Suyyam - Ganesh Chathurthi Special



Happy Ganesh Chathurthi to everyone!  This is one festival I look forward to every year. Not only Lord Ganesh has a special place in my heart, this festival also brings back childhood memories. I used to like the shopping part - looking around the cute idols with beautiful decorations and finally making up the mind to select one after a huge dilemma.  Although at that time I didn't quite understand the ritual of immersing the idol in water to dissolve, as I grew up, I learned that it symbolizes his journey towards Kailash taking away with him the misfortunes of his devotees. And ofcourse, I like this festival for the special kozhukattais (modak).

Here is a sweet for this special occasion. This is a famous south indian sweet, originating from Trinelveli region but made widely across all parts of Tamilnadu. I have heard from many people that they love this sweet. I love the filling part and can finish it off just just like that. This filling can also be used for Kozhukattai (Modak) and Puran Poli. Sometimes I make extra and store it in the refregirator to make poli a few days later.

Ingredients

• Chana dal (Bengal gram) - 1 cup
• Jaggery powder - 1/2 cup
• Cardamom - 4 pieces
• Shredded coconut (fresh) - 1/2 cup
• Maida or all purpose flour - 1/2 cup
• Salt - a pinch
• Ghee - 2 tsp
• Baking soda - a pinch
• Idli batter - 1/2 cup (optional)
• Oil for deep frying

Procedure

• Pressure cook Chana dal, drain the water and grind it to a coarse paste with jaggery powder and cardamom. Set aside.
• Heat the ghee in a wide pan and add the chana dal paste and shredded coconut. Fry in low heat until all the excess water is gone and the mixture comes together to a consistency to make balls. This may take about 6-8 mins. Let it cool down for a few mins.
• Meanwhile, mix the all purpose flour, salt and baking soda together. Add water and make it into a semi-thin batter (should not be too thick). If you have idli batter, you can omit the baking soda and salt.
• Make small balls out of the filling, dip them in the batter and deep fry them in batches.
• Remove them in a paper napkin to remove excess oil.

Serve hot garnished with shredded coconut. Enjoy!

Having a feast?

Moong Dal Ladoos, Kalakand ..

Ribbon Pakodas

This is a short and sweet post.. No rambling or blah-blahs this time.. Just extending my previous post and just wanted to quickly post my snacks and sweets that I made for Diwali... I made Moong Dal Ladoos, Kalakand and Savory flat Pakodas. Hope you all had a wonderful Diwali!

Kalakand:

I love this sweet since it tastes very similar to my favorite Paalkova and I was excited to see the recipe for it when Cham posted it in her blog a while before. I decided to try it for Diwali and it just came so good! My hubby loved it and he was complaining that I made too little :) I made Cham's stove top version. Thanks Cham, for posting such a wonderful recipe!

Mix 1 can of condensed milk, equal measure of home made paneer, and 4-5 cardamom pods together. Heat this mixture in a pan and bring it to boil, then reduce the heat and keep stirring for about 10 mins. You will notice that the mixture will start thickening and finally tend to separate from the pan. Pour this in a greased pan and top it with chopped nuts of your choice. Let it cool and cut into your desired shapes.

Moong Dal Laddoos:

Roast 1 cup of moong dal (yellow) in a pan. Let it cool. Meanwhile grind 1/2 cup of sugar and 4-5 cardamom pods to a fine powder. Transfer to a wide bowl. Then grind the roasted moong dal to a fine powder too. Mix it with the sugar powder. Roast some cashews in 1 tsp ghee and add it to the mixture. Then add 1/4 cup of hot ghee and mix well. Make laddoos while the mixture is still warm.

Ribbon Pakkodas:

Mix 2 tbsps of water with 1 tbsp of garlic paste, strain and save the water. Discard the pulp. Then mix 1 cup of besan (gram flour/kadala mavu), 2 tbsp butter, 1 tsp chilli powder, garlic extract and salt with water and make a dough similar to a chapathi flour consistency. Fill the Murukku maker (fix the appropriate lid) with this dough and squeeze small circles into hot oil and deep fry.

Sending these dishes to Priti's Festive Food: Diwali, Srivalli's JFI Festival Food - Diwali.

Banana Sweet Appam

What happens after a looong tiring two weeks, when you get some spare time, absolutely nothing to do?? Sleep peacefully? Watch a movie? My house was quiet this evening as my hubby and my daughter were off to a birthday party. I didn't feel like joining them as I needed some time for myself after yet another exhausting work week. I relaxed a bit and then I managed to annoy a very good friend of mine over the phone for an hour (hope she forgives me!) as we had a lot to catch up. While I was done with that, what else I can do? Ofcourse, Blogging!

When I was a kid, I was not too thrilled about snacks or sweets. Just the word snacks were good enough to lose my interest. Everyone in my family and friends circle seemed to enjoy all kinds of snacks no matter however they taste. I liked may be one or two sweets, but savory snacks were far from my liking. Sometimes I used to wonder, if snacks were the only food on earth, what would I have chosen? And my answer was always "Laddoo". My only preferred sweet since childhood and my liking still continues. I can enjoy anything and everything that turns out being a laddoo. I am definitely convinced that our taste buds change as we grow. The things I used to dislike before are in my favorites now and some things that I used to love as a child have disappeared from my favorites list long back (ladoos are exceptions, he.. he). I have lately been trying all kinds of snacks and sweet recipes in my kitchen. After moving to this country, the sight of those glamarous desserts ignites that passion for them too. These days desserts are simply irresistible and I just can't seem to get enough of it.

Banana sweet appam is one such dish that I didn't have a great liking for, while growing up. But it seems to be flavoring my kitchen often nowadays - perhaps because it happens to be my hubby's and daughter's favorite snack dish. Also, obviously I can't avoid tasting the dish now and then, while preparing it and may be these factors got me hooked up to this sweet snack. I made this for Vijayadhasami yesterday after coming back from work. A quick and easy one done in 2 steps.

This entry goes for Mythreyee's Deep Fried Sweet Series event as well as Hima's Sunday Snack - Fry it event.

Procedure:

• Banana - 1 (mashed)
• All purpose flour(Maida) - 1 cup
• Sugar - 2 tbsp
• Baking soda - 1 pinch
• Coconut bits - a few (optional)
• Cardamom - 1

Procedure:

• Powder the Cardamom and add it to the flour. Add all other ingredients and make it to a thick batter consistency. Add very little water if absolutely needed, as banana releases moisture eventually and may make the batter too watery.
• Drop spoons of batter in hot oil and deep fry.

Serve Warm.