I love sweets!

Apricot Truffles - rustle up in no time!!

For SBS photos,please go to http://www.indusladies.com/forums/968510-post75.html
This is a slight variation of the above recipe & equally easy.

Dried apricots - 100 gms

Nuts (of your choice) - 50 gms

Desiccated coconut - 50 gms

Lemon rind - 1 tbsp

Orange juice - for binding
To coat:

Powdered nuts

Put the apricots & nuts through a mincer or chop fine.
Mix with coconut, orange rind & just enough orange juice to moisten.
Form into small balls & coat in powdered nuts or desiccated coconut.

 

Lapsi-Mango Halwa - one more halwa in the parade!

Lapsi-Mango Halwa is more flavourful than Wheat Halwa:

Here, we can use frozen or fresh mango pulp.

Lapsi (wheat rawa) - 1 cup

Mango pulp - 1 cup

Sugar - 2 ½ cups

Ghee - 3 tbsp

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Cashewnuts - ¼ cup

Saffron - a pinch ( warm & powder)

Edible camphor (pachai kalpuram) - 2 grains, powdered with saffron

Soak wheat rawa in plenty of water for 5-6 hours. Strain add 1 cup of water.

Grind in the mixi and extract the milk.

Do this 3,4 times adding fresh water every time. (4-5 cups)

Allow the extracted water to settle for atleast 2 hours in a tall vessel, undisturbed.

Then remove the top water and scum.

To this thick milk add sugar & mix very well.

Pour in a vessel, keep inside a pressure cooker & cook for 45 mts, after the first whistle comes.

Cool, open, add mango pulp and blend thoroughly.

Cook on a non-stick kadai, adding ghee little by little, till it becomes one whole mass.

Add cashews & spices.

Empty on a greased plate.

Cut into pieces.

 

Chocolate Truffles (1) - this is the cooked way!

I used the locally available cream powder for this recipe. For 200 gms powder, add 150 ml cold water & blend. You can use fresh cream also,if available.

Cream - 1 cup

Chocolate - 450 gms

Butter - 1 tbsp

Grate & keep chocolate ready in a bowl.

Heat cream & when it rises, remove from stove and pour it on the chocolate kept ready (grated), mixing butter also.

Beat thoroughly without any lump.

Cover with a cling film & refrigerate for 2-3 hrs till hard.

Keep drinking chocolate powder ready in a plate.

Scoop out balls of the mixture with a melon baler or a spoon & roll in chocolate powder.

Arrange in a plate & serve.

 

Chocolate Truffles (2) – no cooking, just mixing!

Sweetened condensed milk - 100 ml

Cocoa powder - 30 gms

Butter - 30 gms

Milk powder - 30 gms

Any dried fruit, chopped - 30 gms

Ruam & raisin essence - ½ tsp (optional)

To coat:

Chocolate vermicelli or powdered nuts or desiccated coconut

Mix all ingredients together to a dough consistency – add either little condensed milk or a little milk powder to get the rolling consistency.

Make small balls & roll in Chocolate vermicelli.

 

Peta - Agra Peta is very famous !

Select fully grown white pumpkin.
Remove skin and the soft inner portions and seeds.
Cut into 2” pieces. Prick holes all over with a sharp needle on all sides..

Pieces - 500 gms

Sugar - 400 gms

Powdered alum or lime (chunnam) - 1 tsp

Pour boiling water over lime water or powdered alum water & keep the clear water.

Immerse the pieces in water to which lime or alum has been added, for 24 hrs.

Drain & wash well.

Boil just enough water to immerse the pieces completely.

Keep the washed pieces in a vessel, pour boiling water over & keep covered.

Leave for 24 hrs.

Drain the next day & keep ready.

Boil 500 ml of water with sugar.

When it boils, remove, pour on the drained pieces & cover.

Drain the water after a little while.

Meanwhile dissolve sugar in 250 ml of water & keep on a low fire.

Just when it begins to boil, add vegetable pieces.

When it begins to boil, remove from fire & keep it overnight.

Next day, drain the pieces, remove the syrup, boil again & remove from fire.

Keep this overnight.

On the third day, again remove slices and boil syrup to 2-3 string consistency nearly crystalline.

Put in the gourd, boil for a few mts & remove from fire.

When cool, take the pieces out and dry them in the sun for a few hrs.

When dry, roll in lightly powdered sugar.

 

Nut Rolls – a fool-proof easy sweet.

For the covering:


Powdered cashewnuts - 1 cup


Sieved icing sugar - 1 cup


Almond essence - 1-2 drops (optional)


Milk - 5-6 tsp (approximately)


Saffron - a pinch ( warm & powder)


For the filling:


Chopped glace cherries - 2 tbsp


Chopped dates - 2 tbsp


Chopped walnuts - 1 tbsp


Chopped cashewnuts - 1 tbsp


Chopped almonds - 1 tbsp ( optional)


Butter & sugar - 1 tbsp each


Heat the chopped fruits for a mte in 1 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of sugar.


Mix powdered cashewnuts, icing sugar, essence & saffron with minimum milk .


Knead thoroughly to a dough.


Sprinkle rolling board with icing sugar.


I rolled between 2 sheets of butter paper.


Roll the dough into a rectangle 1 cm thick.


Sprinkle nut-fruit mixture over it.


Roll carefully starting from the end nearest to you.


Cut the rolls into slices 1 ½ cm thick, using a sharp knife.


Keep in pastry cups & serve.
For step by step photos please go to
Nut Rolls (1)
Nut Rolls (2)

 

Shakkar Para - deep fried, sugar crispies

Sieve together:

Wheat flour - 1 ½ cups

A pinch of salt

Bring to a boil in a pan:

Sugar - ¼ cup

Milk - ¼ cup

Ghee - 2 tbsp

Add this gradually to flour, kneading to a firm dough.

Divide into 2 balls.

Roll each into ¼ “thick sheets.

Prick all over & cut into 1” diamonds.

Allow to dry for 30 mts.

Deep fry in hot oil , on a slow flame so that the inside also gets cooked. Drop in hot oil & thereafter reduce the flame.

Drain on absorbent paper, cool thoroughly & store airtight.

 

Pal Paniyaram - a Nagarathar speciality!

Milk - ½ litre, boiled & added to equal amount of coconut milk (1 cup coconut+2 cups warm water)

Sugar - ½ cup, heaped

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Raw rice - ½ cup

Urad dhal - ½ cup – 1 tbsp

Oil - to deep fry

Wash & soak together rice & urad for 2 hrs.

Drain & grind to as fine a paste as possible, adding water, very gradually in teaspoons.

The dough should be like idli dough.

Cut a tiny tip in a ziplock cover in a corner.

Fill with the dough & press gently into very hot oil, to form tiny balls.

Cook on medium low fire.

Remove when the colour is off white – it should be cooked, but do not allow to become crisp. This will cook fairly fast.

Keep these in a strainer & pour boiling over it to wash out the oil in the paniyarams.

Repeat the above procedure till the entire dough is used up.

Meanwhile boil milk & add coconut milk.

Add sugar & cardamom powder & remove. Do not allow it to curdle.

Drain the paniyarams compleely in a strainer.

Add to the milk & mix.

Allow to soak for 30 mts for the paniyarams to absorb sugar.

Serve hot or cold.

 

C T Chocolate Fudge - candy thermometer gives right results!!

My sister got me a book - “ 500 recipes for candies and sweets” in 1967 from London, where she lived for 6 yrs. The fudge recipes required a sugar thermometer. I am trying them out now successfully.

Sugar (regular) - 450 gms

Cocoa powder - 2 tbsp

Sweetened condensed milk - 1 tin (400 gms)

Butter - 60 gms

Water - 200 ml

Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Put all ingredients into a strong saucepan & blend well without lumps.

Stir until the sugar has dissolved.

Boil steadily, stirring only occasionally, until the mixture reaches 238 deg F or forms a soft ball, when a l;ittleis dropped in a tbsp of cold water.

Remove from heat & beat until the mixture starts to thickrn.

Put into a greased tin (preferably) lined with butter paper.

When nearly set, cut into neat pieces with a sharp knife.

 

Semiya Kesari - call it seviyan ki sheera??

Pre-roasted Semiya - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 cup

Ghee - 3 tbsp

Cardamompowder - ½ tsp

To garnish - cashews & raisns

Boil 2 cups of water with 1 tbsp ghee.

When water boils, add semiya & cook on medium fire.

When it thickens, add ½ cup more of water & 1 tbsp ghee.

Coook for a few more mtes & add sugar with the last tbsp of ghee.

Simmer, stirring till thick.

Add cardamom powder & mix well.

Garnish with cashews & raiins, rosted in 2 tsp ghee.