Fruits and Nuts Kesari

Starting this year's 1st  post with a sweet dish - fruits & nuts kesari

Ingredients:

Sooji – 1 cup

Sugar – 1 ½ cup

Water – 1 cup

Milk – 1 cup

Apples – ½  cup chopped finely

Ripe Banana – ½ cup chopped fine

Cashews – 10

Raisin– 2 tbs

Cardamom Powder – 1 tsp

Food Color - a pinch ( I used yellow)

Ghee – 3 tbs

Preparation:

Take 2 tblspn of ghee in a kadai. Add in the cashew, raisins and saute till golden , drain and keep aside.  In the same add in all fruits and saute for few minutes. Meanwhile take a pan add milk and water and bring it to boil, add in the sauted fruits too with food color of your choice. When it boils nicely add this mixed to the roasted rava, mix well and keep stirring. When it starts  thickening, add sugar and mix well. Keep stirring again, now you can add some ghee and cardamom powder and fried nuts and raisin, mix well. Remove from stove and serve hot.

Apple Halwa

Ingredients:
Apple -4 No's
Sugar - 1 and half cup
Ghee - 5 tbls
Nuts  and Raisins -few (Roasted cashew and raisins)
Cardamom powder - Half tsp

Preparation:
Wash the apple, peel the skin and cut into small pieces. Take a blender and add the apple pieces and grind it to a smooth paste. Take a pan add 1 tsp of ghee, them add the ground apple paste and saute it. Keep stirring until all the water is absorbed, at this stage add sugar and keep stirring again. Add cardamom powder and mix well. Now ad the rest of the ghee and keep stirring until the halwas becomes thick. Halwa should not stick on the sides. Finally add the roasted nuts and raisins and mix well. Remove from heat. Allow it to cool and serve......

Pumpkin Unniappam or Pumpkin paniyaram

Ingredients:
Wheat flour - 1 cup
Rice flour - ½  cup

Jaggery - ¾ cup - Add half cup of water to melt and strain it and keep aside

Pumpkin - 1 cup mashed
Cardamom powder - ½ tsp
Sesame - 2 tsp
Coconut bits - ¼  cup fried in ghee
Oil for frying

Preparation:

Mix wheat flour, rice flour, mashed pumpkin and melted jaggery by adding little water  for the batter. The consistency of the batter should be like idli batter.  Then add the fried coconut pieces, sesame seeds, cardamom powder, baking soda and mix well.  Take the appachati, add some oil to heat and heat on low flame, when the oil is hot, take a spoon of batter and drop/pour into the appachati.  Cook of low heat, you have to turn the appam in between, When the appam changes its color tto dark golden brown remove and drain it in a paper towel and serve....

This is a nice evening snack and also prepared during  Onam, Vishu, Krishan Jayanthi and so on.....

Palkova - Microwave

Ingredients:
Condensed milk - 1 tin/can
Yogurt -3 tbs
Ghee - 1tbs

Cardamom powder -  ¼ tsp

Preparation:

Take a microwave bowl, grease with ghee and pour the condensed milk into the bowl. Add 3 tbsp of yogurt to the condensed milk and mix well.  Place the bowl in the microwave  and  microwave for 10 to 15 minutes. (this depends upon the type of microwave you use). Keep stirring in between every 1 or 2 minutes. When you see the change in color and consistency, add cardamom powder, mix well and allow it to cool.

Yummy palkova is ready to serve now.

Bombay Halwa

Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Corn flour - 1 tbs
Sugar -2 cups

Ghee/butter - 1 ½ cup

Salt - a pinch
Lime juice - 1tbs
Almond -  1tbs
Cashew - 1 tbs
Cardamom - 10 no's (powdered)

Food color - ¼ tsp  - can be added more if u want

 

Preparation:

• Take a bowl and mix corn flour, all purpose flour ,salt and food color with 2 cups of water and keep aside. 

• Fry the cashews and almonds in 1 tsp of ghee  and set aside 

• In a heavy bottom  pan pour 1 cup of water and dissolve  sugar and  bring it to boil until it reaches single string consistency, at this point add lime juice and stir well. Now add the mixture and stir it vigorously, do not stop stirring.  When its cooked and starts getting thick, slowly add ghee little by little and stir it continuously till it leaves the sides. Add the cardamom powder, mix well and add the fried nuts (cashews and almonds) to the halwa leaving a little bit for garnishing . 

• Grease a tray with butter/ghee and pour the mixture into the tray, garnish with remaining nuts and allow it to cool. Cut into desired shapes and serve.

Note:
You can use any food color of your choice - orange, yellow or green
Sugar can be increased or decreased.

Rabdi

                                         Happy Diwali

 

Ingredients:
Milk - 4 cups
Sugar - 1 cup
Condensed milk - 5 tbs (optional)
Almond - 1tsp
Pistachios - 1tsp
Cardamom - 2 powdered

  

Preparation:

Take a wide and heavy bottom pan add milk in the pan and boil on medium flame.When milk starts boiling, a layer of malai  will start forming over the milk. Take the malai with the spoon and keep aside in a bowl. Keep collecting it by stirring the milk in between so that it will not stick in the bottom. Keep repeating the process till the milk is almost reduced to half.  Now add sugar and condensed milk and boil for 10 to 15 minutes.  Add the scraped, collected malai, cardamom powder, chapped nuts to it and mix well, remove from the flame. Allow it to cool, keep in refrigerator and serve chilled.

Note: You can add saffron strands, i did not use.

Mango Kesari - Baked version

Ingredients:
Semolina/Sooji/ Rava - 1 cup
Mango pulp - 1 cup
Sugar - 1cup
Butter - 1stick

Ghee - ½ tsp

Raisin - few
Almond/ Cashew - few

Preparation:

Take a pan, add ghee and roast semolina on low flame until nice aroma comes. Switch of the flame and keep aside. In the same pan, add mango pulp, sugar and butter and mix well.  Take a baking pan and grease it, transfer the mixed ingredients into the baking pan and bake it at 350 degree for 35 to 40  minutes. Remove from oven and allow it to cool. Garnish with raisins and almond.

Then  mix it well and serve. You can also cut into any desired shapes (square or diamond). I prefer like this.

Beetroot Halwa

Ingredients:
Beet root - 3No’s
Milk – 3 cups
Sugar 1 ½ cup
Ghee – 2 tbs
Cashew nut & Raisin – few

Preparation:
Wash the beetroot, peel of the skin and grate it nicely. Take a large pan, pour the milk into it and add the grated beetroot and cook on low flame. When the beetroot is cooked add sugar and keep stirring. When it starts getting thick add ghee and mix well. Mean while roast cashew and raisin by adding little ghee and keep aside. When the beetroot starts leaving the sides garnish with cashew & raisin and remove from fire.

Allow it to cool and serve. This is the best way to make kids eat who don’t like vegetables.

Note: Make sure that you add sugar only after the beetroot is cooked because sugar will not allow beetroot to get cooked.

Ethapazham Halwa (Plantain Halwa)

Ingredients:
Plantain - 3 No's (Nicely riped)
Sugar - 1 1/4 cup
Water - 1 cup
All purpose flour -2tbs
Ghee -1/4 cup
Nuts -1/4 cup

Preparation:
Steam the banana's and remove the outer skin & the black layer inside. Mash the bananas nicely with hand or make it to a paste in food processor/blender.

Take a large pan, add cup of water to it and boil, when it starts boiling nicely, add the mashed banana and sugar and keep on stirring. When it starts to boil and starts becoming thick add ghee little by little followed by all purpose flour by mixing it in water. Keep on stirring the mixture. When attains a thick consistency ghee will start to ooze out. At this stage add nuts mix well and remove from fire and pour into a greased pan. Allow it to cool and cut into desired shapes.

Pineapple Kesari

Ingredients:
Pineapple - 3/4 cup
Sooji/Rava - 1cup
Sugar -1 1/4 cup
Water - 2 cups
Ghee - 3tbs
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp (Optional)
Cashew - few

Preparation:
Cut the pineapple into slices, remove the eyes and the center part and cut into small pieces. Heat 2 tbsp of ghee in a pan. Fry cashew nuts and keep aside. In the same pan fry Rava also,Boil water add pineapple pieces, you can add the colour now. When cooked, add the fried rava gradually stirring continuously, so that no lumps are formed. Mix thoroughly and continue to stir. Once rava is cooked add sugar,cardamom powder and remaining ghee and cook for sometime. When done remove from fire and garnish with fried cashewnuts.

Let it cool for sometime and serve.

Note: You can also use canned pineapple and the sugar syrup. If you are using the canned pineapple and the sugar syrup then you should reduce the sugar quantity.