I love sweets!

Figs - 12 no:s

Chopped nuts like almonds, cashews, pistas & walnuts - 1/3 cup

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Cardamom powder - ½ tsp

Saffron - ¼ tsp ( warm & powder )

Drop the figs in boiling water for 3 mts.

Drain & puree them.

Combine all the ingredients to make a soft dough ( no cooking )

Roll & cut into squares.

Figs & nuts make a tasty combination.

Processed rice flour - 1 cup

Round jaggery ( pagu vellam ) - 1 cup

Roasted & powdered udad flour - 1 1/2 tsp

Small coconut pieces - 1 tbsp

White seasame seeds - 2 tsp

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Butter - 1 tbsp

Oil - to deep fry

Soak rice for 1 hr, drain well & spread on a cloth in shade for 1 hour.

Powder in the mixie, sieve fine(not too fine) & take the sieved flour.

Dry roast it on a tava on a low flame till deep pink (can be "sivakka" as we say in tamil) in colour .

Cool & keep ready 1 cup of flour.

Roast 1 tbsp udad dhal dry on a kadai on low fire till colour changes & powder fine.

Boil jaggery in 3 cups of water, stirring, till it dissolves completely.

Strain & boil again.


Add coconut pieces & let it boil for 2,3 mts.


Now remove 3/4 cup of syrup & reserve.


Remove the remaining syrup from flame & add the flour, whisking well.


Put back on low fire & cook, adding a little more of the reserved syrup, if it is very thick.


Remove, mix the urad flour, knead well without lumps & add butter, coconut pieces, seasame seeds & cardamom powder ,

Rest for a day.

Next day knead it very well & form marble size balls.

If they break, add 2,3 tsp fresh curds.

Deep fry these balls in hot oil, lowering the fire as soon as the balls are dropped, turning over frequently & removing when the bubbles subside completely.

Cool thoroughly & store.

Variation:

Take fairly thick coconut milk & mix powdered jaggery very well without heating till jaggery dissolves.

Strain & mix the rice flour till a dough is formed.

When forming the balls, if the dough breaks, add a little more coconut extract.

Proceed as before, adding urad flour, cardamom powder & seasame seeds.

However crisp they are, when fresh, vella seedais tend to become slightly soft because of the jaggery.

Ripe Yellow Pumpkin( Grated) - 3 cups

Sugar - given below

Khoa - given below

Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Nutmeg powder - ½ tsp

Saffron - ¼ tsp(warm & powder)

Ghee - 2 tbsp

Chopped nuts - 2 tbsp

Pressurecook the freshly grated pumpkin without adding water in a pan for 1 whistle.

Cool, open & squeeze & discard the water.

Measure the squeezed pumpkin by volume.

Take 1/3 of that volume, each khoa & sugar.

Mix everything & cook on a pressurepan, stirring well, till halwa consistency is reached.

This is best done in a microwave, checking every 7,8 mts whether the consistency is reached.

The whole mass will leave the vessel.

Add spices & remove.

Roast nuts in ghee & add.

The photo is posted in the tips thread - click here.

First Method:

Seedless dates - 100gms

Milk - ½ cup

Sugar - 150 gms – ¾ cup

Cashew - 50 gms ( chop fine )

Ghee - 2 tsp

Cardamom powder - ½ tsp.

Pressurise chopped dates with milk for one whistle.

Cool, open, add all other ingredients & cook till the mass turns golden coloured & leaves the sides of the pan.

This can be done in microwave or on stove top.

On stove top cooking, keep stirring regularly, to prevent burning at the bottom since not much ghee is added – that fear is not there in microwave cooking.

You can use chopped almonds, pista etc along with cashews for an interesting variation.

Second method:

Chopped dates - 1 cup

Chopped cashewnuts - ¾ cup

Milk - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 cup

Ghee - 4 tbsp

Put all tngredients except 2 tbsp ghee in a heavy pan.

Cook over medium heat, stirring continuously.

When the mixture leaves the sides of the pan, gradually add the remaining ghee.

Removefrom heat.

This can be madewith fried gram (pottukadalai), moong dhal or gram dhal.

Pottukadalai can be powdered in the mixi & sieved fine.

The other 2 dhals must be roasted dry on a kadai till a nice aroma comes & then finely powdered in flour mill.

Flour powder - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 cup – powder fine in the mixie.

Melted ghee - ¾ cup

Chopped cashews - 2 tbsp

Cardamom powder - ½ tsp

Roast cashews in 1 tsp ghee.

Mix all the above ingredients together except ghee.

Keep the mixture in a plate & make a small depression in the centre.

Heat ghee almost to smoking point & pour in the centre.

Mix the whole thing with hands & immediately roll into small lemon sized balls.

If necessary , very little more hot ghee can be added.

They will cool after 10 mts.

Points to note;

It takes a little practice to roll the mixture into round balls. Do not get disheartened. First make the balls roughly before the mixture cools.

Then slowly roll each balls between both palms VERY SOFTLY WITHOUT BREAKING them till they form perfect balls.

Besan - 1 cup

Coconut - 1 cup (grated fine, white & soft)

Milk - 1 cup

Ghee - 1 cup

Sugar - 3 cups

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Cool the boiled milk, mix all ingredients together in a heavy pan, without lumps.

Boil the mixture, stirring well till soft ball consistency is reached.

Add cardamom powder, mix well & remove.

Go on stirring to dough consistency, empty on a greased plate & cut.

Variations:

(1) - Some use maida instead of besan. Heat ghee, add maida, stir on a low fire till aroma comes & switch off the flame. Proceed as before

(2) – Instead of 1 cup coconut use ½ cup sugarless khoa + ½ cup coconut.

(3) – Add 2 tsp Badam powder – MTR Badam feast for an additional flavour.

Outer Covering:

Maida 1 ½ cups

Melted ghee 3tsp

Salt 1/4 tsp

Water to mix

For layering

Melted ghee - 2 – 3 tbsp

Maida for dusting

Mix flour, salt & ghee with enough warm water to knead to a smooth dough.

Sprinkle a little water , cover with a damp cloth & keep for ½ hr or so.

Knead again & make 3 small balls of uniform size & roll out 3 chappathis of about the same size - 8-9”

Apply a little melted ghee uniformly on one side of a chappathi , sprinkling a little dry flour & place a second chappathi over it.

Follow the same procedure again.

Roll the 3 chappathis into a tight roll.

Cut into equal sized pieces – makes about 16.

Filling:

Pottukadalai (fried gram) - 1 cup

Grated copra - ½ cup

Sugar - 1 cup

Khus khus - ½ cup

Chopped cashew - ¼ cup

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Oil - to deep fry

Warm pottukadalai & powder.

Powder sugar, dry roast khus khus & powder.

If you cannot get copra, dry the freshly grated coconut well in a microwave on a plate on medium high till crisp & powder.

Mix all ingredients together.

Now, spread a piece of dough into about 4 “ chappathi, keep 2 tsp filling in one half & over that fold the other half, carefully, sealing the edges with little water.

Heat oil, when fairly hot, immerse 2,3 somasis.

Decrease the flame & splash oil on them from around with the ladle.

Whe cooked on one side, turn over & fry.

You must fry on a low fire, turning them over a few times, till the bubbles subside completely – only then they will become crisp & remain so.

Don’t overstuff the somasis, since the filling tends to come out when dropped in oil.

Variation:

For outer covering the dough can be made with ¾ cup chiroti rava & ¾ cup maida.

Knead very well.

Procedure is the same.

This is also called "karchikkai" in Tamil Nadu.

Potatoes - ½ kg

Unsweetened khoa - 100gms

Sugar - ½ kg (2 ½ cups)

Ghee - ½ cup + 2 tbsp

Cardamom powder - ½ tsp

Almond essence - 2-3 drops (not more)

Saffron - ¼ tsp (warm & powder)

Chopped cashew - to decorate

Boil, peel & mash potatoes .

Heat ½ cup ghee, add mashed potato & fry for sometime, till the colour changes & volume of potato shrinks.

This is an important step & removes the raw potato taste completely.

Add khoa, sugar & remaining ghee.

Stir continuously on a high flame, till it solidifies moderately.

Add spices & switch off the flame.

Add essence & mix very well.

Transfer to a shallow vessel in 10 mts & decorate with nuts.

Variation:

Mix 1 cup of mashed potato, ½ cup milk,, 100gms unsweetened khoa, 1 ½ cups sugar & cook stirring, adding ghee in between little by little.

When it leaves the sides of the vessel add spices & remove.

Alternately you can use 200 gms sweetened khoa & 1 cup sugar.

Fresh besan - 1 cup

Grated khoa - 1 cup

Ghee - 1 cup

Sugar - 2 ½ cups

Finely chopped cashew - 2 tbsp

Cardamom powder - ½ tsp

Saffron - ¼ tsp ( warm & powder)

Roast besan in 2 tbsp ghee on a low flame till raw smell goes.

Cool & mix with grated khoa without lumps.

In a vessel make a sugar syrup with the given sugar & 1 cup of water.

When one-string consistency is reached, remove the vessel for a minute, add the mixture, mix well without lumps & put the vessel back on fire.

Go on stirring, adding warm ghee little by little till soft ball consistency is reached.

Add spices & remove from fire.

Go on stirring till a chappathi dough consistency is reached.

Sprinkle chopped cashews in a greased plate & empty the dough on it so that the nuts will stick well to the burfi.

Cool & cut into pieces.

Powdered cashew - 1 cup

Besan - 1/3 cup

Ghee - 1 cup

Sugar - 2 cups

Cardamom powder - ½ tsp

Saffron - ¼ tsp (warm & powder)

Mix cashew powder, besan & melted ghee without lumps.

Boil sugar with1 cup of water to one string consistency.

Immediately, add the mixture gradually with one hand & stir continuously with the other hand.

Keep stirring till soft ball consistency is reached.

Add spices & remove from fire.

Allow to cool, stirring till it forms a mass.

Empty on a greased plate & cut.