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

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)

Quick Palkova using condensed milk (Microwave Recipe)

Category: Indian Sweets
Preparation Time: 2-3 mins  
Cooking Time: 10-13 mins
Servings: yields around 1 1/2 cups

Microwave Palkova

This is a quick / Instant Palkova recipe which we can do within 10-12 mins if we have the condensed milk (Milkmaid) in hand. I tried in microwave only so far, but I guess we can do it on stove top. In that case we need to cook in low flame with continuous stirring. Adding milk is Optional; without milk the palkova will be very very sweet, if we want more sweeter we can avoid the milk. Even after adding milk, it will be on sweeter side only but not very much. In my microwave it takes exactly 12 mins and it depends on the power of the microwave.

 Ingredients:

• Sweetened Condensed milk - 1 can / 14 oz
• Milk - 1/2 cup (Optional)
• Curd - 2-3 tbsp
• Ghee -  1 tsp
• Pistachios, finely chopped - as required

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!!
    

Semiya Payasam with Condensed Milk

Category: Indian Sweets / Desserts
Preparation Time: 5 mins 
Cooking Time: 20-30 mins
Servings: For 4-5 persons

I am excited to post this easy sweet recipe as my 100th Post!!!! This is very easy one and Since we used condensed milk, it would be creamy and delicious. Also we can adjust the quantity of condensed milk as per the required sweetness. We can also prepare it with plain milk if we didn't have condensed milk in hand. In such case, milk needs to boil well till it gets reduced a bit to attain the creamy texture. If we don't like creamier version, we can cook the semiya separately in water and then add the cooked semiya to the milk.

Semiya Payasam - So Creamy!!

Ingredients:

• Semiya/ Vermicelli- 1 cup (I used the pre-roasted variety)
• Milk, (Preferably Full Cream) - 4 cups
• Condensed milk - 1 can
• Cardamon seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Ghee - 1 tbsp
• Cashews, chopped -2-3 tbsp
• Almonds, chopped - 2-3 tbsp
• Raisins - 8-10 nos

Method:

1. I have used roasted semiya, if we are using the non-roasted variety, we need to roast them in little ghee till it turns golden brown
2. In a large vessel, add milk and allow to boil for 5 mins in medium flame
   
3. Add the roasted semiya along with the cardamom seeds and allow them to cook in milk itself
   
4. Once the semiya gets well cooked, reduce the flame to low and mix well
   
5. Add in the condensed milk, mix well (I realized I should have used big vessel)
   
   
6. Allow to simmer for 5-7 mins
   
7. In a small pan, add the ghee and roast the chopped nuts and raisins and keep it ready
8. Add the roasted nuts and raisins to the payasam and switch it off
   
9. Payasam will gets thickened as it cools down, we can add warm milk if required while serving 
10. Serve warm / chilled!
    

Rasagulla

Category: Indian Sweet
Preparation Time: 20 mins + 30 mins waiting time
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Servings: 20 mini rasagullas

Ingredients:

• Milk - 2.5 cups (1 cup=250ml)
• Curd - 3-4 Tbsp
• Water - 1 3/4 cup
• Sugar - 3/4 cup
• Cardamon Seeds - 1/4 Tsp
• Ice cold water / cubes - 1/4 cup

 

Soft and Sweet.......

Method:

1. Boil the milk and once it started boiling, reduce the flame to medium and add 2 tblsp of curd. Stir continuously for two minutes and add the remaining curd, stir well until the whey separates completely
2. Switch off once the whey water becomes clear and milk solids get separated. At this stage add ice cubes or cold water (This step is to stop further cooking of paneer which otherwise makes it bit hard) 
3. Place a muslin cloth over a wide bowl and pour the curdled milk over it to filter the whey water from the milk solids. Whey water can be used for chapathi dough.
4. Squeeze the excess water and hang it for 30 minutes undisturbed
5. After 30 minutes, knead the crumbled paneer for 10-12 minutes to form a smooth pilable dough, make them into smooth small balls (I make mini balls which come around 20) and keep it aside.
6. Heat water in a wide vessel, add the sugar and cardamon seeds, stir well and bring to boil. When it started boiling, reduce the flame and drop in the paneer balls one by one into the syrup
7. After 3-4 minutes, raise the flame to medium and close with lid. Cook for 10-12 mins opening the lid every 4 minutes and at the end of 10 minutes, the balls would be doubled in size. 
8. Switch off the flame and cool completely and serve chilled.