Mysore Pak

This is one of my favorite sweet. My grandma and also my mother-in-law, they both are experts in making this sweet.  I learned this recipe from my MIL when she was here during last winter. 

coconut Burfi/Thenga burfi

I made these burfi couple of week back. Just after the varalakshmi Vratam, I had so much coconut (we buy atleast two -one for kalasam & one for naivedhyam). My husband and my girls never take coconut. I was literally wasting two coconuts and I don't use coconut in my cooking. Thought of making this burfi and called my chitti for the recipe. Here foes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Coconut - 1 cup (shredded)
2. Sugar - 1 I/2 cup (acc to taste)
3. Cardamom - 1
4. Edible Camphor / Pachakarpooram - a pinch
5. Milk - 2 tsp
6. Ghee 2 tsp

Take a heavy bottomed pan, add the sugar and required amount of water (i took 3/4 cup of water for 1 1/2 cups of sugar) and let it boil.  Milk is used to remove dirt from sugar syrup. When it starts boiling, just add it. White foamy stuff will form. Thats dirt. Remove it. Add the cardamom seeds and pacha karpooram to it. Look for one string consistency.  If you touch the sugar syrup(be careful it will be super hot), it should form a single line. Now add the shredded coconut to it and mix it well and make sure no lumps are formed. Add ghee to it and spread it in a flat plate and cut it when it is warm. Enjoy. I added 1 1/2 cups of sugar to it. If necessary we can always reduce the quantity of sugar. I made this sweet especially for myself ! So I didn't bother to reduce the quantity of sugar :)

Jhangri - My first attempt

Jhangri is a sweet I can eat all day long. When my MIL was in June, she made Jhangri and showed me how to do it and asked me to try putting with less quantity. I wanted to try it for a long time but because of some personal reasons, didn't get time to try it. But last week I was going through Rak's Jhangiri Recipe and got tempted so much.  Yesterday I made up my mind to try and luckily it came out really good. First three pieces were not so good cos I soaked it in the sugar syrup for a long time. It became soggy. But then I managed to find out the reason and finished the project!

I am sending this Jhangri recipe to I am sending this Poli recipe to Tried & Tasted Event - Raks Kitchen, this time Sowmya of Nivedhanam is hosting, an event by Kitchen Chronicles by Lakshmi Venkatesh.

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Happy Pongal

"Happy Pongal to all my friends here"

Pongal used to be my favorite festival and I enjoy preparing pongal in clay pot with lots and lots of fruits and sugar cane especially on both sides of the pot. Even now I can visualise those days when I was in school, my patti make all the arrangements to cook pongal. Me and my cousins stand next to my patti and enjoy those rituals. The main purpose of standing is the sugar cane which we were all crazy about... Since we lived in an Agraharam, very near to temple, Makara Deepam festival is celebrated every year in a very grand manner and it comes during this Pongal days and my uncle is a member in that festival committee, so most of the members will come to our house for lunch and dinner, nearly for a week, till the festival gets over on 16th January every year. Our house will be full of people for more than 10 days. When I called yesterday to greet all my relatives, I talked to more than 10 people over phone. I miss them all so much here. For the past 6 years, I don't do much pooja or something on pongal. I just make chakkara Pongal (sweet pongal) and offer it to god and serve it to my husband and kids. Because 6years back, on the same day, my mom died and after that I stopped doing all these rituals. But this year, my patti(mom's mom) asked me to do pooja and the rituals on Kanu like preparing variety rice etc., so that it might help my girls to learn all those rituals. So this year I made both venpongal and chakkara pongal and did pooja today morning. Felt like recovering from something :).... Alright, coming back to the business, here is the recipe for Chakkara Pongal (sweet Pongal)I made today.

Ingredients:-

1. Raw rice - 3/4 cup
2. Moong dhall - 1/4 cup
3. Turmeric powder - a pinch
4. Jaggery - 1 1/2 cup (or acc to taste)
5. Water - 2 to 3 cups
6. Ghee - 2 to 3 tsp
7. Pacha karpooram (Edible Camphor) - a pinch
8. Cardamom - 1
   
9. Cashews - few
10. Raisins - few.

This is the step I followed to make chakkara pongal. First cook rice and dhall with 3cups of water. Cook it upto 4 or 5 whistles. When the pressure is released, take it out and mash it. In the mean time, take a heavy bottomed pan, dissolve jaggery with a cup or two of water, add pacha karpooram, cardamom and bring it to boil. Now add the mashed rice to jaggery and mix it well. Add water to adjust the consistency. In a small pan, pre heat ghee, fry cashews and raisins to golden brown and pour it on top of chakkara pongal. You can get the recipe for venpongal here.

I am sending this recipe to Priti's Makara Sankranti Festival event.

Badusha - Sweet

This is my favorite sweet. My MIL used to make it very often and she is very good at it. This time, I learned the recipe from her. Even though it was not professional like hers, it came out very well. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Maida flour - 1 1/2 cup
2. Unsalted butter - 3 tbsp
3. Baking soda - pinch
4. Oil to deep fry
5. Sugar - 1 cup (acc to taste)
6. Pachakarpooram - a pinch
7. Coconut-1 tbsp

First add baking soda to the butter and whisk it for few mts. You will see bubbles forming. Now add the flour to it and make it a soft dough adding required amount of water. Keep it aside for few mts. In the mean time, put the sugar in a heavy bottomed skillet, add a cup of water and make it a semi-thick syrup***. Add pacha karpooram to the sugar syrup and mix it well. In the mean time, pre heat oil and make small patties out the dough and deep fry it till it becomes golden brown keeping the heat in medium flame. Put the patties in the sugar syrup and soak it well. Remove it from the syrup and put it in a vessel. Now pour the remaining syrup on top of each badusha and garnish it with coconut.

*** - Keep a cup of water near you. Pour a drop of sugar syrup in it. If it dissolves, then the surup is not ready. If it doesn't dissolve and forms a small soft ball, it means the syrup is ready

Rava Kesari

This is the easiest way of doing Rava Kesari and my mom taught me this. I usually make Rava kesari in Microwave and not in the stove. That is what I am going to share.

Ingredients:

1. Coarse Sooji (fine Rava) - 1 cup
2. Sugar - 2 cups
   
3. Water - 1 cups
4. Milk - 1 1/2
   
5. Ghee (melted butter) - 2 tbsp
6. Cashews - 4
7. Raisins - 1 tsp
8. Cardamom powder - 2 pinch
9. Pachai Karpooram - 1 pinch
10. Kesari Color - less than a pinch
    

Method:

Take a microwave safe pyrex vessel(avoid using plastics) and put Rava + Cashews + Raisins with a drop of ghee and keep it in the microwave for a minute. Now add water, sugar, milk, cardamom powder, kesari color and pachai karpooram to it and mix it with a spatula. Keep it in the microwave for another 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Take it out and stir it thoroughly and again keep it in the microwave for another 2 minutes. Now pour the remaining ghee into it and keep it aside for a minute. After a minute you can serve it.

If you have unexpected visitors for lunch or dinner, this is the easiest way of making a dessert. This is my personal experience. Try it and lemme know your comments.

The pyrex vessel should be dry before adding everything.

Recipe for stove top:-

Roast cashew and raisins with a drop of ghee to golden brown and keep it aside. Roast sooji in the same pan, till nice aroma comes. Keep it aside. In the same pan, add milk and water, kesari color, pachakarpooram and cardamom powder and bring everything to boil. Now slowly add sooji and stir it with whiskers. Cook it till water is fully absorbed. Now add the sugar and mix it will. Add roasted cashews and raisins and the remaining ghee and mix everything well. Turn off the stove when the required consistency arrived.