Tandla Godshe (Rice Payasam)

Rice Payasam is a popular sweet dish in South India. South Indian people love rice in any form. They love to have rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Rice Payasam (kheer) is a popular sweet dish made during festivals, get togethers, marriages etc. Kheer can be made by cooking rice in milk and then sweetened it with sugar and finally flavored with cardamom or it can be made the way I have shown today. The cooked rice is sweetened with jaggery and then enriched with coconut milk (or plain milk) and cardamom. Both ways it turns out good. Do try making this and I hope you enjoy it.

Ingredients:

• White Rice** - 1/2 cup (I used Basmathi)
• Thick Coconut Milk* - 3/4 to 1 cup
• Jaggery, powdered - 1/2 cup (vary accordingly)
• Cardamom Pods - 3-4
• Raisins - 1-2 Tbsp (optional)
• Water - 2 1/4 cup

*I have used canned coconut milk. It works well but for best results, you can use freshly extracted coconut milk. You can check out the method of extraction here.

You can use any white rice. 

Procedure:

Wash the rice 2-3 times and put it in a cooking pot. Now add 2 1/4 cups of water . Start heating it.

When it comes to a boil, continue heating for a minute and then close the lid. Turn off the heat and let it sit for 15 minutes. After 15- 20 minutes, the rice will be cooked and most of the water will be absorbed.

Now start heating the rice mixture. To this add raisins and powdered jaggery. Once it comes to a boil, heat it on a medium flame for 3-4 minutes.

Then turn off the heat. Finally add in the coconut milk and cardamom powder. 

Mix well.
Tandla Godshe is ready!

Serve it hot or warm. Above measurement serves 3-4 people.

Note: The Payasam thickens as it cools. If it becomes too thick you can always add little water or milk to get desired consistency.
The color of the payasam depends on the color of the jaggery.

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Moogadali Paaysu (Moongdal Kheer)

Moogadali Paaysu is a popular South Indian Kheer. I got this recipe from my mother. This kheer is very simple to make. The moongdal is cooked and then sweetened with jaggery. Finally it is enriched with coconut milk and a dash of cardamom. 

Long time back my brother had suggested me to post this recipe. I have been thinking of making this since then and finally I made it. It is my first try and  turned out pretty good. Do try making this for any festivals which are lined up and enjoy!

Ingredients:

• Moongdal* (Split skinless green gram) - 1 cup
• Jaggery - 1/2 cup (adjust accordingly)
• Thick Coconut milk - 3/4 cup
• Cardamom Pods - 3
• Ghee - 2-3 tsp
• Cashew and Raisins - As desired

*You can also use 3/4 cup of moongdal and 1/4 cup of sabudana (sago pearls) for variation.

Procedure:

Wash moongdal 2-3 times and drain the water completely. Now take this dal in a pressure cooker and fry this for 2-3 minutes along with a tsp of ghee (you are not looking for change in color of the dal) until a nice aroma is got.

Then add 2 cups of water and pressure cook it for one whistle.

Then mash it lightly with a wooden spoon. Add little water to loosen it and then add powdered jaggery. Start heating this mixture.

Turn off the heat when the jaggery is well dissolved and the mixture has boiled for 2-3 minutes. Now add in the coconut milk and cardamom powder. 

Mix well. Also add cashew and raisins fried in ghee. Mix well. 

Moogadali Paaysu is ready!!

Serve it warm. Above measurement serves 3-4 people.

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Ponsa Mulika (Ripe jackfruit Fritters) ~ Rice Based And Three Years of Blogging!!

Do I have to say that I have started liking Jackfruit. After three years of not having jackfruit, I can sense the reason. Now I get excited seeing the huge fruit and buy them without even thinking as to what to do with it. Last year I had made mulika using semolina. Few days back my mother made them using rice. So I thought of sharing this recipe too. Mulika is one of my favorite recipes using ripe jackfruit. They are so addictive that they disappear very fast.

My blog turned three today. I just feel like I started blogging few months ago. All these three years was fun and I am looking forward to more such experiences in the future. 

Ingredients:

• Ripe Jackfruit, chopped- 1 1/2 cups
• Jaggery, crushed - 1/2 cup
• Rice - 1 cup
• Grated coconut- 2-3 Tbsp
• Black sesame seeds- 1 1/2 tsp
• Cardamom pods- 4-5
• Oil - For deep frying

Notes:
Jackfruit: Choose a jackfruit which is very sweet. We cannot afford to add more jaggery. Jaggery tends to increase the moisture in the final mixture which in turn makes the fritters more greasy. 

Procedure:

Wash the rice and drain the water completely. Spread the washed rice on a clean kitchen towel and let it dry completely.

Once it has dried, grind it to get a fine powder. Set it aside.

Now clean the ripe jackfruit. Discard the seeds and chop the clean jackfruit pods.

Now take the chopped jackfruit along with crushed jaggery, grated coconut and cardamom seeds in a blender.

Grind it into a smooth paste (without adding water).

Now transfer this paste into a mixing bowl. Then add powdered rice and black sesame seeds.

Mix well and allow the mixture to rest for five minutes (at this point test the mixture for sweetness). Meanwhile pre heat the oil on medium heat.

Once the oil is hot enough (a small amount of mixture dropped in sizzles right away), drop small balls of the mixture (small lemon size) one by one (don't touch it for a minute as it can break apart easily).

Allow it to cook until it turns a uniform deep golden brown color. Once done, transfer it on a paper towel. Continue frying with the rest of the mixture. Ponsa Mulika is ready!!

Serve it warm or at room temperature. It stays good for 1-2 days without refrigeration.

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Celebrating 400th Post With Yeriyappa

Yeriyappa is a deep fried, jaggery based dessert. This is my 400th post and hence I wanted it to be really special. I started digging into the good old cook book written by Jaya V Shenoy to find a traditional sweet. Finally decided to make this. I also discussed about this sweet with my mother as she was familiar with it. She told me her mom's recipe. Finally I tried it and it tasted awesome. This is the first time I made yeriyappa and probably the first time I am tasting it. I was wondering as to why my mother never made this for us.

Yeriyappa is a deep fried version of the sweet paniyarams (Appo) and I totally enjoyed it. It is little time consuming but worth all the effort. Do try making it for festive occasions and I am sure everyone will enjoy it!

Ingredients:

• Rice - 1 cup
• Toordal (Split Pigeon pea)- 1/4 cup
• Rice flakes (Poha) - 1/2 cup
• Grated Coconut, fresh/frozen - 1/2 cup
• Jaggery - 3/4 cup to 1 cup
• Cardamom pods - 4
• Salt- A pinch
• Ghee (clarified butter)/Oil*-For deep frying

*I used a mixture of oil and ghee to cut down the fat. In this way I did't miss the wonderful flavor induced by ghee.

Procedure:

Wash rice and toordal. Soak them together in water for one hour.

Then add few tablespoon of water to rice flakes just enough to soften it. Then add this softened rice flakes, crushed jaggery, cardamom pods, grated coconut, salt in a blender. Drain the water from the rice-lentil mixture. 

Add the drained rice-lentil mixture with the rest of the ingredients and blend it to get a smooth paste. The final mixture should be thick (pouring consistency and not dropping consistency. I just added a tablespoon of water while grinding. Add water only if required. If the batter is not thick then it might not hold its shape while deep frying). Transfer the batter to a bowl.

Now heat the oil or ghee or a mixture of both. Once moderately hot (not very hot) pour little amount of batter so that it forms a round shape (make only one at a time). Once it is cooked on one side flip it on the other side using tongs. Let it cook until the edges gets crispy and golden brown.

Once it looks done, take it on a slotted spoon and remove the excessive ghee by pressing it using another spatula or spoon (this step has to be done over the pan containing hot ghee. So you have to be extremely careful).

Then transfer it on a paper towel. Continue with the rest of the batter. 
Yeriyappa is ready!!

Once it cools down, transfer them to an air tight container.

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Kare Undo ( Sev- Popped Rice Ladoo)

Kare Undo is a jaggery based ladoo. I made slight variations to my Layee pitta undo and made this ladoo. I also referred the cook book written by Jaya V Shenoy. Kare Undo is commonly made for Ganesh Chaturthi.  My mother never made this laddo . So I always wanted to give it a try. Making this ladoo is really time consuming but I knew that the end result would taste awesome. I was really happy with the results and it brought back so many memories :-)

Ingredients:

• Cashew nut- 1/3 cup
• Laaye Pitto/Popped rice (Coarse powder variety) - 1 1/2 cups
• Dark Jaggery/Antu Bella - 1 cup
• Black Sesame seeds- 1 Tbsp
• Cardamom Powder- 1/2 tsp
• Ghee - 1 tsp+ extra for greasing 

For Sev (Karo):

• Besan (Chickpea Flour)- 3/4 cup
• Melted butter- 1 tsp
• Ghee*- For frying

*I used a mixture of oil and ghee to cut down the fat.

Procedure:

The coarse powder of Popped rice looks like this.

First step is to prepare the Sev: Sieve chickpea flour in a bowl. All melted butter to it.

Now slowly add water little at a time to get a dough. Now the next step would be to grease the mould in which we are going to make the sev. I used this-

At the bottom of the mould we need to add the plate, which has many tiny holes throughout (use the plate with slight bigger holes).
Now put the dough into the greased mould and then start rotating it in clockwise direction in the hot Ghee (or oil-ghee mixture) directly, until there is enough room for the noodles to get fried evenly. To stop the noodles from coming, rotate in opposite direction.

Fry the noodles on a medium flame on either sides, until the sev turns crispy and slight brown. Take out the sev from the oil and drain the excess oil on a paper towel. 

Karo is ready!! Once it cools down, crush it into small pieces and set in aside.

Now take a big pan and dry roast the sesame seeds until it starts to splutter. Then transfer it to a plate.

In the same pan add little ghee and start roasting the cashew nut pieces until they turn golden brown. Then transfer it to a plate.

In the same pan, start heating the jaggery on a medium flame along with 1/2 cup of water. 

The jaggery I used looked like this (This jaggery is very soft and is specially used to make ladoos, burfi, chikkis. This jaggery gives good binding and has a distinct taste).

The jaggery begins to melt and starts to boil.

Continue heating till the end point. To know the end point, add 1-2 drops of melted jaggery in a small bowl containing water. The jaggery should form a firm drop and it should turn little hard.

Once this consistency is reached, add the roasted cashew nut, Karo (sev), sesame seeds, cardamom powder, ghee and mix quickly. Then add the coarse powder of popped rice and give a good mix until everything comes together. 

Allow the mixture to cool (until you can handle the heat). Remember that the mixture hardens as it cools. So it has to be formed into ladoos as soon as possible.

Once it is ready to handle, take desired amount of the ladoo mixture in your greased hands and make a ladoo. Repeat the same for the rest of the mixture. I made a total of 17 ladoos.
Kare Undo is ready!!

Store them in an air tight container. It stays good for more than a week.

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Celebrating 350th Post with Kayi Holige

Kayi Holige is a very popular South Indian sweet flat bread. In Kannada, Kayi means coconut. Holige means a flat bread which has a sweet stuffing. I got the recipe from my MIL.

This post is very special to me. One reason being it is my 350th post and the other reason being Kayi holige. Kayi holige always reminds me of my husband's grandma. She makes the best holiges. I became a huge fan of her on the day I ate this sweet for the first time. Hence wanted to post it as my 350 th recipe. I couldn't recreate her holiges but hoping for better results with passing time. I am also waiting for a chance to learn from her. I wish it comes true :-) Do give this a try and I am sure you will like it too. 

Ingredients:

For the outer Covering:

• All Purpose flour/Maida- 1 1/4 cup+ 2 Tbsp for dusting
• Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
• Oil- 4-5 tsp
• Water - 1/2 cup (adjust accordingly)

For Stuffing:

• Grated Coconut, fresh/frozen - 2 cups
• Powdered Jaggery- 1 1/2 cups
• Rice Flour- 3 Tbsp
• Cardamom Powder- 1/2 tsp 

Procedure:

Take all purpose flour in a mixing bowl along with turmeric powder. Mix well. Now add water in small amount, to get a soft elastic dough ( It has to be soft, otherwise it becomes difficult to roll). Then add oil and knead it for 3-4 minutes. Rest this dough in a closed container for 3-4 hours. 

For Stuffing:

Grate the jaggery and keep aside.

Now take the grated coconut in a blender and pulse it 2-3 times without adding any water.

Then take grated jaggery and coconut in a pan and start heating it on a medium heat. When the jaggery begins to melt, heat it further until the mixture becomes thick. Then add the rice flour and mix well. When the mixture looks done with most of the moisture evaporated (it will be sticky and not very dry. If it is too dry then it will harden up after cooling), turn off the heat. Add the cardamom powder and allow it to cool.

Once it comes to room temperature, make 15 evenly sized balls of the coconut mixture.

Make 15 equal sized balls out of the outer covering as well (grease your hands with oil).

Now take one portion of the outer covering and start rolling it by dipping in all purpose flour. Let the size of the poori be 5-6cm in diameter (you can as well roll it on a parchment paper with oil instead of flour)

Now place a ball of the stuffing at the center of the rolled dough.

Now start sealing the stuffing with the poori as shown below.

Once this is done, press it slightly.

Start rolling it carefully with light hands (the sealed edge facing you,till it is done). Use flour as required, for dusting. Roll it as thin as you can.

Fry this bread on a tawa, on a medium-high flame, as soon as it is done (If you want to make many before frying, then close the rolled bread with a damp cloth, so that it doesn't get dried. Also don't pile. Each should be separately placed).

Fry it on either side until brown spots are got. Transfer it on a paper towel or kitchen cloth. (this will prevent from getting soggy).

Kayi Holige is ready!!

Serve it hot/warm with a generous drizzle of ghee on it. Enjoy!! Above measurement makes 15 medium sized holiges.

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