Carrot Kheer / Carrot Payasam

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Carrot Kheer / Navrathri Special Recipes

Starting from today, I will be posting one recipe each day for the 9 days of Navrathri festival. These recipes can be served as Naivedhyam for God and are also very healthy and filling. They are the perfect festive dishes for fasting as well.

Carrot kheer or carrot payasam is the first naivedhyam recipes that I am posting for this Navrathri season. Carrot kheer is so very healthy and delicious that it will not only refresh your body but soul as well. This has all the ingredients that provides energy to our body in this festive season. All your guests who visit during the festive days will be appeased when you serve this simple carrot kheer.

Carrot kheer is rich and creamy, yet light on the tummy. The lovely orange colour of this sweet dish is very appealing to our eyes. The taste is heavenly and is a perfect dish that can be served to God as Prasadam. It has all the benefits of the veggies ( carrots ), milk ( complete food ) and dry fruits ( nutritious ).

The taste is similar to that of badam milk with a little flavour of carrots. I have used minimal amount of carrots and more badam to get the almond flavour from the milk. You can always increase or reduce the amount of almonds or carrots as per your liking and tastes. According to me, the measurements given were just perfect for me and my family.

I have not included any fat ( ghee, oil , etc. ) in this payasam making it a guilt free recipe. Hence, it is very light on your tummy. My family simply loves this payasam and always ask for more. This is also one of the best methods to feed kids who are fussy on eating veggies in their diet.

Carrot payasam is very simple to prepare in no time with basic ingredients that are easily available in our kitchen. Dice the carrots, put in the cooker along with almonds and cashews. Grind to a paste and cook with milk and sugar. It is very simple as said. This is definitely considered to be a beginner´s recipe.    

Preparation

Soak the almonds for atleast 15 minutes and peel the skin. Keep them aside. Peel the skin on the carrots and dice them into circles or small cubes.

Put them into the cooker along with cashews and peeled almonds.

Add little water and cook until 2-3 whistles or until the carrots are soft. Allow the carrots to cool. My carrots actually burnt a little as I put very little water in the cooker. Please excuse me guys for this.

Put the cooled carrots, cashews and almonds in the mixie jar and grind to a fine paste. Keep this aside.

Take boiled milk in another vessel and add sugar.

Allow sugar to completely dissolve in the milk. Now add the grounded carrot paste and mix well.

Cook until one boil and switch off the flame.

Add cardamom powder and mix well. Garnish with saffron strands and pomegranate seeds.

Ingredients

Carrots  5 ( small sized ) OR 150 g OR 1 cup of diced carrots

Almonds  10

Cashews  25

Sugar  3/4 cup

Milk  2 1/2 cups

Cardamom powder 1/4 tsp

Pomegranate seeds few to garnish

Saffron strands 2

Method

1. Soak the almonds in water for 15 minutes and peel the skin and keep them aside.
2. Dice the carrots. Cook the diced carrots, cashews and almonds with water in pressure cooker until 3 whistles or until soft.
3. Allow the cooked carrots to cool. Grind to a fine paste and keep aside.
4. Add boiled milk in a pan and add sugar to it. 
5. Let the sugar dissolve in the milk and add grounded paste to it. 
6. Mix well and cook until a boil. 
7. Add cardamom powder and mix well. 
8. Switch off the flame and garnish with fruits or dry fruits as per your preference.
9. Serve warm or chilled. 
10. 
    

Notes

• You can roast the dry fruits like pistachios, cashews, dry grapes in ghee and add to the carrot kheer.
• 2 tsp of ghee can also be added to make the carrot payasam rich.
• The consistency of the carrot kheer was not too thick nor too thin. 
• If you want a  more thicker consistency then cook for some more time. Alternatively you can also reduce the amount of milk. 
• The carrot kheer can also be prepared with condensed milk. Dilute the condensed milk with milk and add the sugar paste. 
• You can add any kind of fruits like apple, pineapple or papaya and relish it as a custard.

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Pappu lo undrallu / undrallu in lentils / chavithi

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Pappu Undrallu / Pappu Lo Undrallu

Pappu undrallu is a tasty and tempting sweet dessert which is usually made for the festive season of Vinayak Chavithi. This is one of the three versions of the undrallu. The other two being

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Nuvvula Undrallu / chavithi

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Nuvvula Undrallu / Sesame seeds Undrallu

Nuvvula Undrallu or sesame Undrallu is another version of the undrallu payasam. In this recipe, we use sesame seeds and poppy seeds which gives milk an interesting flavour and an unique taste. This nuvvula undrallu

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Pala Undrallu / Chavithi / Paala Undrallu

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Paala Undrallu / Milk Undrallu Payasam 

Paalu undrallu is also known as undrallu payasam. The undrallu that are prepared with the rice flour are pampered with sweetened milk and dry fruits resulting in a delicious dessert which is loved by Lord Vinayaka. This Paala undrallu or paalu lo undrallu

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undrallu for vinayaka chavithi

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Undrallu for Vinayaka Chaturthi / Undrallu recipe for Ganesha Chaturthi

Another 9 days to go for Vinayaka Chavithi - 25th August 2017. I am posting the most important and basic dish for this famous Ganesha festival - Undrallu ( Rice flour balls ). These undrallu or rice flour balls are made with rice flour. These balls are then

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Poornam Boorelu / pesala Boorelu

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Poornam Boorelu / Whole Moong Dal Boorelu 

This weekend is Varalakshmi Pooja. I am sure everyone must be busy preparing for the big day. Shopping, cleaning homes, decorating puja room and idols. Married women are totally busy with all these work. These are the work that is to be done before the Varalakshmi Puja day. 

On the Pooja day, we are totally busy with preparing Kalasam, decorating the Goddess Lakshmi Devi idol, preparing Naivedhyam for Goddess Lakshmi and other such activities. Everything will go well if plan our to-do list well in advance. Planning will help in doing things smoothly and without any fuss. Right from the sarees we want to wear, till the flowers we use for decoration, plan and keep everything ready to avoid the last minute hurry.

For this special occasion, I am sharing the recipe of Pesala Boorelu ( Whole Moong Dal Boorelu ). This is a popular Andhra recipe which is made during festive occasions specially during the festive season of Sankranthi ( Pongal ). These are also known as Poornam Boorelu.  Boorelu are traditional sweets that can be made with channa dal, moong dal, whole moong dal, coconut-rava or with chenna. They can be made with many other variations as well which I will be sharing soon. You can also check my other Naivedhyam recipes :

Tempered black chickpeas
Easy Coconut Ladoo Recipe

Banana Appalu
Paneer Payasam
Spongy rasgullas
Dates and Nuts Ladoos
Kalakand

I have heard many people think that Boorelu are very difficult to prepare. But it’s a false thought. They are very easy to prepare provided you follow the simple tricks and techniques that are mentioned here. This was the first sweet that I prepared after my marriage and I was on the Cloud Nine after that. Because my man loved them to the core.

Pesala Boorelu are very healthy and tasty too. I have used jaggery in this recipe. But if you wish you can replace it with sugar. For the outer skin, I have prepared and instant version of batter which does not require any soaking, grinding or fermentation. Firstly, we prepare the stuffing that should go inside the boorelu ( i.e. poornam ), then dip them in the batter and deep fry them. Its as simple as said. So, lets get into the preparation of these Pesala Poornam Boorelu.  

Preparation

Take the whole moong dal in a vessel. Check for any inpurities and wash them thoroughly. Add clean water in the vessel and put it on the stove.

On a medium flame, cook the whole moong dal. Keep stirring occasionally. Cook until the whole moong dal is soft and cooked. But it should be grainy.

To check if it is cooked till the correct stage, take a grain of whole moong dal between your thumb and index fingers and crush it. It should become mashy. 

Now switch off the flame and drain the water right away. Allow this to cool. 

Meanwhile, lets get the other ingredients ready. Grate the coconut and keep aside.

Grate the jaggery and keep aside. If you are using sugar, make a powder of the sugar and keep it aside. Take the cooled moong dal in a blender along with cardamom pods.

Make a coarse powder of this mixture. Do not add any water while making the powder. In case you are preparing in large quantities, then make the powder in batches. Transfer this to a big vessel. Add grated jaggery ( or powdered sugar ) and mix well.

Alternatively, you can grind both the jaggery ( or sugar ) along with the cooked moong dal together and transfer to a bowl. To this dal-jaggery mixture, add grated coconut and mix well.

If this mixture is too watery and you are unable to give shape, then put this mixture on the stove and cook until it dries up a liitle. Keep stirring continuously while cooking to avoid burning and sticking at the bottom of the pan. Cool this mixture and make small balls from this mixture. Keep them aside.

Now lets prepare the batter for the poornam boorelu. There are 2-3 variations for making this batter. The tradidtional way of preparing the batter is by soaking the urad dal and grinding it and then fermenting it for 5-6 hours. But here I am using an instant batter which does not require any soking, grinding or fermenting. I will mix maida ( all pupose flour ) and rice flour and make a batter. There is another variation for the instant batter with wheat flour. We mix maida and wheat flour and make a batter. But I personally feel that the second variation gives a hard outer skin where as the first variation will yield a soft and crunchy outer skin of the boorelu. So, here in this recipe, I am sticking to the first variation with rice flour. Take the maida and rice flour with a pinch of salt and mix well.

Add water little by little and mix thorouhgly so that there are no lumps in the batter. The batter should not be thin. So do not add more water. The batter should be of dropping consistency and not that of pouring consistency.

If you think that the batter is too thin then add little maida and make it a thick batter. Now that we are all set, heat oil in a pan.

To check if the oil is hot enough, put a small drop of batter, it should not come up immediately. It should come up gradually. At this point, dip the moong dal mixture into the batter with your fingers.

Coat the batter well all around the ball. And gently place the coated ball in the oil to deep fry.

Place 4-5 such balls in a batch.

Cook them on a low to medium flame until the balls turn light golden in colour. Remove from the oil on place on a paper napkin to remove the excess oil.

Repeat the process for the remaining balls and finish off. I could make around 25 boorelu with the measurements given below. These Poornam Boorelu ( whole moong dal boorelu ) stay good for upto 2-3 days. Enjoy with your family.

Ingredients

Whole Moong dal 1 cup

Jaggery 1 cup
Grated coconut 1/4 cup
Cardamom pods 5
Oil to deep fry             

For batter

Maida 1/2 cup

Rice Flour 1/2 cup
Salt a pinch

Method

1. Wash the whole moong dal and cook with water. Cook until it becomes soft but still has the grainy consistency. Press between your index and thumb fingers and you should be able to mash it.
2. Drain the excess water from the cooked moong dal and allow to cool.
3. In the mean time, grate the coconut and jaggery and keep aside.
4. Take the cooled moong dal in a blender along with cardamom pods and make a coarse powder.
5. Add grated jaggery, grated coconut and the powdered moong dal and mix well.
6. Make small balls out of this mixture. If the mixture is too watery, put it on the stove for a few minutes until it dries out. Keep stirring continuously while cooking to avoid sticking at the bottom of the pan.
7. Mix maida, rice flour and salt in a bowl and mix well.
8. Add water little by little and make a thick batter.
9. Mix vigorously such that there are no lumps in the batter.
10. The batter should be thick, and not too thin. If you feel the batter is thin add more maida and make it thick.
11. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying.
12. To check if the oil is hot enough, put a small drop of batter in the oil. It should not come up immediately. If it comes up immediately, the oil is very hot. Try to reduce the heat by adding more oil or reduce the flame for some time.
13. Now, dip the moong dal balls in the batter and coat the batter well all around the ball.
14. Place it gently in the oil. Cook atleast 4 balls in a batch.
15. Cook on low to medium flame until they turn to light golden colour.
16. Remove from oil and place them on a paper napkin to remove the excess oil.
17. Repeat the process with the other balls.
18. Serve them warm or at room temperature.
19. These boorelu stay good for upto 2-3 days at room temperature.

Notes

• Always use fresh oil ( preferable refined oil ) so that you do not have a oily smell or taste while enjoying the boorelu.
• These poornam boorelu can be prepared with other stuffings like channa dal, rava-coconut and many other variations which I will be discussing very soon.
• The moong dal mixture should not be watery. If by chance, it becomes watery and you are not able to give shape to it, then cook on a low flame until the water content evaporates and becomes thick.
• Do not add too much water while preparing the batter. The batter should be thick. When you dip the ball in the batter, it should coat the ball evenly.
• You can add more of grated coconut as per your preference as long as you are able to give shape to the moong dal dough. 

This post has been submitted to the Livogen Iron Chef Contest ..  http://www.livogen.in/iron-chef

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Coconut Laddu Recipe / Kobbari undalu

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Coconut Jaggery Ladoos Recipe / Kobbari undalu / How to make coconut laddu

Today´s recipe is yet another sweet snack that is my all time favourite since my childhood. It is coconut jaggery laddoos - kobbari bellam laddu. When I was a child, my mom used to make these kobbari undalu in bunches and store them for us as an after-school snack. I literally used to drool over them😛. When we grew up and left homes for further education, somehow, we forgot about them. Even after marriage, the coconut jaggery ladoos just skipped from my mind.

One fine day, when I was browsing through my old photos of my childhood days, I recollected all the snacks that my mom used to prepare for us. She used to prepare tapioca chips ,  sweet kova, Poornam Boorelu etc.,.  The coconut jaggery laddus topped the list. I was quite crazy for them and the mere thought itself waters my mouth. They were chewy, juicy and all of the above, tasty. They are also very healthy. They have all the goodness of coconut. They are rich in fibre and essential vitamins and minerals. They help in converting the bad cholesterols into good and healthy cholesterols and in turn promoting a healthy heart. We are using jaggery ( bellam )instead of sugar which again is very healthy. 

The best thing that I like about these coconut jaggery ladoos is that they are very easy to prepare with just three ingredients. The only difficult part is grating the coconuts. I manually grate the coconuts with the help of a traditional grater. The rest of the preparation is easy peasy.

Preparation

Grate the coconut and keep aside. You can grate it with the help of a food processor as well. I grated the coconut with a traditional grater as shown in the picture below. You can also make coconut pieces and put it in the blender to make a paste. But to get the perfect texture its always advisable to grate the coconut manually. Grate the jaggery.

If you are using normal jaggery, then add little water to the powdered jaggery and put it on the stove. Cook until the jaggery melts completely. Switch off the flame and filter the impurities. Since I used organic jaggery, I did not have need to filter as they do not have any impurities. Mix the grated coconut to the jaggery and mix well.

Put this mixture on the flame as low as possible and cook slowly. Keep stirring occasionally to avoid sticking at the bottom of the pan.

Cook until you are able to form ladoos out of the dough. To check if the dough is ready, take a small portion of the coconut dough on a plate.

Allow it to cool a little bit and try to form a ball. If you are successful in making a ball, then switch off the flame.

If you are not able to form a ball, then cook for some more time. Add cardamom power while it is still hot and mix well.

Cool the mixture to an extent such that you are able to hold the mixture in your hands. Give shape to the coconut-jaggery mixture. You can give any shape as you prefer. You can shape it as laddoo or peda or any other shape.  I shaped them like laddoos with a cashew in the center. The other shape was like that of an apple with a cashew acting as the stem. Once they cool completely, you can store them in air-tight containers. They stay good for upto 15 days. These coconut jaggery ladoos will be great for short breaks and as after-school snacks.

Ingredients

Coconuts 2 ( OR ) 3 cups grated coconut

Jaggery 2 cups

Cardamom Powder 1/2 tsp ( OR ) powder of 8 cardamom ( elaichi ) pods

Method

1. Grate the coconut manually and keep aside.
2. Grate the jaggery.
3. If you think there are impurities in jaggery, then add little water in jaggery and put it on flame. Cook on a low flame until the jaggery melts. Once it melts, switch off the flame and filter through a strainer for impurities.
4. Mix the jaggery and the grated coconut and mix well.
5. Put it on a flame as low as possible and cook.
6. Cook until you are able to form a ball or a ladoo.
7. Take a small portion of the coconut mixture and try to make a ball. If you are able to make a ball then switch off the flame and add cardamom powder. Mix well.
8. If you are not able to make a ball then Goto Step 6.
9. Allow this mixture to cool a little and then get ready to give shapes. 
10. Store them in air-tight container and enjoy with your loved ones. 
11. Coconut jaggery ladoos stay good for up to 15 days.

Notes

• You can feel free to add any nuts or dry fruits to make them rich and more nutritious.
• You need not add any ghee or oil because coconut itself contains oil. That oil is sufficient for cooking and while making shapes. Even if you do not apply any ghee or oil, you will get a perfect shape. But if you wish you can grease your hands with a little ghee to get a nice flavor ( kammadanam ) on the ladoo.
• My laddoos were soft because I did not cook them for long after I was able to give shape. If you want a little harder ladoo, then cook for another 5 minutes after you are able to form a ladoo. Hope you are able to understand. If you have any doubts, please leave them in the comments section. I will be more than happy to guide you accordingly.

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