chocolate burfi

Ingredients:

Maida – 1 cup
Sugar – 2 cups
Milk Powder - ½ cup
Coco or baking chocolate powder – 1 tablespoon
Ghee – 4 to 5 tablespoon
Warm Milk – ½ cup

Method:

Put ghee in a kadai and heat it. Add maida to the ghee and fry for two to three minutes or till you get nice aroma. Remove it and add milk powder and mix thoroughly. Keep it aside.

Stir coco or chocolate powder in the warm milk and keep it.

Put ½ cup water to the sugar and boil it till it reaches soft ball consistency. Add maida little by little and mix well. Add the chocolate mixed with the milk and stir thoroughly. Stir continuously till it become thick and leaves the sides of the vessel. Put it in a greased plate and spread it. When it is cool, cut it into squares.

Note: You can also make this burfi using bournvita or drinking chocolate instead of coco. In that case use ½ cup bournvita or drinking chocolate. You can also add condensed milk instead of milk powder.

You can make double colour burfi also. First make the burfi only with maida and milk powder and add vanilla or any desired essence and spread it on a greased plate. Cool it thoroughly. Then make the above chocolate burfi and pour over the maida burfi already prepared. Spread it and cool it. When it is cool, cut it into desired shape.

Kalkandu Vadai (sweet vadai)

Kalkandu Vadai is a very famous Chettinadu vadai. This is a sweet vadai instead of the usual salt vadai. Tastes Great. In my native place whenever we want to do some group pooja or if it is an auspicious day like diwali, thiru karthikai like that then we prepare this kalkandu vadai.
It used to be originally made with kalkandu (Sugar Candy in English & Misri in Hindi) and hence the name Kalkandu Vadai. Nowadays it is replaced with normal sugar.
Ingredients

Urad Dal - 3/4 cup
Raw Rice - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Or Kalkandu -( palm candy)- 1/4 kg
Oil for frying

Method
Wash & soak the urad dhal – rice mixture. After about 30 minutes, drain the water and spread the mixture on a clean cloth/towel. So that the cloth sucks the water. If using Kalkandu keep it ready in powdered form.

Grind the dhal as fine as possible, using the sugar or powdered kalkandu. Avoid water as far as possible.

Make small vadais (like medhu vada) & deep fry initially on medium & then low fire. The vadais puff up very well, so do not fry more than 3-4 at a time. As usual like for our usual vadas the oil should not be very hot. The vadai tends be little more brown than the usual medhu vada, so don't worry.

The Kalkandu Vadai remains good for 2,3 days.

pine apple kesari

Ingredients:

Rawa – 1 cup
Pineapple chopped finely – 1 cup
Sugar - 2 cups
Ghee – 4 to 6 tablespoons
Cashewnuts – few
Raisins - few
Cardamom powder – 1 teaspoon
Kesari or yellow colour – few drops

Method:

In a kadai, put two tablespoon ghee and fry the rawa. Remove it. In the same kadai, put one tablespoon ghee and fry cashew nuts and raisins separately and keep it aside.

Add half cup water to pineapple pieces and cook till soft. (You can microwave it also). Cool it and grind to a fine puree.

In a heavy bottomed vessel pour two cups of water and bring to boil. When it is boiling add the rawa and stir continuously till the rawa is thick and cooked soft. Now add sugar and pineapple puree and stir continuously. Make sure there is no lump. Add few drops of kesari or yellow colour and mix well. Add ghee now. Kesari will leave the sides of the vessel. Now add cardamom powder, fried cashew nuts and raisins and mix well and remove from stove.


Tips: You can add 2 or 3 drops of pineapple essence at the end to get nice flavour of pineapple. If the pineapple is sweet, then you can reduce the sugar to 1 and half cups.

milk halwa (another method)

Ingredients:

Milk – 2 cups
Sugar – 3/4 cup
Ghee – ½ cup
Rawa – ¼ cup

Method:

Put all the above ingredients in a thick bottomed Kadai and keep it on medium flame. Stir continuously till it become thick and leaves the sides of the vessel.
Remove and put it in a greased bowl.
No need to add any flavouring agent. It tastes like milk khoya. However if you desire, you can add almond or pistas sliced.

Note: You can also prepare this in microwave oven. Put everything in a microwavable bowl and cook it for 8 to ten minutues or until it reaches the right consistency. Make sure to take it out every two minutes and stir throughly and put it in microwave.

badam halwa (almond)

Ingredients:

Badam (almond) - 1 cup heaped
Sugar - 1 cup flat
Ghee - 3 tablespoons
Saffron - few strings
Cardamom Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Yellow food colour - little (Optional)
Almond essence - two to three drops (Optional)

Method:

Soak almonds in lukewarm water for about one hour and remove the pink skin. Grind the peeled almonds to a coarse paste.

Take a thick bottomed kadai (preferably non-stick kadai). Put the sugar and the ground almond paste into it and keep it on medium flame. First the sugar starts melting and the mixture looks liquid. Stir continuously till it become solid and leaves the sides of the vessel. Then switch off the stove. Add two tablespoon of ghee on the halwa. Ghee melt in the heat of the halwa. Add saffon and cardamom powder and mix everything. Now add the remaining ghee and once again mix well and transfer it to a greased bowl.

Note:There is no need of adding any colour or almond essence to the halwa. However, if you desire you can add two to three drops of essence and yellow food colour.

sweet poli

Sweet Poli is a festival dish and it is prepared with dhal or coconut sweet stuffing.
you can use maida or wheat flour for this.

Ingredients:

Maida or wheat flour - 2 cups (heaped)
Coconut gratings - 1 cup
Jaggery powdered - 1 cup
Dry ginger powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Cardamom powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Ghee - 4 or 5 teaspoons
Gingelly oil - 3 to 4 teaspoons
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon

Method:

Add salt and turmeric powder to wheat flour and mix well. Add water little by little and make a dough (like chapati dough) and apply little gingelly oil on the dough and keep it aside for atleast half an hour.

In a thick bottomed vessel put the jaggery powder and add 1/4 cup water and bring to boil. Remove from stove and strain it so that any mud or dust will be removed. Put back the strained jaggery water to the vessel and again allow to boil. When it starts boiling, add coconut gratings and mix well. Cook on medium flame till it become solid. Add dry ginger powder and cardamom powder and mix well. Cool it.

Grease banana leaf or a plastic sheet and put a small orange size dough and flatten it. Put lemon size coconut mixture in the centre and fold it. Then gently spread it with your fingers. Remove it and put it in a hot tawa. Pour little ghee around the poli and cook till light brown spot appears on both sides.

Dhal Poli

Ingredients:

Bengal Gram Dhal - 1 cup
Powdered Jaggery - 1 cup
Maida or wheat flour - 2 cups
Turmeric Powder - a pinch
Ghee - 5 teaspoons

Cardamon powder - 1/2 teaspoon
A pinch of salt

Method:

Soak Bengal gram dhal in water for about two to three hours. Cook the Dhal in water till soft, but not mushy. Drain the excess water and cool it.

Grind the cooked dhal to a fine powder. Add 1/4 cup water to the jaggery and bring to boil. When it starts boiling, strain it and put it back in a heavy bottomed vessel. Add dhal powder and stir continuously till it become thick. Add cardamom powder, mix well and remove from stove. Let it cool.

Mix maida, salt and turmeric powder and make a soft dough using water little by little.

Take a plastic sheet or foil, flatten out small ball sized quantity of the maida dough. Place a smaller sized ball of the sweet filling and cover it completely using the flattened maida dough. Cover with another plastic sheet. Roll it round using a rolling pin. (You can also make a thin round using your fingers). Heat up a tawa and when it is hot place the poli and pour a teaspoon of ghee all around and cook. Turn and cook on other side until light brown spots appear.

aappam (dosai group)

ஆப்பம் yes
அப்பம் no
Drain the soaked rice and grind it along with the coconut shavings and cooked rice to a fine thick paste. Do not add too much water. Coconut water may be preferably used instead of water for grinding. Add the yeast and mix lightly. Mix in the salt and sugar to taste. Allow to ferment at room temperature for at least 6 hours.
Heat a small non-stick wok. Pour approximately half a cup of batter and quickly but gently swirl the pan around such that only a thin layer of the batter covers the sides and a thick layer collects at the bottom. Cover with a lid and cook each appam on medium heat for about 3 minute(s) or till the edges have become golden crisp and the centre is soft and spongy. Another sign of doneness would be when the edges start coming off the vessel.

2 cup(s) raw rice soaked for 4-5 hours
4 cups coconut shavings
1 cup(s) cooked rice
a pinch of yeast granules dissolved in some coconut water or little hot water
salt and sugar to taste

appam (jaggery sweet)

ஆப்பம் no அப்பம் yes



Wash and soak the rice and urad dal for 1 hourGrind to a smooth paste adding very little water.Add the jaggery and coconut and grind to mix well.Add cardamom powder.The batter should be like dosa batter.Heat oil in a kadai on a medium flame and pour ladle full of batter in the center of the kadai.Smear oil on the appam using the chattuvam (slotted spoon). Once the appam rises turn slowly. cook both sides till brown.Drain the oil and take out on a kitchen paper.

• Raw Rice - 1 cup
• Urad dal - 1 teaspoon
• Grated coconut - 2 table spoons
• Jaggery - 3/4 cup
• Cardamom - 1 no
• Oil - 1 cup for deep frying

athirasam

Soak Raw Rice in
water for 3 hours.
Dry partially. Should still be slightly wet. Grind into fine powder
using mixer-grinder. It is better to give it in flour mills which has
wet grinding facility so the flour will be in correct consistency.
Sieve it so that you get the fine powder alone. The powder should be
still slightly wet. Keep aside.
Take jaggery (half a kg for 1 kg of rice), pour just enough water
and boil to make "Paagu". Before it comes to boil, filter it so
that stones if any are disposed off.
Boil again after filtering. Stir frequently.
To test whether it has come to the right form, take a teaspoon of the
boiling jaggery and drip into cold water in a glass. If it forms a candy
mass then the Paagu is ready (Kambi Padam). Else continue boiling.
When the Paagu is ready, mix powdered Cardamom (ealakkai)
to the jaggery gravy. Mix it with the powdered rice to form a thick
dough. Allow to stand overnight.
Heat oil in frying pan. Pat the dough in your palm into discs and deep fry in oil.
Cool and it is ready to serve.

You must cool the jaggery gravy(Paagu) very well,before mixing it
with the rice flour. Otherwise it will become a lump.
The powder should be still slightly wet. Keep aside.
Take jaggery (half a kg for 1 kg of rice), pour just enough water and boil
to make "Paagu". Before it comes to boil, filter it so that stones if any are disposed off.
Boil again after filtering. Stir frequently.
To test whether it has come to the right form, take a teaspoon of the boiling jaggery and drip into cold water in a glass. If it forms a candy mass then the Paagu is ready (Kambi Padam). Else continue boiling.
Ingredients
Raw rice - 3 cups
Jaggery - 1 1/2 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Cardamom powder - 1 teaspoon
Oil for deep frying

jangiri and jilebi (jalebi) difference

Readers are asking whether the jilebi or jalebi is same as jangiri.
small differences are there.

In jilebi maida flour (flour of wheat,and in South India it is from tapioca)
(called as all purpose powder) and bengal gram (kadalai paruppu) are used.
In jangiri urad dhal (ulundu) is used.

In jilebi the two flours are mixed and allowed to ferment. So a sour
(pulippu) taste (like curd or tamarind) will be there.
Jangiri flour is not allowed to ferment. So there will be only sweet
taste.

Jilebi flour is put in a cloth or plastic bag with a hole and pressed to
come out by squeezing in hot ghee. Jangiri also prepared in the same
method.

Squeezing and whirling and frying and putting the pieces directly in
sugar syrub are same in both.

As jalebi contains maida it is crispy. (muru muru). But jangiri will be softy.
jilebi will be having a shining finish.

okkarai

இது மெட் ராஸ்காரங்க பண்ற அவசர ஒக்காரை.  ஒரிஜினல் ஒக்காரை கீழே போட்டிருக்கேன். கொஞ்சம் மெனக்கெடனும்.  ஆனால் சூப்பர் டேஸ்ட்.

Fry green gram dhal in a teaspoon of ghee till it becomes light brown. Pressure cook with two cups of water till soft.

Fry the cashew nuts in a teaspoon of ghee and keep aside.

Add ½ cup water to jaggery powder and bring to boil. Strain it and keep aside.

In a kadai put 2 to 3 tablespoons of ghee and fry rava till you get nice aroma. Then add rice flour and fry for a while. Add coconut gratings and fry for two to three minutes on medium flame. Now add the cooked dhal mashed well along with the jaggery syrup. Mix well. Stir continuously till all blends well and become thick. Now add the remaining ghee and stir once again till it leaves the sides of the vessel. Add fried cashew nuts and cardamom powder and mix well. Transfer it to a greased bowl.

Ingredients:

Green Gram Dhal – 1 cup
Rice flour – ½ cup
Rawa – ½ cup
Jaggery powdered – 2 cup
Ghee – ½ cup
Cashew Nuts – 10 to 15
Coconut gratings – 1 cup
Cardamom Powder – 1 teaspoon

தேவையான பொருள்கள்:

பயத்தம்பருப்பு – 1 கப்
கடலைப்பருப்பு – 1 கப்
உப்பு – 1 சிட்டிகை
வெல்லம் – 2 கப்
நெய் – 4 தேக்கரண்டி
மு.பருப்பு – 50கிராம்
தேங்காய்
ஏலப்பொடி.

செய்முறை:

• பருப்புகளை நன்கு களைந்து 4 மணிநேரம் ஊறவைத்து சிட்டிகை உப்பு சேர்த்து  முடிந்தால் கிரைண்டரில் நன்றாக- மிக நன்றாக இட்லி மாவுப் பதத்தில் கெட்டியாக அரைத்துக் கொள்ளவும்.
• அரைத்த மாவை இட்லித் தட்டுகளில் இட்டு, வெயிட் போடாமல் 10 நிமிடம் வேகவைத்து எடுத்து நன்கு ஆறவிடவும்.
• இட்லிகள் நன்கு ஆறியபின், மிக்ஸியில் இரண்டு இரண்டு இட்லிகளாக உடைத்துப் போட்டு ஒரு சுற்று சுற்றினாலே பொடியாக உதிர்ந்துவிடும். இட்லிகள் நன்கு ஆறியிருக்க வேண்டியது முக்கியம். (சின்ன வயதில், மிக்ஸியில்லாத காலத்தில் நெய்யைத் தொட்டுக் கொண்டு கை விரல்களால் திரித்துத் திரித்து சிறு கட்டி கூட இல்லாமல் பாட்டி மெனக்கெட்டு உதிர்த்தது நினைவிருக்கிறது.)
• வெல்லத்தை சிறிது நீர் சேர்த்து *முற்றிய பாகாகக்* காய்ச்சி ஏலப்பொடி சேர்க்கவும்.
• பின், அடுப்பை சிம்மில் வைத்து, உதிர்த்த பொடியைச் சேர்த்து நன்கு கிளறி இறக்கவும். ஒன்றாகக் கலக்கும் வரை அடுப்பு எரிந்தால் போதும்.
• தேங்காயை மிக மிகச் சன்னமாக நறுக்கி கால் கப் எடுத்துக் கொள்ளவும்.
• நெய்யைச் சூடாக்கி, உடைத்த முந்திரி, தேங்காய்த் துணுக்குகளைப் பொரித்துச் சேர்க்கவும்.
• ஆறியதும் ஒரு பாத்திரத்தில் அடைத்து வைத்து ஒரு நான்கு மணி நேரம் கழித்துப் பார்த்தால் உதிர் உதிராக இருக்கும்; எடுத்து உபயோகிக்கலாம்.
•  இட்லி உதிர்ப்பதற்கு முன் நன்கு ஆறியிருக்க வேண்டும், பாகு மிக முற்றியதாக இருக்க வேண்டும் என்பதும் உதிர் உதிரான நல்ல உக்காரைக்கு மிக முக்கியம்.
• சில சாதாரணக் குறிப்புகள்:
  * இந்த ‘எங்கள் பக்கத்தி’லேயே ஒரு பக்கத்தில் உக்காரைக்கு 2 பங்கு பயத்தம் பருப்பும், 1 பங்கு கடலைப் பருப்பும் போட்டு அரைக்க வேண்டும் என்று சொல்வார்கள். முழுவதுமே பயத்தம் பருப்பிலேயே கூட சிலர் செய்வார்கள். அதெல்லாம் நம் இஷ்டம்தான். பொதுவாக, கடலைப் பருப்பு அதிகம் இருந்தால், நிறைய உக்காரை காணும்; நல்ல உதிராக வரும். பயத்தம் பருப்பு அதிகம் இருந்தால் நல்ல மணமாக இருக்கும். நடுநிலைவாதிகள் பாதிப்பாதி எடுத்துக் கொள்ளலாம்.
  * சாதாரண நாள்களில் செய்யும்போது, ஒரேநாளில் உக்காரைக்கு இவ்வளவு கஷ்டப்பட முடியாதென்று நினைப்பவர்கள் (உண்மையில் கஷ்டம் எதுவும் இல்லை, நேரம் அதிகம் எடுக்கும் அவ்வளவே.) இட்லிகளை முதலிலேயே செய்து ·ப்ரீசரில் வைத்துவிட்டு, தேவைப்படும் பொழுது பாகு காய்ச்சி (காய்ச்சிக் கொண்டிருக்கும்போதே இட்லிகளைப் பொடித்து) இதை பத்தே நிமிடங்களில் செய்துவிடலாம்.
  சந்தோஷமான குறிப்புகள்:
  * இந்த உக்காரை மூன்று நான்கு நாள்கள் வரை கெடாது. முக்கியமாக, செய்தவுடனே (பக்கி மாதிரி ) சாப்பிடுவதைவிட ஒருநாள் கழித்துச் சாப்பிட்டால் சுவை மிகுதியாக இருக்கும். (புளியோதரை மாதிரி.)
  * எவ்வளவு சாப்பிட்டாலும் திகட்டாது.
  மிக முக்கியமான குறிப்புகள்: 
  * உக்காரையில் தேங்காய், முந்திரி தவிர வீட்டில் புத்தாண்டிற்கு வந்த ட்ரை ·ப்ரூட்ஸ், மிஞ்சிக் கிடக்கும் கிஸ்மிஸ் எல்லாவற்றையும் அதன் தலையில் பொரித்துக் கொட்டக் கூடாது. புனிதம் போய்விடும். 

jilebi

1. Mix together the flours, oil, yogurt and water to make a medium thick paste. Cover and keep overnight for fermentation. Prepare a two string syrup with the sugar and water. Add yellow color and saffron to the syrup. Keep aside. Beat the flour mixture well and fill in a plastic bag with a hole at the bottom. Squeeze out the batter by pressing the bag into the hot ghee. Drop medium sized whirls in a continuous flow beginning from outer circle and ending in the center. This will give better shape to the jalebies. Fry them until crisp and golden color on both sides carefully. Drain and drop in the syrup. In 5 minutes, the jalebies will be thoroughly soaked. Drain and serve hot.

Ingredients:
250g maida (all-purpose) flour
25g gram flour
1 tbsp oil
1 cup yogurt
2 1/2 cups water
350g sugar
2-3 pinches yellow color
500g ghee or butter
4-6 threads saffron, soaked in 2 tbsp hot milk

jilebi

1. Mix together the flours, oil, yogurt and water to make a medium thick paste. Cover and keep overnight for fermentation. Prepare a two string syrup with the sugar and water. Add yellow color and saffron to the syrup. Keep aside. Beat the flour mixture well and fill in a plastic bag with a hole at the bottom. Squeeze out the batter by pressing the bag into the hot ghee. Drop medium sized whirls in a continuous flow beginning from outer circle and ending in the center. This will give better shape to the jalebies. Fry them until crisp and golden color on both sides carefully. Drain and drop in the syrup. In 5 minutes, the jalebies will be thoroughly soaked. Drain and serve hot.

milk halwa

Heat 3/4 litre of milk and when it boils, add lime juice.
The milk will curdle.
Strain the milk in a thin cloth.
When all the water is drained, collect the panneer and set aside.
Heat 1/4 litre milk till thick.
Add maida little by little.
Add panneer, sugar, ghee and stir well.
When the contents thicken, add cardamom powder, rose essence, mix well and transfer to a greased plate.
Spread the halwa on the plate and cut into pieces.
Ingredients
Milk : 1 litre
Sugar : 70 gm
Lime : 1
Maida : 25 gm
Cardamom : ¼ tsp
Saffron : a little ( if needed )
Rose essence : 1 tbsp
Ghee : 1 tbsp

kesari

In a kadai, put two tablespoon ghee and fry the rawa. Remove it. In the same kadai, put one tablespoon ghee and fry cashew nuts and raisins separately and keep it aside. In a heavy bottomed vessel pour two cups of water and bring to boil. When it is boiling add the rawa and stir continuously till the rawa is thick and cooked soft. Now add sugar and stir continuously. Make sure there is no lump. Add few drops of kesari colour and mix well. Add ghee now. Kesari will leave the sides of the vessel. Now add cardamom powder, fried cashew nuts and raisins and mix well and remove from fire.

Ingredients:

One cup rawa
One cup sugar
4 tablespoon ghee
5 cashew nuts split
10 raisins
One taspoon cardamom powder
Few drops of kesari colour

mysore pak

Heat 1 tea spoon ghee and add gram flour.

On a medium flame, fry till nice aroma comes out of it and it turns slightly brownish. Take care not to burn, it burns easily, so make sure to keep stirring it. Take it out on a plate and keep aside.

Mix sugar with 1/2 cup water and bring it to boil, keep mixing with a spoon.

When it is boiling, and you can see rapid boiling, add the fried four and mix (do not wait till it forms syrup).

Now add 1 tbl spoon ghee at a time, keep mixing all the time. When all ghee is done, keep mixing continuously. If you stop mixing for a min, you will see the mixture has lots of air in it and when you start mixing again, the air goes off.


When the mixture starts leaving edges and looks a bit dry, add cardamom, mix well and pour it into a greased plate and flatten immediately.

Keep the plate tilted at an angle, this way, all the extra ghee comes out of the Mysore pak and you get very dry pieces. Cut into desired shapes.

Makes about 15 pieces
Preparation time : 1 hour

These are some very important notes to keep in mind
- If the flour remains half fried(roasted), it gives a different taste. So make sure not to skip the first step of frying/roasting it well.
- The plate where you pour the mixture should be greased with ghee and kept ready before you even start heating the water because you cannot spend time on greasing it when the mixture is ready to be poured. You have to work very fast at this point.
- Always keep the plate at an angle to remove extra ghee.
- Never try to make this dish on a high flame, it gets burnt very easily, so start with a cool, patient mind :D.
- Cut into pieces when it is still warm. When it is completely cooled, it crumbles very easily.
- Take out from the heat when the mixture looks quite dry and looks like froth. If you take out early, it wont get solid after cooling. This step comes only with practice.

Ingredients:
1 cup gram flour(besan)
1 cup sugar
1 cup ghee
1/2 tea spn cardamom powder

jangiri

Soak Urad dhal in water overnight or minimum 3 hours. Wash it thoroughly and blend it to a smooth thick batter of piping consistency adding little water at a time. Best blended 2/3 cups in 3 batches with food coloring.
For piping the batter, you can use a sturdy icing pipe with round nozzle not more than 5mm dia. Make your own (like I did): Take a thick cotton cloth 1 x 1 foot; punch a hole 3mm dia in the centre of the cloth; button stitch it to strengthen the opening either by machine or hand.
Make the syrup by boiling 3 cups of vegan sugar in 2 1/2 cups water in a 2 litre deep saucepan. Add split cardamom pods and rose essence. Keep it on low fire on one burner. Leave a heavy ladle for dunking fried jangiris in syrup.
Heat oil in a frying pan on an adjoining burner on a medium flame. When the oil is hot make jangiris* one at a time directly over the oil, one at a time. Make 3-4 pieces per batch. Fry 40-90 seconds depending on whether you want your jangiris crispy or soggy. Remove them from the frying pan with a skewer or a ladle and dunk them in the syrup one at a time. The jangiris tend to float. Do not let them. With the heavy syrup ladle hold it down. In 30 seconds, they will be well soaked and ready for draining and laying out on serving tray. Help yourself hot jangiri. It is well worth the effort!
* Piping jangiris is an art. It took me few attempts to master it. I will try to explain it. Even if it is not of the perfect shape you will still enjoy its perfect taste!
Half fill your piping bag. Or put 1/2 cup batter in your piping cotton (stitched up as described earlier) and gather it from four corners and hold it like a piping bag. Pipe over the hot oil, an inch above the surface of the oil, (not a job for a faint-hearted cook) with a steady hand, a quick 2 rings of spiralling circle closely adjoining each other (as you pipe it will try to move away); continue piping small cicles in one continuous thread over the ridge formed by the spiral and finish when the small circles cover the entire ridge; break off by stopping the piping. Move the jangiri away and pipe 2-3 more. You can practice over your batter itself before trying on the hot oil.

• 2 Cups Urad dhal (available from any store selling groceries from India)
• 1/2 teaspoon Orange/Yellow food colour
• 3 Cups Sugar
• 2 Cups Canola or Peanut Oil
• 6 Cardamom pods
• 2 ml Rose essence (From Sri Lanka/India)
• Jangiri/Imerthi/Jilebi(plain flour) - Sweet

asoka halwa

Wash the dhal and cook in enough water till soft. Mash it. In a kadai put one or two tablespoon ghee and when it is hot, add the wheat flour and fry till nice aroma comes out. Add the cooked dhal, kesari powder and mix well. Allow to cook in a medium flame. Add sugar and stir well. Add ghee little by little and keep stirring. When it leaves the sides of the kadai, add cardamom powder, fried cashew nuts and the remaining ghee and stir well. Remove from stove. Transfer to a greased bowl.

Ingredients:

Green Gram Dhal - 1 cup
Wheat flour - 1 cup
Sugar – 2 cups
Kesari powder - a pinch
Ghee - 1 cup
Cardomoms – 8 (powdered)
Cashewnuts – 10 to 15 (broken into bits and fried in ghee)