Vazhakkai Bajji Recipe | Raw Banana Bajji - How To Make Bajji

Hi Friends, Hope you all doing good. I am sure you all had a great Diwali celebration.My Diwali went very well in my new house with my in-laws and family. As I was busy with some personal works, I was not able to make any post here. For Diwali, I made Badam burfi, Doodh peda, Wheat halwa, Thenkuzhal and Ribbon pakoda for my family. Apart from these sweets, I also made Adhirasam, Suzhiyan and Vazhakkai bajji on Diwali day. We love to eat these deep fried stuffs more than sweets and other savories.

Actually I had planned to make this post before Diwali. But I couldn’t do it. So Iam sharing it today. Every year my mom prepares potato bajji, Brinjal/Kathirikai bajji, Onion bajji and my most favorite Valakkai bajji( Raw banana fritters) on Diwali day morning. I guess many of you make bajji and bonda with store bought bajji, bonda mix/powder. But my mom and MIL makes bajji mix on their own. 

Basically I love tea shop Vazhakkai bajji a lot. Eating hot Vazhakkai bajji with a sip of steaming hot tea on a rainy day is a pure bliss! Try and experience it without worrying about the calories. Lets see how to make this easy, yummy South Indian style Vazhakkai bajji recipe.

Check out my Onion bajji , Chilli bajji & Stuffed chilli bajji recipes.

Vazhakkai bajji/Raw banana fritters

How to make Vazhakkai bajji / Raw banana fritters !

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Snacks

Serves: 10 

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 20 Minutes

Total time: 30 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

1 cup = 250 ml Besan flour/Kadalai maavu - 1 cup Rice flour - 1/3 cup Red chilli powder - 2 tsp Red food color – 2 pinches (optional) Hing/Asafetida - 1/4 tsp Ajwain OR Cumin seeds/Jeera - 1 tsp Salt - as needed Cooking soda / baking soda - 2 big pinch Water - 1 cup + 2 tbsp ( adjust) Cooking oil - to deep fry

HOW TO MAKE RAW BANANA BAJJI - METHOD

In a wide bowl , mix all the flours, powders, Ajwain or cumin seeds, salt, baking soda and add water to make a slightly watery batter( like dosa batter). If you make it too watery, bajji will have tails. At the same time, thick batter yields hard bajjis. The batter should be slightly thick and flow like a ribbon. It should coat the raw banana pieces well. Adjust water and flour accordingly. Wash and cut the raw banana into two horizontally. Peel the skin and discard it. Slice the raw banana thinly and arrange in a plate. Dip the raw banana in bajji batter. Heat oil in a kadai and check with a drop of batter to find the correct heating point. i.e. If you put a drop of batter , the batter will rise immediately and floats on top. As soon as you get this heating point, simmer the flame and drop the raw banana slices coated well with batter. Deep fry till the color changes golden brown and the bubbles ceases. Flip it and again cook for a minute. Drain & remove in a tissue paper. Enjoy with tea/coffee!

Note

Addition of food color gives a nice color to bajji as u see in stalls. My mom & mil adds cumin seeds but i used ajwain for an enhanced flavour. Use any as per ur wish. Please don’t skip adding soda. It gives a  puffy, soft bajji. Make sure you don’t add too much because bajji will be very oily and it is unhealthy too.. Adjust the consistency of batter. Batter should not be too thin or too thick. If your batter has become too thin, add besan & rice flour in 3:1 ratio and adjust the batter. If it is too thick add more water. Always add the extra water using a tbsp & check it.

Enjoy puffy, hot Vazhakkai bajji as an evening snack with your family !

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Pulippu Murukku Recipe / Pulani - Sour Murukku (Lemon Murukku)

Pulippu murukku / Sour murukku – This recipe may sound new to many of you. It’s a traditional murukku recipe made among Telugu people. Its called as Pulani/Pullani Murukku( Meaning Sour) in Telugu.I learnt this recipe from my friend Shalini. Her mom & periamma are experts in making varieties of murukku recipes.Onion murukku & Lemon murukku are some of their unique preparations.When we were in college,I used to go to Shalini’s house for group studies. Her mom used to serve this murukku as evening snacks for us.I love this murukku a lot.Its mild tangy taste and spiciness makes anyone fall for it.This murukku can be made in two ways. One method is by grinding rice soaked in curd/Thayir & other one by adding lemon juice.My friend taught me an easy method using store bought rice flour,Green chillies & lemon juice.It came out crunchy with tangy and spicy taste. We all loved it.Friends,if you are looking for an easy,unique murukku variety,do try this recipe for Diwali.You will love it like us.
Check out my butter murukku recipe , Onion murukku recipes too !

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Gulab Jamun Recipe With Khoya - Diwali Sweets Recipes

Diwali celebration would not be fulfilled without Gulab Jamun for Indians. Not just for Diwali, we make this delicious sweet recipe for celebrations like New year, Birthday, anniversary to make it more special. It’s one of the most popular dessert recipes that tastes the best with Vanilla ice cream. Even beginners who are new in making sweets never fail to try jamun at least with store bought gulab jamun mix like MTR, Aachi, Gits during Diwali. 

Long back,I had tried gulab jamun with homemade khova and posted here too. Then due to my laziness, I started making jamun using instant mix every year. But this year for Diwali, I was determined to try gulab jamun with khoya or milk powder. I used store bought khoya here. To make this sweet, I watched many youtube video recipes like Samayal Samayal with Venkatesh Bhat , Vahchef , Sanjeev kapoor & went through many recipes for the ratio of ingredients and tips to make perfect jamun. I came across few recipes with khoya and paneer too.

As its my first attempt with store bought khoya, I chose the gulab jamun recipe with khoya alone and tried it. After so many trial & errors, I made a perfect gulab jamun following Chitra Viswanathan Mam’s recipe with slight changes. I was very happy to see my golden colored, soft and juicy gulab jamun. I made them like mini jamuns in very small size to suit my serving bowls. It did double in size & well soaked too. I have given the recipe for lesser quantity. 

If you are attempting jamun with khoya for the first time, go ahead with this recipe. Once you get it perfect you can double this recipe and make in large quantity. Beginners, do follow the tips I have shared in this post. I am sure you will get the same results like me. Lets see how to make Gulab jamun using store bought khoya !

Gulab jamun recipe with khoya

How to make gulab jamun with store bought khoya

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Sweet

Serves: 12 nos

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 20 Minutes

Total time: 30 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 200ml Store bought sugarless khoya - 1/2 cup Grated ( I used Milky mist brand) All purpose flour / Maida - 3 levelled tbsp Cooking soda - A pinch (approx. half of 1/8th tsp) Salt - a pinch Water - as needed Cooking oil - to deep fry jamun For sugar syrup Sugar -1 cup Water - 1.5 cups Cardamom powder - 1/8 tsp Saffron threads - few ( Optional) Note : Double the recipe for more quantity

METHOD

Take the khoya from the refrigerate and bring it to room temperature.If the khoya is too moist n soft to handle,crumble it well using your hands. If its dry and slightly hard,grate it using a grater. Measure 1/2 cup of khoya and knead it well for 2-3 minutes using the heel of your palm. Make it smooth and soft without any grains. After kneading add the maida,a small pinch of salt & cooking soda. Mix well to make a crumbly mixture. Add water very little by little and make a smooth,non-sticky dough. If the khoya is too moist, you don’t need to add water. So add water only if needed. Its not necessary that the dough should be completely crack free. No issues if there are mild cracks. Keep the dough covered for 5-10 minutes. In the mean time, make the sugar syrup. Take the sugar & water in a bowl, mix well. Melt the sugar and boil it for 5 minutes in medium flame.Syrup should reach sticky consistency.i.e If you take the syrup in your finger, it should coat well with a glossy look and sticky to touch. No need of half thread or single thread consistency. Add cardamom powder and few saffron threads if using. Switch off the flame and let the syrup become warm. As we have added more water, the syrup won’t become thick. If you wish, you can add 2 tsp of lemon juice to avoid crystallization of sugar syrup. But I din’t add it. Beginners,please do this testing step.Heat a kadai with oil and take a small ball from the dough. Make it round and crack free. Check the temperature of oil by dropping a pinch of dough. If it rise to the top slowly, oil temperature is correct. Stir the oil twice and drop the small ball which we kept for testing. Flame should be low to medium. Check whether the balls are not dissolved in oil and crack free. It should be doubled in size and cook properly. The color of jamun should change slowly. If the flame is high,jamun will become brown quickly but it won’t be cooked inside.So open the jamun and see whether its properly cooked inside. Please do this testing to make a perfect jamun. The balls will dissolve in oil if cooking soda is more.In that case,add little more maida and make the dough by sprinkling few drops of water.If there are cracks in the ball after cooking, sprinkle a tsp of water and mix well to make the dough moist. If the ball comes out properly, make the remaining balls using the dough and proceed cooking. Switch off the flame till you make the remaining balls. Make small crack free balls by rolling the dough between your hands. Grease your hands with ghee if needed. Make sure the balls should be crack free & smooth. This is more important to get crack free,smooth gulab jamun.If there are more cracks in the balls, slightly dip one edge of the ball in milk or water and make the balls smooth. Now heat the oil in medium flame and check the temperature.Stir the oil and drop the balls one by one. Do not mix it for few seconds. Then mix the oil using the ladle without touching the jamun. Stirring the oil helps to cook the jamun evenly with nice color. Make sure the flame is medium low. Color of jamun should change gradually. If the flame is high, it will brown quickly and inner portion won’t cook well. Gulab jamun will almost double in size after cooking. Please watch Vahchef’s gulab jamun video if you wish to see the cooking process in detail. Remove the jamun after it becomes golden brown to a tissue paper. Drain the excess oil and immediately transfer the jamun to the warm sugar syrup. Let it soak in the syrup for 1-2 hours. Enjoy ! It stays good without refrigeration for 2 days if its properly handled. Use a clean spoon every time to take the jamun. Do not use your hands. Refrigerating the jamun may make it slightly harder and chewy.

Note

Gulab jamun will dissolve in oil if you add more cooking soda. If the moisture content is more in khoya,u don’t have to add water for making the dough. The wetness of khoya is enough to make the smooth dough. Gulab jamun will become flat if the moist in khoya is more. In that case you should add little more maida. Adding more maida make the jamun hard.So add the mentioned quantity. Do not make the dough too sticky or watery. In that case, grease your hands with ghee and make crack free ball. Do the oil test and proceed. Cook the jamun slowly and patiently else it won’t cook inside properly. If the sugar syrup is too hot, jamun won’t absorb the syrup. So add the hot jamun to the warm syrup.Allow it to soak for minimum 1 hour.Do not refrigerate the jamun.Use a clean spoon to handle every time. You can also use boiled,cooled milk to make the dough instead of water.

Make yummy,juicy Gulab jamun for this Diwali and have a great celebration !

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Magizhampoo Murukku / Mullu Murukku Recipe - Diwali Snacks Recipes

I came to know about Magizhampoo murukku/Magizhampoo thenkuzhal after marriage from my MIL. She makes it every year during Diwali. Last year I gave a try on my own. But its color became very dark as I added more sugar & Coconut milk. This year I referred this recipe and gave a try.It came out very well and crunchy.The addition of moong dal flour, sugar candy( Kalkandu) and coconut milk is the highlight of magizhampoo murukku. Some people who don’t like sweet taste in murukku avoid using sugar. It tastes good in either ways. But I love the mild sweetness in this mullu murukku more than plain salted ones. So its purely our choice. Lets see how to make magizhampoo murukku in detail !

Magizhampoo murukku / Mullu murukku recipe

How to make the traditional magizhampoo murukku adding coconut milk & sugar candy

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Snacks

Serves: 15 nos

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 30 Minutes

Total time: 40 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 cup = 200ml

Store bought rice flour - 1 cup ( Homemade flour works the best) Roasted moong dal flour - 1/4 cup Softened butter - 1 tbsp ( at room temp) Black sesame seeds - 1/2 tsp Salt - 2 big pinches Sugar candy/Kalkandu or sugar - 1 tbsp Coconut milk - 2 tbsp Water - as needed

METHOD

Dry roast the moong dal till it tunrs golden with nice smell.Roast it patiently in medium flame to avoid burning.Grind it to a smooth,fine powder.Sieve it and measure 1/4 cup of powder.Keep aside. Grind 2 tbsp of grated coconut adding 3 tbsp of water.Take the thin extract.Do not add very thick milk.Mix sugar or powdered sugar candy.Dissolve it well.Warm the coconut milk and keep aside. In a wide bowl,take the rice flour,moong dal flour,sesame seeds,butter,salt and coconut milk +sugar mixture. Mix well and make a crumbly mixture. Add water little by little and make a soft,smooth dough.No problem if the dough is slightly sticky.Take the star murukku mould and fill the dough.Squeeze it in the back of ladle as shown in the picture. Heat oil in a kadai and check the oil temperature by dropping a pinch of batter.If it rises immediately,oil temperature is right.Now drop the murukku into the oil and cook in low to medium flame by flipping it whenever needed.Cook both the sides till all the bubbles cease.Remove in a tissue paper and allow it to cool down.Store in an air tight box and enjoy for months !

Note

Adding more coconut milk makes the murukku hard.So do not use more than mentioned quantity.Use thin coconut milk. you can also use store bought coconut milk powder to make the milk but do not make it more thick.Use thin milk only. Adding more sugar changes the color of murukku.So do not add more.This murukku is supposed to be mildly sweet.So no need to add more sugar.Replace kalkandu/candy with sugar if you don’t have it. If you don’t like sweet taste,u can omit sugar & use coconut milk alone Always cook this murukku in low to medium flame to get a nice,well cooked uniform colored murukku.

Enjoy this crunchy,mildly sweet,coconut milk flavored murukku for this Diwali!

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Kasi Halwa Recipe - Vella Poosanikai Halwa - Easy Diwali Sweets Recipe

 

Kasi Halwa (Vellai Poosanikai Halwa in Tamil,Ash Gourd Halwa /Winter Melon Halwa in English, Boodida Gummaikaya Halwa in Telugu, Kumbalanga Halwa in Malayalam, Kushmandha halwa, காசி அல்வா /  பூசணிக்காய் அல்வா / Kalyana Poosani Halwa ) is one of the most popular sweet recipes which is served in Brahmin weddings. I had tasted this only once and that too years ago in a marriage. So all I remember is its yellow color ( some make in red color), glossy & ghee dripping texture. 

Recently I watched this halwa preparation in Samayal Samayal with Venkatesh Bhat in Vijay TV. The way he explained fascinated me to prepare Kashi halwa at home during this Diwali. But I slightly tweaked his recipe & method of cooking.I made this halwa for my guest yesterday. It came out very well.According to me Kasi halwa aka Vellai poosanikai halwa is purely a beginners sweet. You don’t need any expertise to make this. 

The beauty of this ash gourd halwa is it requires less ghee and cooking time is also less when compared with Tirunelveli Godhumai halwa & Thiruvarur Ashoka halwa. So anyone can make it easily without fear. But I felt the pre preparatory works like slicing the skin, removing the seeds, chopping the inner part, grating & squeezing the water Huuuuhhh!!, took more time than preparation. 

Once you finish this tiresome job, your halwa will be ready in the next 15 minutes. But all this pain will vanish as soon as you see & taste this ghee dripping halwa. I clicked the pictures by removing the hot halwa directly to banana leaf. So you could find the ghee oozing out of the halwa. Ok,enough of boring stories,lets see how to make this easy, yummy Kasi Halwa recipe in detail ! Bookmark this easy sweet recipe for this Diwali 2015 and enjoy with your Kith and Kin ! 

Kasi Halwa Recipe

Kasi Halwa / Poosanikai Halwa - Easy Diwali Sweets

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Sweet

Serves: Serves 2-3

Prep time: 20 Minutes

Cook time: 15 Minutes

Total time: 35 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 250ml Grated Ash gourd / Vellai poosanikai - 2 cups Sugar - 3/4 to 1 cup Ghee - 2 tbsp (  4 to 5 tbsp for more ghee) Cardamom - 2 nos Edible camphor - a pinch (optional) Cashew nuts – few Saffron threads – few

METHOD

Wash and remove a big piece of ash gourd from the whole vegetable. Remove the middle soft portion along with seeds. Then peel the skin and discard it. Grate the ash gourd and keep in a plate.  Take a muslin cloth or thin cloth and squeeze the grated ash gourd well using your hands. Collect the water in a bowl. We should use in the next step. Measure the squeezed ash gourd and take equal amount of sugar. Heat 1 tbsp of ghee in a kadai and roast the nuts. Take in a plate. Put the squeezed ash gourd and saute it for 3-4 minutes in medium flame. Now add the reserved ash gourd water and cook it in low flame by covering the kadai with a lid. Add 1/2 – 1 cup more water if needed. The vegetable should cook well else you will get raw smell in the halwa. So cook it properly. You can do this process in cooker too. After the veggie is cooked well and all the water is absorbed, add sugar. Mix well and add few saffron threads, a pinch of yellow food color optionally. Mix well. The mixture will become goey. As you mix, it will thicken and start to leave the sides of the pan.When it starts to become thick and leave the sides of kadai, add the remaining 1 tbsp of ghee, edible camphor (optional) and cardamom powder. Stir well and remove in a bowl. Initially the halwa looks goey as shown in the above pictures but it thickens as it cools down. Over cooking make the halwa hard and chewy.  Enjoy eating hot and serve it warm as per your choice. Alternatively, you can add more ghee at regular intervals and stir till halwa absorbs the ghee. Then keep mixing till the ghee is started to release in the sides and halwa thickens. Switch off the flame and remove the halwa. It tastes more rich.

Note

You can add 4-5 tbsp of ghee to the maximum, keep mixing and wait for the halwa to ooze out all the ghee. It will be even more rich. But this method consumes very little ghee. The ghee you find in the pictures is the one I added before removing from the flame. I felt 2 tbsp itself is more for this halwa. You can replace yellow food color with red food color or more saffron threads to bring the natural color. 1:1 is the ratio of grated ash gourd and sugar. For more sweetness, you can use 1:1.25 cups. Do not add more edible camphor. Its smell may become dominant in the sweet.

Enjoy this easy,yummy Kasi halwa for Diwali & other special occasions !

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Manapparai Murukku Recipe - Arisi Murukku - Diwali Snacks Recipe

Manapparai Arisi murukkku/ Rice murukku is one of the most famous snacks recipes of Tamil nadu. Recently I had a trip to Kumbakonam temples Via Trichy. While we were returning to Bangalore, I saw some people selling Manapparai Murukku near Trichy toll booth. They were sold from a small cottage industry in Manapparai. It was super crunchy in taste and looked white in color. I shared a picture of it in my Instagram and facebook pages while eating. I won’t say that the murukku had a melt in mouth texture with lots of butter. It sure tested the strength of our teeth but quiet addictive to eat. After tasting that murukku, I got tempted to try my hands on it and I reserved a pack of murukku for comparison. 

I also referred Hindu Food safari section and came to know the history of this murukku.Luckily my MIL showed me its original recipe in Thozhi Tamil magazine. My FIL clicked those pages and mailed me as well. When I saw the ingredients I was surprised that manapparai murukku is made of only rice flour/Arisi maavu and there was no urad dal flour or gram dal flour used in it. I followed the same recipe. The result was awesome. It came out 90% closed to the ones I tasted. That 10% difference is due to the oil I used & my murukku mould. My murukku was thicker than the store bought ones as my mould was big. I should have used groundnut oil / Kadalai ennai to get the same taste but I had used refined oil.Moreover the actual recipe called for deep frying twice.B ut I din’t do that. I am planning to make it again for Diwali using my small mould and ground nut oil for frying. I will try to update the pictures too. Now lets see how to make the most popular Manapparai murukku recipe.

Manapparai Murukku Recipe

How to make manapparai special rice murukku

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Snacks

Serves: 12 nos

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 20 Minutes

Total time: 30 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 cup = 200 ml Rice flour - 1 cup(Homemade or store bought) Melted Butter at room temperature - 1 tbsp ( butter should not be hot, unmelted soft butter at room temp also works) Ajwain/Omam - 1/4 tsp Black sesame seeds - 1/2 tsp Asafetida / Hing - 1/4 tsp Salt & water - as needed Cooking oil – to deep fry

How to make manapparai murukku - METHOD

Take the rice flour in a wide bowl. I have tried it both homemade & store bought rice flours. Both worked out well. To the rice flour add sesame seeds,  melted butter, ajwain and salt. Make a crumbly mixture. Add the required water and make a smooth dough. Keep it covered till use. Take the star murukku mould and fill it with the dough. Make shapes in the back of ladle or a polythene sheet or cotton cloth. I kept the original murukku nearby and tried to bring the same shape for the first batch. But I din’t like its swirls. So I pressed like usual round mullu murukku for the remaining batches. Heat oil in a kadai and check its temperature by dropping a pinch of dough. If it rises to the top immediately , oil temperature is just right. Oil should not be smoking hot.Reduce the flame to low and put 3-4 murukku. Cook both the sides till all the bubbles cease. Make sure the heat of the flame is low to medium. This murukku takes more time to cook. So deep fry them patiently to achieve the white color. Else murukku will turn golden brown. At the same time, if the oil temperature is not sufficient, murukku will absorb more oil. So adjust the heat and make the murukku in batches. ( If you wish, you can deep fry the murukku for the second time after 2-3 minutes of resting time. It makes the murukku even more crunchy) Store in an air tight box after it cools down completely. The actual taste of this murukku can be found the next day. It stays good for weeks if stored properly. Enjoy !

Note

If you wish you can add a tbsp of urad dal flour or gram dal flour for 1 cup of rice flour. But it changes the flavor of actual Manapparai murukku. You can replace butter with vanaspati , ghee or hot oil. This murukku tends to be crunchy and not with melt in mouth texture.

Enjoy making this crunchy murukku at home for this Diwali ! நல்லா நொறுக்குங்க !!

 

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