Sathu Maavu Laadu | Health Mix Laddu | Multi Grain Laddu

Sathu Maavu Laadu | Health Mix Laddu | Multi Grain Laddu is an age-old recipe made with jaggery | palm jaggery. It is a healthy sweet and can be made with home-ground or store-bought health mix flour. Last time when I prepared health mix powder, I have made in large quantity having this laddu preparation in mind. Is recipe, I’ve used organic brown sugar as sweetner in this recipe and hence this is a simple recipe made in no time. I know this is the vacation time for kids, so prepare this healthy snack to treat them during holidays.

Recipe for Sathu Maavu Laadu | Sathu Maavu Urundai | Health Mix Laddu:

Cuisine : Indian

Category: Sweet | Snack

Preparation time : 30 Minutes

  yields –20 to 25 Nos

Ingredients:

• Sathu Maavu | Health Mix – 2 cups
• Sugar – 1 ¼  cup
• Ghee –  ½  cup or as required

Method:

1. Dry roast health mix powder in a thick bottomed kadai until you get nice aroma, without burning it. Transfer it to a broad vessel.
2. Grind sugar into fine powder using a mixer grinder and add this to the roasted health mix powder. Mix everything well so that both blend together evenly
3. In the mean time, heat ghee in a kadai.
4. Add hot ghee over the mixture and mix everything with a ladle evenly.  Stop adding ghee once when the mixture is about to stick as we do for puttu mix.
5. Take a handful of the mix and hold it tight together to form a ball when it is hot.
6. Do the same for the rest of the mix.

Your delicious, healthy Saththu Maavu Urundai is ready to relish!

Note:

• Don’t heat the ghee to the boiling point.
• Try to make laddu out of hot mix quickly, otherwise, it will not hold together.
• The shelf life of laddu will be more than 2 weeks, if stored properly.
• I didn’t add any nuts since I’ve ground a good amount of nuts while making health mix powder.
• Sugar amount can be varied according to your sweet preference.

Tags: Sathu Maavu Laddu recipe, Festival recipes, Indian Sweet recipes, Easy sweet recipes, Diwali recipes, Gokulashtami recipes, Krishna Jayanthi recipes, Health Mix recipes, Millet recipes, How to make laddu using health mix powder?, Maavu Urundai recipe, Sathu Maavu Urundai Recipe, Healthy sweet recipe, Siru thaaniya urundai recipe

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Dry Gulab Jamun | Sukha Gulab Jamun

Dry Gulab Jamun | Sukha Gulab Jamun is nothing but a gulab jamun without sugar syrup. We can prepare jamuns following any recipe with  khoya, paneer, bread or even ready-made gulab jamun mix. I prefer these dry jamuns as they lack the sugar loaded syrup. By this way we can satisfy our sweet tooth by indulging in jamuns with less sugar compared to our regular jamuns.

Today I’ve used the MTR Gulab Jamun mix because I wanted to make something quick. At the same time, it had to be sweet for 2 reasons. One, my son’s b’day and the other one, to break the silence in this space for so many months!    

Let us go for the recipe.

Check out the recipe for Sweet Potato Gulab Jamun here.

Recipe for Dry Gulab Jamun | Sukha Gulab Jamun Using Instant Jamun Mix:

                          Cuisine : Indian

Category: Dessert

Preparation time : 10 Minutes

Cooking time : 20 Minutes

  yields –20-25 jamuns

Ingredients:

• Gulab jamun mix – 1 cup
• Sugar- 1 cup
• Water – 1 cup
• Cardamom powder – 1 tbsp
• Rose essence – 1 tsp
• Oil – to deep fry
• Powdered sugar| desiccated coconut – as required

Method:

1. Measure the jamun mix. Add in a broad dry mixing vessel. Break any lumps in the mix. Measure ¼ cup water and add this little by little to the jamun mix. Gently mix the powder with the water to form a smooth dough.
2. Make smooth, small balls out of this dough and keep them aside.
3. In a heavy bottom pan, add sugar and water. Bring it to boil while stirring in between. Make the sugar syrup in ½  string consistency, add cardamom powder and keep it aside. When the sugar syrup is warm, add drops of rose essence.
4. Heat oil in a deep bottomed kadai. Once the oil gets heated, turn the flame to simmer and add the jamuns carefully in a single layer. Don’t overcrowd them in the oil.
5. Fry the jamuns till they become golden brown and the sizzling sound subsides.
6. Take out these jamuns and dump them in the sugar syrup while it is hot.
7. Repeat the procedure for rest of the batch.
8. Allow the jamuns to soak in the sugar syrup atleast for an hour.
9. Check for the jamuns get soften inside with the tinge of sugar syrup.
10. Take out the jamuns from the sugar syrup, roll them in desiccated coconut or powdered sugar.
11. Refrigerate, arrange them in a serving plate  & enjoy!!!

Note:

• If you find the dough becomes watery or the jamun gets broken in the oil, add some ready mix/ Maida.
• Add the fried jamuns when the sugar syrup is hot.
• I didn’t use powdered sugar as I’ve got sugar with tiny crystals. This rolling part in powdered sugar, you can avoid if you want still less sugar. Usually I skip this!
• I always prefer brownish jamuns, if you want you can take out while it is golden brown in colour. But ensure that the jamuns get cooked completely before taking out.

Tags: easy diwali sweet recipe, Dry Gulab jamun recipe, Bengali sweet recipe, Gulab jamun using instant jamun mix, Recipe for sukha gulab jamun, how to make gulab jamun using ready mix?, other ways of making gulab jamun, gulab jamun recipe with ready to make powder, Dry gulab jamun with MTR gulab jamun mix powder 

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Instant Murukku|Chakli using Idiyappam Flour| Easy Diwali Recipes

Murukku | Chakli is a traditional Indian snack made during festivals like Diwali, Krishna Jayanthi,etc I’m sure everyone has  nostalgic memories related to Deepavali sweets & savouries and one among them is murukku. Now-a-days, we too try to replicate things for festivals like our moms but it is very difficult to do everything from scratch as our moms & grand moms did those days. Ofcourse lot of readymade flours available to help us in this fast world. I don’t dare to buy those to do experiments. But readymade idiyappam flour is the one which I keep stock always for preparing idiyappam for our dinner. Once  I tried the murukkus  with idiyappam flour and they were so light, crisp & soft. From then on, I tried so many times with different brands & every time it came out well. It is a fool proof recipe, even the beginners can try without any fear.
Let us move on to the recipe!

Recipe for Murukku|Chakli using Idiyappam Flour| Easy Diwali Recipes:

Cuisine : Indian| South Indian

Category: Snack

Preparation time : 10 Minutes

Cooking time : 25 Minutes

yields  – 12-15 (medium size)

Ingredients:

• Idiyappam Flour – 1 cup
• Roasted gram dhal| Pottukadalai powder – ¼ cup
• Butter (at room temperature) – 1 tsp
• White sesame seeds  or Jeera – 1 tbsp
• Salt  to taste
• Oil – for frying
• Water – as needed

Method:

1. Heat 2 cups of water in a sauce pan.
2. Dry muruku press with star hole and a flat laddle .Grease both with little oil and keep ready.
3. In the mean time, heat oil in a broad kadai.
4. Sieve idiyappam flour and transfer it into a mixing bowl.
5. Powder pottukadalai in a mixer and sieve. Measure ¼ cup powder and add it to the idiyappam flour. Add salt and jeera|sesame seeds and mix everything well.
6. Add butter and mix well with your hands. Then add hot water little by little and knead into a soft dough.
7. Divide the dough into equal cylinders and place one in the murukku press. Squeeze the dough on the back of the greased ladle in circular pattern.
8. Gently slide this into the hot oil and wait for 2 minutes.
9. When you see the murukku becomes firm in texture, transfer it to the other side and cook till the oil sound stops. Take out and keep on the paper towel.
10. Store in an air tight container once they completely cool.

Soft & crispy murukku is ready for Diwali!

Note:

• Don’t add roasted gram dhal powder more than the quantity mentioned.
• These murukkus tend to drink oil as we are adding hot water in the recipe. Keeping the chaklis on paper towel for sometime helps in draining the extra oil.
• Don’t trun the murukkus as soon as you drop in the oil because that will make the murukku to break.
• I’ve tried chaklis with these brands-“Priyam & Double Horse idiyappam flour”.
• You can add chilli powder, asafoetida as per your choice.

Tags: Murukku recipe, Easy Chakli recipe, Deepavali recipes, easy Diwali Recipes, Murukku with idiyappam flour,  Deepavali Savory recipes, Easy snack recipes,  How to prepare murukku using idiyappam flour?, Murukku with idiyappam flour & pottukadalai powder

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Masala Cheeyam | Masala Seeyam | Chettinadu Masala Paniyaram

Masala Cheeyam | Masala Seeyam | Chettinadu Masala Paniyaram is one of the traditional Chettinad dishes made by Chettiars on all auspicious days, marriage functions etc. It is a tasty replacement for our regular  Ulundu Vada (Urad dhal fritter) in the  breakfast | dinner menus  in marriage functions. It can also be had as a tea time snack.  It is prepared by deep frying the seasoned batter in oil.  

The masala seeyams, with crispy  outer layer & porous, soft, spongy inner,  taste great when  eat them hot with  any dip  like sambar | chutney. You can  try this Cheetinad special delicacy  for a change on festival days instead of urad dhal vada. It can be served hot with any chutney of your choice but I like it with coconut chutney | mint chutney. Here we go for the recipe.

Ingredients:

For the seeyam batter:

• Ponni Raw Rice – 1 cup
• Whole Urad Dhal – 1 cup
• Salt to taste

For seasoning:

• Oil – 1 tbsp
• Mustard – 1 tsp
• Shallots ( Finely chopped) – 3 tbsp
• Green chillies (Finely chopped) – 2 tbsp
• Curry leaves (Finely chopped) – 3 tbsp
• Coconut gratings – 2 tbsp
• Oil – For deep frying

Method:

1. Wash rice & urad dhal together and soak with enough water for 2 hours.
2. After 2 hours, grind into a smooth, fluffy batter by adding little water now & then. When the batter is done, add the required salt and grind with the batter and take out in a vessel. The consistency of the batter should be like thick idli batter.
3. Heat oil in a kadai, splutter mustard seeds, add the finely chopped green chillies, curry leaves  & shallots and sauté for 2 minutes till the onion becomes translucent & release a nice aroma. Finally add coconut gratings, sauté for a while  and switch off.
4. Allow the seasonings to cool. Then add the seasonings to the seeyam batter and mix everything well.
5. Heat the required oil for deep frying in a broad kadai. Keep a bowl with water ready nearby.
6. When the oil is ready, dip your hands in water, take out a small lemon sized batter, roughly roll the batter into round ball and drop into the oil. Do the same for the rest of the batter and drop them scattered in the oil one by one without touching each other.
7. Keep the flame in medium. Turn the seeyams now & then so that they get cooked evenly on all sides. When they reach golden brown colour,  take them out and drain in a tissue paper | paper towel.

Hot, crunchy, spongy Masala Cheeyams are ready to eat  with tea | coffee.

Note:

• The batter consistency is very much important for seeyams. Be very careful when you add water while grinding the batter. If the batter is runny, the seeyam cannot be formed into shape, will be difficult to drop in oil & will drink more oil too.
• By any chance, if your batter is runny, add 1-2 tbsp of rice flour and mix well.
• Always grinder makes the perfect  seeyam batter but if you are using mixer grinder, use 1 tbsp of urad dhal extra and for grinding, use ice cold water.
• Small onions | shallots will give a good taste & flavour for seeyams but you can add finely chopped big onion too instead of shallots.

Tags: Masala Cheeyam recipe, Chettinattu seeyam recipe, Chettinad masala seeyam recipe, How to prepare batter for seeyam? How to prepare seeyam batter using mixer grinder? How to make seeyam batter? Tips for preparing masala seeyam in shape, Cheetinad Recipes, Chettinad Savoury Snack Recipes, Chettinad Seeyam Recipe, Karaikudi Special Recipes, Chettinad Marriage Recipes, Chettinad Masala Paniyaram recipe, Masalai cheeyam recipe

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7 Cup Burfi | Seven Cup Sweet | Easy Diwali Sweet Recipe

7 Cup Burfi | Seven Cup Sweet | 7 Cup Cake is very  easy to make sweet recipe; need not worry about sugar syrup consistency for this burfi.   The ingredients used in this recipe measure about  7 cups and hence it has got the name.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

• Besan flour | Bengal gram flour – 1 cup
• Sugar – 3 cups
• Coconut  gratings – 1 cup
• Milk – 1 cup
• Ghee – 1 cup + 2 tsp

Method:

1. In a heavy bottomed kadai, mix all the above ingredients without any lumps.
2. Grease a burfi plate with ghee and keep it ready.
3. Place the kadai on a stove,  cook the mixture for about 15 minutes, in medium flame by stirring often so that the mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom.
4. Then keep the flame to low and keep on stirring. In the next 5 – 10 minutes,  the mixture starts pulling away from the sides of the pan. When  the mixture becomes thick enough and gets the burfi consistency, transfer this to the greased plate.
5. When the mixture is slightly warm, mark the pieces with greased, sharp knife | pizza cutter.
6. When it is cool, cut the burfis along the marked lines.

Super tasty 7 Cup Burfi is ready to enjoy for this Diwali!

Note:

• After the sugar dissolves completely, you should not stop stirring the mixture; otherwise it will get stuck to the bottom.
• You should pour the burfi mixture only when it is thick. If you transfer it before, it will be chewy like halwa.
• I have used only 2 ½  cups of sugar but the actual recipe calls for 3 cups. You can do it either way as per your choice.

Tags: 7 cup burfi recipe, Easy Diwali sweet recipe, Festival Recipes, Easy sweet recipes, Seven cup cake recipe, seven cup sweet recipe, Besan Flour Recipes

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Karasev | Karachevu | Easy Diwali Snacks Recipe

Karasev | Karachevu is a easy snack which could be made in a jiffy without too much of efforts. It is a South Indian deep fried snack  and can be made with store bought flours.

Ingredients:

• Rice flour – 1 up
• Besan flour | Bengal gram flour – ¾ cup
• Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
• Pepper powder – ½ tsp
• Asafoetida | Hing – ¼ tsp
• Jeera | Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
• Butter – 2 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Oil – for deep frying

Method:

1. Sieve both the flours with a fine sieve.
2. Add all dry powders i.e. sieved flours, chilli powder, pepper powder, asafoetida, jeera, turmeric powder  & salt and mix well.
3. Now add butter at room temperature and crumble this with the flour.
4. Add water little by little and make a soft dough like chapatti dough.
5. In the mean time, heat oil in a broad kadai  and check by dropping a pinch of dough into the oil. If the dropped dough comes up quickly, then it is ready for frying.
6. Grease the murukku press (with Thenkuzhal Achu)  with oil and fill it with the dough. Press the murukku press  directly into oil  in circles.
7. Once the bottom is done, flip it to other side and take out when the sizzling sound subsides.
8. Once it is cool, break into pieces  and store in an air tight container.

Spicy, crispy karasev is ready to enjoy with hot tea!

Note:

• If you like to use baking soda, then you can add while sieving the flours.
• Frying has to be done in medium heat.

Tags: Easy savoury recipe,  Deepavali snacks recipe, Easy Deepavali Recipes, Easy Diwali Snacks Recipe, Festival recipes, easy snacks recipe, Kara sev recipe, Karachevu recipe, Sattur Karachevu recipe

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Rava Laadu | Sooji Laddu | Rava Laddu

Rava Laadu | Sooji Laddu | Rava Laddu is a simple sweet , could be made in no time . Of course there are many methods of making this delicious sweet, the method I’m giving here will take some time to make initial preparation.  The effort you put will definitely yield good result.

Ingredients:

• Rava | Sooji – 1 cup
• Sugar – ¾ cup
• Ghee – ½ cup or as required
• Cardamom – 3 Nos
• Nuts (finely chopped) of your choice.

Method:

1. Dry roast rava in a thick bottomed kadai until you get nice aroma, without burning sooji.
2. Grind the roasted rava into fine powder in a mixer grinder or in a flour mill.
3. Grind sugar along with cardamom into fine powder  using a mixer grinder and keep aside.
4. In a pan, add a teaspoon of ghee and fry the nuts into golden brown and keep aside.
5. In a broad vessel, add powdered rava, sugar and fried nut and mix everything well.
6. In the mean time, heat ghee in a kadai.
7. Add hot ghee over the mixture and mix everything with a ladle evenly.  Stop adding ghee once when the mixture is about to stick as we do for puttu mix.
8. Take a handful of the mix and hold it tight  together to form a ball when it is hot.
9. Do the same for the rest of the mix.

Your delicious Rava Laadu is ready to enjoy!

Note:

• Don’t heat the ghee to the boiling point.
• Try to make laddu out of hot mix quickly, otherwise, it will not hold together.
• You can also sprinkle some milk but the shelf life of laddu will be only for 2 days.

Tags: Rava Laddu recipe, Festival recipes, Indian Sweet recipes, Easy sweet recipes, Diwali recipes, Gokulashtami recipes, Krishna Jayanthi recipes, Sooji recipes, Rava recipes, How to make laddu with rava?, How to make laadu with sooji?

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Happy Diwali

Happy Diwali to one & all!

Please check my posts under "Diwali Recipes"

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Sweet Potato Gulab Jamun/ Shakarkandi Gulab Jamun (சர்க்கரை வள்ளிக் கிழங்கு ஜாமூன்)

Gulab Jamun is a famous Indian desert, which is not only famous in India but also in South Asia. It is a dessert with deep fried dumplings soaked in  sugar syrup.  Traditionally, this desert was made using rose water and hence  it got the name “Gulab” meaning rose and Jamun for the balls that resemble the Jamun fruit. The jamuns are generally prepared using milk based products.

Today, to post easy Diwali sweet recipe,  I have prepared Gulab Jamun using “Sweet potatoes” or “Shakarkandi/ Rattala”. Don’t think otherwise, you prepare these sweet potato gulab jamun  and give it to your loved ones. I am sure that no one will find out that you have used sweet potatoes for making jamuns. Trust me!

Let us go for the recipe.

Ingredients:

• Sweet potato – 2 Nos
• Bread crumbs – ½ cup
• All purpose flour (Maida) – 3 tbsp
• Sugar- ¾ cup
• Water – 1 ½ cup
• Cardamom powder – 1 tbsp
• Saffron - few strands
• Oil – to deep fry

Method:

1. Wash the sweet potatoes in running water and pressure-cook them until they become soft. Allow it to cool.
2. Peel the skin from the sweet potatoes and mash it with your hands so that there are no lumps in it.
3. Add bread crumbs and flour and knead it to a smooth dough.
4. Make smooth, small lemon sized balls out of this dough and keep them aside.
5. In a heavy bottom pan, add sugar and water. Bring it to boil while stirring in between. Make the sugar syrup in 1 string consistency, add cardamom powder and keep it aside.
6. Heat oil in a deep bottomed kadai. Once the oil gets heated, turn the flame to simmer and add the jamuns carefully in a single layer. Don’t overcrowd them in the oil.
7. Fry the jamuns till they become golden brown and the sizzling sound subsides.
8. Take out these jamuns and dump them in the sugar syrup.
9. Repeat the procedure for rest of the batch.
10. Add saffron strands and allow  the jamuns to soak in the sugar syrup for about an hour.

Surprise  your dear ones and guests this Diwali with  these delicious, soft gulab jamuns and enjoy!!

Note:

• If you can’t mash the sweet potatoes with your hand, you can use a food processor for this part. Then you have to follow from step(3) using your hands. No other wayJ
• Don’t  add water while kneading the dough because we are boiling the sweet potatoes in water and the moisture in the sweet potato itself is enough.
• If you find the dough becomes watery or the jamun gets broken in the oil, add some more flour.
• Add the fried jamuns when the sugar syrup is hot.

Tags: easy diwali sweet recipe, Shakarkandi Gulab jamun recipe, Bengali sweet recipe, sweet potato gulab jamun, how to make gulab jamun using sweet potatoes, other ways of making gulab jamun, gulab jamun recipe without ready to make powder, gulab jamun without milk products, sweet potato jamun recipe, Recipe for shakarkandi jamun, Rattala gulab jamun, சர்க்கரை வள்ளிக் கிழங்கு ஜாமூன்

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Apple Pista Halwa/ Apple Halwa

Diwali is nearing and I want to post some of the easy Diwali recipes which will be of use to the working women and beginners. Apple Pista Halwa or Apple Halwa is one of the recipe which can be done without much strain and there are no hard rules to follow. It combines the goodness of apple and pista and hence this is very good for growing children. Those who already have a list of recipes to be done for Diwali, can include this sweet also because it will not take much time.

Above all else, I can proudly say that this Apple Pista Halwa is an innovation of mine for this Diwali. This delicious sweet can be prepared very easily and takes about 20 minutes with minimum ingredients. 

Ingredients:

• Apple (grated) – 1 cup
• Besan flour – ½ cup
• Pista ( coarsely ground) – ¼ cup
• Milk –  ½ cup
• Sugar – 2 cup
• Ghee – 3 tbsp

Method:

1. Peel the skin from the apple and shred it into thick pieces (not too fine) using a large hole on the grater.
2. In a thick bottomed kadai, fry besan flour in a tablespoon of ghee till the raw smell of besan flour goes off.
3. Add apple gratings to this besan flour and fry till the moisture content from the apple dries out.
4. Add milk and sugar and mix everything well.
5. Keep on stirring the mixture till it reaches halwa consistency.  Finally add rest of the ghee and the coarsely ground pista ( reserve some for garnishing). It will take only about 10 minutes.
6. Transfer the contents to the greased plate and allow it to cool. Garnish with pista.
7. Cut into squares of desired size.

Your nutty, soft Apple Pista Halwa is ready to be enjoyed!!

Note:

• Apple used should be crunchy enough so that the apple gratings can be tasted in between.
• Grating should be done in parallel with frying besan so that the colour of the apple does not change.
• I didn’t add any food colour. If you want, you can add some yellow colour.
• This halwa is too soft, if you want to make it in shapes as shown in pic,  you may  have to do it with little patience. If you find it difficult,  you can simply serve it like badam halwa.

Tags: Diwali sweet recipe, Apple Halwa recipe, Pista halwa recipe, Apple pista crunchy halwa,  Deepavali sweet recipe, sweets using apple, halwa using fruits, halwa using nuts

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Rasagulla (Bengali Sweet)

Rasagulla is a famous  Bengali sweet/desert and the method is very simple but I can’t guarantee the output. Because we need to follow the procedure carefully so that the correct texture of rasagullas  can be obtained. I heard lot of stories  from my friends about making rasagullas at home. I have tried it long before but I got the exact texture at the very first attempt. Today, being a special day, my husband’s birthday, I wanted to try it again to surprise my hubby. I recollected the recipe and started this venture with a little doubt but ended up with great result. This time also I got it right!. I thought of sharing this recipe immediately, so that it will be useful for our forthcoming festivals , especially for Diwali. My husband will also  have a look at this special sweet I have made on his B’day!

Ingredients:

• Milk (full fat) – 500  ml
• Lemon juice – 2 tbsp
• Sugar – 100 ml
• Water – 300 ml
• Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
• Ice cubes – few
• Pistachio for decoration 

Method:

1. .Boil milk and add lemon juice, stir the contents so that the milk curdles totally and the whey water gets separated.
2. Swich off and add the ice cubes and stir.
3. Drain the whey water using a clean muslin cloth  and rinse it under running water .
4. Gently press to remove the excess water from the paneer and hang it for 10 minutes.
5. Transfer the contents from the muslin cloth in a bowl and knead it gently for about 5 minutes.
6. Make it like a small ball. I got around 12 small balls out of ½ litre milk.
7. Place a kadai on stove, pour water, sugar and cardamom powder. When the sugar gets dissolved completely, strain the syrup using metal strainer.
8. Again heat the sugar syrup in a kadai/vessel, when it boils, gently drop the balls into the sugar syrup and boil in medium heat for about  2 minutes. Then simmer and close it with a lid , cook the balls for about 10 minutes, opening the lid now and then.
9. Now you will find the rasagullas become double in size. At this stage, switch off and refrigerate and serve the yummy rasagullas.

Note:

1. Kneading part plays an important role in getting porous rasagullas, so do this with enough patience.
2. Don’t overheat the sugar syrup, if you find that it is thick while straining you can add some water.
3. We can use whey water for curdling the milk which is the way the Bengalis use to curdle. This will also give soft rasagullas.

Tag: Bengali sweet, Bengali desert, Indian sweet, Indian desert, Diwali recipes, milk based sweet recipe, sugar syrup recipe.

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Kalkandu Vadai

Kalkandu Vadai/ Sweet medhu vadai is one of the most delicious Chettinad recipe served in all Chettiyar marriages and they will make this recipe for all auspicious occasions like Diwali, Pillayar Nonbu, etc. Traditionally it was made with crystal sugar candy (Kalkandu) , hence the name “Kalkandu Vadai”. Now a days, sugar is substituted in place of kalkandu.

Very simple recipe with minimum ingredients and easy to prepare.

Ingredients:

•  Urad dhal         - 1cup
•  Raw rice          - 1 tbsp
•  Kalkandu (crushed) – ¾ cup or                                                                                  Sugar               - ¾ cup
•  Oil to fry

Method:

            Wash and soak urad dhal and raw rice for about 2 hours.  Grind  urad dhal without adding water because while adding sugar, the batter will become watery. After grinding urad dhal to fine batter, add sugar and grind well.

            Pour oil in a kadai , ensure that oil gets heated up to medium heat. Then take out the batter, flatten it like ulundu vada with hole at the centre and drop gently into the oil. Fry these vadais in slow fire till the bubbles subside. Take out the vadais  and serve it hot. The vadais will be good even when it is cold.

Note:

1.    Care should be taken while adding water to grind urad dhal.
2.    Vadais need to be fried in slow fire, otherwise it will turn into black.

Technorati Tags: Chettinad recipe, Authentic Chettinad Kalkandu Vadai recipe, Sweet vada, Chettinattu kalkandu vadai, chettinadu special kalkandu vadai, Kalkandu vada recipe, sweet medhu vadai

                        

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Vaazhaipoo Vadai (Plantain flower vada)/ Plantain Flower Fritters

This is a very famous and delicious chettinad recipe. The tough and time consuming task in this recipe is cleaning the plantain flower. We can schedule the recipe for 2 days, i.e first day,  cleaning the plantain flower and the second day, preparing dough and then vada. All the effort we put in, will yield a good, tasty , crispy vada and will be loved by everyone.

Plantain flower is very good for ladies for uterus related problems. Children will not eat this if we make poriyal, thuvattal, kootu, etc., due to its sour (thuvarpu in Tamil) taste but it will be irresitible when it is tranformed into vada. There are many fans (family, friends&colleagues) for my vazhaippoo vadai and  I am dedicating this recipe especially to them.

Ingredients:

•   Plantain flower (small) -1 no
•   KadalaiParuppu – 200 gm
•   Red chillies – 6 nos
•   Fennel seeds – 1 Tbsp
•  Garlic – 2 to 3 pods
• Green chillies (finely chopped) – 2 nos
• Asafetida  -  1 tsp
• Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
• Shallots – 8 to 10 nos or big onion – 1 no.
• Rice flour – 2 Tbsp
• Coriander and curry leaves ( finely chopped)- 3 Tbsp
• Salt as required
• Oil as required.

Method:

Soak the kadalaiparuppu and red chillies for minimum one hour. Now add the soaked dhal along with red chillies and garlic and grind it coarsely without adding water as we do  for “Aamavadai” . Then,  clean the plantain flower ( I’ll blog the step by step procedure for cleaning the plantain flower) , thoroughly  wash the florets in water and chop it finely and put in the water diluted with curd (add 2 to 3 Tbsps of curd in a cup of water) so that the plantain flower will not turn into black color. Nicely squeeze out the water from the chopped florets and add this to the ground dhal. With this, add fennel seeds, finely chopped green chillies, onion, coriander& curry leaves, asafetida, turmeric powder, rice flour and salt and thoroughly mix everything ( don’t add water , the moisture in the onion and plantain florets will be enough to mix). In the mean time, heat oil in  a flat bottomed kadai. Make small balls out of the vada mixture. Flatten these balls , thinner than “AamaiVadai”and fry in slow fire, flip the vadai on both sides till vadais turn into golden brown colour.

Mouth watering VazhaippooVadai is ready to eat.

This can be taken as evening snack along with tea especially during rainy season (adai mazhai kaalam) or can be a great accompaniment for any variety rice, sambar rice, curd rice or for rasanjaadham!!

Note :

1. The colour and crispiness of the vadai will be decided by the oil temperature. So we need to fry these  vadais in medium flame.
2. Care should be taken while grinding kadalai paruppu, it should be coarsely ground without adding water.
3. You can keep the cleaned plantain florets (without washing) in an air tight container in the fridge for about 2 to 3 days. Whenever, you need the florets  you can wash and chop as per your recipe.

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