Nei Appam (Ghee Appam)

Category: Indian Sweets / Festival Recipes
Preparation Time: 15 mins + 3 hours soaking + 1–2 hours resting time
Cooking Time: 15–20 mins
Servings: 4 servings

Festivals are always a great excuse to make some of our traditional homemade sweets, and Krishna Jayanthi is one of my favorite occasions to prepare simple, delicious treats at home.

Nei Appam

This Nei Appam is one such easy festival recipe made with raw rice, jaggery, coconut and ripe banana. There is no refined sugar here, and the natural sweetness from the jaggery and banana makes these paniyarams absolutely delicious.

The batter is made by soaking raw rice and grinding it along with jaggery, coconut, banana and cardamom. I usually prefer using pure jaggery powder, which makes the process even easier. If your jaggery has impurities, simply melt it with a little water and strain it before adding it to the batter.

I like to let the batter rest for an hour or two before making the paniyarams. A small pinch of baking soda is added just before cooking, which helps make them soft inside.

These are cooked in a paniyaram pan with ghee, so they develop a beautiful golden-brown crust on the outside while staying soft and flavorful inside. They are best enjoyed warm!

Ingredients:

• Raw rice - 1 cup
• Jaggery powder - 3/4 cup (I used pure jaggery powder)
• Fresh coconut - 1/2 cup
• Well-ripe banana - 1 no
• Cardamom - 1 no
• Baking soda - a pinch
• Salt - a pinch
• Ghee - as needed

2 in 1 Pongal - Sweet Pongal & Ven Pongal (Instant Pot version)

Category: Pongal Recipes / Festive Recipes
Preparation Time: 10 mins  
Cooking Time: 30 mins  

Servings - About 4-5 servings

2 in 1 Pongal

During festivals we would be making different types of pongals, especially Sweet Sakkarai Pongal, Kalkandu Pongal and Spicy Venpongal. 

Instead of making it separately and also to save time, we can just cook the rice and dal in instant pot/ pressure cooker and use it up to make two different pongal.

Sakkarai Pongal

This also helps when we plan for making ven pongal but kids want sweet pongal :) Or when we want variety for a special day.

Ven Pongal

This is not a recipe as such, just an idea to make easy & save time :)

Ingredients:

• Raw rice - 1 and 1/2 cups (Ponni rice / Sona masoori rice)
• Yellow Moong dal - 1/2 cup (can use upto 1 cup)
• Water - 6 cups 

For Sweet / Sakkarai Pongal:

• Jaggery - 1 cup
• Water - 1/2 cup
• Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
• Ghee - 3-4 Tbsp
• Cashews, broken - 10-15 nos
• Raisins - 2 Tbsp

For Ven pongal:

• Ghee - 3-4 Tbsp
• Cumin - 1 tsp
• Black pepper - 1 tsp

Sprinkle Chocolate Bark (Easy Holiday Treats)

Category: Easy Treats / Festive Recipes
Preparation Time: 5 mins 

 

Sprinkle Chocolate Bark

Chocolate bark with sprinkles is a very easy and quick holiday treat. Chocolate bark is actually a sheet of chocolate covered with nuts and dry fruits or even candies. 

Festive Treats!!!

If we are not having any cooking chocolate, we can just use our regular chocolate chips. There are lot of variations for the chocolate bark; We can use either dark chocolate or milk chocolate or even white chocolate to make these.

 

Also the toppings are purely of our choice. We can use chopped nuts, dry fruits, seeds, candied fruits, crushed candy canes, coconut, candies, etc. as toppings.

During this winter break, kids will enjoy making these quick treats. I try to avoid the artificial dyes so I used the sprinkles coloured with natural ingredients.

Ingredients:

• Chocolate chips - 1 cup (I used semi-sweet mini chocolate chips)
• Sprinkles - as needed

Gulab Jamun (From Instant Mix)

Category: Indian Sweet
Preparation Time: 10 mins + 30 mins waiting time
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Servings: yields about 25 to 30 medium sized Jamuns

Gulab Jamun from MTR Instant Mix

Ingredients:

• Gulab Jamun Mix 200g pack (I used MTR Mix) - 1 no
• Milk (at room temp) -  around 1/2 cup (adjust as required) 
• Sugar - 3 cups 
• Water - 3 cups
• Rose essence/ Cardamom powder - 1/4 to 1/2 tsp 
• Oil - for Deep frying
• Pistachios or any nuts for garnishing (Optional)

Sakkarai Pongal (Sweet Pongal)

Category:  Festive Recipes
Preparation Time: 10 mins  
Cooking Time: 30-45 mins
Servings: 3-4 Servings

Sakkarai Pongal

  Ingredients:

• Raw Rice - 3/4 cup
• Moong Dhal - 3 tbsp
• Jaggery - 3/4 - 1 cup (adjust as per sweetness) (I have used the light coloured jaggery so the pongal looks little pale)
• Milk - 1 cup
• Water - Around 5 cups
• Cashews - 2-3 tbsp  (adjust as per liking)
• Raisins - 2-3 tbsp (adjust as per liking)
• Ghee -  Around 2-4 tbsp (as required)
• Cardamon powder - 1/4 - 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Dry roast Moong dhal for few mins until its hot to touch and started to become golden brown. Then add the dhal to the soaking rice
   
2. Wash and soak rice along with roasted moong dhal for atleast 30 mins; drain them and keep it ready
   
3. Break the cashews into pieces and keep them ready along with raisins and jaggery
   
4. In a vessel add the jaggery and little water and heat it up to dissolve the jaggery
   
5. Once it gets dissolved switch off and strain it if it had any impurities
6. In a pot / pan add 5 cups of water along with 1 cup of milk and heat it up
   
7. Once it starts to boil, add the soaked & drained rice and dhal
   
8. Mix well and allow to cook till it becomes soft. Stir frequently to avoid charring and reduce the flame towards the end of the cooking
   
9. Once it gets cooked, mash it well using ladle / masher 
   
10. Add the jaggery water and mix well, cook in low flame for 5-6 mins
11. Meanwhile in another pan, add 1-2 tbsp of ghee and heat it up
    
12. To this add the cashew pieces and roast till it turns golden brown
    
13. Once it turns golden brown, add the raisins and fry for a min in low flame till it gets puffed up
    
14. Add the cardamon powder to the pongal and mix well
    
15. Add another 2-3 tbsp of ghee to the pongal, mix it up
    
16. Now add the roasted cashews and raisins to the pongal and give a mix; switch it off
    
17. Serve hot!!