soft dough. Use as much milk as required for kneading.
• Make even size small round shapes. Make about 25-30 pieces.
• Heat oil on a medium flame. Slip the Jamun one by one into the oil. The flame has to be sufficiently low so that the Gulab Jamun get cooked well inside
•  Lower the stove heat,(very very low heat), and deep fry those balls till golden brown .And keep aside the fried Jamun.

 To make Sugar Syrup

• Take a sauce pan, add sugar and water.
• Add the cardamom powder in the water. Bring the water to boil.
• Let it thicken by cooking over medium heat about to 15 – 20 minutes.
• Once the syrup has thickened a bit, then keep it aside.
• When syrup is warm, add crushed saffron, rose water, and mix it well.
• The syrup should be warm not hot.
• Transfer this hot syrup into a serving dish.

 To Make Gulab Jamun:

• Drop all the fried Jamun in the warm syrup and let it soak for at least 1 hour. The Gulab Jamun are ready.
• You can store jamun in the refrigerator with the syrup. 

Note:

• Do not leave the dough for a long time on the shelf, just make the dough when you are ready to fry the Gulab Jamun.
• If you want to make Kala Jamun then let the balls fry in the oil for bit longer till they turn almost black colored.

Gulab Jamun/Kala Jamun

Gulab Jamun

COCONUT BARFI

Coconut Burfi is a very popular Indian sweet. Fresh grated  coconut cooked in cardamom flavored sugar syrup. You can have it as a dessert or as a sweet snack or just like that.  It has a shelf life of about 10-15 days so you can make in advance and keep it ready to serve when needed. In hot summer days you can keep it for about a week.

Ingredients

Fresh Shredded Coconut –            2cups Sugar                                         1 ½ cups Fresh cardamom Powder -           1 tbsp. Ghee                                      -   1 tbsp. Milk                                           4 tbsp.   Method:  Heat the heavy bottom pan. Add grated coconut, milk and sugar.  Heat and stir continuously, so that it does not stick to the bottom. Stir constantly till the coconut and sugar syrup are blended thickly and stickily together.  Now add the ghee and cardamom seeds powder.   Stir till the mixture looks thick, remove from the heat and pour into a ghee-smeared table or plate.   Flatten the surface evenly with the help of an oiled flat slice.   When cold, cut into squares or diamond shapes and serve .  TIP: Be very careful while cooking this dessert as even a few extra seconds can cause the barfi to harden up. When the mixture is simmering, you can add 1 tablespoon of  Bengal gram(Besan) flour  fried in a little ghee and added.

Shahi Tukda- 300 th Post

This Valentine’s week, I had a craving for some dessert. It reminded me of Shahi Tukda, which I decided to make for dessert. Shahi Tukda includes fried sweet syrupy soaked triangular breads topped with rabdi (rabdi is nothing but milk having sugar and saffron reduced to ¾) and few dry fruits. The dish is similar to “Double ka meetha”,which has its roots in Pakistani cuisine and is a famous dessert in Mughlai cuisine

Ingredients

For shahi tukda

 White Bread slices                     - 4no

Ghee                                          - 2tsp.

For Rabdi

Evaporated milk                              1 tin

2 % Milk (or) whole milk               1 cup

Sugar Free                                   3 tbsp.

Green Cardamom powder                1 tsp.

 Blanched Almonds                         15 no.

Saffron                                         a few strand

Rose drops                                    2 drops

For decoration

Pistachio                                        2 tbsp.

Almond flakes                               2 tbsp.

Method

For Rabdi

• Soak the almonds in a little hot milk and grind it to a coarsely paste.
• Take a heavy bottom pan, add evaporated milk, 2%  or whole milk, almond paste, green cardamom powder, saffron and 1 tbsp. of  sugar.
• Heat a milk till it reduces to one third.
• Remove and cool aside. Either refrigerate or cool it at room temp
• Make a sugar syrup(2tbsp of sugar free with 1 tbsp. of water).  Remove from heat and cool adding Rose drops in it.

For Tukda

•  For the health reasons, first I toasted the bread slices into the toaster. (It will reduce the ghee uses).
• Cut off the edges of the bread and cut it diagonally into 2 triangles .Heat ghee in a pan and shallow fry bread slices. Remove and allow it to dry .
• Soak these fried hearts in sugar syrup for 10-15 min to absorb all syrupy sweetness

Serving: 

• Take a serving platter, put one syrup soaked bread  and top it with other syrup soaked bread slice. Likewise make all Shahi tukdas.
• Now spread the rabdi mixture on top of it and sprinkle some almonds, pista and saffron strands on top. Cover it and refrigerate
• Serve chilled.

For Low Fat Version:

•  Use 2 % milk, low fat  Evaporated milk  & whole wheat bread slices.

Almond Shrikhand

A Shrikhand is and Indian dessert made by mixing thick and creamy strained yogurt with sugar, cardamom and saffron. . It is one of the main desserts in Maharashtra cuisine. It is very easy to make. Here I used low fat Greek yogurt for this shirkand.

Ingredients:

 Whole Milk                                            2 cup        

 Plain Greek yogurt (Or) thick plain curd   -    1 pound

Sugar                                                      3 tbsp.

 Smashed Almond                                    4 tbsp.

Saffron                                                 a pinch 

Elachi Powder                                          1 tsp.

Method

• In a thick pan, add saffron and milk. Boil them.
• In a bowl, add Greek yogurt/ curd, sugar and add half the infused milk. Mix them well.
• Now add the remaining milk and mix them well.
• Add chopped almond. Fold them together.
• Set them in a glass bowl and garnish it with chopped almonds.
• Keep it in the fridge for 5-6 hours.
• Serve cold.

Peanut Urundai / Kadalai Urundai

Kadalai Urundai is one street side snack which reminds me of those kinds of sweet memories in my school life.Kadalai Urundai is a very popular Indian sweet which is made with peanut and jiggery and comes in many shapes like square, rectangle or round. It is easy to make and can be made with items in the kitchen and has a great shelf life. Store it in an airtight container. Paddy is a big fan of peanut Urundai.

Ingredients:

Peanuts                         -  2 cups

Jaggery (grated) –              1 ¼ cup

Water –                           a little

Elachi Powder –                1 tsp.

Ghee                                  - 1tbsp.

Method:

• Dry roast the peanut in a pan, and rub the peanuts well with your palm to remove the skin.
• Take a another pan , add Jaggery and water and make a thick syrup.
• Drop a little syrup in a cup of water and roll between the thumb and forefinger. If it allows to be rolled, the syrup is ready.
• Immediately remove from the fire, add the peanuts, ghee, Elachi powder.  Mix well.
• Dust your palm with a little rice flour, and pull out small quantities of the peanut mixture and hold in a tight fist to make a ball.
•  Once a few have been made into shape, place them in small plate and gently rotate the plate in a circular motion, rolling the balls all around .
• Towards the end of the process, however, the syrup might harden and reheat the pan over a gentle heat and loosen the mixture. Remove from the heat and roll them all in balls.
• Store it an airtight container.

Vella Seedai

Vella seedai is must sweet for Janmashtami. For me, preparation of Vella seedai is always tricky. Here is the tip for best vella seedai.

Tips:

• While shaping seedai marbles don’t press them tight.
• All ingredients must be also free from impurities.
• The dough should be moist and non-sticky.

 Preparation Time  :   15 Mins
 Passive Time          :    30 mins
 Cooking Time       ;   20 Mins
 Recipe Category   :   Festival, Sweet, Neivedyam
 Recipe Cuisine     :   South Indian

Ingredients:

Rice flour-                            1 cup

Urad flour -                          2 tbsp.

Grated Jaggery                     3/4 cup 

Cardamon  powder               1 tablespoon

Til seeds                              1 teaspoon

Grated  coconut                    1 teaspoon

Ghee                                   1 tablespoon

Coconut oil                           1 teaspoon

Cooking oil                            for deep fry

Water                                   1/4 cup- ½ cup

Method:

• Heat the rice flour in pan. Let the color start changing to brown (take off flame when the color just starts changing. Don’t let it become fully brown). Spread on a newspaper and let it cool.
•  Dry fry the urudh dhal in a pan. Let the color change, switch off the stove. Keep aside for cooling. Make it a nice powder in a mixie. Keep aside. (If you using readymade Urdh flour, dry fry it for one minute).
• Dry fry the coconut and til for a minute. Keep aside.
• In a kadai, add the water and the jaggery, Heat it.   As soon as all the jaggery melts, switch off the gas.
• Strain it using a steel strainer to remove dirt in jaggery. Let the jaggery water cool down.
•  Take a bowl, mix rice flour, Urdh dhal flour, Elachi powder, til (ellu), coconut, coconut oil and ghee . Use a whisk to gently bring all the ingredients together. 
• Now add the mixed flour little by little and keep stirring. Add flour till the dough consistency is such that you can make round balls. Cover it and keep aside for 30 minutes.
•  After 30 minutes, with your hands make a soft ball and put it on the newspaper.
• Heat the cooking oil in a kadai. Keep the flame on medium low.
• Add the balls to the oil once heated from the side of the kadai. Do not throw it into oil.
• When the seedai has fried a little, turn it over using a long handled spoon so that it gets fried evenly on all sides. Wait till color changes to a little dark brown and take it out.
• Put it in a vessel and drain the excess oil.
• Vella seedai ready to Offer to Lord Sri Krishna as neivedhayam.

Almond & Cashew Burfi

 Burfi is a diamond shaped ,one of the most popular, sweet in India. It comes in scores of different varieties and flavors. This one is very easy to make . 

Ingredients:

 Plain Cashew-                          25 nos

Khus Khus                                 2 tbsp.

Almond s                                  25 no

Milk                                           ½ -1 cup  

Cane sugar-                              2 cup

Ghee-                                       2-3 tbsp.

Crushed Cardamoms                5 no

Method: 

• Wash and soak the Almonds in warm water for one hour.
• Wash and soak the Cashews in warm water separately.
• Soak Khus Khus in hot water for one hour.
• Peel the skin from almonds and drain the water.
• Grind the almonds, cashew and Khus Khus in a blender to a smooth paste, with milk.
• Put a sugar in a nonstick pan and turn the heat on. Cook it till the sugar syrup forms 2-3 thread consistency.
• Now add the cashew and almond paste and keep stirring constantly.
• Ghee can be added slowly, while the paste is cooking.
• In about 20-25 minutes, simmer the heat and add the remaining ghee and carefully observe for consistency.
• The mixture will combine together to form a single mass and leaves edges. The color of the mixture will be pale color. Now add the ghee and stir. You can turn the heat off.
• When you cook more than this, it can turn very hard or get charred.
• Grease the plate to which the Burfi mixture has to be transferred and keep ready. Remove the mixture and spread it evenly to the plate.
• After 5 minutes, cut them into little squares, when it is still warm.
• Store it in a container.

I am   " Sending to Dish it out – Sugar and Butter and Vardhini’s page".

Madhuvargam

Madhu vargam is a form of fruit mix sweet made in all Perumal kovil during Thirumanjanam. This is also offered as Neivedhyam. I am giving below my modified version of Madhu vargam.

Ingredients

Chopped Mixed fruits - 2cups(Apple,Banana, all Berries, Jack fruit, cantaloupes)
Chopped Dates                            3 tablespoons

Mixed dry fruits                              4 tbsps.

Sugar Candy (Kalkandu)                   3 tbsp.
Grated coconut                               1 tbsp.
Cardamoms & cloves powder -         1 tablespoon

Raisins                                                    1 tbsp.

Ghee                                                        1 tbsp.

Honey                                                       ¼ cup

Jaggery (Crushed)                                  1 cup

Method:

• Wash, clean and chop the fruits.
• Take a clean mixing bowl.
• Add all the chopped fruits, dry fruits, sugar candy, coconut,raisins, ghee, cardamom powder and jaggery.
• Mix them very well.
• Now Madhu vargam is ready for Perumal’s neivedhayam .

Asoka Halwa

This Halwa, made with Moong dhal (paasi Paruppu) and it is a specialty from Thanjavur district.    This is also famously called as "Thiruvayaru Halwa”. I bet, definitely you would come across this Halwa in every wedding that happen in Tanjore side. It is also called moong dal halwa in different parts of the country.It takes a long time and lot of patience to prepare this Halwa.

Ingredients

Yellow split Moong dhal                     1 cup

Milk                                                 1 cup

Saffron                                            a pinch  

Wheat flour                                   -  1/4 cup

Maida                                              1 Tablespoon

Water                                             ¼-1/2 cup

Sugar                                              1 1/2 cup- 2 cups

Red food color:                               as desired (optional)

Kesari powder -                               2 to 3 pinches

Ghee -                                            1 cup

Cardamoms –                                  8 no (powdered)

Cashews & Sliced Almonds        10 to 15 (broken into bits and fried in ghee)

Method:

•  Wash the Moong dhal and add milk and saffron. Cook the Moong dal in a pressure cooker until soft. Mash the cooked dal and keep aside.
• Dry roast the wheat and Maida for a minute. Mix wheat flour in the water or milk to make a smooth, runny paste.
• Heat this flour mixture in a frying pan, stirring continuously, and bring to a boil. 

• Add the mashed Moong dal, mix well and cook over medium flame.
• Once cooked, add the sugar, then half the quantity of ghee, and stir well.
• Add the food color and the remaining ghee slowly and stir continuously, until the mixture forms a ball and comes off the sides of the pan. At this point the ghee will start oozing out.
• Take 1 tsp. of ghee in a pan and again roast the nuts and cardamom powder. Add to the Halwa and switch off the flame. Asoka is ready now.
• Pour the mix into the greased tray or vessel. You,cut  this into diamonds, squares, or rectangles.

 Note:

• It will probably require a little extra ghee too. You can make a larger quantity of this recipe and store it refrigerated for several weeks. Just add a little milk to the Halwa before reheating it.

I am sending and linking to " Sending to Dish it out – Sugar and Butter and Vardhini’s page"

Sweet Appam- 250th Post

Appam is a known dish in Tamilnadu. There are different versions of appam and this is very simple version which we make during festivals like Krishna Jayanthi and Kaarthikai.

Ingredients
Wheat flour                          1/2 cup

Maida -                               1/2 cup
Rice flour –                         2tbsp

Jaggery –                            ½ cup

Cardamom powder n-           1/2 tsp.

Baking soda                       – a pinch

Water -
Oil                                     for frying

 Method:

• Add a little water to jaggery and soak for 15 minutes.  Dissolve well and filter it to get rid off any dirt.
• In a bowl , add the flour and powdered cardamom and add the jaggery liquid to it and mix well till you get a consistency of a thick dosa batter or idly batter(Make sure it is not so free flowing. When you drop it from the ladle it should fall slowly). Keep for 30 minutes.
• Heat a oil in a deep frying pan, (Keep a slow fire.)
• When oil hot is enough, take the dough in a small ladle and drop it into the oil.
• Cook one side and then turn the other side.
• Let it fry till it becomes golden brown. Drain it on the paper towel.
• You can make 3 to 4 appam at a time depending on the size of your pan.
•  Repeat the procedure with the rest of the batter and serve hot or warm.

Strawberry and Honey Pudding

On a warm summer’s day what could be more refreshing than a luscious fruit dessert making the most of fresh seasonal produce, and yet still remaining deliciously low in fat?.

A quick and easy pudding made from fresh strawberries topped with Greek yogurt, drizzled with honey and sprinkled with almonds.

Ingredients:

 Fresh strawberries                        - 8 no

Low fat Greek yogurt                      - 1- cup

Honey                                              2 tbsp

Agave syrup                                   - 2 tbsp

Chopped, unsalted almonds            – 2 tsp.

 For strawberry cream:
Fat free cream cheese                   - 2 tbsp
Strawberry syrup                          - 2tbsp
Fat free Cream                              - 4 tbsp

Method:

• Wash and chop the strawberries and place in the bottom of glass   mug or individual dessert bowls.
•  For strawberry cream. Beat the cream cheese, cream, strawberry syrup with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.. 
• Stir well the Greek yogurt.
•   Put the chopped strawberries bottom of the glass, then layer the strawberry cream. Put the Greek yogurt in the Top each glass or bowl of strawberries.
• Drizzle the honey and agave syrup over each dessert and sprinkle with the almond nuts.
• Cover the glass with aluminum foil.  Chill until ready to serve.

Microwave Thirattipal

Normally thirattipal is made out of fresh milk and sugar or Jaggery. The milk is allowed to boil till it thickens and curdles. The milk has to be mixed continuously. This is quite a time consuming process.

Try out this simpler recipe which is made in a microwave in just 6 to 8  minutes, and which gives the same taste. 

Ingredients:

Condensed milk: 1 can (14oz)

Curd/Yoghurt: 2 tablespoon

Milk: 2 tablespoon

Ghee: 2 tsp
 Freshly crushed Elachi Powder - 1/2 tsp

Method: 

• Mix condensed milk, curd and milk, ghee and ealchi powder in a large Pyrex bowl .
• Microwave for 2 minutes. Take it out and stir it once and again heat it for 3 more minutes.
• The expected consistency is that the ghee starts to come out and the thirattipal obtains a pink color. Allow to cool. Thirattipal is ready to serve. 

I am  " Sending to Dish it out – Sugar and Butter and Vardhini’s page"

Rasgulla

Rasgulla (Oriya: ରସଗୋଲା rasagola ; Sanskrit:रसगोलकम्) rasagolakam  ; Bengali: রসগোল্লা rôshogolla; Hindi: रसगुल्ला Rasgulla) is a very popular cheese based, syrupy sweet dish originally from the Indian state of Orissa
 It is popular throughout India and other parts of South Asia The dish is made from balls of chhena (an Indian cottage cheese) and semolina dough, cooked in sugar syrup..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasgulla The given recipe is a basic guide to make Rasgulla from scratch.

 Ingredients

Whole Milk                        4 cups

Lemon juice                       3 tbsps.

Water                               3 cups

Sugar -                             1 1/2cup

Cardamom powder              a pinch

Rose Water                        1tsp

Method:

• Heat the milk in heavy bottom vessel.  When it comes to boil, turn off the heat.
• Add lemon juice into it. Stir until milk separates completely and separates into curds.
• On straining this milk, the curd that is obtained is called "Chenna". Wash Chenna well under cold running water and twist the cloth that was used for straining to extract water.
• Knead Chenna to make smooth dough. Make small balls of equal size (6-7) of the dough and keep aside.
• While you are kneading the Chenna, prepare the sugar syrup.

• Place a pressure cooker on the stove and add water and sugar and allow the sugar to dissolve.
• Add Chenna balls to the syrup and cook for 15 minutes with lid partially covered. Turn off heat.
• Once the pressure is off, remove the lid. The balls will double in size and become light and springy on touch.
•  If you feel that the balls are not cooked yet, place lid and cook for another 5 mts.
• Remove from the heat. Cool it. On cooling, add rose essence.
• Serve it in room temperature or colder.