Thattai Recipe - How to make Crispy Thattai

Thattai is mostly prepared for Krishna Jayanthi or Diwali in the Southern parts of India. I had tried this couple of times earlier, but have never clicked or posted the recipe. So I wanted to prepare this for this Diwali and here is the recipe along with the tips that I have learnt so far.

Ingredients

Rice flour - 1 cup
Fried Gram dal flour (Pottukadalai Maavu) - 2 1/2 tbsp
(OR)
Urad dal flour - 1 tsp
Channa dal - 1 1/2 tsp
Peanuts - 1 tsp (optional)
Unsalted Butter - 1 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few (Optional)
Hing, salt as per taste
Oil - for deep frying

Method

Preparing the flours and other ingredients

• I used the store bought rice flour. Sieve the flour twice and roast it for couple of minutes. Just until the flour becomes warm. Transfer it to a wide bowl.                            

• Take 2 1/2 tbsp of fried gram dal (pottukadalai) and powder it in a mixer. Sieve it and add it along with the rice flour.

• If using urad dal flour, take a tsp of urad dal and fry until golden brown, allow to cool and grind it in the mixer. Sieve and add along with the rice flour. Remember, you need to use either fried gram dal flour or urad dal flour, not both.
• Soak the channa dal in water for 30 mins.

• In a pan dry roast the peanuts, remove the skin and add it along with the flours.

 

How to prepare thattai

1. Take the bowl containing rice flour and gram/urad dal flour. Along with this add chilli powder, curry leaves, hing, channa dal, peanuts and salt. Mix well.                          
   
2. Now add enough water to knead to a soft pliable dough. 1/2 cup of water is what I needed for getting the right consistency. Now, the thattai dough is ready. Check the dough for salt and add adjust accordingly.
3. Make equal sized small balls out of it and keep covered.
   
4. You will need ziplock bags or milk covers or any plastic sheets, greased with oil for flattening the thattai. Place a ziplock cover on a flat surface. Place few drops of oil in its center and grease it. Do the same to the other ziplock cover too. Now, place a dough ball over the ziplock cover and cover it with the other greased one. Meanwhile heat oil for deep frying. 
5. Flatten it with your finger tips or use a bowl with a flat surface and press it until it is thin and even on all sides. This is the key thing for getting crispy thattais. Carefully take off from zip lock cover by inverting it on one hand and drop in hot oil. Cook in medium until golden brown and crispy on both sides. Repeat the same for all the thattais. Store in an airtight container  and enjoy the crispy thattais.

Tips

1. The dough should not be too dry. For checking this, take a small ball and try flattening it. It should not crack, you should be able to flatten it smoothly. That is the right consistency.
2. Flatten the thattais as thin as possible. Only then you will get crispy thattais.
3. Prick it with a toothpick or fork here and there, if thattais are not cooked in the middle
4. Oil temperature has to be perfect for perfect thattais. Oil should not be fuming hot, else the thattais will turn dark brown in color. Keep the flame in high while dropping the thattai dough. Then turn the flame to medium low and cook on both sides until golden brown.

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.

Ribbon Murukku - Ribbon Pakoda - How to Make Ribbon Murukku

Ribbon Murukku is also called ribbon pakoda or Ola Pakoda. There are lots and lots of murukku varieties prepared in South Indian houses. Among these, ribbon murukku is the simplest one to prepare and tastes absolutely great. You can try this easy murukku recipe for this Diwali and enjoy with your family.

Ingredients

Rice flour - 1 cup
Roasted Gram dal (Pottukadalai) - 1 cup
Unsalted butter - 1 tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Sesame seeds - 2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 2 tsp (adjust as per your spice buds)
Salt - as needed
Water - as needed
Oil - for deep frying


Method

•  In a mixer add the roasted gram dal and powder it finely. Sieve it twice and transfer it to a wide mixing bowl. Also sieve the rice flour and add it to the gram dal flour. 
• Add unsalted butter, asafoetida, sesame seeds. red chilli powder and salt and crumble well. Now add water little by little and knead to a soft pliable dough.          

• Heat oil for deep frying. Meanwhile take the murukku press and fill it to 3/4 with the dough. Test if the oil is hot enough (drop a small ball of dough into the oil, if it raises to the surface immediately, then the oil is hot enough for frying the murukkus)
• Using the murukku maker pipe the dough directly in the hot oil. Make sure the flame is in medium high. You will get lot of bubbles and shh sound.           

• Fry for few seconds, after some time the bubbles and the shh sound will start subsiding. Flip it to the other side and fry until golden brown. Remove it using a slotted ladle and drain in a paper towel.

          

•  Repeat the same process for all the murukkus. Allow them to cool down and store it in an air tight container. Stays good for upto 2 weeks.

Seedai - How to make Seedai - Krishna Jayanthi Recipes

Seedai is another traditional dish for Krishna Jayanthi neivedhyam. Though I like seedai the most I haven't tried preparing this at home. Last year I tried maida seedai following the recipe from Rakskitchen. It was bit hard. This is the first time I tried making uppu seedai. I did lot of blogging for gathering the details. I would say the end result is ok. Some flavor was missing. I guess I varied with the ratio of rice flour and urad dal flour. Gonna try this couple of more times and will update this page for sure. Now to the recipe that I followed.

Ingredients

Rice flour - 1 cup
Urad dal flour - 1 tbsp
Unsalted butter - 1 tsp
Sesame seeds or cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - as needed
Water - as needed (1 tumbler of water is what I used, approximately 120 ml)

Method

•  Sieve the rice flour and urad dal flour couple of times and transfer to a wide bowl. Now add butter, sesame seeds/cumin seeds, asafoetida, chilli powder and salt. Mix well.
• Now add the water little by little and knead to a soft dough. Do not add too much of water. 
• Make tiny balls (Goligundu sized balls) and place these balls in a newspaper or clean cloth and allow to sit for 10 mins. 
• Meanwhile heat oil for frying. Check if the oil is hot enough by dropping a small amount of dough, if the dough rises immediately then that is the correct temperature. 
• Take the dough balls and fry them in batches. Do not overload the oil with more seedai. Fry them in medium flame until golden brown. Once done, remove from oil and drain in a paper towel or newspaper. Repeat the same for all seedais.

Bursting of seedai.

In all the recipes that I have referred there was a word of caution about bursting of seedais. For that reason do not make smooth balls or do not roll the balls too tightly. There should always be escape for the air bubbles. If they gets trapped in, the seedais will burst. Also, drying the balls in a cloth or paper towel is very important as this will absorb any excess moisture.

Murukku - How to prepare Murukku

My mom and sister are experts in making this murukku. It used to be crisp and very flavorful. VJ is a very big fan of this murukku. I have made this 3-4 times so far, they used to turn out well. But I used to call my sister every now and then and ask plenty of doubts each time I make them :-) So now I am gonna share each and every single detail I have gathered so far and hence from next time hope I will not have to call her :-)

Ingredients

Rice flour - 1 cup
Urad dal flour - 1/4 cup
Unsalted butter - 2 tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Sesame seeds or cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Salt - as needed
Water - as needed (1 tumbler of water is what I used)
Oil - for deep frying

Method

• Sieve the rice flour and urad dal flour couple of times. Take the flours in a wide bowl, add butter, asafoetida, sesame seeds or cumin seeds and salt. Mix well.
• Now add the water little by little and knead a soft pliable dough. The dough should not be too hard or too sticky. Else the murukku will be hard or drink plenty of oil.
• Heat oil in a kadai simultaneously. Fill the murukku press with the dough, squeeze in circular motion onto to the back of the ladle or in a polythene sheet or zip lock cover and then transfer it to the hot oil. You can also squeeze directly into the oil, but be cautious in that case. I used to do this way as I feel that's less time consuming as I make bigger size murukku's. 
• Check if the oil is hot enough, just drop a small piece of murukku dough in the oil, if it raises to the surface immediately, it is an indication that the oil is hot. Now start making murukku's.
• Make sure the flame is in medium high when you squeeze in the dough. Fry until golden brown, remove and drain it in a paper or drainer. The bubbling sound or the ssshhh sound should subside, that is the indication for the doneness of the murukku.

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!!

Rose Milk Popsicles/ரோஸ்மில்க் குச்சி ஐஸ்

I had already posted the Rose Milk recipe a week back. I also wanted to make it as a popsicle and post it here. Rose milk popsicle or rose kuchi ice would have been almost everyone's favorite during the school going days. We used to run behind the ice cream man for this. But now being adopted to suit the new life style changes and for health reasons we would never dare to buy ice creams from the road side ice cream man for our kids. The best way to relish those old memories while treating our taste buds is to make them in our very own kitchen. And here is the recipe...

Ingredients

Milk - 1 cup
Rose syrup - 5 or 6 drops, adjust as per the color you prefer
Rose essence - couple of drops
Sugar - 3 tsp approximately, adjust as per taste

Method

Add all the ingredients together in a wide bowl. Stir well so that the sugar dissolves completely. You can also blend them all for few seconds.

Pour this into the popsicle or kulfi moulds. Let it sit in the freezer for atleast 10 hrs. When you take them out from the freezer run some cold water over the moulds and the popsicles can be easily taken out now. The cool kuchi ice is ready to be relished now :-)

Note

• If you don't have popsicle mould, then you can do it in tumblers.
• Adjust the rose syrup and sugar according to ur sweet preference. But make sure the rosemilk is bit sweeter than you drink.

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 :)

Ulundhu Vadai/Medhu Vadai

No festival time in TamilNadu is complete without this Vada. My mom and sis also used to make this for any occasion. The only job that I do is to assist my sis by frying them in the oil. I am too bad at shaping those vada's. I am still a learner of that part. At times, my vadas will turn out to bondas bcos of my batter consistency :P Now that Prajju has started liking medhu vada's I am sincerely putting my efforts and my vada's are turning out kind'a OK :-) So sharing with you the tips and techniques I have learnt so far..

Ingredients

Whole urad dal - 1 cup
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Whole black pepper - 1 tsp
Shallots - 5 or 6, chopped finely
Curry leaves - few, chopped finely
Green chilli - 2 or 3 (adjust as per taste), chopped into thin rounds
Salt and asafoetida as per taste
Water - 1/4 cup approximately
Oil for deep frying

How to make ulundhu vadai?

1. Soak the urad dal atleast for an hour. But do not soak for more than 2 hours, or else the vadai's will drink too much of oil.
2. Drain the water completely and grind the urad dal WITHOUT adding salt in a grinder or in a mixer. Just sprinkle water as and when needed. Do not add too much of water. Scrape the sides of the mixer jar/grinder now and then to avoid sticking to the sides. Grind till the batter looks fluffy. This might take 10-12 minutes approximately. 
3. Transfer the batter to a bowl and add salt, asafoetida, cumin seeds, black pepper and chopped onions, curry leaves and green chillies. Mix well.
4. Have a wide bowl filled with water while making the vadas. Wet your hands in the water every time you take the batter and drop them in the oil.
5. Heat oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot enough, wet your hands and take a medium sized ball of batter, gently make a hole in the center using your thumb, drop it in the oil carefully i.e invert the vadai over the oil and shake your finger so that the batter falls into the oil. Fry till golden brown on both sides in medium flame. Drain it in a kitchen towel/paper. 
6. Repeat the same process for all the vadais. Do not forget to wet your hands before each vada. Enjoy hot and crispy vadas with Sambar and Chutney!

Note

• If grinding using a mixer, the batter may not be soft and fluffy at times. In that case, use your hand or spatula and beat the batter well enough, atleast for 5 mins. This is very important, because if the batter is not fluffy the vadai's will turn out to be hard and rubbery.
• If the batter is too watery, then the vadai will absorb lot of oil. Add just a tbsp of rice flour in that case to make the batter thick. Do not add too much of rice flour also.

Ottu Pakoda/Diamond Pakoda/Aaram Number

Ottu Pakoda or Diamond cuts is a frequent snack in my mom's place. My sister used to make this whenever we go to my brother's place for any occasion. I have seen her making, but haven't tried myself. This time when we had plans for visiting VJ's sister during the weekend I wanted to give this a try and the outcome was too good. I got the recipe from my sister, but after that while googling for more information I came to know that this is one of the famous kerala snacks popularly known as Aaram Number. The actual recipe uses Maida as the main ingredient, since my lil one loves fried snacks I wanted to reduce the amount of maida in it. So I combined maida and whole wheat flour in the ratio 2:1, still the crispies tasted yumm.. Now to the recipe..

Ingredients

Maida - 1 cup
Whole wheat flour - 1/2 cup
Refined oil - 1 tbsp (to add to the flour)
Small onions - 6 to 8, very finely chopped
Green chilli - 2 or 3, very finely chopped
Curry leaves - one strand, very finely chopped
Salt and hing as per taste
Water for making dough  (less than 1/2 cup is what I used)
Oil for deep frying

Method

Chop the onions, green chillies and curry leaves to very fine pieces. Else it will be hard while rolling the dough. Take a mixing bowl, add the maida and whole wheat flour. 

 Heat 1 tbsp of oil until smoky and add it to the flour mixture. Use a spoon to mix it well. Add the chopped onion, g.chilli, curry leaves, salt and hing. Mix them well.

Add water little by little and make a smooth dough as we make for chapathi's. The dough should not be too loose or too tight. Do not allow the dough to sit too long as the onions will start making the dough still watery.

Make medium sized balls, take a ball and roll into thin circles like chapathi. Using a knife draw firm lines horizontally and then vertically so that they form diamond shapes. Run the knife under the diamonds just like lifting them upwards and remove them to a separate plate. Do not worry if they tend to stick together. They will return back to their shapes while frying. Roll and cut the other balls in the same manner and transfer to the plate.

Heat the oil for frying, test if it is really hot by dropping a tiny piece of dough. If it immediately sizzles and comes up that's the correct temperature. Drop a handful of diamond cuts in the oil very carefully (adjust the quantity as per the amount of oil in your wok).

Using a slotted ladle gently mix the diamond cuts so that they evenly gets browned on all sides. Make sure the heat is in medium flame at all times. Remove when they turn golden brown, drain and transfer to any container. Repeat the process for all the diamond cuts. Crispy and crunchy ottu pakodas are ready to be munched on. Allow to cool and store in an air tight container.

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 :-)