Corn Rava Kesari

In stores here, we get corn rava. while shopping i will pass by it and never think of doing any recipe from it. My MIL told me that she will that in wheat upma. So i decided to do a sweet with this and the result was fabulous and healthy too. No need of color as it is in orange color itself.

Ingredients:

Corn rava - 1 cup - Roasted

Sugar - 2 cup

Water - 1 1/2 cup

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Cashews - 10 - broken

Raisins - few

Ghee - 2 tbsp - for frying

         - 1/2 cup for kesari

Preparation:

1. In a nonstick or hard bottomed pan, heat ghee and fry cashews and raisins. Remove.

2. In the same kadai, add water and let it to boil.

3. Add rava and stir it continuously.

4. Add sugar and fold in continuously to remove lumps.

5. When very well cooked, add ghee and stir till ghee floats on top.

6. Add fried cashews and raisins and remove.

7. Garnish and then serve.

Note:

1. If served hot, it tastes great. When cold, it was not that much tastier.

2. I make bars. After removing from the stove, I transferred it to a greased plate. Cool and then cut into diamonds or whatever shape you want and then serve.

Caramel Semiya payasam

One day i baked fruit cake. In that recipe, we caramelize sugar. That idea make me to try this semiya payasam.

Ingredients:

Semiya - 1 cup - roasted

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Milk - 2 cups

Chopped nuts, raisins - few

Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Ghee - 2 tbsp

To caramelize:

Sugar - 1 tsp

Water - 1/4 cup

Method:

1. Heat kadai and add sugar. Sugar will start to turn browning i.e., caramelizing. Simmer the flame and add water. Remove as soon as possible.

2. Cool it.

3. In another kadai, add milk and bring it to nearly 1 1/4 cups.

4. Add semiya and make it to boil.

5. Add sugar, cardamom powder and caramelized sugar.

6. Now fry all the nuts in ghee and add it to the payasam.

7. Serve hot or cold.

Instant Payasam with left over rice

I got this recipe from my sister's mother in law. A great and quick recipe that can be prepared in 10 min. If you use normal white sugar, the taste will be different. Or else try with brown sugar. The rice must be used on the same day when you had cooked. Here comes the recipe.


Ingredients:

Left over cooked rice - 1 cup

Grated coconut - 1/3 cup

Jaggery/ Vellam - 1/2 - 3/4 cups - grated

Cashew - few

Raisins - few

Ghee - 2 tbsp

Milk/Water


Method:

1. Grind left over rice along with cocnut and jaggery coarsely or finely according to your taste.

2. In a pan, pour this paste and add if it is thick you can add milk or water to make a watery consistency.

3. Allow it to boil for 3 min.

4. Fry cashews and raisins in ghee and garnish.

Harisseh/ Basbousa - Semolina Cake - New year 2011 special

Basbousa- semolina coconut cake soaked in simple syrup.

It is a middle eastern traditional sweet cake flavored with rose water or cinnamon stick water. 

My kids love this with honey. So I added honey.

Brown sugar I used is turbinado sugar.

Ingredients:

Rava- 2 cup - fine variety

Dessicated coconut powder - 1 cup

Brown sugar - 1cup

Baking soda - 1 tsp

Butter - 3/4 cup - melted

Milk - 250ml

Almonds blanched -20

For syrup:

Brown Sugar - 1 1/2 cup

Water - 1/2 cup

Lemon juice - 2 tbsp

Honey - 2 tbsp

For syrup:

1. Place sugar in a pan and add water so that sugar just immersed in it.

2. Heat in a medium flame till sugar dissolves and the syrup slightly coats the back of the spoon.

3. Switch off and remove from the flame and add lemon juice.

4. When it is lightly warm, add honey and mix well. Then pour it on the baked and slightly cooled cake.

How to make/bake it?

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together.

2. Add melted butter and milk and mix well.

3. Pour this in a greased pan (I used 13*9 Pyrex glass pan) and level it with spatula.

4. Cover it with a plastic wrap and let it sit for 30-40 mins.

5. Then place half almonds leaving space inbetween and press them lightly.

6. Bake it in a preheated oven 345 F for about 30 mins or until the top is lightly golden.

7. Remove from the oven and Cool for 10 min. Cut into squares now itself to get a nice shape.

8. Pour the warm syrup on the cake and let it sit overnight for better taste.

MW Pineapple rava Kesari

Ingredients:

Rava - 1 cup

Milk - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 1/2 - 2 cup

Water - 1 1/4 cup

Pineapple essence - 2 tsp

Pineapple pieces - 1/2 - 1 cup

Tutty fruity/ cashew,raisins - few

Method:

1. Roast rava in a glass bowl MW HI (900 or 850 W power) for 2 min, Stirring inbetween ones.

2. Add milk, water, colour mix well, MW HI for 3 min with lid closed.

3. Next add sugar, Ghee, Pineapple pieces, MW MEDIUM ( 600 W power) for 3-4 min.

4. Standing time 4 mins.

5. Add essence, tutty fruity/ nuts, mix well and serve hot.

White Pumpkin Halwa

Ingredients:

White Pumpkin - 1 piece

Sugar - as required

Ghee - as required

Fry golden brown in 1 tbsp ghee:

Dry grapes - as required

Cashew nuts - as required

Method:

Peel off the skin from the pumpkin and also remove the seeds.

Grate the pumpkin.

Boil grated pumpkin in a kadai without removing excess water from the pumpkin for 5 minutes till the raw smell goes off.

Add sugar and stir till it melts.

Then add ghee, fried nuts and stir till ghee mixes well with the halwa.

Serve halwa with nuts.

Carrot Halwa

Ingredients required:

Grated carrot- 1/2 kg.

Sugar - 1 cup

Ghee - as required

Milk - 1 glass

Cashew nuts - 10 no.s

Raisins - 15 no.s

Method:

Boil carrot and milk together in a pressure cooker for 2 whistles.

Cool and open.

Transfer these ingredients to a nonstick pan(preferred) and cook till the mixture becomes dry.

Add sugar and stir well.

Add ghee and stir until ghee floats on the top of halwa.

Garnish with cashew nuts, raisins and serve.