Carrot Halwa / Gajar ka halwa

Ingredients:

Grated carrot - 2 cups
Milk - 1 cup
Sugar - 2 cups
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Unsalted butter/ghee - 4 tbsp
Cashews and raisins for garnishing

Method:

1. Fry the cashews and raisins in a little ghee and keep it aside.
2. Boil the milk until it gets reduced to half. Keep the flame in medium heat for 10 mins. Stir it occasionally so that it does not stick to the pan.
3. Melt the butter in a pan, and stir fry the grated carrot on medium heat for 5 mins so that the carrots leave the raw smell and slightly change the colour. See to that the carrots do not get burnt.
4. Add the boiled milk and cook for about 10 mins until the milk gets completely absorbed by the carrots.
5. Add sugar and stir well. Cook for few mins and add the cardamom powder and cook till the ghee starts oozing out from the halwa.
6. Garnish with the fried cashews and raisins.

Bisi Bela Bhath

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup
Toor Dhal - 1/2 cup
Chana Dhal - 1 tbsp
Fenugreek - 1/4 tsp
Coriander Seeds - 1 tbsp
Cloves - 2
Cinnamon - 1 small stick
Dried red chillies - 5
Asafoetida - a pinch
Grated coconut - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Mixed vegetables ( Potatoes, Carrots, Beans, Cauliflower, Capsicum, drumsticks... etc) - can add any kind of vegetables as your wish. Otherwise we can have only small onions.
Salt to taste
Tamarind - lemon sized
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Cashews and Raisins for garnishing

Method:

1. For making bisi bele bhath masala: In a pan, heat 1 tsp of oil, roast Chana dhal, Coriander seeds, Cloves, Cinnamon, Fenugreek, Dried red chilli, asafoetida. Grind it to a fine powder with grated coconut.
2. Cook rice and toor dhal in a pressure cooker.
3. Half boil all the vegtables and keep aside.
4. In another pan, heat oil, mustard seeds, urad dhal, asafoetida, tamarind water, salt, turmeric powder, bisi bele bhat masala powder, which we have made. Let it boil for sometime till the raw smell goes.
5. Add half boiled vegetables, cook for few mins, till the vegetables are cooked well. Make sure that the vegetables are not over cooked, cos it will get mashed up.
6. Add cooked rice, and pour some 2-3 tbsp of ghee.
7. Add fried cashews and raisins to the rice and mix well.

*Note: If the rice is mashed well, taste will be great.

Palappam Recipe

This Recipe I learnt from my neighbour here. She is a keralite and make lovely palappam... I tried at my home.. It really came out well.

Ingredients:

White Rice - 1 cup
Yeast - 1 tsp
Sugar - 2 tsp
Cooked Rice - 1 tbsp
Coconut Milk - 1 cup
Salt - 1 tsp

Method:

1. Soak the white rice for 4-6 hours and grind it to a batter like dosa batter.
2. Pour water to the yeast and mix well.
3. Add the yeast liquid to the batter.
4. Add sugar also. Mix well. Keep the batter aside overnight. Let it ferment well.
5. Add coconut milk and salt before preparing Palappam to make the batter consistency less thinner than the dosa batter.
6. Now the batter is ready to make palappams.
7. In a appam wok, pour the batter, and roll out so the batter makes a bowl like shape.
8. Cover it with a lid for few mins.
9. Serve hot with kadalai curry(chick peas curry) or with some kurma.