Kitchen Corner-Try It

  Thenga Mittai/ Easy Coconut Burfi- Diwali Sweet  The festive season is already here. Diwali festival, the festival of lights, is one of my favorite times of the year. How is the Diwali planning coming along for everyone? It is exactly a week for Diwali, and I am here to share some easy to make Diwali sweets.  Tengai mittai is a traditional sweet made on festive occasions and is pure coconut indulgence. It reminds me of the tiny coconut candy squares that you find in small street shops in Kerala. It invokes the childhood nostalgia of sweet treats that you buy on your way to school, with the meager pocket money that you have. Well, now you can make them at home! To make this mittai/ burfi, all you need is freshly grated coconut, sugar, and some milk, preferably coconut milk. It is simple and unassuming, sweet but tastes divine. Mittais are bite-sized Indian confectioneries made with milk, nuts, or coconut. If you love coconuts, you will find this mittai/burfi an absolute ...

Kunafa Sweet Recipe/ Sweet Cheese Pastry Kunafa or Kanafeh/Kunafeh is a sweet cheese-filled, pastry popular in the Middle East and Arabic cuisine. It is one of the most popular  Middle Eastern desserts and is specially made during the Ramadan feast and for special occasions. If you have a sweet tooth like me, this appealing dessert with its deliciously sweet and cheesy center and is perfect for you. This decadent sweet is a scrumptious royal dessert. But the best part is that it is a no-fuss and easy to put together sweet dessert. Kunafa's cheesy center is complemented with its signature buttery crunchy crust. The intense flavor comes from clarified butter or ghee. You can substitute ghee with melted butter, but ghee has an intense nutty flavor that is irresistible. Kunafa is served warm drenched with a sugar syrup that has a floral scent to it and sometimes topped with crushed pistachio nuts. To make the scented sugar syrup, you can mix sugar syrup with rose water, orange blossom ...

Mango Kalakand-Mango Milk Sweet-Indian Mithai Kalakand is a soft, creamy, milk fudge, served during festive occasions like Holi and Diwali. It is a luxurious sweet with a unique texture and taste. The key ingredients of this sweet/mithai are milk and sugar. I have shared several Indian sweets made with milk like Sandesh, Milk Peda , Cham Cham, etc. Each of these is unique in their way. Kalakand sweet belongs to the category of traditional old-fashioned milk fudge.  It became popular in the early 1900s with a uniquely moist, grainy texture due to the addition of chenna/ fresh paneer or coagulated milk solids. It is popular in North India but, I find that it has a similar texture and taste to South Indian sweet Thirattupal.   It is gently laced with the flavor of cardamom powder and rose water.   Now coming to today's recipe, there is a delicious twist to this classic sweet. It has the added sweetness and taste of mangoes. If you are a mango lover, here is a decade...

Kerala Black Halwa/ Karutha Halwa/ Rice Flour Halwa December has finally arrived and it means it is almost Christmas time! How many of you look forward to the Season of Joy! My birthday also comes in December, so it is a double celebration for me :) How is the Christmas planning coming along for everyone? It is exactly three weeks for Christmas and I am planning to share a few recipes for the holidays this year. This is the first one I wanted to share with all of you -Kerala style sweet delicacy- a real nostalgia, the Black Halwa. Halwas has always amazed me with its simplicity, unique texture and taste. It is a gel-like sweet candy that you can never stop eating. When making halwa there is a time-honored cooking technique and halwa making is time-consuming. So people simply prefer to buy it from the shop. But making your own is a rewarding experience. Now many of the traditional sweets are forgotten or get overlooked for fancier ones in bakeries. But that is not the case w...

Chakka Varatti/ Jack fruit Jam Chakka or jack fruit is a common fruit in South India. Jack fruit is a seasonal fruit and there are several delicious jack fruit recipes. Ripe jack fruit has a distinctively strong aroma and is naturally sweet. It tastes best for desserts. Chakka varatti is a popular jack fruit delicacy of Kerala which is made with fully ripe jack fruit bulbs. Chakka varatti is mainly a preserve and if made in the right consistency can be stored and used for more than a year. Never heard of jack fruit jam? Well, you're in for a treat! Making chakka varatti was a yearly tradition back home in Kerala. The smell of varikka chakka is divine. By the way varikka chakka is the variety used to make chakka varatti. It is very sweet, tastes like honey and has a firm flesh even when it is ripe. Jack fruit is the most versatile of all tropical fruits. It has a strong fragrance when ripe and your whole house with be filled with a strong fruity aroma. Jack fr...

Karah Prasad/ Wheat Flour Halwa Karah Prasad is served in Gurudwara as prasad for devotees. It is made with whole wheat flour/atta, ghee and sugar. It has a sweet smell and is so yummy. Try this rich and tasty halwa, you will surely love it. Ingredients Whole wheat flour/atta- 3/4 cup Sugar- 1 cup Ghee- 1/2 cup Cardamom powder- 1/2 tsp Water- 2 1/2 cup Any toasted nuts of your choice  In a sauce pan bring water and sugar to a boil. Reduce the flame and allow it to simmer. Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan and add the wheat flour. Keep stirring and make sure there is no lumps. Cook in low flame for 3-4 minutes or till the raw flavor disappears and flour changes color to light brown. Carefully add the dissolved sugar and water as it has a tendency to splutter. Mix continuously to avoid lumps. Add cardamom powder and toasted nuts.It will thicken quickly and leave the edges of the pan. Stir till ghee separates and it turns glossy.Switch off the flame and allow to co...

Sesame Brittle/Ellu Mittai Ellu Mittai/ sesame brittle is old fashioned sugar and nuts candy. Earlier I posed sesame ladoo recipe with jaggery. This brittle is made with sugar. It is easy to make at home and make crunchy,delightful and tasty snack. Crispy nuts with the rich caramel flavor is something that is irresistible and kids will surely love it. Here I have used sesame seeds,but you can use peanuts, cashew nuts or any nuts of your choice. Ingredients Sesame seeds- 1 1/2 cup Sugar- 1 1/2 cup Water- 3 tbs Oil- 2 tbs Ghee- 1 tsp Baking soda- 1/4 tsp salt- a  pinch Cardamon powder-  1/2 tsp   Dry roast sesame seeds till it starts popping up and there is a nice aroma. Allow this to cool down. Grease a baking pan with ghee and set aside. In a heavy bottom pan add sugar, water, oil and a pinch of salt. Put this on the stove on low medium flame and heat it. The sugar will start melting and slowly caramelize. There is no need to stir in the first st...

Pineapple Bread Pola Bread pola is a popular sweet/ snack of Malabar made with left over bread. It is an easy snack with a texture that resembles bread pudding moist and tender.The star ingredient here is caramelized pineapple.It is an egg based dessert and is slow cooked on stove top. This helps to infuse the flavor of pineapple. Try this you will surely love it. Ingredients Bread slices- 8 Eggs- 4 All purpose flour- 2 tbs Milk-3/4 cup Pineapple chopped- 1 cup Ghee- 2 tsp Cardamon powder- 1/2 tsp Sugar- 1/2 cup ( according to your sweet preference) salt- a pinch Cashew nuts- 8-10 Raisins- 2 tbs   I used an 8 inch pan for this recipe. First add the bread slices into a food processor and pulse a few times to make it course and crumbly. Set this aside. Heat ghee in a pan and fry raisins and cashew nuts. Drain and keep aside. In the same pan add the chopped pineapple and saute and fry till it changes color to golden brown for about 5-6 minutes. Add ha...

Maa Ladoo/Maladu/Pottukadalai Laddu- Easy Diwali Sweet Indian festivals and celebrations are incomplete without delicious homemade ladoos. Diwali is the time to indulge in delicious food and traditional sweets are made and exchanged as gifts amongst family and friends. Ladoos make cute gifts and are loved by young and old. If you are new to Indian sweets, Ladoos are traditional ball-shaped sweets made with flour, lentils, or nuts. Maa ladoo/ pottukadala laddo is the easiest sweet recipe you can make for Diwali . It is a traditional ladoo more popular in South India. Maa ladoos are delicious and aromatic with the aroma of roasted Bengal gram and ghee/ clarified butter. It has an interesting texture that is unique to this ladoo. It has a soft crumble, melt in the mouth texture. Maa ladoo is a fuss recipe that involves little or no cooking. They are sweet but not overly sweet. So you can enjoy it as a snack with tea and also serve it on festive occasions. And the best part, it is ready ...

Coconut Halwa Coconut halwa is flavorful and yummy sweet. This halwa is made with coconut milk and grated coconut. The bakery near our home in Kerala sells this version of coconut halwa and it was my favorite.You can also lightly toast the coconut. It will improve flavor and give a slight crunch and texture to the halwa. Halwa is very popular in Kerala and you get the best banana halwa is Kozhikode, a city in North Kerala. Earlier I posted nenthra pazham or ripe plantains halwa. This coconut halwa is also tasty and definitely worth the effort.Try this halwa, you will surely love it. Ingredients Grated coconut- 3/4 cup Coconut milk thick-2 cup Coconut milk thin 3 cup Sugar- 2 cup Corn starch- 3/4 cup Cashew nuts- 1/2 cup Ghee-1/2 cup Cardamom powder- 1 tsp Toast grated coconut and cashew nuts till it turns slight golden. When it cools down make a it into a fine powder. You can add chopped nuts instead of grinding it. In a heavy bottom pan add the thin c...