Makkan Peda – Arcot Sweet
Makkan Peda is a popular dish in North Arcot District, South India. That is why it is also called Arcot Sweet. It is more like Gulab Jamun with dry fruits and nuts in it. You can either use “Gulab Jamun Instant mix” or make “Khoa” from milk. Khoa is nothing but thickening milk by heating it at a constant temperature. I have had this sweet a very long time back. This happened to be my mom’s favorite sweet dish. Recently, Shriya has been talking about Makkan Peda which she ate in India. From then I have been tempted to try it. I tried it and it came out so well. Shriya, Arthi and I enjoyed it during our meet. I am so happy to share it with you. Here you go… Preparation time: 45 minutes No. of Pedas: 22...
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Kalakala Sweet (Diamond Biscuits)
I had such a great time with my best friends Nithu & Arthi (the other 2 ST authors) here last week. It was such a relaxing and fun-filled week. Now I am really missing them. I learnt this recipe in a Christmas party from our good friend Julia. It’s an easy South Indian snack. It can be prepared in a short time and kids and adults would love it alike. You can store it in air tight container and use it up to couple of weeks. Ingredients: Maida/All Purpose Flour : 1 cup Sugar : 1/2 cup (adjust according to your taste) Butter : 5 tbsp Egg : 1/2 (optional) Cardamom: 1/4 tsp water : 1 cup ( for making dough) Oil (for deep frying) Method Of Preparation: Mix the above ingredients together (except oil) and make a dough...
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Aval Payasam (Beaten Rice Pudding) and Happy Pongal 2011
Wish you all a Happy Pongal!!!!!! It is traditional to make pudding (Payasam) for special occasions like Pongal festival. So I made this aval payasam and it came out really good. If you try it, I hope you enjoy it too. Aval/Poha is nothing but beaten rice. It looks like dry rice flakes. Preparation Time : 30 minutes No of Servings : 4-5 Ingredients: Aval: 2 cups Ghee: 2 tbsp Condensed milk: 1/4 cup Milk: 3 cups Sugar: 1/4 cup (adjust according to your taste) Cardamom Powder: 1/2 tsp Pista (pistachio nuts), cashews, almonds and dry grapes : 1/2 cup Method of Preparation : Heat a tbsp of ghee and fry the poha/aval for couple of mins or till it become light golden brown and keep it aside. Heat a tbsp of ghee and fry all the nuts and...
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Homemade Chocolate Cake
I wanted to make a cake for my husband’s birthday. I was searching for a simple cake recipe and I got this yummy cake recipe from my friend Sajana. I tried this chocolate cake and it came out well. Here is the recipe for an easy and delicious dessert. Preparation time : 45 minutes Ingredients 1: Sugar – 2 cups All purpose flour – 1 3/4 cup Cocoa – 3/4 cup Baking powder – 1 1/2 tsp Baking soda – 1 1/2 tsp Salt – 1 tsp Chocolate chips – 1/2 cup Cashews broken – 1/2 cup Ingredients 2: Eggs – 2 Milk – 1 cup Oil – 1/2 cup Vanilla extract – 2 tsp Water – 1 cup Method of Preparation: Mix all the ingredients 1 in a wide vessel. Beat the eggs and add all other ingredients...
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Dal poli – Sweet Lentil Pancakes
Poli is one of the popular and traditional dishes in South India. We make this dish for festivals and special occasions. It is a flat bread with sweet filling inside which is called ‘Puran’. There are different types of poli which varies with the types of filling. The one that I am going to share with you is “Paruppu Poli”. ‘Paruppu’ means Lentils. Here I have used Channa dal. Puran or the stuffing is made of lentils and jaggery with the flavor of cardamom and nutmeg. This is stuffed in a dough made of maida or all purpose flour, rolled and cooked over hot griddle with a hint of ghee and then served hot with a small dollop of ghee or just by itself. You need patience and experience to get a perfect texture and taste. hope. After making...
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Gulab Jamun – Milk Balls in Sugar Syrup
Gulab Jamun is a popular and traditional North Indian desserts made of milk based dough, which is fried and soaked in sugar syrup. The fried dough balls soaked in sugar syrup melts in your mouth. It’s such an tasty and yummy dessert. It’s usually prepared in the festival times. I made this Gulab Jamun for Vinayaka Chathurthi festival. It came out really good and tasty. It’s one of my favorite dessert and I’ve learned this recipe from my mother. Try this recipe and let me know how it came out for you. Feel free to ask any doubts in this recipe. Ingredients: All purpose Flour or maida : 1/4 cup Milk powder : 1 cup Baking soda : a pinch Milk : 1/4 cup (Just make sure it’s enough to make dough) Unsalted Butter : 2 tbsp(room temperature) Cardamom...
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Chakka Payasam – Jack Fruit Kheer
Jack fruit kheer or Chakka Payasam is a popular sweet in Kerala. The main ingredient of this kheer is Chakka Varatti or Jack fruit Jam. This jack fruit jam is made by cooking steamed ripe jack fruit , ghee and jaggery. It lasts for over an year without loosing its taste. We make Chakka Varatti during the jack fruit season and use it through out the year for making Elai Adai, Chakka Payasam and other sweets. This Chakka Payasam is a simple yet delicious sweet for any occassion or an auspicious day. Here you go… Preparation Time: 15 mins (with ready made chakka varatti) No. of Servings: 4 to 5 Check here for the recipe of Chakka Varatti or Jack fruit jam. Ingredients: Chakka Varatti or Jack fruit jam – 3 tbsp Powdered Jaggery – 1/4 cup Coconut Milk –...
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Double Chocolate-Vanilla Ice Cream Cake
Ice cream cake is my family’s all time favorite. We generally order it from outside for any special occasion. My favorite place for Ice cream Cake is Cold Stone Creamery. I always wanted to try it at home and have been looking for a good recipe. Finally found an easy and brilliant recipe and gave it a try for my 3rd Wedding Anniversary last week. It came out just as I expected and my husband (GS) and I loved it. It just tasted like the Cassata Ice cream (but was missing a couple more layers) from “Arun Ice creams” a popular ice cream parlor chain in South India. It is so simple to make this cake if you are using ready made ice creams. This is to make a 9″ round cake. Ingredients: Semisweet chocolate – 1 cup Heavy cream –...
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Crunchy Almond Muffins
Muffins are simple to make and are delicious to eat. There are variety of flavors of muffins. I love muffins because they are not as sweet as cup cakes. I was craving for muffins for the past few days. I finally thought I should try something new and I tried this Crunchy Almond Muffin and it was yummy. Surprisingly even my husband who is not a big fan of sweets loved it. Here you go… Ingredients: French vanilla cake mix – 1 1/2 cup Eggs – 2 Vegetable oil – 1/4 cup All purpose flour (or maida) – 1/4 cup Brown sugar – 4 tbsp Granulated sugar – 4 tbsp Ground Cinnamon – a pinch Unsalted butter – 2 tbsp Slivered almonds – 1/4 cup Method of Preparation: Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit. In a mixing bowl add...
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Peanut Butter and Chocolate Frosted Cupcakes
Cupcake has to be the perfect comfort food for a person of any age. Even though I’ve had Cupcakes before I kind of got hooked on to it bad, because of an ex-coworker. She used to make Cupcakes and bring in to work so often that I started craving for it all the time. This is the first time am trying Cupcake and I was a little nervous until I was done with the whole baking. If the pictures are any clue the Cupcakes turned out very well indeed. I did have a hard time with the peanut butter and chocolate frosting to look good for the pictures, but after a few tries they came out okay. Ingredients: Vanilla Cupcakes: All purpose flour : 3 cups Baking powder : 2 tsp Vanilla extract : 2 tsp Milk : 1...
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Puran Kozhukattai (Rice Dumplings)
Sweet Puran Kozhukkatai or Sweet Rice Dumpling is a popular delicacy in India which is commonly prepared during the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi (Lord Ganesh’s Birthday). It is believed that this is one of Lord Ganesh’s favorite food. Hence it comes on the list of offerings that we make during this festival. Puran means filling which can be anything such as sweetened coconut, channa dal puran, spicy puran, etc. Here I am sharing the recipe for sweetened coconut puran. Kozhukkattai (modakam or modak) is more like Japanese Mochi which is made of glutinous rice. But here we use raw rice for making the outer spongy shell. I have detailed two methods for making the outer shell. You can go with whichever is easy for you. For me the rice flour/idiappam flour method is easier. But my mom always goes with...
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Moong dal Payasam (Kheer) – Lentil Pudding
I’ve already posted a different version of Moong Dal Kheer in ST. I made little changes and tried this version. It came out really tasty. So I wanted to share it with everyone. With the goodness from the lentils, you can make this quick dessert without the usual guilt. Moong dal is more known for the signature dish – Pongal but it can also be used to make desserts such as this Kheer. It’s the easiest dessert which can be make it in 30 minutes. Ingredients: Moong dal/Yellow split bean : 1 cup Ghee : 3 tbsp Milk : 2 cups Jaggery /Unrefined sugar syrup: 1/2 cup Sugar : 1/4 cup Shredded coconut : 4 tbsp Cashews : 8-9 Dry grapes : 9-10 Method of Preparation: Soak the moong dal for 15 minutes, after that drain them and keep it...
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Karadayan Nombu – Nombu Adai – Steamed Rice Flour Cake
Karadayan Nonbu also called Savitri Vratham is observed in Tamil Nadu. This is a tradition is observed women, married women for the prosperity of their husband and unmarried women to get an ideal person as their husband. During this festival, women perform fasting and does pooja and offerings to God. Nonbu Adai is the main dish for the day. There are spicy and sweet adais. We offer these adais to Goddess Gowri Devi and will tie a holy thread around the neck. I love these adais and used to wait for the pooja to get over so that I can munch on. Here you go… For 1 cup of flour, Preparation time: 35 – 40 minutes No of servings: 12 to 14 pieces Ingredients: For Sweet Adai: Rice flour – 1 cup Jaggery – 1 1/4 cup (powdered) Coconut...
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Boondhi Laddu – Gram Flour Laddu
Laddu is an Indian sweet which is often prepared during festivals or any special occasions at home. You can also see Laddu at many temples kept as prasadham. There are different types of laddu such as Rava Laddu, Ragi laddu, Boondhi laddu, etc. I have given you the recipe for Boondhi Laddu. Here you go… Ingredients: Besan/Gram flour – 1 cup Sugar – 1.5 cups Milk – 100 ml Cardamom – 3 numbers Whole Cashew nut – 5 numbers Raisins – 10 numbers Yellow food color Oil for frying Clarified butter – 1 tsp Method of Preparation: Heat a deep bottomed pan or kadai, add sugar and a little water till the sugar gets wet completely. Once the sugar melts completely, add the milk. Milk helps to get rid off any dirt in sugar. Skim the dirt off the syrup. When...
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Sweet Pongal for Makara Shankranthi
Sweet Pongal is one of the signature dishes made on Makara Shankranthi or Pongal festival. I got to spend this Pongal with my parents after a few years and it was lovely to have hot sweet pongal served on a banana leaf. Heavenly! Pongal is the Hindu festival that follows a solar calendar and is celebrated on the fourteenth of January every year. Pongal has astronomical significance: it marks the beginning of Uttarayana, the Sun’s movement northward for a six month period. In Hinduism, Uttarayana is considered auspicious, as opposed to Dakshinaayana, or the southern movement of the sun. All important events are scheduled during this period. Makara Sankranthi refers to the event of the Sun entering the zodiac sign of Makara or Capricorn. Here is how you can make it too.. Ingredients: Raw Rice: 1cup Moong dal: 1/2...
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Elai Adai – Jack fruit Dumpling
Elai Adai is one of the popular sweets in Kerala. Elai adai is made of jack fruit jam which is called as “Chakka Varatti” in Kerala. This is made using plantain leaf which gives a special flavor to the adai. Jack fruit by itself is tasty. When it is prepared as a jam and added to coconut puran, it is divine. My mouth waters when I think about it. Recently I went to Kerala for a wedding. Such a beautiful place it is. I spent a week there and had a good time. I tasted their food, specially the sweets. It was yummy!!! The Pazha Payasam (Fruit Kheer), Paladai Pradhaman (Milk Kheer), Chakka Pradhaman (Jack fruit kheer), Elai adai, the list goes on…My mother in law makes awesome sweets. She made this Elai Adai specially for me today and...
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Mysore Pak
It’s been a long time since I posted a recipe here. It is because I am in INDIA keeping myself occupied. My friend Shriya and I came to India for a long vacation. So I am writing this recipe from India and thought I will start with a sweet. I celebrated Diwali with my family here and had a lots of sweets and savory. Mysore Pak is one of the popular sweet in India. My mother in law makes awesome Mysore Pak every year for Diwali. This time I had a chance to watch her making this sweet. It was simple and yummy. Here you go… Ingredients: Gram flour or Besan – 1 cup Sugar – 1 and 3/4 cup Ghee or Clarified butter – 1 and 3/4 cup Water – 1 cup Method of Preparation: Take a square...
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Paal Kozhukatai
I got this recipe from my sister. She used to make it for special ocassions and “Paal Kozhukatai” is one of my favorite recipes from her kitchen. As many other not so often made dishes, I’ve always thought it would be pretty tough to make it. But I finally decided to make it on Gokulashtami (an Indian festival) and it came out really awesome. And its not at all tough to make. It just took like 30-40 minutes for me to make this lovely dessert. Hope you enjoy making this recipe. Ingredients: Rice flour: 1 cup Coconut milk : 1 cup water :1 cup Milk : 1/2 cup cardamom : 5-6 (crushed) saffron : a pinch Sugar : 1/2 cup (according to your sweet level) Method Of Preparation: Take a cup of rice flour in a pan and add...
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