Pal Koz(l)hukattai / Paal Kolukattai with Sugar

Like Everyone else in the Food blog world , I wanted my first post of the year to be a dessert or a sweet recipe. Hence this Palkoz(l)ukattai, a traditional Tamilian sweet/payasam  made with riceflour, sugar, milk and cardamom. I have already blogged about this one way back in 2006, but with jaggery instead of sugar. Its one of the popular posts in my blog to date

This is one of my favorite sweet and has loads of childhood memories attached with it. This is my Grandma's speciality and after her I dont remember anyone in  my maternal household making this nowadays.
Probably its time consuming and everyone gathers around in one place just for special occasions like weddings etc. In these days of fast travel, if at all we visit our native, its reach there by morning and start by night. Oh... how  I terribly miss my long summer holidays and endless chatting with cousins throughout the night.
Anyways traditionally this sweet is prepared by rolling the rice flour into small balls, first cooking them in boiling water, and then with milk and sugar. But I always use a shortcut method of directly pressing the prepared dough using a murruku press into the hot boiling water and then stir to break them.  Its a great way to involve the kids if you opt to make the kolukattai's the authentic way.

Ingredients:
1 cup Rice flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup milk
3 pods cardomom
4 cups of water
1 cup shredded coconut.


Method:
Crush the cardamoms to a fine powder.
Boil half cup of water with a pinch of salt
Add this boiling water to the rice flour and stir well with a wooden spoon, like you do for regular kollukattai or Idiyappam. Allow it to cool slightly.
At this stage you can proceed in two ways.
Boil 4 cups of water
Pinch the flour and roll into very tiny balls using your palm and put them in a plate or paper.Once all the dough is rolled, add them to the boiling water little by little. 
 (or)
Boil 4 cups of water in a thick bottomed vessel.
Place some prepared flour into the murruku press (with one hole) .
When the water is boiling , press the dough directly in it. Wait for a minute and then stir with a laddle gently to break into pieces. Wait for 2 minutes before doing the next batch.


Once the dough is all done, allow it to cook well in the water for about 5 mins.
Parallely warm a cup of milk in the saucepan.
Add the sugar, stir well and cook for another 5 mins. 
Now add the warm  milk and cardamom pods and give it a good stir.
 Boil for another 10 mins. Stir at intervals to avoid burning.
Finally add shredded coconut (fresh or desiccated) , mix well , cook for a minute and switch of the stove.
The payasam will become thick as it cools down.

Notes:
The water should be really really hot, boiling with bubbles  otherwise the koz(l)hukattai will not retain its shape and not cook properly. 


Variations:

Palkolukattai with Jaggery

There are lots of variations to this recipe.
1. You can add Jaggery instead of Sugar like here
2. Substitute milk with Coconut milk  or equal proportions of both.
3. Sometimes my Mom adds shredded lauki /surrakkai to the boiling water before adding the koz(l)ukkatai which also gives a delicate taste to this dish.


This recipe serves 5-6 people. This dish can easily be made ahead of time and refrigerated.Warm just before serving.

Sending this to the Food Pallette series - White held at Torview

Turkish Baklava

We were busy packing and moving to the new house during the new year weekend that I couldnt wish you all. So I would like to take this time to wish all my readers and blog friends 

 "A Very Happy and Fabulous New Year"

I wanted my first post of the new year to be on the sweeter side. So I decided to give the Baklava recipe posted by DK (of 'The ChefInYou) a try. I had bookmarked this as soon as it was posted, but I tried it rather quickly compared to my other favorite bookmarked ones. I have never tasted this sweet, but her pictures , the step by steps and the post in general were so tempting that got I hold of a pack of phyllo sheets immediatly the next time I went shopping. 

The recipe was very simple compared to the richness of the sweet, but handling of the phyllo sheets was a little bit dificult as it gets dried up faster.So has to keep them covered and work with them one by one.
As DK had warned in her post, the dish was very addictive and I could not restrain myself going to the refrigerator now and then. Its high in calories, but a piece of this sinfully delicious sweet is worth trying once in a while. I made my version with lightly toasted walnuts and almonds, but I think addition of pistachios would make it more favourful.
I strongly recommend this recipe as a 'must try'  one for those who can get hold of the phyllo sheets.

Recipe source - TheChefInYou
Ingredients:
2 cups  finly chopped almonds
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 tblsp cinnnamon powder
1/8th tsp clove powdr
2- 3 tblsp bread crumbs ( I missed it somehow, but better to add it )

For the syrup
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
1 stick cinnamon
1 tblsp lemon juic.

Method

Preheat the oven to 160C.
Mix all the ingredients for the filling and keep aside.
Butter a glass shallow dish with butter
Place 8-10 sheets of  phyllo one by one buttering each layer as you go.
Now spread the filling mixture evenly
Place the othe 10 sheets over the filling buttering each sheet as you go.
Using a sharp knife carefully cut the pastry into diamonds.
Place in the oven and bake for 50-60 mins.(until the top is golden brown).

While its baking prepare the syrup.
Boil the ingredients for the syrup and cool till its slightly warm.
When the Pastry is out of the oven leave it for 5 mins.
Now pour the syrup all over it.

How easy was that ....
And now for the hardest part ....Wait 8 hrs for  the syrup to be soaked well. You can leave it over night on the counter, no need to refrigerate.

Enjoy a large piece of this delicious pastry for yourself first thing in the morning ...

Carrot Halwa

Carrot Halwa

Starting up with a mighty dessert.

This receipe takes time- atleast an hour, but its worth the effort.If you are planning this for a dinner, you can make it well ahead atleast a day before and refrigerate it.

Warm it up just minutes before serving dessert.

Tastes great with a scoop of vanilla Ice cream...

Ingredients:

10 medium fresh carrots - shredded

2 cups of milk

cashews and raisins- handful

a pinch of salt

11/2 cup of sugar- can be adjusted

few tsps of ghee.

Method

Add 3 tsps of ghee in a hot non stick pan.

Fry the cashews and raisins to golden brown and keep them aside

Add the shredded carrots to the remaining ghee in the pan and stir them for 10 mins till they shrink well

Parallely boil the milk in a sauce pan.

Add the boiled milk to the carrots, add a pinch of salt ,reduce the heat to medium and cook for 20 mins or until all the milk is absorbed.

Now add the sugar and stir continuously till all the sugar gets absorbed.

Stir in the cashews and raisins.