Achchu murukku

This is my favorite snack and festival treat.My hubby loves sweet treats and so I made this for him.Hope you enjoy this.

Ingredients:

• Rice Four-1 cup
• All purpose flour -3/4
• Sugar - 1/2 cup
• Oil-for frying
• Sesame seeds-1 tsp
• Cardamom powder- 1/2 tsp optional

Preparation:

• Mix the above ingredients except oil in a bowl.
• Add water little by little and keep mixing the batter until it becomes smooth .
• Make sure that it is not too thick or too runny.
• Heat oil in a pan and keep the murukku mold dipped in the oil.
• The oil needs to be hot enough but not smoky to turn the murukku brown at once.
• Once the oil is hot and the mold is also hot, dip the mold into the batter.
• Make sure that the mold is not dipped fully but three quarters.
• When the mold is dipped, it should make a hissing noise.
• The mold needs to be hot for the batter to stick to the mold.
• Then dip the mold into the oil and the oil will bubble around the mold.
• When the murukku is half done,start shaking the mold gently and the murruku will drop my itself or use a knife or skewer to loosen it from the mold.
• It might take some two or three murukkus to start understanding the exact way that works better for you.So don't panic at the first time.
• Take the murruku out of the oil when golden brown.
• The murukku will harden once it cools.
• Store in a tight container.

Nei appam

Nei appam is a favourite of Lord Krishna and makes a good Janmashtami recipe.I made this last week for janmashtami pooja.

Ingredients:

• Raw rice - 1 cup (soaked for 1 hr)
• Banana - 1
• Jaggery - 1 cup
• Coconut (optional)- 1/2 cup grated
• Ghee(clarified butter)
• Cardamom - 2

Preparation:

• Drain the rice and add banana, jaggery & cardamom to it.
• Grind the above with little water to make a batter (dosa consistency).
• Mix coconut to it and keep aside for 1 hr.
• In the paniyara maker, add 1 spoon of ghee to each section.
• Make sure the heat is in low-medium.
• Now fill three quarters of each section with the batter.
• Once the ghee starts to bubble,flip it using a skewer.
• Wait for a minute and remove.

Plain Rice kolukattai (no-filling)

Ingredients:

• Rice Flour -2 cups
  
• Mustard - 1 tbsp
  
• Curry Leaves - 10
  
• Urad Dal - 1 tbsp
  
• Cumin seeds- 1tbsp
  
• Red chili crushed - 4
  
• Salt 
  
• Oil to season
  
• Water - very hot

Preparation:

• Heat oil in a pan and add mustard,urad,cumin,chillies and curry leaves.
  
• Add it to the flour and add salt to it.
  
• Add the boiling water little by little into it and start stirring with wooden spoon.
  
• Make sure not to add excess water .
  
• The mixture needs to be soft.
  
• If you have kolukattai achchu (press) use it to stuff the mixture into it or make shapes(which ever appeals to you).
  
• Steam the kolukattai in idli or any steamer.
  
• Serve with chutney.
  
• Makes a great snack,enjoy!
  

Rava ladoo

Ingredients:

• Rava (Sooji or semolina) - 1 கப்
• Sugar 3/4 cup
• Ghee - 1/ 4 cup
• Milk - 2 tbsp
• Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
• Raisins - 1 tbsp
• Cashew nuts - 5

Preparation:

• Roast the rava in a thick pan until the aroma starts to come out and gold color.
• Make sure it doesnt turn brown.
• Fry the cashew and rasins with ghee in a pan.
• Add roasted rava,sugar,cardamom powder,ghee,and milk and make a small balls out of it.
• You can either press the rasin and cashew at last on it or you can mix them to the mixture itself before forming balls.
• Make sure not to disturb them until hard otherwise there are chances of breaking them.
• Makes a nice snack and festival item.

Pazham Aval

Ingredients:

• Aval - 2 cups
• Jaggery - 1/4 cup
• Banana - 1
• Coconut -grated-1/4 cup
• Cardamom - 1
• Nuts - any (optional)

Preparation:

• In a pan heat jaggery with very little water and form a syrup.
• Add powdered cardamom to it.
• Add coconut to it and mix well.
• Turn off the heat and allow it to cool a little but it should be warm.
• Take aval in a bowl and add the above syrup to it and add little mashed banana to it and mix well.
• Serve with sliced banana and top with nuts if desired.
• This dish is nutritious.

Rasgulla

Ingredients:

• Milk - 4 1/2 cups
• Lemon juice -2 tbsp
• Water - 4 1/2 cups
• Sugar - 1 1/2 cups

Preparation:

• Bring milk to boil and add the lemon juice diluted with 1 tbsp water into it little by little stirring continuously.
• Wait for the cheese to separate from the milk.
• Drain it through the muslin cloth and show it under cold water to remove the taste of lemon juice from it .
• Then bundle it up and squeeze the water out it until no water is left in it.
• In the meanwhile,add the water and sugar in a pressure cooker and boil it uncovered.
• To check if the cheese is just right, rub a little on the palm and form a ball out of it.
• It comes out perfect,then the cheese is in right consistency.
• Split it into equal parts of small balls (they double in size after cooked).
• Make sure you press it hard while rolling it so that it doesn't break while cooking.
• Add these balls to the cooker and close it with the lid and add weight .
• Wait for the pressure to form and then allow it to cook on medium flame for 7-8 mins and turn off.
• Once the pressure is released, transform it to a container (take care not to break it).
• Refrigerate and serve cold.
• Add a little shaved pistachios on it. Enjoy !!!

Boondhi Laddu

Ingredients:

• Besan (gram flour) - 1 cup
• Sugar - 2 cups
• Water -1 cups
• Oil for frying - 1 1/2 cups
• Rice flour - 2 tsps
• Baking powder - 1 tsp
• Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
• Food colors - yellow, red,green (optional)
• Cashews broken -3 tsps
• Raisin - 2 tsps

Preparation:

• In a bowl, mix besan, rice flour,baking powder and add water little by little to make a thick batter.
• Divide it into 3 portions and add the three colors to one portion each.
• If you don't like color, skip step 2.
• Now heat oil in a deep pan .
• Pour the batter little by little through the vessel or broad spoon with holes and remove them before they turn brown.
• Collect all the boondhi by using the batter with three colors.
• In the meanwhile, heat water and sugar to form a syrup of just before thread like consistency.
• Now add powdered cardamom and turn of the heat.
• Add the boondhi to it and mix well.
• Now heat ghee in a pan and fry cashews and raisins in it and add to the mixture once done.
• Mix all the ingredients well.
• Allow the mix to cool a little but must be warm so that you can make small balls out of it.
• Otherwise the bondhi will not stick to each other properly.
• Serve with murukku,thattai and enjoy!!