Aval Laddu | Poha Ladoo | Easy Krishna Jayanthi recipes

So friends, how did your Janmashtami celebs go this year? Mine was simple as usual with some homemade butter, sago kheer and aval kesari as neivedhyam to kutty krishna. This year I did not have a great mood to dress up little Dhruv like last year. U know why, we cut his hair last week :( I was saving the trip to the hair dresser so that I can tie his hair and dress him up like kutty krishna but he was getting very irritated with those particularly longer strands near the ears that we had to cut his hair. I lost all my enthu coz of that and so it was a simple krishna jayanthi yesterday with just homemade neivedhyam. 

Last year it was nice, we dressed him up in his dhothi and tied his hair and made him wear some of my jewellery and he was looking like a thoppa (paunch) ganapathy in a kutty krishna attire :) Maybe next year I should plan something different ! So now recipe of the day is a simple poha ladoo with just 2 main ingredients poha and jaggery. If you want you can use sugar in place of jaggery. Just replace jaggery with ½ cup sugar in the recipe. I love this one. Simple and easy to make. And for the past one week, this was satisfying my sudden cravings for a sweet or quick bite ! So off to the recipe..

Makes: 8 ladoos

I Took: 

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

I Used:

Poha/Aval/Rice Flakes	-	1 cup
Jaggery	-	¾ cup
Cardamom	-	1 no
Ghee	-	¼ cup
Cashew Nuts	-	3-4 nos
Raisins	-	6-8 nos

The Way:

1. Dry roast the poha for 3-4 minutes in low flame. It will become crunchy. Then transfer it to another plate/mixie jar and allow it to cool

2. Add cardamom and jaggery to the cooled poha and blend to make a fine powder

3. Heat the ghee in a pan and fry the caashews and raisins. Once the cashews turn golden brown and the raisins turn big, switch off the flame ( I also remove the pan from the flame else the residual heat will keep it warm for some more time)

4. Add the powdered poha-jaggery mix to the ghee. Mix well. Make sure there are no lumps

5. Now make small laddus when the mixture is warm

Notes:

• I use organic poha and organic jaggery. So there is not much impurities in them. If using normal poha dust away those ones that are visible before dry roasting them

• Some use milk instead of ghee to make these ladoos. If then use warm milk else it will be difficult to shape the ladoos. If then the ladoos must be consumed within a day or two as they do not have a great shelf life

• Grind the poha to a fine powder else it will be difficult to shape the ladoo

• If more cashews or bigger pieces of cashews are used then also it will be difficult to shape the ladoos

• These ladoos stay good and fresh for a week and make sure you store them in an air tight container

• If using sugar instead of jaggery, the method is the same. Instead of grinding jaggery grind ½ cup sugar

Cheers,

Chitz

Aval Payasam | Poha Kheer | Easy Rice Flakes Payasam | Krishna Jayanthi Recipes

Rice Flakes Kheer with Sugar

With Gokulashtami nearing all of you must be gearing up to prepare all kinds of sweets, savouries and kheers right? So if you are a beginner like me in those areas, fret not ! I'm here to help you. I make some simple recipes that do not consume much time or doesn't burst or explode while preparing ;) You know what I'm talking about right ! Yes, the infamous seedai. I'm yet to experiment it. My mom is still scared to prepare them, so you can imagine my confidence level in that ! But like anything else, with good research and careful experiments there is nothing that can't be conquered in cooking as well, right :) 

So let's leave that aside for some other day and check how to make this yummy and easy to make kheer with poha or aval/rice flakes. I like to have this kheer the next day after refrigerating it for a day. It tastes very yummy then. Initially I used to make this kheer without grinding the poha. But then my hubby used to say, it just tastes like Aval in milk. Then after some googling I found that many grind the poha to use in the kheer. I tried that and the texture and taste was better then. So here's it now for all those beginners out there who are set to celebrating this year's Gokulasthami with some homemade sweets and savouries :)

Serves: 2-3 persons

I Took: 

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

I Used:

Aval/Rice Flakes/Poha	-	½ cup
Ghee	-	2 tbsp
Cashew nuts	-	5-7 nos
Raisins	-	15-20 nos
Milk	-	2 - 2.5 cups
Sugar	-	¼ cup
Cardamom powder	-	Of 1 pod

The Way:

1. Boil milk in a saucepan and keep it aside. Heat ghee in a pan (I use a saucepan and the same is used for making the kheer as well). Fry the cashews and raisins and keep them also aside

2. In the same pan with the remaining ghee, fry the aval/poha for 2-3 minutes. Then transfer it to a mixie and allow it to cool

3. Once cooled, coarsely grind the poha. 2-3 pulse would be sufficient

4. Now add the ground poha to the same saucepan. Add the boiled milk and allow the poha to cook over low flame. It would take around 5-7 minutes for the poha to cook. As it is already ground it takes less time. If adding whole poha as such then cook for around 10-12 minutes

5. Mix it intermittently in between so that it doesn't get burnt. 

6. Once the poha is cooked add the sugar and cardamom 

7.If the consistency is too thick can add extra milk (around 1/2 cup or as per your need) Mix well and let it boil once

8. Toss in the roasted nuts and raisins. Give a quick stir. Switch off flame and serve warm or chilled as desired ! 

Notes:

• Some do not like to roast and grind the poha. If then just wash the poha and add to the milk in step 4

• The kheer thickens as it sits. So while serving adjust accordingly. If needed add little warm milk while serving

• I personally enjoy this kheer the next day after refrigeration. So if you are in for chilled kheer, try it that way !

Cheers,

Chitz

Cream Fruit Salad

Assorted fruits & nuts in Cream

This is a post that has been in my drafts for a week, the one which I had planned to post before I started to India. But in the hurry burry of the packing & cleaning & last minute shopping & preparations, I did not get time. Yes, this was a sudden twist in the normal vacation plan of ours. We had to start 2 weeks ahead of our anticipated plan & that too in a notice of 5 days.. So u can imagine the work package that come with it :D But anyways happy to get an extended vacation & enjoyment in the scorching heat of South India !! 

So back to the post, this is a very simple & quick dessert that can be prepared with the available fruits & nuts at hand. I had it at my friend Rameena's place & immediately fell in love with it. And so one day when I had a craving I messaged her for the recipe.. I knew it was a simple one, but wanted to get it right, exactly like hers ;) You know, this is an easy way to feed fruits to kids & also even adults too !! So, off to the recipe ;)

I Took: 20 minutes

Serves: 4 ppl

I Used:

Cream - 300 ml Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp Sugar - 3 tbsp or As Needed Mango - 1 no Apple - 1 no Honey dew - ½ a normal sized fruit Almonds - As Needed Cashews - As Needed Raisins - As Needed

The Way:

1. Whip up the cream with sugar & vanilla essence till it gives a nice foamy texture
2. Cut the fruits into cubes as for fruit salad and add it to the whipped up cream
3. Add the chopped nuts and give a mix. This tastes more heavenly when you roast the nuts in a little ghee before adding to the whipped up cream
4. Refrigerate for an hour or overnight as time permits & serve chilled

Notes:

You can use any fruit & nut of your choice. I used the ones that I had available that day !!

Cheers,

Chitz

Nei Choru | Ney Choru | Malabar Neychoru | Ghee Rice

Rice cooked in ghee & layered with fried onions & nuts

 Come the long weekends & it's always the heavy one pot rice varieties with spicy non veg gravies.. Asking me why?? Guests, get together, quiet family dinner - name it, we have everything. And this one is no different. Day before it was Veg pulav, today it's Nei Choru & tomorrow it's Chicken Biriyani !! Ahaa, yeah all planned and implementing to the plan :D 

'Nei chooru' - this is yet another name that makes me drool. A very popular dish in Kerala, particularly the Northen Malabar side. Most of the Muslim weddings would be incomplete without this lip smacking, aromatic rice. It is quite simple to prepare and guarantees you a rich flavor & aroma. This used to feature in my college hostel mess once every week, usually during Sundays. Accompaniment was Spicy Chicken gravy & raita signed off with a glass of lime juice.. Ohh my God.. Heavenly!! And an afternoon nap with an overfilled tummy following that. What more can you ask for during college times, right??

And as many other recipes, I never ever dreamt that I would prepare this one at home. It was my mom-in-law who taught me how to make this. The way she described itself made me quite confident that this is 'As easy as an apple pie' task (though I have never tried to prepare an apple pie :P ) Then there was no stopping me, this one now features in our menu quite often.

And if you ask me the best accompaniments for this I would say any spicy  non veg curry (I personally love chicken) would go with it.  But recently I read in one another blogger page that dhal goes very well this is. I am but yet to try that combo. Am sure this would make some of the vegetarians out there very happy :) So off to the recipe now..

Recipe from Amma (Mil)

Serves: 2-3 persons

I Took: 40 minutes

I Used:

Basmati Rice - 2 cups Onions - 3 nos - big sized - sliced Water - 4 cups Ghee - As needed Cinnamon - An inch stick Cloves - 4 nos Cardamom - 3 nos Cashews - 15-20 nos Raisins - 15-20 nos Lemon juice - 1 tbsp Oil - 2 tsp Salt - As needed

The Way:

1. Boil the 4 cups of water
2. In a pressure cooker, heat 2 tbsp of ghee. Add cinnamon, cloves and cardamom
3. As it starts to sputter & release its aroma, add the washed & cleaned rice. Fry for a minute
4. Add the oil, lemon juice and the boiling water
5. Now close the cooker & pressure cook for just 1 whistle and remove immediately from flame. Or to be more precise, switch off the flame when the cooker starts making screeching noises just before the first whistle and allow it to stay in that heat for 10 more minutes
6. Heat a pan. Add ghee. Roast the cashews & raisins & keep aside
7. Fry the onions in the same ghee till golden brown
8. To serve the rice, alternate the fried onions & nuts with the layers of cooked rice 

Serve with parippu/dhal or with spicy chicken curry.

Cheers,

Chitra