I love sweets!

Sitaphal ( custard apple) Halwa - needs no flavouring at all !

I used Ramsita fruit because it contains minimum seeds. You can use regular sitaphal as well. In the halwa, the fruit flavour is so prominent that no flavouring is required.

Sitaphal pulp - 1 ½ cups

Sugar - 2 cups ( can be 1 ½ also)

Maida - ¾ cup

Ghee - ½ cup

Grated khoa - ½ cup

Milk - 1 ½ cups

Chopped nuts - to garnish

Extract pulp from sitaphal by rubbing the coated seeds over a wire mesh so that seeds separate from pulp.

Give a run in the mixie for a smooth texture.

Blend maida with milk & keep the smooth mixture aside for 10 mts.

Cook the pulp, sugar & ghee over a low fire for 3-4 mts, then gradually add maida-milk mixture.

Cook, stirring continuously, to avoid lumps.

Add khoa & cook till it leaves the sides of the pan.

Remove from fire, cool & empty on a greased thali.

MW method:

Mix, pulp, sugar & ghee in a MW vessel thoroughly.

MW Hi for 5 mts.

Remove, add maida-milk mixture & beat very well.

MW for 5 mts & stir once very well.

MW for 10 more mts, stirring regularly.

Finally add khoa & MW for 5 more mts.

Remove & garnish with nuts.

 

Karachi Halwa - Famous, tasty, but still easy to make.

Mix together:

Cornflour - 1 ¼ cups

Water - 1 ¼ cups

For sugar syrup:

Sugar - 3 level cups minus 2 tbsp sugar

Colour of choice

Lime juice - 2 tsp

Chopped nuts - ¾ cup

Ghee - ½ cup

Dissolve sugar in just enough water & boil for 5 mts, removing dirt.

Remove from fire.

Mix cornflour with cold water & add to the syrup.

Then add colour & cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture turns into a lump.

Mix lime juice & keep stirring.

When mixture sticks to the bottom of the pan, add ghee from time to time till mixture no more sticks to the sides & the whole ghee is absorbed.

This takes about 30-45 mts.

Switch off gas.

Add nuts, cardamom powder & mix well.

Pour into greased plate & cut.

If the knife does not cut, heat the blade a little, it will cut easily.

 

Milk Halwa - a Super Speciality of our Madurai.

Full fat milk - 1 litre

Sugar - 200 gms

Ghee - 50 ml (1/4 cup)

Citric acid - ¼ tsp dissolved in 1 tbsp hot water

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Cucumber seeds - 4 tsp (vellari vidhai)

In a heavy pan, boil milk.

After it boils, add first 1 tsp of citric acid solutiuon.

If the milk breaks, then stop or add a little more till the milk just breaks.

Boil, stirring till the milk reduces in volume.

When it becomes fairly thick, add sugar & stir on a high flame.

Go on adding ghee little by little.

The halwa will absorb the ghee.

As it becomes thicker, lower the flame.

When it no more sticks to the vessel, stop adding ghee.

It will foam up very well & start rising.

Remove from flame & add cardamom powder & seeds.

Empty on a greased plate.

P S:
When I learnt it from a chef in Madurai years back, he insisted that milk halwa should look white like milk & care has to be taken to adjust the flame carefully so that the colour is retained. But now, the halwa, I see in madurai looks "light brown" !

 

Badham Puri – may sound elaborate, but very much worth the labour !

Maida - 2 cups

Sugar - 750 gms

Almonds - 100 gms

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Refined oil - 3-4 tsp

Cornflour - 1/3 cup

Oil - to deep fry

Saffron - ¼ tsp (warm & powder)

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Saffron powder (kesari powder ) - a dash

To garnish - ½ cup chopped pistas + cashews

Soak almonds in hot water for 2 hrs & then deskin.

Grind fine adding little water.

Add this with 1 tbsp ghee to the maida .

Knead to a dough like chappathi dough.

Rest for 15 mts.

In the meanwhile, in a plate make a paste of cornflour &refined oil, rubbing with your palms very nicely so that it becomes white & fluffy.

This paste is called “pathir”.

Divide this “ pathir” into 6 parts.

Make 6 balls with the dough.

Roll each into as big and as thin a chappathi as you can.

Stack them separately & not one over the other.

On one chappathi, spread one part pathir, keep the second over this & repeat the process till you have finished 3, applyng pathir on the third one also.

Now roll them together tight.

Repeat the same with the other 3 also.

Cut each roll into 1 cm pieces.

Roll each into a small puri, keeping the cut side on top.

Do this gently .

Heat oil in a kadai & deep fry them (when they are still moist )on a low fire till done.

They should puff up well.

In the meanwhile make the sugar syrup adding 2 cups of water to the sugar.

When it reaches, one string, add colour & spices.

Remove & keep it warm.

Immerse each puri one by one, toss well in syrup & remove.

Arrange them side by side.

Decorated with chopped pista & cashews.

Wait till they become dry and then store airtight.

Makes 60 puris.

 

Butter Badushah: - melt-in-the-mouth recipe !

Maida - 1 cup

Butter - ¼ cup

Sodabicarb - one-fourth of ¼ tsp

Sugar - 1 cup ( more is better to begin with, though some will be left over)

Cardamom powder - ¼ tsp

Saffron - a tiny pinch ( warm & powder )

Oil - to fry

Halved cherries - to decorate

Mix maida with soda & sieve twice.

Do not miss this step, since it helps aeration.

In a plate, take maida & knead butter into it, till it become slike bread crumbs.

Knead, adding spices & water little by little till you can role into a ball.

In gentle, soft, aerated kneading lies the success of badushah – do not apply pressure at all.

Divide into 12 balls.

Roll each ball lighly between both palms till there are no cracks.

Flatten each into a 2” disc, with a small depression in the centre.
Prick 4-5 holes for complete frying inside.


Heat oil in a kadai.

It is better to keep more oil so that badushas can float around and get cooked, to prevent breakage.
Keep the fried discs ready.


Drop the badushas in batches depending on the size of the vessel.

When medium hot, drop 2, 3badushas at a time & at once, lower the flame.


Cook them on a low flame, carefully turning them over, till bubbles stop completely.

This is the most important step.

Next add ½ cup of water to sugar.

When sugar is dissolved, add 2 tbsp of milk, boil well; dirt will accumulate - strain well to get white coloured coating on badusha.


Heat the syrup on a low flame stirring well.


Boil to 1 string consistency.


Remove, keep on stirring till it starts to become cloudy.


Drop the fried discs in the cloudy syrup.

Keep an OILED butter paper ready to transfer the dipped badushas.

Gently with an oiled palette knife, keep on flipping the badushas so that they will not stick to the oil paper.

After 1-2 hrs, they will dry comletely & look white.
Please go to
Butter Badusha (1)
Butter Badusha (2)
Butter Badusha (3)

I suggest you all to try 1 cup maida at a time and not more. The sugar will solidify fast and become unmanageable for the badushas to be dipped!

 

Mango Halwa - Besan & mango pulp combine to take a new avatar !

This can be made with tinned mango pulp also.

Mangoes should be skinned, chopped & blended in a mixi – do not add water.
Use any ripe mango.

Mango pulp - 2 cups

Besan - 1 cup

Ghee - ½ cup

Sugar - ½-1 cup( varies depending on the sweetness of the mango)

Saffron - a pinch (warm &powder)

Cardamom powder - ½ tsp

Edible camphor (pachai karpuram) - 2,3 granules (optional)

Heat ghee in a kadai & roast the besan on a low fire till a nice aroma comes.

Remove from fire, add pulp, beat well to blend & put back on fire.

When it starts boiling, add sugar.

Go on stirring till it starts leaving the sides of the vessel.

Add spices & remove.

Serve hot.

 

Five-minutes Halwa - Faster than the word “Fastest” !

Maida - 1 cup

Ghee - 1 cup

Sugar - 2 cups

Water - 2 cups

Cashewnuts - few

In the bigger stove, boil water & sugar.

In the smaller stove, in a kadai, roast maida in ghee on a low fire with cashenuts.

By the time, maida becomes brown, the sugar solution will start boiling.

At once, pour it on the roasted maida, simmering the stove.

Add any colour of your choice & stir till it becomes a mass.

Remove & serve hot.

No patham is necessary for the syrup.

 

Cashew Halwa: - practically no ghee, compared to Badham Halwa !

Cashews - 100 gms

Sugar - 250 gms

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Saffron - a pinch (warm & powder)

Lemon colour - 2 drops (optional)

Cardamom powder - ½ tsp

Wash the cashews well & soak for 1 hour.

Drain, grind in a mixie adding minimum water to a paste.

Add 1 cup of water to the sugar & boil, stirring.

When it starts boiling, add 1 tbsp milk & continue to boil.

Dirt will collect on top.

Strain & remove it.

Boil the syrup till it reaches firm one string consistency.

Now add the paste & ghee.

Add colour at this stage.

Go on stirring till it becomes a mass & starts leaving the sides.

Add spices & remove.

Keep stirring for a few mts – this is a must.

 

Bombay Khaja - a typical janavasam sweet of yesteryears !

Maida - 1 cup

Pathir (or layering) :

Butter - 2 tbsp

Cornflour - 2 tbsp

Sugar syrup:

Sugar - 2 cups

Water - 1 cup

Saffron colour - a tiny pinch

Saffron ( spice) - ¼ tsp (warm & powder)

Cardamom powder - ½ tsp

In a plate, take butter & cream it with palm.

Add cornflour & cream the butter with it, to get a nice paste.

Sieve the maida, add 2 tsp of the pathir & knead to bread crumb consistency.

Add water & knead to a stiff dough.

Cover & rest for 2 hrs.

Add the suar & water in a sauce pan & allow to boil, stirring well.

Boil to get one string consistency.

Add colour, saffron & cardamom powder.

Keep it warm over a tava, on a very low flame.

Make sure it does not thicken further.

The flame has to be monitored carefully, often switched on & off.

Make around 20 balls from the dough.

Roll each ball into a 3” thin puri.

Thinly smear the pathir on it & fold into 2.

Again thinly smear the pathir on it & fold to get a triangle.

Make triangles from all the balls, refrigerating as you make them.

Heat oil & deep fry one by one.

Lower the gas & fry, pouring oil around over it, in the beginning.

The cooking has to be thorough since there ae 4 layers.

Drain & immerse in syrup.

Turn over on both sides, remove & arrange in a plate.

Cool completely & store.

 

Mixed Fruit Halwa - I made for the Chennai I L ites get-together !

For SBS photos,please go to
Mixed Fruit Halwa
Mix together:

Cornflour - ½ cup

Water - 1 cup

Make 1 string syrup with:

Water - 1 cup

Sugar - ¾ cup

Ghee - ¼ cup + 1 tbsp

Pomegranate seeds - ½ cup

Apple - 1 small, chopped

Banana - 1 chopped

Sugar - ¼ cup

Pineapple essence - 2-3 drops

To Garnish

Chopped nuts - 2 tbsp

To the sugar syrup, add cornflour mixture with ¼ cup ghee & stir continuosly.

When it becomes a mass, add the fruits with ¼ cupugar & 1 tbsp ghee.

Go on stirring till ghee oozes out.

Add essence & chopped nuts.

Remove & serve.