Navane -Hesarubele Payasa / Foxtail millet and moong dal payasam:

Foxtail Millet Kheer is a delicious addition to the festive menu, including the fasting menu, to the traditional kheer we usually make with rice. This millet, also known as Navane in Kannada & is rich in protein, minerals  & dietary fibre.
I have mixed nutty-flavoured Foxtail millet and a little moong dal to enhance the rustic taste.

Soaking millet makes it easier to digest and allows your body to absorb more nutrients. I usually do it overnight.

Foxtail Millet – ½ Cup
Moong dal – 2 Tblsp
Water (to cook Thinai) – 2 ½ Cups
Jaggery – ¾ Cup to 1 cup
Cardamom powder ½ tsp
Coconut milk – 1 Cup (you can add whole milk as well)
Ghee – 2 tsp
Cashew – 10 nos
Method:

-Soak millet for overnight. Morning, drain the water and leave the millet to air dry on a colander.

-wash moong dal and drain that as well.

-Make jaggery syrup by – Add Jaggery and water in a pan and heat it till the Jaggery melts completely. Use a filter to remove the impurities and extract Jaggery syrup. Keep aside

-Now, take a thick-bottomed vessel or kadai, heat ghee, fry cashew bits, and remove it; keep aside.

-Add moong dal and fry it until light brown; add foxtail millet and fry for 2 minutes.

-Add hot water or 3rd extract of coconut milk or whole milk. Cook until millet and dal turn soft and mushy. (it should hold the texture but turns mushy between your thumb and forefinger while pressing it.)

-If you are using clean Jaggery, here I have used Nolen gur (date palm jaggery); add directly and boil until the raw smell of Jaggery vanishes.

-Add thick coconut milk cardamom powder and allow to boil once. Switch off the stove. Garnish with fried cashews and serve.

Karjura Payasa/ Dates kheer:

I can’t believe it has been six years of blogging and four hundred-plus recipes since I started Shrikripa.in

At first, I intended to restore my recipes to my daughters, near and dear ones. Then, it gave me great learning opportunities, memories, growth, and many beautiful bondings with amazing people.

Today, I want to share our homely recipe of Karjura Payasa, which is nothing but payasam using dates, jaggery and coconut milk, which is a perfect way to end your meal!

Ingredient:

Thank you to all of my readers, who have stood by me, read my recipes, prepared and enjoyed with your near and dear ones, and made an extra effort to write back with beautiful feedback.

Dates – 1 to  1 ½ cups ( chopped)

Jaggery – ¼ to ½ cup ( according to the sweet level)

Coconut milk – 1 tin

OR

Coconut – 1 (To extract milk)

-OR-

Thin coconut milk – 2cups

Thick coconut milk – ½ cup

Salt – ½ tsp

Cardamom powder – 1 tsp

Ghee – 1 tbl sp

Cashew – 1 to 2 tbl sp (Roasted )

Method:

-Take a thick vessel, add ghee and fry chopped dates until it is flavourful.

-Add jaggery, salt, thin coconut milk or plain water and boil the content until the raw smell of the jaggery vanishes.

-Add a thick extract of coconut milk or if you are using tinned coconut milk, add it now. Add powdered cardamom and give one boil and switch off.

-garnish with ghee-fried cashew bits and serve.

Sajjige ladoo/ Rava laddu:

Happy Deepavali wishes to dear readers.

Sajjige is semolina or Rava in our mangaluru, coastal region of Karnataka. Rava ladoo has never made an appearance in my blog. Hence, I made the ladoo for this Diwali and here I am, sharing a mouth-watering super soft laddu of our region. To make this ladoo, we need minimal ingredients and don’t need any milk or coconut, and it has a good shelf life when stored in an airtight container.

This laddu recipe is an age-old recipe I learned from my friend’s mom.

Method:

Medium Rava – 4 cups (also known as Uppittu rava/Bombay rava)

Ghee – 3 to 4 tablespoons

Cloves -4 (crushed)

Saffron strands – 8- 10

Cardamom – 1tsp

Cashew bits – 3 to 5 tablespoons (fried)

Raisins – 3 tablespoons (use as it is)

Sugar – 3 ½ cups

Water – 1 ¾ cup (just enough to cover the sugar)

Method:

-Take little ghee and fry cashew bits and keep it aside.

-Put Rava, saffron, and crushed cloves, and roast everything until it is grainy and white by adding ghee.

-In a saucepan or thick-bottomed pan, make a sugar syrup of half-thread consistency. Now, this is very important to get soft, melt-in-a-mouth laddu.

(To make sugar syrup, heat sugar and water until it boils and becomes shiny. To test the half-thread consistency, touch the sugar syrup between your forefinger and thumb, and when you open those fingers away, the sugar thread should break).

-Now, mix roasted rava, cardamom powder, roasted cashew, and raisins and mix everything properly. Mass would look watery, no worries. Close the lid and keep it aside for some time ( it takes 1 hour or more) until the mixture dries up.

-start binding the roundels and keep them aside to cool and dry properly. Store it in an airtight container and enjoy.

Haalittu Payasa / Rice Noodle Kheer :

It is an age-old recipe and an almost extinct dessert in our region/ community. Haalittu, the name itself, suggests the softness of the rice noodles.

Here, freshly prepared rice noodles are cooked in boiling jaggery-laced water, enriched with coconut milk, and flavoured with freshly ground cardamom powder. 

The method is straightforward and not so complex.

Ingredients:

Dosa Rice – 1 small tumbler

Jaggery – ½ to ¾ tumbler or more

Salt- ½ tsp

Fresh Coconut – To extract milk or Coconut milk – 1 pack

Cardamom powder – 1 tsp (freshly ground)

Method:

-Wash and soak the rice for 3 to 4 hrs with sufficient water.

-Grind the soaked rice with salt into a smooth paste.

-Take one thick Kadai, pour the batter, heat on a low flame and cook until it forms a smooth pliable dough, with constant stirring.

-When the mixture cools down, take a chakli presser, fix a multi-hole plate, press the noodles and keep it ready.

-In another thick-bottomed vessel, take jaggery, and sufficient water or if you are using freshly extracted coconut milk, take 3 rd and 4th extract of thin coconut milk and boil until the raw smell of the jaggery vanishes.

– Now, drop the rice noodles and boil further. When noodles are well cooked, add thick extracted coconut milk or open the tetra pack, pour, and give one boil.

-Garnish with cardamom powder and serve hot. Here, we don’t use any ghee-fried dry fruits.

-if you wish to add, you can add and serve.

Kesari bath:

Kesari bath is made in many ways. Traditionally, it is made with Bansi Rava, and that is how my husband likes it. Since it is our Anniversary, presenting one of the much-cherished desserts and an integral part of our wedding menu.

Today, I am celebrating five years of blogging and 23 years of our togetherness with the much-loved sweet of my Husband, Kesari bath.

It is a simple sweet, with minimal ingredients like Bansi Rava, Sugar, Saffron and ghee, garnished with ghee fried cashews and raisins. Earlier I used to eyeball the measurements and prepare. The traditional measure and this foolproof recipe, which we cherish, is by my friend Madhu.

For measurements, use any tumbler of your choice.

Ingredients:

Bansi Rava- 1cup

Water-3cup

Sugar – 1 ½ to 2 cups ( Acc to your sweet level)

Salt – ¼ tsp

Cardamom powder – 1 tsp

Saffron – 10 to 12 strings (soak it in hot water or milk)

Ghee- ½ cup or a little more, as needed.

Cashews 10-15

Dry grapes- 15-20

Method:

-Take a small cup, add saffron, pour little hot milk or water, and allow soak.

-Keep water to boil in a saucepan.

-In a pan, add a tablespoon of ghee, fry cashew and dry grapes and keep aside.

-In the same pan, roast Bansi Rava till a pleasant aroma comes and turns grainy.

-Add salt and pour boiling water and allow to cook on a low flame.

– Once Rava is cooked, add sugar stir well to make sure there is no lump.

-While stirring, In every small interval, add ghee and proceed to stir.

– After 10 minutes of stirring, you can add saffron laced milk and mix well.

– Keep adding ghee little by little and mix well. Cook this mixture until ghee starts leaving from the sides.  Finally, add cardamom powder,  dry fruits mix well.

Serve hot.

NOTE:

If you wish to make square pieces out of it, when the Kesari bath is done, Spread the content on a ghee applied plate.

Allow to cool, mark the shape, get the perfectly shaped pieces, and store them in an air-tight container.

Brown rice – Horse gram Laddu :

This Laddu happened by chance. I have heard “Keddasa” unique festival from our region. But, I never knew the details, how to celebrate and its significance until recently. My interest in digging and reading about it started after seeing my Instagram friend, Akshatha’s post regarding Keddasa – a unique practice of our Tulu Nadu.

Farmers of our region observe Keddasa or Keddaso to honour mother earth and obtain her blessings in the next harvest. They believed that the earth goddess would grant crops in abundance by following the tradition.

Keddasa is observed typically in February, the end of the winter and believed that the earth goddess becomes fertile for farming. Rituals spread in 3 days; those three days are considered a rest for any farming activity to provide rest to mother earth. In this duration, a different offering is also a part of the custom.

A unique dish, known as Kudu -Ari, is made other than the offering. The literal transition of kudu is horse gram, and Ari is Rice. Roasted, powdered horse gram – rice is seasoned with other roasted items; it varies from family to family, such as roasted coconut, peanuts, sesame, Jaggery. Sometimes, the whole moong as well. The perfect way to look after our bone health during the winter months n the name of tradition. How beautiful. To make this Brown rice – Horse gram laddu, I took the inspiration from another traditional unde, known as Thambittu unde, which I shared in my blog, and the recipe is HERE. It is indeed a perfect energy ball or mid-day snack in the winter months, and I loved it.

How I did – Took one small tumbler as a measurement cup.

Here Ready laddu mixture was around 277 grams, and I took 250 grams of Jaggery, and it turned out perfect for our preferred sweet level. You can take equal or a little less.

Ingredients:

Red boiled rice/ matta rice – 1 cup

Peanuts – ½ cup

Horse gram – ¼ cup

Coconut – 1 cup

Sesame seeds – 2 tablespoons

Cardamom powder – 1tsp

Powdered Jaggery – Equal quantity as laddu mixture or little less.

Ghee – 2 to 4 tablespoons

Method:

-Wash rice once or twice, drain the water, let it air dry until it is dry.

-Wash horse gram and let it air dry until it is dry.

-Heat one thick bottomed wok/vessel, add dried rice little by little and roast; it will pop a little and texture will become brittle and a little puffy. Do this procedure in 3 to 4 batches and cool it.

-Dry roast Horse gram as well. When it cools down, make powder in a mixer jar; Sieve this powder and keep it aside.

 

-Now dry roast, sesame seeds, peanuts,  grated coconut until it emits fragrance. Keep aside.

-I did crush the peanuts by using whip mode by using a mixer jar.

-Mix everything, measure the content. If it is 2 cups, take 2 cups of grated Jaggery or a little less than that. If you have a measuring scale, you can measure as well.

-Boil Jaggery put in one cup of water when it melts; sieve this solution to remove any impurities. (Pictorial guide is here)

-Take this liquid and boil further till it reaches one thread consistency. At this stage, you will hear “Tup” “Tup” bubbling sound, too (this is the clue which I have received from the elders)

-When it reaches one thread consistency, mix in the prepared content, ghee, and cardamom powder.

-Mix nicely. At this stage, the mixture will be too wet to handle. So, keep aside for 10 o 15 minutes till the mixture becomes a little dry and ready to handle. When you feel it is ready, take a small amount in hand, make Laddu, and keep it aside.

-When all the mixture gets over, and you have finished the process, store these laddus in an airtight container. This Laddu stays good for long, even at room temperature.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guava Cheese/ Perad/halwa :

When the neighbour comes and hands me a big bag full of substantial sized overripe guavas, I knew, it is going to be a strenuous task. I need to deal with my mindset of ‘no wastage.’ First thing, came to my mind was my favourite Guava cheese.

When I was reading about the guava cheese, its origin, it traces back to Portuguese settlers in Brazil where it’s known as Goiabada. I am guessing that is how this recipe landed with them in Goa and is known as Perad/Peraad.

In simple terms, guava cheese is nothing but guava halwa. It doesn’t taste like cheese. Its texture is something you can easily bite into, yet is slightly chewy, somewhat like our Banana halwa, with a grainy texture, of course with added guava taste. Colour of the cheese depends on the variety of the Guava. If it is white, the colour turns our light brown, like mine. I usually mix a half red and half white variety of Guava to get beautiful hue.

Ingredients:

Overripe Guava – 2kgs

Sugar – 800 grams to 1 kg (acc to your palette)

Salt – ½ tsp

Butter – 3 tablespoons

Lemon juice -1 tablespoon 

Method:

-Wash, chop the fruit into quarters—Cook with sufficient water for two whistles, cool.

-Pulse it in a mixer jar along with cooked water, sieve the Puree, separate the seed and its roughage.

-Weigh the pulp. For 2 kgs of pulp, I have taken 800 grams of sugar. You can take up to one kg if you prefer sweeter.

-Take one thick bottomed Kadai, add the pulp and boil for 20 minutes or until it starts boiling. Allow 10 minutes more to boil and add sugar and salt, continue to cook in a low flame.

-When the mixture turns pinkish brown add butter and proceeds to cook further. When it starts leaving the sides, add lemon juice, cook ten more minutes.

-Remove the mixture to the greased plate, leave 4 to 6 hours and then cut.

-Stays good for 3 to 5 months without any problem, at room temperature, stored in an airtight container.

 

 

Hasaru Unde/Green gram Laddu/ Whole moong flour Laddu:

Wishing all my readers a happy Navarathri!

Green gram / whole moong is very nutritious and loved by everyone at our home. When I found the whole moong flour at my regular organic stores, I was excited to try my hand at using it in my regular cooking. While thinking of utilising it, idea of preparing laddu came to my mind and I immediately tried my best by using my Besan laddu recipe as a base and it did turn out super delicious with its earthy flavour. Everyone gave a thumbs up at home and  liked it .

So, I am sharing the recipe with you all.

Ingredients:

Green gram flour/ whole Moong flour  – 3 cups

Sugar – 2 ¼ cups

Ghee – 1 ¼  cup

Dry fruits – 1 cup

Cardamom powder – 1 teaspoon

Method:

-Chop dry fruits. I normally use half cup of cashew bits and half cup of slivered Almond bits.

-Dry roast almond and cashew bits and keep aside.

-Powder sugar and keep aside.

-Take one thick bottomed wok, roast green gram flour in very low temperature.

-When it is a little hot, start adding ghee little by little during the roasting process.

-Do not add or pour all the ghee at one go. It will not help to roast evenly, and it will form a muddy consistency, and will affect it in even roasting.

– I took exactly 20 minutes over a small flame.

-After it roasts and you’ve added all the ghee, mixture becomes very runny and colour will turn greenish brown.

-At this time, your house will filled with roasted flour’s aroma. This is the time you should switch off the gas and leave this mixture to cool completely.

-It will take anywhere between 30 to 40 minutes.

-Now add powdered sugar, cardamom powder and roasted dry fruits and mix everything properly.

-Now start using your hand and mix it once and start making small roundels by taking little mixture at a time.

-At this time, you will feel that the laddus are a little wet and glossy and shining.

-Arrange these over a clean, dry platter. After some time (one hour) laddu’s will be dry and glossy texture will vanish.

-Store it in a dry container and enjoy with your family.

Apple Halwa

Yesterday, while preparing Apple jam, my Research oriented husband came in and asked me what I was doing, I said – Apple jam , planning to finish the stock which we bought couple of weeks back

He said, “why not halwa?” I was like 🙄🤔

Then, I changed my mind and took my share of  jam when it was done. Proceeded to make Halwa with the remaining quantity, by adding little ghee in-between at a regular interval.

Surprisingly, it turned out super delicious and here I am presenting my end result which was experimental.

Here I have used fruit as a whole /with skin. Normally Apple turns out sour when you cook /boil . To avoid the sour taste, normally I bake it until it is done, then grind into a puree, sieved, and proceed to make jam then halwa with the added mild cinnamon flavour. One can add cardamom as well. Sugar can be replaced with an organic jaggery as well. Even though I have not tried with the jaggery, my friend Aruna has tried with the jaggery and result was just amazing, which was deep brown in colour.

Ingredients:

Golden yellow Apple – 1 kg (Any variety would do)

 Sugar – ¾ kg

Ghee – ½ to ¾ cup

Cinnamon or Cardamom – 1 or 2 pinches

Method:

-Wash Apples, dice ,remove seed part and arrange in a baking dish. For Initial preparation, please refer here

-Bake this in a 170°C pre-heated oven for 15 minutes at first.

-Remove, flip those apple pieces, and continue further 15 minutes.

-After 30 minutes, check the doneness. If it is soft, well cooked ,remove it.

-If it is not done, bake for further 5 or 10 minutes.

-When it is cool, add a little water and churn in a juicer by adding 1 or 2 cups of water.

-Sieve ,discard the roughage ( fibre as well as outer skin remains)

-Put this pulp in a thick bottomed kadai, add sugar,  cook until it turns into little thick and turns into mass.

-Add ghee 2 tablespoons at a time in-between while stirring. If you feel that the Apple puree  needs a little more ghee, add up to ¾ cup, some varieties of Apple need very less ghee and some need more.

-Now we will see, how we decide the quantity of ghee. While stirring if you feel that the mixture is a little dry and the bottom part becomes a little brown, keep adding it. If the ghee starts oozing at the sides, it is an indication to stop the addition of ghee.        

 

-Now we will see how you know the doneness. It is quite simple, keep on stirring until mixture leaves the sides of the kadai and ghee oozes out from the mixture. You can add cashew pieces at this stage or spread those pieces in a greased plate like me.

-After you are done with this, it is almost ready to shift to the plate. Before shifting I prefer to check, by taking one small peanut sized portion of the mixture and rolling it in-between my thumb and forefinger to make a small ball like structure. If it holds a ball like structure and does not stick to your finger, it is ready.

-Now remove from the flame, shift to a greased plate, and pat this mixture evenly by using a flat, greased (apply some ghee) back of the spoon.       

        

-Keep this aside for two or three hours to cool. Then cut this into the desired shape and store it in an airtight container.

-You can store this Halwa for a really long time (up to a month or two).

 

 

 

Chibud Harshale/ Mash melon Rasayana:

Chibud is a variety of Melon which is oblong and larger in size, normally found in various parts of India. Known by many names like chibbada, Chiber, Mash melon, Cucumis melo.

It belongs to the melon family; outer skin is like coloured cucumber and taste is bland and fleshy. Normally used in a raw uncooked form by making juice, lassi, salad or coconut milk or plain milk laden Rasayana as well as Poha added Rasayana. which is a snack by itself and considered as a Vrat/ fasting Food.

Just few days back, when I was returning from Karkal, found this fruit after a long time and picked up and relished with family by making Poha added Chilled Rasayana in this summer Heat.

If you want to try this recipe, you can use over ripe musk melons or Banana and proceed.

Ingredients:

Chibud melon – 1

Grated jaggery – as required

Coconut milk / plain milk – 1 to 2 cups

Cardamom powder – 1 tsp

Poha – little

Method:

-Chop Chibud melon into small chunks by removing outer skin as well as centre core.

-Mix in jaggery powder, cardamom powder and mix nicely.

-After mixing jaggery, it melts a little. If you are serving it chilled, refrigerate it.

-While serving, mix in coconut milk or plain milk according to your choice.

-Add little poha and serve as a cool snack.