Unni Appam

Unni appam is a very popular kerala dish. After seeing paniyaram in my blog, Meenakshi akka, a great friend of me and my family shared this recipe. Thanks to Meenakshi akka for her recipe. This snack is really very yummy and tempting to eat.

Preparation Time: 15 min

Cooking Time: 20 min
Serves: 25 count

Ingredients:

1. Rice Flour / கோதுமை மாவு - 1 cup
2. Wheat flour / அரிசி மாவு - ¼ cup
3. Jaggery / மண்ட வெல்லம் - 1¼ cup
4. Banana - 1
5. Cardamom seeds - 1
6. Ghee - as required

Procedure:

1.  Using a hammer or heavy weight, break the jaggery to pieces. Heat a small pan with jaggery and 1 cup of water. Stir slowly and keep in low flame. When jaggery gets completely mexed in water, switch off the stove and strain to remove dust. Set aside.

2.  In a mixing bowl add rice flour and wheat flour. Pour the syrup and mix to a idly batter consistency.

3.  Smash banana. Add banana, cardamom seed and batter in a blender and grind for 5 sec. Transfer to bowl

4.  Heat paniyaram pan with ghee. Pour a scoop of batter in each pit. When its starts turning golden brown turn to other side. Add more ghee if needed. Cook until its done.

5.  Lip-smacking paniyaram is ready to serve 

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Laddu

Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 30 min
Serves: 10 laddu

Ingredients:

1. Kadalai Maavu - 1 cup
2. Food color - yellow - 1 pinch
3. Ghee - 1 tbsp
4. Cashew nuts - 10 pieces

Syrup:

1. Sugar - 1 ½ cup
2. Water - ¼ cup

Procedure:

1.   Sift kadalai maavu. In a large mixing bowl, mix kadalai maavu and food color. Add water and make it into a batter. It should be in dosa batter consistency.

2.   Heat oil in a kadai. Check whether oil hot by putting a drop of batter into it. It should rise immediately to the top. Take a karandi with holes.

3.   Pour a scoop of batter over the karandi and slowly rub the batter.Once it is cooked remove it from oil. Place it over the tissue. It should not become crispy.

4.   In a pan , heat water and sugar to make the syrup. Keep in medium flame and check for string consistency. If you check with syrup in between index finger and thumb finger a string should be formed. In a small pan, heat ghee and Roast cashew. Add to sugar syrup.

5.   Then add the prepared bhoondi in the sugar syrup. Mix it thoroughly and transfer to mixer. Do not allow it to cool. Grind for 2 sec.

6.   As it is in bearable heat make small balls. Allow it to cool for some time.

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Badusha

Preparation Time: 10 min

Cooking Time: 30 min
Serves: 12 pieces

Ingredients:

1. Maida - 1 cup
2. Ghee - 3 tbsp
3. Baking soda - 1 pinch
4. Sugar - 1 tbsp

Syrup:

1. Sugar - ¼ cup
2. Water as required

Procedure:

1.   Take a large mixing bowl, add ghee and baking soda. In a mixie grind a tbsp of sugar into a fine powder. Add the sugar powder to ghee. Mix well.

2.  Add maida flour and blend them together. After mixing them thoroughly, add little water and make it to a chappathi like dough.

3.   Make small smooth balls and set aside. Heat oil in a kadai and fry them in low-medium flame.

4.  In a pan, add sugar and little water till sugar gets immersed. Heat the pan and makes a syrup. When you touch the syrup with fingers, it should be sticky.

5.   Dip the fried dough in the sugar syrup. Take out and set aside. Allow it to cool.

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Bread Payasam

Starting my diwali recipes in my blog with a simple and easy sweet. Bread payasam is really yummy and ready in minutes. 

Preparation Time: 5 min

Cooking Time: 20 min

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• Bread - 2 slices
• Milk - 3 cup
• Sugar - equal to bread powder
• Ghee - 2 tbsp
• Cashew nuts - as required
• Cardamom - 1

Procedure:

1.  Heat a small pan and roast bread slices by adding ghee. Once its roasted, make it into pieces. Grind and make it into a powder.

2.  In a medium sized pan, add 1 cup of milk and bring it to boil. Measure the quantity of bread powder and take equal quantity of sugar. Add bread powder and sugar to the boiling milk and keep in low flame.

 3.  As the kheer gets thickened add milk little-by-little and mix. Keep doing this until adding the entire milk. Adding more milk enhances the flavor. Add one cardamom .

 4.  Roast cashew nuts in ghee in a pan and add them to kheer. Stir well.

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Ksheerannam - Andhra Style

Ksheerannam is a rice pudding or rice dessert. It is usually made as neivedhiyam during navarathri in Andhra regions. It takes a long time to cook but still its a very tasty dessert.

 
Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 50 - 60 min
Serves: 3

Ingredients:

1. Raw rice - ½ cup
2. Milk - 5 cup
3. Sugar - ¼ cup
4. Ghee - 2 tbsp
5. Cashew nuts - 10 pieces
6. Almonds - 5 pieces - cut into pieces
7. Dry grapes - 10 pieces

Preparation:

   -  Soak rice for 10 min

Procedure:

1.   Clean the soaked rice and set aside. Heat a medium sized pan preferably non-stick pan, add 2 cups of milk and bring it to boil.

2.   Reduce the flame and add rice. Keep stirring slowly and continuously as rice gets cooked. If you do not stir it gets stick to the bottom of pan.  As rice gets cooked, add milk when it gets thickened.

3.   Rice should be cooked well and mushy. Do not stop stirring. When the rice gets mushy, add sugar and give a good stir.

4.   In meanwhile heat a small pan, add ghee and roast cashew nuts, almonds, dry grapes. As nice aroma comes out, add it to the kheer. 

5.   Mix it well and serve hot or cold.

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Aval / Poha / Flattened Rice Payasam

A very simple and tasty dish. Aval Payasam is ready in minutes. Aval Payasam is generally prepared during festivals and is served as neivedhiyam. Its also a very yummy desert and can be served warm or cold.

Preparation time: 5 min
Cooking time: 15 min
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• Aval / Poha / Flattened rice - ½ cup
• Milk - 2 cup
• Sugar - 10 tbsp
• Cardamom - 1 piece
• Ghee - 1 tsp
• Cashew nuts - 10 pieces
• Almonds - 5 pieces
• Dry grapes - 5 pieces

Procedure:

1. Heat a pan and dry roast aval until it starts turning brown and transfer it to bowl or directly to mixie.                                                                       
2. In the same pan dry roast few cashew nuts (rest of the cashew nuts is used for final garnishing) till it starts turning brown.                                    
3. Grind aval and cashew nuts in mixie for few sec. It should be in rava consistency.
4. Heat a pan with milk and bring it to boil. Then add sugar and mixie mixture. Keep in low flame for 3min.                                                         
5. Roast cashew nuts, almonds and dry grapes in ghee and add to aval payasam.

Aval Payasam tastes great when its warm or cold.

Wish You all a very happy navratri...!!! :-)

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Poorna Kolukattai

Preparation Time: 30 min
Cooking Time: 10 min
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• Channa Dhal- 1/2 cup
• Jaggery- 1/2 cup
• Rice flour- 1 cup

Procedure:

1.  Pressure cook channa dhal for 3 whistles. Allow pressure to release. Dhal should be cooked well. Break jaggery into small pieces and add jaggery to the cooked channa dhal. Put it in a blender and grind it into paste. Do not add water as the jaggery once mixed will itself give out some water with the warmth of channa dhal.

2.   Heat a pan, add channa jaggery paste to it. Saute for few minutes in low flame. Keep stirring slowly until it reaches a firm consistency. It should neither be too hard nor too soft or watery. This is used as poornam or stuffing for making kolukattai.

3.   In a bowl, add rice flour and make it into a soft dough by adding hot water. Small flat circles are made from the dough.

4.  Place a spoon of poornam in the middle of rice flour circle and close the edges to make the desired shape.

5.  Repeat this to make all kolukaatai and cook in idly pan. Tasty poorna kolkattai is ready to serve.

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Rasgulla

Rasgulla is the most famous Indian sweet. I am very crazy for this rasgulla and everyone used to buy me Haldirams Rasgulla. So i thought of making it in my home. Wow..!! it is really super and I enjoyed eating those white balls floating in syrup.

Preparation Time: 5 min
Cooking Time: 15 min
Serves: 25 balls

Ingredients:

• Milk - 1 ltr
• Lemon juice - diluted - 100 ml

For syrup:

• Water
• Sugar

Both in equal proportion. I used a 200 ml cup to measure and took 2 cups of each to prepare the syrup.

Procedure:

1.   Heat a pan and add milk. Bring milk to boil. Here they sell as whole milk, fat free milk, 1% etc..I used whole milk that is available here. Add the diluted lemon juice and stir to mix it uniformly. Leave to rest for 2 min as it curdles.

2.   Filter it using a white cotton cloth and drain the water completely. You can also allow it to drain overnight. Once the water is drained completely, place it on the kitchen table or bowl and press it with hands as we do for making dough. Make medium sized balls.

4.   Heat the pressure cooker with water, add balls into it. Initially balls will be at the bottom and all will rise slowly to the top.

5.   Cook for 3 whistles and allow it to cool naturally. Open the lid and take out the rasgulla balls. Strain excess water from it.

6.   Prepare sugar syrup by adding equal proportions of water and sugar. Add rasgulla balls to those syrup. Allow the rasgulla balls to soak in sugar syrup for at-least 6 hours.

     These Rasgullas should absorb the sugar syrup to get the sponge like softness and taste. You can also refrigerate and serve.

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