Pal Payasam - Rice Kheer - Rice Pudding

Pal Payasam (or) Rice Kheer is the quintessential dessert of Indian cuisine. Traditionally, ghee-roasted rice is simmered in reduced milk, flavored with cardamom & saffron, garnished with nuts & raisins. When making rice kheer, major time & effort is spent on cooking milk until it reduces half its volume, so the dessert is sinfully rich & creamy!

"Seven Cup" Burfi

"Seven cup" cake/burfi is a sugar based Indian fudge made with chickpea flour, coconut flakes, milk and ghee (clarified butter). Though it looks similar to Mysore Pak, "Seven cup" burfi is a soft, 'coco'-nutty flavored fudge where coconut & condensed milk (from all the boiling of milk) are the dominating flavors. The name "Seven cup" burfi comes from the fact that seven cups of different ingredients are used to make this sweet.

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache

Yesterday was special.. very special, my daughter's birthday! I simply cannot believe how the time has flown since she entered into our lives.. six years ago!

Nutella Mug Cake

Just for the record, I am crazy about chocolates & nutella. So, when I made this nutella mug cake, I was more than happy, for this cake is a "delicious" mix of both. The cake is super addictive and if not for single serving, my sugars would have shot up roof high!! In a way, this "single-serve" mug cake is a perfect fix for your everyday sugar rush!

Rava Laadu

Rava laadu have always been one of my favorite sweets since childhood. With minimal set of ingredients, rava laadu is a simple & easy recipe that you can put together in a snap.

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?! 

Maa Laadoo

A sweet & cutesy little give-away prasadam for guests during Navarathri! 

Sugar, Ghee, Roasted nuts - what's not to like in this divine prasadam? Try this and you 'll fall in love with this sweet for sure, just as my family did!!

Karamani Sundal (Sweet Version)

What I love about this sundal is that unlike savory ones, this sundal uses jaggery, and is sweet! I have always been a big fan of this sweet sundal even though my mom never makes it. So, if I know that my neighbors are making this sundal, I "intentionally" pick that day to see their golu and eat this sundal to my heart's content!

Ellu podi (Sweet Version)

A sweet prasadam for Navarathri, unique & different from the regular "savory" sundal varieties. 

Sweet ellu podi is usually prepared on Saturdays, as sesame seeds is the preferred offerings for Sani Bhagavan (Saturn God, one of the Navagrahas).

Click here to check out my recipe for 'savory' ellu podi!

Paasi Paruppu Payasam

While browsing, I stumbled upon a web-page that had few pictures which looked very similar to my kinda shots. A close second look at them and I realized that those pics were indeed mine. Yes, somebody had copied images & contents of about 8-10 recipes from my blog and posted them in theirs. No notification, No credits, No nothing! 

 

Vella Seedai

Vella Seedai is the sweeter counterpart of uppu seedai, usually made for Gokulashtami (celebration of Lord Krishna's Birthday). Unlike uppu seedai, these sweet marbles are hard & crunchy on the out-side, but soft & sweet on the inside. Of all the Gokulashtami snacks that my mom makes, vella seedai is my all-time favorite. Vella seedai usually tastes great from the next day.

Gulab Jamun

I am back. Just like a child who is afraid to go back to school after a break - not wanting to go for the fear of teachers, classes, homework etc., yet willing to go for friends and all the fun that she could have. I am in a similar mindset now! 

Had a good vacation, got to spend the entire break with my parents, had the pleasure of seeing them catch up with my kids, touring around new places, eating some real good food made by mom - was total fun & relaxing!

But, when the thought of blogging actually struck me, I felt stranded. I really had no clue where to start or how to go about it. Somehow, made up my mind and gathered all the strength to start the journey again, with something sweet - a dessert!

Gulab Jamuns - deep fried milk/cheese balls soaked in rose flavored sugar syrup - is VJ 's absolute favorite. He is such a big fan of this dessert that he makes it a point to order it whenever we eat out at Indian restaurants. VJ loves fresh & warm jamuns, though most of the restaurant version are 1 or 2 days old which are obviously microwaved & served. Sometimes, the jamun 's exterior is so hard that you successfully break it, only to eat jamuns that are either uncooked or not properly soaked.

In the past, I have prepared gulab jamuns at home using instant mixes. But, for whatever reasons, VJ has never been happy with them. Instant mixes have always ended in soft (to mushy sometimes) jamuns (atleast for me) and quite frankly, I had no way to find where I was going wrong (or) how to make them better.

Couple of months ago, as I was blog hopping, I stumbled upon this recipe of making jamuns right from the scratch using milk powder and I was ecstatic! Since then, I just couldn't wait to try my hand at the recipe. Jamuns turned out to be so good that it held its shape better than the instant mix version.

Jamuns ended up having a perfect exterior, neither too soft nor too hard, but just right so that you could cut through it with a spoon to enjoy its juicy center! VJ thought these were the best home-made jamuns ever!

Basic Info
Complexity - Medium
Prep time - 25 mins
Cook time - 25 mins
Serves - 18-20 jamuns

Ingredients
Sugar Syrup
Sugar - 1.5 cups
Water - 1 1/4 cups
Green cardamom seeds - from 4 pods
Saffron - few strands (optional)
Rose water - 1/8 cup (optional)

Jamun
Full cream milk powder - 1 cup (I used DANO milk powder)
All-purpose flour - 1/4 cup
Baking powder - 1/4 tsp
Baking soda - 1/8 tsp
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - a pinch
Ghee, at room temperature - 3 tbsp
Whole milk, at room temperature - 1/4 cup (more or less, as required)
Oil for deep-frying

Method
Sugar Syrup

Bring sugar & water to a boil. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Let the syrup boil for 3-4 minutes on medium heat and remove from the stove. Let it cool and then, add powdered cardamom seeds, saffron threads, rose water. Keep it aside.

Jamun

In a large bowl, mix milk powder, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom powder, salt really well. Add ghee and rub between fingers so that the flour mixture is moistened. Now, add required milk and mix to get a soft but sticky dough. Cover the dough with a wet kitchen towel and let it sit for 5 mins.

Heat oil in a kadai/frying pan on medium heat. While the oil is heating, grease your palms with ghee and start making balls out of the dough. Make about 15 - 20 balls of equal size and roll them into smooth, soft balls (without any cracks). Place these balls in a plate covered with a wet kitchen towel until ready for frying.

When the oil is hot enough, slowly drop the balls one-by-one into the oil and fry them until golden brown (or a shade darker as you prefer). Drain the fried balls in a paper towel and let them cool.

In the meanwhile, if the sugar syrup is cold, put it back on the stove for it to warm up.

Place all the fried balls in a flat, shallow pan and pour the sugar syrup all over the balls until it uniformly covers all the balls. Let it remain undisturbed for atleast 20 mins for the balls to soak all the sugar syrup.

Notes

- Do not knead the dough too hard as you would do with chapathi dough. Just mix the ingredients gently until it forms a dough.

- Always keep the dough/rolled balls covered with wet towel so that it doesn't dry up and having cracks all over. If the dough is dry, sprinkle little water / milk and mix it well.

- While rolling the balls, make sure they are smooth and have no cracks.

- Do not roll the balls too big, as it doubles in size after frying and soaking in sugar syrup.

- Oil should not be very hot. If the oil is too hot, the exterior of the jamuns cooks faster and ends up with a center that is not cooked enough.

- To check the readiness of the oil, just drop a small ball of dough and it should take a couple of seconds before it starts to bubble-up and raises to the top.

- Do not over-crowd the frying pan, as you need space to roll the balls for even browning.

- While frying, keep flipping the balls around for even browning.

- Sugar syrup should be warm to hot (not boiling hot), shouldn't be cold either.

- Fried balls needs to be cooled down before soaking in the sugar syrup, for it to hold its shape better.

Kadalai Paruppu Payasam

Even before sugar came to Indian market, south Indians used jaggery (palm sugar) to make sweets. Jaggery is supposed to be healthier than its 'processed' counter-part. Kadalai paruppu payasam is made with channa dal & moong dal and using jaggery gives it a rich, denser texture and a nice, warm brown color.

Basic Info
Complexity - Medium
Prep time - 30 mins
Cook time - 20 mins
Serves - 3

Ingredients
Kadalai paruppu / Channa dal - 1/2 cup
Paasi paruppu / Moong dal - 1/4 cup
Powdered jaggery - 1 cup
Cardamom powder - 1-2 pinches
Cashew nuts - 6-8 nos (broken)

Raisins - 6-8 nos
Milk - 1/2 cup (boiled & cooled)
Ghee - 1 tbsp

Method
Roast cashews & raisins in 1/2 tsp of ghee until golden brown and set it aside.

Roast channa dal & moong dal in a tsp of ghee until you get a nice aroma. Pressure cook dal for 2-3 whistles.

In a small saucepan, heat jaggery & 1/4 cup of water until the jaggery completely dissolves in water. Then, add the pressure cooked dal (slightly mashed) and allow it to boil until the raw smell of jaggery goes off and the mixture becomes thick.

Remove from heat, add cardamom powder, milk and mix well. Finally, garnish with cashews & raisins.

Payasam is ready to be served.

Notes

- Channa dal & moong dal can be coarsely mashed up for creamier consistency.
- Check out the other Shri Rama Navami specials here.

Aval Payasam

Month of April is festival time in South India, it marks the start of New Year. While people of Karnataka & Andhra celebrate New Year as Ugadi, Tamilians celebrate it as Varusha Pirappu and for Malayalis, it is Vishu!

Here is a simple & wonderful recipe of aval payasam that you can enjoy during any festival season!

Basic Info
Complexity - Simple
Prep time - NA
Cook time - 20 mins
Serves - 3-4

Ingredients
Thick Aval (poha) - 1/2 cup
Water - 1 cup
Ghee - 3 tsp
Cashews - 6-8 nos (broken)
Raisins - 6-8 nos
Whole Milk - 1 to 1.5 cups
Cardamom powder - 2 big pinches
Sugar - 1/3 cup

Method

Bring 1 to 1.5 cups of milk to a boil and keep it aside.

In a thick bottomed saucepan, heat a tsp of ghee, roast cashews & raisins until golden brown and set aside.

In the same pan, add rest of the ghee and roast aval until crisp. To this, add water and let the aval cook completely. Once aval is cooked through, add sugar and let it completely dissolve in the aval mixture and come to a light boil.

Remove from heat and add boiled milk, cardamom powder to the payasam and mix well.

Garnish with cashews & raisins and aval payasam is ready to be served!

Note:
- Add more or less milk depending on the consistency you want.
- Add more or less sugar depending on the sweetness you like.

Thirattipal

What a rough week it was! Both my kids were down sick with severe stomach infection. I think the toughest part of parenting is to see your child sick - it is physically & emotionally exhausting - don't you agree?

Coming to the good part, I had 2 quart of whole milk sitting in my fridge which was just 2 days shy of expiry (stomach flu directly translates to no dairy for the kids). I had 3 good options in front of me - make yogurt, make paneer, make thirattipal (also called as Pal Khoa / Milk Khoa). At first, I was inclined only towards the first 2 options.

As I know that making thirattipal is very time consuming (close to 2 hrs) & needs utmost patience (attending the dish every 5-10 mins), it was in the least of my options. But, I was really curious to attempt because I have never tried it before and VJ (my hubby) is a great fan of this sweet! Though thirattipal is a time & effort consuming recipe, it is one of the simplest recipes too. All you need is milk, sugar, cardamom, little ghee and a whole lot of time & patience!

My dad is also a big fan of fresh Aavin thirattipal that you get in India. I was fondly remembering him while making this recipe. Thirattipal turned out to be absolutely tasty with perfect consistency and it all got over in just a blink of an eye! I also made few cute palkhoa packets just like the ones we used to get in India.

Ingredients

Milk - 2 quarts (about 1.75 Litres)

Sugar - 1 1/4 cups

Cardamom powder - a generous pinch

Ghee - 2 tbsp

Method

Pour milk into a thick & wide bottomed vessel and bring it to a boil on medium flame. Let the milk continue to boil on medium flame until almost all the water evaporates and milk starts to solidify. Keep stirring the milk often (every 10 mins) to make sure that the milk doesn't boil over and it doesn't stick to the sides/bottom.

When the milk starts to get thick and reduces to 3/4 th of the vessel (it takes about 1.5 hrs), add sugar and cardamom powder. After adding sugar, mixture becomes a little watery again. Continue to simmer for 15 - 20 more mins. Finally, add ghee and mix it well.

Remember that thirattipal will be a little sticky/gooey when hot. Let it cool and enjoy with family & friends.

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.

Paal Payasam

The moment I hear the name "payasam", I fantasize drinking it to my heart in a plate using my hands .. sounds weird?!?! But, this is how I like to drink payasam .. I don't want any cups/spoons .. I enjoy slurping it away directly from the plate.. or to be more precise, from banana leaf .. I particularly enjoy this recipe of paal payasam for its thicker consistency & for its warm, welcoming orangish hue.

I feel that payasam and brahmin house-holds are inseparable.. There used to be some kind of functions/festivals around every corner and we are so used to preparing some kind of sweet for every occasion. Payasam is the most preferred of all for it is very quick & easy to prepare. 

Especially during special occasions, when food is served on banana leaf, you need to know the knack to drink payasam directly from the leaf, without letting it run out of the sides and at the same time, tactfully slurp it up before the payasam runs down through your palm and reaches your elbow.

Argghhh, How much I miss all those fun - SIGHHHH !!! How do you like your payasam to be served?

Ingredients

Raw Rice - 1/4 cup (I used sona masoori)
Milk - 2 cups (I used 2% milkfat)
Sugar - 2-3 tbsp
Sweetened & condensed milk - 2 tbsp
Cashews - few
Raisins - few
Saffron strands - 3-5 nos
Ghee - for roasting the garnishes
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp

Method

Heat ghee in a pan, roast cashews until brown and keep it aside. In the same pan fry raisins until plump and keep them aside.

Soak saffron in a couple of teaspoons of warm milk and keep it aside.

Wash raw rice and pressure cook it with 1 cup of milk for upto 2 (or) 3 whistles.

Now, heat a pan on low - medium, transfer cooked rice into it, add rest of the milk and bring it to a boil. As soon as it starts to boil, add condensed milk, cardamom powder, cashews, raisins & saffron and let them boil until payasam reaches desired consistency. Adjust more milk/sugar to suit your taste & thickness.

Serve hot & enjoy!

Godhumai Payasam

Payasam is an inevitable sweet dish that is prepared during festivals / occasions. It is a weekly (or even more frequent) affair in some of the households. Known for its simplicity (in preparation), this payasam comes handy for my mom for her weekly pooja offerings.

Godhumai maavu (wheat flour) payasam is one of the payasams that can be prepared in a jiffy (almost instant) with just wheat flour, milk & sugar. I have seen folks using the same payasam recipe with rice flour, but my mom makes it with wheat flour. It satisfies your taste buds from those simple sweet cravings.

Ingredients (serves two)
Wheat flour - 2 tbsp (I used annapurna atta)
Ghee - 1-2 tsp
Cashews - 6-8 nos (broken)
Milk - 1.5 cups
Sugar - to taste
Cardamom pods - 1-2 nos

Method

In a thick bottomed vessel, heat a tsp of ghee and roast wheat flour until brown (on medium). Take care not to over-roast / burn the wheat flour. Once roasted, reduce the heat to low-medium and add little milk. Keep stirring the mixture until it is even & smooth (no lumps should be present). Add rest of the milk and keep stirring in medium heat until milk starts to boil and everything comes together. Add sugar, cardamom powder to the payasam and mix well. Remove from heat and keep it aside.

Heat a tsp of ghee in a pan, roast cashews until brown and add it to the payasam.

Enjoy this simple & tasty godhumai payasam.

Tips:

• You can add more (or) less milk depending on the consistency you want.

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