Pineapple Rava Kesari

Ingredients: Rava or Semolina - 1 cup 

Pineapple - 1/2 cup chopped pieces 

Sugar - 2 cups 

Water - 3 cups 

Ghee - 1/2 cup 

Cashew nuts - 12 

Orange food colour - a pinch 

Raisins - 15 

Cardamom - 4 pods powdered. 

 

In a thick bottom pan, add a tablespoon of ghee and fry the split cashews and transfer to a small dish. Then, add one more tablespoon of ghee and roast the rava in medium flame, till it turns light brown in colour and keep it aside. Pour three cups of water in the same pan and add the food colour. Once the water has come to a boil, simmer the heat to the lowest. Then, add the roasted rava and the pineapple pieces slowly, stirring it continuously so as to not form lumps. When there are no lumps in the mix, close with a lid and keep for two minutes and allow the rava and the pineapple to cook well in water. Open the lid and check if it is cooked. Then, add sugar and keep stirring. When the sugar is absorbed well and the kesari becomes thick, add the remaining ghee, little at a time and keep stirring. Kesari is done when it leaves the pan. Garnish with Cashewnuts, raisins (I like to add it without frying in ghee) and cardamom powder.

An easy and tasty sweet to prepare within 15 minutes. The pineapple added to it gives out a special taste.

Dieters Law - The food that tastes best has the highest number of calories.😀😀

My 150th post celebration with 'Tasty Neiyappams'

There cannot be a better way to celebrate the 150th post other than this delicious, mouth watering sweet.  Neiyappams are a delight to prepare as well as devour.   It is not very sweet and the texture makes you crave for more.  No one can stop with just one.  I recall my grandmother preparing tins full of these keeping it ready for us during our vacation to her place.  The rich golden brown color would give us a detailed account how patiently it was prepared in medium  heat.  I recently brought back my grandma's 'Appakaaral'  (the mould which is used to make appam).  This is a very old one and used by generations.  Glad to have it with me.  The mould is made of bell metal, heavy , quite deep and hence the appams are quite big and looks beautiful.  Because of its heaviness, there is less risk of it being tilted during the process and the heat is also uniformly distributed.

Ingredients:

Raw rice - 1 cup
Jaggery - 3/4 cup
Ripe banana - 1/2
Shredded coconut - 3 tbsp
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Ghee

Soak raw rice for almost two hours.  Soak the jaggery in 1/4 cup water.  Once the jaggery is fully dissolved in water, sieve it for impurities.  Grind together the soaked rice, banana  with the jaggery water to a fine batter.  The batter should be of semi-flowing consistency (like dosa batter).  Add cardamom and shredded coconut to the batter. 

Place the 'appa kaaral' on the gas and pour  1/2 tsp of ghee in each depression.  Once the ghee is heated up (not smoky), pour ladle full of the batter into each mould.  The batter should fill up to the brim of the mould.  Allow it to cook gently in medium heat and when the bottom sides have begun to brown, gently turn it over so that the top portion is also cooked.  Once both the sides are evenly rich golden brown in color,  remove from the mould with the help of skewers and drain the excess ghee by resting in paper towels.  Allow it to cool and the appams are ready to be served.

Neiyappams usually have a semi-hard texture, I wonder if there is any combination with which Neiyappams can be enjoyed which is otherwise eaten as it is.

'The two biggerst sellers in the bookstores are the 'cook books' and the 'diet books'.  The cook books tell you how to prepare the food and the diet books tell you how not to eat any of it ' - Andy Rooney

Lip Smacking Gulab Jamuns

Gulab Jamuns are one of those authentic sweet dish  which is universally loved.  It is a comfort dessert, be it party or a festival.  This is one of my best made jamuns and this version is quite easy and a hit as u can witness from the clicks :):)

Ingredients:

For the jamuns:

2 cups milk powder
1/4 to 1/2 cup milk as required (at room temperature)
1 tbsp self raising flour
Butter for greasing

For the Syrup

Sugar  2  cups
Water - 2 1/2 cups
Essence as desired, I used few drops of Rose essence

Mix the sugar and water and keep stirring till the sugar dissolves. Allow it to boil for about 5 minutes and then add the essence.

Mix the milk powder and the self raising flour well and keep adding milk to make it into a smooth dough.  Milk should be added by teaspoon so as to not form a loose dough. The final dough should be of rolling consistency.  Grease your palm with butter and make small balls.  It is better to make small balls as the size almost doubles when it absorbs sugar syrup and also one can ensure that it is cooked well inside.

Deep fry them in oil which is not very hot. If the oil is very hot, then the outside of the jamuns would become dark quickly while the inside would remain uncooked. Keep the flame in low medium.  Keep stirring the jamuns till all the sides acquire a common shade.

Drop the fried jamuns onto the sugar syrup gently and allow it to absorb the syrup at least for an hour. Devour them either hot or cold.

These are the different ways of enjoying gulab jamuns.
Eat it hot
Hot gulab jamuns topped with vanilla icecream (my personal favourite)
Can be refrigerated and topped with nuts and served

Pineapple Rava Kesari

When I think of a quick sweet dish, my first choice is the Rava kesari. Here, I have given you with a slight modification of the traditional kesari. I added  some chopped Pineapple to give it a different flavor. Hope you all like it. Enjoy the recipe.

Ingredients:
Rava or Semolina - 1 cup
Pineapple - 1/2 cup chopped pieces
Sugar - 2 cups
Water - 3 cups
Ghee - 1/2 cup
Cashew nuts - 12
Orange food colour - a pinch
Raisins - 15
Cardamom - 4 pods powdered.

In a thick bottom pan, add a tablespoon of ghee and fry the split cashews and transfer to a small dish. Then, add one more tablespoon of ghee and roast the rava in medium flame, till it turns light brown in colour and keep it aside. Pour three cups of water in the same pan and add the food colour. Once the water has come to a boil, simmer the heat to the lowest. Then, add the roasted rava and the pineapple pieces slowly, stirring it continuously and avoid lumps. Close the pan with a lid  for two minutes and allow the rava and the pineapple to cook well in water.

Open the lid and check if it is cooked. Then, add sugar and keep stirring. When the sugar is absorbed well and the kesari becomes thick, add the remaining ghee, little at a time and keep stirring. Kesari is done when it leaves the pan. Garnish with Cashewnuts, raisins (I like to add it without frying in ghee) and cardamom powder.

An easy and tasty sweet to prepare within 15 minutes. The pineapple added to it gives out a special  and authentic taste.

'Dieters Law - The food that tastes best has the highest number of calories.'

Mysore Pak

Ingredients:

Besan (Gram flour) : 1 cup
Sugar : 2 cups
Ghee : 3 cups

Melt the ghee and add enough to the Besan to make a flowy paste. Keep stirring till the flour has no lumps. Keep it aside.

Put the sugar in a thick bottom pan and pour 1/4th cup water and keep stirring till the sugar dissolves in the water. Once the sugar is completely dissolved, pour the besan mixture and keep stirring. After approximately 10 minutes, we can see that the mixture starts leaving the pan. Slowly add the ghee to the mixture while still stirring. As you keep adding ghee in small quantity, at one point one can see that the mix starts bubbling and looking very light when stirred. The Mysore pak is all set to be put in a greased tray when there are tiny bubbles on the top of the mixture and when it turns very light and porous.

Once it is cooled, it is ready to be cut with a greased knife into Once it is cooled it is ready to be cut with a greased knife into diamonds and it is an unique taste to devour when piping hot.

Yummy Rasagollas

Ingredients:
Milk:4 cups
Lemon Juice: 2 Tbsp
Water: 4 cups
Sugar: 1 1/2 cup
Rose Water:: 1/2 tsp

This recipe of rasgulla is the easiest I have ever done and the preparation time is about 20 min. Bring the milk to a complete boil. Add 2 tbsp of Lemon juice and switch off the stove. The milk will curdel on its own. Leave this mixture for about 10 minues. Take a thin muslin cloth and use this cloth to drain the water from the cheese. Wash the cheese in cold water to remove any traces of lemon from it. Squeeze the water from the cheese using the cloth and let it rest for 5 minutes.


Boil 4 cups of water using a pressure cooker with 1 1/2 cups of sugar in a pan and let it simmer for about 5 min. Divide the cheese into 12 pieces and roll it into nice round balls. Add the pieces into the boiling water and pressure cook for about 10 minutes in medium heat without the whistle. Add 1/2 tsp of rose water and let the rasgollas cool down before serving. Bon Appetit!!!!!!