Sweet Appam/Vella Appam

Sweet appam or Vella appam is a traditional recipe that is made as neivedyams for Vinayaga chathurthi,Gokulashtami... Sweet appam is really a fav food for Lord Krishna...

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup
Urad Dal - 1/4 cup
Jaggery - 1cup
Coconut - 1/2 cup shredded coconut
Cardamom

How to Cook:
Saok rice and urad dal for 1hr..later drain the water and grind it coarsely..
--Powder the jaggery(Heat it in microwave for 15secs and powder it for easy preparation) orelse
--Dissolve the jaggery in boiling water all in a medium flame
--bring it to string like consistency
--add the grinded mixture to it,add coconut,cardamom powder a pinch
--mix it well -  it will be like a thick batter consistency
--Now take the kuzi appam mould and pour 1tsp of oil in each mould
--Now fill the mould with 3/4th of appam batter
--Carefully turn the appams slowly with a skewer(that comes with the appam pan) or a spoon and let it cook evenly on each side..

Tips:

Drain the excess oil with a tissue paper.Kids will surely love it..

Kids loving Kaju/Cashew Halwa

Kaju Halwa - Kids will love it..Some kids dont prefer to take cahsews..To make them eat..this is the easy way..esp my kid loved this..for the first I am seeing my kid tasting a sweet very happily..

Ingredients:
Cashews - 50 gms - I guess 1 cup cashews
Sugar - 2 cups
Cardamom - just a pinch
Pista - a handful(which is very optional)

How to do:
Soak the cashews for 2hrs
--Drain the water and grind it in a blender to a smooth paste
-- Transfer the content to a microwave bowl and heat it for 3mins
-- Now add 2 cups sugar to the content and again heat it for 2mins
--Take a heavy bottomed pan,Add 2tsp ghee and add the mixture
--Stir well until the ghee separates from the pan and mixture will thicken without sticking..
-- Thats it ready to serve..

Optional Step:
--Let the content cool down for sometime
--Grease a plate with a tsp of ghee and spread the mixture
--Slice it and serve

Tips:
buy a mini cup cake liner and spoon the mixture into it and serve it to ur kids..saying Kaju/cashew cup cake..

Asoka - A Traditional Sweet Of Tanjore

Asoka sweet is very famous in Tanjore side esp in Thiruvaiyaru..RamIyer hotel and also Andavar Stores are very famous for this sweet..

Ingredients:
Payatham Paruppu/Moong Dal - 1cup

Sugar - 2cups
Cardamom - a pinch
Kesari Powder - a  pinch
Ghee - 1cup
wheat flour - 2 tsp
Ghee - 2tsp to roast the wheat flour
Cashews - 6
Ghee - 2 tsp to roast the Cashews
Raisins - To garnish Asoka

Things to keep ready:
--Pressure cook the moong dal with 2 cups of water for 3 whistles..
--Take a pan,add 2 tsp of ghee and roast the wheat flour till it turns very light brown..
--Turn off the flame and immediately transfer it to a small bowl..

Next Step:
--After u open the pressure cooker..Smash the moong dal well
--In a heavy bottomed pan,Add 5 tsp of ghee and add the well smashed moong dal

--Add 2 cups of sugar to the content and mix well
--Add ghee little by little and keep stirring continously
--Cook well until the ghee starts to leave the sides of the pan and the mixture starts to thicken without sticking to the pan
--Roast the cashews in 3 tsp of ghee and add it to the asoka and sprinkle some cardamom powder..
--Garnish the asoka with ghee roasted cashews,Raisins

Tips:
--If u want u can add milk to the mixture after adding the sugar..
--Adding milk reduces the shelf life of Asoka
--So I didn't add milk..

Ricotta Cheese Rasmalai

A  very easy recipe.Can be done very quickly

Ingredients:

Ricotto chesse - 15oz whole milk or part skim
Sugar- as u need
Rose water- just 1/2 tsp
Half and half milk - 1cup
Milk- 1cup
Heavy whipping cream - 1/4 cup(Optional)
Almond flakes
pistachios
saffron - optional

Things Needed:
Mini Muffin pan

How to Cook:
Mix ricotta cheese,sugar,rosewater.Mix well
Ricotta cheese will be really sweet and yummy..I just luv it.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees..Just scoop the mixture and fill it in the mini muffin pan..
let this bake for 15 to 20mins..
Now take a big pan.Add half and half milk,Ordinary milk.Skim it well.then lower the flame and keep stirring to get a thick consistency..
when it comes to a thick consistency,add 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream(this is optional)
Add sugar and let it cool

By this time the ricotta cheese would have been done..Take it out of the pan.u can see some water in the top layer.thats okay..let it cool for sometime.
when the milk gets cool add the ricotta cheese balls/cubes one by one..
Garnish it with almond flakes,pistachios,saffron

Now Rasmalai is ready and Serve it chilled..

Payatham Paruppu Payasam/Moong Dal Gheer

Moong dal gheer or kheer is a very tasty recipe that can be done in just 10mins..For neivedyams it can done very quickly..

Ingredients :
 Payatham paruppu (Moong Dal)- 1/2 cup
Jaggery Cubes- 8 pieces -(Acchu Vellam)
Ghee-3 tsps
Milk- 1 cup
 Cardamom powder- just sprinkle
Cashews
How to Cook :
-- Pressure cook the moong dal for 3 whistles.
 --Boil the milk and add the jaggerycubes
--Keep stirring till the jaggery completely dissolves.
--Heat 2tsp of ghee and roast the cashews and add it to the payasam
 --Now just sprinkle some cardamom..
Tips:
--U can also use half anf half milk
--If u dont have jaggery or sugar..u can use condensed milk for sweet taste

Ukkarai

Ukkarai is a special sweet prepared during Diwali.It is just like puttu which is another special sweet in TamilNadu..My mom is really good in making this delicious sweet..
Ingredients :

Par Boiled rice ( Puzungal Arisi)- 1 cup

Thoor Daal - 1/2 cup

Jaggery - 2 cups

Ghee - 6tsp

Cashew Nuts - as required

Cardamom - as required

Dry raisins

How to Cook:

Soak boiled rice and thoor daal in hot water for an hour.Drain it completely.Grind it in a blender very coarsely without adding water.
Spread the ground coarse paste in the idli mould and steam cook it for about 10 - 12mins..just like how u do for making idlis..then break the steam cooked cake in a blender as it will be hot..it will take time to do with hand..so grinding it in a blender will be good.the texture should be granular..
Dissolve the jaggery in 1/2 cup of hot water and bring it to a thin string like consistency..now add the grinded mixture,ghee and roast it in a mdeium flame till it becomes dry and soft..add the cardamom,dry raisins..Finally roast the cashews to a light golden brown and garnish the ukkarai..serve it warm..