Mixture Recipe | South Indian Style | Snack Ideas

    Mixture is a south Indian snack made by mixing various deep fried ingredients.It is spicy ,sweet ,crunchy and very addictive.I love especially oma podi very much.When i was a kid my grand pa used to buy it for me .Its his favorite i guess.

Pineapple Kesari Bath Recipe | Pineapple Sheera | Fruit Kesari

             Pineapple kesari or kesari bath is a popular breakfast item of karnataka.Kesari is a sweet,flavored with saffron to get the natural yellowish tint to the dessert. Because of the affordability now a days saffron is less used and is replaced by edible food colors.

Rava Laddu | Rava Ladoo | Guest Post

     I am very much happy to announce that i got to write a  guest post for Indusladies. Indusladies is a community for ladies especially Indian ladies staying abroad.In there you can make friends ,share your ideas with your buddies .
      Every year they come up with so many interesting ideas,recipe contest to encourage home makers to come out of their comfort level to try something new..This year they are piling up recipes from different blogs in one place .So that its easy for people to read it online.Yes !!! now a days we read news,recipes only online right.
         Just visit their space and have a look at wonderful recipes show cased by wonderful bloggers including mine.So are you looking forward for new recipes this Diwali ? look no further click the link and check the recipes

     I have sent my “Rava Ladoo” recipe as a guest post for Indusladies . Here is the link for the ladoo...http://www.indusladies.com/food/rava-laddu

Badusha Recipe | Balushahi | Diwali Sweet Recipe

    Badusha is one of the tasty treats of India also famous in Pakistani and Nepali cuisine.It is like a donut without a hole.Baking soda gives the flakiness, instead of yeast making gluten in donuts.Before i know any donuts i was well aware of balushahi.Balushahi as called in north India has become famous during mughalai period.

Sweet Pidi Kozhukattai | Ground Rice Batter Method | Easy Snack Recipes

     Sweet pidi kozhukattai -is  an easy snack made with ground rice batter. A healthy  5 ingredient snack.I made them in traditional way(Yes !! i ground the rice to batter and prepared).Its soft ,fresh,tasty and what not entirely delicious.

Besan Ladoo Recipe | Microwave Method | 5 min ladoo

Besan Ladoo recipe - a simple ,quick and delicious ladoo made for most festivals in India.'Besan' is chickpea flour and 'ladoo'  is nothing but a ball.Ghee adds a lot of texture,smell and flavor to the sweet along with cardamom pod.Adding roasted nuts make a crunchy bite inbetween.Over all, a real quick deliciousness.

Ukkarai Recipe | Chettinad Okkara

    Ukkarai/Okkara/Ukkara is a traditional  sweet made with moongdal.Though this ukkarai is not sold outside in a bakery or any shop,its very popular especially in south India.

Basundi | Guest Post

       Basundi an Indian milk based Dessert, popular in Maharashtra,Gujarat and Karnataka.Basundi is a sweetened thick milk with nuts so we can call it as milk pudding too.Basically an easy and wonderful dessert to enjoy on any occasion or festive.                              

Seedai Recipe | Rice Flour Recipes | Video Recipe

              Seedai- a crispy,deep fried snack made with rice flour,roasted gram flour as the main ingredients.There are different seedai,like maida seedai,inippu seedai,uppu seedai.My grand ma is an expert in making seedai.The seedai she makes are perfect crunchy with perfect colour.We used to munch them for breakfast,lunch and dinner.I can't match hers in crunchiness but tried up to my level.Grand ma used to grind the rice but i made seedai with store bought rice flour(not to take risk hehehe).You can prepare your own rice flour,See my idiyappam post to make rice flour at home.

Poli Recipe | Coconut Poli | Obbattu

      Poli/boli/obbattu/puran poli/bobbattu/holige/ubbatti a stuffed Indian flat bread ,unusual like other flat breads, these are sweet stuffed.Method of preparation varies from state to state.Some add sugar to stuffing,some add chirote to outer layer,while some dust it with rice flour,some others dust it with wheat flour,some knead the dough with oil only!!!.what ever method is followed, over all a delicious,sweet,soft,ghee flavoured poli takes you away on your first bite itself.

Unniyappam Recipe | Onam Sadya Recipes

       Unniyappam plays a major role in onam sadya preparation.Wait ..wait ...are you asking ,what is onam sadya? let me tell you.Its a festival celebrated in Kerala (Southern part of India), in a grand manner.I love all kerala food ,especially this unniappam and plantain chips -a deep fried snack.My dad brings them when he visits ayyappan temple.

Pongal Celebration|USA

 To me Pongal is the best festival celebrated by us. Its the harvest festival celebrated on the first day of the Tamil month Thai.Thai pongal is celebrated as a four day festival.

2015 Special|Kashi Halwa|Ash Gourd Halwa

    A sweet end to the year 2014 that started with karupatti paniyaram.A sweet start to the year 2015 with this kashi halwa ...I am sure this coming year will bring all the joy and all the goodness you want.I will post recipes with very good pictures,my new year resolution.What is your resolution for the new year?
      Lets get started with Kashi halwa Its a very popular dessert served in udupi-konkani marriages,recently i saw this recipe in samayal samayal when chef venkatesh bhat told he learned the recipe from chettinad palace.

Different names of ash gourd:
      Ash gourd is called by so many different names, for those who browse by the names "vellai poosani" in Tamil,"elavan or kumbalanga in Malayalam" ,"kumbalakkai" in kannada,"boodha gummidikkai" in Telugu.Don't guess this halwa is made only in kashi a city in benaras. kashi phal -in Hindi means ash gourd so this halwa is called kashi halwa.

Medicinal Benefits of ash gourd:
       Kashi phal has got 95 percent water content and high calcium content .Ash gourd is good for weight loss and it helps to maintain blood pressure as well.
What all  you can make with kashi phal:
         You can make arachuvitta sambhar, regular sambhar,moru curry or kootu with kashi phal..apart
from making this wonderful kashi halwa.
How to choose Pumpkin for kashi halwa:
             Ash gourd has to be heavy and also it should not be soft .that means its mature and its good for making halwa.If its soft there is a chance that you get very less ash gourd after filtering the water or it may get mushy while cooking.Texture of the halwa is very important..

Sakkarai Pongal|Sweet Pongal

      Sakkarai pongal|sweet pongal is a rice made with jaggery.Its special in south india ,every household has tradition of making sakkarai pongal for special occasions.Specially sakkarai pongal takes the major place in pongal festival(a harvest festival) which occurs in tamil month thai, falls around January15 th every year.
    Brahmins do this sweet pongal with more ghee and milk its called akkara vadisal.I am hardcore fan of it,really makes any one mouth waters.hmmmmm
     Like any other recipe this sakkarai pongal also has many variations.My mom makes this style of pongal ,my mother -in law add some moong dal to the sweet pongal.If you are adding moong dal to the sakkarai pongal it has to pressure cooked along with rice.For 1 cup rice you can add 1/2 cup moong dal.

Variations to the sakkarai pongal:

1. Add moong dal/pasipayaru to add some protein.
2. You can add coconut flakes instead of grated coconut .
3. Increase the jaggery to make sakkarai pongal more sweeter.
4. Add more ghee and to make it more rich.
5. Add milk to make it more creamier.
6. Obviously you can substitute rice with any millets.

200th post-Kavuni Arisi/BlackRice Pudding

        This is my 200th post .I want to share a dessert which is close to my heart.This kavuni arisi (pudding) ranks first among my favourites.I make payasam with kavuni arisi, then i make this pudding.This Black Rice Pudding is really easy to make if you plan ahead.Rice has to be soaked for at least 12 hours to get Best pudding.
        Kavuni arisi is costly compared to other rice varieties and has more iron and fibre(because  its unmilled and has husk in tact).kavuni arisi rice when cooked turns purplish.In china people make cake,porridge,bread with it.
     This black rice pudding is served during breakfast in chettinad marriages and in festivals and is considered really special.

Soaking time:12 hrs
Cooking time:20 min
Serves:2-3

Boondi Ladoo/Laddu Recipe

      Laddu's are everybody favourite.Recent Diwali's like for past 10 years my mom makes this Boondi Ladoo for Diwali .It is just mouth watering and so good .
      I asked her about boondi ladoo's couple of days ago ,with her explanation i just want to try it for sure .I made a very small batch and it was perfect and yummy .I used less sugar than mithai shops ladoos.

Some tips for getting perfect ladoos:

1.  After we deep fry  the besan through holed laddle it is called "boondi ".You get lot of bubbles while doing soWhen the bubbles subside it is the right time to take boondi's out .
2. Don't under cook the boondis , you get a raw smell in ladoo's .
3. If you overcook then boondi's don't  absorb the sugar syrup.And also press the boondi's in sugar syrup ,this way boondi absorbs sugar syrup well .
4. When you feel that sugar is getting crystallised try adding some lemon juice after you get the single thread consistency (or pisuku padham).
5. You can very well omit the colour added ,but adding of colour give a appealing look to ladoo's.
6. While adding water to besan be careful not to add too much water .Then you don't get proper boondi shapes  .
7. You don't have laddle to make boondi's ?Don't worry i did it with colander having circle holes in the centre.
8. My mom asked me to use pacha karpooram(edible camphor ) which i don't have .If you have it just add little bit of it in sugar syrup otherwise fine too.

Some sweet recipes for festivals/occasions:

1. Rava kesari
2. Wheat flour halwa
3. Coconut burfi
4. Kandarappam
5. Cocoa and coconut fudge

Cooking time:30-40 min
Yields:8-9 small ladoo's

Murukku/Dal Chakli

     ."Murukku" in Tamil is twisted,No wonder its called murukku right. In tamilnadu "Manaparai murukku" is very famous which is named after a city called manaparai.
         "Murukku" also called  "chakali" in Kannada ,"chakri" in Gujarati ,"Murukulu" or "chakralu " in Telugu "chakri" or "chakkuli" in konkani  ."Rotan gulung Goren" is Malay name for murukku ,I got to know all of it from wikipedia .
        Whatever it is no Diwali is without murukku whether north or south(India).There are so many different versions of  Chakli .My mom makes this murukku along with Thenkulal murukku for Diwali .We just gobble them without knowing the ingredients .Just days before i asked my mom about it .
     People make murukku with urad dal ,moondal along with riceflour .But this murukku is very different with 3 Dal's. Dal  murukku is not only tasty but nutritious even though its deep fried . Make sure Dal's are roasted properly otherwise you get raw smell in murukku .Mommy grind them in  "Rice mills " ,but i can't do that here .So grinded with mixer .Sieve the flour properly .You can skip adding of chili powder .In that case murukku will be white .After your first few murukku taste it and see its salt and spice.

Check some other Deep fried savories

1. Kara sev
2. Thenkulal
3. Ribbon pakoda
4. Oma podi

Preparation time:20 min
Cooking time:40-50 min
Yields :500 grams (approximate)

BlackRice Recipe/Payasam

    "Black rice" plays a major role in china and Burma cuisine .Our ancestors were traders in Burma and carried this wonderful rice to chettinad .In Chettinad ,Black Rice "Kavuni arisi" present in almost every occasion,normally a pudding will be made with black rice ,sugar and cardamom , such a simple and rich .

   Whatever occasion or festival there should be one kind of this Payasam/Kheer present along with the meal in India .There are so many variation you can make to this  Payasam recipe, change colours by using food colours or adding fruit to make fruit pudding etc.

I keep saying Payasam/Kheer .

What is payasam /kheer/phirni?
   
  "Payasam" is nothing but "kheer" in north India  and "phirni" in south Asia made with boiling sabudana,semiya,poha,broken wheat ,rice in milk and sugar.. flavoured with cardamom ,nuts,dried fruits etc  .
    This black rice payasam is done in the same way for navarathri prasad (offering to god) .Keep on stirring the kheer otherwise it will stick to the bottom .I added cranberries instead of  dried grapes/raisins ,you can add raisins too .You can add cashew nuts instead of badam.You can substitute black rice with regular rice as well to give a twist to the recipe.

Some other payasam

1. Oats payasam
2. Javarisi payasam(sabudana)
3. Parruppu payasam(pasiparupu) 

     

Preparation time:3 hours(soaking)
cooking time:20 min
serves:2-3

Wheatflour and Jaggery Halwa/Gud Aur Atta ke Halwa

Sweets are famous all over North India they are made of sugar where as in Southern India sweets are mostly made with jaggery in the form of payasam/kheer. In North India the staple food is wheat flour whereas in south India the staple food is rice and rice flour. Accordingly you can find variety of foods made with rice/rice flour in Southern India whereas Northern India has many wheat flour recipes. I have never tried this wheat flour halwa before .

This is a rich and flavourful halwa it resembles the taste of ukkara made in chettinad. I made measurements  using subzi cups used in thali plates.The amount you get is more than enough for 2 servings /2 persons.If you are dieting and still want to enjoy this halwa reduce the ghee quantity to 1/2 mentioned here .

This halwa i made for a challenge from  shh cooking secretly member shailaja .She gave two secret ingredients wheat flour and jaggery then while searching the web i found divinetaste blog and found this wonderful recipe .

Cooking Time:10-12 min

Serves:2

Rava Kesari/Easy Sweet Recipe/Independenceday recipe

               Kesari  is the easiest sweet that can be made at home when we were kids. Other sweet needs a lot of work some sweets needs purifying the jaggery some require grating while some other require rolling or at least you have to buy something from store if you don't have much work involved in doing the sweet .But this kesari  can be made with  ingredients that is easily available home (rava and sugar )and it takes only 20-25 minutes of your time .I added colour to this kesari to please the guest (usually i don't add it ).If you are kind of person who like only natural ingredients you can very well omit the colour part and make it white colour .
           Today is our nations 68 th independence day and i want to present you a colourful kesari instead of white kesari .I usually don't buy colour's as i said earlier but this time i got few colours to use for some special occasion . I added tutti fruity as a green layer of the flag.This definitely is a party pleaser for sure and get you a good recognition.

If you are looking for more sweet recipes have a look at

• Oats payasam
• Javarisi Payasam/Sabudana Kheer
• Moongdal Payasam

Preparation time:6 minutes (for roasting the semolina)
Cooking time:15 minutes
Serves:10-12