Sooji Halwa | Suji Ka Halwa Recipe | Rava Sheera Recipe

Most of the time I make South Indian style Rava kesari  ( Rava = semolina in English) for functions, pooja and celebrations at home as it is our family favorite and the most comfortable sweet for me. I have already shared varieties of rava kesari recipes like rava kesari with milk/ Paal kesari, microwave rava kesari, semiya kesari, pineapple kesari, mango kesari etc. 

Its been my long time wish to try North Indian style Sooji ka halwa/ Rava sheera. So I tried it for New year celebration yesterday. In North India, Suji ka halwa is one of the most popular and easy halwa recipes that is made in all houses for all the festivals & occasions and is served in most of the temples as Prasad. This halwa is served along with Poori and Chole for breakfast. Halwa poori chole is one of the most popular breakfast combo in North India and Pakistan. 

In Karnataka, people call this sooji halwa as Kesari bath. Rava/sooji, Sugar and ghee forms the basic ingredients for this sweet recipe. But Rava kesari, suji ka halwa and kesari bath has its own variations in the quantity of ingredients, method of preparation, taste, color and texture. I watched few You tube videos and followed Food viva for the recipe. 

Though it tastes mildly sweeter than the South Indian rava kesari, it was dripping with ghee and finger licking good. We loved it very much. Its taste reminded me of the banana sheera I had in my friend’s house Satya Narayana pooja. Its very easy to prepare for special occasions and to treat your surprise guests. For variations, you can use milk instead of water. Lets see how to make North Indian special suji ka halwa/ Sooji halwa/Rava sheera recipe with step by step photos and a detailed video !!

Suji Ka Halwa Recipe

Suji Ka Halwa - North Indian version of Rava kesari

Cuisine: North Indian

Category: Sweet

Serves: 3

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 10 Minutes

Total time: 20 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 200ml or 250ml Bombay Rava/ Sooji /semolina - 1/2 cup ( Do not use chiroti rava) Ghee - 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp Sugar - 1/2 cup Water - 1.5 cups Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp or 2 pods crushed Saffron threads - few Milk - 1 tbsp ( to soak saffron thread) Chopped cashews, badam and few raisins/dry grapes

METHOD - HOW TO MAKE SOOJI HALWA

Soak saffron threads in 1 tbsp hot milk.I din’t use saffron in this recipe. I used cardamom powder alone. Heat 1/3 cup of ghee in a kadai.Roast the dry grapes, cashews and almonds till dry grapes bloat and nuts turns golden. Add rava and roast well for 4-5 minutes in medium flame. Rava turns light golden brown in color. Add 1.5 cups of water to the rava and mix well till 3/4 th of the water is absorbed by the rava and becomes semi thick.Keep the flame low and cover the kadai with a lid. Cook the rava for 2-3 minutes. Open the lid and add sugar, cardamom powder and saffron milk ( if using). Mix well without lumps.Sugar melts and the mixture will become watery. Keep the flame medium and mix well.  Halwa turns thick and starts to leave the sides of pan. Immediately add 1tbsp of ghee, mix well quickly and transfer the halwa to a bowl. Do not wait for the halwa to thicken completely. Remove it as soon as it becomes semi thick because this suji ka halwa becomes dry and hard when it cools down. So remove it at the right time. Garnish with few nuts and serve warm. Enjoy !

Note

Add more sugar ( Say 3/4 cup of sugar) if you need more sweetness. You can use milk instead of water but cook the rava for more time if using milk. Do not reduce the quantity of ghee. It helps to keep the halwa soft. If you don’t want to add more ghee, use half the quantity of oil.

Try this easy, yummy Suji Ka halwa/Rava sheera at home and enjoy !!

Flickr Tags: Suji ka halwa,suji ka halwa recipe,sooji halwa,sooji halwa recipe,Rava sheera,North Indian recipes,North Indian Sooji halwa,North Indian suji ka halwa,kesari recipe,kesari varieties,how to make sooji halwa,how to make suji ka halwa

Continue Reading...

Tomato Poori Recipe – Thakkali Poori – Tamatar Ki Puri Recipe

Recent days I have been trying varieties of Poori recipes for our weekend breakfast. I have tried and posted palak poori, masala poori, beetroot poori, chola poori . This week I made tomato poori ( Tamatar ki puri in Hindi and Thakkali poori in Tamil) for the first time. I just combined the recipes of my regular poori & masala poori and tried this tomato poori by adding tomato puree.It came out really well with nice red color. I prepared Bombay chutney as the side dish for this poori. It was a nice combo and we loved it a lot. This poori can be packed for kids lunch box or for snack as it tastes good and soft even if its not hot. Do try this colorful poori variety for your family and let me know the feedback. Tomorrow I will share the recipe of Bombay chutney. Today lets check out how to make this yummy tamatar puri recipe with step by step photos !

Tomato poori recipe / Thakkali Poori / Tamatar ki puri

How to make tomato poori recipe - Weekend special breakfast recipe

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Breakfast

Serves: 12 nos

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 2 Minutes

Total time: 12 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 250ml Wheat flour - 1.5 cups ( I used Aashirvaad brand) Fully ripe tomato - 2 nos Rava / Sooji – 1.5 tsp ( I used Bombay rava) Ghee – 1/2 tsp Red chilli powder - 1.5 tsp Ajwain/omam - 1 tsp Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp Salt & water - as needed Kasoori methi - 1 tsp ( crushed) Cooking oil - to deep fry ( I used refined oil)

METHOD

Wash and grind 2 tomato in a mixie jar without adding water. Grind it to make a smooth puree. In a wide bowl or plate, take the wheat flour, tomato puree, rava, red chilli powder, garam masala powder, crushed kasoori methi, salt and ghee. Mix till crumbly.Remove the unground tomato pieces if any. Add water little by little and make a thick, smooth dough. Dough should be non-sticky.Knead the dough with your palm for 2-3 minutes and keep aside for 10 minutes. If you wish, you can make poori immediately. Make lemon sized balls out of the dough.Take one ball, dust with wheat flour and roll into thick, small poori as shown below. Thickness of poori should be more than chapathi. Only thick poori would puff up well. Heat oil in a kadai to deep fry the poori. Check its temperature by dropping a pinch of dough. If it rises to top immediately, oil temperature is just right.Make sure oil is not smoking hot. Keep the flame medium . Take a rolled poori, pat it with your hands to dust off the excess wheat flour and drop one poori in hot oil. When it starts to come up, just press it gently with the ladle. Poori will puff up well. Now flip the other side and cook for a minute. Remove in a tissue paper, drain the excess oil and serve hot with your favorite side dish. Enjoy !

Note

Adjust the quantity of masala powders as per your taste. Do not make the dough sticky. Poori will absorb more oil. Adding rava helps to maintain the poori puffy for long time. Addition of ghee helps to keep the poori soft for hours. Roll the poori thicker than chapathi else it won’t puff up. Heat of the oil should be perfect to get well puffed poori. If the heat of oil is less, poori will sink in oil and drinks more oil. If the heat is more, the color of poori will become dark and may turn like a papad.

We enjoyed this yummy tomato masala poori with Bombay chutney !

Technorati Tags: tomato poori,tomato poori recipe,tamatar puri,thakkali poori,tamatar ki puri recipe,poori recipe,poori varieties,Indian breakfast recipes,Poori,How to make tomato poori,how to make tamatar ki puri recipe

Continue Reading...

Kerala Appam Recipe | Traditional Palappam Recipe With Yeast

Appam is one of the most popular South Indian breakfast recipe. It is commonly found in Tamil nadu and Kerala hotels. Tamil nadu style appam can be prepared in many ways. In my family, everybody loves appam very much. So I make it at least twice in a month. I have experimented and shared different recipes for appam like appam with cooking soda, appam without soda adding ENO and have made appam recipe using idli, dosa batter as well. But I have never thought of trying Kerala’s traditional appam recipe popularly known as Palappam.

Recently when I was going through my Instagram feed, I got tempted by seeing a picture of Kerala Appam served with vegetable stew for breakfast. Since then, I was searching for traditional Kerala style appam and found many recipes with variations. I found it can be prepared with yeast , without yeast and even with rice flour. This time, I tried the traditional appam recipe using raw rice and yeast. Now I wish to try the easy appam recipe with rice flour and see the difference in texture.Soon I will share restaurant style vegetable stew recipe. Now lets see how to make Kerala Palappam recipe using raw rice and yeast !!

Check out my other KERALA RECIPES if interested :)

Kerala Appam Recipe with Yeast - Palappam Recipe

How to make Kerala Traditional Appam recipe with raw rice and yeast - South Indian breakfast recipe

Cuisine: Kerala

Category: Breakfast

Serves: 15nos

Prep time: 12 Hours

Cook time: 3 Minutes

Total time: 12H 3Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 250ml Raw rice / pachari - 2 cups ( I used Dosa rice) Grated coconut - 3/4 cup Cooked rice - 3/4 cup ( loosely packed) Active, instant dry yeast - 1/2 tsp  Sugar - 1 tbsp Salt & water - as needed (You can use coconut water for grinding the batter) Cooking oil - to drizzle appam

HOW TO MAKE KERALA APPAM / PALAPPAM - METHOD

Wash and soak raw rice for 4 hours.Chop the coconut into small pieces and grind it coarsely. Instead you can grate the coconut and grind it along with rice. Grind the soaked rice adding grated coconut, cooked rice, salt, sugar and yeast till it becomes a smooth paste. You can grind in a  grinder or in a mixie. You can use coconut water while grinding. But do not add more water and make the batter watery. Transfer the batter to a big vessel and cover it with a lid.Let it ferment for 8 hours. I kept it for 12 hours as winter has started in my place. After fermentation, the batter would have become frothy and almost doubled. Mix well with a ladle and add some water if the batter is too thick. The consistency of batter should be like regular dosa batter. Heat an appam pan and pour 1.5 ladleful of batter. Swirl the pan and make a circle. The center part of appam should be thick and the sides should be thin and lacy. Drizzle a tsp of oil around the appam and cover it with a lid. Keep the flame low to medium. I cook till its bottom turns light golden brown and corners turn crispy. If you want soft, white colored appam, remove it before the corners turn crispy. Remove and serve hot with sweetened coconut milk and vegetable stew. Enjoy !

Note

Traditionally yeast is added in Palappam/Kerala appam. But if you don’t like its smell, you can avoid it. If you are not using instant dry yeast, you should proof it. For this, dissolve 1/2tsp of yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water, 1 tsp sugar. Mix it well and cover with a lid. Let it sit for 15 minutes. Check to see if the mixture turns frothy. If its active, add this mixture to the rice and grind it. If its not frothy, yeast is not alive/active. In that case, discard it and use a fresh yeast. Cooking appam is medium flame patiently is more important else appam will burn in the bottom. To make sweetened coconut milk, Grind 1cup of grated coconut adding 3/4 cup of warm water. Grind smooth and strain the coconut milk in a sieve. Collect them in a bowl and mix 1/4 cup of sugar and 1/2 tsp of cardamom powder to it. Mix well. Heat the coconut milk lightly till its warm and mix well for the sugar to dissolve completely. Do not boil the coconut milk. Serve warm with appam.

Enjoy this traditional Kerala Appam with sweetened coconut milk and Vegetable stew for a delicious breakfast !

Technorati Tags: Kerala appam recipe,kerala appam recipe with yeast,palappam recipe,traditional appam recipe,palappam recipe with raw rice,appam recipe step by step,south indian appam recipe,palappam recipe in tamil,Kerala recipes kerala parippu curry for onam kerala parippu curry with toor dal kerala parippu curry recipe kerala parippu curry with coconut parippu curry onam dal curry kerala style

Continue Reading...

Ulli Theeyal Recipe Kerala Style - Small Onion Theeyal /Shallot Curry

Ulli Theeyal is a Kerala special, gravy kind of side dish served for rice. Ulli means onion in Malayalam. Theeyal curry preparation is usually made with pearl onions (Shallot/Small onions) as the main ingredient. For variations, drumstick(Muringakka), Bittergourd(Pavakka) or ladies finger(Vendakka) can also be added along with onion. It is also served in Onam sadya. This gravy tastes similar to Tamilnadu Arachuvitta Puli kuzhambu.

 Traditional, authentic theeyal recipe calls for roasting coconut along with whole spices like coriander seeds, red chilli whereas I followed an easy and quick version from Marias menu. I have used Dhania powder and red chilli powder along with coconut.It came out really well and finger licking delicious.I am sure I will make this kuzhambu very often in my kitchen.Lets see how to make Kerala style Ulli theeyal recipe with step by step photos !

Check out other Kerala recipes too.

Ulli theeyal recipe - Kerala style Shallot curry for rice

Ulli theeyal recipe - Kerala special spicy, tangy gravy made with small onion/Shallots

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Side dish for rice

Serves: Serves 2-3

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 20 Minutes

Total time: 30 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 240 ml Small onions/ Shallots - 15 nos Tamarind - Big gooseberry size Salt & water - as needed To saute in oil Coconut oil - 2 tbsp Grated coconut - 1/2 cup Red chilli powder – 1.5 - 2 tsp Dhania powder - 2 tsp Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp To temper Coconut oil – 1.5 tbsp Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp Fenugreek seeds - 1/8 tsp Curry leaves - few Red chilli - 1 no ( pinched)

METHOD

Soak tamarind in 1 cup of water for 15 minutes and take the extract.Wash and peel the small onions. Slice it into two if its very big. Set aside. In a big kadai, heat oil and roast the grated coconut along with 5 small onions.Roast till coconut starts to turn golden brown with a nice roasted smell. It takes nearly 10 minutes to do this. So stay nearby and roast it patiently with continuous stirring. Keep the flame medium. Finally add the turmeric powder, red chilli powder and dhania powder. Mix well for a minute till raw smell leaves and switch off the flame. Let it cool down completely. Then grind them to a paste. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a kadai. Splutter mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves. Saute the  small onions till transparent. To this, add tamarind extract and required salt. Boil the gravy till onions cook well. After the onion is cooked, add the ground coconut paste. Check for taste, add more red chilli powder & dhania powder if it tastes tangy. Boil well till the gravy thickens and leave oil. Enjoy ! This gravy thickens  more in time. So adjust the consistency by adding some water and give a boil before serving. check for taste and add more salt or red chilli powder, dhania powder if needed. Boil and serve ! This gravy stays good for weeks stored in refrigerator ! Use clean spoon for every use.

Note

Add more chilli powder if you like spicy gravy. This gravy tastes the best with small onions. so its better to use it. If you don’t have them in hand, you can use big onion but flavors may differ. Add less tamarind if its more tangy.

Yummy, finger licking Kerala ulli theeyal is ready to serve ! I served with Chena Erissery, Nendran chips and rice !!

Technorati Tags: Ulli theeyal,Ulli theeyal recipe,Ulli theeyal curry,Ulli theeya,preparation,How to make ulli theeya,Ulli theeyal kerala style,Ulli theeyal kerala,Ulli theeyal with coconut,Kerala recipes kerala parippu curry for onam kerala parippu curry with toor dal kerala parippu curry recipe kerala parippu curry with coconut parippu curry onam dal curry kerala style,Kuzhambu varieties

Continue Reading...

Kerala Semiya Payasam Recipe – Vermicelli Kheer – Kerala Payasam Recipes

In Kerala, People make varieties of payasam recipes for Onam sadya menu. My neighbor told they make nearly 3-4 different types of payasam with jaggery and sugar. Semiya payasam@vermicelli kheer is one of the most popular and easy Kerala payasam recipe. Some people make it by adding condensed milk (Milkmaid) whereas I prepare in Nadan style with reduced milk following a chef’s recipe from Vanitha magazine. 

I modified the recipe and prepared in pressure cooker without adding condensed milk to make it quickly. Even though the ingredients of  Kerala semiya payasam is very similar to Tamil nadu semiya payasam, its preparation is slightly different from ours. It comes out very rich, tasty and creamy. Do try it for special occasions in your family. I am sure everybody will love it. Lets see how to make Kerala style semiya payasam with step by step photos !

Check out my Kerala Onam sadya feast in this link

Semiya Payasam - Vermicelli Payasam ( Kerala style)

How to make Kerala Special semiya payasam using pressure cooker

Cuisine: Kerala

Category: Sweet

Serves: Serves 2-3

Prep time: 5 Minutes

Cook time: 20 Minutes

Total time: 25 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 250ml Semiya/ Vermicelli - 1/4 cup Full fat Milk - 2 cups Water - 1/2 cup Sugar - 1/4 cup Ghee – 1 tbsp Cardamom powder -1/8 tsp Roasted cashew nuts & Raisins/dry grapes - 2 tbsp

HOW TO MAKE KERALA STYLE SEMIYA PAYASAM - METHOD

In a pressure cooker base, take the milk + water.Allow it to boil in medium flame till it reduces to 1.5 cups ( almost 1/2). Keep an eye on it to prevent from spilling. Milk becomes slightly thick. In the mean time, heat a kadai with ghee. Roast cashews till golden and remove in a plate leaving the ghee in the pan. Roast raisins( dry grapes) till it turns plumpy. Remove in a plate. In the remaining ghee, add the semiya/vermicelli and roast for few minutes till it turns golden in color. Add the roasted vermicelli to the boiling milk and pressure cook in very low flame for 1 whistle. Remove after the pressure is released by itself. Open the cooker and stir well. Vermicelli would have cooked well in milk. But it should not be mushy. Now add sugar, cardamom powder and boil till sugar melts. Remove and serve warm or chilled by refrigerating the payasam. Enjoy !

Note

Adjust the quantity of sugar based on your taste. Use thick milk for best taste. You can even use 3 cups of milk, reduce it to half of its quantity before cooking the semiya.

Creamy, delicious Kerala special Vermicelli Payasam is ready to relish !!

Technorati Tags: kerala semiya payasam,kerala semiya payasam recipe,nadan semiya payasam,how to make kerala semiya payasam,how to prepare kerala semiya payasam,semiya payasam in kerala style,semiya payasam kerala style,recipe of kerala semiya payasam,kerala vermicelli payasam recipe,vermicelli payasam kerala recipe,vermicelli payasam kerala style,vermicelli payasam recipe kerala style

Continue Reading...

Tomato Rasam Recipe–Kerala Style Thakkali Rasam Without Rasam Powder

In Kerala, Tomato rasam/Thakkali rasam is mostly served in Onam sadya. Basically Kerala style rasam can be done easily with instant rasam powder or with freshly ground spices. I was looking for a simple and easy rasam recipe without rasam powder and found in this blog. It came out super delicious and flavorful.After a long time, myself and Raksha had a plateful of rasam rice along with our favorite side dish papadam. Do try this yummy Kerala Rasam for this Onam sadhya and enjoy like me. Lets see how to make Kerala thakkali rasam without rasam powder.

Check out my other Onam sadya recipes.

Tomato rasam recipe - Kerala style rasam

Kerala style rasam without rasam powder - Kerala tomato rasam for Onam sadya

Cuisine: Kerala

Category: Rasam

Serves: Serves 2

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 20 Minutes

Total time: 25 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

Ripe tomato - 2 nos   Tamarind – medium gooseberry size Red chilli powder – 1/4 tsp Coriander powder/Dhania powder - 1 tsp Turmeric powder - 1/8 tsp Salt & water - as needed To grind Small onion - 3 nos OR Big onion – 1/2 no Pepper corns - 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds - 1 tsp Garlic cloves – 3 nos To temper Coconut oil or ghee - 1 tbsp Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp Red chilli - 1 no ( Pinched) Green chilli - 1 no ( slit) Curry leaves - few Coriander leaves - to garnish

HOW TO MAKE KERALA TOMATO RASAM - METHOD

Soak tamarind in 1 cup of water for 20 minutes.Take the extract.Chop tomato into small pieces. Grind onion, pepper corns, cumin seeds,garlic coarsely without adding water. Set aside. Heat oil or ghee in a kadai and splutter mustard seeds,red chilli, curry leaves and green chilli.Saute for few seconds. Now add the coarsely ground paste. Saute for a minute. Add salt, chopped tomato, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and dhania powder. Saute well till tomato turns mushy .Add the tamarind extract. Boil well for 2-3 minutes till rasam becomes frothy. Add chopped coriander leaves and give one boil, switch off the flame. Transfer to a vessel and cover it with a lid. Let it rest for 15 minutes before serving.It helps for all the flavor to blend well. Serve with hot rice and papapdam. Enjoy! Adjust the quantity of chilli powder based on your spice level.

Flavorful Kerala style tomato rasam is ready to serve with rice. Enjoy with papad !

Technorati Tags: Kerala rasam recipe,tomato rasam recipe,kerala style rasam recipe,kerala tomato rasam,kerala rasam without rasam powder,kerala style thakkali rasam,thakkali rasam,kerala recipes,rasam recipe,rasam varieties

Continue Reading...