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.