Beetroot Poli

 Ingredients

Stuffing- for 3 medium sized polis

1 medium beetroot (peeled and grated)
4-5 tsp sugar (for medium sweetness-add more if reqd)
Bit of cardamom powder

For outer layer

1 cup all purpose flour (maida)
Pinch of salt
3-4 tbsp Oil

Ghee as required

Make a soft dough of all purpose flour, salt and water. Add oil and mix well. Keep covered for atleast 1 hour. Heat 1 tsp ghee and add the grated beetroot. Mix well and cook on low flame till beets are cooked. Add sugar, cardamom powder and mix well till sugar melts. Cool well and make 3 small balls of it.

Grease a plastic sheet with little oil. Take 1/3 rd portion of the dough and pat it on the sheet by covering it with another sheet. Let the center be little thick and sides thinner. Place the beetroot stuffing in the center.

Cover it with dough from all sides and again pat it keeping another plastic sheet on it. Pat slowly ensuring the filling does not come out. Heat tava and cook it on medium flame with little ghee on all sides till brown spots appear on both sides.

Serve hot with little more ghee.

** You can even grind the beetroot before frying in ghee.

** Since beetroot is already sweet in nature, remember to reduce the quantity of sugar.

More varieties of Polis that you can try for this year's Pongal

Potato Poli

Carrot poli

Groundnut poli

Coconut poli

Paruppu poli

Kesari poli

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Oats Akkaravadisal

Ingredients

1 cup oats

1/4 cup green gram dal (moong dal)

1 cup grated jaggery

1 cup milk

1/2 tsp cardamom powder

3 tbsp ghee

Cashews and raisins

Pinch of edible camphor (pachaai karpooram)

Heat 2 tbsp ghee and roast the oats well. Add 3 cups of water and cook it. Keep seperately. Pressure cook the dal seperately till soft. Heat the jaggery with little water and after it melts, strain it to remove the impurities. Heat it again and allow it to get thick. Add the dal and cooked oats to it and mix well. Cook on low flame for few minutes so that the jaggery taste gets mixed well.

Roast the cashews in the remaining ghee and add it along with cardamom powder and edible camphor. Mix well. Switch off the gas and allow it to cool a little. Finally add the boiled milk and mix well. Ensure that you add it when it is in room temperature or else it will curdle.
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Oats kesari

Ingredients

1 cup oats 

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cardamom powder

3 tbsp ghee

Few cashews and raisins

Pinch of red orange colour

Heat 2 tbsp of ghee and roast the oats well. Keep aside and heat the rest of the ghee. Add cashews and roast till golden brown. Add 2 1/2 cups of water and allow it to boil. Add the roasted oats and cook well. Add sugar and mix well. When it starts getting thick add the cardamom powder and the red orange colour. Mix well..Add raisins and mix again.

Serve hot.

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Oats sakkarai pongal

Ingredients

1 cup oats

1/4 cup green gram dal (Moong dal)(pressure cooked)

1 cup grated jaggery (adjust as per taste)

Few cashews

Raisins

2 tbsp ghee

1/4 tsp cardamom powder

Heat 1 tbsp ghee and roast the oats for 2-3 mins till you get a good smell. Keep aside.

Heat the remaining ghee, add the cashews and raisins. Roast and add 2 1/2 cups of water. When it starts boiling, add the roasted oats and cook well. Add the cooked moong dal and jaggery. Mix well and cook for some time till the flavours are well mixed and it gets thick.

Garnish with cardamom powder and serve hot.

Optional : Can add more ghee to taste.

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Red rice pal payasam and 3rd Blog Anniversary

Thanks a lot to all readers and friends to have helped me reach this milestone..

Here is a special sweet on this occassion-

Ingredients

1 cup red rice soaked for 2 hours
1/2 cup condensed milk
2 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar (adjust according to taste)
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
2 tsp ghee
Few cashews and raisins

Pressure cook the rice till soft. Heat ghee and add the cashews and raisins. When golden brown, add the cooked rice and milk and cook for 5 minutes. Add the sugar and mix well. Finally add the condensed milk and cardamom powder.

Serve hot or cold.

Red poha akkaravadisal

A healthier version of the popular akkaravadisal by using red poha instead of normal rice.

Ingredients

1 cup red poha
1/ 3 cup greengram dal
4 tbsp bengalgram dal
3/4 cup jaggery
1 tsp cardamom powder
A bit of orange red colour (optional)
A bit of pachai karpooram (edible camphor)
Few roasted cashews and raisins
1 cup milk

Clean and wash the poha well. Pressure cook poha and dals with 2 cups of water.

In a seperate vessel, add little water to the jaggery and heat till it starts boiling. Add cardamom powder to it and cooked poha and dal. Mix well. Add the food colour, edible camphor and mix well. Cook for five minutes. Add milk and mix well for 2 minutes.

Garnish with roasted cashews and raisins.

*You can even add some ghee to it.
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Paneer Gulab jamun

Ingredients

1 cup grated Paneer

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened khova

2 cups Sugar

Bit of baking soda

Bit of cardamom powder

Oil to fry

Mix the paneer, soda, flour and khova well to a smooth dough. Make balls of it and fry in medium heat till golden brown.

Make a sticky sugar syrup with 2 cups sugar and 1 cup water. Add the cardamom powder to it and when ready add the fried balls in it. Allow it to soak for atleast 1/2 hour.

Paneer gulab jamun ready to eat..

You can try it when milk gets curdled- just add 1 tsp lemon juice and boil for five minutes. Strain out the water using a muslin cloth and paneer is ready for use.

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Moong dal kheer

Guest author: Gauri Karmali

This kheer is my favroite sweet. Its so easy to make. I really love to make and eat it.

Ingredients

1 cup moong dal

1/2 coconut's extracted milk

1/2 cup jaggery - adjust jaggery as per taste

Pinch of elaichi powder

Dry fruits of your choice

Dry roast the moong dal till it is brown in colour and the raw smell goes away and a nice aroma comes out. Now pressure cook the dal with 2 cups of water. The dal needs to be little mashy. Now add the coconut milk and jaggery to the mashed dal and boil it for sometime. Do not cook for more time. Add the elaichi powder, dry fruits and mix well. Serve hot. This kheer becomes a little thick after cooled.

This is her eight entry to the MLLA-19th helping - an initiative of Susan, guest hosted this month at my blog

Channa dal with sabudana kheer

Guest author: Gauri Karmali

Ingredients

1 cup channa dal/bengalgram dal
Half handful of sabudana/sago
1/2 coconut's extracted milk
1/2 cup jaggery - adjust jaggery as per taste
Pinch of ealichi powder
Cashews

Soak channa dal for about 8-10 hrs. Soak the sabudana. Pressure cook the channa dal. Mix the channa dal, jaggery, sabudana and coconut milk and boil for sometime. Do not overcook as when it cools it becomes very thick. Add elaichi powder, dry fruits and serve hot.

This is her seventh entry to the MLLA-19th helping - an initiative of Susan, guest hosted this month at my blog

Milk cake

Ingredients

1 ltr full cream milk
1/2 cup milk powder
1 small cup sugar
Cardamom powder

Heat the milk on low flame and stir continuously till it gets thick..It would take about 1 hour 15 mins for 1 ltr milk. Add sugar, milk powder and cardamom powder. Mix well and stir till it gets thick.

Pour into greased plate and cool. Cut into desired shape pieces. Garnish with chopped nuts.
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Pusnikaai (Pumpkin) halwa/Kashi halwa

Pumpkin/Ashgourd/Kashi halwa was this year's Diwali special at my sil's house..She sent in this pic to share on the blog.

Ingredients

1/2 kg pumpkin/ash gourd/poosanikaai

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup boiled milk

1 tsp cardamom powder

Roasted cashews

Pinch of red orange colour

2-3 tbsp ghee

Peel the skin of the pumpkin and grate it. Squeeze out the excesswater from the pumpkin. Heat half the ghee and fry the grated pumpkin for 5-7 minutes. Add milk and a little water and allow the pumpkin to cook well. Add sugar, remaining ghee, cardamom powder and the food colour. Mix well and cook till it starts leaving the sides of the vessel. Garnish with roasted cashews.

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7-cup burfi and Diwali specials

Here is my spread of sweets and savouries for Deepavali this year..I made Rava ladoo, Rice payasam and Gulab Jamun for sweets and Palak Sev, Manakombu and Thavalai vadai..Palak sev and Thavalai vadai recipes to follow soon..

These go to Priya for her Diwali feast event and to Purva for her Diwali Dhamaka event

My mom sent over this dish specially made for Deepavali..A very simple method of making this dessert is as follows

Ingredients

1 cup gram flour
1 cup boiled milk
1 cup ghee
1 cup grated coconut
3 cups sugar
2 tsp cardamom powder

Mix all the ingredients well. Now heat it in a non stick vessel and keep stirring on low heat for some time till it becomes a big lump and starts leaving the sides of the vessel. Transfer it to a greased plate and allow it to cool for some time.

When it becomes semi-solid, cut with a greased knife to desired shaped pieces.

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Kuttu (Buckwheat) halwa

Wishing everyone a Happy and Prosperous Deepavali..

Ingredients

1 cup buckwheat flour (kuttu atta)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup ghee

1 tsp cardamom powder

Nuts to garnish

Heat 2 tbsp ghee and fry the flour till nice aroma comes..approx 3-4 mins. Add 2 cups of water and keep stirring to avoid lumps. Then add sugar and keep stirring well. Start adding ghee little by little and keep mixing well. When the mixture becomes one big lump and starts leaving the sides of the vessels, add cardamom powder and transfer to serving bowls. This halwa gets thick after some time, so you can even transfer to a greased plate and cut into pieces later. Garnish with nuts.

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Coconut rava ladoo

Ingredients

1 cup fine rava (dry roasted chiroti rava)
1/2 cup dry coconut powder
1 cup sugar
Ghee - as per requirement
1/2 tsp Cardamom powder
Few cashews broken into small pieces
Few dry grapes

Grind the rava and sugar together in the mixie to get a fine powder.

Roast the cashews in little ghee and add it to the powder. Add dry grapes and cardamom powder. Heat about 2 tbsp ghee and fry the dry coconut powder till it changes colour to golden brown. Add this also to the rava mixture.

Melt ghee (you will require between 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup, depending on how you prefer it) and mix well. If you dont like much of ghee, you can sprinkle little milk to help in making ladoos.

Make small round balls. Quick coconut rava ladoo ready.

Sending this over to Saraswati for her "Sweets and Savouries" event



And to Shanthi's Dussehra, Dhanteras and Diwali event


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Sattu maavu/atta burfi

Ingredients

1 cup sattu maavu/atta (nutritious flour made of various grains, nuts readily available in stores)

1/2 cup milk powder

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp cardamom powder

1/2-3/4 cup ghee

Heat the sugar with some water to get one string consistency syrup. Slowly add in the flour and milk powder and keep stirring well without lumps. Add cardamom powder and mix well. Add ghee little by little and keep stirring continuously till the ghee is absorbed and the mixture gets thick.

It should become one big lump, frothing and start leaving the sides of the vessel. Immediately transfer to a greased plate and pat with a greased spoon to get even surface. Cut into desired size pieces and allow it to cool.

Healthy and nutritious burfi ready..

This goes to Sireesha for her Sweet series event

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Badam burfi and Second blog anniversary

Credits: Google
Simple Indian Food completes 2 years of blogging today..

Thanks to all friends, bloggers and visitors of the blog for all the continued support and encouragement..Each and every comment, suggestion and mail of yours is worth millions..

A special treat of badam burfi for all of you-

Ingredients

1 cup badam soaked in warm water for 2 hours
1 cup gram flour
1 cup ghee
2 tsp cardamom powder
2 cups sugar (adjust as required)

Heat 2 tsp ghee and roast the gram flour till you get a nice aroma. Keep aside. Grind the badam to a smooth paste using a little milk.

Heat sugar with 1 cup water and allow it come to a 2 thread consistency. Add the badam paste and mix for 2-3 minutes. Then add the gram flour to it and keep stirring it well. Add cardamom powder and then ghee little by little to the mixture and continue to stir till the mixture starts frothing well. Transfer to a greased plate and allow it to cool for a while. Cut into desired pieces.

Update: The roundup for the WYF:Breakfast event is being worked out and should be ready in a day or two..

Mysore burfi

Recipe adapted from Cook and See book by Meenakshi ammal.

Ingredients

100 grams cashewnut
1 cup gram flour
3/4 cup ghee
2 cups sugar (adjust as per taste)
1/5 cup milk
Bit of red orange colour

Soak the cashews in hot water for 2 hours, drain and grind to smooth paste.

Heat the sugar with 1 cup water and allow it to boil till two thread consistency. Add the cashew paste to it and mix well. Then add gram flour slowly and mix well without lumps. Add the food colour and keep stirring. Start adding ghee slowly and keep mixing it till the mixture starts frothing. Transfer to a greased plate and allow it to cool before cutting into pieces.

Garnish with almond and cashew pieces.

My interview at Solkadi.
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Dalia(Broken wheat) sweet upma(Dalia sheera)

Guest author: Gauri Naik

Ingredients

1 cup wheat rava(Dalia)
3/4 cup jaggery(If you dont like much sweetness, add 1/2cup jaggery. Adjust sweetness as per your taste)
Dry fruits of your chice
1/4 cup grated coconut
1 tbsp Ghee
Pinch of elaichi powder/cardamom

Dry roast the wheat rava nicely till you get a nice aroma. Now pressure cook the rava till it is cooked well. Remove from the pressure cooker and when it is hot, add jaggery, ghee, grated coconut, dry fruits and elaichi powder. On a low flame cook for some more time till all the jaggery melts and it is steamed well.

Serve hot for breakfast.

This is Gauri's first entry for the WYF: Breakfast event hosted at this blog..

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Panasa Thonalu

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour/maida
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp ghee
Oil to fry
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cardamom powder

Make a soft dough of maida, salt, ghee and water. Keep covered for 1/2 hour. Make small balls of it and roll it into medium thickness pooris. Make lines using a knife without cutting the edges like in the picture.


Roll it and twist it a bit. Repeat for the rest of the dough and deep fry the pieces till crisp and golden brown.

Heat the sugar with 1/2 cup water and allow it to come to soft ball consistency. (When you put a drop of the syrup in a small cup of water, you should be able to gather it into a soft ball)Add the cardamom powder and then the fried pieces to it and mix well. Transfer immediately to a greased plate and seperate the pieces.
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Potato poli

Ingredients for dough

2 cups all purpose flour/maida
Pinch of salt
3 tbsp oil

Ingredients for stuffing

4 Boiled and mashed potatoes
100 grams Sugar
4 tbsp ghee
1 tsp cardamom powder
Pinch of yellow food colour

Make soft dough of the flour, salt and water. Add oil and mix well till dry. Keep aside for 1/2 hr.

Heat ghee and add the potatoes. Fry them for 2-3 minutes till the ghee starts seperating. Add sugar, cardamom powder, food colour and mix well till it gets thick and forms into a big lump. Make small balls and keep aside.

Make balls of the maida dough and pat it to small and thick rounds using little oil. Use a greased plastic sheet for this. Keep the stuffing in the center.

Cover it with the dough from all sides and dust it with little maida. Roll it slowly into thick chapati ensuring the stuffing doesnt come out much.

Cook this on a hot tava on low flame with little ghee till brown spots come on both sides.

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