Collection of Recipes for Janmashtami / Krishna Jeyanthi

 Here are the collection of recipes with links to celeberate Janmashtami .Try these recipes.Have a wonderful week ahead.



   Moong dal laddoo                                    Gulab Jamun                             Rava Laddoo

    Thattai                                               Murukku                         DiamondChips                                      



Aval Payasam                                       Paal payasam                     Arisi Payasam

 

 Pasi pasruppu Payasam                              Milagu vadai                Javvarisi payasam

 

Medhu Vadai                                                 Kesari                                     Masala Vadai



Easy Moong Dal Laddu / பாசிப்பருப்பு லட்டு - With stepwise pictures - Krishna Jeyanthi Special

      Moong dal laddoo or  பாசிப்பருப்பு லட்டு is yet another favourite dish for kutty Krishna.So this is offered as Prasad for Krishna Jeyanthia . MIL is a specialist in preparing this dish. Moong dal is very nutritious ,especially for kids. Taking half cup moong dal is equal to having an egg. So its so much protienacious.So we can give these laddoos for kids without any hesitation. This sweet is my husbands favourite too. My Mil used to say ,that she stopped preparing these laddoos ,after H came to Onsite. So when I went to India she packed me grounded moong dal .She used to mill the dal at the flour mill. I prepared these laddoos ,got hooked to it. So wanted to try at home .So grounded it in my mixie. It gives the same effect as that of milled dal.And here comes the recipe from my MIL. This is a very easy sweet ,we can prepare it in 10 minutes,if we have all the ingredients ready.

 

 

Ingredients:

1.Paasi paruppu  / Moong dal          -          1 cup

2.Sugar                                             -          1 cup

3.Ghee                                              -           1/4 cup or as needed

4.Broken cashews                             -           1 tbsp.

5.Cardamom pwdr                             -           a pinch

 

 

 

 

Method:

 * Take moong dal in  a heavy bottomed pan. Dry roast it ,till it turns golden brown. As moong dal is so delicate, there are chances for it to go black quickly than any other pulses. So fry it without leaving our hands. When the dal is fried well ,it gives out nice aroma. Take the fried dal in a plate and cool it completely. 



 

* Take sugar in a blender and powder it .Do it in short pulses,if not the jar will become hot and sugar will melt and stick to the sides. In  the same jar, add fried and cooled moong dal and powder it. This way, we will not be missing any sugar particles in the jar. We have to grind the dal finely without any lumps.

 

* If we find that there is any lump, then go ahead and sieve it. Now take a plate,add powdered sugar and moong dal to it. Using our hands mix them well,so that they are well incorporated.

 

* Chop the broken cashews well. Take a pan, add a tbsp. of ghee ,fry the chopped cashews. Take care not to burn them. Now add cardamom pwdr,fried cashews to the powdered mixture and scald in well.

* Now we can either use home made ghee or we can mix ghee and oil. Since we are giving this for kids, we can use ghee fully. This gives a unique flavor and aroma to the sweet. Take 1/4 cup ghee in a microwave safe bowl  and heat it for 90 secs or 2 minutes. If not heat ghee on the stove top.

* Take 1 cup of the grinded mixture on a plate. Now add ghee to the mixture one tbsp, at a time. For me it took about 3 tbsp of ghee, to make the mixture pliable. It depends ,how hot is the ghee. If the ghee is not that hot, then we will need more ghee. Since my ghee was so hot, I used just 3 tbsp of ghee to make it pliable.

 

* Now we should be fast enough to make round laddoos out of the mixture. Because,when the mixture is hot .we will be able to make laddoos. If not we have to add some more hot ghee to the mixture. For 1 cup of the mixture,I got around 6 laddoos. It depends on the size we make. I made medium sized laddoos. Prepare laddoos in batches ,this way.it will be easy for us to prepare laddoos.

* Let the laddoos cool well. Store them in air tight containers. These laddoos can stay fresh for 10 - 15 days .Some will also use milk to make laddoos. But this will reduce the shelf life of the laddoos. Chop the cashews finely ,if not ,we will not be able to make laddoos properly. We can also mix ghee with oil and use it. Same way, we can make pottukadalai laddoos or roasted gram laddoos.

 

Quick and Easy Rava laddoo / ரவை லட்டு - Krishna Jeyanthi special

As Krishna Jeyanthi is fast approaching,here comes the easiest and quickest dessert of all seasons. Rava laddoo has a long story.When I was schooling,this is the first ever sweet I tried in my life. Initially, I will not be able to make balls out of the rava mixture.we will end up in a bowl of rava and sugar mixture.Some times the mixture will be lumpy(thanks to the courtesy of wrong milk ratio) ,sometimes it will be fine.But not the perfect ones.I and my sister used to have it as such.After I found the secret of adding milk at right proportion, the trauma came to an end:) My mom and MIL will be busy preparing the palagarams by now.Here is my contribuition to the fest.

 

Ingredients:
1.Rava                     -            1 cup
2.Sugar                    -            1 cup
3.Milk                      -             1/4 cup or as needed
4.Ghee                     -            1/4 cup
5.Cashews               -             2 tbsp
6.Raisins                  -              2 tbsp
7.Saffron                  -              2 pinch ( for garnishing)


Method:
* Take a pan,add ghee and heat it. Fry the cashews and raisins ,till golden brown. Keep them aside.
* In the same pan,fry the rava till golden brown.
* Dump in the sugar and mix it well.
* Once sugar is mixed well,turn off the stove. If not sugar will melt and mix with the rava and form lumps.* Meanwhile ,heat the milk and keep it aside.The milk should be warm not hot.
* Take the pan  and mix rava with the fried cashews and raisins.
* Now,slowly, add  hot milk using a spoon.Don't add too much milk,if not the mixture will be runny.
* When the mixture is warm enough to handle,try to make balls out of the mix.
* If the rava is not able to be shaped,add more milk.Garnish with saffron.
* Let the ladoos ,cool completely .
* Store in air tight containers.


Note:
* We have to shape the rava ladoos,soon ,before the mix becomes hard.
* Amount of sugar can be altered according to our taste.
* Warm milk should be used ,this will make the laddoos firm.
* We can keep the laddoos on the counter for a week.It stays fresh.

Mosambi Juice / Saathukudi Juice / சாத்துக்குடி ஜூஸ்

      I told to myself "Enough  hibernating Savitha". I couldn't open my laptop or post anything in my site.Yes ,when I came back from India ,I was led into a emotional shock. I would rather describe as emotional shock or block,  than explaining in simple words "Missing India". There in our place, there will be atleast 6 people around me .Excluding the cook, gardner and the drivers. There will be heavy traffic in our area.Here I couldn't spot anyone around me or on the road. Whenever we feel bored, then there will be neighbor kids running around our house. Rohith and Ashwath were pampered with food and fun. My mom used to take us to temples and fairs. To have a silent walk, I will choose our terrace in the late evenings. Walking in the terrace and gazing at the stars is a special moment for me. I am definitely missing this here.
         

 

There will be small petty shops near our house and we used to buy chocolates, cookies . Rohith used to enjoy the chocolates a lot. I personally, tried small candies "then mittai", panneer soda and butter biscuit from that shop. These brought my nostalgic memories of the past. Then ,when time permits  , we used to visit "Kutralam" as it is near. Shop around Kutralam and buy some house hold stuffs .I will not miss any chance to buy props in any place.(The luggage was overflowing and struggled to get them thru train to Chennai. That was a different story.:)     

        To add the mazaa, my sis will come from B'lore and be with us with her cute little son.

 After she arrives, then there will be lot of fun with the kids.There will be more fights,complains and tantrums.We have to become judges and solve the problems .On the whole ,my trip was fun filled and memorable.

 

  Here in US,we will not be able to get mosambis. So when Rohith tried this juice for the first time, he become die hard fan of this juice .So whenever we go out, his order will be to buy the fruit .It will be in our to do list, whoever goes out. Rohith used to bug our cook to make the juice at around 11 am and will finish along with his brother's share :)  Has these cute little juice set at my mom's place,so tried a photo shoot at our bed room.Satisfied with the end result. Here comes the recipe.

Ingredients:
1.Mosambi / Saathukudi                   -              3
2.Sugar                                             -              2 tbsp
3.Salt                                                -               a pinch
4.Ice cubes                                       -                crushed
5.Water                                             -                as needed

 

Method:

* Using a juicer, just squeeze out the juice and strain it using a filter.

* Mix it with salt, sugar and ice cubes and serve.

* We can also add some mint leaves to give a minty kick to the juice.

* Serve juice chilled for better taste.

 



 

 

Sukku Kaapi / சுக்கு காபி / Dry ginger Coffee

        Sukku Kaapi Coffee /  சுக்கு காபி or dry ginger coffee is a very good medicional drink for those freezing winter days.The spices used here enables digestion and helps us to get rid off the cold.Using basil leaves or karum thulasi gives a very good taste and aroma.Its been raining rarely here in tirunelveli..During that time, I asked our cook to prepare this coffee.He is an expert in preparing this.With a smile on his face,he rushed to the garden,plucked some basil leaves with flower.Took all the spices and crushed it with his mortor and pestle and quickly prepared this coffee.I showed my gratitude ,by taking the pictures and posting here. Enjoy this hot sukku kaapi on your winter days.

Ingredients	Measurement
.1.Sukku / Dry ginger  2.Panai vellam / Palm Jaggery  3.Pepper corns  4.Cumin seeds  5.Whole Coriander seeds  6.Methi seeds  7.Cardamom seeds  8.Basil leaves	2 inch piece      1/2 cup crushed      1 tbsp      1 tsp      1 tbsp       1/4 tsp        2 optional        a hand full

Yield                  :    5 servings

Preparation time :   15 - 20 minutes

Method:   * Wash the basil leaves and remove the leaves from the stem,also the flower.Powder the palm jaggery aka karupatti .   *  Crush the whole pepper corns,cumin seeds,methi seeds,coriander seeds ,dry ginger in a mortor and pestle.Don't grind it in a mixie.We need the spices to be just crushed.  *  Take a pan,add these crushed spices ,basil leaves and palm jaggery. Add 7 cups of water .Bring it to boil for about 10 minutes.  * Don't boil too much.By this time,water would have reduced to 5 cups.Strain the coffee and serve hot.It helps in digestion and also acts as a medicine for cold. Note:  We didn't have cardamom ,so we have avoided.But it gives nice aroma to the coffee.If we don't have palm jaggery, we can also use regular jaggery.   Basil or karum thulasi has medicional value.So don't skip that.We can also use dry basil leaves,if we cannot find fresh leaves.

                               Enjoy the medicional sukku kaapi with hot news paper

Chettinadu Chicken Kuzhambu - An authentic chicken curry with home made masalas. - With step wise pictures

Chettinadu is a very famous cuisine for non vegetarian dishes.Its known for its hand grinded masalas.Whenever we go to restaurants, I will not hesitate to order chettinadu chicken,chettinadu mutton masala .This recipe has a speciality,there is ,all the masalas are grinded at home .Regarding the ingredients,please don't compromise with the ingredients.If not we will not be able to get the authentic chettinadu chicken flavour.Got the  recipe from here.

Ingredients:
To grind: 1.Green chillies 2.Grlic pods 3.Ginger 4.Poppy seeds To roast and grind: 1.Pepper corns 2.Cumin seeds 3.Fennel seeds 5.Coriander seeds 6.Red chillies 7.Cardamom 8.Cinnamon 9.Curry leaves 10.Oil For the curry: 1.Chicken 2.Small onions 3.Tomatoes 4.Turmeric pwdr 5.Curry leaves 6.Cilantro 7.Coconut paste 8.Oil 9.Fennel seeds	2  8  1 inch  1 tsp  ½ tsp  ½ tsp  ¾ tsp  11/2 tsp  6 to 8  2  1 inch  6 to 8 leaves  ½ tsp  1  kg  1 cup  1  cup  ½ tsp  10 to 12  hand full  half cup  3 tbsp  1 tsp

Method: * Take all the ingredients under "to roast and grind" and roast it with little oil.Cool them completely and grind it into a fine powder. Soak poppy seeds in warm water for 10 minutes.Grind it with ginger,garlic ,green chillies, to a fine paste.Wash the chicken ,and  grind coconut into fine paste.Keep them ready.   * Now take a pressure pan,add oil and splutter with fennel seeds and curry leaves.Now add the small onions.We can either add them as whole or cut them into pieces.When onion is frying,add some salt and turmeric powder.Now dump in the grinded green chilli paste.Saute it well,till it looses its raw smell.Now add the chicken and saute it. * When the chicken is cooked  half way through,add chopped tomatoes.Sprinkle some salt and let it cook.Cover and cook for 2 minutes.Now add coconut milk to the curry .Now either we can pressure cook the chicken for a whistle or just cook them without a whistle.Make sure that the coconut paste is finely grinded,if not the curry will not be thick. * After the chicken is cooked well or after a whistle,add the grinded powder to the curry.Bring it to boil ,adjust salt to taste .Garnish with cilantro and turn it off.Let the curry be in the stove ,covered.This will make the curry ooze out oil.  Notes: * We can alter the amount of red chillies according to our taste.We can also add some chilli pwdr or curry powder in addition of adding the masala.But I have added the masala alone. * Originally this recipe goes  with mutton.But Chicken also came good. * I have omitted the addition of poppy seeds.But its upto to you to use it. * Dont prepare the curry without pearl onions or small onions.It is the key for the flavour.

Channa Samosa Chaat and My India Vacation

          I know,you all will be wondering ,where I dissappeared. After some terrible initial days of sickness,my kids are thoroughly enjoying the vacation in "The Indian way".Rohith and Ashwath are   pampered by their grand parents.I am completely in rest.No jobs to do ,except eating and roaming around.Poor hubby is finding difficut in cooking and managing  our house in US .

            Being in Tirunelveli. we have visited evergreen "Kutralam", India's southern end "Kanyakumari",the most gorgeous "Paal aruvi" in the border of Kerala,beautiful "Manimuthaaru " falls ,sacred "Nava tirupathi","Tiruchendur","Vana Tirupathi".The list goes on.In between my shoppings ,which is  the most interesting part.Completely bored of getting everything in one shop and no bargaining in  US.Love to roam around the city and visiting so many shops,bargaining ,drinking the most sweetest drink"Karumbnu Chaaru " aka Sugarcane juice.This vacation is power packed.Will update you with some more experiences in my mext post.Enjoy this chana samosa chaat ,from my draft.

Serving Size         :        2
Preparation time   :        20 minutes
Ingredients:
1.Punjabi samosas           -          3
2.Cooked chana              -           1 cup
3.Onion                           -            1/2 (Finely chopped)
4.Tomato                         -             1/2 (finely chopped)
5.Chilli pwdr                    -             1 tsp
6.Garam masala pwdr      -              1/2 tsp
7.Chaat masala                -               1/2 tsp
8.Green chutney               -               1/2 cup
9.Tamarind chutney           -               2 tbsp
10.Sev                              -              For garnishing
11.Cilantro                        -              Chopped (For garnishing)

Method:
* Take a tawa,add little oil and keep the samosas in a side. Let the samosa gets lightly heated this way. Mean while,add the onion and tomatoes and fry them.Add the chilli pwdr,turmeric powder and garam masala pwdr.

*Add cooked chana and give it a stir.Add little water and form a semi gravy.Adjust salt to taste.Now slightly mash the samosas into the gravy.

                                              *We can also crush some more samosas in the serving plate.

* Take a serving plate,place the chana samosa in the middle,drizzle some curd on top.Now add green chutney and tamarind chutney.Garnish with sev and chopped cilantro.

                                       Enjoy with garam chai.Will be great for wintery evenings.