Kaju Katli

"Deepavali" (festival of lights), the biggest & the brightest of all Hindu festivals is just around the corner. And, here is the recipe for soft, chewy cashew fudge that you can share with your family & friends on the day of Deepavali! After all, Deepavali is all about celebration, fun, sharing & togetherness, isn 't it?! 

Chocolate & Strawberry Trifle

Today, I & my soulmate are entering into the 8th year of marriage bliss!

Karadaiyan Nonbu Adai (Sweet/Savory)

"உருகாத வெண்ணையும் ஓரடையும் வைத்து நோன்பு நூற்றேன் 

ஒருக்காலும் என் கணவர் என்னை விட்டு பிரியாது இருக்க வேண்டும்."

Each & every south-Indian wife recites the above verses and prays for the well-being of their husbands on the auspicious day of "Karadaiyan Nonbu" that falls exactly at the start of the Tamil month "Panguni". 

The history behind this festival dates back to the earliest times of Mahabaratha, where Savitri, princess from a place called Madra, Asvapati chooses to marry Satyavan even after knowing that he had just one year to live after their marriage. Savitri who is bound and determined to save Satyavan from Yama (God of death), maintains strict fasting and vigil in an effort to save her husband. On the day when Yama arrives to claim the soul of Satyavan, Savitri impresses Yama with her dedication and arguments to save Satyavan. Finally, Yama is forced to admit his defeat over Savitri's wisdom and grants back Satyavan's life.

The connection between the story & the festival is that Savitri fought with Yama and brought back her husband to life exactly at the time when the Tamil month "Masi" ends and the following month "Panguni" begins. Inorder to commemorate this incident of the past, we observe fasting on this day, tie sacred thread around our neck and pray for long life of husbands. We also make two types of adai (sweet & savory) for neivedhyam (offerings).

Young & unmarried girls also observe this fasting & tie sacred thread and pray for ideal husbands.

Basic Info

Complexity - Medium

Prep time - 15 mins

Cook time - 30 mins

Serves - 23-25 adai of each version

Ingredients

To make rice flour

Sona masoori rice - 2 cups

Savory version

Rice flour - 1 cup

Water - 1.5 cups

Grated coconut - 2 tbsp

Cooked karamani (black eyed peas) - 2 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 3/4 tsp

Broken urid dal - 1 tsp

Hing - 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - 6-7 nos (finely chopped)

Green chillies - 1 no (finely chopped)

Dry red chillies - 1 no (finely chopped)

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 2 tsp
Coconut oil - 1 tsp

Sweet version

Rice flour - 1 cup

Jaggery - 1 cup (grated / powdered)

Water - 1 cup

Grated coconut - 2 tbsp

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Cooked karamani (black eyed peas) - 2 tbsp

Method
Soak about 4 tbsp of karamani/cowpeas overnight covered in water. Cook the peas in boiling water, until they are tender but not mushy. Drain the peas and set it aside.

To make rice flour

Wash rice (do not soak) and drain the water completely. Now, roast washed & drained rice in a pan until crisp and has slightly changed its color. Let it cool and grind it into a fine powder.

 

Savory version

Heat oil in a small saucepan. When hot, splutter mustard seeds, roast urid dal until golden brown, fry hing, curry leaves, red chillies, green chillies briefly for few seconds. To this, add 1.5 cups of water and bring it to a rolling boil. Now, add cooked karamani, grated coconut, 1 cup of rice flour, salt, coconut oil and mix well. Keep stirring until the mixture thickens. Keep it aside to cool.

Sweet version
Bring equal parts of jaggery & water to a rolling boil. To this, add cardamom powder, coconut, rice flour, cooked karamani and keep stirring until the mixture thickens. Keep it aside to cool.

How to make adai's

Take abt 1.5 tbsp of sweet/savory mixture, roll it into a smooth ball, press it lightly between your palms, slightly indent on top with your index finger. Repeat this with the rest of the mixture and cook them in batches using a idli cooker for 2-3 mins. Do not pressure cook.

Serve with butter on the side.

Now, nothing can beat this divine combo! Enjoy!!

 

Notes

• I did not have karamani in hand. So, used whole black urid dal instead. No changes to the cooking procedure though.
• Incase the sweet/savory cooked mixture is too dry to make adai, sprinkle little water and losen the mixture.

Aval Puttu

If you are following my blog, am sure you would know my crazy love for sweets. Aval puttu is one such dish that I adore next to Thiruvathirai Kali. Just as kali, puttu also shows up only once a year during Navarathri. I still remember how much I used to love Navarathiri, especially for this scrumptious puttu. Navarathri Fridays (Yes! my mom makes puttu for Neivedhyam only on Fridays) - I am the happiest & luckiest gal on the Earth!!!!

This year I made this wonderful puttu for Krishna Jayanthi!

My mom always talks about how much she used to struggle to get the perfect texture every time during her early days of cooking. After so many trials, she came up with a perfect recipe (finally!!!) that works right every time. I am so very glad to have this recipe passed on to me and more so, to blog it.

Ingredients
Thick aval / poha - 1 cup
Jaggery - 3/4 cup
Toor dal - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Cardamom seeds - 1 pod (crushed)
Cashews - Few
Ghee - 1 tbsp

Method

Roast cashews in a tbsp of ghee until golden brown and keep it aside.

Dry roast aval/poha in a heavy bottomed pan until golden brown. Let it cool and then, break aval into coarse powder (like sooji/semolina) using a mixer.

Take a deep pan and bring 2 cups of water to a boil. To this, add turmeric powder & toor dal. Let the toor dal cook in boiling water until it is done but not mushy. As soon as it is ready, just pour the boiling water (with the toor dal) over the aval rava. 

Mix it well and cover it with a tight lid. Leave it like that for about 5-7 mins for aval to get cooked in hot water.

Melt jaggery in 1/2 cup of water. Pour into a heavy bottomed pan, and boil to get a thick syrup. To test the thickness of the syrup, drop syrup into a little cup of cold water and you should be able to roll it into a ball. When the jaggery syrup is ready, add cooked aval rava with toor dal, cardamom powder and mix them well.

Remove from heat and garnish with roasted cashews. 

Let it cool, and fluff it up with a fork for a flakier texture. I simply adore puttu when it is dry & fluffy.

Sweet Poli

Poli is a traditional south Indian sweet prepared during auspicious days / festivals / marriages. It is a little complicated recipe (but can be mastered with experience), where stuffing (called pooranam) & outer dough are prepared separately and then pooranam is stuffed inside the dough and rolled out to make thin & delicate sweet pancakes. In this recipe, stuffing is made of channa dal, jaggery, coconut, caradamom.

My mom usually prepares poli on Bogi (day before pongal), Tamil New Year, Avani Avittam (changing of the sacred thread). And, this is one of the few sweets that VJ loves to eat. Especially, he likes it on the second day, slightly warmed, with little ghee drizzled on the top.

Ingredients

For pooranam

Channa dal - 1 cup

Powdered Jaggery - 1 cup

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup

Cardamom - 2-3 pods (use only seeds)

For outer dough

Maida - 1 cup (use fresh maida of good brand)

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Food color (preferably yellow / orange) - 1-2 pinches (I used kesari-orange color)

Water - 1/3 cup (approximately)

Gingelly oil - 1 tbsp + as required when making poli

Method
Using a mortar & pestle, powder the cardamom seeds and keep it aside.

Take a bowl and mix maida, salt and food color. Add required water and knead it into a soft & rubbery dough. Grease the bowl with a tbsp of gingelly oil and leave it aside for atleast for 1 - 1.5 hrs.

Soak channa dal in water for an hour. Then, cook channa dal in boiling water until soft & mashable (not mushy). Drain the water and let it cool. Grind cooked channa dal with jaggery, coconut into a thick paste (without adding water). To this add the cardamom powder and mix well.

Make equal number of balls from dough as well as the pooranam.

Note: The balls need not be of equal size. A small ball of maida should be good enough to stretch & hold pooranam of double its size. If maida is old (or) not fresh, you might have to make equal sized balls, as maida would have lost its elasticity.

Generously grease a plastic sheet (I used ziploc) / plantain leaf (if available) well with gingelly oil. Take a ball of maida dough, pat & spread the dough into a small circle (with hands). Place a ball of pooranam in the centre of the dough and wrap it around the pooranam to make a ball. 

This ball is then flattened into a large & thin circular pancake shape (Take care to not tear the dough while flattening).

Meanwhile, heat a griddle / tawa on medium-high. Carefully peel the flattened poli from plastic sheet and transfer it to the tawa. Cook until brown spots appear on both the sides and a sweet aroma fills the kitchen.

Drizzle ghee on top and serve warm.

Events

Linking this to Cooking Challenge - Flavors of Tamilnadu by Vidya

Thiruvathirai Kali

Thiruvathirai kali is prepared on the auspicious day of Thiruvadhirai which usually comes in the Tamil month of Margazhi (Dec - Jan). I am a sucker for this sweet relish (oh yes, I love anything in the name of sweet :-)) This dish especially is paired with "ericha kozhambu" (spicy lentil gravy made with 5 (or) 7 vegetables) and I love the combined taste of sweet & spicy. My mom makes hands-down the tastiest kali on the Earth with spicy kozhambu on the side. How I wish this dish was prepared often and not just on the day of Thiruvathirai :-)

Ingredients

Raw rice - 1 cup

Powdered jaggery - 1 cup

Cardamom pods - 3-4 nos

Cashews - 6-8 nos (broken)

Scraped coconut - a handful

Ghee - 2 tbsp

Method

Wash rice in water. Drain it immediately (do not let the rice soak) and roast it in a dry pan until it turns brown (Do not roast it for too long).

Let it cool and grind it in a mixer to a coarser (like sooji) texture. Keep it aside.

In a heavy bottomed pan, dissolve jaggery (measure jaggery to powdered rice (1:1)) in water (2.5 cups) and boil it in low-medium heat. Once the raw smell of jaggery goes off, add scraped coconut & powdered rice and keep stirring to not form any lumps. When the mixture thickens, pressure cook to 2 whistles.

Heat little ghee and roast cashews until brown. Meanwhile, open the cardamom pods and crush the seeds. Add ghee, cashews and cardamom to kali and enjoy it with "ericha kozhambu"!