Snake gourd Payasam / Pudalangai Paayasam

Have you ever licked your spoon or even the bowl after a dessert??!!!! I did for this one!! :P

Making sweets with vegetables is a classic touch to our Indian cooking. We have the pumpkin halwa, Carrot Halwa, Carrot kheer etc.. The list goes on. 

One of such classic delicious dessert is the snake gourd payasam. This payasam is so creamy and rich with ingredients that it doesn't just get boring. Snake gourd and bottle gourd being subtle watery vegetables can be used to make this delicious dessert and I am sure you and your family would love it just as much as we did :)

Ingredients:

Snake gourd (Diced) - 2 cups

Poppy seeds - 2 tblsp

Coconut (scrapped) - 1/2 cup

Rice - 2 tblsp

Cashew nuts - 1/4 cup

Milk - 3 cups

Sugar - 1 cup

Ghee - 2 tblsp

Method:

Soak cashew nuts and rice in water for one hour. 

Grind into smooth paste along with coconut and poppy seeds by adding adequate water. Keep this aside. 

Dice snake gourd into small pieces. Take two tblsp of ghee in a pan and fry the snake gourd until soft and tender. Sprinkle some water, close and allow it to cook. 

Now add the ground paste and cook until raw smell goes. 

Finally add the milk and sugar and boil until the milk thickens and becomes creamy. 

Serve hot or cold :)

Enjoy eating a delicious Indian dessert :)

Written by: Nithya

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Kalkandu Pongal / Candy Sugar Pongal

 

How delicious does Kalkandu pongal sound!???! The moment I saw this on my best buddy Sharmis blog, I started drooling for it. I was sure I was going to make it sometime and now was the time. Mom sent me a pack of Kalkandu ( candy sugar) a couple of days back and I ofcourse had to do it :)

I made my pongal a little runny since I dont like them really thick and sticky, alter the recipe by reducing half a cup of water to get a thick pongal.

I am sure you would love to make this as prasadam for god this Navarathri just like how I did :)

Ingredients:

Kalkandu - 1/2 cup

Rice - 1/2 cup

Moong Dhall - 2 tblsp

Water - 2 cups

Milk - 1 cup

Cashews - 10

Raisins - few

Cardamom powder - a pinch

Ghee - 3 tblsp

Method:

Take a tsp of ghee in a pan and fry cashews and raisins separately and keep it aside in a bowl.

Wash rice and transfer to a pressure cooker. 

Dry roast the moong dhall and add it to the pressure cooker. Now pour 2 cups of water and 1/2 cup of milk to the cooker and pressure cook until 4 whistles in medium flame. 

Once the pressure releases remove the lid of the cooker and then put it back on flame. Mash the rice nicely using a masher or a laddle. 

Powder the candy sugar (kalkandu) finely and add it to the rice mixture along with the remaining 1/2 cup of milk. Now add ghee and mix well. Keep stirring until it becomes thick and sticky. 

Finally add the elachi powder and the fried nuts to it and mix well. 

Serve hot and enjoy eating! :)

Written by: Nithya
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Mango Kesari

MANGO Kesari!!! Yes you heard it right. Its mango kesari with real mango pulp :)

Mango being on the shelves of all vegetable stores now, it demands me to make something with it atleast once in a week. Ofcourse the other 6 days of the week I eat it just as it is!! Yummy mangoes, cant stop eating them!! :P

Kesari is one of my most favorite sweets and I just gave it a try with mango puree and it really worked!! Viola - Mango kesari! :)

Ingredients:

Mango puree - 1/2 cup

Sooji / Rava - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 1/2 cup

Water - 2 1/2 cups

Ghee - 1/2 cup

Cashews

Method:

Heat water in a thick bottomed pan or a non stick deep pan. 

Measure sugar and rava together in a bowl. 

Once the water starts boiling, reduce the flame completely and pour the rava sugar mixture stirring continuously. Make sure you keep stirring while pouring so that it doesn't form lumps anywhere. 

Keep stirring on medium flame until it thickens slightly. Now add the mango puree and mix well. Once it all thickens, add ghee and keep mixing until rolls into a ball without sticking to the sides of the pan. 

Fry few cashews in ghee and add it to the kesari. 

Mango kesari is ready :) 

Written by: Nithya
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Happy Mother's Day - Mango Shrikhand

Mothers are full of Love and Laughter, 

Filling our hearts forever after. 

Mothers deserve this day of their own,

To be the queen of our heart and of her home!

Love you AMMA. You are the best thing that can ever happen to me. Blessed to be your daughter and would love to be yours in all births of mine!

A simple sweet dish with two favorite ingredients of mine, the mango and the curd. :)

Ingredients:

Curd - 3 cups or Hung curd - 2 cups

Mango puree - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Chopped mango pieces - 1/2 cup

Saffron - few strands

Milk - 1 tblsp

Method:

Take a muslin cloth (thin cloth) and line it on a sieve. Pour the curd on it and tie the cloth tightly. Hang it over a sink for few hours for the water to drain. 

After a couple of hours, keep the cloth with hung curd in the fridge for a night. 

Remove the hung curd next morning and collect it in a mixing bowl. Puree the mango with the sugar. 

Fold in the mango puree slowly into the hung curd. Do not over mix, the curd would become watery. 

Soak the saffron in a tblsp of milk for 5 mins and add it to the curd mixture and mix slowly. 

Finally add the finely chopped mangoes and give a short whip. 

Serve chilled :)

Written by: Nithya
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Pumpkin Halwa / Kasi Halwa

Pumpkin halwa or popularly called as Kasi halwa is one traditional sweet that definitely is part of the wedding menu. I have infact only tasted them in weddings :) Its a very delicious sweet made out of a vegetable. I kind of like its texture while eating and just enjoy cup after cup. 

By the way does anyone know why its called Kasi halwa??? I dont see any connection of it to Kasi?

Ingredients:

Pumpkin - 3 kgs

Sugar - 1/4 kg

Ghee - 4 tblp

Dried cucumber seeds
Orange food color - a pinch

Method:

Step 1: Cut the pumpkin into small pieces that are easy to handle.

Step 2: Grate the pumpkin using a grated until you reach the hard skin of the pumpkin. 

Step 3: Pass it through a large sieve to remove excess pumpkin water. All we need is the pulp. 

Step 4: Collect the pulp in a large vessel and pressure cook it in the cooker for 4 whistles. (This step helps in reducing the cooking time)

Step 5: Remove from cooker and transfer it to a heavy bottomed kadai and allow it to boil in medium flame until it becomes thick and transparent. Keep stirring it in between. This might take close to 30 minutes. 

Step 6: Add sugar and mix well. 

Step 7: Pour in the ghee and cook until the ghee separates on the sides. 

Step 8: Add orange food color and the dried pumpkin seeds and mix well. 

Step 9: Once it comes to room temperature, transfer it to a air tight container and store it. 

Enjoy eating delicious pumpkin halwa.

Written by: Nithya
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Diwali Celebration - Almond Pudding

May millions of lamps illuminate your life
with endless joy, prosperity, health & wealth forever!!

Wish you all a very happy Diwali :)

My Diwali is being beautiful, delicious, happy and memorable :) I hope all of you are enjoying this joyous occasion at its best with your dear ones. Enjoy the day with fire crackers, sweets and loads of wishes :)

My house is loaded with sweets and savories this year and here is one for you all, may be the best of this year :) The rich creamy and sinfully delicious almond pudding :) 

Ingredients:

Almonds - 200 gms

Milk - 1/2 ltr

Whipped cream - 1 cup (200 ml)

Gelatine - 20 gms

Powdered Sugar - 200 gms

Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Method:

Blanch almonds in warm water for an hour. Peel the skin and keep it aside. 

Grind the almonds into a smooth paste by adding few spoons of milk. 

Take the gelatine in a cup and add few spoons of water to it. Microwave it for a min for it to completely dissolve. 

Boil the milk and add sugar to it. Mix until well dissolved. Now completely simmer the stove and add the ground almond paste and mix well. Remove from flame. 

Allow it to come to room temperature. Add the gelatine mixture, vanilla esssence and mix well and let it cool completely. 

Finally fold in the whipped cream to it. 

Pour them into moulds or serving glasses and allow it to set in the fridge for 2 hours atlease. 

Serve cold topped with some crushed praline.

Written by: Nithya
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Puran Poli / Paruppu Poli - Stepwise pictures

Puran poli or paruppu poli or boli as you call it is one of the best traditional recipes we can treasure forever. It can never get boring or out dated. 

Diwali is round the corner and why not make a traditional sweet for it. Checkout the simple stepwise hints below and get set going :)

This is my Mom's version. She patted the usual poli with delicious condiments like desiccated coconut, poppy seeds etc which actually added great effect to the texture, look and taste of the poli :) 

Ingredients:

Maida - 1 1/2 cups

Wheat flour - 1 1/2 cups

Oil - 1/2 cup

Channa dhall - 1 cup

Jaggery - 1 cup

Dried coconut scrappings - 1 cup

Poppy seeds - 1/2 cup

Cashew nuts - 1/4 cup

Sara Paruppu 

Dried cucumber seeds 

Method:

Step 1: Soak channa dhall in water for atleast two hours. Grate the jaggery finely. Cook the dhall. Grind the dhall into a smooth paste without adding much water. Add the grated jeggery and grind further until it is pretty thick. Roll them into large balls as shown in image 1. 

Step 2: Take maida, wheat flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Add water little by little and kneed into a firm dough like chapathi dough. Add the oil and kneed again and allow this mix to get soaked in the oil for atleast 2 hours. 

Now pinch a lemon sized dough and spread it over your left palm with your fingers. 

 

Step 3: Keep the sweet dhall filling in the center on top of the maida dough. 

Step 4: Close it nicely from all the directions until it is well covered with the outer coating. 

Step 5: Roll all the dough into balls as said above and keep it ready. 

Step 6: Take a large plate and mix in the scrapped dry coconut, finely chopped cashews, poppy seeds, sara paruppu and dried cucumber seeds. Now roll each ball on the above mixture to coat it nicely on all sides.

Step 7: Keep the rolled ball on a well greased plastic sheet and spread it evenly into a moderately thick disk using your fingers. See to that the dhall filling doest come out. 

Step 8: Pan roast the poli on both sides by adding some oil until it turns light brown in color. 

Step 9: Apply some ghee on top and serve it hot.

Written by: Nithya
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Choco Milk Balls - A quick fix

Do we ever exclaim or jump in joy if something gets spoilt!!!!!! NOOOOO is the answer isn't it.

But I do. I celebrate and enjoy when milk curdles :)

Its summer time and power cut schedules are haphazard that we really cant plan to boil milk and preserve them properly. Last week, it so happened that a pack of milk curdled while boiling and what a sweet psycho was I to smile wide with sparkling eyes! :)

Days back mom used to add sugar to the curdled milk and make a khova kind of sweet and give me and thats when I started loving it. Now the chocolate lover and the 4th sense cook in me hinted an instinct to add cocoa powder to it and roll them into balls to make them as interesting as possible :) Ummmmmmmm simply delicious :)

Ingredients:

Milk(Curdled) - 1/2 ltr

Sugar - 4 tblsp

Cocoa Powder - 2 tblsp

Method:

Once you find your milk curdling, just jump in joy to make this interesting dessert :)

Pass it through a sieve and collect the cuddled milk.

Take it in a pan and add sugar and cocoa powder. Mix well and cook on medium flame until it becomes thick and rolls into a balls.

Remove from flame and allow it to come to room temperature.

Pinch small portions of it and roll it into balls and refrigerate.

Enjoy eating choco milk ladoos :P

Tips:

If you desperately want to make these choco - milk balls, boil milk and when it starts to raise, simmer the stove and add a tsp of lemon juice. The milk will curdle immediately and you can make this dessert as per the instructions above :)

Do not throw the whey water once you filter the curdled milk. Collect it and use it for making chapathi dough. Chapathis would turn out to be really soft this way :)

Written by: Nithya
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