Chakkar Pongal

Chakkar Pongal Ingredients :

 Long grain rice – 2 cup
 Split green gram (without skin) – 1 cup
 Fresh coconut cut, small pieces or shredded coconut – ½ cup
 Ghee – ¾ cup
 Sugar – 2 ½ cup
 Cardamoms - 6
 Raisins and cashews – 4 tbsp
 Milk – 2 cup
 Water - 2 ½ cup

Chakkar Pongal Method :

1. Dry roast the split green gram on medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes till it becomes light pink and a nice aroma arises.
2. Cook the rice and split green gram in 2 cups milk with 2 ½ cups water in rice cooker or on stove in a pan.
3. In the meantime, while it is cooking melt the 3 tablespoons of ghee and fry the raisins and cashews on medium heat till cashews turn light golden, drain them and fry coconut pieces or shredded coconut in the same ghee till golden. Set all these seasoning aside.
4. Crush the cardamom to powder.
5. When the rice gets cooked, remove the rice and place it in a pan large enough to hold it and the sugar. Add sugar, cook on medium heat till all the sugar is absorbed. Stir it often to avoid burning.
6. After the sugar has been absorbed add ½ cup ghee and turn off the stove.
7. Add the fried coconut, cashews, raisins and cardamom powder. Stir it and let it stay on the stove for 2 or 3 minutes.
8. Afterwards remove from heat.
9. Serve warm.

Carrot Halwa

Carrot Halwa Ingredients :

Carrots – 1 kg
Milk – 1 litre
Sugar – 1 cup
Green cardamom powder – 1 tsp
Ghee – 100 gms
Khoya – 60 gms
Flaked almonds – 3 tbsp
Crushed pistachio – 4 tsp
Raisins – 5 tsp

Carrot Halwa Method :

1.Peel, wash and grate the carrots.
2.Grate the khoya.
3.Heat ghee in wok, add the carrots and the khoya (leaving 2 tsp for garnishing) and sauté for 1 – 2 minutes.
4.Now add the milk and cook on medium flame, stirring at regular intervals initially and then continuously for 10 – 15 minutes.
5.Add sugar, raisins and cardamom and again cook for a further 10 – 15 minutes or till carrots are tender and the liquid has evaporated.
6.Once the Halwa starts leaving the sides of the wok, lower the flame and cook for 1-2 minutes stirring vigorously.
7. Remove from flame. Serve hot or cold garnished with khoya.

Apple Kheer

Apple Kheer Ingredients :
Apple – 1 kg
Milk – 1.5 litre
Sugar – 200 gms
Saffron – a few threads
Green cardamom powder – 1 tsp
Flaked almonds and crushed pistachio to garnish
Few apple slices to garnish (optional)

Apple Kheer Method :

1. Dissolve saffron in 2 tsp lukewarm milk and keep aside.
2. Peel, core and dice the apples.
3. Put the apples in a Kadhai or Wok.
4. Add sugar and stew over medium flame, stirring constantly – but gently (to prevent the apples from getting crushed), until thesugar has dissolved and the liquid has evaporated.
5. Remove and cool.
6. Boil milk in a heavy bottomed pan, reduce to low flame and simmer until it reduces to 2 ½ cups (600 ml).
7. Add saffron, cardamom and stir.
8. Remove from the gas flame.
9. When warm add the stewed apples and stir.
10.Transfer to a serving bowl and refrigerate.
11.Serve Apple Kheer chilled garnished with the nuts and apple slices.

Tips or Variations :
You can use grated carrot or grated bottle gourd instead of apple.

Jalebis

Jalebis Ingredients :
For the batter :
1 teacup self-raising flour
a pinch baking powder
½ teacup fresh curds
ghee for deep frying
For the syrup :
1 teacup sugar
½ tsp saffron
2 tsp rose water
For garnishing :
½ tsp cardamom powder
1 tbsp blanched and sliced pistachios
rose petals (optional)

Jalebis Method :
Sieve the flour with the baking powder.
Put ½ teacup of water to the curds and beat well.
Melt the sugar in 1 teacup of water and boil for 5 minutes.
Warm the saffron in a small vessel, put a little milk and rub until the saffron dissolves.
Add to the syrup. Put the rose water.
The syrup should be of 1 thread consistency. Keep the syrup warm.

How to proceed :
Heat the ghee in a non-stick frying pan.
Select a plastic bottle with a small hole in the lid and fill with the batter.
Press the batter out from the bottle into the hot ghee in the form of a jalebi.
Fry on both sides. Take out and wait for 1 minute. Drop the fried jalebis into the hot syrup.
Keep for 2 minutes and then remove.
Sprinkle with cardamom powder, pistachios and rose petals.
Jalebis Ready to serve hot.

Doodhi ka Halwa

Ingredients :


4 cups grated pumkin (White)
2 cups sugar
1½ cup milk
1 tbsp elaichi powder
2 tbsp raisins
2 tbsp cashews
3 tbsp ghee


Method :


Grate the pumpkin and keep aside.
Once the water drains out, squeeze out the rest of the water.
Fry the nuts and raisins and then add the grated pumpkin in ghee and fry a little while.
Then add milk and cook till soft and dry.
Add sugar and cook until dry.
Add elaichi powder and serve hot.

BASOONDI

INGREDIENTS Milk 1 1/2 litre Almonds, blanched and peeled 1/2 cup Pistachios 8-10 Sugar 3/4 cup Saffron (kesar) a few strands Sunflower seeds (charoli/chironji) 2 tablespoons

METHOD Reserve a few almonds for garnishing and make a paste of the rest. Slice the reserved almonds and pistachios. Bring milk to a boil, stirring continuously. Simmer over low heat till milk coats the back of the spoon. Stir in almond paste dissolved in half a cup of water or milk and mix well. Add sugar and saffron and cook till sugar gets fully dissolved. Chill and serve garnished with sliced almonds, pistachios and chironji.

Churma Laddoo

Ingredients:

• 500 gm Wheat flour  • 200 gm Melted ghee   • 25 gm Jaggery   • 1/8 Cup Water   • 1 tsp Poppy Seeds • A pinch of Cardamom powder • 5-6 Raisins

How to make Churma Laddoo:

• Mix ghee and wheat flour in a bowl. • Add little water and prepare a hard dough. Leave the dough aside for half an hour. • Make palm-shaped balls of this dough and fry in ghee on a medium flame, until light brown in color. • Allow to cool and grind coarsely. • Melt jaggery with ghee and add it to the churma mixture. • Mix well, add powdered cardamom and make laddoos. • Decorate with poppy seeds and serve

Chandrakala

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Maida (refined flour) • 1/4 cup Rava (semolina) • 1/4 cup Ghee • 1 cup Milk • 50 gm Mava • 2 tbsp Powdered Sugar • 1/4 cup Almonds, Pistachios, Cashew (sliced) • 1/2 tsp Elaichi (powdered cardamom) • 1/3 cup Sugar • A few Kesar (saffron strands) • A little Kesari Color (saffron color) • For the garnish: • Silver Varq • 1/2 cup Almonds & Pistachios (sliced)

How to make Chandrakala:

• In a bowl add maida, rava, ghee and mix it well. • Adding milk little by little into the mix, make it into soft dough. Keep it for 10 minutes. • Sieve mava and then roast it in a skillet for about 3-4 minutes. Allow it to cool. • Add powdered sugar and nuts into the mava mixture. • Make small balls (around 30) of it. • Take the dough and make small balls of it. • Roll it into small puris. • Stuff the mava mixture between two puris, sealing the edges. • Take a deep frying pan add enough ghee for frying. • Put the stuffed puris into hot ghee and cook it until the puris turn into golden brown in color. • Add ¼ cup water into sugar and heat it in a pan until you get one string consistency. • Put the puris into the sugar syrup. • Decorate it with silver varq and sliced nuts.

Badam Kheer

Ingredients:

50 gms almonds (badam)
1/2 litre milk
3 flakes saffron
3 tbsp nuts
50 gms sugar
Method:

1. Soak the almonds in water for few minutes. Remove the skin and blend in the blender using little water until smooth.
2. Boil milk in a pan, add saffron, sugar and almond paste. Boil until the mixture slightly thickens.
3. Garnish with nuts, almonds and serve immediately or chilled.
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 25 minutes

Carrot Halwa

ingredients 

 1 kg juicy orange carrots
 1 1/2 liter milk
 400-500 gm sugar
 elaichi powder (cardamon)
 saffron few flakes
 few drops orange color (optional)
 1 tbsp ghee

Method
 Peel and grate carrots
 Put milk and carrots in a heavy saucepan. Boil till thick, stirring occasionally. Once it starts thickening, stir
continuously. Add sugar and cook further till thickens. Add ghee, elaichi, saffron and color. Stir on low heat till the mixture collects in a soft ball or the ghee oozes out. Serve hot, decorated with a chopped almond or pista. 

Sweet Pongal

Ingredients (for two people) :-
Moong dal - 1/2 cup.
Rice - 1/2 cup.
Milk
Coconut
cashew
jaggery
raisins (khish-mish - dry grapes)
cardamom
ghee.
Fry the moong dhal (before washing) till it becomes little light brown (it
will start smelling). Then soak rice and dhal separately for 10 minutes.
Thoroghly wash and keep it in cooker with the right water (lesser is o.k)and
cook it seperately (in two different containers). Meanwhile cut coconut in
very small pieces and fry in ghee. Fry cashew and raisins also separately.
Break the jagerry and put in water (very little) and make a syrup. This is
done because sometimes jagerry has mud and stones. After we make the syrup
strain it through tea strainer. Put the rice and dhal in a big vessel and
add milk (may be one cup) and cook it till all the milk gets absorbed. Add
jaggery syrup and again cook till even it gets absorbed. Add three big table
spoons of ghee, powdered cardamon and cook again for a while. Add fried
coconut, cashews and raisins.

Serve hot in two cups with a spoon of ghee.