Wheat Halwa

This is a recipe from my MIL. She made this sweet for Deepavali - the Festival of lights. It is a quick and easy recipe. What I love about this recipe is the simplicity of ingredients and execution!

Ingredients:
1. Wheat Flour - 1 cup
2. Sugar - 2 cups
3. Milk - 1 cup
4. Water - 0.5 cup
5. Saffron - 1 pinch
6. Cardamon Powder - 1 pinch
7. Chopped almonds/pista/dry fruits - for garnishing as needed

Method de Prep
1. In a vessel, mix wheat flour, sugar, milk into a loose batter. Ensure the batter is lump free and loose. You can add the saffron and cardamon powder to this loose batter
2. In a pressure cooker, cook the loose dough for two whistles
3. After the cooker cools, remove the dough and pour into a deep microwavable dish.
4. Microwave for 20 mins, but check on the dish every 3 to 4 mins. Stir now and then during intervals.
5. The dough would have become tight and chewy. While it is still hot from the microwave, it would be in a pourable form. Pour it into a open dish where you can cut it into pieces.
6. After it cools, garnish with the dry fruits and cut into servable size pieces.

The Wheat Halwa is ready! Traditionally the tedious process involves soaking wheat grains, grinding and taking out the milk, stirring on low flame etc. This is a quicker shortcut which yields great tasting result too! Enjoy!

Bon App!

Microwave Therati Paal

When you are having guests over and don't have too much time to whip up a dessert, this is a perfect time saver. Therati Paal cooked traditionally requires a long time of stirring milk and paying constant attention to the stove. This sweet dish is special and is cooked for auspicious occasions too. Infact, right after marriage, a bride gets introduced to her new relatives over spoonful of therati paal!
Thanks to the microwave, you can whip up this dessert in no time(9 mins to be precise) and can bring you raving praises!

Ingredients:
1. condensed milk - 1 tin (approx 400 gms)
2. curd - 3 tbsp

Method de Preparation
1. Take a deep bowl and pour the condensed milk into a bowl. Ensure that the bowl is deep enough to let the condensed milk rise while microwaving.
2. Add the 3 tbsp of curd and mix it with a spoon
3. Microwave for 9 mins. Check periodically every 3 mins. Depending on your microwave power, it may thicken quickly. Once the mix thickens and browns, it is good to be removed. Usually the first 3 mins, the condensed milk tends to rise and boil over, watch out for that. But, it is ready to eat at the end of 9 mins!

Enjoy! Bon App!

Broken wheat thirukannamudhu

Ingredients
1. Broken wheat - 1 cup
2. Payatham parupu - 1/4 cup
3. Vellam (jaggery) - 4 pieces
4. Saffron - 2 strands
5. Elachi - 2 nos
6. Cashew nuts/raisins - 4 nos
7.Milk - optional

Method de preparation
1. Cook the broken wheat and payatham parupu in a cooker(2 to 3 whistles)
2. Take the vessel out of the cooker and place on the stove and heat.
3. Drop the jaggery pieces into this warming/boiling mix. The jaggery will begin to melt. Add milk if the mix is too thick/dry.
4. Meanwhile, in a tsp of butter, fry some cashew nuts (you can break them into smaller pieces) and raisins
5. When the mix is boiling, add this fried dry fruits and 2 strands of saffron.

This can be served warm/cold. Enjoy!
Usually, this mix thickens if it is set aside for few hours. To thin it, add some milk.
Bon App!