Kitchen Corner-Try It

   Ash Gourd Halwa- Kashi Halwa  Kashi Halwa is a decadent dessert perfect for any occasion. Winter melon/ Ash Gourd is used to make Kashi Halwa. If you think vegetables and desserts do not go together, then this halwa will make you love veggies even more. Carrots, beets, squash, ash gourd, bottle gourd, raw papaya, pumpkin are all easy to incorporate into delicious vegetable desserts. In India, halwa is an indispensable part of festive occasions. You can find innumerable varieties of halwa in various hues and flavors. Halwa loaded with vegetables are widely popular, especially carrots, beets , and pumpkin . Kashi halwa/ Ash gourd halwa is a regional favorite from Karnataka/ South India. It is a comforting, homey dessert and has a taste that lingers in your memories. Halwa making is time-consuming. But the best part of this halwa is that it is ready in under 30 minutes. What is Halwa? Halwa or halvah is sweet gel-like confectionery much loved in Asia, especially in the W...

 Perad Sweet- Guava Cheese/Goan Christmas Recipe How is the Christmas planning coming along for everyone? It is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. Are you in the holiday spirit? It is almost Christmas, and today I, am sharing a Christmas favorite from Goa. Perad is delightfully chewy, fudgy fruit candies that are so addictive. Guava is a tropical fruit with an inviting fruity flavor. If you are planning, DIY Christmas food gifts for friends and family, guava cheese will be a nice addition to the holiday gift basket. Perad/Guava Cheese tastes delicious on its own, but there are so many other ways you can use this delicacy. Read on for entertaining ideas this Christmas with Guava cheese. It is made with just a handful of ingredients, looks festive, with fruity flavor in each bite. What is Guava cheese/Perad? Perad/ Guava cheese is a fudge-like sweet made with guavas and sugar with a touch of lemon. Like jam or preserve guava cheese has a long shelf life. It is a very traditiona...

  Bengali Sweet Kachagolla/ Easy Paneer Ladoo  Kachagolla/paneer ladoos is a festive Bengali sweet that you can easily make at home. It is perfect for entertaining or for festive occasions like Holi and Diwali. It is luxurious milk sweet with a unique melt in the mouth texture. The most important ingredients of paneer ladoo are fresh chena/ or coagulated milk solids and sugar. Pranhara Kachagolla is light and mildly sweet when compared to other sweets and ladoos. It is always good to make it with homemade fresh paneer , but you can also make it with ricotta cheese. Kacha means raw or uncooked, so there is a little cooking process involved in making this ladoo. It is gently laced with the flavor of cardamom and rose water. Just one bite and these fragrant and exotic sweet will make you fall in love with it, and the best you can ever imagine! Calcutta is one of my favorite cities to travel to, and it is a foodies paradise. The food of Calcutta is an unforgettable experience, es...

  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 ...

Cham Cham - Bengali Sweet Happy Diwali to all my friends and readers! The festival season is here and I am here to share with you a delicious sweet for Diwali. We have already decked up our home for the festival of lights and no celebrations are complete without sweets and desserts. Like most Indians, I love shopping for colorful diyas and sweets when it is Diwali time. Walk into an Indian store and you will be amazed at the astounding variety of Indian mittais or sweets confectioners in all textures, shapes, and color. Do you like Indian sweets? For me these colorful decadent treats are irresistible. The recipe I am sharing today is an easy recipe that you can easily make at home. Cham Cham or chom chom is a Bengali delicacy. Cham cham invokes the nostalgia of one of my favorite cities -Calcutta and its rich vibrant culture. Calcutta is beautiful with its magnificent British-era colonial buildings, slow-moving trams, street vendors, temples and festivals. As you get to k...

Mawa/ Milk Powder Burfi Burfi is one of my favorite sweets and this milky fudge candy is undoubtedly one of the easiest to make. If you have mawa milk powder in hand you can make this in less than 15 minutes.This delicious milk candy/fudge is a yummy treat for any festival or holiday season. If you do not have mawa milk powder you can substitute it with full fat milk powder. Try this, you will surely love it. Ingredients Mawa powder- 250 grams (or full fat milk powder) Milk- 1 cup Sugar- 1 cup Cardamom- 3-4 Ghee- 3 tbs Sliced almond or pistachios-  to garnish Make a fine powder of sugar and cardamom and set aside. In a heavy bottom melt butter and add milk and mawa powder/milk powder. Mix well till it well combines and there is no lumps. Keep stirring in low flame for two to three minutes. Into this add powdered sugar and cardamon and mix. The mixture will start to loosen a bit, but it will soon thicken and come together. Continue to stir till it leaves t...

Coconut Rose Burfi Burfi is an Indian fudge made with milk and milk solid/khoya .It is a sweet confectionery that is usually made on festive occasions. There are different kinds of burfi. This one is made with coconut milk,khoya and grated coconut. It is flavored with cardamom powder and rose essence.Try this sweet,you will surely love it. Ingredients Grated coconut- 2 1/2 cup Khoya- 1 cup Coconut Milk- 1 cup Water - 1 cup Sugar- 1 1/2 cup Rose essence - a few drops Rose water- 1 tsp Ghee- 3 tbs Cardamon- 1/2 tsp In a mixer pulse the coconut and coconut milk into a course mixture. No need to make it into a paste. In a heavy bottom pan add sugar and water and simmer till all sugar dissolves and the consistency thickens (one string consistency). Add the coconut and khoya and mix well. Stir continuously   to avoid sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add half of the ghee and cook the mixture till it becomes thick and leaves the edges of the pan.  A...

Chickoo Coconut Halwa Chickoo/ Sapota is a tropical fruit with a sweet caramelized flavor.It is delicious fruits and can be used to make milkshakes and desserts. This recipe is inspired from Tarla Dalal's chickoo halwa recipe. She used mawa in her recipe. I used coconut instead. The key ingredients of this halwa is chickoo,grated coconut and condensed milk.Try this halwa, you will surely love it. Ingredients Chickoo chopped-6-7 Grated coconut- 3/4 Condensed milk- 1/2 tin Sugar- 2 tbs Cashew nuts-8-10 Ghee-3 tbs Cardamom crushed- 5 Peel the skin,chop and lightly mash the chickoo.Heat ghee in a heavy pan and fry cashews drain and keep aside. Now add  the crushed chickoo and cook it in low flame for 6-8 minutes. Add the grated coconut, sugar and condensed milk and mix thoroughly. Stir continuously for another 10 minutes and in between  add a tsp of ghee to prevent it from sticking.When it starts leaving the edges of the pan and ghee separates mix in the...

Pori Unda/Sweet Puffed Rice Balls Puffed rice is a good tea time snack in itself. Pori unda is yummy balls made with puffed rice and jaggery. These ladoo/balls are yummy and  crispy to munch on. I  have nostalgic memories about this snack. We used to buy them at temple festival fairs. Vendors used to carry around baskets filled with pori unda and they were super yummy. At home too we make them on special occasions like Onam, Diwali and Karthika Deepam. For sweetness you can also use caramelized sugar. Try this you will surely love it. Ingredients Puffed rice/pori- 5 cup Jaggery powdered- 1 cup Water- 1/2 cup Ghee- 1 tbs Cardamon powder- a pinch Dry ginger powder- 1/8 tsp (optional) Heat jaggery and water and allow it to melt. Strain the impurities and return to stove. In medium heat allow it to boil and thickens to one thread consistency.  Reduce the flame and simmer  for another 5-6 minutes till it thickens. To test the perfect syrup consis...

Easy Rava Coconut Ladoo/ Sooji Ladoo - Diwali Sweet Ladoos is a delightful Indian sweet made on important occasions, and Indian festivals and celebrations are incomplete without delicious homemade ladoos. Ladoos are traditional ball-shaped sweets, and there are so many varieties of ladoos. Some ladoos are time-consuming, but some are easy to make with minimal ingredients. Rava ladoo is a South Indian favorite anyone can make easily at home. It is sweet and crunchy with roasted rava/semolina and freshly grated coconut. Do you love coconut? I am addicted to coconut, big time! If you are like me and love coconut flavor in desserts, you will surely enjoy these ladoos. It is my all-time favorite, and semolina is a staple in my pantry. If you have a sweet tooth, try these ladoos. 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 in less than 20 minutes! Roasted semolina/rava has a sweet...

Ghee Mysore Pak Happy Diwali to all my friends and readers! May this festival of lights bring happiness and joy to all of you! Diwali invokes so many happy memories with family and friends-shopping, decorating your house, lighting diyas, evening firecrackers, and the most important the display of colorful sweets and mittais that captures your imagination. I spend my childhood in North India and Diwali was a festival that was taken very seriously with days of preparations. But moving back to Kerala I missed all the pomp and show associated with Diwali. But in recent years Diwali has attained importance and is celebrated like other Kerala festivals like Vishu, Onam, and Christmas. There is never a festive occasion or a celebration in India without sweets or mittais. Today's recipe is the South Indian favorite- Ghee Mysore pak. This famous sweet needs no introduction and is rightfully called the King of South Indian sweets. It is fragrant, rich, and exotic sweet with an addic...