Beetroot kesari

August is here, so all the festivals would be around soon. Aadi masam has started, Aadi pathinettu was celebrated last Tuesday  and Aadi pooram is tomorrow. Everybody will be confused as what sweet to make. It should be simple and easy and healthy as well.

My kiddo requested for kesari and I wanted to avoid adding Colour. I have made quiet a few combos of kesaris. When I opened the fridge I found beetroot, then thought why not add these to the kesari? 

Kesari was too yummy , tasty and colourful 

Try this for any one day for neivedhyam.hope you all like it.

Ingredients :

• Ghee - 1/2 cup
• White Rava - 1 cup
• Sugar - 3/4 -1cup
• Water - 3 cups
• Beetroot - half puréed
• Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
• Nuts - optional ( I have just garnished with roasted almonds)

Method:

 

• Heat a pan, Dry Roast the Rava and keep it aside.
• In the same pan, add the beetroot purée and the required water for the kesari.
• Add sugar. Mix well. Close it with lid and allow the beetroot purée to be boiled and cooked well( raw flavour should vanish).
• Once the purée is boiled nicely. Add the rava. Allow the rava to boil. Close the lid.
• After the rava is cooked well ,add Ghee  and cardamom powder. Cook till ghee comes out.
• Add the nuts , if you are adding. I have garnished few almonds.

too.

Mouth melting soft kesari is ready to serve for God!

Thirunelveli halwa

Festive season begins here and Diwali is fast approaching. Let me start with few sweet posts for the next few days. My hubby's native is Thirunelveli . We all love to have Thirunelveli halwa anytime nod every time. So I thought of making this halwa for my hubby's birthday. My hubby and daughter loved it I must say. It was really authentic in test end very easy to prepare it.

Try this delicious halwa this Diwali and write your feedback.

Ingredients :

• Wheat flour - 1/2 cup
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
• Sugar for  caramelising - 2 tsp
• Ghee - 1 cup and 1 tsp
• Water - 1/4 cup for sugar 
• Water for taking milk
• Cashews

Method:

• First step is knead the wheat flour using water into a chapati dough.
• In a vessel, add some warm water, place the kneaded dough into this warm water for 5-6 hrs.
• After 6 hours, take the dough and mix it in the water nicely without any chunks or lumps.
• Strain and keep the milk separately in a vessel. Add  some more water and mix the dough or chunks nicely and squeeze to get the wheat milk from the dough. Strain it along with the prev milk.
• For halwa color, we are going to caramelise sugar. Heat a pan, add a tsp of ghee. Add one tsp of sugar and allow it to caramelise.
• Take the caramelised sugar in a small cup.
• Heat ghee in the non stick pan, fry the cashews and keep it aside. Add the sugar and 1/4 cup water.
• Allow it to dissolve and boil for few mins. Add the wheat milk extracted into the sugar.stir continuously.

Add ghee in between for every occasional stir.

Finally add the remaining ghee, the transparent halwa would be visible and it will leave the pan. The ghee will leave the halwa and come out separately.

The halwa is done , transfer it to the vessel and add the cashews.

Lipsmacking halwa is ready.

Banana creamsicle - 500th post

Happy to post my 500th post! Since its 500th post. Celebrating with  a sweet rather dessert here.. I was drooling over the outcome of this Popsicle. It's really special for me. My kid who doesn't enjoy ice cream sort of things, thoroughly enjoyed.

Summer is never ending. We need to make ourselves cool and pamper ourselves. This banana creamsicle is one such ice cream. You will relish having everyday. It tastes super cool and 
creamy as the name says. Try this Popsicle this summer.









Ingredients:

• Green banana ripe-2
• Condensed milk - 1 cup
• Milk -1 cup
• Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Method:

• Chop and grind the banana into a pulp.
• In a vessel, boil milk add the banana.
• Allow it to boil continuously.
• Add the condensed milk.Stir well.
• When the consistency is thick.switch off.
• Add the vanilla essence. Stir well. Allow it to cool.
• Pour the mixture into Popsicle moulds.
• Keep in the freezer for 8 hrs.

Relish the joy of banana creamsicle!

Custard cookies/ eggless custard cookies

Cookies are a wonderful tea time snack. Custard cookies are easy and yummy to make. It will melt in mouth. Custard cookies give a different flavour to the cookies and cookies are very soft. It can be kept for kids snack box as well as evening snack for kids.



Ingredients:

• Custard powder- 3/4 thcup
• All purpose flour - 1 cup
• Sugar powder - 3/4th cup
• Butter- 1 cup

Method: 

• Take a bowl, add the sugar and butter and mix well into a creamy mixture.
• Add APF and custard powder and knead it into a soft dough.
• 
• Make small balls from the dough and press it with a fork to make a design and to make it as roundels.

• Place the ready cookies on a greased plate or tray.

• Preheat the oven at 180 degrees for 10 mins.
• Place the tray inside the oven and bake for 15 mins at 180degrees.

Crunchy soft custard cookies are ready!

Strawberry Malai Kulfi

Summer is here! what else, common begin the beat the heat recipes.... for a long time, i wanted to buy a kufi mould.. I just bought it recently. I went for a try.. My hubby and kiddo enjoyed.. After a long time blogging from singapore.. I know the summer here is miserable.. Watch this space for more summer cooling dishes!




Serving portions - 6 kulfies




Ingredients:

• Strawberry - 100 gms chopped finely
• Milk - 1 litre
• Condensed milk - 1 cup

Method:

• Wash the fresh strawberries and chop it finely.

• In a heavy bottomed vessel, add the milk and boil it. 
• Keep stirring it in a gap of 2-3 mins. Make it 1/3rd.

• Allow it to cool, till it comes to room temperature.
• Add the chopped starwberries and condensed milk.
• Stir well. Pour the mixture in the moulds and freeze it for 8- 10 hrs.

 

 Enjoy and relish it in this hot summer!

Varagarisi Payasam / Kodomillet Kheer

In this new year, first post happened to be sweeet recipe using millet. wishing all my irends a very happy new year!

My first try of the millet is varagarisi.. I though being a sweet tooth, try the simplest sweet using this Kodo millet. Tried my hands on Payasam. My all time fav. 

Wiki says, Paspalum scrobiculatum, Kodo millet, is an annual grain that is grown in primarily in India, but also in the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and in West Africa where it originates. It is grown as a minor crop in most of these areas, with the exception of the Deccan plateau in India where it is grown as a major food source.^[1] It is a very hardy crop that is drought tolerant and can survive on marginal soils where other crops may not survive, and can supply 450–900 kg of grain per hectare .Kodo millet has large potential to provide nourishing food to subsistence farmers in Africa and elsewhere.

Coming to the recipe and ing

redients:

Ingredients:

• Varagarisi - 1 cup
• Milk - 1/2 litre
• cardamom power - 1 tsp
• Cashews - 10
• Raisins  - 10 (optional)
• Sugar  - 1 cup or as desired or condensed milk - 1/2 tin

Method:

• Take the millet and wash and soak for 10 mins,
• Cook the soaked varagarisi in a pressure cooker upto 5 whistles. let the rie to smash nicely.
• Add milk to a pan, bring to boil and in simmer ,allow the milk to reduce a little.
• Add the sugar and stir until completely dissolved. If you are adding condensed milk, add it and stir nicely. 
• Take the rice from the cooker and smash it with a ladle before adding it to the milk.
• Fry the cashews and raisins in ghee and it to the kheer and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
• Remove the kheer from heat and serve either warm or chilled.

So divine to eat the small rice , awesome when you chew it! enjoy the cup of kheer today!

Vanila mousse using gelatin

A mousse is a prepared food that incorporates air bubbles to give it a light and airy texture. It can range from light and fluffy to creamy and thick, depending on preparation techniques. A mousse may be sweet or savory. Dessert mousses are typically made with whipped egg whites or whipped cream, and generally flavored with chocolate or puréed fruit.^[1] For savory mousse, hard boiled egg, fish orliver may be used, says Wiki.

Mousse is a very easy fluffy dessert to mKe. It's indeed very light and appetizing to have anytime of the meal. Easy dessert to serve for the guests. preparation time is less compared to many other desserts.  I tried vanila mousse for the first time. Since I do not like chocolate I didn't make chocolate vanila mousse. Try this simple and yummy mousse.

Ingredients|

• Milk - 500 ml

Sugar -required 

Vanila extract -2tsp or according to the requirement

Gelatin powder ( without any flavor) - 5 tsp

Water

Method:

• Boil the milk in a vessel and chill it.
• Add sugar and vanila extract to the chilled milk. Beat the mixture with the whipping blender. If not beat with the egg beater for about 15 minutes. Till the mixture becomes fluffy and foamy.
• Meanwhile boil a vessel with water, in a small cup add the gelatin powder and mix it with water. Stir nicely. Place  the small cup on the boiling water and allow the gelatin to melt properly through double boiling.
• Add the melted gelatin liquid to the milk and whip for about 5 mins.
• Pour in the small dessert glass for it to set.
• Refrigerate it for min 1hr.

Served it with chocolate shavings on top. You can also add nuts and fruits on it. Tasty , foamy mousse to relish..

Walnut Vanilla cake

 I made this cake for  this new year. It tasted really good, but since i made it in cooker, it did not puff up much. I made a small mistake while closing. Try this in ove for better result and taste !!

 Ingredients:

• 200 g sweetened condensed milk
• 200 g All purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 75 ml melted butter or 75 ml margarine
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• Few tsp water
• Green color 
• Walnut - broken into small pieces 1 cup
• Raisins - little

Method:

• Place the cooker plate at the bottom of the cooker and preheat the cooker for 10 mins on high flame. Meanwhile sieve all the dry ingredients together.
• Sieve the flour, baking powder and baking soda together.
• Beat the egg well for about 5 mins.
• Mix the flour mixture, condensed milk, melted butter, essence, egg and beat well.
• Add the walnuts and raisins to the mixure.
• Split the batter into two, add the food color to one portion.
• Grease the aluminium tray with butter and flour.
• Pour the plain Batter into the greased pan and on top of it pour the green colored flour.
• Reduce the flame into low flame and place the pan inside the preheated cooker and allow it to bake for 30-35 mins.
• Insert a knife or a tooth pick. If nothing is stuck on it, its fully done.

 

Linking to First anniversary

 

 Ramya's Innovative recipes 2013

Foodabulous Fest Event organised by Preeti’s Kitchen Life,

Sago Kheer/ Javvarisi Payasam

Super dooper kheer it is. It is a tasty dessert I must say. Alltime favorite but I made it for the first time  ever. 



Ingredients:

• Sago / javvarisi/ Sabudhana - 1 cup 
• Milk - 3 cups
• Saffron
• Cardamom powder
• Sugar- 1 1/2 cups or acc to sweetness
• Cashews and raisins
• Ghee - 1 tsp

Method:

• Wash and soak sago in water for 5-6 hrs. It would have doubled in size.
• Boil milk in a vessel. Soak the saffron in little warm milk.
• Add the soaked sago to the boiled milk and allow it to boil till the sago becomes transparent and becomes like pearl. It automatically starts to float.
• Add sugar to the milk. You can also use condensed milk.Trust me , I did not add condensed milk but it was too rich in taste.
• Add the cardamom powder and saffron
• Heat another small wok, add a tsp of ghee fry the cashews and raisins. 
• Add it to the Ready kheer.

Relish the wonderful Sago Kheer as dessert !

Linking to Nithu's event and Gayathri's Announcement page.

linking it to Foodomania’s Christmas Cook-Off Contest 

Linking to First anniversary

 

 Ramya's Innovative recipes 2013

Sending this to Nivedhanam's giveaway !

 

Cranberry Almond cake - eggless

Christmas without cake. I made this simple eggless cake with a combination of Cranberry and almonds. It is one of my favorite juices. Its a natural drink and of course its an antioxidant. Almonds is a healthiest of all the nuts.cake for this christmas.Try this healthy  coming to the recipe:



 
Ingredients:

• Almonds - 10-15
• All purpose flour 1 1/2 cup
• Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
• Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - a pinch
• Cranberry juice - 1 1/2 cup
• Butter - 1 cup ( melted)
• Powder sugar - 1 cup

 

Method:

•  Remove the gasket and the weight from the cooker lid. You can also use any other plate instead of cooker lid, to close the cooker.
• Place the cooker plate at the bottom of the cooker and preheat the cooker for 10 mins on high. Meanwhile sieve all the dry ingredients together. Grind the almonds coarsely with the skin. Mix it.
• Add the melted butter to the dry ingredients.
• Add the cranberry juice and mix the flour into watery mixture.
• Take a aluminium pan or even aluminium foil cups or cake moulds.
• Apply butter on the base and sides of the pan.
• Add all purpose flour and dust it around the vessel.
• Pour the Batter into the vessel or pan.
• Reduce the flame into low flame and place the vessel inside the preheated cooker and allow it to bake for 30-35 mins.
• Insert a knife or a tooth pick. If nothing is stuck on it, its fully done.

 Relish the supersoft cake!

 Linking to Christmas event by Priya and Divya !!!

Linking to Nithu's event and Gayathri's Announcement page.

linking it to Foodomania’s Christmas Cook-Off Contest 

Linking to First anniversary

 

 Ramya's Innovative recipes 2013

 

Rose Milk Rice kozhukkattai/ Rose Rice Pal kozhukkattai

Rose milk rice kozhukkattai is a simplified version of pal kozhukkattai.... It was so simple and tasty too. Instead of using rice flour and mixing it and steaming it. Suddenly I got this idea and made this dessert. Do try this out !!




Ingredients:

• Milk - 2 cups
• Rose syrup - 3 tbsp
• Steamed rice - 1/2 cup

 Method:

• Boil milk in a vessel. Add rose syrup to it. Mix it well.
• Take the steamed rice and knead it with hand. Make small balls from the rice.
• Add it to the rose milk.

Note: It saves a lot of time, instead of mixing rice flour in hot water, then steaming it. although rice will not substitute its taste. It can be made this way occasionally.




Thats my kid's hand, She couldn't resist and did'nt allow me to click. She wanted to taste it immediately.

]Lovely pal kozhukkattais ready !

 Linking to Christmas event by Priya and Divya !!!

Linking to Nithu's event and Gayathri's Announcement page.

linking it to Foodomania’s Christmas Cook-Off Contest 

Linking to First anniversary

 

 Ramya's Innovative recipes 2013

Sending this to Nivedhanam's giveaway !