Gokulashtami Special – Vella Seedai/Sweet marbles
Today is Gokulashtami. This festival is celebrated for lord krishna and it’s his birthday. This festival is called in different names as “krishna jayanthi”, “krishnashtami”,” sri jayanthi” and “janma ashtami”. Last year my Mother-in-Law was here with us so she made it easy for me. This year I tried out my family recipes for the festival. This is one of the most popular festival in India. Today I made “paal kozhukatai/Sweet Rice Pudding”, Vella Seedai/Sweet marbles”, “Sundal/chick Peas Fry”, “Medhu vadai”. I was planning to make two more dishes but I don’t have time to do it. Now I am sharing the Vella seedai(Sweet marbles) recipe here. This dish is used to make especially for the Gokulashtami festival. This is pretty popular snack in South India. I got this recipe from my sister and this is the first time...
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Coconut and Rice Kheer – Thengai Arisi Payasam
Kheer or Payasam is an Indian dessert made for festivals and special occasions. Coconut and Rice kheer is popular in South India and I love this kheer just for the combination of rice and coconut cooked in milk. To sweeten this dish, we can add either sugar or jaggery. I prefer sugar to jaggery for this payasam. Finally enhanced with the flavor of cardamom and fried cashew nut. It is a bit time consuming but very simple procedure. Try this and let me know how it turns out. Preparation time: 30 minutes Cooking time: 2 hours No. of servings: 6 t0 7 Ingredients: Basmati rice – 4 tbsp Shredded coconut – 1/2 cup Milk – 8 cups Sugar – 3/4 cup Cardamom pods – 4 Broken cashew nut – 2 tbsp Ghee (clarified butter) – 1 tsp Method of Preparation: Soak...
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Pidi Kozhukkattai – Steamed Sweet and Hot Dumpling
Pidi Kozhukkattai or Steamed Rice Dumpling is a South Indian delicacy which is made for an evening snack or tiffin. There are two types, sweet and the spicy version. It is more like making upma and then steaming it. So it is also known as Upma Kozhukkattai. The spicy dumpling is generally served with coconut chutney or by itself. It is very easy to make and perfect for kids and adults. Ingredients: For Sweet Dumpling: Rice – 1 cup Shredded coconut – 3 tbsp Crus ed jaggery – 1 cup Cardamom – 2 count Water Method of Preparation: Wash rice, strain it and dry it on a clean cotton towel or paper towel. Spread it well so that it helps in drying. Once the rice is dried, grind it coarsely like rawa/sooji. Separate into two halves and measure the quantity....
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Moong Halwa – Golden gram Pudding
Recently, I went to Detroit to attend one of my friend’s baby shower function. We stayed at Shriya’s place and had lots of fun. I wanted to make something special for Shriya and the other friend, Lothika. So I tried this Moong Halwa and it came out really good. Everyone loved it and it has become one of my favorite sweet. I also added almonds to this halwa which made it more yummy. This is an easy and rich sweet to make for any functions and festivals. And it also has a healthy ingredient, the moong dal. Here you go… Ingredients: Moong dal/Golden gram – 1 cup Almonds – 1 1/4 cup Sugar – 2 1/4 cup (adjust to taste) Ghee – 1/4 cup Saffron – 1 pinch Cardamom – 4 count 2% Milk – 1 cup Method of...
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Atlanta visit and Chocolate Truffles
Last weekend I went to one of my folks’ house in Atlanta. They have two kids and a lovely home. I had a good time there. We went to the World’s Largest Aquarium (Georgia Aquarium), World of coke, where you can taste coke from different parts of the world and to a beautiful temple. We had great fun. Specially, the BAPS temple and aquarium were awesome. That’s the beautiful temple I have ever seen so far. It was built of marble and the architecture was amaaazinggg. The aquarium was wonderful. I saw a variety of aquatic life. I should definitely mention about the whale sharks, beluga whales and manta ray. It was like a tour to the ocean. I took lots of pictures. Oops! I forgot to mention about the near-by falls that I went for. That was beautiful....
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Badam Kheer – Almond Kheer
Badam Kheer/Almond Kheer is a popular drink in India. It is so simple to make but also a rich and creamy dessert. My mom and I love it. I was just thinking about her when I made this today for a get-together. My friends enjoyed it and I hope you all like it. Here you go… Ingredients: Almonds or Badam – 1/3 cup Milk – 4 cups Condensed milk – 1 can (or sugar of required amount) Cardamom – 3 count Saffron – few strands Method of Preparation: Soak almonds overnight or in hot water for 2 hours. Drain the almonds and peel the skin off and grind it to a paste along with some milk. Add milk to a thick bottomed vessel and heat it to boil. Keep on stirring the milk to avoid burning at the bottom. When...
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Jeera Poli – Sugar Syrup Pancakes
Jeera Poli is delicious South Indian dessert made by dipping layered fried Puris in Sugar syrup. “Jeera” means Sugar Syrup. “Poli” is more like flat bread. We make this on the day of Bohi, the day before Pongal festival. It is very simple and tastes yummy. Ingredients: Maida/All Purpose flour – 1 cup Oil – 1 cup Sugar – 1 cup Cardamom – 4 Yellow Color – 1 pinch Method of Preparation: In a bowl mix maida and 3 to 4 tbsp of oil. Add water litle at a time and knead a soft dough. Keep it aside for 2 hours. Heat oil in a small deep bottomed pan In another pan add sugar and water till sugar gets wet. Do not pour excess water. Sugar should be completely dissolved and when it starts boiling remove it from heat...
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Thiruvadirai Kali – Arudhra Darshan Festival with Kali
Thiruvathirai Kali (Rice Pudding) is South Indian sweet dish made on the festival of Thiruvadirai. Thiruvadhirai or Arudhra Darshan festival on the full moon day of Margazhi(Tamil calender month, between Dec 15- Jan 15) is auspicious to Lord Nataraja, the dancing Shiva. Arudhra is the largest of the stars. It is two-and-a-half crore times bigger than the sun. There will be 10 days of festival in Chidambaram (Tamil Nadu, South India) during this month which involves a grand scheme of traditional observances commencing with the hoisting of the temple flag on the first day, followed by colorful processions of the five deities (Pancha Murthys) on the first eight days on various mounts. The fifth day features Mount Kailasam, while the sixth day features the elephant mount. It is only on the ninth day when Arudhra star and new moon coincide,...
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Basundi-Creamy Milk Pudding
Basundhi is one of my and my Husband’s favorite sweets. We love  Adayar Anadha Bhavan’s Basundhi to the core. It used to be my favorite place to eat basundhi in Chennai. But luckily, after marriage I came to know that its my husband’s favorite too. But after moving to U.S we really missed it.  My elder sister used to make great basundhi, So I decided to make this at home and surprised my husband. You know what, it actually became  a sooper dooper hit and he loved it very much. A big thanks to my sister for sharing this recipe with me. Ingredients: Milk : 2 litres (I used 2% Milk) Condensed Milk: 1 can Pistachios : 4 tbsp cardamom : 1 1/2tbsp (Preseed) Sugar : 1/2 cup Method Of Preparation: Boil the milk in a thick  wide bottomed...
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Baklawa – The Sweetheart Middle Eastern Dessert
Baklawa is a signature middle-eastern dessert and is a favorite favorie favorite sweet of mine. I used to pester my hubby often to get this from a middle-eastern restaurant in town. It is even our make-up dessert after our little fights. That’s how much I like it. Even though I have tried my hand at baking a little, Baklawa seemed very intimidating to make it in my kitchen. And just the other day, I was talking to an old time school friend of mine, Subash. He is now a chef and when we started talking about food, he mentioned he had a simple to make yet an authentic recipe for Baklawa from a Labanese chef. He was kind enough to share it with me and a huge THANKS to you, Subash. Ingredients: Phillo pastry : 1 pack Sugar :...
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Rasmalai
Rasmalai (rasa malai to some) is an Indian delicacy often categorized as a Milk Sweet. It is made from Paneer (Indian cottage cheese) and it makes a great dessert and is served chilled. Just because this dessert is so delicious, I thought it would be difficult to make. But, it turns out to be quite an easy recipe. One of my friends recently shared this recipe with me. It’s my husband’s favorite dessert and he loved it. We have always bought the canned ones but never made it at home. But, this time I made it and he kept asking me where I bought this and that it tasted better than ever. 😉 Ingredients: Milk : 3 cups ( For Paneer) Milk : 3 cups (for malai) Cardamom: 1/2 tbsp Sugar : 2 cup (for making syrup) Sugar...
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Neyyappam – Rice Pancake
Neyyappam is another type of Indian pancake (sweet) which is made in Kerala. I had a neighbour called Aartee who is a wonderful cook. She make this sweet often especially for her two year old kid, Arya. Whenever she made neyyappam she used to give me some because I am a big fan of it. Now that she moved to Miami, I miss it. Finally, I got the recipe from her and started doing this delicious appams. Here you go… This is my entry for Kids food event which is conducted by vanamala of Nalapaka.blogspot.com. Ingredients: Rice flour – 1 1/4 cup Banana – 2 Jaggery – 1 cup Coconut – 3 tbsp whole cashew nuts – a handful Raisins – a handful Cardamom – 3 Ghee – to fry Method of preparation: Heat 1/4 cup of water in...
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Carrot kheer
Kheer is a traditional dessert dish in India and it has different names such as payasam, payesh, etc. It is generally made during festival times and all special occasions. Kheer is a must in marriages or any feast. Milk is the base for any kheer which is reduced and cooked with the main ingredient. When you say kheer, it always reminds you of Rice Kheer which is the most popular among kheers. But kheer can also be made with many other ingredients and carrot is one among them. Carrot Kheer is very easy to make and the color of the kheer itself is so tempting and appealing. I made this Kheer for Navratri festival and it came out so good. Enjoy this kheer and let me know your comments. Preparation time: 30 minutes Cooking time: 60 minutes Yield: 10...
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Poli
It’s been a long time since I wrote a recipe. As Shriya said we had a good time in her place and was busy hanging out. My husband and Shriya are fond of poli. We were so busy that we were not able make poli at Shriya’s house. Today I tried poli, my mom’s recipe and it came out well. I have shared the recipe with you all. Poli is a sweet bread made out of All purpose flour, jaggery, coconut and channa dal. Its usually made during Festival Times. Ingredients: Maida (All purpose flour) – 2 cups Shredded coconut – 1 1/2 cups Channa dal – 1/2 cup Jaggery – 3/4 th of grated coconut (adjust to taste) Food color (yellow) – a pinch Salt – a pinch Cardamom – 4 Oil – 6 to 7 tbsp Method...
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Moong Dhal Kheer
Pongal is an auspicious day for Tamilians. It is in celebration of the prosperity and good fortune that comes with the harvest and in thanks to the rain and sun for a good season. It is celebrated on the first day of the Tamil month ‘Thai’ and today is that day! It is customary to make sweets on Pongal day and I made some Moong Dal Kheer, also called payasam to celebrate this day. Preparation Time: 45 minutes No of servings: 4-5 Spice Level: 0 out of 5 Ingredients: Moong dhal : 1 cup Bengal gram : 2 1/2 tsp Ghee : 1 tbsp cashew nuts : 8 Raisins: few(optional) Jaggery : 1/2 cup Water : 1 1/2 cup Milk : 1 cup Method Of Preparation : wash the moong dhal and bengal gram and soak them in water...
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Mango mousse
Ingredients: Sweetened mango pulp can – 30 Oz Cool whip – 4 cups Condensed milk – 1 can Vanilla yogurt – 1 cup Peach jello (gelatin) – 2 packets Method of preparation: Add all the ingredients except gelatin into a container and mix thoroughly with a hand mixer (or beater) Prepare gelatin as per the instruction given at the cover of the Peach jello (gelatin) Now add the gelatin into the above mixture and combine well Refrigerate overnight and serve chill. 🙂 This is an easy but delicious dessert for a party. Credit:...
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Rawa Kesari
Rawa Kesari is my all time favorite sweet and it’s a very popular sweet in south India.Its easy to make when you have guests in home and in festival times.My friend kathija shared this recipe with me.This is the first sweet I made when I started cooking .The tricky part in this recipe is while adding water in to the rawa you will get lumps so to avoid it add water by mixing it continuosly in low flame otherwise you can use dal masher to avoid lumps. Preparation Time: 50 minutes No of servings: 4-5 Spice Level: 3.5 out of 5 Ingredients: Semolina(Rava/Sooji) – 1 cup Ghee – 3/4 cup Sugar – 1 3/4 cups Cashews – 10 nos Kesari colour – A pinch Hot water – 2 1/2 cups Cardamom(Elakka) powder – 1/2 tsp Method of Preparation: Heat...
Read MoreSemiya Pradhaman
Preparation Time : 35 minutes No of servings : 3-4 Spice Level : 0 out of 5 Ingredients: Semiya : 1 cup Moong dal : 1/2 tsp Jaggery : 2 1/2 cups Coconut milk : 1 cup Cardamom powder/Elachi powder : 1 tsp Ghee : 2 tbsp  Coconut : 2 tbsp (Finely Chopped) Method of Preparation: Boil Moong dal until its cooked and drain the water (Make sure the moong dal is not over cooked it and it shouldn’t stick with each other ). Boil 5 cups of water in a vessel when the water comes to a boil add semiya into it .Let it cook in high heat for 2 minutes and then continue in low heat until its well cooked. Add 1/4 cup of water in jaggery and boil it until gets fully dissolved in water. After...
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