Ribbon Pakoda
This crunchy snack is the perfect harbinger of the festival of lights
Ingredients
Parboiled rice – 1 kg (wash and dry the rice for two days and then grind it)
Toor daal- 50 gm
Bengal gram – 50 gm
Green gram – 50 gm
Black gram – 50 gm
Roasted Bengal gram- 50 gm
Anise seeds– 1 tbsp
Red chillies – 10
Salt – as needed
Water – as needed for texture
Garlic paste- 1 ½ tbsp
Oil to fry
Method
- Lightly dry roast toor daal, Bengal gram, black gram and green gram separately. Later mix all together and keep aside.
- Add the ground parboiled rice to this mixture.
- To this add roasted Bengal gram, anise seeds and red chillies and grind them all together.
- Once the flour loses the heat, sieve it. Add required salt.
- Pour adequate quantity of water till right consistency is reached. Make dough of the mixture and add the garlic paste for flavour.
- Place the dough in the murukku maker with the long slit disc and press the dough directly into boiling oil.
- Take the pakodas from the oil and serve hot.
Athirasam
This authentic Tamil sweet dish is said to usher in sugary beginnings
Ingredients
Raw rice- 1 kg
Jaggery- 1 kg
Dry ginger powder (sukku) – 1 tbsp
Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
Pinch of salt
Oil to fry
Method
- Wash and soak the raw rice for two hours. Later, drain the water and dry grind the rice in a mixer till it is not too coarse.
- Grate the jaggery and add just the right amount of water for it to soak. Bring it to boil and switch off once it reaches the hard ball stage.
- To the ground rice add dry ginger powder, cardamom powder and a pinch of salt.
- Then add this mixture to the jaggery syrup and mix and keep aside for a week to allow the mixture to ferment.
- Take the dough and knead again. Divide equally and make balls.
- Heat oil in a pan; once the oil is heated, reduce the flame to medium.
- Grease a banana leaf or a plastic cover with ghee and flatten the ball with your hands.
- Take the flattened dough in your hands from the leaf and gently slip it into the oil. Fry both sides till it turns a nice brown colour.
- Remove from oil and press the adhirasam with a ladle to drain excess oil. Serve hot.
Kodubale
This traditional tea time snack from Karnataka is a must have during Diwali
Ingredients
Rice flour – 2 cups
All purpose flour – ½ cup
Roasted besan – ½ cup
Dry desiccated coconut – ¾ cup
Asafoetida – ½ tsp
Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Curry Leaves – 5, finely chopped (optional)
Ghee – ¼ cup
Oil for deep frying
Method
- Combine all the ingredients together in a large bowl and knead to make smooth firm dough adding very little water, if needed.
- Divide and shape the dough into lemon size balls. Using the palm of your hands rub and roll to make a half inch thick and yet thin long roll.
- Cut the roll in 1.5” strips and join the ends to form a circle. Repeat the process for the rest of the dough.
- Heat oil in a pan; lower the circles into the oil one by one slowly so that they do not break and deep fry on low to medium heat until browned and cooked.
- Drain excess oil and store the kodubale in airtight containers after cooling.
Akkaravadisal
Take in the taste of this yummy sweet dish from Tamil Nadu that bespeaks age old traditions
Ingredients
Moong daal- 150 gm
Raw rice- 150 gm
Sugar – 300 gm
Milk – ½ a litre
Water- ½ a litre
Ghee- 5 tbsp
Maida – 1 tbsp (soak in little milk to make a paste)
Cashew nuts – as needed
Raisins – as needed
Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
Saffron – 1 tsp
Edible camphor – a pinch
Method
- Boil the moong daal in milk and water.
- Stir till the daal softens considerably. Then add the rice. Bring to boil and simmer till the rice is well cooked.
- Then add the sugar and keep stirring till the mixture reaches a soft texture.
- Add ghee and the maida paste. Again bring it boil for five minutes.
- Roast cashew nuts, raisins and cardamom powder in ghee and add to the akkaravadisal.
- Garnish with kesar and edible camphor.
Bobbatlu
This popular sweet dish from Andhra Pradesh is also known as Puran Poli in Maharashtra
Ingredients
Bengal gram dal – 1 cup
Sugar – 1 cup
All purpose flour – 1 ¼ cup
Cardamom powder – ½ tsp
Ghee – 1 tbsp
Salt – a pinch
Oil _ 4 tbsp
Method
- Wash and soak the Bengal gram dal in water for an hour. Drain and add a cup of fresh water. Pressure cook the dal till it is well cooked. Grind to a fine paste.
- Heat a pan, add the ground dal paste and sugar and cook on low flame, stirring occasionally, till they blend and form a thick, dry paste.
- Keeping the pan on lo flame, add cardamom powder and salt and combine. Remove from heat and leave it to cool.
- Prepare small lemon sized balls of the dal mix for stuffing. Keep aside.
- In a clean bowl, combine flour, salt, oil and enough water to make very soft and sticky dough (softer than puri dough). Knead well and keep aside for one or two hours.
- Grease your hand with oil and take a small portion of the dough and flatten it into a 2″ disc. Place a ball of the stuffing in the centre and draw the edges of the dough from all sides to cover the stuffing completely.
- Take a plastic sheet or a plantain leaf and gently flatten each ball carefully with your fingers to form a puri sized bobbatlu/poli.
- Heat a tawa and fry it on low flame such that it is roasted on both sides till brown spots appear, like rotis. Smear ghee over the bobbatu while frying.
- Serve hot. Store them in an airtight container.
Suyyam
Soak in the mood of Diwali with this quintessential sweet dish
Ingredients
Bengal gram – 150 grams
Coconut – 100 grams
Jaggery – 150 grams
Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
Pinch of salt
Maida powder – 200 grams
Oil to fry
Method
- Boil the Bengal gram till it becomes soft. Strain it.
- Grate the coconut and grind it along with the Bengal gram in the mixer. Grind till the mixture is slightly coarse.
- Boil the jaggery and as soon as it melts add to the above mixture.
- After stirring for a while, add cardamom powder, pinch of salt and keep aside.
- Make even-sized balls with the dough. Soak the maida powder in water to make it into a semi-solid paste. Soak the jaggery balls in the maida powder mixture and fry in boiling oil.
- Remove from oil and serve hot.
Rava Ladoo
These delicious ladoos are easy to make and also have a long shelf life
Ingredients
Semolina- 500 gm
Sugar- 400 gm
Cashew nuts – 10
Ghee – 6 tbsp
Pinch of salt
Method
- Fry the semolina in 1 tbsp ghee till it becomes soft. Keep aside.
- Grind the sugar in the mixer and add it to the semolina with a pinch of salt.
- Finely chop the cashew nuts and fry it in 1 tbsp ghee.
- Add the chopped cashew nuts to the semolina-sugar mixture.
- Take the remaining ghee and heat in the pan very lightly. When it starts fuming, add it gradually to the semolina mixture and make ladoos.
- Keep adding small quantities of ghee to the mixture to make more ladoos.