Monday, November 18, 2013

Adhirasam | அதிரசம் | Diwali Sweets

Adhirasam, a traditional South Indian sweet made from rice flour and jaggery. It's one of the common sweets prepared during Deepavali/Diwali festival. 

In Childhood days , I was not fond of adhirasam much. At that time I was very fascinated about the milk sweets like pal khova.  But you know , as you age, your taste changes and now adhirasam is my most favorite sweet. When I started to make adhirasam on my own, I truly appreciated its simplicity compared to other sweets which need a ton of ghee. 

To me , my periamma(mom's sister) makes the best adhirasam, so I ask my mom to get a recipe for me. Once I got the recipe and tips, I tried it.To my surprise, I got it right at the first time itself(beginner's luck,it seems :-) ).

If you look at the step by step instructions. it may look like a lengthy process, but it doesn't! I just want to capture minute details, so it may be helpful to those who try it for the first time.
If you're making this for the first time, see the notes section and carefully follow the instructions, you too get it right at the first time itself. Now let's see how to make this delicious Adhirasam ! 


Athirasam

Preparation Time : 12 hrs(resting dough) | Cooking Time : 20 minsMakes : 15 
Recipe Category: Sweet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Adhirasam,Athirasam,kajjaya,ariselu Adhirasam, a traditional South Indian sweet made from rice flour and jaggery. It's one of the common sweets prepared during Deepavali/Diwali festival.
Ingredients
Raw Rice - 1 Cup
Jaggery - 3/4 Cup
Cardamom - 4
Black sesame seed - 1 tbsp
Water - 1/4 cup
Oil for frying


Procedure
Wash the rice in water twice and soak it in water for about 2 hrs.
After 2 hrs drain the water and spread the rice on clean kitchen towel and dry it for 1 hr.
When the rice is slightly wet,grind the rice in the mixer into fine powder.If you are doing it in larger batch, you can grind it in flour mill(in tamil  we say "idikurathu"). And sieve the flour to remove large rice granules.
Again grind the leftover rice granules into fine powder and add it along with already sieved rice flour.
Now dry roast the sesame seed  and put it in the flour. Add the water in the sauce pan for making jaggery syrup and bring to boil.
Grate the jaggery and add it in boiling water,let it comes to boil.
Once jaggery melted, remove the strain through strainer and keep it in flame again. Now add the cardamom powder and let it boil still  the jaggery syrup reaches one string consistency (wet your thumb and index finger and take the jaggery syrup between your fingers, it will form string). switch of the flame. In the mean time, mix the flour with sesame seed and keep it ready.
Add this jaggery syrup little by little into flour and mix it with spatula .Be careful here , the syrup is very hot. 
Once mix it with all the syrup, the batter should be thick ( neither too stiff nor too runny). Once it comes to room temperature, cover it with lid and keep aside for overnight.
On next day, heat the oil in fry pan, Now athirasam dough becomes thick and you can make balls from the batter.
Make small ball from mixture and spread it like vada(grease your hand with water) in greased polythene bag/ banana leaf,make hole in the center 
Add one by one and fry until it becomes crispy on outside.Once it became crispy,remove it and put it on tissue paper.
Once it completely cooled ,store it in air tight container and enjoy it .It remains good for even one week at room temperature. Look at those, they are delicious.

Notes:
  • The oil should not be over heated on entire process, keep the flame in low to get crispy outside.
  • Making hole is the center is purely optional, it will gives crispy outside,we prefer that, so do the same.
  • The Jaggery syrup consistency is very important.
  • If you add the syrup into flour before it reaches single thread consistency, then the batter wont be thick on next day and also it absorbs more oil.
  • If you miss one string consistency, then the dough will be very hard,so keep the flame in low, when the syrup reaches one string consistency.
  • You can fry adhirasam immediately when you prepare the dough, but standing time gives soft adhirasam
  • You can keep the dough in refrigerator for weeks, whenever needed, fry and have hot & crispy adhirasam.
  • The rice flour should be slightly wet when you mix jaggery syrup with it, if you prepared rice flour few hours before, cover it with damn cloth to retain the moisture in the flour.
  • Keep the flame in low so that the inside also cooks well, otherwise the outer layer becomes dark very quickly and the inside dough is raw.



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Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Kara Boondhi

After seeing lot of diwali recipe in blogsphere,i too think of making some diwali recipe.so tried this kara bhoondi for first time.Though the shape of the bhoodhis are not prefect,its very crispy and tasty. 


Ingredients

Besan Flour - 11/2 cup
Chili powder - 2 tsp
Asafoetida - pinch
Salt - to taste
Groundnut - to taste
Water
Oil for frying

Procedure


First mix the besan flour with water to make thick paste.This prevents the lumps(if you add more water at the begin itself will form lumps and also its difficult to break the lumps).

Then mix enough water,chili powder,asafoetida,salt to make thick batter consistency as shown below

Heat oil in the frying pan to make boondhi.Once the oil is ready ,use either the boondhi ladle or the normal ladle with holes which we used for frying.

Keep the ladle above the frying pan and pour the batter on the ladle , so that drops of batter falls on the oil and make boondhi.
Fry the bhoodhis until the "shh" sound  stops or until the boondhi is crispy.Remove it from oil and put it on paper towel.Last fry the groundnut in the oil and add into bhoodhi(you can use cashews also)
Once it cool down,store it in air tight container and  use it. 


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Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Kara Paniyaram/Savoury Paniyaram

                                               I like the paniyaram very much either it's sweet or savoury.In our home,my mom usually made sweet paniyaram.When i was in chennai,we usually went to ganga sweets at evenings.They serve all kind of chat items.There only i first tasted kara paniyaram along with sambhar and vengaya chutney.I liked it first time itself.Recently i was craving for kara paniyaram,so last week i prepared it long with vengaya chutney


Ingredients

For batter
Idly rice - 1 cup
Raw rice - 1 cup
Urad dal - 1/4 cup
Fenugreek seed - 1 tsp
salt

To Temper
Mustard - 1 tsp
Split urad dal - 1 tsp
Channa dal - 1 tbsp
Onion - 2 nos(finely chopped)
Curry leaves - 2 springs.


Coconut - 2 tbsp(grated)
Coriander leaves - few

Procedure

Soak all the ingredients listed under "For batter" except salt for 2-3 hrs.Grind into smooth batter and mix it with salt .Allow to ferment for overnight.

Heat the oil in the kadai,add the mustard once it pop up,add the remaining ingredients listed under " To temper" one by one .Saute it until the onion become translucent.

Add the tempering into the batter and mix it well.Heat the paniyaram pan and drizzle some oil in every hole of paniyaram pan.


Pour the batter into 3/4 of the every hole of paniyaram pan. Once the edges become brown and leave aside flip it and cook on other side.


Once it cooked on both sides,remove it and serve with any of your fauvorite chutneys/vengaya chutney like me or sambar or both. you can serve this as tea time snack.

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Saturday, March 23, 2013

Jangiri | Homemade Jangiri | Diwali Sweets

Jangiri, a delicious South Indian sweet made from deep frying urad dal batter and then soaked in saffron/rose flavored sugar syrup. Without a second doubt, i can say making jangiri is an art.  Squeezing the batter directly in hot oil and making those beautiful flower shapes is such an intricate work for sure. But with practise and little patience, anyone can make those gorgeous looking jangiri !! 
Last week when I thought of updating this jangiri post, I realized that video recipe would be much more helpful than the regular pictures for making jangiri, so shoot a video while making them and in less than two days, here I'm with the post with a completely edited video and updated post. Surely, it's a Deepavali Miracle !!!  
Before moving to the recipe, like always, I have answered some FAQs. So check it out if you're a beginner or new in making this sweet.

What is the difference between jangiri & jalebi?
Jangiri is made from freshly made urad dal batter whereas jalebi is made from the fermented maida/all purpose flour batter. Rest of the steps of both recipes are more or less the same.

Why does my jangiri have the urad dal smell?
It's a common issue while making jangiri. Using good quality rose essence/saffron (whichever you're using) helps to eliminate the strong urad dal flavor and gives you that sweet stall style flavor. 
Why doesn't my jangiri absorb the sugar syrup?
Don't over cook the sugar syrup, sticky consistency is enough. Both jangiri and syrup should be warm for easy absorbing,so heat the syrup as needed.
Why does my jangiri absorb so much oil ?
Too much oil in the batter. Add an extra few tsp of rice flour, but don't over do it. It will affect the softness of the jangiri in the end. 
Why can't I squeeze the batter into proper shape ?
  1. Make sure to keep the flame in low.
  2. The oil should be mildly heated. That means, if you add a pinch of batter in the oil, it takes at least 2 to 3 secs to come up, else if it immediately comes up, the oil is way too heated for making jangiri.
  3. The batter should be smooth and fluffy.
  4. Practise, Practise & Practise !!! Reserve a handful of urad dal batter(it should be thick) when you idli/dosa batter and try it for a couple of times, then you get the knack of it. 
How do I store and how long ?
Put it in a closed container. It stays good for up to 7 days at room temperature.  For more shelf life, I would recommend refrigerating !!

Now let's check out on how to make jangiri and don't forget to watch the video too !!!


Ps : In the old pic, i have used orange food color and in the new pictures and video i have used red food color,so it's more of pinkish red !! 

Jangiri

Preparation Time : 1 hr | Cooking Time : 20 minsServes : 20 
Recipe Category: Sweet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Jangiri,Home made Jangiri, Soft Jangiri, Juicy Jangiri,Diwali Sweet Jangiri, a delicious Indian sweet made from deep frying urad dal batter and then soaked in saffron/rose flavored sugar syrup.
Ingredients

Urad Dal - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Orange food color - pinch
Rose water - 4 or 5 drops
Rice flour - 2 or 3 tbsp
Lemon Juice-1 tbsp
Water- as required




Procedure
Soak the urad dal for 2 hrs and grind into fine paste using very little water just like the batter for vadas.The batter should be fluffy and smooth like butter.Add a pinch of food color and rice flour into batter and mix it well. 
Pierce a small hole in the ziplog/plastic bag with a needle and put the batter into it.
Add the sugar in a sauce pan and immerse it with water and allow to boil.Once it reaches the thick consistency add rose water,food color,lemon juice and switch it off
Heat the wide pan in smaller flame and add a inch of oil.Once the oil heated is  slightly warm,squeeze the jangiri  directly in the oil.

Cook the jangiri until it become crispy ,remove it and put it in sugar syrup for approx 1 min.
Once  it absorbs the sugar syrup remove it and arrange it in plate.

Tasty and juicy Jangiri ready !!

Notes:
  • Stays well for days at room temperature
  • Store it in air tight container once it's completely cooled.

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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Mint Squash

Mint Squash, a refreshing and delicious mint flavored drink. I love the flavor of mint, so i used to buy a bunch of mint leaves whenever we go to farmer's market.

Usually i make mint chutney or mint rice. For a change i tried this squash(i saw it in some cookery show )a while ago and we really liked this a lot.The mint flavor came out very well in this squash. If you like mint flavor,give it a try.


Mint Squash

Preparation Time : 1 hr | Cooking Time : 20 minsServes :
Recipe Category: Drink | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Mint Squash, Summer Drink description.
Ingredients

Mint leaves - 1/2 cup(tightly packed)
Water - 1 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Lemon salt -a generous pinch
Food color(apple green) - a pinch(optional)

Procedure

Clean and wash the mint leaves . In a sauce pan heat the water and sugar, once the sugar syrup reach thick consistency add the mint leaves and close it with lid

Keep the mint leaves in sugar syrup for atleast 4 to 6 hrs until the mint leaves flavor extract into the sugar syrup.

After that remove the mint leaves using strainer.Then add lemon salt(lemon salt is used to preserve ,if you consume within a day or two,ignore it) and food color(totally optional)and mix it well.

Store it in sterilized bottle and use it whenever you want. Take 1/4th of glass with squash and fill the remaining with chilled water and some ice cubes.

Tada, your delicious mint squash is ready to serve.

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