Whole Wheat Chocolate Burfi

          Happy Diwali, today's post is the last sweet I made for this Diwali, Whole Wheat Flour Choclate Burfi. While doing the Maida Burfi, I was thinking that I should try the same recipe with whole wheat flour. and since my daughter would have it, if it had some chocolate in it, I decided to make this Whole Wheat Flour Chocolate Burfi. Instead of making the entire sweet with chocolate, I decided to do it as two layers, one plain and the other one with chocolate. It's a simple sweet, the only thing that is a bit tricky, is removing the sweet at the right consistency and spreading it out before it solidifies, especially with 2 layers, you have to be really fast and alert. The burfi turned out good and tasted great especially because of the chocolate..

South Indian Mixture, Madras Mixture

          Today's post is going to be the last snack that I have made for Diwali 2016, in fact I am a little tired of the oil and deep frying, and the final snack is the most favorite South Indian Mixture, Madras Mixture. Though I like other types of mixtures, my favorite will always be this, mainly because of the less masalas and the simple flavors from the asafoetida and curry leaves. This is also my daughter's favorite snack, so I decided to make it this time for Diwali. Making mixture takes a little time, and the major task is making the ompodi/sev and kara boondi. If you want, you can make them the previous day and then fry the remaining ingredients the next day and finally mix everything, but the time and effort is all worth it, so do give it a try..

Kasi Halwa, Pusinikkai (White Pumpkin) Halwa

          Today's post is going to be another sweet recipe, Kasi Halwa, made with Pusinikkai/White Pumpkin. I love halwas, especially the ones made with vegetables, like the carrot halwa, bottle gourd halwa and beetroot halwa and they are all easy to make. Apart from the vegetable, we need the very basic ingredients like sugar and some cardamom for flavor and of course some food color and it's an easy recipe, even a beginner can try this out, so make and enjoy Kasi Halwa for this Diwali..

Kambu Ribbon Pakoda, Bajra (Pearl Millet) Ribbon Pakoda

          This year for Diwali, I wanted to try out snacks with millets, the first one that I made was the Ragi Murukku and the next one in line is this Kambu Ribbon Pakoda or Bajra (Pearl Millet) Ribbon Pakadoa. I have already posted the regular Ribbon Pakoda/Nada/Ola Pakoda made with rice flour, I simply followed that recipe with a few variations. Usually we add cumin or asafoetida for flavor and digestion in these snacks, this time, for a change I have used fennel seeds. The Ribbon Pakoda came out really good with a nice texture and taste, another snack that you can enjoy with your tea..

Motichoor Ladoo Recipe, Motichur Laddu

          Motichoor Ladoo, another sweet that I had wanted to try for a long time, but kept putting it off until now. The main difference between Motichoor Ladoo and the Boondi Ladoo, is the size of the boondis ( fried gram flour balls ), it is very small in size in Motichur Ladoos. Also, we add cardamom and rose essence for flavor in Motichoor Ladoos, whereas in Boondi Ladoo, we add cardamom, cloves and edible camphor for flavor, and also Motichoor Ladoos are softer than Boondi Ladoos. There is a special ladle, Boondi Karandi ( karandi meaning ladle) for making the boondis for the ladoos, and in that also we have differnt ones for making the different sizes of boondis. I had with me, only the regular Boondi Karandi, not the one for making tiny boondis, but we can still make them, they may not be 100% perfect but we can still get close enough results and taste wise there will not be any difference. Even if you don't have a Boondi Karandi, you can still make it using the regular Jali Karandi ( the one with small holes) that we have in our kitchen for deep frying, so do try out this delicious and traditional sweet for this Diwali..

Garlic Murukku, Poondu Murukku (Chakli)

          As much as we love sweets at home, both the husband and daughter like these crunchy, munchy savory snacks, especially along with the evening coffee or tea. So the next one that I tried for this Diwali is this Garlic Murukku, Poondu Murukku/Chakli. This is again a very easy snack, we don't need any specially prepared flours for it, I have just used store bought organic besan flour and rice flour for these murukkus. They turned out very good with a delicious garlic and curry leaves flavor and we loved it..

Badushah Recipe

          Badushah is one of my favorite sweets, I have tried this once long time back, before blogging days, and it had turned out good back then. after that I made it only now. I again followed the same recipe from Mallika Badrinath's cookbook, except, after checking many blogs, I added a little curd while making the dough. For those of you who don't know the taste of this delicious sweet, Badushah tastes a lot similar like doughnuts/ donuts, with a subtle sweetness. At the start, making badushahs might look like a big task, but once you get a hang of it, you'll agree with me that it's one of the easiest sweets, and also, making those beautiful swirls is actually very easy..

Baked Mathri, Whole Wheat Crackers

          As much as we love our sweets and savory snacks, they are all either deep fried or have a good dose of butter or ghee, but it's festival season, so a little bit of this is okay, just that, we have to keep in mind to eat moderately and walk an extra mile or two to burn it away. Coming to today's post, Baked Mathri, it's an easy and healthy version of the fried version. Usually it's made with maida or all purpose flour, but these baked ones are made with whole wheat flour. Of course, the fried ones with all purpose flour will be more tastier than these baked ones, so someday soon I'll be trying out that also, but these baked ones, you can still enjoy, they are crispy and very flavorful and a perfect tea-time snack..

Maida Burfi, Sweet With All Purpose Flour

          After a savory recipe, here comes another easy and delicious sweet that we can make for this Diwali, Maida Burfi, a simple sweet made with maida/all purpose flour. It just requires a few basic ingredients, it's such an easy dish and it comes out perfect if you are careful about a few things. I have adapted this recipe again from a cookbook and have made a few changes according to our taste, try out this easy sweet for this Diwali..

Karasev, Khara Sev, Spicy Sev (Savory Snack)

       
            Karasev has been on my do list for some time, I have made murukku, mixture and other stuff, but until now, for some reason, I haven't tried Karasev. We have a special ladle called 'Karasev Karandi', which is used for squeezing out the dough for this, I didn't have it, so I used the regular ladle with holes that we use for making pooris and other stuff. I have followed the recipe from Mallika Badrinath's cookbook, it's a simple snack and needs just a few ingredients. The karasev came out really good, the texture was perfect and the taste was awesome..

Sweet Somas Recipe, Karanji

          Today, it's going to be a traditional sweet recipe that we make for Diwali, Sweet Somas or Karanji/Kajjikayalu. This is one of my favorites, but I never gave it a try till now because the husband is not a big fan of it. While making it in my kitchen, all alone, my mind was flooded with so many memories. Whenever my mom made this, I would always be a part of it along with my grandmother and aunt. We would be doing such a huge quantity, that we would be spending at least 3 to 4 hours on it, and the whole time would just fly away with so many stories and gossips, missing those days. Coming to the recipe, it's not a very difficult one, the filling is very simple and can be done in minutes, and if you know to roll the dough out thinly, then you can do this sweet. Try it out with a small quantity, especially if you are doing it alone..

Ragi Murukku, Finger Millet Murukku (Chakli)

          Diwali is in a couple of weeks time, so I thought it's the time to post some goodies, both sweets and savories that we can make during this festival season. Since I have more sweets on my blog than these savory snacks, I am going to post today an easy and tasty murukku with Ragi/Finger Millet Flour, Ragi Murukku or Chakli. It's very simple to make, mixing the ingredients in the correct proportions and then making the murukkus using the murukku maker and deep frying them. The murukku came out super crispy and had the perfect texture and it's a good snack to have along with your evening cup of tea..

Besan Cheela, Gram Flour Pancakes

          Most of the days, our breakfast is either dosa, bread or idlis except during the weekends when I try to make something different. I had tried Besan Chila a couple of times before but never got a chance to post it on the blog, this is not an elaborate recipe, we can make it during weekdays too if you have everything ready. The main ingredient here is the besan flour/gram flour, it's the binding base and the other ingredients are all for taste and texture. I have added some chopped onion, spinach along with the spices, but you can use grated carrots, shredded cabbage and even tomatoes. They look like egg omelettes, taste very good and make a very filling breakfast..

Eggplant Roast, Brinjal Roast

          After making some Kerala and Karnataka dishes, I realized I haven't tried the Andhra cuisine that much, of course I have made a few dishes like the Pesarattu and Stuffed Eggplants but none from their day to day cooking. Today's dish is a simple Eggplant/Brinjal Roast and when I say simple, it's really that, just a handful of ingredients and no special masalas or anything. I found this recipe in the cookbook, 'Cooking with Pedatha', and in fact even while cooking I had doubts about how it would taste with such few ingredients. But then, it turned out really good, spicy and tasty and went very well with rice and dal..

Keerai Dosai, Spinach Dosa (Crepes)

          Today's post is another simple and healthy dosa with spinach and millets. I have added chopped spinach to adai or dosa batter, but for this dosa we grind the spinach along with millets and other ingredients to make the batter. Along with the millets, we also add some dal/lentils to the batter, this makes the dosa very filling too, serve these beautiful green dosas along with some tomato chutney for a complete and delicious meal..

Rava Kichadi, South Indian Sooji (Semolina) Khichadi

          South Indian Rava Kichadi with vegetables, I make this at least once in 2 weeks for dinner or sometimes even for lunch for a weekday lunch box. This is a dish that I fall back to when I am really tired of cooking and want to keep it simple. Of course there's a little bit of veggie chopping, but for me this is simple when compared to making rotis and sabzi. Even people who don't like the regular rava upma would like this Kichadi and as for me, I love the flavor from the ginger and garlic and ghee and it tastes great with some coconut chutney on the side..

Ragi Sheera, Finger Millet Halwa

          Today's post is going to be an easy sheera/halwa recipe using ragi flour (finger millet, kezhvaragu ). I followed the same method as we do for atta ( wheat flour ) sheera, except I have made this a little healthier, have used half the ghee and also, I have used jaggery instead of sugar. I have made a very small quantity, using just 1/4 cup flour, just enough for 2 to 3 people, so it got done in minutes. The halwa/sheera tasted great and even my daughter who's a little picky when it comes to Indian sweets loved it, and also another good thing, the sheera/halwa is also gluten free..

Vendhaya Keerai Paruppu Usili, Fenugreek Leaves (Methi) With Lentils

          Paruppu Usili is one of my favorite side dishes, especially with moru kuzhambu, we can make it with many vegetables, the common ones being green beans and cluster beans ( kothavarangai ). I have tried it with other vegetables too, but this is the first time I made it with methi/fresh fenugreek leaves. Since fenugreek leaves have a bitter taste, I also added some green peas and jaggery in the usili and it turned out really good and tasted perfect with rice and Moru Kuzhambu..

Karuppu Ulundu Sundal, Black Gram Sundal

          Happy Navratri to my friends and readers. Today's dish is one more sundal that we make during these nine days, Karuppu Ulundu (Black Gram) Sundal. For those who don't know what a sundal is, it's a healthy snack with whole beans and lentils ( chickpeas, kidney beans, bengal  gram to name a few ). Black Gram has many health benefits, especially for women, this sundal is an easy and healthy way of including it in the diet. We can serve this as a side to any meal or as an healthy and filling evening snack..