Maida halwa recipe with step by step pictures. I tried this easy, Instant maida halwa recipe from Aval Vikatan’s 30 vagai kalyana samayal supplementary book. This halwa is titled as Karandi halwa in that book. I followed the same recipe but tweaked the method slightly to make pieces like the maida halwa I tasted in sweet shops. Maida/ All purpose flour, sugar and ghee are the major ingredients.
Basically I am a big fan of Kerala maida halwa. But Kerala halwa ingredients and method of preparation is different from this easy maida halwa. For this halwa, we don’t have to ferment the maida milk. It can be prepared instantly like Corn flour halwa / Karachi halwa but it takes 20 to 30 minutes to reach the final stage. We need to stir constantly but its worth the effort. If you want to make chewy and hard halwa, you need to cook the halwa for more time, may be one hour. I removed the halwa as soon as it started to ooze out the ghee in the corners.
Beginners can easily try this recipe as there are less chances of going wrong. I have also taken a video for clear understanding. Please watch it below. Friends, do try this easy maida flour halwa during this summer vacation. You don’t have to wait for Diwali. You will love its taste. For variations, you can use jaggery instead of sugar but taste and texture would be completely different.
If you feel this halwa is unhealthy, just think about eating parotta, jalebi or samosa made of maida. You won’t feel guilty. After all, we are making it once or twice in a year. So Its not a sin. Eat this halwa and do some workouts. If you still feel bad, you can try my Instant wheat flour halwa.
Mix maida, water and food color without lumps. Set aside.
Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a non-stick kadai. Roast cashews till golden.
Add maida water and mix in low flame till thick.
Add sugar, mix till it dissolves.
Add 1 tbsp of ghee + oil at regular intervals. Mix well.
At one stage, halwa starts to ooze out ghee in the corners.
Add cardamom powder, nuts. Mix well and transfer to a pan.
Cut into pieces when warm. Serve & enjoy !
For chewy halwa, cook for more time in high flame.
METHOD - STEP BY STEP PICTURES
In a wide bowl, take maida, water and food color. Whisk without lumps. Set aside. Mix melted ghee + oil in a bowl and keep it ready.
In a good non-stick kadai, heat 1 tbsp ghee+oil and roast the cashews till golden. Add maida water and mix well without lumps. Mix till thick in low flame.
Add sugar and mix in medium flame till sugar dissolves completely. Add 1 tbsp ghee+oil and mix till it gets absorbed by the halwa. As soon as you add the ghee, it becomes easier to stir the halwa. But when the ghee is absorbed by the halwa, it thickens and you feel difficult to mix it. So add 1 tbsp of ghee+oil mixture again.
Repeat the same process till all the ghee+oil is added to the halwa. By now halwa leaves the sides of pan, rotates with the ladle. It would become non-sticky and shiny. Increase the flame to high. Keep mixing till halwa starts to ooze out ghee in the sides of pan. Touch the halwa to see its completely non-sticky. It takes 20 to 25 minutes to reach this stage. If not, add little more ghee or oil and stir for few more minutes. Do not remove the halwa till it starts to ooze the ghee. I have marked with arrows in the below picture. Patience is important here. Please watch the video for better understanding.
At this stage, reduce the flame to low. Add cardamom powder and melon seeds. Stir till all the nuts spreads well. Switch off the flame. Transfer the halwa into a ghee greased bowl. I used my square shaped cake pan. Press it well with a ladle. Let the halwa set for an hour and becomes warm. Invert in a plate. Now mark shapes with a ghee greased knife.
Make pieces and serve. This halwa stays good for a week without refrigeration. Enjoy !
NOTE : If you want to make chewy halwa, Cook for more time in high flame till all the ghee comes out from the halwa. Set for one day. It tastes chewy and hard the next day.
Note
Do not reduce the quantity of sugar. Halwa tastes like porridge and you won’t get the proper consistency. If you are sweet toothed, you can increase the quantity of 2.25 cups.
Similarly do not reduce the quantity of ghee because halwa sticks to your tongue while you eat.
Addition of cooking oil helps the halwa to ooze out ghee quickly. So do not skip it. You can use coconut oil instead of cooking oil if you like.
If you don’t want to make pieces, you can just scoop the halwa with a ladle and serve it. This is called as Karandi halwa in Tamil.
Try this easy, yummy maida halwa at home and enjoy your special occasions !
Vazhaipoo kootu / Banana flower kootu/ Plantain flower kootu is my recent try in vazhaipoo recipes. I followed my MIL’s South Indian, Tamil nadu style basic kootu recipe with some modifications and tried it. It came out very well. Its a very simple kootu recipe that can be prepared in a pressure cooker directly. It can be prepared under 15 minutes if you have cleaned banana flower ready in hand. Banana flower, moong dal, sambar powder and coconut are the main ingredients in this recipe.
I am happy that I got an easy, yummy recipe with banana flower other than my usual vazhaipoo vadai, vazhaipoo poriyal and vazhaipoo dosa. My MIL makes vazhaipoo/ vazhaithandu mor kootu. Soon I will share that recipe too. Now lets see how to make South Indian, Tamil nadu style Vazhaipoo kootu recipe with step by step pictures.
Grind coconut, rice flour to paste. Add to the kootu.
Add water, pressure cook for one whistle in low flame.
Remove the lid. Mix well and check for taste. Add more salt and some water if needed.
Serve with vatha kuzhambu, kara kuzhambu and curd rice.
METHOD - STEP BY STEP PICTURES
Wash and clean the banana flower florets. Please check this post for how to clean vazhaipoo. Chop the vazhaipoo into small pieces. Keep them immersed in buttermilk till use to prevent blackening.
Heat coconut oil in a pressure cooker base. Temper mustard seeds, urad dal, cumin seeds and curry leaves. Saute onions till transparent. Add chopped vazhaipoo, tomato pieces, moong dal and saute for few minutes till vazhaipoo shrinks a bit.
Add sambar powder, turmeric powder, salt. Mix well. Grind coconut + rice flour to a smooth paste. Add 1 cup of water, coconut paste and mix well. Pressure cook for one whistle in very low flame. Open the cooker after the steam is released. Mix well and add some water if the kootu is too thick. Suppose if the kootu is watery, boil for some time till thick.
Mix well and serve with vatha kuzhambu rice, kara kuzhambu or curd rice. If you like, you can mix this kootu in plain rice adding ghee.
Enjoy !
Note
Adjust the quantity of sambar powder for spicy taste.
To replace sambar powder, use red chilli powder + coriander powder.
You can also saute one red chilli while tempering for more spicy taste.
Do not reduce the quantity of coconut and tomato because vazhaipoo may taste slightly bitter based on its variety.
You can replace moong dal with soaked chana dal or soaked toor dal.
To replace tomato, you can add 1/2 tsp of tamarind extract too.
You can follow the same recipe and use banana stem/ Vazhaithandu instead of vazhaipoo.
Easy, healthy Vazhaipoo kootu for rice is ready. I served with Hotel style Kara kuzhambu. It was yum !
Here is an Andhra style, easy peanut chutney recipe without using coconut, onion and tomato. Its a simple peanut chutney with peanuts & red chilli as the base. Basically Sendhil loves to have varieties of peanut chutney recipes. So I started hunting for some Andhra style peanut chutney. As I had already shared peanut chutney with coconut, onion and tomato, I wanted to try a chutney without these ingredients. I watched some YouTube Video and finally settled with this easy peanut red chilli chutney. If you have roasted peanuts in hand, you can prepare this chutney in the next 5 minutes. It tastes great with hot idliand dosa. I made it mildly spicy. You can add more red chillies based on your taste buds. Lets see how to make this simple Andhra style Peanut chutney without coconut, onion and tomato.
Red chilli - 4 nos ( I used Byadgi chilli, use 6 for spicy taste)
Tamarind - a small piece
Garlic cloves - 2 nos or 1 big
Coriander leaves - 1.5 tbsp
Salt & water - as needed
Cooking oil - 2 tsp
To Temper
Cooking oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Urad dal - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - Few
METHOD
Roast peanuts in microwave or in stove top. No need to remove its skin.
Heat oil and roast the red chillies. Grind peanuts, red chilli, garlic, tamarind, coriander leaves adding salt & water.
Transfer to a bowl and temper the chutney.
Mix well and serve with hot idli. Stays good for a week if refrigerated.
METHOD - STEP BY STEP PICTURES
Roast peanuts in a kadai adding 1 tsp oil. Roast in medium flame without burning the skin. If you roast in microwave, just spread the peanuts in the turn table. Microwave in high power for 2 minutes 30 seconds. ( I used 800w power).
Remove the roasted peanuts in a plate. Heat 1 tsp oil in a kadai. Roast the chillies till golden brown. Set aside. I used byadBy chilli for nice colour. You can use Andhra chilli for best taste.
In a mixie jar, take the roasted peanuts, red chillies, coriander leaves, tamarind, garlic cloves and salt.
Grind coarsely to a powder without water. Now add water and grind to a smooth paste. Temper mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves in 1 tsp oil and add to chutney. Enjoy with hot idli, dosa.
Note
For variations, you can peel the skin of peanuts and grind it.
You can also skip coriander leaves. But adding it gives a nice flavor.
You can add 1tbsp of grated coconut for variations.
Try this easy, yummy Peanut red chilli chutney without coconut. You will love it with hot idli !
Ice cream bread/ Ice cream cake is an easy 2 ingredient bread baked using all purpose flour / cake flour and melted ice cream. Recently I prepared homemade Vanilla ice cream and Butterscotch icecream using Amul fresh cream and condensed milk. I used the leftover ice cream for this recipe. After referring so many recipes, I found full fat ice cream works the best for this ice cream bread recipe. But I tried with ice cream prepared using low fat Amul fresh cream. Still my bread came out very well and soft.
Basically this ice cream bread tastes bland with mild sweetness. So I modified the recipe and added some powdered sugar, milk. It came out very well, soft and spongy. Raksha loved it very much. You too give a try in this summer vacation for your kids. They will love it for sure. Vanilla ice cream is preffered but you can try with other flavors as well. I used vanilla ice cream and butterscotch ice cream in equal quantity. So the color of bread varies as per the ice cream you use. Ok, lets see how to make easy, yummy, homemade ice cream bread recipe at home using leftover ice cream.
Ice cream – 1 cup ( I used a combination of Vanilla and butterscotch)
Maida / All purpose flour – 3/4 cup
Baking powder – 1 tsp
Powdered sugar – 1 to 2 tbsp ( Use 1 tbsp, add more if needed)
Salt – 1/8 tsp
Flavorless Cooking oil or melted butter – 2 tbsp ( For moistness, I used oil)
HOW TO MAKE ICE CREAM BREAD
Melt the ice cream and take in a bowl.
Sieve all purpose flour, baking powder, salt, powdered sugar and add to ice cream.
Add cooking oil and mix well to make batter.
Transfer to a greased loaf pan. Preheat convection oven at 180c.
Bake for 25 minutes till tooth pick comes out clean.
Cool for 15 minutes and remove the bread. Make slices and enjoy.
METHOD - STEP BY STEP PICTURES
In a wide bowl, take melted ice cream. Place a sieve over the bowl. Add all purpose flour, powdered sugar, salt, baking powder. Sieve and add to ice cream.
Add cooking oil and mix everything well to make bread batter. Batter should be thick but pourable as shown in the picture below.
Grease a loaf pan with cooking oil and dust all purpose flour all over the pan. Transfer the bread batter to the pan.
Preheat convection oven at 180c. Bake the bread for 25 minutes. Remove the bread, insert a toothpick and check if it comes out clean. If so, cake is done.
Cool the bread for 20 minutes. Run a knife in the corners of pan. Invert the pan over a plate and remove the bread. It comes off easily. Make slices and serve immediately. It kept it for 2 days.
Enjoy !
Note
Vanilla ice cream is preferred for this ice cream bread. You get white colored bread slices.
As I used vanilla and butterscotch in equal proportions, my slices came out golden in color.
You can skip cooking oil if you use full fat ice cream.
Try this easy ice cream bread at home and enjoy your teatime !
Kalkandu Vadai (Sugar candy vada) is a Chettinad Special Sweet Medhu Vada Recipe/ sweet ulundhu vadai made especially for Diwali and Thirukarthigai Deepam festivals. Recently we had a 2 days trip to Karaikudi, Chettinad just to explore its food and other specialties. We relished an elaborate, traditional Chettinad lunch at “The Bangala” and had a pleasant stay at “Chidambara Vilas” heritage hotel. In this trip, I got a chance to taste most of the Chettinad special delicacies like Kandarappam, Vellai paniyaram with kara chutney, Thalicha idiyappam, Kosumalli, Kondakadalai Mandi, Getti kuzhambu, Paruppu urundai kulambu, More kulambu, Milagu kulambu, Payasam, some poriyal , pachadi and kootu varieties.
We bought all the Chettinad specialty snacks from Soundaram Aachi stores. I also bought a kg of white raw rice / Maavu arisi and murukku press near Koppudai amman temple street for making Chettinad thenkuzhal by enquiring the staffs in Soundaram aachi kadai. I visited the antique stores to buy some props for blog but I din’t buy anything as I found them too costly and not worthy for its price. Finally I bought 2 Chettinad Cotton sarees as well. Totally it was a memorable one to cherish for years. Soon I will try to make a separate post about our trip in detail with all the pictures.
After this trip, I got tempted to try some Chettinad recipes in my kitchen and share with my readers. So I bought “100 Chettinad recipes cookbook “ and started trying them one by one. Last week Sendhil’s friends visited us. Luckily I came to know that they are from Chettinad . I became very happy and passed this book to her to know the authenticity of the recipes given in the book. Thanks a lot Mrs. Inba Venkatesh. She explained each and every recipe along with few corrections. She told me to try this Kalkandu vada as its one of the most special snacks recipe of Chettinad. So I tried this recipe referring the cookbook and few Youtube videos. Even though its my first attempt, it came out really well. I am very happy with the result. It tasted crispy outside and very soft inside. Its so easy to make too. Lets see how to make Chettinad special Kalkandu vadai with step by step pictures.
Check out my other Chettinad recipes in this LINK.
Kalkandu Vadai Recipe - Sweet Medhu Vada
Kalkandu vadai - Sweet medhu vada made with urad dal and sugar candy.
Sugar candy / Kalkandu - 1/3 cup ( I used diamond kalkandu)
Salt - A pinch
Cooking oil - to deep fry vada
HOW TO MAKE SWEET ULUNDHU VADAI - METHOD
Wash and soak urad dal and rice in a bowl adding water for one hour.
In a mixie jar, grind sugar candy to smooth powder.
To this powder, add the soaked dal +rice by draining the water completely.
Grind to a smooth paste without adding water.
Add salt to the batter, mix well and keep aside.
Heat oil and make vada. Deep fry both sides till golden.
Remove and enjoy hot !
METHOD - STEP BY STEP PICTURES
Wash and soak urad dal and raw rice in a bowl adding enough water. Soak for one hour.
In a big mixie jar, powder the sugar candy/ kakandu smoothly. Alternatively you can use sugar instead of sugar candy. Take the soaked dal+rice and drain the water completely. Add the soaked dal+ rice to mixie jar. Grind to a smooth paste without adding water. Powdered kalkandu helps to grind the dal smooth without water. So do not add water, just wipe the sides of mixie jar and grind continously to make a smooth batter.
Transfer the batter to a bowl, add salt just before making vada. Mix well with a spoon to prevent batter becoming watery.Keep aside. Add 1/2 cup of water to the mixie jar and grind it to wash the jar. Transfer to another bowl and use this water for dipping your hands while shaping the vada. If you fry the vada later, you can refrigerate the batter till use.
Heat oil in a kadai and when it gets heated , drop a pinch of batter to check the heat of oil. If the batter rises to the top immediately, oil temperature is correct. Now lower the flame to medium and drop the vada.
Dip your fingers in water and take a small portion of batter from one corner of the bowl. Make a ball, flatten it slightly and make a hole in the center. Turn your hand upside down. Drop the vada in oil by slightly tilting your fingers. Make 2 to 3 vada per batch. Cook in medium flame by flipping it whenever needed. Cook till golden brown on both the sides.
Do not cook these vada in high flame because vada turns black quickly because of sugar candy.So cook patiently in low to medium flame. .Remove the vada in a tisue paper and serve hot. You can refrigerate the remaining batter for 2 days and make vada at your will.
Enjoy ! This vada stays good for 2 to 3 days.
Note
If you don't have sugar candy, you can use sugar.
Never use water for grinding the batter.
Cook in low to medium flame patiently.
If the vada absorbs more oil, add 1 to 2 tsp of rice flour to the batter.
Do not add salt while grinding the batter. It makes the batter watery.
Try this easy, yummy, sweet urad dal vada / Kalkandu and enjoy !
Kala jamun (Blackgulab jamun) recipe was in my try list for years. To make it simple, I tried making Kala jamun in an easy way using store bought, readymade, instant gulab jamun mix. I have tried it twice so far using Aachi gulab jamun mix and MTR gulab jamun ready mix. Both worked well. When I read the difference between Kala jamun and Gulab jamun in Wikipedia, I found sugar and khoya (milk solid) is used to make the traditional Kala jamun dough.
So I too used sugar and milk to the instant readymix to make the jamun dough. Sugar added in the dough slowly caramelizes while deep frying and helps to give dark color to the kala jamoon. Milk helps to make soft gulab jamun. Some recipes called for deep frying the gulab jamun twice to bring the black color. But I felt deep frying in low flame patiently for long time helps to get a nice black color to kala jamun. Please go through my post to read more tips and tricks to make a perfect kala jamun using instant gulab jamun mix in detail. Try it. You will love its results for sure. Friends, lets see how to make Kala jamun using jamun mix with step by step pictures.
Take the gulab jamun mix in a bowl. Add sugar and mix well.
Add milk gradually and make a slightly sticky dough. Cover and Rest for 5 minutes.
To make sugar syrup, take sugar and water.Mix well and boil for 5 to 7 minutes till it becomes slightly sticky.
Take a small portion of gulab jamun dough and mix saffron milk, food color, sugar & nuts. Make small balls out of it for stuffing the jamun.
Now roll smooth, crack free balls in the remaining dough using ghee greased hands. Stuff the nuts ball inside the jamun & roll it.
Arrange the balls in a plate.
Heat oil and fry the jamun in low flame till black in color.
Soak in sugar syrup for one hour. Jamun increase in size and becomes soft. Serve with ice cream !
METHOD - STEP BY STEP PICTURES
In a wide bowl, take the measured gulab jamun mix. Add sugar and mix well. Add milk gradually and make a slightly sticky dough.
Cover the jamun dough for 10 minutes. In the mean time, you can make sugar syrup. Heat sugar + water in a bowl and boil the syrup for 5 to 7 minutes in medium flame till the syrup becomes sticky. Add saffron thread and cardamom powder/rose water. Mix well. Switch off the flame and set aside.
Take the gulab jamun dough and remove a small ball for the stuffing. To this ball, add chopped nuts, saffron thread soaked in 1 tsp milk, a pinch of food color and 1/2 tsp of sugar. Mix well to make a soft dough.
Roll the jamun into equal balls. If it cracks more while rolling, add little milk to dough. Mix well and make balls again. Make equal number of jamun balls and nuts ball. Make sure the size of nuts stuffed ball is lesser than gulab jamun ball.
Grease your hands with little ghee. Take one gulab jamun ball and press it to make a small circle. Keep the nuts stuffed ball in the middle and roll it nicely to make a crack free kala jamun ball. You can make round shapes or bullet shaped elongated ones as shown in the picture.
Heat oil in a kadai and drop a pinch of dough. If it rises to the top slowly, oil temperature is right. Now keep the flame medium and stir the oil in the corner of kadai with a wooden ladle. Drop 3 to 4 gulab jamun in each batch. Keep stirring the oil in the corners without touching the gulab jamun. It helps for even coloring of jamun. Keep the flame low and stir it.
Cook till jamuns become golden brown. Keep the flame low and keep cooking till it becomes black in color. Make sure you don’t burn the jamuns. You can identify it with the smell if it burns. So always keep the flame low and cook patiently. As we have added sugar to the dough, it helps to change the color of jamun quickly.
Remove the jamun using a slotted ladle and drain in a tissue paper. If the sugar syrup becomes cold, heat for a minute and make it warm. Add the cooked kala jamun to the sugar syrup and mix well. Cover and soak it for 30 minutes to one hour OR till the jamun increase in size after soaking.
Serve warm or cold as you like with or without ice cream. Enjoy !
NOTE
Addition of sugar helps the jamun to change dark black in color. So do not skip it.
Remember to cook the jamun in low flame patiently. If you cook in high flame, jamun may burn. Alternatively you can also fry the jamun twice to get black color.
Try this easy, yummy Kala Jamun using Instant gulab jamun mix. Enjoy !!
