Pepper Murukku

Happy Deepavali dear foodies!

 

 This year I couldn’t spare enough time to make a huge batch of goodies. So I took the easy way out with my pepper murukku trial.

I pinned this recipe from Subbu’s Kitchen earlier this month. It was a quick and staright forward recipe. But unfortunately when I set of to try it, I got the wrong brand of rice flour. I was so confidant and double the recipe and started making these murukku. I couldn’t belive myself when the first batch  of murukku frying in the hot hot oil went KABOOM. Oil splattered all over my kitchen, thankfully I was standing away from the stove. Otherwise I would have had severe burns. I realised my mistake only the next morning.

I got the correct rice flour the next day and tried it out. The murukkus turned out perfect. Nice and crispy and spicy. Try out this quick murukku recipe with a spicy twist for this deepavali.

Pepper Murukku:

Ingredients:

Rice flour - 2 Cups

Besan  flour (Kadalai maavu) - 3/4 Cup

Asafoetida - 1/4 Teaspoon

Salt  to taste

Coarse pepper powder – 1 tablespoon

Cumin seeds   1 teaspoon

Butter - 3 Tablespoon

Oil – For frying

Directions:

• In a bowl. Add rice flour, besan flour, asafoetida, salt, freshly coarsely ground pepper powder, cumin seeds, butter and mix everything well
• Add water little by little and knead the flours to smooth and soft dough.
• Take star mould and press. Fill the press with the murukku dough press.
• Heat oil in pan. If you drop a pinch of dough in oil it should rise up immediately in the oil. Hold the press and mould on top of the oil and gently squeeze the dough. Deep fry the pepper murukku till they are crispy and golden brown color.
• Take out the crispy murukku in a paper towel to drain any excess oil. Pepper murkku is now ready to serve!

Mix together - Rice flour,besan flour, pepper, asafotedia, salt and butter

Using star shape mould for the murukku press.

Crispy fried pepper murukku, Let it cool and break into small pieces.

Beetroot and Coconut Burfi

I have been putting off making my deepavali snacks for such a long time. After some motivation from some work colleagues, I started to search for some easy recipes to make. I saw this recipe from the blog Yummy Tummy and feel in love with it. The deep and rich colors of beetroots were so enticing that I couldn’t wait to start making these bite sized gems.

The burfi was quick and easy to make, and my colleagues enjoyed it!

Beetroot and Coconut Burfi

Yeilds: 36 bite size pieces

Ingredients:
Beetroot- 2 cup grated
Coconut - 2 cup grated
Sugar - 2 ¾  cup (reduce according to taste preference)
Ghee - 1/2 cup
Cashews - 4 tablespoons
Cardamom essence – few drops

Method:

• Grease a square tray or a flat plate, and set aside.
• Heat ghee in a pan, add in nuts and fry till golden.
• Add the beetroot and coconut to the pan. Stir fry for 5 mins till raw smell leaves from the beets.
• Now add the sugar and keep mixing, the sugar will melt and the mixture will get thick. Keep stirring.
• Once the mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan, add in cardamom essence and mix well.
• Spoon the mixture in a greased tray and spread evenly.
• Let it cool down and set. Then cut it into squares.

Using a grater to grate the beetroots.

Frying the grated beetroot and grated coconut in ghee.

Adding in the sugar.

The mixture becomes watery after adding the sugar, keep stirring.

Keep stirring until the mixture becomes thick and ghee oozes out.

Spread the mixture evenly in a greased tray. And let it cool down.

Cut into bite sized pieces.

Happy Deepavali!

Deepavali wishes to my dear readers! May the festival of light bring you joy and prosperity.

I made milk pedas, thenkuzhal and ribbon pakodas for this years celebration. (Recipes to be posted soon). Enjoy your day and the yummy sweets and snacks! 

Diwali Cupcakes - Eggless Vanilla with Fondant toppers

Here are my cupcakes for Diwali. Sorry for a very late Diwali post my friends. 

I have been taking cupcake orders on request for a while now. So these are some eggless vanilla cupcakes with fondant toppers that I made for Diwali. Please contact me for price and details at chitra_visalakshi@yahoo.co.in. Do follow us on facebook for future updates. 

I had so much fun making these fondant toppers. I was so glad to hear great feedback from happy customers. I also made a batch for my friends, along with some homemade murukku!

Coconut Pudding

Hey there! How is everyone? Sorry for being away so long. Have been held up at work. But I have been trying out new recipes, just dint have time to post them. So I will try my best to post them all ASAP.

I came across this recipe for tender coconut pudding in a beautiful Indian blog collaborativecurry.com. The recipe called for tender coconut and its water, this sounded interesting. So that weekend I went to Little India and bought this huge coconut! At home hubby helped to cut open the hard coconut, we did it with a butcher knife. 

This pudding is rich in taste, the natural coconut pulp and the coconut water is such a refreshing flavor.

This is a quick and easy dessert, so make this for you next dinner party and wow your guests!

Pudding in silicon cupcake cases.

Coconut Pudding:

Yeilds:  8 Cupcake size puddings.

Ingredients:

Milk – 2 cups

Condensed Milk – 1 can (12 oz)

Tender Cocnut water – ½ cup

Tender cocnut pulp – from 1

Unflavoured Gelatin – 2 Tablespoons

Directions:

1. Using a knife cut open the top of the tender cocnut, and preserve the water. 
2. Then break open the coconut and scoop out the pulp with a spoon. Cut the pulp into small pieces.
3. In a bowl, take 5 tablespoons water and sprinkle gelatin over and let it bloom.
4. In a pan, heat the milk and condensed milk together until scalded.
5. Mix in the bloomed gelatin with the hot mixture until completely dissolved. 
6. Let the mixture cool to room temperature. 
7. Add the coconunt water and pulp and mix well. 
8. Pour the mixture into moulds or bowls, and cover with plastic wrap.
9. Keep refrigerated until set for 3-4 hours.
10. Serve cold, with chopped almonds, cashews or pistachios.

Note:

• I have used Gelatine to make the jelly; you can also use Agar Agar powder, both available in supermarkets. 
• If using Agar agar powder, use (same amount as gelatine) – 2 tablespoons
• If using agar agar flakes use – 4 tablespoons. 

Rava Laddu

When I was growing up, my favourite homemade sweets were rava laddu and boli. I still remember my grandma sitting in our living room in Chennai, and making these laddus. She would tell my mom, “Put more ghee… put more ghee”!! After her, my mom still makes them for me every time I visit Chennai. Hmmm… rava laddus always make me so nostalgic.

When my mom visited us last December she made these for us. They were so fragrant from the homemade ghee which she makes. She grinds the roasted rava before making the laddus, so they melt in your mouth! But there were so many laddus, we couldn’t possibly finish them all. So I stored a few fresh one in my refrigerator, and suprising they lasted two months.

Hope you try out this easy indian sweet during your next cooking session.

Rava Laddu

Makes 20 laddus

Ingredients:

Rava – 1.5 cups

Sugar – 3/4 cups

Ghee – 1/4 cup (or more, according to taste)

Note: The ratio of rava to sugar is 1:1/2

Directions:

• Roast the rava until golden brown.
• Let it cool, then grind to a fine powder in the mixer.
• Grind the sugar to a fine powder in the mixer.
• In a large bowl, mix the powdered rava and sugar.
• Heat the ghee on the stove, until it smokes slightly. (To test if the ghee is hot enough, sprinkle a little bit of powdered rava in the ghee. If the ghee bubbles, then it is ready).
• Now spoon the ghee little by little onto the rava mixture and make the laddus while it is hot.
• Let the laddus cool for 3-4 hours. The laddus become firm after cooled.
• Store in an airtight container. 

Happy Diwali

Hope you have been preparing a lot of sweets and snacks for Diwali!! This year I couldn't find time to make any thing special for Diwali. Just made some simple snacks over the past two weeks. 

Fortunately, we get a lot of good snacks flown from India to Singapore! We didn't have this luxury before, but now I see Adayar Anandha Bhavan, Grand Sweets, Haldirams Snacks all over the city! Last weekend we bought sweets from Adayar Anandha Bhavan and Haldirams. I love Sree Mithai ladoos back in Chennai. So I was a bit skeptical when buying Haldiram's Ladoos. But they were perfect! I love them. (seen in the pic below).

So have a fun filled Diwali. And be mindful of the noise pollution, and make sure to clean up after all the crackers! God Bless!

NOTE: The ladoos are from Haldiram's.