Simple Recipes 1

Sweet Surprises From The South

Tamil Nadu is a land deeply rooted in tradition and even though it’s becoming increasingly cosmopolitan now, traditions still remain preserved in the farthest corners of the state. Any festival in this part of the country involves a minimum of three sweets among other savouries and mains. In the days of our mothers and grandmothers, preparations for the feast used to start a week or two before the big day, depending on how big the festival was. There was a lot of activity in the households with ladies churning out amazing sweets one after the other. Thankfully, with time it has become easier to just buy sweets from a shop, but there are those who still prefer the homemade touch. So here is our collection of some easy-to-make sweet recipes that you can add to your repertoire.

1. Mysore Pak
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
½ cup Besan/Chickpea flour
1 cup Ghee
¼ cup Oil
2 ½ cup Sugar
1 tablespoon Powdered Sugar
Method:
1. Sift the chickpea flour to get rid of lumps. Take a tray and grease it.
2. Take a heavy bottom pan and pour sugar in it with enough water to keep the sugar immersed.
3. Boil the content till the sugar and water appear to be in a thick consistency.
4. Add flour to this mixture and keep stirring continuously and do not let the mixture form lumps.
5. While you are mixing this, pour 2 to 3 tablespoons of ghee in the mixture and continue stirring.
6. Keep adding ghee till you exhaust the cup. At this stage, the colour of the mixture changes to a pale yellow and it becomes frothy.
7. Pour this mixture into the previously greased tray. Spread it around evenly and add powdered sugar on top.
8. When it is somewhere between hot and warm, take a sharp knife and cut it in desired pieces (squares/rectangle).

2. Kozhukattai (Modhakam/ Modak)
Preparation Time: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
½ cup Rice Flour
1 teaspoon Sesame Oil
Water as required
1 cup Shaved coconut
1 cup Jaggery
2 cloves Elaichi
Method:
1. Boil water with a pinch of salt, add rice flour in it and mix well.
2. Once warm, take the mixture and knead it into dough. Then make equally sized balls and keep them covered.
3. In another pan, mix coconut, jaggery and elaichi powder. Add water to it and sauté on medium flame.
4. Make small cups of the dough and place little balls of the coconut jaggery mixture inside it. Then close the cups with a pointed top.
5. Repeat and finish the modaks.
6. Boil water in steamer and arrange the modaks in a steaming plate and cook for five minutes.

3. Boondi Laddu
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
½ kg Bengal Gram flour
1/4 cup Rice flour
¼ tsp Cooking Soda
A pinch of Lemon Yellow food colour
1 ½ tablespoon Ghee
¾ kg Sugar
2 cups Water
¼ teaspoon Cardamom Powder
A pinch of Edible camphor
25 grams Raisins
50 grams Cashew nuts
5 to 6 Cloves
Method:
1. Sieve both Bengal Gram flour and rice flour separately
2. Fry cashew nuts, raisins and cloves in ghee separately and keep it aside.
3. Prepare the sugar syrup and keep it ready.
4. Take a pan, add water and sugar. Mix well first and then bring it to boil.
5. Add milk to it so that all the impurities in sugar will come to the surface. Remove it with a ladle.
6. Boil the syrup till you get a thick consistency.
7. In a separate pan, mix both Bengal gram flour and rice flour before adding cooking soda and a pinch of yellow colour.
8. Add water in regular short intervals and make it into a batter.
9. Heat oil and pour a little batter on the boondi ladle and gently tap it. Tiny droplets of batter will fall into the hot oil. Fry till golden brown. Keep aside.
10. Repeat the process for the rest of the batter.
11. After the boondi cools a little, add half of it to the sugar syrup. Repeat process again till you finish the batter.
12. Finally, add ghee and make small round balls.