Banana & Coconut Pradhaman/ Payasam

I am not usually a fruit in a payasam sort of person - I love me milk with sugar and cardamom, at times with freshly cooked rice. But the challenge for Avant Garde Cookies for the hush-hush week that Roshni laid on me was using fruits or whatever to make a pradhaman. Thanks for the push, Roshni - We actually loved it and it was almost a meal to have a cup of that, as a replacement for breakfast.

A very simple and quick to put together recipe.

Ingredients

• 4 ripe bananas
• 1 can condensed milk
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 1 cup of sweetened coconut (grated)
• 1tsp of cardamom
• 7-8 crushed cashews
• 1tsp of coconut oil
• 1tsp of butter

Method

1. Empty condensed milk and the evaporated milk in a sauce pan and whisk together. 
2. Pour into a mixer along with the bananas and blend until smooth
3. Pour back into the saucepan and start heating
4. In a separate pan, lightly brown the coconut and cashews with 1 tsp of butter
5. Add to the boiling mix 
6. Allow it to cook with the pradhaman for about 2-3 minutes
7. Add 1 tsp of coconut oil before serving 

Enjoy :)

Figs & Coconut Halwa

Ganesha's grace abounds. My site is back up and running with a new look, thanks to Elizabeth Hillstrom, a bright young student who has made this happen for me. It is a simple and easy to navigate layout and I love the look of it :) - I am also operating from priyasnowserving.net, should you prefer a WP format - And if you like the work of this young girl, and the recipes you see showcased, don't hesitate to like us on Facebook :)

Ganesha is remembered every single day in my house, in the most delightful way for me – In that I get to be him every day, sometimes once often twice a day – My soon to be 4 yr old loves the Ganesha stories she has heard and watched from Karadi Tales. She is always Parvati and I get to be Ganesha, who guards zealously her gates as she takes the most leisurely bath in the world, using up all the water of the ganges J - And Hubby dear gets to be Shiva who confronts Ganesha before lopping off his head – the whole scene is enacted each day with no variations allowed, unless the variation has the little one bursting into giggles. My Shiva does a stellar job of showing rage – his whole face vibrating, jaws jiggling (lol) Lots of fun, but I think we are ready to move on to a new act. But not before we celebrate the joyous day when we offer our salutations to our potbellied, elephant faced, single tusked lord of wisdom who removes obstacles – In fact it is the remorse of Shiva for having lopped Ganesha’s head off that makes him bestow upon his son the boon that he would be revered first before Shiva himself. Ganesha loves food, especially sweet dumplings aka Kozhakattais/modhakams or so the story goes. Gourmets like us love to make this an excuse to prepare modakams rice flour shells stuffed often with jaggery and coconut, or jaggery and lentils.

For this occasion, I chose to add a slight twist to the tradition, while still upholding it, by adding freshly picked figs.  This enhanced if anything the already delicious dish by giving it a fantastic flavor. It turned out like a most delectable halwa that could be devoured just like that – Which is why I called it a Halwa. Halwa is best defined as a sweet sticky dessert often made with flour and nuts and fruits. This dish has the nut and the fruit.

I am happy to that a post of offering to Ganesha is my first one for the Avant Garde Cookies group that I am now a part of.

Here is my offering to Ganesha recipe and all.

Ingredients

For the Stuffing

• 16 Ripe or almost ripe Figs
• 1 cup of grated Coconut
• 1 cup of jaggery
• 1 tsp of powdered cardamom
• 2 tsp of water

For the dumpling shell

• 2 cups of rice flour
• 1 cup of water
• A pinch of salt
• 1tsp of sesame oil

Jaggery

Cardamom

Fresh Grated Coconut

Fresh Picked Figs

Method

Stuffing

1. Powder your jaggery – they usually come in blocks and can be found at the Indian store
2. In a saucepan, add 2 tsp of water and the jaggery
3. Let it become syrupy
4. Add the powdered cardamom
5. Follow it with the coconut and let it cook in the jaggery until the water from the jaggery is completely gone and the mix is thick and stuffable
6. Remove from flame and allow it to cool

Shell

1. In the meantime, sift the rice flour
2. Roast it for literally a minute in a wide pan
3. Now add the water and salt and what I do is spin it once in the blender so that it is a pasty fluid
4. Pour this liquid into a saucepan and stir away until the rice flour cooks
5. Stirring helps avoid knots in the dough
6. When the white fluid thickens and comes off the sides, add the oil
7. The color will not be white anymore and the dough will have assumed a cooked look.
8. Switch off and cover with a cloth so that it does not dry out.

Both these processes take no more than 10 -15 minutes flat – I kid you not.

1. Now Let’s get them together
2. So make lemon sized or even smaller balls with the dough. Put your thumbs in the middle of the ball and start pressing the sides, creating a dippy hole in the middle.
3. Make sure this is deep and the sides are thin without falling apart.
4. Now take a teaspoon of the stuffing and place in the hole.
5. Gently fold the sides pulling up with your fingers to make a small tuft, so to speak.
6. The other method is the make a smile –
7. Make a round flat circle with the dough.
8. Add the stuffing and fold joining at the corners, pressing them together. Both kinds are shown below.
9. Steam them and you have your Kozhakattais 

Offer to the Good Lord Ganesha before you pop one into your mouth J Happy Chaturthi Folks and May Lord Ganesha obliterate any obstacles in your life.

My first Avant Garde Cookies Post 

Linking this to Cook Like a Chef

Sukhiyan- A sweet delicacy from South India

This was a dish I made for Gokulashtami, the birthday of Lord Krishna. I made this along with appams, sweet aval and thiratipal which I'd blogged earlier.  This was my first and I would admit not the greatest attempt at this dish. It is cinchy as recipes go and my family enjoyed it thoroughly, but you know when you can make a dish better right. I think I know how I can make it better next time. But the recipe is a good one and I now share it with you - I was also inspired to blog this because I was at Kalyani's blog and saw her wonderful event calling for jaggery and sesame dishes. So here goes

Ingredients
1/2 cup urad flour
2tbsp water to make batter with urad flour
1 cup of grated coconut
1/2 cup of sesame seeds powdered
1 cup of jaggery
1/2 tsp powdered cardamom
Oil to fry

Method for pUran/stuffing
Add 1 tsp of water to a sauce pan and add the jaggery to it
When the jaggery gets to a syrupy consistency add the coconut and the powdered sesame and cardamom
Allow all the water to evaporate an the mixture to get a thick, ball-able consistency
Allow it to cool down
In a bowl, mix ready urad flour in water to a Bajji Mavu consistency (thick but flowing)
Heat oil in a small deep pan.
Make balls out of the puran/stuffing
Dip in the urad batter and drop into the hot oil.
Allow the top to cook to a golden brown.
Remove and strain.

Serve as offering to Lord Krishna (if you are making it for him) before popping one into your mouth :)

Sending this to Kalyani's Magic Mingle event

Thiratipal -conventional and unconventional methods

Milk Fudge Bonbons/ Toffees

Traditional Thiratipal

I kickstart to the festival of Gokulashtami, also names, Janmashtami, or Krishna Jayanti, a day to celebrate that bratty yet most adored blue boy, born to Devaki and raised by Yashoda with Thiratipal. Thiratipal is a sweet dish which has been a favorite of many south Indian families and in our home especially. I can still taste the deliciousness of my mom's preparation of this dish. While I have always taken the effort to celebrate all the Indian, Hindu festivals, I had scaled down the celebration for a while because year after year it us just us who enjoy the fruits of my hard labor - nothing wrong with that whatsoever. I have gone through waves of celebration when my older kids were younger and I dressed them up as Krishna. But then 4 years ago, a little girl with the naughty disposition of Krishna entered my life in the form of my baby girl and she regales anyone who wants to hear them with stories of krishna, having memorized the story CDs by heart. I am most always awe-struck at how much she understand and how perfect her intonation is when she tells the story! And she is just a 3 year old! She wakes up each morning and assumes different roles and confers upon me a role to play to - So I wake up each day as Krishna, Ganesha, Muruga or who ever the character du jour may be. And she always is the the lady of the story, be it Parvati, Radha or Yashoda OR Rapunzel, Peaches of Ice Age or Meera the girl monkey of Karadi Tales fame - She cracks all of us up with how genuinely she believes in the characters she plays and the sincerity she expects from us when we do our part. "Get in Character people!" Lol! But that is part of her immense charm and much like Krishna, she has us all wrapped in her little finger and fills our hearts and days with pure joy. So the posts related to this festival is dedicated to Kutty Lord Krishna and my very own Krishnas

When it comes to certain dishes, it is good to keep with the traditional - as least for me - The unconventional method I thought bombed until I was able to do a quick improv and make it a fancy bonbon. But I fell back upon good ole Meenakshi Amma, author of the treasured  "Cook and See" books. She measures things funny, but I tell you, I'd give anything to taste just one meal prepared by this talented lady.  Mom made the best, but as a child you enjoyed the snack and did not really take notes and when you get old enough to be interested in making it Mom's gone and then you rely heavily on your tongue to remember the taste and texture of the dish. 

Method 1 using condensed milk yielded bonbons or milk fudge toffees

Method 2 using whole milk yielded something quite close to what my mom used to make -

I am sharing both recipes with you

Method 1 - 

1 can condensed milk

2 tbsp yogurt

(optional) 1 tbsp of ghee

I did not do the MW method that is so popular now. I did the old school stove top method.

I stirred and stirred and stirred and while the color was getting sort of toffeeish I did not see the milk splitting to form the curdled look that authentic Thiratipal consists of. It was peeling of the sides of the pan and I knew it would harden too much if i let it go any longer - So I put it on a greased plate. It just sat there while the idea to wrap them up like toffees occurred to me. With the help of my ablest assistant, my older daughter, we made balls of the fudge and wrapped them in wax paper. end of story - The taste itself is super yummy, if a little toffee like - Here are some pictures:

Method 2

2 litres of whole milk

1 cup of sugar

2 tbsp yogurt

1tsp ghee

This takes a LONG time folks - I am being honest here - it takes milk a good long time to reduce to malai or cream.  Add the yogurt and stir in the split happens dramatically. Add the sugar and stir in - the color changes from a white to an off white/cream and the frothing/bubbling intensifies. You turn this a minute or two then pour it into a greased pan. Voila - Thiratipal, a la mom and Meenakshi Amma is good to go 

Pictures:

Hope my Krishna enjoy this.

Will be back with Thatai, Suhiyam or Suhiyan, Appam and Sweet Aval recipes for the occasion.

Kaaju Barfi - Cashew Fudge - Sweet Welcome to Kavin

This is one of the most popular sweets that Indians and westerns love to gorge on - They are tremendously caloric, but heck, which dessert that we crave for isn't? Desserts are essentially meant to serve that purpose in our diet, would you agree? I have made this twice now and both times it has turned out perfectly and I have Manjua Ben to thank for it - her video on this was easy to understand and execute. I attempted this for the fist time at Diwali last year and now again to celebrate our blogger's friend Kirhi of Kirhti's Kitchen on the birth of her bonny lad, Kavin. As blogger friend Reva rightly puts it, here's to celebrating life and stepping into the arena of unconditional love for Krithi :)

Ingredients
2 cups of raw cashews
1.5 cups of white granulated sugar

 3/4 cup of water
A pinch of saffron

Note: You need a heavy bottomed pan to make this

Preparation

Using unsalted butter grease a plate with a short rim and keep ready
Powder the cashews, soft but slightly coarse (more powdery than instant coffee granules)
In a saucepan add the water and sugar and on medium heat allow them to boil until it gets to a 1 string consistency syrup.
In the heavy bottomed pan, on low heat, lightly roast the cashew powder to warm it up and get rid of any raw taste - this should only take 2- 3 minutes tops - Any more can make the cashew lumpy & wet
When the syrup is ready - takes some testing - add the saffron and the pour the syrup on to the cashews.
start stirring - the arm exercise is incredible in this part and you've pretty much worked off the calories that you might intake with a small piece of this barfi when it is done :)
I have always found it tough to estimate when the fudge starts coming off the sides, and both times had to put it back on the stove after pouring it on the greased plate - no matter - this is something that gets clearer as you practice.
My hint is when I see some of the sides getting crusty no roasted by white (in tamil - poru poru)
Pour on the plate - if it is perfectly done, then cutting can be done soon after pouring on the plate

Cut as diamonds or squares -preserve in air-tight containers and enjoy with family and friends -
Here's to you Krithi and your little son - God bless him with every sweetness of life!

I am posting pictures from both my attempts and I hope you will enjoy this sweet vicariously :)

Welcoming Krithi's son, little Kavin with me are my blogger friends listed below and here is a picture of the "sweet Collection"

1.Priya Suresh: http://priyaeasyntastyrecipes.blogspot.co.uk/

2.Priya Sreeram: http://eq-myblog.blogspot.in/

4.Vardhini: http://cooksjoy.com/blog/

5.PJ: http://seduceyourtastebuds.blogspot.co.uk/

6.Shama: http://easy2cookrecipes.blogspot.co.uk/

7.Nupur Mehra: http://uk-rasoi.blogspot.co.uk/

8.Melange [Dhuythi]:http://www.desimelange.com/

9.Radhika: http://ticklingpalates.blogspot.com/

10:Anu: http://anuzhealthykitchen.blogspot.com

11.Reva: http://www.kaarasaaram.com/
12. Denise : http://www.ohtastensee.com