Dates and nuts roll is a very healthy, easy to make, no sugar, diabetic friendly, Indian sweet recipe.It is popularly known as Khajoor katri (In Hindi) / Khajur roll in North India.I have seen this sweet in all the famous sweet shops here in Bangalore.Whenever I see this sweet,I thought it would be difficult to prepare.But when I come across this video in youtube I was overjoyed to find the ease of making this sweet.I tried it immediately and its outcome was awesome and perfect !! I am not a big fan of dates but still I liked the taste of this dates roll may be because of the crunchy nuts coming in each and every bite .I have used poppy seeds for coating this roll.Recently I heard from a reader that poppy seeds are banned in some foreign countries.So feel free to use desiccated coconut instead of khus khus.It tastes good.You can also shape this as dates & nuts balls/Ladoo instead of rolls.I am very happy to add this recipe in my easy Diwali sweets recipes collection.Friends,Bookmark this easy sweet recipe for Diwali.It’s a no fail recipe which takes just 10 minutes preparation time. Lets check out how to make this yummy,easy Indian sweet – Dates Roll !!
Please view the full video recipe to get a good understanding !
Dates Roll - Full Video Recipe
Dates Roll Recipe
How to make easy dates & nuts roll
Cuisine:Indian
Category:Sweets
Serves:12 nos
Prep time:10 Minutes
Cook time:10 Minutes
Total time:20 Minutes
INGREDIENTS
Seedless Dates - 200 gms ( I used Lion Desseded dates)
Chopped Nuts(Cashews,Melon seeds,Pista,badam) - 1/3 cup ( add more or less as u wish)
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Poppy seeds/Khus khus - 2tbsp (to coat,optional)
METHOD
Chop the nuts finely and chop the dates roughly.Grind the dates into coarse paste.I used small sized mixie jar and ground in batches.Remove them in a plate.
heat a kadai and dry roast the poppy seeds for a minute.Collect in a plate.This is to coat the rolls.Please skip this step of u don’t have poppy seeds in hand. Use desiccated coconut or do not coat it.
Heat 1 tsp of ghee and roast the nuts for a minute. Remove in a plate.
In the same kadai,heat 1 tbsp of ghee and add the ground dates.Mix well until it becomes a whole mass.Initially it would be difficult to mix.,But when the mixture gets heated,dates will become soft and pulpy.It takes 3-4 minutes in medium high flame.Time may vary based on the dates.
Now add the roasted nuts & mix till everything incorporates well. It takes 2 minutes.When it becomes a whole mass and non-sticky,remove it and keep in a plate.When it turns slightly warm,knead it well and make a log shape as shown in the picture.
Coat it in the roasted poppy seeds and roll in a thermal foil or plastic sheet.Refrigerate for an hour.Remove and keep it outside for 5 minutes.Use a sharp knife and cut into roundels.Serve them once it comes to room temperature.It tastes hard and chewy when it is cold.So serve them after 30 minutes.This roll stays good for 3-4 days.No need to refrigerate.
Enjoy this healthy sweet with your family !
Note
Coating the rolls in coconut or poppy seeds is optional.
Add more nuts if you wish.I used cashews,melon seeds,pista and badam.You can skip melon seeds if u don’t have.
Make this healthy,easy,yummy sweet for this Diwali and have a great Celebration !
I wanted to try this thengai mangai pattani sundal(Coconut,Raw mango,peas) during last year Navaratri.But I couldn’t do it.So this year I was very much stubborn & determined to start my Navratri Sundal recipes posts only with this most popular Chennai Marina Beach style sundal recipe.Luckily I found a raw mango in the market yesterday and bought it even though it was too costly.Generally when we think about Chennai beach, apart from the wonderful sea breeze,snacks like Kara pori,Green peas masala chaat, fire roasted corn, sweet cotton candy ( Panchumittai) and thenga manga pattani sundal flashes in our mind.But frankly speaking,I have never tasted any one of them in the beach.I visit Chennai very rarely and that too to attend weddings and other family functions.So when I go there,I directly go to our relatives house.As soon as the function gets over,we would be off to Bangalore immediately.This year too we have planned for a Chennai trip in a month or two.This time I have demanded few things to Sendhil like Shopping in T Nagar,Food at Saravana Bhavan especially Vada curry & Kaima idli and most importantly,a visit to Marina beach.I think Sendhil would keep up his promise and take me to all these places.After I taste the real sundal in the beach,I will update this post to match its original taste.Today I made this sundal following the recipe from Radhika’s blog.It came out very well and tasty.With the flavor & tanginess of raw mango,it tasted awesome !! Friends,do try this sundal for Navratri neivedyam and share your feedback.If you don’t have raw mango in hand,add more lemon juice and use grated carrots.After doing the pooja,you can also add finely chopped onions & relish this sundal.Lets see how to make this yummy Beach style Thenga Manga Pattani Sundal .
Check out my beach style Kara pori/Spicy puffed rice recipe if interested !!
Navratri is starting from today. I hope most of you would be planning to make some sundal variety along with Sakkarai pongal for today’s neivedyam. Every year we make paasi paruppu sundal and sweet pongal for first day. This year for a change I tried Iyengar special sweet pongal recipe with milk popularly known as “Akkaravadisal/Akkara adisal”. Iyengars make this for Koodaravalli festival during tamil month Margazhi. The term Akkaram is a literary word for Sugar or jaggery and the word Vadisal is a descriptive term for cooking by steaming or boiling.
Starting from this explanation till the recipe I have shared here are shared by my school friend Sumi Raghavan who is a Tamil (Iyengar) Brahmin.Whenever I look for Iyengar recipes, my first hand source is Sumi. She is so sweet to share her traditional recipes with me. Based on her recipe and method, I started to search for more ideas on net. You could find different recipes for this akkaravadisal. Some people use sugar candy ( Kalkandu) or sugar to make this sweet pongal. Some add equal amounts of jaggery and sugar. But I followed the recipe of my friend which is more of temple style.
Actually I came to know about this akkara adisal from a priest in Thirukannapuram Perumal temple. He told us that every morning nearly 12 ladies prepare this akkaravadisal in a wide bronze pot ( Venkala paanai) adding lots of ghee and serve it as kovil prasadam to all the devotees during Margazhi month. Though I couldn’t taste the prasadam,I was able to feel its taste from the way he explained. So I badly wanted to try and share this recipe in my blog. As he told, the taste of this creamy pudding like Akkaravadisal was truly flavorful & very rich in taste. Don’t hesitate to add the amount of ghee mentioned here. Ghee and the edible camphor(Pachai karpooram) are the star ingredients of this recipe.
So here you go authentic Iyengar style akkaravadisal preparation with stepwise pictures. Do make this for Koodaravalli and Navratri neivedyam and offer to God !!
Akkaravadisal Recipe
Iyengar style akkara adisal recipe - Sweet Pongal with milk.
Cuisine:Indian
Category:Sweet
Serves:Serves 4
Prep time:30 Minutes
Cook time:20 Minutes
Total time:50 Minutes
INGREDIENTS
Raw rice(Good quality sona masoori) - 1/2 cup
Yellow moong dal - 2 tbsp
Milk – 4 to 5 cups
Water – 1/2 cup + 1/4 cup for melting jaggery
Grated jaggery - 1/2 cup ( use dark colored jaggery to get this color.)
Crushed Sugar candy or sugar - 1/4 cup
Cardamom - 3 nos (crushed)
Edible camphor/Pachai karpooram - 2 pinches
Ghee - 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp ( Rice & ghee ratio is 1:1, but I used less)
Cashew nuts - a fistful
Saffron threads - Few ( soak in 2 tbsp milk)
Salt - a pinch
HOW TO MAKE AKKARAVADISAL - METHOD
Wash and soak the rice, dal in milk for 30 minutes adding 4 cups of milk + 1/2 cup of water. Alternatively you can roast rice and moong dal in a tsp of ghee and soak in milk. But I din’t roast moong dal & rice. ( If you want to follow traditional temple method, cook the rice & dal in an open pot by stirring every now & then. Else it will burn in the bottom. If cooking in pot, quantity of milk would be more.)
Soak saffron thread in warm milk and set aside.
Take a pressure cooker and add the soaked rice, dal, milk,,water, a pinch of salt to it. Put a small plate inside the cooker to avoid splashing while the cooker whistles. Pressure cook in very low flame for 2 to 3 whistles. It takes more time to cook as we are cooking rice in milk. So be patient.
In the mean time, boil the jaggery adding 1/4 cup of water and let it melt. Strain the jaggery syrup using a filter , add sugar or crushed sugar candy ( kalkandu), mix well and keep aside.
After the steam is released from the cooker, remove the plate and mash the rice very well. Add 1/2 cup of milk and mix well to bring semi solid consistency. Add the jaggery syrup + sugar or crushed sugar candy to this. Let the mixture boil for a minute. Akkaravadisal should be in semi solid state unlike our usual sweet pongal. It will tend to thicken as time proceeds. So add more boiled milk ( Say 1/2 cup) and adjust its consistency at this stage or before you serve if needed.
Roast the nuts in 1/4 cup of ghee and add to the pongal. Switch off the flame, add cardamom powder, saffron soaked milk, edible camphor / Pachai karpooram, mix well and offer to God. Enjoy ! I drizzled 2 tbsp of ghee on the serving bowl to give a ghee dripping pongal look ;)
Note
Traditionally akkaravadisal is made by cooking rice in milk in a wide bronze pot. But I used pressure cooker to make it easily.
You can grind the rice coarsely and pressure cook it for easy and quick cooking.
You can also add equal amount of rice & moong dal if you like.
Ratio of rice & jaggery + sugar is 1: 1.5.
Adding edible camphor gives the temple style flavor. So don’t skip it. But do not add more. Just a big pinch would do.
For variations, you can add equal amount of sugar or sugar candy ( Kalkandu) mixed with jaggery.
Before going to this recipe,let me tell you,this is not North Indian style Chana masala. This is purely South Indian style kuruma type chana masala (Kondakadalai kurma in Tamil). I followed my Saravana bhavan kurma recipe with small changes and made this korma adding kondakadalai/Chickpeas. You can use black chana as well. It was very flavorful and the addition of chana made it more healthy too.
As suggested by my friend Shalini, I serve this kurma garnished with chopped onions. It adds a great taste and goes well with chapathi, poori & dosa. If you like, you can mix this kurma with plain rice and enjoy. Soon I will post North Indian restaurant style chana masala.
Wash and soak the chana / kondakadalai over night. Pressure cook for two whistles in low flame. You can also add the soaked chana directly to the kurma and pressure cook it. Both works.
Wash and chop the vegetables finely. Chop the onion and tomato. Grind all the ingredients given under “To grind” to a smooth paste adding enough water.
Heat a pressure cooker base and add oil + ghee.Saute the bayleaf and black stone flower/Kalpasi. Splutter cumin seeds. Add onions, g&g paste and saute till it turns transparent & raw smell goes off. Add mint leaves. Then add the tomato pieces and saute until mushy. Add the ground coconut paste,turmeric powder, red chilli powder and Garam masala powder. Add the required salt and saute well till the raw smell of masala vanishes. Do in medium flame.
Lastly add the soaked chana( Here I used boiled chana). Mix well and add a 2cups of water. Mix well and add a pinch of kasoori methi and curd. Stir well and pressure cook in low flame for just one whistle. Chana kurma is ready to serve !!
Enjoy with chapathi ,poori or parota.It tasted great with dosa too!
Note
Grinding part is the highlight of this kurma. So please don’t omit any ingredient from it. No worries if you don’t add khus khus. But the remaining are must.
Adjust the quantity of chillies and red chilli powder based on your taste.
You can try to replace Red chilli powder with chana masala powder if you have. But adjust the quantity as per your wish.
Try this yummy channa kurma for roti/Parota, enjoy your food !!
I love Bangalore Iyengar Bakery’s Khara buns & Khara biscuits more than Benne biscuits.But I usually bake benne biscuits/Nankhatai as its my family’s favorite.This morning I tried savory biscuits/Masala biscuits for the first time by referring this recipe.Actual recipe called for using butter or Vegetable shortening.In bakeries,they use vanaspati/Dalda.But I halved the recipe & used cooking oil(refined oil) to cut down the calories.I was really skeptical about the result.But good biscuits came out very well with melt in mouth texture & crispiness.I was so happy about this bake and enjoyed it with my tea.Friends,do try this bakery style Masala biscuits/Khara biscuits and enjoy your tea time ! Color of this biscuit may vary slightly based on the time of baking and quantity of spices used.But the taste would be gr888 !
Badusha/Balushahi recipe is one of the must try sweets recipes during Diwali or any occasions. Most of the people in India make badusha for Diwali. So I thought of starting my diwali recipes with this most popular sweet recipe.
Basically I am not a big fan of sweets. But there are very few sweets for which I don’t say NO. Badusha is one among them. I love it for its flaky, layered texture with mild sweetness. Every year during Diwali, my MIL makes Maida burfi and Badusha without fail. She is my inspiration to try sweets on my own. She usually adds Dalda/Vanaspati or butter to make badusha.
Based on my MIL’s recipe and after few trial & errors, I am making badusha successfully for the past two years. I have shared some tips, do’s & don’ts below for beginners. I took a complete video for badusha preparation and shared the same below. I love the traditional doughnut shaped badusha more than the swirled ones. But still swirled badusha looks more attractive like suryakala.
In this post, I have just shared a small video of how to make badusha swirls for beginners to learn. Hope it is easily understandable. Lets see how to make the most popular Indian sweet balushahi aka badhusha in detail with a video on how to shape the badusha.
How to shape badusha
TIPS TO MAKE PERFECT BADUSHA
Generally beginners complaint about badusha disperses/dissolves in oil. It is due to the addition of more cooking soda or fat content ( ghee or butter). If the oil temperature is too low, badusha may dissolve in oil.
Sometimes you may get more cracks in badusha after frying. It may become shapeless too. It is also due to the quantity of cooking soda.So please be very careful while adding soda.
The secret of getting flaky, layered badusha lies in slow deep frying in low flame. Adding curd doesn’t make the difference. My MIL never add curd. Still it comes out flaky. But curd helps to give softness to Badusha. So do not skip it.
You can replace butter with melted ghee. But use melted ghee or butter only at room temperature. It should not be hot.
No need to knead the dough very hard or beat as you do for chapathi dough. Its enough to make a soft, crack free dough to get good badusha.
The recipe I have shared here gives badusha which may be slightly hard as soon as you prepare. But it will become soft the next day and tastes much better.
Butter badusha recipe
How to make butter badusha - Diwali sweets recipes
Cuisine:Indian
Category:Sweets
Serves:9
Prep time:30 Minutes
Cook time:20 Minutes
Total time:50 Minutes
INGREDIENTS
All purpose flour/Maida - 1 cup (tightly packed & levelled)
Melted butter - 1/4 cup ( at room temp, butter should not be hot)
Curd - 1 tbsp
Cooking soda / Baking soda - 1/8 tsp
Water - as needed ( I used 2-3 tbsp)
Salt - a small pinch
For sugar syrup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Water - 1/3 cup
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Lemon juice - 1/2 tsp
Saffron threads & dessicated dry coconut,nuts - for decoration
HOW TO MAKE BADUSHA - METHOD
Take a wide bowl and add the melted butter,cooking soda & curd. Mix well with a whisk till it becomes a creamy paste.It will take 1-2 minutes. Take sugar in a bowl and add water. Mix well & set aside. Let it dissolve for making syrup.
To this paste, add maida and a pinch of salt. Mix well and make a crumbly mixture. Butter & curd mixture should spread well with the flour. The mixture should resemble bread crumbs. Sprinkle some water and make a soft, non-sticky dough ( I used around 2-3 tbsp of water. It may vary based on the water content in curd)
Rest the dough for 30 minutes. After the resting time, the dough would be very soft. Smoothen it using your hands to remove cracks by just pressing it gently. Do not knead it. Take small ball sized dough and make a crack free smooth ball. Flatten it using your palm and make a dent in the center using your pointer finger. Make a deep impression.
For making swirl shaped badusha, take a ball from the dough and pinch in a corner. Fold it and again pinch the swirled end. Repeat this to make a circle. Refer video for more reference.
Heat oil in a kadai and when it gets heated, drop a pinch of batter. As soon as the batter rises to the top, drop 3-4 badusha and switch off the flame. Let the badusha cook in off fire till it floats on top of oil. After it starts to float, flip the badusha and switch on the flame. Keep the flame medium and cook the badusha till it turns golden in color. One batch takes nearly 8-10 minutes.
The swirled badusha takes more time to cook and looks dark in color compared to the donut shaped ones. Don’t panic.It also tastes little more crispy compared to the round ones. Deep frying patiently is more important to get layers in badusha. So please follow this carefully.
While frying badusha, you can make sugar syrup. Boil the syrup till one string consistency. i.e when you take a drop of syrup between your fingers & release, it will form a single string. Add cardamom powder & lemon juice and switch off the flame. Lemon juice prevent crystallization of sugar syrup. Referthis postfor detailed sugar syrup consistencies.
Remove the badusha in a tissue. Drop them into the warm syrup. Let it soak for 5-10 minutes. Flip them in the syrup for even coating. In the mean time, deep fry the next batch of badusha. Remove the badusha from the syrup and arrange in a plate. Once it cools down, sugar syrup with crystallize and make a nice coating. Store it once badusha is cooled down completely. Enjoy ! It stays good for 3-4 days if properly done.
If the sugar syrup is crystallized while you soak the badusha, add few drops of water, heat it. Bring the one string consistency & then drop the badusha.
Try this yummy sweet for Diwali and have a great celebration !
.I have used poppy seeds for coating this roll.Recently I heard from a reader that poppy seeds are banned in some foreign countries.So feel free to use desiccated coconut instead of khus khus.It tastes good.You can also shape this as dates & nuts balls/Ladoo instead of rolls.I am very happy to add this recipe in my easy Diwali sweets recipes collection.Friends,Bookmark this easy sweet recipe for Diwali.It’s a no fail recipe which takes just 10 minutes preparation time. Lets check out how to make this yummy,easy Indian sweet – Dates Roll !! 
How to make easy dates & nuts roll
.Generally when we think about Chennai beach, apart from the wonderful sea breeze,snacks like Kara pori,Green peas masala chaat, fire roasted corn, sweet cotton candy ( Panchumittai) and thenga manga pattani sundal flashes in our mind.But frankly speaking,I have never tasted any one of them in the beach
.I visit Chennai very rarely and that too to attend weddings and other family functions.So when I go there,I directly go to our relatives house.As soon as the function gets over,we would be off to Bangalore immediately
.This year too we have planned for a Chennai trip in a month or two.This time I have demanded few things to Sendhil like Shopping in T Nagar,Food at Saravana Bhavan especially Vada curry & Kaima idli and most importantly,a visit to Marina beach.I think Sendhil would keep up his promise and take me to all these places
.After I taste the real sundal in the beach,I will update this post to match its original taste.Today I made this sundal following the recipe from 
.Friends,do try this bakery style Masala biscuits/Khara biscuits and enjoy your tea time ! Color of this biscuit may vary slightly based on the time of baking and quantity of spices used.But the taste would be gr888 !
