Okkarai

This sweet was not at all familiar to me until my hubby told me that this is one of his favourite sweet.
I tried a couple of times with different methods and finally got this sweet right by this method. I'm really really happy that i got it right after some tries and also my hubby was totally happy to have this sweet :).

Ingredients
1 cup Channa Dal (Kadalai paruppu)
1 1/4 cup Jaggery 
2-3 tablespoons of Ghee
8-10 Cashews
A pinch of Cardamom powder

Method

• Roast the cashews in a teaspoon of ghee and set aside.
• Soak channa dal in water for about 3-4 hours.
• Drain the water and coarsely grind it. (Do not grind into smooth paste).
• Grease the pan with a teaspoon of ghee and add the coarsely grind channa dal and allow it to steam each side for about 5 mins in low flame. (As shown in pic1).

Pic 1

•  Allow it to cool and shred (As shown in Pic2).

Pic 2

• Again powder the shredded Channa dal.
• In a separate pan add the powdered Jaggery with a spoon of water and allow it to turn to a syrup consistency.
• Filter the impurities and again boil the Jaggery syrup.
• The syrup should reach to a thin string consistency.
• (String consistency is nothing but when you touch the Jaggery syrup between the thumb and index finger you will notice that the syrup will form a thin string).
• For attaining the one string consistency it doesn't take much time.
• Add the Channa dal powder to the syrup and also the roasted cashews and 1 tablespoon of ghee. Stir well.
• In low flame stir the channa dal mixture for about 12-15 mins and finally add the Cardamon powder when it reaches to puttu consistency.
• Okkarai is ready to be served.

A closer look of okkarai 

Note
The general ratio for Okkarai is 1:1 that is one cup of channa dal and one cup of jaggery but i felt the sweetness is low so added extra, if you want less sweet you can go with 1:1.




  

Rasmalai

Hi my dear friends, Wish you all a wonderful new year. Let's begin this year with a wonderful and all most everyone's favourite dessert  RASMALAI:):). Yes, this is definitely a very rich dessert where most of us won't try this at home and opt to buy in some sweet shops.
Trust me guys, this is not as difficult as you think. If you just follow certain techniques certainly you will end up surprising your loved ones with this awesome dessert Rasmalai.

Ingredients
1 litre Full cream Milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon water

For Sugar syrup
1.2 litres water
1 cup Sugar

For flavoured Milk
1 litre Full cream milk
3/4 cup sugar
6-8 strands of Saffron
1/2 teaspoon Cardamom powder
8-10 Blanched Almonds
10 Pistachios

Method

• Mix the lemon juice with 1 tablespoon of water and keep it aside.
• Boil the full cream milk. When it is boiled perfectly add the lemon juice mixture to the milk and stir.
• Switch off the flame immediately after you pour the lemon juice.
• Once the milk fat is separated from the whey, drain the whey using a strainer line with a cheese cloth (pic 1) and pour some cold water to it so that the heat get reduced. 

• Let it cool for 5 mins and then gather the cloth, squeeze out the water and tie a knot and then hang it for 45 mins (pic 2) to drain the water, if any.
• (I wasn't comfortable in tying knot so tried to hang with the clip :p)
• To check if enough water is out of the paneer, take a little piece of it on your palm and rub with your fingers, you should be able to make a smooth ball.
• Once the paneer is drained, place on a dry surface and knead for 5 mins, now you will be able to make a smooth soft dough.
• If the Paneer is too dry, add a few drops of water.
• Divide the paneer into small equal balls, flatten it slightly and keep it aside.
• Boil the water and sugar to make the sugar syrup. 
• When the Sugar water comes to rolling boil add all the paneer discs slowly.
• Close the lid of the pan and let it boil for 15 mins.
• After 15 mins you can see the rasagullas would have doubled the size, switch off the flame and let it cool for sometime.
• Meanwhile you can prepare the flavoured milk.
• Boil 1 litre full cream milk (preferably in non-stick pan) until it get reduces to 1/2 litre.
• Add Sugar and cardamom powder and mix well. Switch off the flame when the sugar got dissolved completely.
• Now add the chopped Almonds, Pistachios and saffron soaked in 1/2 teaspoon of hot milk, mix well.
• Take the rasagullas from the sugar syrup and squeeze gently the excess syrup. (Try to press the rasagulla in between your palms gently).
• Drop it into the creamy flavoured milk and let it cool.
• Refrigerate it and serve chilled Rasmalai with some chopped almond and pistachios garnish.

Note

• Please do not use UHT milk for this dessert, this will totally ruin your dessert.
• After pouring lemon juice you will notice the fat getting separated, at that point of time switch off the flame immediately.
• Don't boil your sugar syrup in low flame, it should be in medium high flame all time.
• Keep stirring the milk when you are boiling the milk to get reduced, because this process takes some time. Let the flame be in low so that this avoids the milk to get burned at bottom of your vessel.
• If you do not have a cheese cloth to strain the fat, try to strain with any other white  thin cloth.

Ola Pakoda / Ribbon Pakoda

This is not the usual recipe which is done with besan flour(gram flour) but trust me this is very simple and tasty than the usual one. If you plan before hand, this recipe will be very easy for you. 

Ingredients
2 cups Idli rice
1/2 cup roasted gram (pottu kadali)
10-15 dry red chilies
2 cloves garlic
Handful of curry leaves
Salt
Oil for frying


Method

• Soak the Idli rice for 4-6 hrs (Preferably overnight), and grind well with very less water(the batter should be very thick and tight).
• Separately coarse grind the red chili (don't grind to fine powder), to that add the curry leaves and garlic cloves and grind well.
• Powder the roasted gram, add the roasted gram powder, red chili mix and salt to the idli rice batter. Mix well.
• This should be a smooth dough, if it gets harder then it becomes tough to fry.
• Put this dough in the murukku mould, use the ribbon pakoda achu(with 2 slits as shown in the pic).
• Heat oil in the pan, press the mould directly in the pan and fry until it turns golden brown or crisp on both sides.
• This doesn't take much time to fry so don't over-fry it. Transfer this to kitchen towel, allow it to cool to the room temp and then transfer this to air-tight container. (Only when it cools down to the room temp you get the crispiness).

Note

• Try to avoid much water when you are grinding, if your idli rice batter doesn't turn smooth, add some water and grind well.
• The roasted gram should be a dry powder, you can powder with mixie or any food processor.
• If your dough is bit watery, add more roasted gram powder to form a soft dough.
• Adjust the red chili according to your spice level.
• If you do not have idli rice, then you can go for any rice available at home, but idli rice gives you a very crispy and tasty ribbon pakoda.

Happy Diwali

Diwali, the "Festival of lights" is celebrated among all Hindus and Jains. This is one of the most important festival for us. Certain things which comes to our mind when we plan about Diwali is definitely fire crackers, and also sharing sweets and snacks among friends and relatives. Here are my specials for Diwali, i'll upload  my recipe one by one. Just 3 more weeks ahead for Diwali, lets kick start from now. 

Wish u all a very very happy and prosperous Diwali:):)

1.  Paasi Payaru Nei Urundai
2.  Diamond Chips (Spicy)
3.  Nei Biscuit
4.  Shankarpali (Inippu Biscuit)
5. Ola Pakoda/Ribbon Pakoda
6. Rava Laddu

Vinayagar Chaturthi Recipes

Ganesh Chaturthi also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi, also called Vinayagar in Tamil Nadu, is the Hindu Festival celebrated on the occasion of birthday of Lord Ganesha, the son of Shiva and Parvathi, who is believed to bestow his presence on earth for all his devotees in the duration of this festival. It is the day Shiva declared his son Ganesha as superior to all the gods. 

Here are some recipes prepared for Vinayagar Chaturthi. One of the fav sweet for Vinayagar is the Mothagam (in tamil), which is also my fav too;)

Vinayagar Chaturthi is on Sept 19th but I've Published these recipes in advance, so that the beginners can easily prepare these recipes. I've just listed the very important recipes for Vinayagar Charturthi, you can also prepare vadai and some sweet payasam.

Mothagam (Modak)
Pidi Kozhukattai
Sweet Appam
Kondai Kadalai Sundal (Chick peas)
Ellu Kozhukattai

Enjoy!! Happy Vinayagar Chaturthi!!!