Godhi Kuttida Payasa | Blog Hop Wednesday

Yesterday was my brother’s birthday. After a really long time, I am not with him on his birthday. He is in Sweden on a short term assignment. We all missed you dear brother. Even though he is there, I decided to make something sweet to celebrate his birthday here. So here is a very simple payasam from Bhayashri’s space – Taste Buds with whom I have been paired for this week’s blog hop.

This payasam was something very similar to the Goduma Rava Dalia which my mom makes on Ekadashi. She also adds some Split moong dal to it and adds more milk. But today I decided to stick to Bhagyashri’s recipe. The outcome was quite delicious. I really liked the pudding like thick and creamy consistency of the payasam.

So here is Godhi Kuttida Payasa, especially made for my dearest brother.

Makes:  5 to 6 small servings

What you’ll need

1.       Broken Wheat/Lapsi – 1 cup

2.       Milk – 2 cups

3.       Jaggery Powdered – 1 cup

4.       Cardamom Powder – a little

5.       Cashews – a few

6.       Raisins – a few

7.       Ghee/Clarified Butter – 2 tsps

Method

Pressure cook the broken wheat in a cup of water for about 2 whistles.

Transfer the cooked wheat into a deep vessel, add the powdered jaggery. Mix well and keep stirring till the jaggery is completely dissolved and the whole thing starts boiling.

Now add the milk and stir continuously on med heat for a few minutes or till the milk is reduced a little.

Fry the cashew nuts and raisins in a little ghee and add it on top. Also add the cardamom powder. Mix well.

Yummy Payasam is ready to be served.

Linking this to Blog Hop Wednesday started by Radhika and to Dish it out – Wheat and Jaggery hosted by South Indian Recipes and originally started by Vardhini.

Cashew Coconut Burfi | Diwali Speical

Ah! It’s that time of the year, when women in most households, would be discussing and planning what bhakshanams (Sweets and Snacks) to prepare for Diwali.

Though Diwali is a festival of lights, it is known more for its festive sweet and snack preparations. Talking of sweets, the person who immediately comes to my mind is my grandfather. Yes! Believe me, he was the one who used to prepare the sweets in my home until he was alive. He was an expert in making all kinds of sweets. He was very well known for his Jangri, Badushah and Badam Halwa.

A week before Diwali, preparations would start. My grandfather would ask us grandchildren what we would like to have and from there on, he would make a list of the required ingredients and ask my mom to get it. And every day,(till the day before Diwali) after lunch, the kitchen would turn into a mini (Halwai ki Dukaan), with my grandfather being the Master Chef, grand mom would be his assistant and my mom though did not have to do anything much, but still like an obliging DIL she would be close by waiting for some sundry instructions.

After each sweet was made, my grandfather would first call me and my brother and offer us his creation. And we would gladly gorge on the yummy delicacies.

I was quite young then, and never bothered to find out how these were made. My mother got some good tips from him. And I am learning from my mom and MIL of course.

I am really a beginner when it comes to sweets. I hardly prepare sweets and it’s only during this time of the year that I start scratching my head as to what to prepare for Diwali. Making sweets, especially burfis is rather tricky. You need to know exactly when to remove it from heat and transfer the mixture into a plate. The first time, I ventured to make badam cake, I got only Badam powder L.

Today I am sharing the recipe for a simple burfi, which is quite easy to make and very delicious. I definitely want to update the post with step wise pictures for the benefit of beginners. Maybe when I make it actually for Diwali I will do that. So here is the recipe:

What you’ll need:

1.       Cashew nuts – 1 Cup

2.       Scraped Fresh Coconut – 1 Cup

3.       Sugar – 2 Cups

4.       Ghee/Clarified Butter – 2 Tbsp

5.       Milk – ¼ Cup

Method

1.       Warm the milk and soak the cashews in the milk for half an hour. Grind the cashews with the milk into a smooth paste. Add the scraped coconut and pulse it for a few seconds.

2.       Grease a plate and keep aside.

3.       Heat a heavy bottomed Kadai, add the cashew coconut paste, sugar and ghee. Mix well. Keep stirring continuously on medium flame.

4.       First stage – you will see bubbles forming on the sides of the Kadai. Keep stirring.

5.       Second stage – you will see lots of bubbles forming and the whole thing will start leaving the sides and start frothing up. Keep stirring, we’re almost there.

6.       Final stage – The whole mixture will come together and become a thick mass. Immediately, pour into a greased plate.

7.       Cool and cut into pieces when slightly warm.

Enjoy this yummy burfi with your family.

Note:

 After transferring the mixture onto a greased plate, wait for a few minutes and mark the lines with a knife for the pieces. If you feel the mixture is slightly gooey and not yet reached the burfi stage, put it back on heat and give it a stir for about 2 to 3 minutes.

Make sure you don’t keep it for too long, else the sweet may turn crumbly and become powdery.

Linking this to Radhika's Diwali Special - Sweets and Savories, Anu's Diwali - Festival of Lights and Only Sweets hosted by Gayathri started by Pari and to Khushi's My Diwali My Way
Also linking it to Healing Foods - Coconut hosted by Sukanya started by Siri.

Kalkandu Saadam

Yesterday was Vijaya Dashami. This day is celebrated in different ways in different parts of the country. In South India, on Vijaya Dashami, young kids, in the age group of 2 ½ to 3 years are made to hold a piece of turmeric in their hands, which acts like their pencil or pen and are made to write on a plate that is spread with rice, holding their father’s hand. And only after performing this ritual, children are put in schools.

In Northern parts of India, people celebrate this day, as the victory of good over evil. Huge effigies of the ten headed demon king Ravana, his sons Meghnath and Indrajit and brother Khumbhakaran are burnt. People flock in large numbers to see the display of fireworks. There are plays depicting the Ramayana on all nine days, which is called Ramlila.

In West Bengal, this day culminates the stay of Goddess Parvathi in her maternal home and she is sent back to her heavenly abode with her four children Lakshmy, Ganapathy, Sarswathi and Karthik. People bid farewell to the Goddess, by immersing her in the Ganges or any other water body.

Vijaya Dashami, for me, is synonymous with Vidhyaarambham. As a child I never used to like this day, since we were asked to compulsorily sit down and study. I and my brother dreaded it all the more, because the previous day, i.e the ninth day also called Saraswathi Pooja, we would keep all our books in the Pooja and forget about them for the day. That was the day we used to wait for eagerly. This was the only day in the year when elders would ask us not to study and we were free to play or to do whatever we liked.

And now it’s my daughter’s time. She was so excited about keeping all her books in the Pooja. She brought each and every book of hers, even story books and kept them. But next day, she kept postponing the act of removing the books and having to study from them.

This year's Navarathri was a memorable one, even though we did not keep golu in our house. We went and saw Durga Pooja Pandals with our neighbors. We were able to see the spectacular burning of the effigy of Ravana for the first time. We all were really thrilled, since this was something which we know happens but had never seen it live. My children't day was made and so was mine.

Now let’s get to today’s recipe – Kalkand Saadam. I prepared this as neivedhyam on one of the nine days. I prepared this for the first time and we all like it very much. It was something different from the regular Sakkara Pongal or Vella Payasam.

What you’ll need

1.       Rice – ½ cup

2.       Milk – ½ cup

3.       Kalkandu or rock Candy – 1 cup

4.       Green Cardamom – 3 to 4

5.       Cashewnuts – a few

6.       Raisins – a few

7.       Ghee/Clarified Butter – 1 tbsp

Method

Wash the rice well and drain. Now add ½ cup milk and 1 cup of water to the rice and pressure cook it for 3 whistles or till rice is cooked well.

Powder the Kalkandu/ Rock Candy in a mixie and keep aside.

Fry the Cashews and raisins in ghee.

Once the pressure is released, mash the rice well, add the kalkandu powder, cashews and raisins fried in ghee and the cardamoms. Mix everything well.

That’s it! Delicious kalkandu Saadam is ready.

Linking this to CWS Rice hosted by Revathi, originally started by Priya and also to Anyone can cook.

100 Yummy Diwali Sweet Recipes - Ebook from Indus Ladies!

100 Yummy Diwali Sweet Recipes - Ebook from Indus Ladies! For the upcoming Diwali on October 26th, 2011, we at Indusladies are compiling an E-Book called “100 Yummy Diwali Sweet Recipes”. We are collecting sweet/dessert recipes from various bloggers to be featured in this E-Book.

 This E-book will be made available as a free download to our community's 1.3 Lakh+ members. In addition, we will also be making this E-Book available to our 9000+Facebook fans and Twitter followers. It's LOTS and LOTS of exposure to those food blogs entering the E-Book!! We believe this would be a nice way to get the word out about a wonderful blog to the entire membership of IndusLadies!!

 Those bloggers interested in submitting a recipe for this E-Book...all you need to do is as follows:1. Send a link from your blog for a sweet / dessert recipe. It should also include the picture of the sweet/dessert. Your recipe, food picture, recipe URL as well as the entire blog URL will get featured in the E-Book.

 2. In return, we need you to do two things:- Now make a blog post in your blog announcing the E-Book compilation by IndusLadies and the recipe you are sending for this E-Book. That way inviting your co-bloggers interested to send in their contribution by Oct 10th,2011.

 - Between Oct 11 and Oct 26, make a blog post featuring the E-Book and announcing it is available for FREE download in IndusLadies. We will be providing you sooner with the picture of the E-Book’s cover page that you will use to include in this blog post.

 Come on...hurry! What are you waiting for??

 I am sending these Homemade Chocolates, Godhuma Rava Kesari and Rasogolla. Send a sweet/dessert recipe link from your blog to partners@indusladies.com by Oct 8th, 2011.

Nendram Pazham Puliserry

Busy days of Navarathri are flying by. It’s already the seventh day. Another two days and there goes this year’s Dassara. Hope all of you are enjoying the festive season.

Coming to today’s post, it is nothing related to Navarathri.  Actually I had wanted to post this before Onam. But due to some constraints couldn’t get around doing it then.

Puliserry is a popular Kerala dish, which is almost an integral part of Sadhyas in some parts of Kerala. It is a spiced coconut and yoghurt gravy which is generally had with rice. Puliserry is generally made with a fruit – the most popular one being Mambazha Puliserry made out of ripe mangoes. Nendram Pazhams (ripe plantains) and Pineapples are also widely used in making Puliserry. It has a lovely blend of fruity, slightly spicy and tangy flavors.

What you’ll need

1.       Ripe Nendram Pazham – 2

2.       Sour Thick Curds – 1 ½ cups

3.       Black Pepper Powder – ½ tsp

4.       Turmeric Powder – a pinch

5.       Salt to taste

6.       Curry Leaves

To Grind

1.       Scraped Coconut – 1 cup tightly packed
2.       Green Chillies – 4 (Adjust according to taste)

For Seasoning

1.       Oil – 1 tsp

2.       Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp

3.       Dried Red Chillies – 1 broken

4.       Fenugreek Seeds – ¼ tsp

Method

Peel Nendram pazham, and cut into big pieces. Boil the pazham pieces in just enough water with turmeric powder, pepper powder and salt.

In the meanwhile, grind the coconut with green chillies into a fine paste. You can use a little of the curd to grind.

Once the pazham pieces are cooked, it should be done in 10 minutes. Add the ground coconut and chillies paste. Mix well. Add about 1/2 cup of water and bring to boil.

Whisk the sour curds and add it to the above mixture. Adjust salt. Give it a nice stir. Simmer until it starts foaming up. Let it not boil. Remove from heat.

In a small frying pan, heat the oil, add mustard seeds, once it crackles add the fenugreek seeds and red chilly. Pour this over the puliserry.  

Yummy Pazham puliserry is ready. Serve with white rice accompanied with a simple vegetable stir fry and some pappadoms.

Linking this to Ramya’s event B for Banana, to KeralaKitchen hosted by Khushi and to F is for Fruit Curry guest hosted by Richa originally started by Charitha