Jangri / Imarti

Hello all! I am back after a nice vacation. We went to Orlando for a week and it was a good break for me. This was my little one's first trip to orlando and he has been chanting shamu and mickey's names even in his sleep :)

Anyways, i am back with my favorite sweet Jangri or Jaangiri also known as Imarti in north india.

Jangri is a family favorite, but i did not know we could make those at home. They look complicated, dont you think? One of my friends shared jangri recipe couple of years back and that was the first time i came to know that it was made out of urad daal. Somehow seeing urad daal as the main ingredient made it less appealing as i could not associate it with a sweet. So i decided not to try it ever until i saw this. Raji's recipes remind me of my mom's cooking all the time and i'm a big fan of her blog. When i saw jangris there, I just could not resist and i wanted to give it a try. I made these for our wedding anniversary. Since it's a family fav,everyone was happy. I need to work on the shapes though.

I made only minor changes to the original recipe.

Ingredients :

Urad daal : 1/2 cup

Sugar : 3/4Cup

Cardamom powder - 1/2 spoon

Saffron - a pinch

Orange food colour - 1/2 spoon.

Method :

Soak urad daal for couple of hours and grind it with little water. It should be of vada batter consistency and fluffy. Mix orange food colour and keep aside. Heat sugar with water just enough to cover it. Heat it just till it boils. I tried boiling more and once it cooled down, it became hard and i had to redo to get the sugar syrup. I made the sugar syrup similar to the syrup we make for gulab jamuns. I didn't go with any string consistencies. Now heat oil for deep frying. Take a ziploc bag and poke a small hole (depending on the thickness u want). Take the batter in ziploc and squeeze them slowly in the oil. Keep the heat between medium low and medium. Once the jangri is fried, drain it and add it in the sugar syrup immediately. Let it soak for a minute or little more than that. Remove and spread it in a plate.

Enjoy for now and worry later about the calories ;-)

Microwave Milk Peda

Hope you all had a wonderful Diwali!

I made these pedas and i took the recipe from Lazzat and it was easy and yummy. I followed the recipe with very slight moderation.


Ingredients:
Milk powder - 2 cups
Sweetened condensed milk - 1 can (14oz)
Butter - 3 spoons
Cardamom powder - 2,3 pinches
Saffron - few strings
Unsalted Roasted Nuts (of your choice) - to garnish.

Method : Take the butter in a microwave safe bowl and melt it for a minute. Add the milk powder, condensed milk, cardamom powder and crushed saffron and mix well. Heat in the microwave for approximately 5 minutes stirring every minute. You should heat it till you get a slightly crumbly texture as it will harden up little more when it cools down. Let it cool.

Apply some ghee to your palms and roll them and flatten them. Garnish with nuts.

I did not have the patience to wait till it cooled down so i could not get the perfect shape :-( Also, it tasted great but i could still smell the milk powder slightly, probably because i used a different brand this time as i did not find Nestle milk powder. That didn't stop me from eating them though :-)

Along with this i made Ribbon Pakoda and Channa daal payasam for diwali, but i dont have a good pic of ribbon. Will post the payasam soon.

Sending this to Sweet Series

Akkaravadisal (Sweet Pongal) for my daddy

I thought of taking a short break after i posted couple of days back, but today is my dad's birthday and i miss him sooo much :((((

Here is me and my daddy...

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Near or Far...You will always be in our hearts... ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
I thought i will post his favorite sweet today for his birthday...

My dad loved traditional sweets and akkaravadisal is one of them. Akkaravadisal is similar to chakkarai pongal. Akkaravadisal, to my knowledge is the iyengar version of Chakkarai pongal and the difference that i know is, akkaravadisal is more gooey (kinda semi solid) and is cooked in milk. My dad was diabetic but he had a knack to make us give him the sweets, especially the traditional ones. He never got sneaky and knowing that we would scold him for eating too many sweets, he still managed to get what he wanted. Being a daddy's girl, i always gave in real quick and i would scold my mom (poor mom!) for making the sweet in the first place...

Here is the recipe to his favorite sweet :

Ingredients :

Rice - 1 cup

Moong daal - 1/3 cup

Milk - 2 cups

Water - 1 cup

Jaggery - as required ( i use cubes and it would've measured upto 3/4th of a cup, i think)

Ghee - 1 spoon

Cashews - a handful

Raisins - optional ( I hate raisins in any sweet and i dont add, but it is usually added :))

Cardamom powder - a pinch

Saffron - a pinch

Milk - another 1/2 cup.

Method :
Mine is a quick and easy way and i have no clue how my mom and mil make it. The first time i made it, it tasted great and i just continued making it this way and never bothered to check with either of them.

1. Pressure cook washed rice and daal with 1 cup water and 2 cups milk. Adding milk gives it a rich, creamy texture and hence you don't need to use litres of ghee to make it taste good.

2. In the meanwhile boil 1/2 cup milk with saffron and cardamom powder in microwave.

3. Once the rice and daal are cooked and the pressure is released, add the milk, jaggery pieces to the rice-daal and mix well. Cook once again in the pressure cooker for one whistle.

4. Once the pressure is released mix it well.

5. In a pan, heat some ghee (i only use 1 spoon) and roast cashews and garnish the pongal with cashews.

Carrot Almond Kheer - From Chandrabagha

My mom makes carrot kheer and i love it but never bothered to take the recipe from her.
When i saw Anu's Carrot Kheer, i instantly started craving for it. To make it worse (or better, i should say! :)), it had almonds in it and i had to have it immediately. It was so easy too.
Am glad i didn't wait to make it. It was super yummy! I pretty much stuck to the recipe except that i increased the quantity of almonds and reduced the milk to get thicker and creamier texture.I used blanched almonds.

Ingredients:

Carrots - 2
Milk - 1 cup
Blanched Almonds - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 2 spoons


Method :

Soak almonds in milk (just enough to cover them) for about 15 minutes . Wash carrots, peel and pressure cook. Let it cool. Add carrots, almonds, sugar, milk (I used boiled and chilled milk) in a blender and blend until smooth. Serve chilled. Cardamom is optional. My first son doesn't like cardamom, so i didn't add it. I liked the colour of this kheer so much, so didn't want to add any nuts or raisins to it either. I added only 2 spoons of sugar as both me and my husband don't like it, if it is too sweet. Pls. adjust the quantity of sugar as per your taste.

I am sending this to Sanghi's FIL-Carrots and Srivalli's Mithai Mela

MW - Vermicelli Kheer / Semiya payasam

This is a very simple and quick recipe.
Ingredients :
Roasted Vermicelli - 200gms
Sugar - 1 cup (approx)
Cardomom powder - a pinch
MTR Badam mix or Ragi malt - 2 spooons
Saffron - a pinch
Cashews - handful
Ghee - 2 spoons

Method :
Add a spoon of ghee in a microwaveable bowl (Ceramic or glass) and add the vermicelli and keep it for 30 seconds. If you don't have roasted vermicelli, keep repeating this till the vermicelli turns golden brown. Pls. do not heat it at a stretch as it will burn some of the vermicelli.
Add water and cook for 3 minutes. Keep stirring every minute. Once the vermicelli is soft, add milk, saffron, cardomom powder, sugar, ragi malt or badam milk mix and cook for 2 more minutes. Add more milk if you like thinner consistency. If the vermicelli is still not very soft, cook for some more time as the power varies from mw to mw.

Once it is done, take a small glass or ceramic bowl and add a spoon of ghee and cashews and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir and cook for another 30 seconds or till the cashews turn golden brown. Enjoy the quick and easy kheer :)

Microwave Kalakand and the Sweet li'l bear

First of all, thanks Priya and Ramya for passing me the Chocoholic bear. Who wouldn't love chocolate? :-) I would like to pass this to Aartee, Pavani and Vidhya
Now a sweet recipe for the sweet bear :-)

I saw this recipe few weeks back and wanted to make it. I made it for my husband's birthday and it was super easy and tasted great.

Ingredients :
Sweetened Condensed Milk - 14 oz
Ricotta Cheesa - same quantity as the condensed milk. (Fill the can as mentioned in the above recipe)
Cardomom powder - a pinch
Saffron and chopped nuts for garnishing
Ghee - 1 spoon

Method :

Mix ingredients 1 -3 and microwave for 12 minutes or until it reaches the grainy consistency. Stir in between to avoid boiling over. I stirred every 2 minutes for the first 3 times and then increased the time. Insert a spoon to see if it is done. If it doesn't stick to the spoon, it is done.Transfer it into a greased plate and let it cool for few minutes. Cut them into slices.

Heat some ghee and add saffron and chopped nuts and fry them till the nuts are slightly browned (i used almonds). Garnish the kalakand with saffron and almonds. There is an alternate recipe for this kalakand with milk powder and condensed milk. It was easy and awesome too. I will dig in and post it later for those who won't get Ricotta cheese.

Sending this to MEC: Cheese event hosted by Pavani. MEC Event was started by Srivalli

and EC's WYF : Kitchen Gadget Event.

I am also sending this to Aparna's Blog Birthday :-)

Microwave Theratupaal / Milk khova

I wanted to send more than one entry for Srivalli's MEC Potluck event, but due to lack of time and me not feeling that well for the last 2 weeks i am just sending one entry for that event. I am glad i could send something :-)

This is super easy and very tasty.

Ingredients :
Sweetened Condensed Milk - 1 can (14 oz)
Yogurt - 1 spoon

Method

Mix the condensed milk and yogurt and microwave for 2 minutes and stir it and microwave for another 30 seconds. Repeat this for another 4,5 times (stirring every 30 - 45 seconds). If you don't stir in between it will boil over. It only took 6 minutes to prepare this.

Appam for Avani Avittam and a Tag

We make vadai and appam for Avani avittam. My kids loved both vadai and appam.
My first kiddo asked me if appam is an Indian doughnut without the hole :-) I guess then we call vadai the indian doughnut without the sugar ;-) or spicy doughnuts ... :-)

I will post the recipe for urad daal vadai (Vada) later. Most people use rice flour to make appams. My mom uses wheat flour and it tastes delicious. My dad loves this too...







Here's the recipe for my mom's version of Appam :
Ingredients :
Jaggery - 2 cups
Wheat flour - 1.5 cups
Elaichi powder - a pinch
Rice flour - 2 spoons

Method :

Heat jaggery with little water till it melts. Reduce the heat and add wheat flour, riceflour and elaichi (keep it mixed already) slowly and stir continuously to avoid lumps. Keep stirring till it reaches dosa batter consistency. Heat oil and drop this batter using a ladle or a big spoon and fry till they are done.

Mine were looking fluffier when i took it off the oil, but i pressed them to get the excess oil out and they became flat.

Later when i called my mil, she said that i could make it using the Kuzhipaniyaram vessel. I am going to try it again later as it is healthier.

Sending this recipe to Sweet Series at http://www.paajaka.com/

And now to the tag :

Lubna has tagged me for "7 Facts about me"

The rules of the tag are:
(a) List these rules on your blog. (b) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog. (c) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

Here are the 7 facts about me :

WORK : Working as a BSA in a Manufacturing Company.

EDUCATION : Masters in Computer Applications

FRIENDSHIP : I have read somewhere that "Friendship is talking to your best friend without words" and i am blessed to have such friends and i also have to mention i have great friends within my family.

RELATIONSHIP : Again a quote : "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." That's how a good relationship should be.

INTERNET : I will go mad without Internet :-)

FITNESS : Not a fitness freak. I dont exercise regularly, but try to make healthy choices when it comes to food.

DREAMS : I am big time Day dreamer :-) My current dream is to go back to india for good and settle down in my dream house...

I tag Vidhya, Madhuram, Srivalli, Aparna, Shreya, Illatharasi, Rekha.

Mango Pachadi

We typically make this for Tamil New Year. It has every taste mixed in it.
It is to symbolically say that our life shoud have everything in the right proportion.

Ingredients :
Ripe Mango - 1
Red chillies - 2 or 3
Jaggery - 2 cubes
Neem flowers - few (i didnt add it as i dont want anything bitter :))
Salt - very little

In little oil, pop mustard seeds and add hing, red chillies and urad daal and saute till golden brown. Add mangoes and little water and cook till they are soft. Add little bit of salt and jaggery and cook some more. It tastes yummy!