White sesame seeds(Ellu) Ladoos- Makar Sankaranti Special

 

Sesame seeds Laddu / Til ladoo / Ellu unde simple yet healthy, nutritious, and delicious sweet. Sesame seeds are rich source of calcium, iron, niacin and copper. This is a very healthy alternative treat to our kids. This sesame laddu/ellu laddu is very easy to make, flavorful and packed with lots of calcium and proteins.

Pongal, Lohri and Makar Sankranti are one of the first festivals that mark the beginning of the New Year. Different festivals, celebrated by different communities in different parts of India at almost the same time. While Lohri is celebrated on 13th January, Pongal is 4 day celebration at same time and Makar Sankranti is celebrated on the 14th January, they all are ways to celebrate the new harvest.Makar Sankranti is celebrated as an ode to the agricultural community and to pray for healthy harvest. Sharing these sweets with you virtually with all the wishes of abundance. Nuvvula Unda or Nuvvula Laddu is a classic Andhra style sweet prepared for festivals.Its otherwise called as”Til ke ladoos”.

Check out other Makar Sankaranti Recipes

 

Prep time	Cook time	Serves
20 mins	10 mins

 

Cuisine: South Indian

Recipe Type: Dessert

 

Ingredients White sesame seeds(vellai ellu) -3  cups Grated jaggery(Vellam) –1/2  cup Rock sugar candy –2  cup Dry coconut pieces –1 3/4  cup Almond flakes -1 cup Ghee-2 tbsp. Cardamom powder -1/2 tsp Cashews –handful

 Method

1. Dry roast sesame seeds in a pan on medium heat; till pale/light brown about 4-5 mins. Remove and set aside. Remove onto a wide plate and allow to cool.

 

2. In the same vessel, add the almonds and dry roast on low flame for 5 mts. In same pan, roast coconut till light brown. Keep aside.

 

3. Next blend the sesame seeds for 5-6 seconds. You have to make a coarse powder of the sesame seeds. Add the grated jaggery, roasted almonds and dry coconut pieces and blend till combined. You can see the oil (sesame seeds) oozing out of the mixture.

 

4. Remove onto a plate and add cardamom powder. Let it cool slightly.Once cool enough to handle by hand take small lumps of mixture and make balls of it with the help of your palms. Store in an air tight container and they stay good for a week to ten days. You can store in the fridge too for longer shelf life.

 

Notes

• Ensure that the mixture is still warm when rolling.
• No need to buy cardamom powder. Just open the shell of green cardamoms and crush the seeds with mortar and pestle.

Health benefits

Sesame seeds are valuable sources of dietary protein with fine quality amino acids that are essential for growth, especially in children. Sesame seeds are rich in vitamins and minerals. They are very good sources of B-complex vitamins such as niacin, folic acid, thiamin (vitamin B1), pyridoxine (vitamin B6), and riboflavin. They have antibacterial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer as well as many health promoting properties.

Technorati Tags: white sesame seeds ladoos,sesame recipes,ladoo recipes,Till recipes,Ellu recipes.Festive sweets recipes,Makar sankaranti recipes,Pongal recipes,Lohri recipes,Dessert recipes,Indian food recipes

Samai(Little Millet) Ven Pongal–Pongal recipes

 

I wanted to post a recipe that could be made as an offering to the deities.So I asked mom and she told me that ven pongal is one among the offerings and I decided to go ahead with it as it is also very easy.I started making this very often as its very tasty, healthy and easy to prepare in minutes when I get up very late in the morning. Everyone should know the benefits of millets  and start practicing to prepare often at home.This Samai /Little millet tastes similar to rice and you cant find any difference that this pongal is made out of millet.

 

Check out other Pongal(Sankaranti)  Recipes

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Prep time	Cook time	Serves
5 mins	20 mins	4 persons

 

Cuisine: South Indian

Recipe Type: Breakfast,Lunch (Main Dish)

 

Ingredients Little millet/Samai -1 cup Split moong dal -1/2 cup Water -3 cups Cashewnuts -10 nos Ginger -2 tsp Green chillies -2 nos Cumin seeds -1 tbsp Peppercorns – ½ ts Hing –pinch Curry leaves -2 stalks Ghee -1 tbsp Salt –to taste

 

Method

 

1. Pressure cooker the millet and dal with 3 cups of water till they are mushy.Add the required amount of salt to the millet dal mixture. Cook for one whistle and let it cook in that steam itself.

2. In a pan add the ghee and oil and heat it.Add the tempering ingredients and roast them till the cashews turn golden brown and the curry leaves are crispy.

 

3. Switch off the flame add these tempered ingredients to the rice dal  mixture.

 

4. Garnish with few curry leaves and serve hot with coconut chutney and sambar.

 

5. Tasty Samai venn pongal is ready to be served with ghee on top.

 

Notes

Adding 2 tsp of broken cashews roasted in ghee enhances the taste.If your kids are too fussy and pick the pepper corns to throw out of the plate, you can use this method.

Do not omit ginger and curry leaves as they add a nice flavour. Add pepper and jeera only during tempering and not along with rice and dal mixture.

Technorati Tags: Millet recipes,Sankaranti recipes,Pongal recipes,Samai recipes,Ven Pongal recipes,Breakfast recipes.,Little millet recipes,Lunch recipes,Indian food recipes,South indian recipes.

Semiya Payasam(Vermicelli Kheer)- Navarathri Recipes(Day 8)

Eighth Day of Navarathri – Semiya Payasam(Vermicelli Kheer)

Semiya payasam is a dish that is made on the day of most festivals and functions. Kheer is the most common sweet made at home for festive occasions especially in west and southern parts of India. Its one of the easiest and tastiest payasam among all. Semiya payasam vermicelli kheer recipe is a part of most Indian festival recipes. Not just festivals it is included in most celebration meals. It is a traditional Indian sweet dish or dessert. It is easy to make, doesn’t take a long time to cook.

I too make it very often and the most common way is by boiling milk till it is reduced to half and then adding the semiya and nuts.In order to get this process a bit faster I added half a tin of milkmaid, it not only hastens the process but gives a richer and creamier tasting kheer.. You can savor this food even if it is cold. Semiya or vermicelli is available easily in most places. It is available roasted as well as unroasted. Even when you buy unroasted, it really does not take a long time to roast semiya.You may serve this as a sweet dish accompanying a festive meal or a party dish. Serve it as a dessert or a snack. I really like having it at all times.

Cuisine:  South Indian (Festive sweet)

Prep time	Cook time	Serves
10 mins	15 mins	2 persons

 

Ingredients Vermicelli -1 cup Sugar -3/4 cup Milk -3 cups Water -1  cup Cardamom powder -1/4 tsp Ghee -1 tbsp. Cashewnuts -1 tbsp. Raisins -1 tbsp.

 

Method

1. Boil milk in a utensil. Keep aside. Add cashew nuts and dry grapes. Fry till the cashewnuts turn to golden brown. Remove the cashew nuts and grapes. Keep aside. In a nonstick pan roast broken Vermicelli till golden brown in colour.

2. Add 3 cups of milk to vermicelli and cook for 10-12 mins,stirring occasionally to prevent burning . Cook the vermicelli till it turns soft and constantly stirring it. By this time the milk is been absorbed by the vermicelli and you can see the consistency will be thick.

3. Add sugar, rest of milk, cardamom powder and bring it to boil for 3-5 minutes.Add ghee roasted cashew nuts and raisins and cardamom powder to the kheer and mix and switch off the flame. Let the semiya absorb most of the milk.If for some reason you want to avoid or reduce use of milk, you may use only water or a mixture of milk and water for cooking semiya. Add milk after the sevai has been cooked.

4. Semiya payasam is ready.

Notes

You can cook the semiya entirely in milk, without adding water. Note, however, you may have to cook the semiya for more time, depending on the semiya.To make the semiya payasam taste richer, add about 1/2 a cup of Milkmaid. Because it already contains sugar, use additional sugar only as required. This makes the kheer tastier, creamier and rich.

You can add a pinch of saffron to the kheer while it is boiling. Rub it in a tbsp. of milk before adding to milk for better color and flavor.

Almonds and unsalted pistachios can be added along with cashew nuts. You may increase or reduce the amount of milk according to the consistency you want. Remember, the kheer thickens as it cools. You may add some milk to it at the time of serving if it has become too thick.

Technorati Tags: Semiya Payasam,Kheer recipes,Payasam recipes,Semiya recipes,South indian food recipes,Festive sweet recipes,Festive food recipes,Indian food recipes,Navarathri recipes

Aval(Poha) Puttu–Krishna Jayanthi Recipes

I am here with a another sweet dish for the festival Janmashtami. Another variety of sweet made with the aval or poha.   So one of the neivedyam offered to Krishna is aval with vellam or sugar or milk.Aval is the Tamil word for poha. Its sweeter compared to other puttu’s like rice puttu and ragi puttu due to the use of jaggery and is tasty to eat. Puttu is my all-time favorite.

Aval Puttu is a delicious snack and is used to prepare in functions & festivals .Rice Puttu is quite a long process. But Aval Puttu, is a simpler version and just as tasty as the rice puttu. It doesn't need any special ingredients. This can be prepared as a nivedhyam for Navarathri & Gokulashtami.

Prep time	Cook time	Serves
10 mins	5 mins	2

 

Cuisine: South Indian (Festive Sweet)

 

Ingredients Poha (Aval) – 1 cup Jaggery  - ½ cup Grated coconut - 3 tbsp. Ghee - 2 tsp Salt -pinch Cardamom Powder -1/4 tsp Cashewnuts -8  no’s Water -1/2 cup

 

Method

1. Add the aval in the kadai & roast it till they become slightly brown. Allow them cool & grind it in the mixed into fine powder.Heat ghee in a pan, add the chopped cashews & fry them till golden brown. Keep this aside.

2. Collect the powdered aval in a plate & add a pinch of salt & mix well. Meanwhile keep little water for boiling.Now sprinkle this water little by little to the powdered aval till you get a consistency where if you press it holds shape and if you leave it crumble. Keep this aside for 5 mins.

3. Again after 5 mins sprinkle little water. Repeat the process 2-3 times till the poha becomes soft.In another pan added grated jaggery & little water. When it started boiling, filter the jaggery. This filtering is done to avoid impurities from the jaggery.Boil the jaggery till you get the following consistency. If you take a bowl of water and add little jaggery syrup and check out for the soft ball consistency.

4. Now add the cardamom powder, grated coconut to this and immediately pour over the Aval powder.

5. Mix well with a ladle, add the fried cashews and keep aside covered for 10 mins. Delicious Aval puttu is ready to serve.

 Notes

• Ensure that you do not add too much of water.
• Sprinkle only hot water on the powdered aval.
• Grated coconut can also be sprinkled on the top of it or mixed along with the Puttu mixture.

 

Check out some recipe links for Krishna Jayanthi

Pesarapappu Boorelu

Rava Ladoos

Curd Rice

Chick peas(Kondakadalai) Sundal

Technorati Tags: Krishna Jayanthi recipes,Janmashtami recipes,Gokulashstami Recipes,Aval recipes,Poha recipes,South Indian dfestive sweet recipes,Sweet recipes,Festival recipes,Neivedhyam Recipes

Pesarapappu Boorelu (Split Moong Dal Sweet Balls)

We prepare Pesara Boorelu or dishes made of moong dal as naivedhyam. I am posting another simple and easy alternate recipe that I had learnt from my friend. Boorelu, a delicious sweet is a sign of Joy, Happiness which is made in every household during the festive days.  Generally, the Pooranam is made out of Channa Dal or Moong Dal with Jaggery Syrup or Sugar Syrup.The end result will be awesome and yet tasty.

Prep time	Cook time	Sweet balls
1 hr	20 mins	15 boorelu

 

Cuisine: Indian, Andhra (Festive Sweet)

 

Ingredients Yellow moong dal(Pesarapappu) -1 cup Jaggery –1 ¼ cup Grated coconut – 1 cup Elachi powder- 2 tbsp. Ghee – 1 tbsp. For the outer layer Raw rice -2 cups or rice flour -1 cup Sugar -2 tbsp. Salt –pinch Oil- for deep frying

 

Method

Outer layer

Take the raw rice and soak for just 2 hours and grind to form a coarse paste or use store bought rice flour(which makes the work even more easier).Then add pinch of salt, sugar. Mix well. Cover and keep aside while we prepare the stuffing.

 Dal preparation

1. Take moong dal in a bowl of water for an hour. Grind the moong dal with very little water and make a paste. 

2. Grease Idli mold with ghee or oil.  Pour the batter in the mold and steam for 10 to 15 mins in a cooker.  Keep them aside. Take out the Poornam Idlies from the Moulds and blend in the mixer grinder.

Prepartion of the filling

1. Now take the jaggery in a thick bottomed vessel.  Add half cup of water.  Heat it.  When the jaggery melts, strain and heat it again. To it add the grounded moong dal powder and the grated coconut.  Also add a tea spoon of cardamom powder.  Mix well and cook until it thickens.

2. Cook for another 8-10 minutes stirring continuously till the mixture forms a ball. Turn off the flame, and allow to cool.Allow the mixture to cool and make lemon size balls.

3. When the stuffing is warm enough to handle, grease  your palms with little oil or ghee, and make balls

Frying in oil

1. Heat oil for deep fry in a pan.Now dip in the batter and slowly place them in the oil. Drop each ball gently into the oil and fry till golden brown in small batches. Drop 4 or 5 Boorelu into the oil and fry them till golden brown and drain them.

2. Finish the process with the remaining dough in the same way and arrange the Boorelu on a plate or bowl for Prasadam.Serve them hot.Tasty Pesara pappu boorelu now ready to fill our tummies.

Notes

You can store them for 3 to 4 days.  You need not refrigerate. 

Technorati Tags: Boorelu Recipes,Andhra recipes,Sweet poornam recipes,Pesarapappu recipes,Festive sweet recipes,Krishna Jayanthi recipes,Jamastami recipes.