Karuppu Kavuni Rice Sweet Pongal - Karuppu Kavuni Arisi Sweet Pongal - Black Rice Sweet Pongal - Pressure Cooker Recipe

Rice being a staple food of Asia, this deep Black Rice has an interesting story behind it. Black Rice or Karuppu Kavuni Arisi is also known as the Emperors Rice or Forbidden Rice. It was called so because, in ancient China,  this unique rice was grown in very limited quantities and consumed only by the Emperor to ensure his health and longevity and was forbidden to any common man, due to its enormous nutritional benefits. 

This rice when soaked or cooked turns blackish purple. This is due to the presence of a pigment called Anthocyanin, present in the outer layer of the grains which has potent antioxidant properties. Anthocyanins are a group of flavonoid plant pigments that are responsible for the purple color. The amount of Anthocyanin contained in Black rice is higher than any other grain including brown rice, red rice or other colored whole grain varieties. Studies say that anthocyanins have strong anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer effects and also rich in Vitamin E. Furthermore, it is said that eating foods high in anthocyanins may help protect against several chronic diseases, including heart disease, obesity, and some forms of cancer.

Research says that black rice contains over 23 types of antioxidants and has the highest antioxidant activity of all rice varieties. The high amounts of Lutein and Zeaxanthin, the two types of carotenoids supports our eye health.

Black rice is low in calories, which makes it great for people who wants to reduce weight without giving up on rice. It is also a great source of plant-based protein (which is a great news for vegetarians and vegans) and provides minerals like iron and copper.

Here's a comparison of different rice varieties (100gm serving)

• Polished white rice – 6.8g protein, 1.2g iron, 0.6g fiber.
• Brown rice – 7.9g protein, 2.2g iron, and 2.8g fiber.
• Red rice – 7.0g protein, 5.5g iron, and 2.0g fiber.
• Black rice – 8.5g protein, 3.5g iron, 4.9g fiber.

Other health benefits of this naturally gluten-free rice includes; helps in treating asthma, aids weight loss, natural detoxifier, maintains sugar levels, maintains cholesterol levels, aids healthy brain function, improves digestive health and also an excellent source of good fat.

I’m sure all these interesting facts about black rice have made you want to include this in your  routine. Kavuni arisi is a popular sweet recipe in Chettinad region. It is served in all Chettinad wedding feast. We can also use this rice for making idly/dosa, kanji/porridge, kuzhipaniyaram etc. Or instead of white rice, you can just have this for your meal with the regular sambar or rasam. Since black rice is unrefined and denser than brown rice, the way we cook it is also slightly different. It has a mild nutty taste and a chewy texture. And it has to be soaked well enough before cooking. With enough heads-up here's a yummy recipe for making Pongal using Black Rice. Let me know how this turned up for you :-)

 

 

Ingredients

Karuppu Kavuni Arisi/Black Rice - 1/2 cup (this will yield more than double the quantity of cooked rice, as we are soaking overnight)

Moong dal - 1 or 2 tbsp

Water - 1.5 cups (2 cups of water for 1 cup of rice. Here I have used extra water as I had used moong dal)

Powdered Jaggery/Country Sugar - 1/2 cup

Cardamom - 3 or 4 pods, powdered

Cashews - as per taste

Ghee - 1 tbsp or as per taste

Milk - 1/4 cup (optional)

Method:

1. Take 1/2 cup of Black rice in a bowl. Wash it couple of times and add water and soak it overnight or atleast for 6 hours.

Karuppu Kavuni Arisi

 

 

Soak Overnight

2. Next morning, the soaked rice and the water would have turned pink. Do not discard this water, measure this and use it along with more water for cooking the black rice.

 

 

 

Rice and water turns pink upon soaking

The soaked water which has turned pink, reserve it for cooking the kavuni arisi

3. In a pressure cooker, add the soaked rice and water. Close the lid and cook for 1 whistle in high and simmer for 10 mins.

Add it to the Pressure Cooker

4. Once the Pressure settles, open the lid, try to mash it a little. This rice wouldn't mash up. If you have added moong dal that would help to stick the rice grains together and give a pongal like texture. If you haven't added moong dal, the rice grains would look seperate. But still they would have a sticky texture.

5. Add the jaggery, powdered cardamom and milk and simmer it for few minutes until all the ingredients binds together.

6. Take a small pan, add ghee and fry the cashews and add it to the Black Rice Pongal. 

7. That's it.. Yummy Karuppu Kavuni Arisi pongal is ready to be tasted.

Ragi Halwa Using Jaggery in 15 minutes - One Pot One Shot (OPOS) Recipe

Ragi is a super wonder grain which is perfectly suitable for Indian climatic conditions. It is rich in fiber, calcium, good carbohydrates, amino acids, Vitamin D and also an excellent source of iron. I learnt this recipe from one of the OPOS facebook groups. It was super easy and my son loved it the most.  I have not added any nuts or dry fruits in this, you can add them if you wish. 

Ingredients

Ragi Flour - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 2 tbsp + 1 tsp
Water - 1 cup
Powdered Jaggery - 1/3 cup, heaped
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Cashew nut - 1

Method

1. Heat a pan, add 2 tbsp of ghee, ragi flour and the cashew. Roast the flour in low flame until a nice  
    aroma rises. The cashew will turn golden brown when the flour gets roasted. It takes approximately    10 minutes for this.
2. Once the flour gets roasted set aside. Take a 2 or 3 liter pressure cooker, add 1 cup of water,   Jaggery powder, cardamom powder, 1 tsp of ghee and cook for 1 whistle.
3. Turn off the pressure cooker. Remove the pressure manually, do this very carefully using a spoon.
4. Add the roasted ragi flour immediately to the boiling water and mix well quickly.
5. Close the lid with the weight on and leave it for 15 minutes. (Do not have to turn on the stove, it         will get set in the retained heat).
6. After 15 minutes, you can transfer it to a mould and slice them to pieces or can just serve them in       a bowl with spoon.

Note :

While roasting the ragi flour, if you over roast the flour halwa might have a bitter taste in it. In case, if your cashew doesn't turn golden brown for some reason and meanwhile you get the nice aroma, just go with your instincts. 

Rava Kesari Recipe - How to make Rava Kesari - Easy Indian Sweets

Rava Kesari is one of my favorites. I really don't know why I kept delaying to post such an easy and basic sweet.  Today is a special day, VijosKitchenCorner is 2 years old and its our 7th wedding anniversary too. Every year we used to plan something for our anniversary. This year we were not in any celebration mood with all the floods and the scars it has left in most of the families here. VJ and his friends are volunteering to rebuild an orphanage home nearby which has been completely washed out with the floods. We hardly had any time on hand for us. So today morning I thought I can atleast prepare this quick kesari. Here is the simple and easy recipe.

Ingredients

Rava - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 cup or a little lesser than that
Water - 1 & 1/2 cups
Ghee - 1/4 cup
Cardamom - 3-4 crushed
Cashew nuts - 10-15, broken into quarters
Raisins - 10
Kesari colour - a pinch

Method

Heat a heavy bottomed pan and add a teaspoon of ghee and roast the cashew nuts until they turn golden brown. When they start turning golden brown add the raisins and fry until it puffs up. Transfer them to a separate bowl.

In the same pan add the rava and fry until a nice aroma comes out of it. Transfer the rava to a plate. Then add the water, kesari colour and the crushed cardamom to the pan and bring it to a boil. When the water starts boiling add the roasted rava, simmer and cook.

After all the water evaporates, add sugar, roasted cashews and raisins, mix well and cook on low flame until the kesari starts to leave the sides of the pan. Serve hot or warm.

Badam Halwa - Almond Halwa - Diwali Sweets - How To Make Badam Halwa

The festival of lights, Diwali is round the corner. And I have been getting requests from my friends for some new sweets. When one of my friend asked for a sweet made out of badam I remembered Chef Venkatesh Bhat making halwa out of almonds in a show. I had roughly noted then. So for an exact recipe I had to do a little bit of googling and finally adapted with this version. I had made few alterations to the sugar and ghee proportions, still the halwa was super delicious and soft.

Badam halwa is a rich and delicious Indian sweet made with pureed almonds, milk, ghee, sugar and
saffron. Stirring continuously at the right heat is the key for this recipe. Over heat can very easily
burn the halwa. Just make sure you follow the exact steps, the yummy halwa will melt in your mouth

Ingredients (serves 3-4)

Badam - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 1/4 cup
Water - 1/4 cup (for dissolving sugar)
Yellow food colour/kesari color - a pinch
Saffron - few strands


Method

Soak almonds overnight and peel the skin. Alternatively you can boil them in hot water for a few minutes and peel the skin.




Grind almonds with 1/4 cup of milk to a smooth paste.




Take a heavy bottomed pan, (I used a non-stick pan, so that it doesn't stick to the bottom) bring 1/4 cup of water to boil, switch off the flame, add sugar and stir, so that the sugar dissolves completely.



Now add the badam paste, remaining milk, kesari color, sugar, saffron and cook on medium flame stirring continuously.



Add ghee little by little, mixing evenly. Add all the ghee except 2 tsp and cook stirring continuously on low flame.

 

It will start bubbling and spluttering. Cautiously keep stirring.



At one point, the ghee will be completely absorbed and the halwa will start leaving the sides of the pan. This took around 15 minutes for me.

Now switch off the flame, add the remaining 2 tsp of ghee and stir for about 3-4 minutes. I learnt that this is important to keep the halwa softer when it sets. The halwa will thicken even more when it cools down.

Eggless Mango Mousse Recipe

Mango season is here and I prepared this mango mousse which was in my to-make list for a long time. Mango Mousse is a very creamy, light and airy in texture dessert which can be prepared in less than 15 minutes. This is super easy to prepare and tastes so yummy. Only three ingredients, eggless, gelatin free or no cooking needed. You can also make this a day ahead if you are planning for a party.

 Ingredients

Mango Puree - 1/2 cup
Fresh cream/Heavy cream - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 2-3 tbsp, adjust as per taste

Method

If using fresh mangoes, puree them in a mixer/blender. Set aside.
Take a wide bowl and add the fresh cream and sugar, using a hand mixer whip until it forms soft peaks. Now add the mango puree and gently fold in using a spatula until well combined. All done, transfer it to a serving bowl and refrigerate for a minimun of 2 hours. Top it up with fresh mango pieces while serving.

Jangri - Jangiri - How to make Jangiri

I have tried my hands on with Jangiris only once and that was couple of years back, when I had no idea of food blogging. So I hadn't clicked any pictures of it then. From the day I started sharing my recipes I wanted to make them again and post the recipe. This time I prepared this for double dhamaka. Its a treat for VJ's bday and my FB page (https://www.facebook.com/ViJosKitchenCorner)  crossed 1500+ likes. That calls for a treat rite? :-)

Making these jangiris are not very tough. With little bit of patience and practice we can get perfect ones. Do try this recipe and let me know!!

Ingredients

Whole urad dal - 1 cup
Rice flour - 2 tsp
Orange food color/kesar color - 1/4 tsp

For sugar syrup

Sugar - 2 cups
Water - just to immerse sugar
Lemon juice - 1/2 tsp
Rose essence - 3 or 4 drops (optional)

Method

1. Wash and soak the urad dal for 2 hours. Drain excess water and grind it to a smooth and fluffy batter, without adding much water, as we do for medhu vada. Add rice flour and food color and mix well. Beat the batter nicely with your hands. Beating the batter is very important as it makes the batter more fluffy. Now the jangiri batter is ready.
2. Take a ziplock cover or a thick plastic cover and make a hole with a thin nail, the hole should be very tiny.
3. Prepare the sugar syrup - Heat a heavy bottomed pan, add sugar. Add water just to immerse the sugar. Stir the sugar syrup occasionally, boil until the syrup is sticking in hands or just when a string starts to form. Now add rose essence and stir it well. Switch off the flame. To prevent the sugar syrup from crystallizing,  add half a teaspoon of lemon juice. If the sugar syrup gets crystallized after some time we can again keep in low flame and add a tablespoon of water and dilute it again.
4. Start piping the Jangiris. Fill half the cover with batter and try piping on a plate first to practice the patterns. First pipe 2 circles, then on the top of it make smaller circles without stopping. Try this once or twice before piping directly into the oil. 
5. Take a  broad and flat bottomed pan with less oil, say 1inch depth. Heat the oil and reduce the flame to low and start piping the jangiris. The oil should not get fully heated,when it starts forming small bubbles in the bottom start the process.
6. Fry on both sides until it turns golden brown and crispy. Use a stainless steel rod or a wooden skewer for flipping and taking it out. Handle the jangiris carefully, while touching the jangiris with skewer/rod if they feel soft they need to be cooked for few more seconds. 
7. Once cooked remove it from oil and drop it into the prepared sugar syrup. Press it gently with a ladle inside the sugar syrup. Let is soak, meantime we will prepare the second batch as we did the first one. 
8. Once the second batch is ready remove the first batch from the sugar syrup and keep it on a plate to dry, allow them a standing time of 30 mins to 1 hour for best taste. Then drop the second batch of jangiris into the sugar syrup. In this way repeat the process for the rest of the batter. Yummy and delicious jangiris are ready

Chocolate Barfi - Khoya/Mawa Barfi - Chocolate Milk Fudge

Barfi's can be prepared in many ways like caramelizing whole milk from scratch, simmering it slowly over stove top for hours or by using condensed milk or by using khoya/mawa which is readily available in the shops. The first method is highly time consuming. So, I have used the khoya method here. You can also make khoya at home using milk powder. By using homemade khoya, you can save lots of time in making this Barfi. Here is the recipe for home made khoya and the Chocolate barfi as well...

Home made Khoya

Milk powder - 1 cup
Ghee/clarified butter - 1/2 tbsp
Milk - 1/4 cup

Preparation method

1. Take milk powder in a bowl. Heat the milk and ghee in a small pan. Heat the mixture just till it comes to a boil.
2. Add this hot milk-ghee mixture to milk powder. And mix it with a spoon. It will look like crumbled khoya. If it looks still dry you can add more milk, add very less at a time.
3. You can shape it however you like while it is warm. As it cools it will hold that shape and it will harden. After that you can grate or crumble it and use in many Indian Sweets

Ingredients

Khoya/Mawa - 250 gms
Sugar - 100 gms
Ghee - 2 or 3 tbsp
Cocoa powder - 2 tsp
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Chopped cashews/almonds - 2 tbsp or 1/4 cup (optional)
Sliced pistachios - 1 tbsp, for garnish (optional)

Method for preparing chocolate barfi

Add ghee to a heavy bottomed pan or kadai, add khoya and roast on a slow heat till it gets medium brown. ( it will take around 10 minutes )

Meanwhile in another pan make sugar syrup by adding sugar and very less water, just to wet the sugar. Bring it to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. The idea is to just dissolve the sugar. No string consistency is required. Remember, if you boil the sugar syrup too much the barfi will become chewy or very hard. Sugar syrup consistency is the key thing here.

Add sugar syrup to the roasted khoya and keep stirring, add cardamom powder, cocoa powder and chopped cashews/almonds.

Mix everything for 4-5 minutes on a medium flame. Transfer a mixture into a greased tray, garnish with sliced pistachios and level it out with spoon.  Let it cool completely and cut them into desire shape.

Vanilla Panna Cotta Using China Grass/Agar Agar

Panna Cotta is an Italian dessert prepared using fresh cream and full fat milk. Panna Cotta means "Cooked Cream, with a smooth and velvetty like texture which can be achieved by using China Grass/Agar Agar powder. You can also use gelatin instead. As gelatin is not a vegan option I opted for china grass. China grass can be easily found in any departmental store in the aisle where you can find other baking/pudding ingredients.

I was introduced to this dessert from one of the cookery shows. From then on it was on my To Taste and Try list. Few months back I happened to taste this in the Cream Centre restaurant and it was absolutely heavenly. Just melted in my mouth. I desperately wanted to try this and planned for a special occasion. Yeah, its been one year since I started this blog and its our anniversary too. So here comes one special recipe with lots of tips that I have learnt. I got it right only on my third attempt and all my learnings are here for the benefit of you :-)

What does a perfect panna cotta look like? Once you pour the cooked cream in any mould or ramekins and refrigerate, it should be set in 5 or 6 hours. Set in the sense, you should be able to flip it down and unmould it. Still it should hold its shape. Nor runny or too cheesy either. It should wibble-wobble like a jelly and should be soft and creamy when you eat. It can be achieved with the right quantity of china grass/agar agar. If too less it wont set, if too much it will be too stiff and cheesy. Fresh cream and full fat milk are the must. They cannot be substituted with any other ingredients. Else the you won't get the exact creamy and soft texture and taste.

Vanilla extract or vanilla essence? Both are really different. Vanilla extract is originally obtained from the vanilla bean or pod in the natural way. Whereas vanilla essence is just the flavor obtained by some chemical processing and is watery than the extract. Vanilla essence can be replaced for extract just use a little more than the mentioned quantity. 

Here comes the recipe!

Ingredients

Fresh Cream - 1/2 cup
Full fat milk - 1/2  cup
Sugar - 2-3 tbsp
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp (OR) Vanilla essence - 1 1/2 tsp
China Grass/Agar Agar powder - 2 tsp
Water - 2 tbsp

Method

1. Slightly grease the moulds in which you are going to pour the cooked cream with any unflavored oil. 
2. Heat the water in a small vessel, once it starts boiling turn off the flame and add the agar agar powder. Stir well until it dissolves and set aside.
3. Take a heavy bottomed pan and add the fresh cream, full fat milk and sugar. Bring to a boil in low flame. Stir well so the sugar dissolves completely. Now add the agar agar dissolved water to this, mix well and cook on low flame for two more minutes. Turn off the flame and add the vanilla extract. Mix well and immediately pour into the greased moulds.
4. Allow them to come to room temperature and then refrigerate for 5-6 hours or overnight. Even before refrigerating, the mixture would have thickened and starts setting. 
5. To unmould, run a thin knife around the sides of the mould/ramekin. Dip the mould in a bowl containing water for 5-10 seconds. Invert the mould over a serving plate and shake it gently so that it can easily come out of the mould and fall in the plate.

It is very important to cook the china grass dissolved water along with milk and cream for atleast couple of minutes. I missed this step in my first two attempts and the panna cotta didn't set at all. Do not worry, if it didn't set. Take it out of the refrigerator and add it again to a heavy bottomed pan and cook for few minutes. Allow to cook down and now refrigerate. Voila, its all set now and ready to be enjoyed :-)

Serving suggestions

• Garnish with fresh fruits (any berries, pomogranate etc.) 
• Drizzle with chocolate sauce
• Warm some strawberry or fruit jam with very less water and drizzle on top of it
• Sprinkle some grated chocolates or chopped nuts

Basundhi Recipe - How To Make Basundhi

Basundi is an easy-to-make milk dessert with a nice flavor of cardamom or kesar. It  is a traditional sweet recipe of Maharashtrians and Gujaratis. This recipe is very easy and doesn’t require much preparation as compared to other sweet dishes. The thicker version of Basundhi is called as Rabri. Rabdi is very thick with lots of malai / heavy cream when compared to Basundhi. It just took 30 minutes for me for the whole process. Do not worry if you don't have whole milk in hand. You can also use the 2% one. All you have to do is, once the milk reduces to half, add 4-5 drops of lemon juice and cook for 2 more minutes so that the milk curdles a bit and gives you a creamy texture. Now lets learn this easy recipe.

 
Ingredients

Serves - 2

Full Fat Milk (Whole Milk) - 1/2 litre
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Cardamom Powder - 1/8 tsp
Saffron strands - 5 or 6
Nuts of your choice - 1 tbsp (almonds, pistachios, cashews etc)

Method

In a heavy bottomed vessel (preferably non-stick), boil the milk until it reduces to half of its original quantity.

To do this, place the milk on high heat and bring to a boil. Then reduce the flame to medium-low and add sugar, nuts, saffron strands and the cardamom powder. Stir well until the sugar dissolves.

Keep on boiling until it reduces to half of its quantity, scraping its sides and bottom of the pan continuously. At the end of the process, the mixture will start to thicken and get a creamy texture. Turn off the stove. Serve hot or chilled.

Wishing you all a very Happy and Joyous Diwali with this yummy dessert.

Note

Scraping the sides and bottom of the pan continuously is very much important, else the milk can get burned at the bottom which might alter the taste of the basundhi. I used the rubber spatula which made my work easier for clean sides and bottoms without stickiness. You can also use a wooden spoon.

Once basundhi cools down completely, it would turn more thick. Refrigerate overnight for a better texture and taste.

Aval Laddu/Poha Laddu - Krishna Jayanthi Recipes

This is the first time I am preparing Aval Laddu. When I was looking for some simple and less time consuming recipes for Krishna Jayanthi I came through this recipe in RaksKitchen. The process is all same as we make Besan Laddu. So I did a trial today and it came out well, except for the perfect shapes. I used little less ghee than the specified amount, that can be the reason. Otherwise the laddu's are too good.

Ingredients

Aval/Poha/Flattened Rice - 1 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 1/4 cup
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Cashews - few, broken to small pieces
Raisinns - few

Method

• Spread the poha in a plate and check for any dust or impurities. After removing them, heat a pan and dry roast the poha until golden brown. Allow to cool and then grind it to a fine powder in a mixer. Also powder the sugar in the mixie.
• Heat ghee and fry the cashews until golden brown then add the raisins and fry until they become fluffy.
• In a wide bowl add the powdered poha, sugar, cardamom powder, fried cashews, raisins and the ghee. Mix well and make laddus out of it. If required grease your hands with ghee for getting perfect shaped laddus.

Aval Payasam/Poha Kheer - Krishna Jayanthi Recipes

This year Krishna Jayanthi is only few days away. In my mom's place we don't follow much rituals or pooja. But its completely the opposite with VJ's family, they will do pooja for Lord Krishna by offering lots of sweets and neivedhyams. So I am trying to gear up for this year. Aval or Poha is one of Krishna's favorite. And hence people will offer aval in any form. Aval Payasam is one way of offering aval to Lord Krishna. It is very easy and less time consuming when compared to other payasams. I made it for the first time for last year's Krishna Jayanthi and it turned out very well. Have prepared this couple of times after that and I am planning to make this year too along with few more Krishna Jayanthi recipes.

Ingredients

Aval/Poha - 1 cup
Boiled Milk - 4 cups approximately
Sugar - 1/3 cup (adjust as per your sweet preference)
Cardamom/Elaichi - 2 (or)
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Saffron threads - 3 or 4 (optional)
Cashews - 10, broken into small pieces
Raisins - 1 tbsp
Ghee - 2 tsp

Method

• Soak saffron threads in a tbsp of warm milk and set aside
• Add a tsp of ghee in a pan and fry the cashews until golden brown. Remove the cashews and set aside. Reserve some for garnishing if you wish. Then in the same pan add the raisins and fry until they fluff up. Remove them and now add the poha and roast until it slightly changes color. Do not allow it to turn brown. 
• Now to this add 3 cups of boiled milk and stir well. Allow the poha to cook in this milk. The poha should turn soft. Meantime if the milk is fully absorbed add one more cup of milk along with the raisins, cashews and cardamom powder/whole cardamoms. Add the sugar and the saffron dissolved milk too.
• Stir until the sugar dissolves. Finally add one more tsp of ghee. This is totally optional but will enhance the flavor of the kheer. Garnish with the roasted cashews. Enjoy it hot or warm or even chilled. I like to have it cold, tastes very delicious!!

Kulfi Ice Cream-Kesar Badam Kulfi-Kesar Malai Kulfi

Summer is here. Cold desserts are always a boon to beat away the heat. Kulfi is a very popular Indian ice cream which has a creamy texture and an extremely awesome taste, which is very simple to prepare as it doesn't need any whipping. All you need are the basic ingredients which are usually available in your kitchen. All that we need is some milk, sugar, corn flour, some almonds or even pistachios and a few strands of saffron. You can also use fresh cream instead of corn flour. I prefered the low fat option. Go ahead with your own choice and prepare this whenever you feel like eating a Kulfi!!

Ingredients

Full fat milk - 1 ltr (I used 2% milk)
Corn flour - 1 tbsp
Sugar - 1/3 cup
Almonds - 8-10 nos, finely chopped
Saffron strands - few

Method

1. Soak saffron in some warm milk (1 tbsp) and keep it aside. 
2. Dissolve the corn flour in some water, say 1 or 2 tbsp and set aside.
3. Add the milk to a wide pan, preferably a non-stick one and bring to a boil. Scrape down the sides and stir now and then to avoid sticking to the sides and bottom. Add the dissolved corn flour and sugar and mix well. Also add the saffron dissolved milk. Heat over medium flame, scraping and stirring every now and then until the milk thickens and reduces to half of the original quantity.
4. Cool completely. Pour into the kulfi moulds or in any freezer safe bowl and freeze for atleast 5 to 6 hours or until set.
5. To unmould, allow the moulds to remain outside the refrigerator for 3-5 minutes and then unmould. Or you can also run some cold water over the moulds and your job is instantly done. 
6. Start digging in immediately :)

Badusha - How to make Badusha - Diwali Sweets

I love Badusha for its soft texture and mild sweetness. But I have never dreamt that I would be making badusha's at home :-) I read enormous number of recipes from my fellow bloggers before making the first attempt. With all the tips and tricks I got it right with the very first attempt, but then I could not click any pictures. So I planned to make this sweet again for this New Year and it turned out well this time too. Last time when I tried to make the swirls I did not get them perfect. This time it did not disappoint me. And this is my first recipe with stepwise pictures. It was bit tough clicking and preparing altogether, but managed somehow. Here is the recipe for the deliciously, flaky and layered Indian sweet Badusha... Enjoy!!!

Ingredients

Maida - 1 & 1/2 cups
Butter - 1/4 cup
Oil - 2 tbsp or 1/8 cup
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Curd - 1 & 1/2 tsp
Cooking soda - 1/2 tsp
Water - 1/4 cup approximately
Oil for deep frying

Sugar Syrup

Sugar - 1/2 cup
Water - just to immerse the sugar
Saffron - 2 strands (optional)
Lemon juice - 1 tsp

Method

1. Melt butter in a bowl and add oil, sugar, curd and cooking soda to it. Mix well using a whisk until frothy. 
   
2. Add the flour and make it crumbly with your hands. Add the water little by little and make it to a smooth dough. But be cautious in the amount of water. Less than 1/4 cup was sufficient for me. Knead well for 8-10 mins. The dough should be very smooth. Divide into equal sized balls and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
   
   
   
   
    
3. Meanwhile we can prepare the sugar syrup. Add sugar and water in a pan. Stir only until the sugar dissolves. After that just allow to boil until it reaches single thread consistency. Stirring continuously will crystallize the sugar syrup. Add saffron and lemon juice. You can also add a pinch of elaichi powder if you like the flavor. I have not added it as I don't like the flavor of elaichi.
4. Start shaping the badushas while the sugar syrup is getting ready. You can make decorative ends as swirls or leave them as simple doughnuts. I learnt making the swirls from here. 
5. 
6. Heat oil in a pan, check by adding a small pinch. If it rises immediately that is the right stage. Add few badushas, turn off the stove  and allow to get cooked in the pre-heated oil. This may take upto 5 minutes. At one of time the sshh sound will go off and bubbles will disappear. Now turn on the stove and keep it in medium low flame. Flip the badushas to the other side and cook until golden brown on both sides.
7. Drain it in a tissue and immerse in the sugar syrup immediately. Dip well on both sides, let it be in the sugar syrup for 2 mins and then transfer to a greased tray. You can store them in a container after the sugar syrup turns non-sticky. Do not refrigerate. Consume within a weeks time :-) 
   

Tips

• If your badushas dissolve in oil as you are frying then any one of these is excess : butter or oil or cooking soda or water. So add more flour to the dough and knead again to troubleshoot the problem. It might also crack/break if there isn't enough kneading. Knead atleast for 10 mins
• If you are frying them in batches and if you get one or few batches right but the other batches gets dissolved or breaks up in the oil, the reason might be the temperature of the oil. Oil temperature should be just right. If over heated you will end up with undercooked badushas. If less heat, the dough will break inside the oil. Also there should be enough oil for the Badushas to float. Else they will dissolve too.
• If you reduce the quantity of butter or oil,then there will be drastic change in the texture of the badushas too,it will turn hard or crispy. You wont get the layers inside too.
• Do not rush during the frying process. Patience level is very much important. If you rush, the texture will disappoint you
• 
  

Mysore Pak

I was not a great fan of Mysore Pak. VJ loves them and he used to prepare it for any special occasion. As I am not a big fan of it I did not show much interested in learning the recipe. But when I happened to taste the Sri Krishna Sweets mysore pak, the smooth and soft, ghee flavored sweet started attracting me. When my interest on food started growing I wanted to give a try on mysore pak too. When I saw the quantity of ghee used, as usual my brain started warning me and I reduced the quantity a bit. The result was a hard and rock shaped mysore pak, but still it tasted in its own way. That's the lesson learnt. A soft and melt-in-your mouth mysore pak needs lots (loads) of ghee!! This Diwali, when I was thinking of preparing any sweets, my mom and sis asked for a mysore pak. Hence my second attempt was a no-compromise version. And yeah, now I got it right and perfect :-)

Mysore pak is an easy, yet tricky sweet to prepare. Conflicting right? Yes, that is how this sweet is. You have to be very cautious while preparing this. This sweet would get its perfect shape and taste in a matter of 10-15 seconds. If you miss that, you will end up with a hard and dry mysore pak. It's all about learning the correct techniques for a perfect mysore pak. I will try to list out every bit of my learning. Hope this will make your effort much easier.

Ingredients

Besan flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 1/2 cups
Water - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 1 cup + 2 tbsp

Method

1. Grease a plate or tray with ghee and keep aside.
2. Heat 2 tbsp ghee until smoky and mix this with the sifted flour. This helps to remove the raw taste of besan flour and gives a nice aroma. Mix the besan flour gently using a spoon so that the ghee spreads evenly across the flour. Now sift this and set aside. This helps avoiding any lumps while mixing the flour along with the sugar syrup.
3. Prepare the sugar syrup. In a wide bottomed pan, add sugar and 1/2 cup of water, boil on medium heat until one string consistency. That is, when you touch the syrup and stretch between your thumb and index finger, a string will be formed. Or place a drop of the syrup in a bowl containing cold water and the drop should be firm like a ball rather than getting dissolved. 
4. Now add the besan flour to the sugar syrup stirring continuously, mix until smooth, there should not be any lumps. Make sure the heat is medium at all times.
5. Start adding the ghee slowly using your left hand while you stir constantly with your right hand. Add one or two table spoon of ghee to the besan-sugar mixture, it sizzles, shows holes in the mixture and absorbs all of them. Now again add one or two tbsp of ghee and follow the same steps until you finish adding all the ghee. By this time, the besan will start leaving the sides, will start changing color, a nice aroma will be coming and will be a frothy mixture with lot of holes.
6. At this point immediately turn off the flame and transfer the mixture to the greased tray, wait until warm and cut into desired shape. Allow to cool down completely before transfering to its container. 

Tips

• Always keep the flame in medium for the right consistency.
• One string consistency is a must, if you add the besan mixture before one string is formed mysore pak will be like halwa.
• Stirring constantly is very important or the besan-sugar mixture will get a burnt smell.
• Turn off the flame only when the color changes and it starts leaving the sides. Even if you turn off the flame few seconds before it is done, mysore pak will be sticky and you will not be able to make pieces out of it.
• Make this sweet only when you find sufficient time. You cannot do any parallel works while preparing this sweet as you need both your hands for adding the ghee and stirring continuously.

Vanilla Ice Cream - How to make Vanilla Ice Cream @ Home - Ice Cream without Ice Cream Maker

IcE CrEAm... without an ice-cream maker? Whoa... thank God I found this recipe. This was the surprise treat for VJ's 2012 bday. I wanted to bake him a heart cake, but he would smell the baked flavor and there would be no surprise. So I had dropped the idea of cake and this Ice-Cream recipe came into my mind. Thankfully, I had the condensed milk and whip cream handy. So silently I made this while he was playing with Prajju and watching some movie :P

Ingredients

Sweetened Condensed Milk - 1 can (14 oz)
Whip Cream - 600 ml
Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
Chopped nuts of your choice and chocolate chips/shavings

Method

1. Add the whip cream in a large bowl. Beat on high using a hand mixer until it turns firm. If you don't have a hand mixer use a whisk and whisk well.
2. Add in the condensed milk and vanilla extract and beat for few more minutes.
3. Now, add the chopped nuts and the chocolate chips and give it a good stir. If you are using chocolate shavings, sprinkle them at the time of serving or only when you are done with the stirring process.
4. Transfer to a freezer safe bowl and freeze until done preferably whole night.

** If you don't have a hand mixture and not able to get a firm mixture of all the ingredients, do not worry. Whisk them all together as much as possible and transfer to freezer safe bowl. Freeze it. Take them out every 30 mins and mix them evenly. Do this 3-4 times and then allow to set down completely.

Phirni - How to make Phirni

Phirni is a kashmiri rice dessert which is made with ground basmati rice cooked with milk, sugar and some saffron threads for flavoring. Traditionally this desert is chilled and served in earthen bowls. Though you can have this unchilled, you get the best taste only when refrigerated. When you have some unplanned guests at home you can surprise them with this new dessert. Hardly takes some 20 mins for the whole process and then the refrigerating time. Here is the recipe!

Ingredients

Basmati rice - 2 tbsp

Milk -300 ml
Sugar - 21/2 tbsp (adjust as per taste)
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Sliced almonds - 8 or 10
Crushed Pistachios, Raisins and few strands of saffron for garnish

Method

1. Soak basmati rice for 1/2 an hour in water. Drain the water, blend it to a coarse paste.
2. Soak almonds in hot water for 10 mins and peel of the skin. Slice into thin slices.
3. Boil the milk in a broad bottomed pan, preferably non-stick. Stir in-between so that the milk doesn't stick to the bottom. Adding a teaspoon of water before pouring milk to the pan will help milk not to stick to the pan.
4. Add little bit of water to the rice paste and liquify it. This way you can avoid forming lumps while adding it to the milk. Now add the rice paste and almonds to the boiling milk. Give a nice stir and cook on slow flame for 10-15 mins. You can also reserve few slices of almonds for garnishing at the end. Keep scraping the sides of the pan continuously so that the milk and rice mixture doesn't stict to the sides or bottom.
5. Now, add sugar and cardamom powder, mix well and simmer for another 5-7 minutes while continuing the scraping process. By now it could have thicken. Switch off the flame and allow it to cool. Garnish with crushed nuts and saffron.
6. Refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour and enjoy chilled.

Milk Peda - Microwave Recipe - just 3 ingredients, 3 mins!

I am a big fan of milk sweets, milk sweets alone. And that was the story before marriage. Now, I enjoy almost every sweet. But milk sweets holds the first place anytime. When I came through this recipe I wanted to give a try for its simplicity and easiness. Not a big challenge at all. Just 15-20 minutes was that all I needed, includes the time allowed for the mixture to cool down and I had those delicious pedas in hand. WOW! They look great when you decorate them with crushed pistachios. I just forgot to click them when I decorated with pistachios. So here is the version with almonds.

Ingredients

Milk Powder - 2 cups
Sweetened Condensed Milk or Milkmaid - one 14 oz can
Butter - 1 stick or 8 tablespoons
Cardamom powder - a pinch (optional)
Pistachios/Almonds or nuts of your choice. Crushed, for garnish .

Method

1. Take a big microwave safe bowl,add butter and melt it in the microwave. This might take a minute.
2. Now add in the milk powder,condensed milk and cardamom powder. Give a nice mix with a spatula.
3. Microwave for 3 minutes stirring every one minute.
4. Allow the mixture to cool for few mins or until it is able to handle.
5. Make pedas of your desired shape. Greasing your hands with butter will help obtain smooth texture. Garnish with nuts.
6. Allow to cool down, store airtight and enjoy these delicious pedas.

Besan Laddu Recipe - Diwali Sweets

I am not a very big fan of sweets until married. VJ loves them a lot. So I started learning them just for the sake of him and slowly started liking them too :-) Besan laddu is a delicious sweet made for several special occasions. It is made out of roasted gram flour, ghee, raisin, nuts and sugar The trick for getting this right is to roast the gram flour perfectly. If I am preparing the sweet just for me and my family I will try to minimize the quantity of sugar and buttery products in my recipe. So they may not be in perfect shapes bcos of less ghee, but still will taste good. But if I am preparing for any special occasion or for my friends and relatives, then no compromise in any of the ingredients. You can reduce the quantity of ghee from one and a half cups to 1 cup if you are too health conscious.

Ingredients:

Besan flour - 2 1/2 cups
Sugar          - 1 1/2 cup
Ghee           - 1 1/2 cup approximately
Raisins and Nuts of your choice chopped into fine pieces.

Method:

1. Fry the nuts and raisins in 1 or 2 tsp of ghee and keep aside.
2. Powder the sugar finely and set aside.
3. Roast the besan flour until a nice aroma rises. Do not over roast or under roast the besan flour. Else you will not get the nice taste out of the laddoo's.
4. Let it cool and then add the powdered sugar. Heat the ghee and mix this warm ghee with the besan, sugar mixture.
5. Add the fried nuts/raisins. Make smooth balls of desired size. Grease your palms with little bit of ghee for nice and smooth balls. I used to avoid this as I would think I can cut down atleast that much of ghee from my laddoo's. You could see that in my laddoo's :-)