Vinayagar Chathurthi Celebration In Indian Cooking Challenge

I have come a long way in trying out new recipes.. but trying our traditional recipes are real challenge. I have seen my periyamma making pidi kozhukattai amd uppu urundai.. I absolutely adore the taste..I am always hesitant to try these recipes coz what if the magic doesnt happen:(.. I took it as a challenge and tried these recipes for Indian cooking challenge created by srivalli... Thanks to srivalli for organising wonderful event... I would have never tried these recipes...To my surprise, everything turned out to be perfect and tasty!!!





I made Sesame Ladoo and Modak for Indian cooking challenge as per the instruction...I also made Pidi kozhukaatai , sundal and Uppu Urundai For Lord Ganesha :)


Modak from Mints

Modak is traditional Marathi sweet offered for ganesha. Tamil version is called Modagam with slightly different filling..



Stuffing -
2 cups freshly grated coconut (can use frozen unsweetened coconut)
1 cup jaggery (grated)
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tsp cardamom powder
one pinch nutmeg (optional)
2 tbsp water (mom uses milk)

Cover -
1 cup rice flour
1.25 cup water
pinch of salt
1 tbsp oil

Preparation for Stuffing -
Roast poppy seeds in a small skillet and let it cool down. Grind it coarsely and keep it aside.
In a heavy bottom kadhai mix all the ingredients for stuffing except poppy seed powder and let it sit for 15 min. Now start heating the mixture over medium heat. In about 10-12 minutes, the mixture starts boiling and stuffing will turn yellowish brown and will be sticky. Take the kadhai off the heat, add poppy seeds powder and mix well. Set it aside to cool down.


Preparation for cover -
Take vessel that has tight fitting cover. Start boiling water in that vessel, add salt and oil. When water starts boiling, lower the heat and slowly add rice flour. Please do now dump everything at once. Start mixing vigorously with a heavy spoon. Now close the lid and take the pot off the heat. Let the covered pot cool down for 15 minutes or so. Then with wet hands, mix the dough properly. It will warm so be careful and use cold water to keep your hands from burning but do not use too much water. if you think the dough is little sticky, I will suggest add 1-2 tbsp maida to it and make the dough.

Making Modak (Final Product) -
Start boiling water in a large vessel that can fit a steamer. I use a stainless steel steamer that fits on a pressure cooker and water doesnt touch the steamer and use stainless steel plate to cover it. Oil the steamer and set it aside.
Make about 20 balls of the dough and 20 parts of the stuffing. Start making small puri with the dough ball on a oiled paper/aluminum foil. Keep one part of stuffing in the middle of the puri and gather the puri gently to make shape like modak. . You will have to handle the dough very gently. Follow the step to make remaining modaks. Now dip each modak in cold water and put it in the steamer. Put the steamer on boiling water and cover it. Let the modaks steam for 20 minutes on medium to high heat. Take the steamer off the vessel and let it sit for 5 minutes before removing moodakd from steamer.

Traditionally, modaks are served with ghee but it can be served with coconut milk.

Modagam Stuffing:

Our traditional filling is made of grated coconut, Jaggery and cardamom powder. Heat 2 tbsp water, add 1/4 cup jaggery. Once it starts melting, add 1/4 cup coconut and 1/2 tsp cardamom powder. Keep stirring in low heat. The stuffing will become sticky in 10 mts. Remove from heat. Follow the rest of the procedure given for modak....


Sesame Ladoo

Sesame ladoo/ Ellu urundai is made in different ways. This is Andhra version of ellu urundai from srivalli. Ellu urundai was little bit tricky.. I added too much jaggery to the sesame seeds, I added Peanut powder to subside the sweetness. My MIL said, she would add Dalia powder to sesame ladoo...



Ingredients:

1 ½ cup White sesame seeds, roasted till brown
1 cup Jaggery, cut in pieces
¼ teaspoon cardamom powder
1/2 cup peanut powder
A pinch of salt

Preparation:

Dry roast sesame in a tawa and let them cool. Once they are cool, take powdered jaggery, cardamom and run in a mixie. The amount of jaggery normally depends on the formation of laddoo. When you make a laddoo, it should stay in shape. Then you know the amount is enough. Also it depends on the fineness of the sesame powder. When you run in mixer, it becomes little oily which will help in holding the ladoo shape. I also added peanut powder to over come the sweetness.. It tasted really good..Store in airtight container.

I will post Uppu urundai and pidi kozhukattai recipe later!!!!

Ras malai with Ricotta cheese

I love sweets of any kind. I would eat them all day long. Ras malai is one of my fav. Traditional ras malai recipe involves difficult step of making Malai. I had ricotta cheese at home didn't know what to with it. I was browsing for recipes and found out interesting one... Ras malai made with ricotta cheese. I had all the ingredients, tried it immediately...

If u are wondering what is ricotta cheese..Here is brief introduction....

Ricotta (pronounced /riˈkɔtːa/ in Italian) is an Italian sheep milk or cow milk whey cheese.[1] Ricotta lit. 'recooked' uses the whey, a limpid, low-fat, nutritious liquid that is a by-product of cheese production.

Ricotta is produced from whey, the liquid separated out from the curds when cheese is made. Most of the milk protein (especially casein) is removed when cheese is made, but some protein remains in the whey, mostly albumin. This remaining protein can be harvested if the whey is first allowed to become more acidic by additional fermentation (by letting it sit for 12-24 hours at room temperature). Then the acidified whey is heated to near boiling. The combination of low pH and high temperature causes additional protein to precipitate out, forming a fine curd. Once cooled, the curd is separated by passing though a fine cloth.

After realizing that whey cannot be safely dumped in large concentrations as it creates an environmental nuisance,[1] Romano makers discovered that when the protein-rich substance is heated, whey protein particles fuse and create a curd. This curd, after drainage, is ricotta. Because ricotta is made from whey, rather than milk, it is a whey cheese, not technically a "cheese".[2]

While Italian Ricotta is typically made from the whey of sheep, cow, goat, or water buffalo milk, the American product is almost always made of cow's milk whey. While both types are low in fat and sodium, the Italian version is nutty, slightly sweet and has dry texture, while the American is blander, sweeter, moister, and therefore more neutral in cooking.[1]Ricotta is known in Portuguese cuisine as Requeijao. Indian Khoa is often confused with ricotta but the two are very different. It is lower in moisture and made from whole milk instead of whey.

Priya, Ur recipe is Tried, Tasted and Certified: Excellent!!!

I found this recipe from Priya's Kitchen. I followed the recipe step by step. Check out the recipe here!!!!!
(Ricotta cheese Malai)


I made basundi for Ras whereas priya used half and half to make ras. Checkout basundi recipe here!!!!



Verdict:

Ras malai tasted very good. My hubby loved it. It was 90% close to the taste of original ras malai.....it was easy to prepare and u can make it 30-45 mts. So go ahead and try it!!!!

Semiya Payasam/ Vermicelli dessert

Semiya payasam is traditional south Indian dessert, prepared for all occasions. It is easy to cook with minimal ingredients.

Ingredients:

Semiya (Vermicelli) : 1 Fistful

Milk: 1 gallon

Sugar: 1/2 cup

Ghee: 2 tbsp.

Cashew nuts

Raisins

Cardamom powder: 1 tsp

condensed milk 2tbsp (Optional)

Preparation:

Heat 1 tbsp of ghee in a thick bottomed pan. Fry cashews in the ghee to a golden color, remove. Add the raisins fry them until they are fluffy, remove. Add the remaining ghee and fry the vermicelli to a golden brown. Add ½ gallon of milk and boil, stir occasionally so that the milk doesnt get burnt a the bottom. When the vermicelli has absorbed all the milk, add some more milk and allow the vermicelli to cook well. It will take approximately 15 minutes. When the vermicelli is fully cooked , add the sugar and remaining milk. Boil for some more time until the payasam is thickened.Add the cardamom powder and condensed milk. Stir for 1 mt. Remove from heat. Garnish with fried cashew nuts and raisins..

Note:

Dont add more vermicelli, Once the payasam cools down it will become thick. U have to keep adding milk to thin it out. Lesser semiya better payasam!!!!

I am sending this Red and Green picture to CLICK : BI-COLOR hosted by Jugalbandi.

Bottlegourd / Lauki / Sorakay Halwa

A sweet with a veggie... no way!!! that's what i was thinking about bottle gourd.. One of my friend made this halwa for a potluck.. It tasted so good.. i didn't believe that it was made from bottle gourd. There was absolutely no sign / flavour of bottle gourd in the sweet.. I got the recipe and tried it.. it was a instant hit...

Ingredients:

3 cups shredded bottle gourd
1 cup sugar (adjust to ur taste)
3 tbsp ghee
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
Raisins
few strands of saffron
green food color


Preparation:

Use fresh and tender bottle gourd. Peel the skin, de-seed them and grate
bottle gourd.

Heat a pan, add bottle gourd, a pinch of food color, saffron and sugar. Let
it cook in low flame. Bottle gourd releases more water so u don't have to add
water to the mixture. Cook till the mixture becomes transparent and all the
water is evaporated. At this stage, add 2 tbsp of ghee to the mixture and mix
thoroughly.


Mean while, heat the remaining ghee and fry raisins. The raisins will plump
once heated. Remove from heat. Transfer to bottle gourd mixture, add cardamom
powder and stir for couple of minutes. Remove from heat, serve hot or
cold...

Rava Kesari

Rava kesari is a simple sweet made with minimal ingredients. Whenever I feel like having sweet, I instantly make kesari. Even back home, when an unexpected guest pops into our house my mom used to make bajji and kesari..its such a simple dish can be made in no time...

Ingredients:

1 cup Rava

1 cup sugar (Adjust according to taste)

2 tbsp ghee

1 tsp cardamom powder

few strands of saffron

cashew nuts
Raisins

a pinch of food color

2 cups water

Preparation:

Fry cashews and raisins in 1/2 tsp of ghee in a pan . Reserve for garnish!!!

Use the same pan to roast rava, until light brown. Remove from heat.

In a non-stick pan, add water, cardamom, food color and saffron strands. Cover and let it boil. Add roasted rava slowly to the boiling water. Mix thoroughly to avoid lumps. Once the water is absorbed by rava, add sugar and mix well. Let it cook in medium heat. Adjust sugar to ur taste. Finally add ghee, roasted cashew and raisin. Mix well. Remove from heat.

Serve hot with Bajji and coffee....

Rava Ladoo

Rava ladoo is a all time favourite sweet. It can be made very easily. Any festival season, u can find these home made ladoos in our house. I love these small semolina ladoos for their wonderful flavour and taste. U just wonder how such simple ingredients gives wonderful flavours..Aw some.. My MIL prepared this ladoo and I helped her little bit..:)



Ingredients:


1 cup Rava
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp ghee
cashew nuts
pinch of cardamom powder
1/4 cup milk


Preparation:

Heat ghee, fry cashew nuts till golden. Remove from heat and transfer to kitchen towel.
Add rava to the ghee and fry till light golden color. Remove from heat.
Add 1 cup of sugar to a non-stick pan. Add just enough water to immerse sugar.
Keep stirring over medium heat. Once the water start to boil.
check one string consistency. check the liquid between ur thumb and index finger. A string will be formed.
Add roasted rava, cashew nuts and cardamom powder. Keep Stirring on medium-low heat. After sometime u can see the moisture getting evaporated. Try making a ball out of the mixture. If ur ball holds firmly, remove from heat.
when its warm, spread few tbsp of milk in ur palm and start making balls.Let it set for sometime..
Rava Ladoo is ready!!!

Basundi

I have a sweet-tooth :)... where do i begin about basundi hmmmm.. One of my favourites!!! Whenever we go shopping in Casu chetti street(paris corner) in Chennai, my mom used to take me to Agarwal sweet shop. Its a tiny shop but there will be throng of people all the time. Anytime we go there, it will be full and we will never get a seat... We will order Basundi and samosa. Samosa will be hot and spicy and basundi will be heavenly!!! I have tried basundi in many places but that was nothing near Agarwal's taste!!

Loads of info about basundi isn't?. I wanted to try it at home. Finally I gathered all the ingredients... It takes lot of time but tasted very good!!! I am sending this to FIC-WHITE event which is a Brain child of Sunshinemom of Tongue ticklers, hosted by Lubna of Kitchen flavours.

Ingredients:

2 gal whole milk
6 tbsp condensed milk or as required
2 cup sugar or as required
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
few saffron strands
pistachio
almonds
cashew nuts

Preparation:

Heat milk in non-stick thick bottomed pan. let the heat be in medium. Keep stirring otherwise milk wil stick to the bottom. After few minutes, u can see a thin layer or Malai forming in the milk. Remove the malai with spoon and keep it in a bowl. Keep doing it till the milk reduces to half. Add sugar, condensed milk, cardamom powder and saffron strands and mix well. Adjust sugar according to ur taste. I made a powder using above mentioned nuts and nixed it with the milk to get thick consistency which is optional. U can also use custard powder to thicken the milk. Leave it slow heat for five minutes. Finally add malai which we collected earlier to the milk. Remove from heat. Add nuts and let it cool down. Leave it refrigerator for 6 hours or overnight..
Serve it with few strands of saffron and pistachios.

Banana In coconut milk ('Kluai Buat Chi' )

Thai cuisine is known for hot and spicy flavours!!!Thai Cuisine is known for being hot and spicy and its balance of five fundamental flavors in each dish or the overall meal - hot (spicy), sour, sweet, salty and bitter (optional). (source:Wikipedia)

I have been to Thai restaurants, not a great fan of their food. My personal favourite is fried rice and Thai red curry!!!!. This is the first time I am trying something from Thai cuisine. I wanted to cook something simple for my first attempt. Coconut milk seems to be basis for every recipe in Thai cuisine. When i was looking for recipes, I found out a dessert ' Banana in coconut milk'!!!. It was very simple and took only few minutes to prepare it. Kluai Buat Chi Recipe can be found here.

I am gonna make a dessert, Kluai Buat chi from Thai cuisine for A.W.E.D -Thailand hosted by Dk's Culinary Bazaar.

Ingredients:

3 Ripe Bananas
1 cup sugar
2 cups coconut milk
1 cup coconut cream
pinch of salt



Preparation:

Peel the banana and slit according to ur choice. I like round shape so i cut it round.

The original recipe calls for cutting vertically into half, then once again cut the pieces horizontally into half. Each banana is cut to four pieces.

Pour the coconut milk in a non-stick pan over medium heat.After the milk starts boiling lower the heat .Add Banana and cook till tender. I used ripe banana and it took about 6mins to become tender. Take care not to over cook banana coz it will make them soft and bloated.
Remove the pan from heat, Add sugar & salt and mix well.
Finally add coconut cream and transfer to serving bowl. Let it cool down to room temperature before serving!!

Carrot Halwa

Carrot is a root vegetable which contains proteins and vitamin a. Carrot halwa is my favourite sweet. I learned the recipe recently and absolutely love it. It is easy to make recipe but consumes lot of time.
I am sending this recipe for Sweet series - Halwa, kathli, burfi & peda Hope everyone like it !!!!





Ingredients:

2 carrots grated
5 cups milk
8 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cardamom seeds
5-7 strands of saffraon
3 tbsp ghee
1/2 tsp food color
cashew nut

Preparation:

In a non-stick sause pan, add carrot, milk, cardamom seeds, food color and saffron. Keep stirring the mixture in medium heat. After 15 mts, reduce heat and leave it to reduce stirring occationally. Once the milk is been fully reduced( there should be no trace of milk), add sugar and mix well. Keep stirring untill the water from sugar evaporates. Meanwhile, heat ghee in a pan and fry the cashew nuts. Add ghee and cashew nut to the carrot mixture. Keep stirring for 10 mts util the ghee is mixed. Remove from heat, transfer to seving bowl. U can make laddo with this mixture!!!!

Sweet Potato Balls

Sakkaraivalli kizhangu Urundai or sweet potato balls is a famous snack in rural sides of Tamilnadu. My mom used to make these balls often!!!. As millennium arrived, I guess most of them shifted to sweets like rasagulla, gulab jamun, kajukathli... etc forgetting their nativity!!!. We don't make these sweets anymore even in our house.

We realize the importance of these native items, only after coming to US. I love this sweet so much and how could i forget it!!!. For long time i was reluctant to try sweet potato coz i didn't how it tastes???. Finally, after so much research in the Internet decided to buy sweet potato.. I tried this sweet balls and it tasted exactly like sakkaraivalli kizhangu urundai!!!

Ingredients:


1 sweet potato


1/2 cup sugar


1/2 cup shredded coconut




Preparation:


Steam boil the sweet potato until soft and peel the skin. Add shredded coconut and sugar and mix well. Make small Balls from the dough. Roll the balls in the remaining coconut and Sweet Balls are ready!!! Kids will Love it!!!

Sweet Potato Gulab Jamun (Ranga Alur Puli)

Sweet Potato known as yam or Sakkarai Valli Kizhangu( Tamil) . My mom used to make sweet potato balls with sweet potato which is very simple and easy to make. Last week I was in mood to make some sweet for my birthday. I was reading other Indian blogs to find interesting recipes. I found Sury's sweet potato dessert which is a Bengali sweet known as Ranga Alur Puli. I also found another version of same sweet from Mahanadi's blog!!!

I did make some slight changes to the recipe according my taste!!!!

Ingredients:

Jamun:

1 sweet potatoes

1 tbsp All purpose flour

1 pinch Baking powder

1 Ready Mix Gulab Jamun packet

2 tbsp ghee

Sugar Syrup:

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 tsp cardamom seeds

2 tbsp Chopped Almonds

few strands Saffron

Coconut Filling:

1 cup Shredded coconut

2 cups Milk

1 cup sugar

1 tsp Cardamom seeds

2 tbsp chopped Cashew nuts

2 tbsp chopped Almonds

Preparation:

Jamun:

Steam cook the sweet potato till soft, peel the skin and mash it to a smooth paste. Add ghee, flour, baking soda and jamun powder and mix well. Don't add water, moisture in the sweet potato will be enough to make tight dough. Keep aside for 30 minutes.

Filling:

Boil milk with sugar in medium heat. keep stirring, once it starts to thicken add coconut and other ingredients. Keep stirring it, till the milk evaporates and coconut mixture comes to a sticky consistency!!! Remove from heat, let it cool down.

Sugar syrup:

Boil water and sugar with other ingredients in medium heat. Once the sugar water forms syrup consistency ( One string), Remove from heat. (Don't over heat the sugar syrup)

Make small balls from the jamun dough. Make small dimple and fill it with coconut filling. close it on all the sides and make a ball. Prepare balls from rest of the dough and keep for deep frying.

Heat Oil in sauce pan, on medium heat. It should never be hot!!!. Drop the jamun balls and deep fry them for 7-10 mts. Keep rolling them in oil to get even color on all the sides!!!

Remove Jamuns, place them in a clean tissue to remove excess oil. Add these jamuns to sugar syrup. I left them in fridge about 6 hrs!!! I usually reheat in microwave before serving!!!

Please Leave Ur Valuable Comments!!!

Sarkkarai pongal ( sweet pongal)

Nov.1 was our first wedding anniversary!!!!. I have decided few weeks ago, to make sarkkari pongal and distribute it to the devotees visiting meenakshi temple. We went to our friends place for dinner the previous day. Anusha is great cook, she made Idli, Methu vadai, poondu kozhumbu, chicken kurma, chilli chicken and curd rice. So much to eat and chat!!! we had a great time.

Next morning, I started looking for sakkarai pongal recipes in the internet. I had a vague idea how to make pongal and gathered few more info from the website. It tasted very good!!!. We went to the temple, gurukkul did pooja adn neivediyam. My hubby distributed pongal to every one and we had great time on our wedding anniversary!!!!

Ingredients:

2 cups ponni rice
2 cups jaggery ( smashed into small pieces)

1 cup moong dhal

6 cardamom ( elachi)

20 cashew nuts

10 dry grapes

5 tbsp ghee

1/4 tsp salt

6 cups water

Preparation:

In a pressure cooker, add rice, moong dhal and water (1:3). Cover and leave for 2 whitsles. Remove from heat, allow it to cool down. The rice and dhal should be in mushy texture.

Transfer this mixture to a non- stick pan, add jaggery and little bit of salt. Mix thoroughly, the jaggery will ooze out water into the mixture. Keep stirring in medium heat.Mean while heat ghee in a frying pan, add cashew nut, dry grapes and cardamom. Saute in low heat until the cashew nut changes to light brown. Remove from heat.

Once the water fully absorbed by the rice,( it might take up to 20 mts) add the cashew and ghee to this mixture. Mix thoroughly, now the aroma of ghee and flavour of jaggery would be amazing!!!! Leave for 10 mts in medium heat..... Sarkkarai pongal is ready!!!!

Note: U can increase qty of jaggery accordingto ur taste