Rava kesari (Semolina Sweet)

While all known to me will vouch for my preference for spicy food (spice-toothed ;), times I do feel like having something sweet. O ya, not to forget all those sweet-toothed lovelies around me!

So, after a real long time, I started my experimentation with making a very simple sweet dish "Semolina / Rava Kesari".

Ingredients

• Semolina / Sooji / Rava : 2 cups
• Sugar                              : 1.25 - 1.5 cups 
• Ghee                               : 4-5 tbs (1 cup)
• Cashew                           : 10 pieces (broken)
• Raisins                            : 10 pieces
• Kesari Color (food color) : a few pinch (as dark as you prefer, this gives the orange tinge)
• Water                               : 3 cups (or more as required to boil semolina)
• Cardamom powder          : 2 pieces of cardamom powdered

Method:

1. Dry roast semolina / sooji in a kadai till it starts turning slightly brown. Remove to a steel plate or bowl 
2. To this, add a tbspn of ghee and roast the cashew nuts and raisins till golden brown. 
3. To this, add the dry roasted semolina. Add one or two tspn of ghee and roast this to golden brown
4. In parallel to steps 2 and 3, bring the water to boil in a separate container. To this, add the Kesari color powder. 
5. Add the hot water slowly to the semolina mix with continuous stirring to ensure no lumps are formed. Semolina should dissolve smoothly in the water and form a juicy mix
6. To this, add sugar and stir it well. 
7. Close the kadai and allow it to cook in a low flame (we could also switch off the fire and cook it for a few minutes. Then, light the stove and cook it on low flame)
8. Cook till semolina is well cooked and starts leaving the sides of the kadai 
9. Add cardamom powder, and top it with some ghee
10. Remove from fire and serve hot

Note: From my attempt, I realized a few things to improvise:

• Can use a little more water to make the kesari a bit juicy than dry
• Can powder the roasted semolina to give it a better texture
• Add more sugar if you are sweet-toothed
• Add more color to have a good orange tinge

Try having some hot kesari with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It tastes yummmm :)

White Pumpkin Halwa

White Pumpkin, which is typically used to make dishes such as sambhar, gravy using coconut and curd, soups, raita, are also used to make some interesting sweet dishes. These include the popular Petha (its like a sugary candy), kheer, and halwa.

I tried to make the popular "Kasi Halwa", which is a halwa cooked using white pumpkin with sugar. This is a famous dish served in Kasi (a place down south) and in marriages. This is my first attempt...

Ingredients:

• White Pumpkin : 2 cups grated
• Sugar : 1 cup (some add equivalent to the quantity of the grated pumpkin... choose as per your taste)
• Milk : 1 cup
• Ghee: 2-3 tspn
• Saffron : a few strands (optional) in luke warm milk (a tspn)
• Cardomom : 2-3
• Raisins: 10

Method:

1. Wash, peel the white pumpkin and grate it. It will leave lots of water. 
2. In a kadai, add the grated pumpkin either with the water or without. I cooked it with water (Some add a spoon or two of ghee before adding the pumpkin)
3. After the water is absorbed, add milk and allow the pumpkin to cook further
4. Milk will be absorbed and the pumpkin will reach a cooked consistency. Then, add sugar and ghee
5. Add saffron to give the light yellow color. Typically, Kesar powder is added or the food color (orange) but I didn't.
6. To this add the raisins (some fry and add; but I added it as is)
7. The ghee will separate. Halwa when taken in a spoon will fall smoothly - that is the consistency
8. Remove from fire and serve hot (Or you can refrigerate & serve with ice creams)

End Result: Halwa came off well but for the fact that I ended up using a bit more sugar than needed. But some like it this sweet. 

Dumplings : Indian Style

Dumpling is a dish similar to the well-known Chinese dumplings or momos. In India, this is a dish made of primarily the Rice flour and varied styles such as sweet (alias Modaks), salted, fried etc. Its considered to be the favorite dish of Lord Ganesha and is made to celebrate his birthday (Ganesh Chaturthi). It is famously known as "Kozhukatai" in South India.

While I've tried making the sweet kozhukatai also known as Modak, this year I also tried to make the salted kozhukatai. Good start with all liking what they got to taste! This is joined effort of mine & aunt (sangee's mom) based on recipes read on the web :)

Sweet Kozhukatai / Modaks

Salt Kozhukatai 

Kozhukatai Flour 

Ingredients:

1. Rice Powder: 3 cups (for both sweet & Salt kozhukatai) - You can buy the readily available rice powder or soak raw rice in water for about an hour, drain, ensure all water is absorbed via a cloth, and powder it in a mixer. Seive it to get the nice powder.
2. Oil : Preferably Coconut oil - 2 tspn
3. Salt : 1/4 tspn
4. Water: 2.5 cups (same measuring cup as the one used for the powder)
5. Milk : 0.5 cup

Preparation:

1. In a pan, add water and heat it along with salt, oil, & milk.
2. As the water starts to boil, add the rice powder slowly & stirring constantly
3. As soon as the powder is mixed with the water, remove it from fire
4. Mix it with hand to make it into a smooth dough. Sprinkle water and a bit of oil to mix it smoothly. If its too watery, add more of rice powder.
5. Leave the dough covered with a cloth for a few minutes

Sweet Kozhukatai 

Stuffing Ingredients:

1. Coconut : grated 1 cup
2. Jaggery : grated 3/4 cup 
3. Cardomom powder : 1/4 tspn (2-3 pieces powdered)
4. Oil or Ghee : 2 tspn
5. Water : 1/2 cup or lesser to just dissolve the jaggery

Preparation:

1. In a pan, add water and the jaggery
2. When it dissolves completely, filter it to remove any sand or other particles
3. Add it back to the pan and allow it to start boiling
4. To this add the coconut, ghee, and cardomom powder continuosly stirring it
5. When it reaches a consistency like a ball with not sticking on to the pan, remove from fire

Salt Kozhukatai 

Stuffing Ingredients:

1. Uradh dhal (Uzhutamparupu): 1/2 cup soaked in water for 2-3 hours
2. Green Chillies: 2-3 (based on the spice level)
3. Salt : per taste
4. Curry leaves: 4-5 pieces
5. Oil : 2 tspn
6. Mustard seeds: 1/2 tspn
7. Coconut (optional) : 1-2 tspn
8. Asafotedia (hing) : a pinch

Preparation:

1. Grind the soaked & drained dhal with green chillie, salt & curry leaves. Ensure its coarse & don't use much water. Sprinkle water (if rqd) and grind
2. Take this mix, make it to into medium-sized balls & steam it (you can use idli plates by applying a bit of oil) - for 5-7 mts
3. Remove & break the cooked balls
4. In a pan, add oil. When its hot, add the mustard seeds. As they splutter, add this steamed mix along with hing and coconut.
5. Cook them for 2-3 mts & remove from fire.

Making the Kozhukatai (both sweet / salt)

1. Take a lemon-sized dough in hand, apply a bit of oil, and make it into a cup shape (shd be thin on the sides & deep in the middle)
2. At the center, place a lemon-sized sweet / salt stuffing
3. Close the cup into the desired shape - could be a round or horizontal or any other shape you can think of. Ensure the stuffing is fully covered & there is a balance between the dough & stuffing proportion.
4. Once all made, take the idli plates, apply a bit of oil / ghee in each plate & place these kozhukatais. 
5. Steam them for 5-7 mts. When done they appear transparent (you can just touch water and touch the kozhukatais by the fingers. If its not sticky its done)
6. Serve them hot

We get those kozhukatai makers (shown below) which will ease your job. Just ensure you apply oil before placing the dough inside it.

Enjoy delicious & healthy kozhukatais! These make for a good evening snack as well. These are 2 basic varieties. Soon planning to try on some more & will share. Till then, eat healthy & enjoy life!