Badam Halwa

Ingredients:
Badam(Almonds) - 1 cup;
Sugar - 1 cup;
Kesari colour - a pinch;
Ghee - 1/2 cup;
Saffron - little;
Milk- 1/2 cup.

Preparation:

• Soak the almonds in a hot water.
• Remove the skin, add the milk and grind into a fine paste.
• Add little water to the sugar and mix and prepare a sugar syrup in a kadai (prepare the sugar syrup into a single line consistency)
• Then add the almond paste, stir the contents well, till it becomes thick,
• Add the kesari colour and the saffron soaked in a little milk, and mix well.
• When the mixture starts to stick into the kadai, add the ghee little by little and stir well.
• When it reaches the halwa consistency, switch off the stove.
• Badam Halwa is ready

Another method:
Directly add the sugar to the badam paste, and cook the contents in a kadai. Add the ghee when it starts to stick on the kadai. (Actually this method consumes more ghee). I usualluy prefer this method because, this is very tasty then the other one.

Dry fruits&nuts halwa

Ingredients:-

• Figs - 10 to 15
• Cashewnut - 10
• Almonds - 10
• Pista - 10
• Raisins - 1 tbsp
• Black dates - 10
• Sugar - 1/2 cup
• Ghee - 1/2 cup

Preparation:-
Wash and soak all the nuts and fruits in water for 1/2 hour.
Peel the almonds skin and grind everything into a smooth paste (use the soaked water for grinding.
Heat a pan, add little ghee and pour the mixture into it.
Stir well and when the moisture dries up add sugar. Mix well, add ghee little by little, till halwa consistency obtained. When ready, convert the content into a bowl coated with ghee.

This instant halwa is very easy to cook and very very tasty indeed.

Bread & Nuts kozhukattai

Ingredients:

• Bread slices - 5
• Cashewnuts - 15
• Almonds - 10
• Dry grapes - 1 tbsp
• Black dates - 4 to 5 (seed removed !)
• Sugar - 1 tbsp (to be powdered)
• Ghee - 1 1/2 tbsp.

Preparation:

• Cut the bread edges and put it in a blender to make them crumbs.
• Roast cashews and almonds in ghee and grind coarsely.
• Slightly fry the grapes and dates in ghee and also grind to make them bits and pieces.
• Mix all the grinded ingredients with sugar and bread crumbs.
• Heat a tbsp of ghee and pour it over the mixture and mix well. (use hands to mix well (:-)
• Make them into a desired shapes (like kozhukattai )

See, this is a instant dish and here there is no steaming business. Indeed it is very tasty and rich diet, especially for kids

Carrot Halwa

Ingredients:

• Grated Carrot - 3 cups;
• Milk - 11/2 cups;
• Sugar 11/2 cups;
• Ghee - 2 tbsp;
• Cashewnut - 10 to 12;
• Badam - 10 to 12;
• Pista - 10.

Preparation:

• Saute the grated carrots in a two teaspoons of ghee for a few minutes.
• Add milk to this and pressure cook it until one whistle.
• Put the resultant mixture in thick bottom pan and saute till it thickens.
• Then add sugar and mix well till we get the halwa consistency.
• While doing the above process, add ghee now and then.
• Stir well till the ghee separates.
• Finally, give a finishing touch to the halwa with the roasted nuts.
• Wow, that is the colorful carrot halwa that absorb your kids like a magnet.

(to get the fine taste and flavour, use Delhi carrot)

Cashewnut Burfi

Ingredients:

• Cashews - 100gms;
• Milk - 1 litre;
• Sugar - 21/2 cups;
• Ghee - 200 gms;
• Saffron - a pinch;
• Caradamom - 2 (to be powdered).

Preparation:

• Make a smooth paste with the cashews adding little water to it.
• Place a kadai in the heat, pour the milk into it, when it starts toboil add the sugar to it.
• Then add the saffron, and let the milk boil until reduces to one-third.(Keep stiring the milk, otherwise it would get burnt).
• When milk gets to thick consistency, add the cashew paste and keep stiring.
• Keep adding ghee to it little by little, until the mixture reaches a thick consistency(that of an halwa)
• Sprinkle the caradamom powder over it and mix well.
• Pour the entire content, to a greased plate.
• Cut into your desired shape.

• Now the tongue tickling cashewnut burfi is ready.

Paal Paniyaram

Ingredients:

• Raw rice - 1 cup
• Urad dal - 1 cup
• Coconut - 1
• Sugar - 3 cup
• Cardamom powder - 1tsp
• Oil for deep frying.

Preparation:

• Soak urad dal and rice for about 3 hours.
• Add little salt and grind to make paste.
• Extract coconut milk and add cardamom and sugar.
• Heat oil and fry one tsp of the above paste in it. It should form round balls.
• Add them to the coconut mixture.
• Paal paniyaram is ready to serve.

Coconut Burfi

Coconut is highly nutritious and rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. The coconut provides a nutritious source of meat, juice, milk, and oil that has fed and nourished populations around the world for generations. Coconut is used for cooking various dishes. Here I prefer Coconut Burfi, a very simple and less expensive dish, it does not require much ghee as the coconut is already rich in fats. This sweet dish is very popular among the Indians.


Ingredients:
Coconut - 2 cups(grated)
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup;
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp;
Water - 2 cups;
Milk - 1 tbsp;
Ghee - 3 tbsp.

Preparation:

• Fry the grated coconut gently in a dry pan over medium heat till the coconut milk moisture is somewhat lessened.
• Boil the water in a wide-pan in a medium flame.
• When the water boils, add the sugar and keep on stirring
• Add the milk to the boiling sugar syrup to remove the dirt if any and remove them when they come to the surface.
• When the sugar syrup reaches a thick syrupy stage, add the fried coconut to it.
• Stir constantly till the mixture are blended together.
• Now add the ghee and cardamom seeds powder.
• When the mixture is done, remove from the heat and pour into a ghee-smeared plate.
• Flatten the surface evenly.
• When cold, cut into your desired shapes.