Paal Poli

Back again in the New Year!
Starting off this wonderful year with a conventional sweet - Paal Poli
This is yummy and very easy to make; quick too.
Some people also call this Paal Puri

Paal Poli - Milk Pancakes are nothing but maida puris soaked in warm thickened milk, delicately flavored with saffron, stunningly delicious!

Ingredients & Method:

For the milk

• Full cream milk - About 1 litre(Used organic whole milk I didn't measure mine. Just an approximate figure. )

• Sugar - About half a cup (To make the milk sweet enough)

• Condensed milk (optional. If it's sweetened, keep an eye on the sugar, you add)

• Cashew/Almond Paste(Again optional - I used a handful of them; Remove the almond skin before making the paste)

• Saffron - a few strands

Boil the milk till sightly thick. Mix the sugar, condensed milk, almond cashew paste.

Boil for a minute

Soak the saffron in a little warm milk and mix it together.

For the Puri:

• Maida - 1 cup

• Rava - 1/4 cup

• Ghee - 2tsp

• Water - to make a firm dough

• Oil - to fry

Knead the above ingredients (excluding oil of course) and make a firm dough. Let it rest for 15 min giving some time for rawa to become soft.

Make marble sized balls, roll it into fairly thin puris and deep fry.

The oil should be medium hot.

Transfer the puris to a paper towel

Tips:
You can also cut the puris into half before frying or fry and then fold the puris before soaking in milk or leave it as such :)

While rolling out, you can fold the puris once or twice and then again roll it out. This will result in layered puris which on soaking in milk will be spongier. If you are lazy, skip this. No harm.

For serving:

Soak the puris in the prepared milk when it's warm.

Serve after 15 minutes.

The more you soak, better it is.

Serve it warm/chilled

Have a great '11!

Moong Dhall Halwa ~ ICC Dec 2009

This month's challenge is Moong Dhall Halwa. Though I haven't tasted this, I have heard that, this is a famous dish in North Indian weddings. I felt the taste resembled sakkarai pongal with the presence of moong dhall, ghee and nuts.

Thanks to Simran for the recipe and Lataji for her notes on the recipe. Of course, Srivalli, for all her efforts.

I have pasted below, both the methods for halwa. I also did a little change to the recipe.

My update: Since I didn't have khoa handy, I decided to add some sweetened condensed milk. I also added saffron for the delicate flavour it renders. The sweet turned out lip smacking, more like Badam Halwa.

Moong Dal Halwa

Soaking Time : Overnight

Preparation Time : 15 minutes

Cooking Time : 30 - 45 mins

Recipe 1 with khoya

Ingredients Needed:

Split (Yellow) Moong dal - 1 cup

Sugar - 3/4 cup - 1 cup (depending on your preference)

Clarified Butter / Ghee - 1/2 cup

Khoya - 1/2 cup

Cashew nuts and raisins for garnish

You can make any quantity with this as long as you keep this ratio constant : equal amounts of dal and sugar, half the ghee and khoya.

Method to prepare:

Lightly roast the 1 cup of moong dal, wash, soak overnight and be ground to a fine paste adding very little water.

Take a thick bottom pan, heat 1/2 cup ghee and fry the moong dal paste till it turns brownish and releases the ghee. Add sugar and khoya.

Stir fry until both the sugar and khoya are well absorbed. Turn off the heat, then mix in cashew nuts and raisins.

Recipe 2 with just the dal

Split (Yellow) Moong dhal - 1 cup

Ghee - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 3/4 cups to 1 cup (as per required sweetness)

Milk - 1/2 cup (Notes from Lataji - instead of water for the sugar, this gives the khoya added taste, Simran's recipe asked for water)

Cashews/ raisins roasted in ghee for garnish.

Method to Prepare:

Soak 1 cup moong dal overnight. Next morning, grind to a paste.

Heat a heavy Kadai, take initially only 1/2 of the ghee and heat it.

Add the dhal and stir continuously, not allowing lumps to form. This part is very tricky as the dhal cooks really fast, irrespective of the ghee.

Keep the heat at the lowest and keep stirring even after the dhal becomes thick.

Add the rest of the ghee intermittently and cook the dhal until aromatic and the ghee starts oozing out.

Meanwhile mix the sugar with water/ milk in a pan and bring to a boil. Add this slowly to the cooking dhal.

Keep the fir low at all times and break lumps if formed while adding the sugar and water/ milk mix.

Cook until the ghee surfaces.

Garnish with cashews and raisins.

Notes :

Use a thick bottom pan or better nonstick pan

Don't leave the halwa unattended. The dal can stick and it can go from just done to burnt in a second so keep stirring as much as possible. You should remember to keep stirring to prevent dhal from sticking irrespective of the ghee added.

You aren't looking for the halwa to get too thick when you turn off the heat. It was thicken as it cools.

Cook until ghee surfaces on the sides and the halwa attains a very nice shine.

Initially, it may appear that all the ghee is being used up. But as the dhal cooks the ghee separates. So the ghee measure is sufficient.

In both recipes depending on how you got the moong dal paste, you may require slightly more ghee to get the texture

Though original recipe didn't call for roasting the dhal before soaking, Lataji felt roasting it a bit gives more fragrance.

Rasmalai - 100th post

Rasmalai is a Bengali sweet made of cheese dumplings soaked in thick sweetened milk. Addition of saffron strands adds a delicate flavour and I am a fan of saffron. I particularly like saffron in almond dishes like badam kheer/ badam halwa.

This is a quick version of rasmalai using ready-made paneer. The end result was outstanding and I got perfect rasmalai. You can try this as a quick yet rich dessert. Disclaimer : This is a short- cut method and not the authentic way of doing rasmalai.

This post happens to be a milestone for my blog - yeah this marks the 100th post. The journey has been exciting so far and I have made some great friends, explored yummy food blogs, participated in cookery events/challenges and the best of all - discovered the chef in me.

I had always thought cooking is an ordeal but after I entered the kitchen, I realized it indeed is a joyful experience. The most exciting part of it is, after all the fun, you end-up with some great food to relish. The more you enjoy cooking, tastier is the food. Blogging my recipes has really helped me in terms of perfecting recipes, honing my culinary skills and of course, letting the world know that I can cook! Whenever I see someone hopping into my blog searching for a recipe, it gives a sense of contentment. I take this opportunity to thank every one of you, who cared to take a peek at my page.

Here's a little treat to celebrate the milestone!

Ingredients:
Paneer - 250 g (I used ready-made paneer from Indian stores)

Water - 5 cups
Sugar - 2.5 cups
Milk - 1 litre
Saffron strands a few
yellow color - a pinch (optional)
blanched almond slivers and pistachios to garnish

Method:

1) Mash the paneer and make a dough. My paneer was a little dry and I was not able to get a soft dough. So I quickly whipped it in a blender just for 5 to 10 seconds and voila I got wet/oily paneer.

If your paneer is fresh you can skip this whipping step. Make small balls out of the dough. Gently press in the center and shape it into patties.

2) Boil the water with 1.5 cups sugar. When the water starts boiling, slide in the patties, gently.

Cover the pan partially and cook for 10 to 15 min over medium flame till the size doubles.

3) Meanwhile, boil the milk till a little thick, mix sugar. Add the saffron and color.

4) Gently drop the cooked patties in the prepared milk. Garnish with almond slivers and pistachios.

5) Refrigerate and serve cool.

While I was about to post this entry, I came to know of this event happening @ chef in you.

Without even the slightest idea of the event, I expressed my liking for saffron in my post. Coincidence!

Needless to say, my rasmalai is off to JFI - Saffron.

Gulab Jamun ~ ICC October 2009

A warm hello to all my blogger friends & readers. I am posting a blog entry after quite some time. I was a little busy with certain priorities and blogging took a back seat.Hope I will be regular here after.

The recipe for today is sinfully delicious gulab jamuns which is a famous dessert in India. Unlike other sweets, this is popular through out India. For those of you, who are unfamiliar with the sweet, Gulab jamuns are milk dumplings fried in oil and soaked in rose flavoured sugar syrup.

The sweet can be made in a jiffy if you are making it with MTR gulab jamun mix. Trust me, it is so simple and one can make it perfect in the very first attempt.

For october's challenge, it is going to be 'Gulab Jamuns'. Do you wonder what is the challenge?

Here comes the catch. You got to make it from the scratch, meaning no ready made mix. You got to make the khoa, all by yourself which forms the base for the sweet.

This needs lot of patience since the process can take any where between 1.5 to 3 hrs depending on the amount of khoa. It was also a bit tricky since I didn't have a heavy vessel. I was on a look out for a heavy vessel and finally decided to use my pressure cooker's bottom. The cooker is a small one with 3 litres capacity. So I had to do it with all the more patience, by adding milk little by little. I first sterilized my cooker with hot water to avoid my curdling of milk.

What is a challenge, without such testing tasks?

Once you are done with the khoa, it is really easy. I made the khoa with a little less than solid consistency since I intended to make the jamuns, the next day. By the time I got down making it, the khoa was in a perfect shape.

With no further ado, let's get into business. Srivalli had posted 3 different recipes. I have given below whatever I tried.

To make Khoa: (from Indo)

In a wide mouthed heavy bottom pan add the milk and heat it in a medium flame (add a couple of stainless steel spoons into the milk to avoid burning)

Reduce the milk for 3-4 hours till the milk solidifies and becomes thick.

(6 cups of milk (1 & 1/2 litre) might come to 250grams of unsweetened Khova.)

(The following recipe is from Alka)

The recipe is divided in two parts, one is making the Jamuns and frying them. The other is making sugar syrup.

For sugar syrup:

Ingredients:

Sugar - 500 gms (This can be reduced as per taste)

Water - 1 & 1/2 cup (bit more or less)

Cardamom - 2-3

One spoon of milk (optional)

Few threads of saffron (optional)

2-3 drops of rosewater (optional but highly recommended)

Method:

Mix about 500 gms of white sugar in one and half cup water and keep it for boiling.

Add a spoonful of milk to remove the impurities (impurities if any, will form a scum on surface)

Add 2-3 green cardamoms also in syrup for strong flavor, and a tad of saffron strings (optional)

Boil until you get just a tad sticky syrup. Gulab Jamun syrup is not very dense nor too dilute as in Rasgulla

Strain the syrup, add rosewater when syrup is slightly cooled.

Always remember two things while using rose water, do not add it while syrup is bubbling hot or on fire, and be particular about the quantity mentioned in every recipe, since even few drops of excess rosewater could lend a bitter taste to the final product.

For Gulab Jamun:

Ingredients:

Unsweetened Maawa* - 250 gms

All purpose flour - 1 & 1/2 - 2 tsp

Cornflour - 1 tsp

Green cardamom - 1-2 crushed

Oil for shallow frying

* (khoya-the condensed milk thickened till it turns into moist dough, preferably made from cow’s milk, also known as Hariyali mawa)

Method:

Mix all the ingredients in a wide mixing bowl until soft textured dough is obtained (keep mixing until it is really soft)

Make very small sized balls (bit larger than pebbles) as they swell up after frying and soaking in syrup

Make sure that the surface of dough balls is really smooth without any cracks. In case the cracks refuse to go away, slightly wet your palms with water and roll the flour till absolutely smooth.

Now take little oil for frying in preferably flat bottomed pan, and heat the oil. But gulab jamuns are to be fried on LOW FLAME or else the surface will be browned while the core will remain uncooked. Some prefer to place an unsalted pistachio in the center of every gulab jamun while making balls, that way the core of gulab jamun is not left uncooked .

Fry one or 2 gulab jamuns at a time and always remember to STIR THE OIL with slotted spoon AND NOT TO TOUCH GULABJAMUNS, which means keep swirling the oil without tossing or turning gulab jamun.

Fry till light brown in colour, remove on tissue paper and repeat the procedure with rest of dough.

Now soak these in COOL syrup for few hours. They will surely swell up

These can be stored in the same syrup till consumed

If there are cracks in the balls before frying it will burst open while frying, in that case adding a bit of cornflour will surely help

You can enjoy it hot or cold ,either way it is delicious

Verdict: I survived the challenge and the result was sinfully delicious, melt in the mouth jamuns.

Time for me to gobble one more jamun. :)

To my blogger friends: Sorry for not staying in touch. Will hop into your blog, shortly.

Moong Dhall Burfi

Deepavali time again! I am sure everyone of us would become nostalgic and travel back to the wonderful deepavali(s) as a child. New dress that reflects the fashion(I still remember how much I was thrilled to get my rangeela midi), crackers, special tv shows and the best part - sweets and savories. I am reminded of those fun days and pretty sure that festivals as a child is more joyful. At the risk of sounding a pessimist, I am sure we are never gonna get back those wonderful days. The optimist in me says we will see them again when our kids enjoy as much as we did.

I am sure all of you are ready to celebrate deepavali with an array of delicacies.

Moong dhall burfi is a real easy breezy sweet to make. I was planning to make payathan urundai (moong dhall ladoo) but finally an idea struck and decided to make it as a burfi. This tastes great in any form.

I had lined up moong dhall burfi, badam halwa, thenguzhal and omapodi. Eager to hear from you about your diwali sweets.

Happy Deepavali!

Ingredients:
Moong dhall flour - 1 cup (Roast moong dhall and powder it. Roasting is must)
Powdered Sugar - 1 cup
Molten ghee - 1/2 cup
Cardamom powder - a pinch
broken Cashews fried in ghee

Method:
1)Mix the sugar, dhaal flour, cashews and cardamom in a bowl.
2)Melt the ghee in a pan, switch off the gas. With the pan still on stove, add the flour mixture and mix well.
3)You can even choose to make ladoos with the mixture.But the mixture should be hot. Make them into balls of desired size and allow it to set for sometime.
For the burfi, transfer the mixture into a greased plate,level by pressing with a ladle,store in the fridge for 15 min and cut into desired shapes.

Kashi Halwa ~ Ashguord Halwa

Kashi phul in Hindi means Ashguord and hence the name. This is a famous dish in Tamil wedding feast. The authentic recipe calls for removing the water secreted from the pumpkin. To an extent that the grated pumpkin is tied tight in a cloth and the water extracted. I didn't want to remove the juice and decided to use it. The recipe doesn't require khoa too. I just added as a variation.

The halwa tasted awesome. But I have decided to omit khoa in my next attempt since I want to have the original taste of the vegetable. The halwa had both the flavours of pumpkin & khoa blended and it is up to you to decide how much khoa to add. Adjust the sugar content accordingly.

Also, use the food color sparingly. I am planning to omit even the colour next time since it is not so good for health. However, it is added in the authentic recipe.

Ingredients:

Grated Ashguord (white pumpkin) - 2 cups
Milk - half a cup
Unsweetened Khoa - 1 cup
Sugar - 1.5 cups
Ghee - 2 tablespoon
Saffron color - a pinch
Cardamom - 1 pinch
Cashewnuts to garnish

Method:

1) Grate the pumpkin and cook it along with milk. Traditionally, the water that the pumpkin oozes out is removed. But I decided to use it. Either pressure cook or simmer till the water and milk gets evoporated and the pumpkin becomes soft.

2) Add the sugar,khoa (updated) and mix well. Mix the color in a little milk or water and add it.

3) Add the cardomom powder and ghee. Stir till the halwa leaves the sides of the vessel and garnish with cashews fried in ghee.

Sending this to FIC - Zodiac signs at Ashwini's Spicy Cuisine. Food in Colour is an event started by Sunshine mom of Tongue Ticklers to emphasis the importance of colour in food.

My Zodiac is Leo and the Zodiac colour is orange/gold. Here, I present my food in orange colour to the event.

Update: Add the khoa in step 2. Missed it. Thanks Kals, for pointing out.

Paal Payasam

Payasam/kheer is a traditional Indian sweet. Particularly, in South India, no feast is complete without a bowl of payasam. Be it Onam sadya or Krishna Jayanthi, you can spot this lovely dessert/sweet on the banana leaf. (Yes, that's how food is served in South India for special occasions) There are actually numerous payasam varieties. At a basic level, it can be a combination of milk/rice, rice/jaggery/coconut milk or even dhall/jaggery. The creativity of Indians, specially in culinary area is unlimited and there are further varieties like semia (vermicilli) payasam, Ada(rice flakes) pradhaman, javarisi(sagoo) payasam.. phew! it deserves a separate blog. Good that I finally got into posting a payasam recipe.

Talk of the day is Paal(milk) Payasam which is the queen of payasam(s). Most variety has milk in it but the one cooked with rice and milk is particularly called so. The beauty of this item is its glossy pink shade & condensed milk which is obtained by slow cooking of milk. My mother has told me that in the olden days, they used to boil milk in a thick bottomed vessel for hours together along with a lot of stirring to avoid the milk sticking to the bottom and char. Only then, they could get the authentic pink colored payasam. But a few years back, I have heard this recipe from someone and found it simple and doable. Honestly, I didn't venture out doing this so far and only today I got into action. I am elated with the results and so badly wanted to post it immediately. The idea is to pressure cook the milk along with rice and sugar over slow fire for about 30 min. You don't have to keep stirring or stand near the stove watchfully. Just put it on the stove and relax. Come back and have the wonderful delicacy. This method will be particularly helpful when you got to make a dessert for a number of guests effortlessly. You can concentrate and finish off the other items while this gets ready.

Ingredients:

Milk - 3 to 4 cups (I used 2% milk.)

Rice (Raw rice or basmathi rice) - 1 tablespoon ( I have heard of Kerala's payasa arisi. I didn't get a chance to use it so far. You might try it as well for the authentic Kerala Paal Payasam)

Sugar - 1.5 tablespoon (twice that of rice; but I added sweetened condensed milk and lessened the sugar)

1 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk (optional)

1 clean stainless steel spoon (yeah)

To garnish (optional) - Cashewnuts, raisins fried in ghee; 3 strands saffron, 1/4 tsp cardomom powder
(Actually the payasam doesn't require any garnishing)

Method:

1. Add the rice to a pressure cooker. The capacity of the cooker should be atleast twice than that of the milk you use. Add milk and put on the lid. Don't forget to put in the teaspoon.(It prevents milk from leaking out)
2. Cook for 10 min in medium flame and add sugar & condensed milk. Put on the whistle.
3. Cook on low flame with the whistle on for 30 min. (I have hot plate at home and kept the heat on 2)
4. Switch off and leave it for 10 min.


Now your pink coloured payasam is ready to garnish and serve. (Ofkors remove the spoon :))

This worked perfectly for me. If you find your payasam still white in color, you can close it again and cook for some more time. (10 to 15 min)

You can even serve this chilled. However, I like my payasam hot-hot.

Update: sterilise the cooker(all parts including weight) by cleaning with hot water to avoid the milk from breaking.
You might have used the cooker to make other dishes and that might cause the milk to break.

Carrot Halwa

Halwa is a traditional sweet introduced to Indians by the Moghuls. But, it is the creativity of Indians to use various vegetables for making halwa. When it comes to food and food varieties, Indians top the list with so many states, culture and eating habits.

Halwa is actually a wide spectrum and can be in various forms; gelatinous, translucent, viscous, crumbly, dry etc.. It can be hard with definite shapes or soft and crumbled.

This particular form of halwa is famous among sikhs of Punjab and they call it Gajar (carrot) ka halwa. I feel this halwa tastes better when hot or warm rather than setting it cold. Icecream and warm carrot halwa makes a heavenly dessert. This is found in most Punjabi Dhabas. If you could spot the red Delhi carrots, make use of it. I have heard that gives the best taste.

This is also an easy sweet and you can never go wrong. Ideal recipe, when you are inviting guests. You can simmer the carrots and milk on one stove and by the time you are done with other items, this will be ready for the final touches. If you feel the grating part is tiresome, get hold of your husband/brother/son to do the job, just as I do ;)


Ingredients:

Grated Carrot - 3 cups
Sugar - 2 cups
Condensed milk - 1 tablespoon
Khoa - 1 tablespoon
Milk - 1 1/2 cups
Ghee - 1 tablespoon
Cashewnuts and raisins fried in ghee - a handful

Method:

1. Fry the grated carrots in a tsp of ghee.
2. Add the milk and simmer the carrot for about an hr (Cook over low flame)
3. Mix the condensed milk, khoa and sugar. Keep stirring till the sugar melts and blends with the rest.
4. Add the ghee and when the halwa becomes thick and leaves the sides of the vessel, remove and garnish with nuts.




Tips:

1. Frying the carrot in ghee is to get rid of the muddy flavor. It gives a nice aroma and taste.
2. If you run short of time, pressure cook the carrots with milk. I prefer simmering and the taste is awesome.
3. Condensed milk and khoa are optional. Use them for extra flavor. If you do not have both or one of the two, add extra sugar. I used unsweetened khoa.

Badam Halwa

hmmm... slurp! I just can't take my eyes off the picture and the flavor still lingers in my taste buds. Badam Halwa is a rich and delicious dessert with the base as pureed almonds combined with the sweetness of sugar, goodness of ghee and the delicate flavour of saffron. I would say saffron is a must-add ingredient as it brings out an all-new taste for the sweet and both of them are made for each other. My memories of badam halwa go a long way back and this is one regular sweet which is favourite to everyone at home. The recipe is quite simple and you can never go wrong. It is not as tricky as a mysorepak and you can have it in any consistency - hard or soft and name it conveniently as burfi or halwa. Easy, quick, universally acclaimed and at the end of the day, you can convince people that you are a great chef. What more do u need?

Ingredients:

Almonds (soaked over night & peeled) 1 cup
Sugar 1 to 1 1/2 cups (Adjust to suit your taste)
Ghee - 1/4 cup(You may add more if you want it richer)
Milk - 1 cup
Yellow color - a pinch(optional)
Saffron to decorate

Method:

1. Grind the almonds with milk into a smooth paste. Mix the yellow color.
2. Cook the paste with the remaining milk in a tawa and add the sugar.
3. Keep stirring until the sugar blends and add the ghee little by little.
4. When the paste becomes thick and leaves the side of the vessel without sticking to the bottom, halwa is ready.
5. Decorate with saffron

Tip: Soak the almonds in hot water to easily remove the skin. You can even microwave quickly for the same effect.



Sending this to Mithai Mela event hosted by Srivalli.

Sakkarai pongal

Hi all,
I have always been passionate about food. Till I was in Chennai, it was limited to eating alone. Now that I'm left with no option, I started cooking too. But still I love it and thought why not share my recipes online. Here comes my first recipe. With pongal around the corner, let me start with the sakkarai pongal recipe.



Ingredients

Rice - 2 cups
Moong dhal - 2 cups
Jaggery - 3 cups
Cardomom - 6
Melted Ghee - 1 cup
Milk - 1 cup

For garnishing
Cashews - 1/4 cup
Raisins - 1/4 cup

Method
Fry the moong dhal on a dry tawa till the color changes slightly.
Add rice, mix both with double the amount of water (I added a little milk too) and cook in a pressure cooker.
Now boil jaggery with a cup of water and cook till it boils.Strain to remove any stones or particles.
Now add one cup of milk, jaggery syrup to the cooked rice and dhal mixture and stir continuously over slow fire
Add ghee and mix well.
Now season with cashews, raisins fried in ghee and sprinkle cardomom powder.

Happy pongal!!!

Update: Last time,I made this I had to add double the amount of jaggery since the jaggery, I got was not sweet enough. You can use 1: 2or 2.5 rice:jaggery for real sweet pongal.

You can also reduce the amount of dal if you don't like too much dal.