HOT N' SWEET BOWL

Akkaravadisal | Sweet Milk Pongal

This is a special type of pongal which is fully cooked in milk. As the pongal is cooked only on milk it has a creamy texture. This is very rich in taste. In addition this pongal is flavored with unique flavors like edible camphor, saffron, cardamom and nutmeg.

This is a very famous pongal made in srirangam temple as naivedyam. This pongal is also called as iyengar pongal as they are majorly cooked in iyengar homes during auspicious days.

Ingredients:

Raw rice - 1 cup

Moong dal - 2 tablespoons

Milk - 8 cups + 1 cup (depending on the consistency)

Powder jaggery - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Ghee - 1/4 cup + 2 tsp

Saffron soaked in milk - 1 pinch

Cardamom - 4

Nutmeg - 1/2 pinch

Edible camphor - tiny piece

Cashew - 10 to 15

How to make Akkaravadisal:

1. Wash and soak rice and dal for 1 hr

2. Soak 1 pinch of saffron in 2 tbsp of warm milk, pound few cardamom seeds, shred some nutmeg and crush some edible camphor

3. Use a brass pot for making this Pongal for extra taste

4. Add 1 tsp of ghee and fry the drained rice and dal for few mins

5. Add 8 cups of milk and cook the rice and dal until soft and mushy ( add more milk if need )

6. Once rice and dal are cooked well add 1/2 cup powder jaggery and 1/2 cup sugar

7. Now add soaked saffron, edible camphor

8. Add 1/4 cup of ghee and mix well

9. In a small pan add 1tsp ghee and fry cashews and cardamom powder. Remove from heat and add to Pongal and mix well

Note:

1. Use seeraga samba rice for extra flavor

2. I used 9cups of milk to cook the pongal, this totally depends on rice quality. So use more or less milk as needed

Aadi Koozh / Ragi Porridge / How to cook Ragi Ambali

Aadi Koozh is a ragi porridge offered as prasadam to Amman / Ammavaru during the tamil month of Aadi. Usually aadi koozh is served with karuvattu / dry fish kuzhambu, drumstick leaves stir fry, small onions, green chilles. I have tried to create the flavors of this porridge which brings back the memory of Aadi masam in chennai.

Ingredients :

Ragi flour - 1 cup

Water - 2 cups

Cooking Ragi Koozh: :

Raw rice - 1/4 cup

Fermented Ragi batter

Water - 3 cups

Hot water - 3 cups

Mixing Koozh / Porridge:

Buttermilk (mix 1/2 yogurt with 1 cup water)

Cooked Ragi koozh

Salt

Raw onions

Raw green chilies

Procedure :

1. Mix well 1 cup Ragi flour with 2 cups water without lumps. Ferment the batter for 8 to 10 hrs.

2. Grind 1/4 cup raw rice to a big coarse powder.

3. Boil 3 cups of water and add the broken rice and cook. Once rice is cooked and all the water will be absorbed.

3. Now add 3 cups hot water and mix well

4. Now pour the fermented ragi batter. Keep stirring while pouring.

5. Keep stirring until ragi is cooked ( about 10 mins ). Koozh will turn dark in color once cooked.

6. Dip 4 fingers in cold water and tap on the top of cooked Ragi. Ragi must not stick to the fingers .

7. Mix 1/4 cup curd with 1 cup water to make buttermilk.

8. Scoop some cooled koozh in a bowl and add enough salt. Now slowly dilute the koozh with buttermilk and top it with onions.

Step by Step Video :

KitKat Cake | Hot water chocolate cake with chocolate ganache frosting cake

This is a chocolate flavored cake covered with coffee flavored chocolate ganache. Then lined the cake with kitkat candies bar and top it off with some colorful candies. Kids and myself enjoyed making the cake and it was wonderful in taste.

Ingredients :

All purpose flour - 2 1/2 cups

Cocoa powder- 1 cup

Baking powder - 2 tsp

Baking soda - 2 tsp

Sugar - 2 cups

Eggs - 3

Oil - 3/4 cup

Milk - 1 1/2 cups

Vanilla extract - 1 tablespoon

Hot water - 1 1/2 cups

Chocolate Ganache ingredients :

Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips - 1 cup

Heavy Whipping Cream - 1 cup

Instant coffee powder - 1 tsp

Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Chocolate Frosting ingredients:

Chocolate Ganache

Heavy Whipping cream - 1 cup

Vanilla extract - 1 tablespoon

Cake Decorating ingredients:

KitKat

Colorful candies ( M&M, white chocolate chips, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate covered almonds)

Pirouline cookies

Ribbon to tie around

Procedure :

Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit

1. Sieve together the following dry ingredients: 2 1/2 cups of flour, 1 cup cocoa powder, 2 teaspoon of baking powder, 2 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of salt.

2. In a stand mixer add 2 cups of sugar,3 large eggs and mix well.

3. Now add 3/4 cup oil and mix well in slow speed.

4. Next add 1 1/2 cups of milk and 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

5. Now slowly add the shifted dry ingredients to the mixer

6. Lastly add 1 1/2 cups of hot water and mix well

7. Pour the batter to prepared cake pans. Bake it for 35 mins or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean

8. Once cooled remove from cake pan and trim to level the top

Coffee flavored chocolate ganache:

1. Heat 1 cup of heavy cream. Cream must just start to boil.

2. Strain the hot cream into 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips and mix well till smooth

3. Add 1 tsp of vanilla and 1 tsp of instant coffee powder and mix well

4. Cover and refrigerate for 10 mins

Chocolate Frosting ingredients:

1. Whip 1 cup cold heavy whipping cream until soft peaks formed

2. Pour chocolate ganache and whip till well mixed

3. Fill the cream in piping bag

Assemble and ice the cake

Decorate the cake with KitKat and candies

Step by Step Video :

July 4th Rice Krispies Treats | Red, White and Blue Rice Krispies Treats | Happy 4th of July

It’s time to celebrate the 4th of July.

Happy Independence Day.

This year celebrating with red, white and blue Rice Krispies Treats…

Ingredients :

Rice Krispies cereal (or crispy rice cereal) - 6 cups

Butter - 3 tablespoons

Mini marshmallows - 1 - 10 ounce package / 4 cups

Vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon

Salt - 1/4 teaspoon

Mini marshmallows -1 cup (optional)

Red, white, blue sprinkles

Procedure :

1. In a wide nonstick pan melt 3 tablespoons butter. Once butter is fully melted add the marshmallows and start melting in low-medium flame.

2. Add 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp vanilla and mix well.

3. Pour the melted marshmallows to Rice Krispies cereal, add 1 cup mini marshmallows and mix well

4. Pour the mixture to a greased pan and even it out add some red, blue and white sprinkles and press it down. Once cooled and Rice Krispies are set, cut into squares.

Notes:

Spray well the bowl, knife, spatula.. all the utensils used with non stick cooking spray as melted marshmallows are very sticky.

Adding whole marshmallows while mixing is optional. I like to see chunks of marshmallows while eating rice Krispy treats

Step by Step Video :

Khubani Ka Meetha | Hyderabad famous sweet

Khubani Ka Meetha is an Indian sweet made from dried apricots originating from Hyderabad. This is great dessert for crowd. Usually I make this for get together for large group of people. This tastes best with vanilla ice cream.