Aval Kesari / Poha Kesari - Navarathri Recipes

Sweets are always a most wanted food in every household. Our festivals gives us the chance to experiment new dishes especially sweets. One of such experiment i made this Navarathri is 'Aval Kesari'. I have heard about aval kesari, but this is the first time i'm tasting it. I can say its a nice substitute to Rava Kesari. Here goes the recipe,

Ingredients:

Aval (i used thick aval) - 2 cups

Sugar - 2 1/2 cups

Water - 2 cups

Ghee - 1/2 cup (or as required)

Food colour - a pinch (optional)

Cashews and Raisins - Each 1 tbsp

Method:

Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a pan and fry the cashews and raisins. Keep aside.

Grind the aval into fine powder. 

In the same pan add another tbsp ghee and fry the powdered aval for 5 min in low flame.

Remove the aval from the pan and keep aside.

Add the water to the pan.Let them boil. 

Once the bubbles start appearing, add the food colour and  aval powder and mix well.

Cover and cook the aval in low flame for 10 min or till the aval get cooked. 

Stir in frequent intervals. 

Add the sugar and 2 tbsp ghee and stir. 

Cover and cook. Add the ghee in frequent intervals.

At this stage the kesari will start spluttering. 

Cover and cook till the ghee oozes out and it reach the semi solid consistency. 

Add the cashews and raisins and remove from the stove.

Serve with some ghee topping. 

Pachai Payaru Sweet Sundal / Green Gram Sweet Sundal - Navarathri Recipes

Pachai payaru sweet sundal is made of whole green gram and jaggery. This is a very simple and healthy sundal as jaggery is added to the already healthy green gram. I made this for Navarathri, as its very special to make sweet with jaggery during this festival. 

Ingredients:

Pachai payaru / Green gram - 1 cup

Jaggery - 1 1/2 cups

Water - 2 cups

Shredded coconut - 1/2 cup

Cardamom powder - 1 1/2 tsp

Cashew - 1 tbsp

Ghee - 2 tbsp (optional)

Method:

Soak the green gram for 7 to 8 hours or overnight.

Pressure cook them adding water (1/4 to 1/2 cups) up to 4 to 5 whistles. Here we don't add salt or turmeric as our regular green gram sundal.

In a heavy bottom pan add the jaggery and water. Let them boil till you get the thick consistency. If you touch the jaggery it should be sticky. We call it as "pagu"(thick syrup) in tamil.

Now add the shredded coconut to the jaggery pagu, along with cardamom powder and cashew.

Mix it well and add the cooked green gram  to it. 

Mix well using a ladle till all the jaggery pagu get sucked by the green gram and reach the Sundal consistency. 

Add ghee and give a final saute for extra flavor. 

Notes: Adding ghee is optional. I didnt add but tasted good

           Watch for the jaggery pagu, it should not be too thick as it will become hard once it cools or too thin as it will not taste as good as this recipe.

Rava Ladoo / Semolina Ladoo - Navarathri Recipes

Happy Navarathri to all!!

Navarathri is a nine night and ten day celebration, which is celebrated all over India, to the the Hindu Goddess Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswathi. ' Nava' means number nine and 'rathri' is night. Its a nine days of celebration , where first three days is dedicated to Goddess Durga, next three Goddess Lakshmi, and the final three to Goddess Saraswathi. And on the tenth day 'Vijayadasami' is celebrated which is considered an auspicious day to start new work/ education.

On these days every day prasadams are prepared and offered to the God. The most important and famous prasadam of navarathri is 'Sundal' which is prepared with the lentils like, chana dal, chickpea, moong dal. Other than sundal, many sweets are prepared.

I prepared Rava Ladoo, a semolina sweet. Here goes the recipe,

Ingredients:

White Rava/Semolina - 1cup
Sugar - 1 cup (grind it to fine powder) 
Ghee - 1/2 cup (or as required)
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Milk - 1 tbsp
Cashews - 1 tbsp
Raisin - 1 tbsp

Method:

Grind the the rava in a blender into powder. It should not be too coarse. 
Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a pan, fry the cashews and raisins and keep aside.
In the same pan add another spoon of ghee and fry the rava till the colour changes to light brown and you smell the aroma.
Transfer the the rava to a bowl and add sugar, fried cashews, rasins and start mixing.
Pour the ghee in small intervals till you reach the consistency to make small balls out of the mix.
Add the milk in between as ghee.
Make small balls/ ladoos and keep it aside.
Once to ladoos got set transfer it to a airtight container.

Homemade pizza: (with store bought crust)

The story behind the homemade pizza is simple. I was wondering what to do with the jalapenos, that was grown in my patio. I'm not interested in adding it to the regular recipes. As it will go one of those ingredients. I thought to use it in a recipe where the jalapenos stand out and its taste can be enjoyed fully. My cousin came with idea of pizza!!
I was in the store next day to buy the ingredients for the homemade pizza ;-) I'm making it for the first time and it came out well. To the highlight i enjoyed my homegrown jalapenos over the pizza :) Here goes he recipe,

Ingredients:

Small Pizza crust - 1(store bought)
Onion - 4 to 5 sliced lengthwise
Tomato - 2 to 3 pieces sliced circled shape
Jalapenos - 2 big(or 1 if you need less spicy)
Capsicum - 2 to 3 sliced lengthwise
Mozzarella cheese - 1 tbsp
Pizza sauce - 1 1/2 tbsp (store bought)
Wheat flour - as required to brush the tray.
Olive oil - as required to brush the backing tray.

Method:

Preheat the oven to  400 degree F for 10 to 15min.
Brush the tray with olive oil in all the sides.
Sprinkle some wheat flour and spread it in all the directions of the tray. It avoids the pizza sticking to the tray.
Place the pizza crust in the tray, add all the ingredients one after another over the crust.
First spread the pizza sauce using a spoon, spread the veggies over it, top it with the jalapenos, finally add the cheese.

Place the tray in the oven and set it to 450 degree F for another 10min.
Check the pizza in between to see if they are done.
Make sure its not burnt.
switch off the oven and let it sit in the cooling rack for 5min.
Remove from the oven, slice it and serve hot.

Beetroot Halwa

Halwa is a very famous Indian sweet. This sweet is prepared all over India. There are many varieties in halwa. Among those, Carrot Halwa, Badam Halwa, Mixed fruit Halwa, Wheat Halwa are the most popular. Personally I’m a big fan of Wheat Halwa. Other than this some fruits like apple, strawberry, can be used to prepare halwa.

  

Today I’m posting the recipe for Beetroot Halwa. Beetroot Halwa is similar to carrot halwa with same procedure. It’s very tasty and easy dessert, which can be prepared much faster than carrot halwa. You don’t need to stand near the stove for the entire process. Occasional stirring is enough as the beetroots won’t stick to the bottom of the pan that easily. Here goes the recipe,

Ingredients:

Beetroot – 6 numbers (small size)

Sugar – 1 ½ cup (adjust as per your sweet tooth)

Ghee – ½ cup

Milk (boiled) – 4cups

Cardamom powder – ¼ tsp

Cashews (coarsely chopped) – 1tbsp

Method:

Wash the beetroot thoroughly, peel off the skin and shred them.

In a heavy bottom pan, pour 2tbsp ghee, fry the cashews till golden brown and keep aside.

In the same pan add the shredded beetroot and fry for 5min, add tsp of ghee if required.

Now add the milk. Let them cook till milk get evaporated and beetroot becomes soft.

Stir occasionally. It will take approximately 30 to 40min.

Once all the milk gets evaporated, add sugar, remaining ghee and stir well for 5min.

Add cardamom powder, fried cashews and remove from heat.

Serve hot or warm. If you like your desert cold, refrigerate for some time and serve.

Paasi paruppu Payasam / Moong dal Kheer:

Paasi paruppu or Yellow moong dal payasam is one of the many varieties of payasam. I prepared this payasam on the occasion of Shivaratri. It’s very easy and tasty, also healthy. As we are not adding sugar in this payasam, it’s better for health. Adding jaggery to the dish, which is prepared for neivedyam (offering) to God, is considered more special.

Ingredients:

Moon dal – ½ cup

Jaggery – 1cup

Water – 1 ½ cup

Milk – 4 cups

Cashew – 5 to 7 numbers

Raisin – 1tbsp

Ghee – 1tbsp

Method:

Fry the moong dal (without oil) in a pan or in the pressure cooker till it turns light brown.

Add 1 ½ cups water to the dal and cook in pressure cooker (3 whistles)

Boil the milk and keep aside.

Once the dal get cooked, smash it with a ladle and add little water and jaggery.

Let them boil for 5min.

Now add the boiled milk and boil the payasam for 15min.

Fry the cashews and raisins in ghee and keep aside.

Once the payasam reaches its constancy add the fried cashews and raisin and remove from heat.

Now the Moong dal payasam is ready to serve.

Maha Shivaratri-The Festival of Lord Shiva

Maha Shivaratri is a Hindu festival falls on 14^th day of Krishna paksha every year on the Maagh (Tamil month maasi, English month Feb-March) month of Hindu calendar. It is the most auspicious festival of Lord Shiva. Shivaratri is celebrated all over India and Nepal. People on this day fast all day and stay awake all night chanting ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ the manthra dedicated to Lord Shiva. Many rituals and pujas are performed all night in the Shiva temples. Rudra jaba abisheka is performed on this holy night to the Lord.

Rudram is the most powerful, sacred mantra dedicated to Lord Rudra (who share same feature as lord Shiva)

According to legends, there are many stories related to Shivaratri. It is believed that this is the day on which Shiva drank the poison to save the world, which emerges from churning of the ocean by demons and God. Hence he got the name ‘Neelakanda’ the blue throat one.

It’s believed that on this day Lord Shiva performed ‘Thandava’ the cosmic dance.

It is also believed that Shiva married Goddess Parvathi on this auspicious day. 

Wish You All A Happy Maha Shivartri. Let us all worship Lord Shiva and get his blessing on this auspicious day. 

Simple and Yummy Carrot Soup

I’m preparing this soup for first time. So not sure it would turn good J But! Yes! It was good!! I prepared this soup for today’s dinner along with Oats Upma . Carrot soup is one easy recipe, that won’t fail you. I learned this secret today. Usually I’m not a big fan of adding cream to recipes, especially soup. But today thought to try something new, so got this cream from grocery, especially for preparing this soup. I like the taste. I added it finally while serving, only to my bowl, as my husband is not interested in creams.  

This carrot soup is very filling. Good choice for dinner menu. 

Ingredients:

Carrots – 2 (medium size)

Onion chopped – 1 tbsp

Garlic pods – 2 big

Sugar – ½ tsp

Pepper corns – 3 numbers

Bay leaf – 1

Butter/Oil – 1 tbsp

Cream – 1 tsp (optional) (if adding, add as per your taste)

Corn flour -1/2 tsp (optional)

Water – 2 cups

Croutons

Method:

Wash the carrots, peel off the skin and chop.

Chop the garlic pods coarsely.

Heat butter/oil in pressure cooker.

Add bay leaf, garlic, pepper corns, onion and fry till the onions turn translucent.

Now add the chopped carrot and saute for 3 min.

Add ½ cup water and cook.

Switch off the stove after 3 whistles and cool the mix.

Transfer the mix to the blender and grind them to a smooth paste.

Add the paste to the same cooker and add remaining 1 ½ cups of water.

Add sugar and bring the soup to boil. (Boiling time 5 to 7 min)

Mix the corn flour in 2 tbsp water and pour it to the boiling soup.

Remove from heat and add cream.

Serve hot topping the soup with croutons, salt and pepper powder.

Note: Adding cream is optional, if you are adding; add after removing from              heat or while serving. I added while serving.

         Adding corn flour is also optional if you like the soup little watery.

Dates Chutney / Sweet Chutney / Date Tamarind Chutney

Dates chutney is a quick and healthy recipe. This chutney is commonly used in Chat dishes. No chat recipe is complete without this chutney. Its sweet and sore taste with little hotness (from chilli and cumin powder) gives a yum taste to the chat recipes.

Ingredients:

Dates – 19 numbers (seedless)

Tamarind paste – 1tbsp

Red chilli powder – 1 ½ tsp

Cumin powder – 1tsp

Water - 1cup

Method:

Chop the dates coarsely and keep aside.

Add ½ cup water in a pan, add jaggery and tamarind past.

Boil in medium heat, till the jaggery get dissolved and bubbles start appearing.

Keep aside the syrup.

Heat the other ½ cup water in a pan and add the chopped dates and mash them using an egg beater or with a ladle.

Mash them till they become soft and turn into a pulp.

Add the jaggery, tamarind syrup to the mashed dates.

Add the chilli powder and cumin powder. Add some water if required.

Boil till it reaches the thick consistency.

Remove from heat and cool the chutney.

Transfer them to the blender and grind them to a smooth paste.

Store in an airtight container and refrigerate.  

Note: Adjust the chilli powder as per your taste. If you want sweeter chutney reduce the chilli powder.

This chutney can be stored for one to two weeks, if stored in a refrigerator.

Peanut Chutney / Nilakadalai Chutney

Apart from regular coconut and tomato chutney, this peanut chutney has its unique taste. Those who love peanuts, peanut butter or anything about peanut, definitely love this chutney. I can say this as I’m one of those peanut lovers :) Try this with Idly, Dosa. I sometime take this with chapatti/ roti when tired to prepare any side dish in the lazy afternoons. Spread it in the toasted bread while preparing sandwich, tamarind and chilli in the chutney gives nice flavor to the sandwich. Good combination for curd rice too.

Ingredients:

Peanuts – 1 cup

Tamarind – Small amla size

Red chilli – 3 to 4 numbers

Garlic pods – 2 numbers (big)

Salt

Method:

Roast the Peanuts in a pan without oil for 2 to 3 min, or till they get the heat and turn light brown.

Cool down the peanuts and remove the skin.

Heat oil in a pan, add red chilli, garlic pods and fry for few seconds. (The garlic should not get burnt)

Make puree out of the tamarind, adding small amount of water.

Now transfer roasted peanuts, red chilli, garlic, tamarind puree and salt to the blender.

Sprinkle required water and grind to smooth paste (chutney).

Now Peanut chutney is ready to serve.

Chinese Style Fried Rice– Simple Version/ Without Egg and Sauce

This version of Chinese style Fried Rice has no egg or sauce. Just veggies and pepper powder for spice. I prepared Gobi Manchurian as side dish for this Fried rice. I used cabbage, carrot and capsicum. Other than this you can add broccoli, spring onion, bean sprouts. Leftover rice can be used for this recipe.

  

Ingredients:

Cooked rice – 1cup

Cabbage – ½ cup

Carrot – 1medium size

Bell pepper/ Capsicum – ¼ cup (chopped into fine pieces)

Pepper powder – ¼ tbsp.

Salt

Oil – 1tbsp

Pineapple chunks – 5 to 9 chunks (depend on your taste)

Method:

Heat oil in a wok; add the chopped cabbage; carrot and bell pepper sauté in the medium- high flame for 3min.

Add salt and pepper powder and sauté for another 2min.

All the veggies should get cooked well but shouldn’t lose its crunchiness.

Now when the veggies reached the stage, add the cooked rice, sauté for 2min in medium heat.  

In the meantime heat 1tsp oil in a pan and add the pineapple chunks to it, sauté the pineapples for a minute or 2.

Add the pineapples to the rice and give a quick sauté.

Remove from heat and serve hot. 

Gobi Manchurian (Dry) / Dry Cauliflower Manchurian - Step by step recipe

Gobi Manchurian is an Indian Chinese dish made with cauliflower. It taste little tangy, hot and spicy. Frying the cauliflower florets gives the food little crispiness. It can be taken as a plain starter or as side dish for chapatti, roti and fried rice. Both ways they taste good.

Sauce plays the major role in this dish. I have added chilli paste instead of adding chilli sauce, as it was out of stock in my pantry. But adding chilli sauce gives more authentic taste to the dish.

Ingredients:

Cauliflower – 1cup

Onion- 1big

Capsicum /bell pepper – ½ of the full pepper finely chopped.

Chopped ginger – 1/2tbsp

Chopped garlic - 1tbsp

Tomato sauce – 4tbsp

Chilli paste – 1 ½ tsp (grind 4 to 5 green chillies in warm water to fine paste)

Soy sauce – 3tbsp

Vinegar – 1tbsp

Spring onion (white part) – 2tbsp

Spring onion (green part) – 3 to 4tbsp (for dressing)\

Salt – a pinch

Water – 2tbsp

Oil – 2tbsp

For frying cauliflower:

Oil to fry

Maida / all-purpose flour – 1cup

Corn flower – 2tbsp

Rice flour – 1tbsp

Chilli powder – 1tbsp

Salt

Method:

Cut the cauliflower into medium size florets.

Add salt in water and bring them to boil.

Add the cauliflower florist to the water and boil them till they turn soft.

Remove from fire, drain them completely and keep aside.

In a wok, heat 2tbsp oil, add the chopped onion and fry till they turn light 

brown.

Add the chilli paste and chopped ginger, garlic and sauté for few min till they turn light brown.

Add the bell pepper, spring onion white part and sauté for 3min.

Add the tomato sauce, soy sauce, vinegar and sauté for 2min in medium flame.

Turn off the stove.

Frying the cauliflower:

Combine all the flour, chilli powder, salt and make a thin batter adding required water.

The batter should not be too thick or thin.

Heat the oil for frying.

Once the oil is ready, dip the cauliflower florets into the batter and place it in the oil.

Do the same for remaining florets.

Fry till they turn light crisp.

Remove from the oil and place it in a paper towel.

Now add 2tbsp water to the gravy and sauté for few seconds, add the fried florets and sauté till they get coated well with the gravy.

Add the green part of the spring onion and give a quick sauté.

Serve hot.

Note: Fry the cauliflower florets and add it to the gravy just 10 or 15min before serving. Otherwise it will get soggy.

Adjust the sauces as per your taste.

Watch while adding salt, as already soy sauce and some vinegar contains salt. 

Podi Idly / Idly Milagai Podi Idly

Idly is not only a simple and healthy food but gives us more room for our creativity. Idly upma is one of those. The leftover idlis comes handy for the next day breakfast as idly upma. And this podi idly is more or less same as idly upma. Here I used idly podi for spice. Now you know why the name podi idly J Also for this recipe I cut the idlis into cubes, so that they get fried well and gives a niece crunchy taste with spicy podi. It can be taken as breakfast, a quick lunch, for dinner or even as a tea time snack. Serving hot will maintain the crunchy taste. This podi idly specifically don’t need any side dish. But onion raita goes well if the podi is too spicy.

Ingredients:

Idlis – 9 numbers (adjust depend on the size, mine is medium, not too soft)

Green chilli – 3 numbers

Idly podi – 3tbsp (again adjust depend on the spice level, mine is medium spicy)

Onion – 1 small

Sweet peppers – 2 numbers (optional) (or replace it with bell pepper)

Garlic pods – 4 numbers

Turmeric - a pinch

Mustard seeds – 1tsp

Urad dal – 1tsp

Curry leaves – 2 or 3

Salt

Oil – 1tbsp

Method:

Cut the idlis into cubes and keep aside.

Heat oil in a wok and splutter mustard seeds, add urad dal and curry leaves and fry for a second.

Add the green chilli, chopped garlic, and chopped onions and fry till they turn light brown.

Add the finely chopped sweet peppers (if using), idly podi, salt, turmeric and stir for 1min.

Now add the idly cubes and toast well. Keep the flame low.

Continue the toasting till the idly cubes turn little crispy.

Remove from fire and serve hot.

Note: If the podi idly is too spicy, sprinkle some sugar and stir, before removing from fire.

Pineapple Rava Kesari / Semolina Kesari

Kesari is a very famous south Indian sweet made with rava / semolina. They are made on auspicious days or on any special occasions. They have a special place in the South Indian wedding menu. There are many versions of kesari and pineapple kesari is one of those. Pineapple gives a nice aroma to the sweet and the natural sweet in the fruit adds more taste to the kesari. Even banana can be replaced with pineapple.

Kesari is the best option if we have to prepare some sweet in a jiffy. As they require less ingredients and less time.

Ingredients:

Rava /Semolina – 1 ½ cup

Pineapple cubes – 5 to 6 pieces (make puree out of it)

Sugar – 2 ½ cups

Water – 2 cups

Ghee – ½ cup (or as required)

Kesari powder – a pinch (I used yellow colour) (optional)

Crushed cardamom – ¼ tsp

Cashews crushed – 1tbsp

Raisins – 1 tbsp

Method:

In a heavy bottom pan, heat 1 tbsp ghee.

Add the cashews and fry till they turn light brown along with raisin.

Remove them and keep aside.

In the same pan, add 1tbsp ghee and add rava to it. Fry till the rava get roasted well (approximately 5min)

In the meantime, add the water and kesari powder to a pan and bring them to boil.

Once the rava get roasted and turn light brown, slowly pour the boiled water to the rava stirring constantly.

Stir the rava for few seconds and add sugar.

Now pour the pineapple puree and the remaining ghee.

Stir the kesari till they start oozing out the ghee.

Add the cardamom and roasted cashew, raisin and give a quick stir.

Remove from fire and transfer to a bowl.

Note: For pineapple puree, blend the chopped pineapple into a fine smooth paste. No need to add water.         

         Be liberal in adding ghee to avoid sticky kesari.

         For weight watchers, replace the quantity of ghee with oil.

         The taste and texture of kesari depends on roasting the rava and quantity of  

         ghee/oil.