Miscellaneous Sweets

Let me start by sharing a sweet recipe I came across in a cooking contest held at my native place in India. I believe this is an unusual one

Ingredients:

Maida - 1/4 kg
Ghee - 1/4 kg
Sugar - 1/2 kg
Rice flour - 4 tbspn
Grated Coconut - 4 tbspn

How to make Maida rolls?

1. Prepare a dough (as we do for poori) mixing maida with water and ghee.
2. Mix 4tbspn of rice flour and 1 tbspn of ghee and keep it separately.
3. Make small balls of the dough and spread them into small pooris.
4. Spread the riceflour and ghee mix on each of the pooris and fold them into cylindrical rolls.
5. Heat ghee and let in some of the rolls. Fry them till medium brown.
6. Remove from ghee and put them into sugar syrup. Soak for 15 minutes. Drain and transfer to a glass bowl.
7. Leave it to cool and you will see the syrup form as a layer on top of the rolls.
8. Spread the grated coconut on top of the rolls and serve.

How to make Sugar syrup? (Similar to Jamoon syrup)

1. Take the sugar in a heavy pan and add water to just cover the sugar.
2. Boil the syrup for say 10 - 15 mins.
3. The syrup is done when, while dropping from a spoon it falls in a thin single thread.

Ladies, try this one and let me know how it tastes. It's easy to make and should not take more than 30 - 40 mins.

Why is it called "US" Zucchini Halwa?

Zucchini is a kind of vegetable we get in the US. It looks more like cucumber variety.

Those who are not in the US - you too can try this halwa by replacing Zucchini with Snake guard (Pudalangai).

Ingredients
Zucchini - 2 (or Snake guard - small size 2)
Sugar - 3 Cups
Cardomom Powder - 1/2 tea spoon
Cashewnuts - 10
Raisins - 10
Ghee - 4 table spoons

Cooking Method

Wash the Zucchini and peel off the skin. Grate it finely. Pressure cook the Zucchini and drain the water.

Prepare sugar syrup by adding three cups of sugar to one cup of water. Boil it for few minutes till it slightly thickens.

Add the Zucchini and cardomom powder to the sugar syrup. Stir the mixture by adding ghee little by little till it doesn't stick to the vessel. Decorate it with fried cashewnuts and raisins.

Every body makes appam using rice flour. I make appams using whole wheat, which is healthy and tasty also. Here is the recipe-

You need -
1 cup of wheat, one handful of raw rice, 1 cup of jaggery (vellam), 2 small bananas (yellow), 1 tsp of elachi powder, oil and ghee for frying and sugar granules for garnishing.

Soak the rice for 2 hours. No need to soak wheat. Just wash the wheat and grind in the mixer. Add as little water as possible and grind to a fine paste. Do not add too much water. Remove to a vessel. Now grind the rice to a smooth paste, adding as little water as possible. Add the powdered jaggery and bananas (peeled) to it and grind well. When you add jaggery, it becomes watery. That is wy I said add as little water as possible. If the batter is too water, you can add one scoop of maida and mix the batter well. Add the elachi powder and mix well. Now in a appam mould add oil and 4 to 5 tsps of ghee. When hot, add spoonfuls of batter and fry in medium heat. Turn over and fry till brown. Remove and drain. When all the batter is used up, transfer the appams to a large container. Pour 2 tbsp of ghee and 4 tbsp of sugar granules. Toss well. The sugar granules will get coated over the appams. The dark brown appams with tiny white crylstal like sugar on it will make everyone want to eat more. Whole wheat makes this a sweet with fibre content, even though it is oily. This can be preserved for 2 to 3 days and tastes good even when cold. It will be very spongy also. I always make this type only for festivals and also as snacks.

Dear Shakthi,

I tried your recipe of Maida Sweet Rolls and it came our really well. My hubby who is a lover of sweets liked it. I shared them with my friends and they too like it a lot.

I would like to thank you for posting a new and a different sweet recipe.

Only one alteration we can make is, when we roll the puris and fold them, we have to stick the roll by applying a little water to the edges so that they wont open up while frying.

BREAD HALWA IN WAFFLE CONE

INGREDIENTS:

Bread : 4 slices

Sugar : 1 cup

Cardamom: 4 (powdered)

Ghee :3 tsp.

Oil: required to fry jamoons.

Gulab jamoon powdered: required to make 5 to 7 jamoons.

Waffle cones : 4

Dry fruits : (optional)All dry fruits like cashew, raisins etc., fried in ghee.



RECIPE:

1.In a bowl, take Gulab jamoon powder and mix with water or milk to make dough and keep it aside for 5 minutes.

2. Make them into round balls and deep fry in low flame till brown color and keep it aside.

3.Apply ghee or butter and toast well the 4 bread slices.

4. In a pan , take little water and add sugar and boil till one string consistency.

5.Add cardamom powder to it.

6.. crush jamoon balls in to small pieces and add it in the sugar syrup.

7. Dip toasted bread slices in sugar syrup and stir lightly.

8. Add dry fruits and mix it in the sweet.

9. When it becomes warm, serve it in the waffle cones or waffle bowls.

Children and elders savor delicious bread Halwa in waffle cone with delight.

G.V.K.DURGA RAVI

MUSCAT.

Note: Attached is the picture of Bread Halwa in Waffle Cone

Lankee (Lauki) Halwa


Ingredient
1 kg Lauki
1 1/2 litre milk
400-500 gm sugar
green cardomon powder
saffron few flakes
1 tbsp ghee

Method
Peel and grate Lauki
Put milk and lauki in a heavy saucepan. Boil till thick, stirring occassionally. Once it starts thickening, stir continuously. Add sugar and cook further till thickens. Add ghee, cardomon , saffron. Stir on low heat till the mixture collects in a soft ball or the ghee oozes out. Serve hot, decorated with a chopped almond or pista.

Pinnie Ingredients

250 gms. wheatflour
250 gms. ghee
250 gms. sugar ground
3-4 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. cardamom powder




Method

Melt ghee in a heavy pan.

Add, flour and cook on med/low flame.

Stir continuously, till med. brown.

When aroma exudes, and properly browned, take off fire.

Spread in a large plate.

Cool till a shade above room temperature.

Sprinkle cardamom powder and sugar.

Mix well. Sprinkle milk. Mix again and form tight fist shaped pinnies.

This is done by taking some mixture and pressing in the fist.

1 tin Strawberry
1 cup Nido Powder
1 Nestle Cream
1/2 can Nestle Condensed Milk
1 cup dry fruits powdered (Almond, PIstachio, Cashuenuts)
1/2 cup ghee

In a pan, Put all the strawberries, 1/2 can condensed milkand nido powder. Mix well ona slow flame till all strawberries are dissolved and halwa consistency is made. keep on stirring then slowly add dry fruits powder and ghee and stir again. close the stove and put the halwa in a plate. Decorate it with nestle cream and serve.

Really delicious your family would love it.

Instant Almond Burfi

Ingredients:
Almonds:100 gms (soaked in water and skin removed)
Sweet Bread:4 to 5 slices (made into crumbs by running in the mixer)
Sugar:100 gms(powdered sugar)
Milk powder : 1 tbsp
Milk : 1 tbsp
Almond essence : a few drops
Yellow colour : a few drops(optional)
A few Raisins or a few almonds (finely chopped):for decoration

Method:
After the skin has been removed, dry the almonds a little , so that it can be powdered in a mixie.
Put all the ingredients except the essence and the raisins kept for decoration in a nonstick saucepan and keep it on a reasonably high flame, stirring all the time. Within 5 minutes, they will form a soft ball, leaving the sides of the pan.
Take it off the flame and keep stirring till it cools a bit. Add the essence You can either spread it on a greased thali and cut it into squares after it cools, or take small balls of the mixture and press it into small tart cups, to give them shape. The tart cups should be greased too. The sweets can be taken out of the tart cups by turning the cups on a plate and tapping on them.
Decorate by pressing a raisin or pieces of chopped almonds on each sweet.

Dear lakshmi Vinoth!

Thank you very much for the warm welcome. It is a pleasure surprise to know that you are from the U.A.E!
Here I am posting a few sweet recipes for the Diwali.

BENI:

Ingredients: Plain flour- 250gms
Baking powder- 1/4tsp
Dalda- 1 tsp
Salt- ½ tsp
Milk- ¼ cup
Gingelly oil- 2tbsp
Ghee- 50gm
Rice flour- 50 gm
Sugar- 500gm
Cardamom powder- ½ tsp
Saffron- a pinch
Kesari powder- ¼ tsp
Enough oil to deep fry

Procedure:

Combine the plain flour, B.Powder, salt, and dalda in a bowl. Make smooth dough using the milk. Pour the gingelly oil around the dough and cover the bowl with a lid. Mix the ghee with the rice flour in a small bowl. Beat it with a beater until foam develops on the surface. Now make small balls out of the dough. Spread each ball into a thin chappaththi. After having completed all the chappaththis, spread a spoonful of the ghee mixture on top of every chappaththi. Place the base of another chappaththi on it. Thus complete all the chappaaththis. Then roll it tightly. Cut it into even pieces. Again roll each piece into a thin round. Do not use force with the rolling pin. Deep fry each beni to a golden brown colour. Make syrup of single thread consistency with the sugar and add the cardamom powder and the saffron in it. Dip each beni into it for a minute and then take it away and place it on a flat tray. Thus complete all the Benies.


WHEAT GULKAND:

Ingredients:

Ghee- ¾ cup
Wheat flour- 1 cup
Sugar- 1 cup
Boiled milk- 1 cup
Finely chopped cashew nuts- 2 tbsp
Cardamom powder- ½ tsp

Procedure:

Heat a kadai and pour the ghee in it. Add the wheat flour to it and fry the flour on a slow fire until the flour becomes golden brown colour. Add the sugar and fry for a few seconds. Then add the milk with the cardomaom powder and the cashew nuts. Fry well until the sweet becomes thickened.