Rava laddu is a very easy sweet to make. A lot of variations can be done in this. Mom had made this couple of times, when she was here in USA. The most recent one was on a weekend, specially made for our first wedding anniversary. She made it along with thattai.
Even before making this version of laddu, I had been picturing it mentally, to make use of the kutti krishna doll, presented by Venkat, Mani's friend during Golu. :P What a planning !!!
Generally we don't make much of this laddu. Even if we do, it would be a simple version of roast and grind rava, add sugar, ghee, roasted cashews and shape them into laddus. But, this time, the occasion being special, we made this with some more additional ingredients - cardamom powder, raisins and sweetened coconut flakes (as it was readily sitting in the fridge :D). Ultimately, with so many ingredients, this version turned out to be rich and yummy !!
Prep Time: 10 mins || Cook Time: 20 mins || Yields: 9 || Category: Festival sweets/Laddu
1. Rava - 1 cup (100-150gm)
2. Sugar - 3/4 cup
3. Ghee - 2 to 3 tbsp
4. Cashews - 10 to12 broken
5. Raisins - 10 to 15 (optional)
6. Dessicated coconut - 2 to 3 tbsp (optional)
7. Cardamom powder - 2 tsp
8. Salt - a pinch
Method:
1. Dry roast rava till nice aroma wafts. Then mildly powder it in a mixi. (should still be a little coarse ). In the same kadai, heat ghee.
2. To the heated ghee, add cashews, raisins and fry till the cashews turn brown and the raisins look bloated. Then add grated coconut/dessicated coconut and roast well. Reduce the flame to low and then add the coarsely ground rava. Mix the ingredients well.
3. Then add powdered sugar and then increase the flame to medium. Add cardamom powder, edible camphor, salt and mix well until all the ingredients have blended and then switch off the flame. Cool the mixture in a plate. When the heat is moderate enough to handle, make small laddus out of it
Suggestions:
- If desired, sprinkle 1/4 cup milk after adding powdered sugar and mix the ingredients well. Adding milk gives a binding effect but it reduces the shelf life of the laddus.
- I did not add edible camphor as I don't like its smell.
- I used ready-made sweetened coconut flakes.
- If the mixture looks a little sticky, refrigerated it for 15-20 mins and then shape them into laddus.
This is one more recipe idea adapted from here - Wholegreens, my friend Sreeraksha's blog. She has a very good collection of innovative healthy vegetarian recipes. Hooked by the goodness of the recipes in her blog, I had tried Broccoli Bharta earlier and then the base idea for this sandwich.
The avocado poha and veggie salad can be consumed as such. It tastes so yummy. Only because Mani doesn't like poha, I used the salad as a spread for bread sandwich and tricked him into eat poha !!!
Prep Time: 15 mins + 10 mins soaking time || Cook Time: 20 mins || Yields: 4 sandwiches || Category: Sandwich/Breakfast Recipe
Ingredients:
1. Avocado - 1
2. Onion - 1
3. Capsicum - 1/2
4. Carrot - 1
5. Tomato - 1 small
6. Coriander leaves
7. Amchur powder - 2 tsp
8. Pepper powder - 2 tsp
9. Cumin powder - 2 tsp
10. Salt - as required
11. Lemon - 1 small
12. Poha (Flattened rice/Aval) - 75-100gms
13. White bread - 8 slices
14. Hing (Asafoetida) - 2 tsp (optional)
Method:
1. Wash and chop all the veggies finely. Scoop out the pulp of avocado and mash it well, adding few drops of lemon juice. In a bowl, add pepper powder, cumin powder, amchur powder, salt and avocado pulp and mix well.
2. Wash poha twice and drain the water. Sprinkle some water and leave it aside for 10-15 mins. To the avocado pulp mixture, add all the veggies and mix well. Let it sit for 5 mins.
3. To the mixed veggies, add the softened poha and mix well. Coat one side of a bread slice with this avocado poha spread and close it with another slice.
4. Arrange the sandwiches on a grilling plate and cook till golden crust forms, drizzling oil or ghee on both the sides.
Suggestions:
- Garam masala/chili flakes, asafoetida can be added if desired.
- Groundnuts can be added for a crunchy texture.
- Combination of vegetables can be altered as per taste.
- Using whole wheat bread in the place of white bread would be a still healthier option.
- The sandwich can be made in a normal dosa pan or in a sandwich maker too.
- The avocado poha stuffing can be had as such as a salt too, instead of using it as a stuffing for sandwich.
Mine had become a regular-post-deprived-blog since long time. Abhinav was keeping me busy. I had been taking stepwise pics of some dishes though. By the time I would sit for taking the final pics, either I would become hungry or Abhi would call me. There are so many posts sitting in my drafts folder with either the stepwise pics or just the final pics. Have to straighten them out quickly !!!!
For me, Perumpayaru/Karamani seemed to be an untouched/not-so-attractive option for sundal. I remember this pulse making its appearance only rarely in the dishes. It would show itself during one of the days of navarathri or during karadaiyan nonbu or in olan which is even more rare. Though making sundal is not such a big task and it simply requires one thing - a good memory to soak it overnight or some hours ahead of pressure cooking, based on the variety of the pulse/bean. Even with a healthy steamed version of this simple snack called sundal, there comes an added difficulty when jaggery syrup is involved. So, I was a bit hesitant to try it out as I though of it as a little more effort demanding compared to salted version of sundals. Tried this one a couple of times and I was on cloud nine, when I could get the jaggery version correctly. So, here it comes for the post !!!!
Prep Time: 5 mins || Cook Time: 20 mins (pressure cooking) + 25 mins || Serves: 3 || Category: Sweet / Sundal
Ingredients:
1. Perumpayaru (Karamani/Cowpeas/Black eye peas) - 100gm
2. Jaggery - 100gm (coarse chunks)
3. Coconut - 50 gm (grated or chopped)
4. Ghee - 2 tbsp
5. Cardamom powder - a pinch
Method:
1. Soak cowpeas for an hour and drain the water. Rinse it 2 or 3 times. Then pressure cook for 4-5 whistles, adding some water just enough to immerse the payaru. Give it a standing time and open it when the steam has subsided.
2. Take jaggery in a heavy bottomed pan and add water to just immerse it. Keep stirring and make it dissolve. When it is partially dissolved, switch on the flame and keep it in medium or low. Once the jaggery has dissolved completely, switch off the flame and filter the jaggery solution to remove the impurities. After filtering, pour the jaggery syrup to the same vessel and reheat it allowing it to boil.
3. To check the consistency, pour a tsp of the syrup into water and collect it with fingers. It should form a soft jaggery ball and should not dissolve in water. At this stage add the grated coconut / coconut pieces and mix well. (I used readymade sweetened coconut flakes)
4. After 2 mins, add the pressure cooked cowpeas and stir well. Keep cooking until the payaru has cooked well absorbing the syrup.
5. When the syrup and the payaru thicken, add ghee and cardamom powder and mix well. Cook till the sundal forms as a whole mass and leaves the sides of the pan when stirred.
Yummy sundal is ready. Happy munching !!
