Manoharam Kombu

The first functions for my kids happened here in USA thousands of miles away from my home town. I know I missed all of them there in India, but there were quite many things that I did not want to compromise during these functions were the specials things that we prepare for the functions, our traditional attire, the homam we perform and other rituals. One of the foods that we prepare for the occasion is the 'Paruppu thengai Koodu' and they can be filled with quite many things.

The Kombu adorns in the special occasions like marriage, house warming, seemantham, Ayushomama, Upnayanam etc. In all these occasions, it is shaped as cone and other times, they can be made in the form of balls.

I first prepared the Gunjaladdu for my daughter's Ayushomam and now for my son's Ayushomam, I have prepared Manoharam.

Bananas with custard

A party time dessert, with very little effort. A dessert which is good for any time of the day...it also happens to be one of my favorites. It’s very simple, requires very few ingredients and is ready in a snap! I made this custard for our Rock Star party and it was appreciated by one and all of all ages.

Mango Kalakand

The year has just begun, with the most important and very traditional festival Pongal and some traditional sweets to go with the festival. Slowly we begin to make and bake sweets for the festivals. I don't tend to make much sweets, only some occasionally. I prepare sweets only for sundar, you know I not a sweet lover. One reason is I'm not fond of sweets and another is its quite time consuming.

This is quite an easy and simple sweet to prepare. I have seen most of them preparing the Kalakand. So I wanted to attempt it this time. They are some what similar to Palkova. I have always said sweet is not my favorite, but when it comes to Palkova I do not feel that way.

It is just the ease to prepare the sweet made me to prepare the sweet. Just 10 mins, and you have the sweet done. Of course, you require some ingredients, specially in you pantry as part of this recipe.  And you can alter the flavors to suit your family. Plain Kalakand, Mango flavored, Kesar Flavored, rosewater flavored, Gulgand Flavored etc.

Maa Vilakku

An age old tradition of lighting lamp with maa vilakku. They are done by both the sub-sects, iyer and iyengar. The Saivites do it on any of the Fridays of Thai month or on aadi month in Tamil calendar. The Vaishnavites prepare on Purattasi month.

We light lamp in our home, and invite the Godess (ambal) to our home in the form of "Jothi". This is a wonderful experience every-time. We all can say slokas praising Goddess Parvathi, and recite Lalitha Sahasra namam on these days.

Purana Poli

"Pazhayana Kazhithalum Pudhiyana Pugudhalum", Lets clean our houses and get rid of old unused items. Lets not burn, rather recycle and donate.

The great series of festival, Pongal starts with Bhogi. Staying here I miss drawing Kolams, eating Sugarcane.
The recipe for Bhogi is Purana Poli, Paruppu Vadai, and Payasam.

Thiruvathirai Kali

Thiruvathirai Kali is prepared on the auspicious occasion of Thiruvathirai. Cendanar of Naukoor, a disciple of Paddinattu Adigal, used to eat only after feeding some Saiva devotees. Due to a constant bad weather he could not get together all the essentials for a proper meal. He had no option but to mix water with flour and prepare a mashed paste. Lord Siva understood his predicament. He wanted the people to know how sincere his devotee was to him. Therefore he disguised himself as a Siva devotee and visited Cendanar’s hut and enjoyed what was given to him as food. The temple attendants saw the premises scattered with the mashed paste the following morning. Inquiries led to an understanding of Cendanar’s piety and he was thereafter bestowed with all due respect. This incident took place in a Markali Thiruvathirai. This is why Thiruvathirai Kali forms an important prasad on this holy day.

All these traditional sweets are loved by Sundar. He craves for them, I should say. And he loves to have Thalagam along with this.

Kasi Halwa

Kasi Halwa is a special sweet usually made on big occasions. For all engagements in our family or the day previous to the wedding, we have this sweet in the feast. I have always wondered, this is something only the chefs can make and give it this special taste to Kasi Halwa. Kasi Halwa is something made of very different food ingredients which we can never try upon at home - this was on my mind until I tried for the first time for my daughter ayush-homam @ Guruvayoor appan temple in Newjersey. I missed all of my people for her 1st birthday. So I wanted to give a feast to people like how we do in India. This made me to prepare Kasi Halwa for the first time. 

It is that I had never attempted to try out anything in the kitchen until my marriage got fixed. I never had bothered to know what goes into what? And to tell you one big thing, my mother is big delicious cook when it comes to sweet. Although she has made only the authentic sweets of our routine life, still never felt any other sweet as equal to that!  Esp., I always love her halwas and mysore pak.


And today is my star birthday, remembered this special sweet and felt mouth watering. Had the entire time for and I already knew this would take not more than an hour. I prepared it and loved the first taste of it. My kutti was little hesitant in the beginning to try (she tries to avoid all new foods), and to my surprise she enjoyed it quite a lot! And today alone I got more than 10 calls from sundar asking if the I have started to make halwa, if it is done, & so on. 

I am sure you will also would like to give a try! I bet you can do when you are rushing up to prepare a sweet!

Badhusha

One of my favorite sweets is Badhusha. Not sure since when, somewhere from my school days! When I think of the sweet Badhusha, hhhhhhhm, feel like eating one! It is hard to buy Badhusha here, so I wanted to prepare one for myself! Yes, I want to treat myself, a sweet treat! And one more big reason to celebrate, as this is 100th post! Badhusha is an easy sweet and quite delicious. They do not require much time like other sweets. We used to keep these sweets for the marriages and other functions. And everytime, I visit India, my mom sends these sweets to me. They are so dear to me!!:)

Kala Jamun

Celebration time in our home! Its four years completed! Just cant believe that my sweet silly girl completed her four! Years are passing away so quick!
I just remember those nostalgic childhood days with my childhood friends, Saraunya, Priya, Archana and Jyothi. How our talks and chit-chats have changed? Just love to share with you all. How me and Priya used to escape from everyday studying, then talk about silly school stuffs and the way our parents talk and how we responded back to them! It dint stop there, then we had so much of girly girly talks in the besant beach board walk.
The Milky way ice creams, chats, etc etc... just countless. And now we talk about how our kids are growing and how to be a more patient mom like our moms. So many hows, before you count them and wonder, you will step into the next milestone in your life. Isn't this true?

Back to our recipe about the sweet I prepared for the birthday celebration. I sure was very gutsy to try something new for a whole lot of guests! It still was a hit, and now sundar takes one after one for his lunch as dessert.

Kala Jamuns are nothing but Indian cheese clad in sugar syrup and decked with shredded paneer or coconut. They are yet another delicious, delectable, appetizing sitting on the plate.

Kala Jamun are dark colored (almost black) gulab jamuns made from paneer and khoya and then deep fried and coated with sugar syrup.  Khoya is similar to Ricotta cheese, is commonly used to prepare many sweets and in some vegetable gravies. The major differences between Gulab Jamuns other than the appearance is the inclusion of Khoya along with Paneer.

You need:
Khoya - 2 cups
Paneer - 3/4 cups
Plain flour - 2-3 tbsp (all pupose flour)
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Milk to bind, approx 1-2 tbsp
Sugar - 2 1/2 cups
Water - 4 cups
Pinch of saffron
Few drops of rose essence

Shred the Khoya and Paneer and mix them well together.

Add the flour, cardamom powder, and mix them well. Use milk to bind them well. Make sure the dough you prepare is soft and tender. It should not be dry, else it will break when you fry them in ghee.

Now prepare the sugar syrup. Bring water to boil and add sugar. Bring to medium flame until the syrup reaches single thread consistency. To this syrup add the rose essence and the saffron. Make sure you keep this syrup warm or else it will crystalise.
Now make small balls, or to your desired size. Let the ball surface be as smooth as you can make them.

Heat Ghee in a frying pan - you will feel the difference by using ghee. This is the authentic preparation too! Once it is hot, reduce to low flame and gently drop the jamun balls in the ghee. Let it cook slowly. This will take some time, only then Jamun will get cooked in the inside. You will know once done, the below one will take some more time. It is half way through, we don't want half cooked.

 

It is very important that you cook in low flame. Now, once done transfer to the syrup immediately. More important thing is, the syrup should be maintained more than warm for the jamuns to absorb the sugar. What I suggest is, you keep them in a preheated oven or use a double broiler to keep them warm. 

I wanted to share the speciality and a silly sentiment attached to this sweet. Of all sweets my favorite sweets is Badhusha. I like Kala Jamuns when I was carrying Hasini. she had plenty of them right from my tummy. 

Back to our recipe,

Let this get soaked in syrup for couple of hours. You can taste one for testing, nice way to treat yourself before anyone does. This much soaking is more than enough. 

You can also make oblong shape or something different for kids.

Now, its time to crown the princess! Hmmm, garnish the Jamun. I like to garnish with a pinch of cream cheese or paneer.

 

Send this as entry to Srav's Cooking concept Festive food,

Butter Jam Cookies

I was looking to prepare something nice for the kids for our princess birthday. Then my brother jittu suggested me for a cookie that we loved to eat when we were kids. Buttery cookie with lots of Jam on top of it which has great taste that stays for along time in our mouths. I found a easy and simple recipe from the Food Network website. I must say they were very delicious.

You need:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
2/3 cup sugar, plus more for rolling
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup strawberry jam (or raspberry/cherry jam)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.
In another bowl, whip the butter and the sugar with a hand-held mixer until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla until just combined. Slowly beat in the dry ingredients in 2 additions, mixing just until incorporated.

Scoop the dough into 1-inch balls with a cookie or ice cream scoop and roll in sugar. Place about 2-inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Press a thumbprint into the center of each ball, about 1/2-inch deep. Fill each indentation with about 3/4 teaspoon jam.

Bake cookies until the edges are golden, about 15 minutes. (For even color, rotate the pans from top to bottom about halfway through baking.) Cool cookies on the baking sheets. Serve.

Store cookies in a tightly sealed container for up to a week. Hasini loved to give them for her friends along with a gift.

Sending this to Krithi's kitchen for serve it Savory baked and Denny's blog

Diwali Recipes - Sweets and savories

A festival full of sweet childhood memories,

sky full of fireworks,

mouth full of sweets,

house full of diyas and heart full of joy.

Wishing you all a very happy Diwali!

Diwali(Deepavali) is a Festival of Lights. The significane of Diwali is that, it removes the darkness and brings light to the life. This auspicious occasion comes on the tamil month Ipasi(late october or early november) on krishnapakshi chaturthi.This festival is celebrated to enjoy the happy moments of vanquishing of the demon Narakasura by Lord Krishna, the triumph of good over Evil!.Diwali is a festival where people from all age groups participate. They give expression to their happiness by lighting earthen 'diyas' (lamps), decorating the houses, bursting firecrackers and inviting near and dear ones to their households.

On Diwali day, early in the morning, elderly people will put kolam and will keep sweets, snacks, crakers, new dresses, vetrilai paaku(Beetel leaf) and coconut for neivehdyam. The Hindus usually awake early in the morning of deepavali around 3am and the first ritual will be having an oil bath, which is an important feature of Diwali. In brahmin familes Diwali Legium will be offered to every individual which will make your stomach ready for the marathon between your hand and mouth on diwali. Then the new cloths will be offered to the every individual by the elderly people. Most of the ladies would be clad in silk saris or Punjabi suits of various bright shades. Hindus would also pay their respects to the elderly and most families would go to the temple. The houses would be decorated with oil lamps and children will play with firecrackers to celebrate the festival.

On this day, we prepare sweets and snacks and offer the same to friends, neighbours and relatives. You can try some of the recipes mentioned below.

Boondhi Laddu

Kaju Katli

MysorePak

Kasi Halwa

    

Madras Mixture

          

Boondi Laddu

Laddu is one of the most liked sweets by Sundar. Ofcourse, this gives the reason for me to prepare this every Diwali. When I think of Laddu, only Tirupathi Laddu comes to my mind. Tirupathi laddu is something that everyone always craves for. I tell you, how much ever Tirupathi laddu we eat, we want more and more. 

I have never achieved to taste equal to that, but it still tastes good! 

This recipe is not my own creation, but I prepared from the laddus I ate earlier and prepared my style of it and ofcourse it did come out well!

You need

Boondi - 2-4 cups

Sugar - 2 cups

Water - 2 cups

Kaju - a handful (15 cashews approx)

raisins - 1 handful

cloves - 6-8 pieces

pacha karpuram - a pinch

1. Add Sugar to the pan to make the syrup. Now add water so that sugar is just immersed. And heat till a thin syrup is formed, no thread like consistency. Just little thick syrup.

2. Now transfer the boondhi as you prepare to the syrup.

3. Add the other ingredients and mix well. The mixture should not be watery. It should be thick enough to hold the laddu. If you want the boondies to be really mashed, go ahead and mash them.

4. Hold the laddu tight to make round shape. And keep aside. 

Serve Laddu once it cools. Have yummy yummy laddus on this great day!
I prepare this always for Diwali! Initially I felt, this sweet doesnt sound special to prepare for Diwali but the way Sundar and Hasini enjoyed this made me feel I make it a point that Laddu should be part of Diwali sweets every year!

To Prepare boondhi

Gram flour - 2cups

oil - 1/4 kg

cardamom powder- 2 tsb

Water 2 cups

Perforated spoon

1. Take 2 glasses of gram flour, and add 2 cups of water and mix it well until there are no dumplings.
2. Add the cardamom powder. And mix it well. The batter should be slightly thinner to the Idli batter.
3. It is very important to use a perforated spoon. The holes should not be too big or too small.
4. Heat oil in a wide pan until smoky.
5. Hold the spoon 1 inch above the oil and pour some batter on the spoon. Tap very lightly at edge of spoon to allow small droplets to fall in the oil. (If the batter is watery, then the it will not fall as balls or if the batter is not falling through the spoon then add little water to the boondi to fall down in round shape)
6. Keep adding the boondi in oil until the pan is entirely filled.
7. Stir the boondis in the oil gently and do not fry crisp. as crispy boondis will not taste great for laddus. Drain and add to sugar syrup.
8. Repeat this until you finish with the entire batter. 

I'm sending this as entry for Krithis kitchen for festival potluck
 

to Khusi's My Diwali My Way




Diwali - "Festival Of LIGHTS" - Event Aug 31st to Oct 31st