Thanksgiving 2017

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......

Calamari fry

Ingredients:
Calamari/Squid - 10 No's ( Cleaned and cut into ring shaped)
Green chilli - 8 No's (crushed)
Curry leaves - few

Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp

Salt as required
Oil  - 3tbs

Preparation:

Wash the calamari nicely and cut into ring shaped. Add all the above said ingredients and mix well. Take a pan add oil (you can also use oil spray ) and fry till its cooked well. When done remove from heat and serve with rice.

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.....

Broccoli & Onion Pakoda

Ingredients:
Gram flour - 3/4th  cup
Rice flour - 1/4th cup
Broccoli -1 cup - (cut into small florets)
Onion -2 large (Peeled and sliced thin)
Green chilli - 5 no's
Ginger - small piece, chopped finely
Curry leaves - few
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt as required
Oil for frying

Preparation:

Take a large bowl add in gram flour, rice flour, salt and mix well. Then add in the sliced onion, broccoli florets, green chilli, ginger, curry leaves, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and mix well with your hands till u get a thick crumbly dough.

Note:  - if  required you can sprinkle some water.

Now heat oil for frying. Take the pakoda mix in your hand and drop them into the hot oil. Fry till they are golden brown. when done, drain them in paper towel and serve....

A nice evening snack......

Cactus Pear juice

Ingredients:
Cactus pear - 2 No's
Sugar - 2tbs ( can add more or less according to your taste)
Water - 1 and half cups
Lemon juice - 1 tbs

Preparation:

Cut the fruit into half and scoop out the flesh and put it in a bowl. Now take the blender and add water, scooped cactus pear, sugar,  lemon juice and blend well.  Drain using a strainer and server with few ice cubes.

 Happy Diwali

Wishing everyone a wonderful and memorable   diwali......

 Rangoli   

My daughter Neha -4 year old was excited to put rangoli.....                                          

Thenkuzhal Murukku

Ingredients:
Rice flour - 4 cups
Urad Dal - 1/2 cup
Butter - 6 tbs
Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
Sesame seeds - 1tsp
Asafetida - 1/2 tsp
Salt as required
Water
Oil for frying

Preparation:

Take a bowl,add in all the above ingredients by adding enough water to make a soft dough.

Heat oil in a kadai to deep fry the murukku. Now take the murullu press, grease it with some oil and put the murukku hole plate inside it and fill with the dough and press it over the oil so that the dough will fall into the oil in murukku shape. Deep fry on medium flame both the sides till the the murukku changes its color and the shhh sound stops. Now drain in a paper towel and allow it to coll and store in a air tight container.

Now the delicious murukku is ready to enjoy on Diwali....

Chandrakala & Suryakala

Ingredients:
For Dough 
All purpose flour - 2 cups
Ghee -3 tbs
Salt a pinch
Water for kneading

For filling
Khoya - 1 and half  cup ( i used the store bought khoya, you can also make khoya at home)
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Nuts - 5 to 6 tbs ( Chopped almond, pistachio, cashew )
Sugar - 3 tbs
Milk - 2 tbs
For syrup
Sugar -2 cups
Water - 1 cup
Saffron - few strands

Preparation:

Take a large bowl add in all purpose flour, salt, ghee and prepare dough by adding water. Knead it nicely and keep aside for half and hour. Meanwhile prepare the filling and syrup.

Prepare sugar syrup to half string consistency on medium heat. When it reaches the correct consistency add cardamom powder and saffron strands and remove from heat.

In another bowl  add in khoya and crumble it well, then add sugar,cardamom powder and mix well by adding milk. Finally add the chopped nut and mix well.

Now take the dough knead it again to make it soft. Divide the dough into equal sized balls. Now roll them as we make puri.  Stuff the puri with koya, (you stuff with 2tsp of koya) fold it and seal the sides ny folding from one end to the other end. This process if for making Chandrakala.

For Suryakala -  We have to place the filling in the middle of the puri, cover it with another puri and press the sides to seal and fold it. Repeat the process to make both chandrakala and suryakala.

Heat oil on medium heat  in a wide pan. When the oil is hot fry them until it turns light brown, ( We have to fry on medium heat). When it starts turning brown evenly on both sides, from from oil, drain it and addd in sugar syrup. Aloow it to get soaked for 20 mins. Then take it out and store it in a box.