Traditional Sweets

                                                                    Appam

Ingredients:

• Raw rice - 1 glass [soaked in water 1/2 an hr]
• Wheat flour - 1/4 cup
• Jaggery - 1/2 glass
• Ripe banana - 1 small size
• Cardamom powder - 1 sp
• Seasame seeds - 1 sp
• Grated coconut - 2 tbl sp
• Ghee - 1/2 cup
• Oil - For frying.

Method:

Grind the rice in the mixer along with jaggery, wheat flour, ripe banana & cardamom powder. Grind the batter smoothly & keep aside [See Photo]. Then take a pan & pour 2 tbl sp of ghee to that & fry the seasame seeds & coconut. Make them little brown in colour & add it to the batter. Keep the appam vessel on the gas & pour little oil & ghee together to that. When the oil becomes hot, pour one sp of batter to the vessel [See photo]. Make sure that when one side of the appam gets fried, turn the other side also & get it fried. Fry both the sides till it becomes brown in colour. Remove from the gas. Your appam is ready.
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                                                                  Badhusha

Ingredients [For Syrup]:

• Sugar - 2 cups
• Water - 1/2 cup
• Powder cardamom - 1/2 tsp
• Pachai karpooram - A pinch.

Method:

In a heavy wide mouthed vessel heat sugar adding 1/2 cup of water. Bring to 2 string consistency syrup. Add powdered cardamom, pachai karpooram & mix well. Your syrup is ready.


Ingredients [For Badhusha]:

• Maida - 2 1/2 cups
• Baking powder - 1/2 level sp
• Unsour curd - 1/2 cup
• Butter - 1 tbl sp [Good Quality]
• Ghee - 1/4 cup
• Powdered sugar - 2 tbl sp
• Oil - for frying.

Method:

Take one mixing bowl, put maida & baking powder. Add butter, ghee & curd to make a dough. [Don't knead it too much]. Then make big lemon size balls with the dough. Make each ball in to a good round shape vada with 2 cm thickness. Make gentle depression with your finger in the center. Keep over a greased plastic sheet. Then heat oil  in a pan & gently dip as many vadas as possible. Lower the flame, turn each vada the other side & deep fry till it is light golden in colour. Remove gently with a spoon. Dip each vada into the prepared syrup [Check whether it is still hot]. Then transfer each sugar coated vada on to the other plate. The badhushas are ready. Heat the syrup again to make it watery [You may add a few drops of water if necessary]. Decorate with chopped nuts when it is still hot. When it becomes cool, keep them in an air-tight container.
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                                                         Milk & Coconut Burfi

Ingredients:

• Finely grated coconut - 1 cup
• Milk - 1 litre or Sweetless kova [Mawa] - 50 gms
• Sugar - 1 level cup
• Pure ghee - 3 to 4 tbl sps.

Method:

First take one heavy kadai, keep on the gas & pour the milk & heat till it is reduced to half. Then add coconut, sugar & stir till it becomes thick. Add ghee when it sticks to the bottom of the kadai. When it reaches burfi stage, the mixture turns golden & frothy. At this stage, pour on a greased tray [apply little ghee on the tray] & cut into pieces. Your mouth watering milk coconut burfi is ready to eat.

Note: People who don't prefer milk while making burfi can make this burfi with the help of sweetless kova as per the above measurement. At 1 litre of milk you can make this kova upto 50 gms. Such type of kova is also available in shops.
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                                                             Boondhi Laddu


Ingredients:

• Bengal gram flour - 1 cup [Heaped]
• Rice flour - 1 tsp
• Kesar colour - A pinch [For the dough]
• Cooking soda - A pinch
• Oil - For deep frying
• Sugar - 1 1/ 2 cups
• Water - 1 1/ 2 cups
• Saffron - Little
• Broken cashewnuts - 1 tbl sp
• Resins - 1 tbl sp
• Diamond candy - Little [Optional]
• Cloves - Few
• Ghee - 1 tbl sp
• Kesar colour - A pinch [For sugar syrup]
• Cardamom powder - Little.

Method:

Mix gram flour, rice flour, kesar colour, cooking soda together. Add just enough water to make it into a paste.[Like bajji dough consistency]. Then heat oil in broad kadai. Keep boondhi ladle [flat round ladle with holes] on top of the oil at a distance & pour 1 big spoon full of mixed batter on the boondhi ladle. Tape gently with spoon. See whether small droplets of dough falls in the oil & gets fried. When its half fried, [still soft] take out from oil & put in hot sugar syrup. Repeat the process till all the boondhis are fried.

For Sugar Syrup:

Mix water & sugar together in heavy vessel. Heat till the sugar is dissolved. Stir it in between. When it is dissolved, allow the syrup to boil till 1/2 string consistency is reached [do not stir at this stage]. Then remove from the fire & mix kesar colour, saffron, cardamom powder, fried cloves, cashewnuts, resins, diamond candy & deep fried boondhis. Then keep aside till it becomes warm. Then make into medium size balls [laddus] when the mixture is warm.

Note:

If the mixture cools completely, the sugar crystallizes & balls cannot be made. Add all the deep fried boondhis together in sugar syrup. Syrup should be warm while putting boondhis in that.

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                                                      Milk Powder Gulab Jamun

Ingredients:

• Milk powder - 15 tbl sps [Level]
• Maida - 6 tbl sp [Level]
• Cooking soda - 2 pinches
• Fresh curd - 1 tbl spn
• Milk - Little
• Melted ghee - 1 1/2 tsp
• Oil or Vanaspathi - For frying.

For Sugar Syrup:

• Sugar - 1 1/2 cups
• Water - 1 1/2 cups
• Saffron - Little
• Rose essence - Few drops.

Method:

First sieve maida, milk powder, soda together 2 or 3 times without any lumps. Then take this mixture in a bowl, add ghee, curd & mix with finger tips. Sprinkle water or milk & mix gently to form a smooth dough. [Do not knead]. Then keep it closed for 10 mins. Make lemon sized balls & deep fry in medium hot oil or vanaspathi. On the other side of the gas, keep one vessel & prepare sticky syrup with sugar & water. At this time, add saffron & essence to that. As the jamuns are fried, put it in hot sugar syrup. Allow to soak for atleast 2 hrs in sugar syrup. Enjoy your gulab jamuns. Serve it hot or cool.
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                                                        Cashew [Kaju] Kathri


Ingredients:

• Cashewnuts - 1 cup
• Powdered sugar - 1 cup
• Rose essence - A few drops
• Sliver warq [wrap] - For decoration [Optional].

Method:

Soak cashewnuts for 10 mins. Then grind it into a thick paste without adding water. Then mix the paste with sugar, heat it in a heavy kadai, stir it constantly, till it becomes a thick mass. Then remove from the gas & mix it with essence. Knead well like chappathi dough when the mixture is still warm. Then apply little ghee in 2 thick plastic sheets. Transfer the dough on one sheet. Place another sheet on top. Flatten the dough & roll out like a thin chappathi. Then peel off the top plastic sheet & decorate with sliver warq. Cut into diamond shapes when it become cool. Enjoy your kaju kathri.
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                                                            Akkaravadsal

Ingredients:

• Rice - 1 glass
• Moongdal - 2 sp
• Ghee - 1/4 kg
• Cashewnuts - 10-12
• Jaggery - 1 glass
• Sugar - 1/4  glass
• Elaichi - 8
• Resins - 10-12.

Method:

Take 1 glass of rice n 2 tablespoon of moongdal, wash n drain them together nicely. Fry them with ghee till the smell comes. Now, If u take 1 glass of rice, then take 1 glass of milk n 3 glasses of water n boil them in cooker (like how u cook / boil rice). Wait for 3 whistles to come.

Now open the cooker. Above the rice, mix with it 1 glass of jaggery n 1/4th glass of sugar. Mix it with ghee also (in between). Mix it well till it becomes thick. After it becomes thick, add some elaichi powder & a pinch of green karpoora powder (Pacha Kalpooram Powder). Finally fry some cashewnuts, resins (kismiss), & pour it above the Akkaravadsal. Ready 2 eat.

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                                                                    Puttu

Ingredients:

• Rice Flour - 1  1/2 cup
• Jaggery - 1  1/4 cup
• Fresh grated coconut - 1/2 cup
• Ghee - 2 tbl sp
• Cashewnuts - 10 [Made into small pieces]
• Salt - A pinch
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 sp.

Method:

Wash the rice, strain it & spread it on a muslin cloth. Allow about 15 mins for the cloth to absorb all the water from the rice till it no longer steals wet. Now blend the rice in to a fine powder. Roast the flour over a medium flame. The flour should be roasted to such a consistency that you should be able to draw a straight line. Add little salt & turmeric powder to the flour. Sprinkle little warm water to the flour & mix well. It should be in such way that you should be able to hold it & when you leave it, it should spread.
Add water to the jaggery & melt it over to a low flame. Strain to remove stum [dirt].
Return to the flame & steer until it reaches a thick pouring consistency so that when you roll & drop it, you should be able to hear the sound. Pour this thick consistency to the flour & mix well. Fry coconut, cardamom & cashewnuts in a ghee & pour it on the puttu & mix well. Your puttu is ready.
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                                                                  Ukkarai


Ingredients:

• Bengal gram dal [Kadalai parupu] - 1 glass
• Jaggery - 1 glass
• Ghee - 3/4 cup
• Cardamom powder - 1 sp.

Method:


Take one kadai, keep it on the gas & fry the channadal till it turns to golden brown. Then pour required water to the dal & keep aside for 2 hrs. Then drain the water & grind it to a fine paste. Again keep one heavy bottom vessel on the gas & pour ghee to that. Add the grained dal & fry till it becomes dry. Heat the jaggery adding 1/4 cup of water. When the jaggery melts, strain through a strainer & reheat. Keep the fire in lower flame. [Better use non-stick vessel]. When it comes to 1 string consistancy, add the prepared dal & mix well. Add cardamom powder. When it becomes dry & soft, remove from the gas. When it becomes cool, store it in a dry container.


It is a popular sweet in Tirunelveli.