Rava Kesari or Sooji ka Halwa

This is one of the easiest , fastest and tastiest sweets to make. Kesari gets it's name from the word Kesar which means Saffron.

Ingredients Required:

• Rava - 1 cup
• Sugar - 2 cups
• Water - 2 cups
• Ghee - 3/4 cup
• Cashewnuts - a few
• Saffron - a few strings (soak in a tbsp of milk)
• Raisins - a few
• Orange/Red food colour - 2 drops (mix in a tsp of milk)
• Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp

Cooking Method:

• Add 1 tbsp of ghee in a frying pan


• Add rava to the pan and roast until golden brown.


• Boil 2 cups of .


• Take a heavy bottomed pan and add water and then add roasted rava to this, all of this in medium flame stove.


• Mix constantly so that rava does not form balls.


• Add sugar to this and stir continously.


• Add food color to this after mixing in a tsp of milk.


• Add the saffron soaked in milk.


• Slowly start adding ghee little by little and stir until the mixture solidifies.


• Add cardamom powder, stir again and switch off the flame.


• Add chopped cashew nuts and raisins fried in ghee.


• Serve hot.


• If kids like it, you can even pour this on a plate and cut into their desired shapes.
  

Akkaravadisal

This receipe is posted as requested by brother-in-law, this is for you Bharath :-)

Akkaravadisal is a typical Iyengar receipe. People often think that sakara pongal are the same. Read more and you will find the difference :-)


Ingredients Required:

• Rice - 1 cup


• Whole Milk - 5 cups


• Moong dhal or greem gram dhal - 1/4 cup


• Chana Dhal - 1 tbsp


• 1 cup grated jaggery or you can use Sugar or Kalkandu


• Ghee - 1/2 cup (Yes this is the full fat version :-)


• cashew,raisins - A few


• Saffron Strings - About 10


• Cardamom pdr-1 tsp
  

Cooking Method:

• Lightly roast moong dhal and rice.
• Add saffron string to this.
• Place the above in cooker for pressure cooking after adding 5 cups of milk.
• Do not add water as milk will be used instead.
• Remove from cooker and mash it up nicely.
• Add jaggery and stir until the mixture solidifies.
• Add cardamom powder.
• Fry Cashews and raisins in all of the ghee and add to the above.
• Serve hot with extra ghee.

Aval Puttu (Beaten rice, Poha )

It is considered very auspicious to prepare puttu on Navarathri friday and distribute it to women who come and see Golu. This Aval Puttu is so simple to make and just can be prepared in 1/2 hour . You will like it so much that you will start making this frequently even not during Navarathri days. Children will love to eat this as an evening snack.

Ingredients Required:
Poha or aval - 2 cups
Jaggery - 1 cup
Cashews - 10-12
Raisins - 10-12
Cardamom - 2-3(powdered)


Cooking Method:

• Fry Poha in a pan until golden brown. Remember to keep stirring else, it will become black.
  
• Heat water in a bowl separately.


• While heating water grind the fried poha in the mixie so that it is in the consistency of fine rava.


• Transfer poha to a large plate.


• Add hot water slowly and start mixing poha and water. Do not put too much water. Poha will start absorbing water and try to separate it out in such a way that it forms crumbs.


• Let this settle for sometime.


• Take a pan and put the jaggery and a little water and start making a thick syrup (pagu).


• Now add the poha to the jaggery and start stirring until it solidfies. Initally it will appear to look like liquid. But keep stirring and as soon as all the water is absorbed, you will find puttu well mixed in jaggery syrup which will appear in powder form.


• Now add Cardomom powder to this.


• Fry cashew and raisins in ghee and add to the puttu.


• Let is cool for sometime and serve .

Sakara Pongal (Sweet Pongal)

Sakara pongal is my favourite. I make this whenever I have to make any prasadam for god. It is easy to prepare and very very yummy to taste.

Ingredients Required:

Rice - 1 cup
Moong dhal - 1/4 cup
Jaggery - 2 cups
Ghee - As much needed
Cashews and Raisins - As much as needed.
Milk - 2 cups
Saffron- 5 - 6 strands
Cardamom seeds - 1 little

Cooking Method:

• Add rice, moong dhal, 2 cups milk, 1 1/2 cups of water, saffron and pressure cook this. Wait for 3-4 whistles.
• Meanwhile grate the jaggery .
• Fry the cashews and raisins in ghee and keep it separately.
• After the rice is done, take a pan and add jaggery to it. Add a little bit of water and start stirring this mixture until pagu comes or until the mixture thickens. Make sure it is not too thick too.
• Add the rice mixture which was cooked to this and constantly keep stirring until it becoems thick.
• Every few minutes add some ghee. I do not add much ghee. I personally feel that ghee can be added by people who need it while Sakara pongal is being served.
• Add Cardamom seeds powder to this.
• Add Cashews and serve hot.

PS: Some filks in tamilnadu prefer to add pachai karpooram (camphor) at last. This really makes the receipe even mosre tasty.

Venn Pongal

Pongal is a tamil receipe and is very tasty. In the month of December (Margazhi masam), people prepare pongal almost everyday early in the morning and offer it to god. In hotels pongal is offered with coconut chutney and sambar. It really tastes good. You can even make gothsu for this which I will cover later.

Ingredients Required:

• Rice - 1 cup
• Moong dal (Passi paruppu) - Qaurter cup
• Ginger Fresh - 1' - 1 1/2 ' inch piece chopped finely
• Salt - As per your taste
• Pepper(black) - 2 teaspoons or
• Pepper powder (1 tea spoon)
• Cumin seeds(Jeera) - 2 teaspoons
• Pinch of Hing or asafoetida
• Lot of Cashews
• Some curry leaves
• Ghee - as per your wish (the more the better tatse :-)

Cooking method:

• Cook rice and moong dhal together in the pressure cooker.
• Add extra water as pongal is supposed to be like a paste rather than regular rice.
• Fry Cumin seeds, Ginger , curry leaves , hing & pepper (or pepper powder)in ghee.
• Mix the above with the cooked rice and dhal.
• Add salt to taste.
• Add fried curry leaves
• Add fried cashews to serve as a garnish.
• Serve really hot pongal with nice coconut chutney and sambar.
• Serve more ghee to people who like it :-)