Wheat Halwa

Wheat Halwa is delicious and liked by all. I have been waiting to try this recipe. I thought it was difficult to make halwa before i make it. But now it is very easy to make halwa. So lets make Wheat Halwa today.

Ingredients:

     Wheat - 1 cup
     Water  -   5 cups
     Sugar  -  2 cups
     Ghee    - 3/4 cup
     Cashew nuts - few
     Cardamom powder - a pinch

Method:

1. Wash and soak the wheat overnight (6 hrs).

2. Drain the water and grind it with 1/2 cup water smoothly.

3. Filter it with a strainer.

4. Keep the collected wheat milk aside for 6 hrs.

5. Take a heavy bottomed pan and add 4 tspn of sugar and heat it on medium flame. Make sure you stir all the time. The sugar will melt and changes to brown colour.
 

 6. Add 1 cup water carefully as it will splutter. Stir well so that the caramelized sugar gets dissolved.

7. Now add the remaining sugar and mix until it dissolve.

8. Now add the wheat milk and remaining water to the sugar syrup and stir well.

 9. Keep on stirring it. when it comes to a thick consistency add little by little ghee.

10. Stir it continously. Now add cashewnuts to it.

11. While stirring the halwa should not stick to the pan. This is the right time to switch off the flame.

12. The wheat halwa is ready to serve.

Aloo Bonda

Aloo Bonda is a famous south indian snack made with potatoes. Its a kids favorite snack. Now we will see how to make aloo bonda or potato bonda.

Ingredients:

Potato - 3
Onion - 1
Green Chilly - 2
Turmeric Pwdr - a pinch

To Temper:

Mustard - 3/4 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp
Urad dhal - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - few

For batter:

Besan Flour - 1/2 cup
Rice Flour    - 1/4 cup
Chilli powder - 1 tspn
Baking Soda - a pinch

Salt - as needed
Oil for frying.

Method:

1. Pressure cook potatoes, peel the skin and mash it. 

2. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add finely chopped onions, green chillies and saute for a few minutes until onion turns transparent.

3. Add turmeric and add mashed potato, mix well and switch off the flame. 

4. After it cools a little, make even sized balls out of it and keep it ready.  

5. Mix besan, rice flour, chilli powder, salt and cooking soda.

6. Add water to make a thick batter. The batter should not be too thick nor too thin.

7. Heat oil in a kadai. To check if the oil is hot enough to fry the bondas, drop 1/2 tsp of batter into the oil, if it raises to the surface immediately, then the oil is ready to fry the bondas. Now reduce the flame to medium.

8.Dip the balls in the batter, so that it is well coated on all the sides.

9. Carefully drop the balls into the hot oil and fry the bondas until they turn light golden color. 

10. Remove from oil and drain on a  kitchen paper.

Serve hot with coconut chutney.

Mango Halwa

Mango Halwa is made by cooking mango puree and cornstarch with ghee. It is an easy recipe. We need ripe mangoes to make this halwa.

Ingredients:

Mango Puree - 2 cups
Cornstarch - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 1/4 cup
Sugar  - 2 cups
Water - 1/2 cup
Cardamon Pwdr - 1/4 tsp
Cashewnuts & Almonds - 1/4 cup

Method:

1. Heat ghee in a pan and add mango puree.

 2. Mix cornstarch and water and keep it ready.

3. Now add this with the mango puree and stir well till thickened.

4. Add sugar and ghee and mix well.

5. Once it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and seperates from the pan, add almonds, cashewnuts and cardamon pwdr.
 

6. Keep stirring for another 10 minutes.

7. Pour the mixture to a greased tray with ghee and leave it for 1 hour.

8. Cut them into pieces. Mango Halwa is ready.

Vathal Kuzhambu

Vathal Kuzhambu is a very traditional and authentic south indian recipe. We can prepare this with Manathakkali Vathal or Sundaikkai Vathal.

Ingredients:

Tamarind - lemon size ball
Sambar Pwdr - 2 tspn ( i used homemade sambar pwdr)
Sundaikkai Vathal - 3 tspn
Mustard Seeds - 1 tspn
Fenugreek Seeds - 1/2 tspn
Hing - 1/4 tspn
Curry Leaves - few
Sesame Oil - 3 tspn
Salt as required.
Sugar a pinch.

Method:

1. Soak tamarind in warm water and extract thick juice.

2. Heat oil in a kadai,add mustard seeds when it splutters,add fenugreek seeds,hing,curry leaves and sundaikkai vathal and saute for few mins.

3. Add tamarind juice,sambar pwdr, salt and sugar.

4. Let it boil till the raw smell of tamarind goes and the gravy reaches thick consistency.

Note: You can replace sundaikkai vathal with manathakkali vathal or garlic or small onions or drumstick, brinjal.

Medhu Vadai

Medhu Vadai is a popular South Indian snack.They are crispy on outside and soft on inside. They are served with sambar and coconut chutney. We can also make sambar vadai, rasam vadai and curd vadai by soaking the vadai in sambar, rasam and curd. Lets see how to make the medhu vadai.

Ingredients:

Urad Dhal - 1 Cup
Green Chilly - 2
Coriander leaves - 1/4 Cup
Curry leaves - few
Rice Flour - 2 tspn
Baking Soda - a pinch
Hing - 1 pinch
Salt as required
Oil for frying.

Method:

1. Soak the urad dhal for 1 hour.

2. Drain the water and grind the dhal by sprinkling water to make a soft batter.

3. Now add coriander leaves, curry leaves, chopped green chilly, salt, hing, rice flour and baking soda to the batter and mix well.

4. Heat oil in a kadai. Once the oil is hot, reduce the flame to medium.

5. Take a bowl of water,wet your fingers and take a lemon size vada batter, flatten it on a plastic sheet and make a hole in the middle.

6. Now take the shaped dough in your hands and slip it  into the hot oil.

7. Fry until it turns golden brown on both sides. Remove it from oil and place it in a paper towel to drain excess oil.

8. Repeat the same process for the remaining batter.

Cashew Burfi

Cashew Burfi is a popular indian sweet. This sweet can be easily made at home. Lets see the step by step method of making cashew burfi.

Ingredients:

Cashew nuts - 1 Cup
Sugar - 3/4 Cup
Milk - 1/4 Cup
Water 1/4 Cup
Ghee - 1 tspn

Method:

1. Soak the cashewnuts in hot water for an hour.After an hour, drain the water and grind the cashews with 1/4 cup milk to a smooth paste.

2. Grease a plate with ghee and keep it aside

3. Take a vessel add sugar and water and heat on medium flame.Allow it to boil till the sugar syrup reaches one string consistency(kambi padam).

4. Add cashew nut paste and stir continuously.

5. It will thicken and starts leaving the sides of the vessel.

6. Place the mixture on the greased plate and spread it evenly.

7. Once it cool down, cut with a sharp knife to form diamond shape.

8. Remove the pieces after it cools down completely.

Our Cashew Burfi is ready.

Mutton Biryani

The process of making Mutton Biryani is little bit time consuming.The hardest part is to cook mutton perfectly. Here is a flavorful recipe for mutton biryani lovers.

 Ingredients:

Basmati Rice - 2 Cups
Mutton - 1/2 Kg
Buttermilk - 1 Cup
Water - 3 Cups
Cinnamon - 1/2"
Cloves - 3
Cardamon - 1
Bay Leaves - 2
Onion - 1
Ginger & Garlic Paste - 1 tspn
Tomato - 1
Chilli Pwdr - 1 tspn
Turmeric Pwdr - 1/4 tspn
Coriander Powder - 1 tspn
Biryani pwdr - 1 tspn
Coriander Leaves - 1/4 Cup
Mint Leaves - 1/4 Cup
Salt as required
Ghee - 3 tspn
Oil - 2 tspn

To Marinate:

Lemon - 1/2 (juice)
Curd - 1 1/2 tspn
Chilli pwdr - 1/4 tspn
Coriander Pwdr - 1/4 tspn
Ginger & Garlic Paste - 1/2 tspn
Salt - 1/2 tspn

Method:

1. Soak basmati rice for half an hour.

2. Marinate the mutton with the ingredients mentioned 'To marinate'  and keep it aside for 20 min.

3. Heat 1 tspn oil and 2 tspn ghee in a pressure cooker. Add Bay leaves, Cinnamon, Cardamon,Cloves and saute for a min.

4. Add sliced onions until it becomes translucent. Add ginger & Garlic paste and saute till the raw smell goes.

5. Add chopped tomatoes and saute for a while.

6. Add turmeric pwdr,biryani pwdr, chilli pwdr,coriander pwdr, coriander leaves and mint leaves and saure for 5 min.Add marinated mutton along with 1 cup water  and allow it to boil.

7. Pressure cook mutton for 3 whistles. Turn off heat and allow it to cool. Remove the lid and see, it will look like a thick gravy.

8. Turn on the heat again. Add remaining water and 1 cup buttermilk. Add salt and drained rice. 

9. Pressure Cook for 1 whistle and turn off the heat. Once it cool down,remove the lid and add 1 tspn of ghee and mix it.

10. Serve hot with raita.

Hope you all enjoy this mutton biryani.