Rava Kesari

It's been a while since I posted on my blog.....in the meantime I received comments from a lot of people...Thanks to everybody for stopping by my blog and posting ur valuable comments....Rava Kesari is one of the easiest sweets that we make in South India. I had prepared this for my hubby's B'day on Jan 15th but got a chance only now to sit down and make a note of the recipe. This can be prepared in just 10-15 mins.
Ingredients:
Rava/Sooji- 1 cup
Water- 3 cups
Sugar- 1.5 cups
Cardamom powder-1 tsp
Ghee- 2 tbsp
Kesari color powder or orange food color- a pinch
For Garnishing:
Cashews/Raisins
Ghee- 1 tbsp
Method:
Roast the rava in a tbsp of ghee until nice aroma comes.In the meantime boil the required qty of water and pour it to the roasted rava. Add the food color, cover & cook the rava. Now add the sugar and mix well without forming any lumps. Cook for few more mins until the Kesari thickens and doesn't stick to the pan. Add 1 more tbsp of ghee and add cardamom powder. Garnish the Kesari with some cashews and raisins slightly roasted in a tbsp of ghee.

Thiruvathirai Kali

Thiruvathirai or Arudhura Dharisanam fell on Saturday, Jan 10 this year....it is the Thiruvathirai star day in the auspicious tamil month of Maarghazhi when the saivites from Tamilnadu worship Lord Shiva by observing fast and offering Thiruvathirai kali and ezhu (7) thaan (vegetable) Kozhambu(also called thalagam) as neividiyam. It is believed to be the Birthday of Lord Shiva and Lord Nataraja comes in a grand procession blessing all his devotees on this day in Chidambaram, the city of the dancing diety. As I was really sick since last week, I couldn't make the kozhambu this time but was happy that I could make atleast the Kali for nevidiyam. My mom always observed all these occasions without fail and still does till today.....to continue the beautiful tradition I always try my best to follow these too, yet another way to remember our beautiful roots ....So here goes the recipe for Thiruvathirai Kali.
Ingredients:
Raw rice- 1 cup
Moong dhal- 2 tsp
water- 3 cups
Jaggery- 1 cup
cardamom- 1 tsp
ghee- 1tbsp
cashews & raisins- 1tbsp
Method:
Wash the rice & moong dhal and dry it on a paper towel. After drying this, now roast this in a dry pan(no oil) until the rice turns slight red. cool and powder this to rava (sooji) consistency in a mixer. In a pan, dissolve the jaggery in water and let it boil, at the this stage add the powdered rice and mix well without forming lumps.cover and cook for few mins. then open the lid and cook until it thickens. Turn off the flame & add cardamom powder and mix well. Garnish with cashews & raisins roasted in a tbsp of ghee.

Basundhi

Happy Happy New Year to you all!
It's been a really long time since I prepared any sweet at home and with the birth of the new year, I wanted to start with something sweet......so here goes my recipe for Basundhi.......This was indeed a time consuming process but at the end was worth all the effort bcos my hubby dear loved it thoroughly and even said it tasted absolutely like Adyar Ananda Bhavan's basundhi:)


Ingredients:
Milk-1 litre
Sugar- 1cup
cardamom powder-1 tsp
Saffron(optional)- I didn't have any saffron so I skipped it
Pistachios- chopped- 1 tbsp (for garnishing)

Bring milk to a rolling boil in a wide non stick pan. Then turn down the heat to medium flame and slowly cook the milk by constantly stirring it. The milk has to reduce to half of the original quantity. This can take about 45mins- 1 hr. Do not cook in high flame as milk will stick to the pan and get brown. At this stage add the sugar and keep cooking in slow/medium flame until the milk gets really thick. Now add the cardamom powder and mix well and turn off the heat. Garnish with chopped pistachios. Refrigerate and serve chill.