Here is my first recipe using mango this year. This is an easy, Instant Indian style no cook mango kulfi recipe with video using ripe mango, milk, milkmaid (condensed milk) and cream (Amul fresh cream or whipping cream). This is just a 2 step, grind and freeze recipe with minimal ingredients. I know I am late in starting mango recipes. But its better late than never, right 😉. Whenever my fellow blogger friends posted this no cook mango kulfi recipe, I got tempted to try at home.Â
Luckily I happened to taste a mango matka kulfi from a local ice cream shop nearby my house. I was able to guess the ingredients easily. So based on the recipe in my mind, I browsed through and found Sharmilee’s recipeperfect to try. It came out very well as I expected. I prepared this kulfi in matka / mud pot, plastic kulfi moulds and in a small flat bowl to make serve as pieces. You can find all of them in the pictures.Â
Friends, try this easy mango kulfi / mambazha kulfi for your kids. As this is a no cook recipe, kids would be interested to prepare it by themselves 😊. They will love its creamy texture and lovely color for sure. Let this be a healthy summer treat with mangoes for them. So lets see how to make mango kulfi recipe with condensed milk and fresh cream.
Sweetened condensed milk - 1/4 cup +1 tbsp (I used Milkmaid)
Fresh cream - 1/4 cup ( Amul fresh cream, use thick cream)
Boiled milk - 1/3 cup ( at room temperature)
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Saffron threads - Few
HOW TO MAKE MANGO KULFI
Wash and peel the skin of ripe mango. Chop into cubes.
Take chopped mango, condensed milk, milk, thick fresh cream, cardamom and saffron.
Grind to smooth paste.
Fill in plastic kulfi moulds or matka, cover with butter paper.
Freeze for 6 to 8 hours. Remove and serve immediately. Enjoy !
METHOD - STEP BY STEP PICTURES
Wash and peel the skin of ripe mango. Chop into small cubes. Take the chilled Amul fresh cream. Do not shake the pack. Cut open the pack and scoop out the thick portion of fresh cream. Do not use the liquid part for making ice cream. You can use the liquid part to add in the gravies for chapathi.Set aside.
In a big mixie jar, take the chopped mango, condensed milk (milkmaid), boiled milk at room temperature, thick fresh cream, cardamom powder, saffron thread.
Grind to a smooth paste without adding more milk or water. Grind in a low speed till everything becomes paste. Kulfi mixture is ready.
Take the kulfi mould and fill in the kulfi mixture. If you don’t have kulfi mould, you can fill in small bowls or tumblers too. You can also pour the kulfi mixture in a flat bowl and cut into cubes as I did. Cover it with a butter paper. Make sure the butter paper touches the kulfi mixture. This helps to avoid ice crystals formation. Insert a popsicle stick and freeze for 6 to 8 hours. Overnight is the best.
Remove the kulfi mould from the freezer and show it under tap water for few seconds OR insert the kulfi mould in a bowl full of water. Now you can unmould the kulfi easily. Â
Serve immediately and Enjoy !
Note
You can use Amul mithai mate or homemade condensed milk in this recipe.
Adjust the quantity of condensed milk based on the sweetness of mango.
If you don’t have fresh cream in hand, you can skip it but creaminess would be less. Instead you can add the skin / malai of milk.Â
Use only the thick part of fresh cream. So do not shake the fresh cream before opening.Â
Do not use hot milk while grinding, mixture may curdle.
Peerakangai kootu / Peerkangai poricha kuzhambu/ Beerakaya kootu (In Telugu) / Ridge gourd kootu (in English) is an easy, one pot side dish for rice. This ridge gourd kootu goes well with vatha kuzhambu and Kara kuzhambu rice. But we love to eat this poricha kootu by mixing with plain rice adding ghee. So I make this kootu slightly thin in consistency. Usually we make peerkangai kuzhambu and ridge gourd skin chutney / thogayal for rice. But when I was asking my MIL to teach some new recipes using ridge gourd, she suggested this easy poricha kulambu recipe that can be prepared directly using a pressure cooker. Friends, do try this easy peerkangai poricha kuzhambu for a change. You will love it for sure. I have used moong dal / Paasi paruppu in this kootu. You can also use Chana dal/ Kadalai paruppu just like hotel style kootu recipes. It tastes good for vatha kuzhambu and Kara kuzhambu. If you like, you can have it with chapathi too. Lets see how to make this easy peerkangai kootu in pressure cooker with step by step pictures.
Grind coconut+rice flour+cumin seeds to smooth paste. Add to ridge gourd.
Pressure cook in low flame for one whistle. Serve with rice or as side dish for vatha kuzhambu and kara kuzhambu.
METHOD - STEP BY STEP PICTURES
Wash and peel the skin of ridge gourd using a peeler. Chop into thick round shaped slices. Set aside. If you are using chana dal instead of moong dal, soak it in enough water for 30 minutes before cooking. No need to soak for moong dal.
In a pressure cooker base, heat coconut oil. Splutter mustard seeds, urad dal, cumin seeds and curry leaves. Saute onion till transparent. Add tomato and saute till mushy.
Add the chopped ridge gourd and saute for a minute. Add moong dal , salt, turmeric powder and sambar powder. Saute quickly and add 1 cup of water. Let it boil in low flame.
In the mean time, grind coconut + rice flour to a smooth paste. Add the coconut paste to the boiling kootu in pressure cooker. Close the cooker and pressure cook in very low flame for one whistle.
Open the cooker after steam is released. Mix well and check the consistency of kootu. If its too thick, add little water and mix well. If its too thin, boil for some time till thick. Serve with rice.Â
Enjoy !
Note
For variations, you can use red chilli powder + dhania powder 1 tsp each instead of sambar powder.
You can make the same kootu using snake gourd, bottle gourd.
Try this easy, yummy peerkangai kootu for rice and enjoy !
I enjoyed it by mixing this kootu with plain rice and ghee. In the plate, you can find cabbage curry, goosberry thogayal and microwave roasted papad.Â
Tawa roasted raw banana fry / Vazhakkai varuval in Tamil was in my try list for years. Whenever my fellow bloggers post valakkai varuval in their Instagram feed, I drool at them😋. I know its a very simple recipe but somehow I never tried in my kitchen. Last week I tried this raw banana roast in dosa tawa for the first time. It came out very well. I haven’t used fresh masala like Chettinad version instead I used my sambar powder, garam masala powder and rice flour to the coat the raw banana pieces. It tasted great with sambar rice and curd rice. Raksha and Sendhil liked it very much. After trying this type of vazhakkai varuval, I am tempted to try more versions in the same. My neighbor from Pondicherry had taught me another version using freshly ground masala with coconut and fennel seeds. Soon I will try and post here. Now lets see how to make Tamil nadu style raw banana roast / Raw banana fry recipe with step by step pictures.
Peel the skin of raw banana and chop into roundels.
Boil water adding salt and half cook the raw banana pieces.
Remove in a plate. Add spice powders and rice flour.
Coat well. Heat oil in a pan and temper mustard, urad dal, cumin and curry leaves.
Arrange the raw banana pieces in the pan. Shallow fry both sides till golden.
Remove in a plate and enjoy with rice.
METHOD - STEP BY STEP PICTURES
Wash and peel the raw banana skin using a peeler. Chop into small roundels. Immerse in water till use to prevent discoloration.
Boil 2 cups of water adding some salt in a wide bowl. Add the chopped raw banana and cook for sometime. Raw banana should be just half cooked. Just prick with a fork. It should be hard to prick and unbreakable. Switch off the flame and drain the excess water.
In a wide plate, take the half cooked raw banana pieces. Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, rice flour and salt. Mix well to coat the pieces.
Heat oil in a wide pan. Temper mustard seeds, urad dal, cumin seeds and curry leaves. Arrange the raw banana pieces and cook in medium flame till its roasted well with golden brown color. Flip and cook the other side too.
Cook in low to medium flame to roast it properly with a nice color. You can increase the flame slightly whenever needed to achieve golden brown color.
Remove the roasted banana in a plate and cook the remaining raw banana pieces in the next batch.
Serve with sambar rice, rasam rice and curd rice. Tastes great ! Enjoy !
Note
For variations, you can skip cooking the raw banana pieces and apply the masala directly, cook in tawa for more time.
For more masala flavor, you can add 1/2 tsp of powdered fennel seeds and 1/2 tsp of ginger garlic paste.
I have shallow fried the pieces adding sesame oil. You can use any cooking oil instead.
Try this easy raw banana roast and enjoy with sambar, rasam and curd rice.
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.Â
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.Â
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.Â
I am happy that I got an easy, yummy recipe with banana flower other than my usual vazhaipoo vadai, vazhaipoo poriyal and vazhaipoo dosa. Â 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.Â
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.Â
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.Â
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.Â
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 !
