Ragi, Green Mung, Kala Channa Sweet Puttu using Coconut Palm Sugar(Finger Millet & Bean flour steamed sweet)

Ragi or Finger Millet is a staple in the part of the Country I am coming from. Ragi porridge is one of the first semi solid food an infant is introduced to in our house holds.  This healthy and cheap pseudo grain is a rich source of Calcium, Iron, Protein, Fiber and other minerals. The cereal has low fat content and contains mainly unsaturated fat. It is easy to digest and does not contain gluten; people who are sensitive to gluten can easily consume Finger Millet.  The break fast porridge using ragi was one of the time tested one in lot of house holds in the Southern districts of India. Unfortunately now I see lot of house holds are replacing this with Oats. Oats surely is healthy, but ragi is much much more superior in terms of the nutritional profile and also doesn’t cause any health issues for people with gluten sensitivity.

This sweet is very simple to make and a perfectly healthy dessert with the iron rich ragi, protein rich bean flour and coconut and sweetened with low glycemic coconut palm sugar. Try it out and let me know how you liked it.

Preparation Time – 10 to 15 Minutes

Cooking Time – 10 to 15 Minutes

Serves – 2

Ingredients

Ragi Flour – 1 Cup (8 oz)

Whole Green Mung flour – 1/4 Cup (2 oz)

Whole Black Chick Pea Flour(Kala Channa Besan) – 1/4 Cup(2 oz)

Water - 1/3 Cup

Salt -  pinch

Grated Coconut – 1/2 to 3/4 Cup (Adjust this depending on your liking)

Coconut Palm Sugar – 2 Tbsp or more to suit your taste(You can replace this with raw sugar or grated jaggery)

Ghee Clarified butter - 1 Tbsp

Cashews – Around 6 to 8

Cardamom powder – 1/4 Tsp

Method

1)  Combine the ragi and the bean flours. Heat a heavy bottom pan, keep it in low to medium heat. Dry roast the flour till the raw smell is gone stirring in between and to make sure that the flours are not burnt.

2) Warm the water slightly. Add salt, cardamom powder  to the ragi flour and set it aside.

3) To this slowly add the water little by little and combining it nicely, the flour should be slightly wet and damp enough for steaming. If you take a small amount of flour in your hands and give a slight pressure and set it down, the flour should be able to hold it's shape. If not add little more water and try. (Do not pour a lot of water at the same time,  since you are not trying to form a dough).

3) Grease a flat, wide bowl and keep the dough mixture in this bowl steam it for 10 minutes. Remove this steamed flour and set it out to cool slightly.

4) Warm the clarified butter and to this add the chopped cashews and fry till golden and remove it from heat.

5) To the steamed flour mixture add the grated coconut, fried cashews with ghee and combine thoroughly. Once the flour is cold enough to handle by hand add the coconut palm sugar and mix evenly and serve.

Events

Sending this to Divya’s Show case Dessert event.

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Besan Kheer(Split Chick Pea Flour Pudding) using Xylitol as Sweetener

Happy Varusha Pirappu, Vishu, Vishuva Sankranti, Poyela Boishakh to all my readers. If you are new to these names and are wondering what it means? This is the name of the New Year celebrated in different regions of India based on the Hindu Solar Calendar.  Kheer , Payasam or pudding is a must on such occasions and this is one of the easiest one to prepare, can be done in a jiffy. Most of the traditional Payasam/Kheer in the Southern parts of India is made with Jaggery and a very few are made with Sugar. This is one such sweet dish which is normally made with sugar and I substituted Xylitol instead of refined sugar. For those of you who are new to Xylitol, it is a low glycemic sweetener, a natural sugar substitute which looks like sugar but has a slight chilling effect when you taste it. One draw back about xylitol is, not every one can digest it. So try it in low quantities and if you can digest it  go ahead in replacing this instead of sugar. However, portion control is critical when using xylitol as a sugar substitute.

Preparation Time – None

Cooking Time – 20 Minutes

Serves – 4

Ingredients

Besan/Split Chick Pea Flour/Kadalai Maavu – 1 Cup

Water – 1 Cup

Milk – 21/2 to 3 Cups

Xylitol – 1/2 Cup(You can replace this with sugar if you want to and increase the quantity depending on your sweetness level)

Safrron – pinch

Clarified butter/Ghee – 1/4 Cup

Nuts – 2 Tbsp

Method

1) Heat a thick bottomed pan and once hot, add the ghee and toast the nuts till slightly golden and keep them aside.

2) Now to the warm ghee add the besan flour and roast till it becomes golden browns and a nice aroma comes.  Make sure to keep stirring the flour to prevent burning.

3) To the roasted flour add water and saffron and with a whisk keep stirring till it becomes a nice thick paste without any lumps and starts thickening.

4) At this stage add half of the milk and simmer till it starts bubbling/boiling and now add the xylitol and stir till it completely dissolves. Now add more milk to the desired thickness and set it aside to cool.

5) Top it with nuts and serve or, refrigerate and serve it chilled topped with the toasted nuts.

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Banana Coconut milk Ice cream with honey as sweetener

 

 

A gentle reminder to all "The Cook Eat Delicious Dessert Event with no refined sugar or flour will end in another two days”,  please send in your entries soon.

This ice cream was my first attempt in trying to make an ice cream with coconut milk. I made it almost two years back and was  lying in my drafts for a long time. I made this before I got my ice cream maker so had to blend the coconut milk and banana mixture to prevent crystallizing and to get a nice texture. But the only draw back was it tastes so yummy, I couldn’t resist myself in having few spoons of this mixture each time I blended it.  Very easy to make and tastes absolutely superb. But using the ice cream maker definitely makes a huge difference in the texture of the ice cream. So come summer, when you try all different treats, make sure to try this easy one and let me know how you liked it.

Preparation Time – 15 Minutes

Cooking Time – 10 Minutes

Serves – 4

Ingredients

Coconut milk – 2 Cups

Agar agar powder – 2 Tsp

Honey – 1/4 Cup

Banana – 3 small to medium sized

Vanilla extract – 1 Tsp

Hot  water – 1/4 Cup

Method

1)  Place the agar agar powder in hot water and let this sit for some time. Now heat this mixture and stir it till it dissolves. Remove from heat and set this aside.

2) In a high speed blender pour the coconut milk, banana slices, vanilla extract, honey and agar agar mixture and blend till smooth.

3) Pour the mixture in a container and place it in the freezer. After 2 hours remove the mixture and blend it till smooth and put it back in the freezer once again. Repeat this 2-3 more times and leave it to freeze over night.

4) Remove from the freezer and let this sit in room temperature for 5-10 minutes on a hot day and serve with some toasted nuts.

Recipe adapted from healthycookingcoach.com

Events

This goes to Cook Eat Delicious Desserts – Refined Sugar & flour free whole some desserts an event hosted by me and started by Raven

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Dates & Nuts Fudge/Halwa (With dates as sweetener)

To all my readers and friends a very Happy and Colorful Holi. To celebrate Holi in a guilt free way, thought of coming up with this Dates fudge/halwa. If you are looking for a gluten free treat made on stove top with no refined sugar, then you have to try this recipe out for sure. This date halwa/fudge takes a little bit of patience and time in making but it is well worth the effort. These are an absolute treat and makes a perfectly guilt free dessert. Made with very few ingredients, they make a perfect treat to pack as a gift for any special occasion.

Once again dessert is dessert, even if it is a guilt free one. It is still a sweet so do not forget to enforce portion control. Dates indeed are a very good source of Iron and doesn’t cause cavities like sugar. But keep in mind two dates have 15gms of sugar and these dry fruits are high in fructose. So if you are on a low sugar diet this dessert is not for you and keep tuned in for desserts made with xylitol which I will post soon or check out my other desserts posted with Xylitol here.

Ingredients

Dates – 2 Cups

Milk – 1 1/2 Cups warm

Almond powder/meal – 3/4 Cup powdered into meal

Almonds & Cashew toasted and chopped – 1/2 Cup

Cardamom powder – 1/2 Tsp

Ghee(Clarified butter) – 4 Heaped Tbsp

Method

1) Soak dates in warm milk for at least 2 hours.

2) Grind almond into fine meal and keep this aside.

3) Toast the almonds and cashew in a toasted or little bit of ghee and chop them into fine pieces and keep it ready.

4)  Take a thick bottomed pan and heat it. Add 2 Tbsp of ghee to it.

5) Grind the dates milk mixture into a fine paste along with cardamom powder and pour this in the pan and add the almond meal to it and mix it thoroughly without any lumps.

6) Reserve 1 Tbsp of ghee to be used in the end. Keep on stirring for around 40-45 minutes and in between add little bit of ghee now and then, so that mixture doesn’t stick at the bottom.

7) At this stage the mixture would have thickened and become a thick mass and started leaving the sides of the pan. Now add a tbsp of ghee and the toasted nuts and mix well to combine.

8) Remove this from the stove and pour this in a greased plate and smooth the top. Set it aside to cool down and cut it to pieces of desired size and serve.

Recipe adapted from Ecurry.

Events

This goes to Cook Eat Delicious Desserts – Refined Sugar & flour free whole some desserts an event hosted by me and started by Raven.	Sending this to Holi fest event hosted by Kalyani of Sizzling Taste buds.
Sending this to Holi Hai hosted by Best of my Kitchen.	Sending this to Spotlight – Color Holi by Chandrani
Sending this to Healthy Morsels event hosted by Taste of Pearl City.	Sending this to Anjali’s Cakes, Cookies and Desserts event.

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Mung Bean & Coconut Pudding(Pasi Paruppu, thengai Payasam) with Jaggery(Panela) as Sweetener

When Raven asked me If I am interested in hosting Cook Eat Delicious Desserts, I was really thrilled to get this opportunity.  I used to love and still love sweet dishes but I have this bad habit of subscribing to lot of health food News letters and also reading them.  The more and more you read, you think twice, thrice to consume white sugar. Just check out this article in New York Times to read about a very interesting article on Sugar. May be all these problems might or might not occur for every one and only after couple of years, we might know about it. One thing was sure for me, once I start eating something with Sugar, it makes me to crave for more sweet dishes and now I have stopped sugar from my diet. I no longer have that craving for something sweet.  I make desserts once in a while and now make them with alternate sweeteners instead of sugar  which doesn’t make you to crave for more and more.
Traditionally most of Indian desserts are sweetened with Jaggery(Panela) which is rich in trace minerals, Iron and doesn’t cause cavities like refined sugar.  Also there are lot of Indian desserts which are bean and coconut based so are gluten free and also rich in protein. But keep in mind, a dessert can be whole some and healthy but still it is a dessert so limit the quantity.

Preparation Time – 5 Minutes
Cooking Time – 20-30 Minutes
Serves – 3 to 4

Ingredients

Mung Bean/ Mung Dal – 3/4 Cup
Split Channa Dal – 1 heaped Tbsp
Jaggery - 1/2 cup Heaped (Increase this to 3/4 Cup or 1 Cup depending on your taste)
Coconut – 1 Cup firmly packed + 1 Tbsp
Water – 3/4 Cup for grinding the coconut + and as required for boiling the bean and more to adjust the thickness as desired.
Cardamom pods – 1/2 Tsp(Shelled and the black seeds)
Cashews – 10 toasted
Saffron – few strands(this is not traditionally used, but I love the flavor of saffron so add it)

Method

1) Dry roast mung bean and split channa dal till slightly brown and aromatic. Make sure to stir in between and roast on a medium heat as they become black very quickly.
2) Now soak the roasted dal in some warm water and keep it aside. This soaking for some time will help out to cook quickly. Meanwhile grate the coconut and grind it with 3/4 cup of water and cardamom seeds into a smooth paste and set it aside.
3) Break the cashews into half and in a toaster toast till slightly golden/brown or add a tsp of ghee(clarified butter) and roast till golden.
4) Add the saffron strands and cook soaked beans on medium heat adding enough water till the beans are soft and mushy. Now add the powdered jaggery and simmer till the jaggery is well dissolved.
5) Now add the ground coconut paste and simmer for few minutes and add more or less water depending on the thickness you like.
6) Add the toasted nuts and serve it.

Events

This goes to Cook Eat Delicious Desserts – Refined Sugar & flour free whole some desserts an event hosted by me and started by Raven.
Sending this to Holi fest event hosted by Kalyani of Sizzling Taste buds.

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Strawberry Parfait

Looking for a high protein, tasty and guilt free dessert? Give this parfait a try. Parfait means frozen dessert in French and in America it is made by layering whipped cream, ice cream, and/or flavored gelatin, cream, fruits in tall glasses. Also it can be done with a combination of sweetened yogurt, nuts and fruits. So parfait is all about layering and I layered it with xylitol sweetened yogurt cheese, layered with some fresh strawberries and toasted nuts and coconut pieces. I use Xylitol extensively as a sweetener and those you are new to my space, xylitol is a naturally occurring sugar substitute which is low on carbohydrates and very low on glycemic index and doesn’t cause cavities like white sugar. But xylitol is slightly difficult to digest. So try out in small quantities and you don’t have any issue in digesting this sweetener, this is the best alternate to sugar and doesn’t have any weird after taste. I some times have parfait for breakfast, sometimes as snack and sometimes as a dessert.  So do you like parfait? If so do you have it for breakfast, snack or as a dessert?
Preparation Time – 15 Minutes
Cooking Time – 5 Minutes
Serves – 3
Ingredients
Greek Yogurt – 4 Cups
Chopped strawberries – 1 Cup and few for topping
Toasted Chopped Almonds, Cashews & Coconut –  3/4 Cup(Use shredded coconut as I found it is much better than chopped coconut)
Powdered Xylitol – 2 Tbsp or to taste
Method
1) Put the greek yogurt in a cheese cloth and squeeze out excess water from it.  Now place this in a bowl and add powdered xylitol and mix thoroughly.
2) Spoon 1-2 Tbsp of this sweetened yogurt cheese in a glass and arrange a layer of strawberries and toasted nuts. Once again spoon another 1-2 Tbsp of yogurt cheese repeat the layering of berries and nuts once again.
3) Top with full strawberry, chill and serve.

Events
Sending this to Zesty Palette’s New You Series 3 hosted by Vardhini.

Sending this to  Ramya’s ABC Series - Dessert

Sending this to Kids delight some thing sweet by Kavitha an event started by Srivalli.

This goes to Cook Eat Delicious Desserts – Refined Sugar & flour free whole some desserts an event hosted by me and started by Raven

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Pumpkin Mung Bean Halwa

Mung Bean is a very good source of protein and is very easy to digest. Inspired by my earlier Mung Bean Halwa, I tried this one with a slight variation, yes by adding pumpkin puree to this halwa. Pumpkin does give a very lovely color and slight sweetness to this dessert. This dessert is high in protein and made with iron rich jaggery. So if you like pumpkins and are looking for recipes using pumpkin during this fall season,do try this out and let me know how you liked it.



Ingredients



Split Yellow Moong Dal(Mung Bean) – 1 cup

Ghee (clarified butter) – 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp

Pumpkin pieces - 2 Cups



Powdered Jaggery – 1/2 cup 



Cardamom powder - pinch

 Toasted nuts – 1 tbsp for garnishing



Method



1) Soak Moong Dal overnight in water.



2) Next day rinse the mung dal few times with enough water.



3) Drain the water completely from the mung bean and grind this into a fine paste using as little water as possible.



4) Heat 1 Tbsp of ghee and toast the nuts and keep it aside, now add the chopped pumpkin pieces and saute for 5 minutes and cover and cook for 5-7 more minutes. Now the pumpkin would have turned mushy and soft. Keep this aside to cool and puree the pumpkin once it is cold enough to handle and keep this aside.



5) Heat 1/4 cup of the ghee(1/2 the quantity) once it is hot and melted, simmer the stove into minimum and add the grind mung bean paste little by little stirring continuously with a egg beater as this part is very tricky because the mung bean will stick to the bottom of the vessel if not taken care. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of ghee and keep stirring till the mung bean gets cooked and the color of the bean paste changes color to slight brown.



6) Now add the pumpkin puree, jaggery to the bean mixture and stir till everything combines and well cooked and the halwa starts leaving the side.



 7) Add the toasted nuts and switch off the stove and serve this warm.



Now how to carve a pumpkin? Let me show you the unusual way. Can you guess who did this ? Will show you in my next post.

Events



1) Sending this to CWS- Cooking with Seeds Mung Bean hosted by Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.



2) Sending this to Halloween fiesta hosted by Vardhini of Vardhini's Kitchen.



Note - I tried this Mung Bean & Pumpkin halwa almost two years back.  The recipe was lying in drafts because I misplaced the photo files. Since then I have changed two laptops and lot of my food photographs I had taken earlier was in flash drive and I misplaced it somewhere. Finally I found the missing flash drive and got all my old files back. So excuse me for this photograph and few more not so good ones will come from my earlier clicks. I am not saying I am pro in food photography now, but definitely when compared to old photos my new ones are better and I know it is long way to go to master the art. 

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Sandesh(Saffron flavored milk sweet sweetened with guilt free Xylitol)

Wish ing you all a very Happy Diwali/Deepavali. Diwali/Deepavali is one of the most important festivals in India. The name Deepavali means row of lights and it indeed is a festival of lights where small clay lamps are lit inside the house and families get together and celebrate with sweets, new dress and to top it all bursting fire crackers. Unless you have visited or stayed in the Indian subcontinent during Deepavali time, it is slightly difficult to understand what is being missed miles away during this festival time.



Living thousands of miles away  I try to recreate things in whatever way I can, so that my kids also get a feel of this festival.  Now getting on to this recipe, this is a very easy one with very few ingredients, even though it involves couple of steps. Super healthy too with calcium and protein and not cavity causing sweetener Xylitol. Do try it out and let me know, how you liked it.



Preparation Time - 30 Minutes

Serves - Makes around 12 pieces





Ingredients



Whole Milk - 4 Cups

Vinegar - 1/4 Cup

Saffron few strands

Rose water - 1/2 Tsp

Powdered Xylitol - 1/4 Cup( or 1/4 Sugar)

Few rose petals and almonds slices for garnishing



Method



1) Combine saffron and milk and boil the milk. Once it starts to rise in the pan, add the vinegar stir and switch off the stove. By now the cheese and whey would have separated.



2) Line a colander with cheese cloth and pour the whey and cheese through it. The cheese would settle in the top of the cloth and the whey would drain. Rinse this cheese with cold water to remove any smell or sour taste and squeeze out all the extra water.



3) Knead the cheese using your hands to form a soft firm dough and add the powdered xylitol, rose water and make small balls out of it and garnish with sliced almonds and rose petals. Chill it and serve. Xylitol causes little bit of dryness, so you are better off without cooking the mixture. If you are using sugar proceed to step 4.



4) If you are using sugar instead of sugar. After adding the sweetener, cook in low heat for around 5 minutes. Until the mixture resembles a soft dough. Cool this mixture and once it is warm enough to handle, roll out small balls and garnish with nuts or fruits of your choice. Chill it and serve.

Events



Sending this to Cooking Concepts - Festive Food hosted by Srav's Culinary Concepts.

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Carrot Milk Fudge(Carrot Halwa using Xylitol)

Looking for more ways to include this naturally sweet, delicious and crunchy, vegetable in your diet? Then definitely try this carrot milk fudge. But before that let us see more about this vegetable. These root vegetables comes with wholesome health benefiting compounds such as beta carotenes, vitamin A, minerals and anti-oxidants in ample amounts.  Studies have found that flavonoid compounds in carrots help protect from skin, lung and oral cavity cancers and the vitamin A help in maintaining a good vision. This naturally sweet, root vegetable packed with vitamins may be good for lot of people, but for people who are on a low sugar this is not the vegetable to be included regularly in their diet. Will post another fudge recipe using white pumpkin, which is low in sugar but still tastes wonderful. Check back soon and now let us get on to this recipe.



Preparation Time - 10 Minutes

Cooking Time - 20-25 Minutes

Serves - 8 to 10 (small portion sizes)





Ingredients



Grated Carrots - 3 Cups

Milk - 1 1/2 Cups

Grated Paneer - 1/3 Cup(Indian cottage cheese)

Xylitol - 1/3 Cup(If using sugar go till 1/2 Cup, because xylitol is slightly sweeter than sugar I used only 1/3 cup)

Saffron - few strands

Blanched almonds -1 Tbsp

Cashew - 1 Tbsp

Clarified butter - 3 Tbsp



Method



1) Heat a heavy bottomed pan and add a Tbsp of ghee and toast the nuts and keep it aside.



2) Add another Tbsp of ghee and add the grated carrots and saute till the raw smell is gone. ( This will take any where between 7-8 minutes).



3) Now add the milk and saffron strands and boil till the carrots are well cooked and all the milk is evaporated and the mixture becomes thick.



4) Now add the xylitol and paneer keep stirring till the mixture starts leaving the sides. At this point add the left over ghee and the toasted nuts and stir well and switch off the stove. Serve hot.

Events



Sending this to Cooking Concepts - Festive Food hosted by Srav's Culinary Concepts.

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Rasgulla(Home made Cheese Ball cooked in Sugar free Sweet Syrup)

Rasgulla is a milk based sweet from the Eastern part of India. Most or I would say all of the Indian sweets are traditionally made on stove top and most of them are gluten free. This one is traditionally made with sugar, but in my household I try to avoid refined sugars in all forms so had to go for xylitol. For people who are hearing Xylitol for the first time, it is a natural sugar substitute and is safe for people with diabetes. Xylitol tastes sweet but, unlike sugar, it is not converted in the mouth to acids that cause tooth decay. It reduces levels of decay-causing bacteria in saliva and also acts against some bacteria that cause ear infections. But make sure you don't indulge excessive amount of sweets made with xylitol, as it will cause upset stomachs. Now getting on to the recipe, there are few steps involved but once you get familiar with them, making rasgulla is a very simple task.



Preparation Time - 20

Cooking Time - 30

Serves - 12 to 15 Balls





Ingredients



Milk - 4 Cups

White distilled vinegar - 1/4 Cup or Lemon juice - 1/4 Cup + 1/4 Cup cold water

Xylitol - 1 Cup (If using sugar go for 1 1/2 cups and use 4 cups water)

Water  - 3 Cups

Rose water - 1/2 Tsp

Saffron few strands(optional)



Method



1) Boil the milk in medium heat, stirring once in a while so that the bottom doesn't brown. Once the milk is boiled well and starts coming up in the vessel, pour the vinegar slowly, stirring it and once the milk is curdled you will see the whey and the cheese starting to separate, at this point switch off the stove.



2) Line a colander with a cheese cloth and transfer the hot contents in it, the whey will be filtered down and the cheese will stay on top. You can use this whey to add to soups, gravies or kneading dough. But if you are using vinegar to curdle the milk, check the flavor of the whey before using it as I find a strong vinegar flavor and use only whey done using lemon juice. On top of the cheese immediately pour cold water to remove the flavor and sour taste and rinse nicely.



3) Squeeze out the excess water from the cheese by keeping a heavy object on top of the cheese cloth or you can use layers of paper towel to absorb excess water. Once the excess water is drained out, take a small amount of paneer or cheese and knead to see if you are able to make a small ball out of it and the ball holds shape.



4) In a pressure pan, add the xylitol and 3 cups of water and boil till the xylitol is completely dissolved. Meanwhile take out the paneer and knead it several times to form a firm soft dough and  make equal sized ball and keep it ready.



5) Once the xylitol is dissolved, slowly drop the paneer balls one by one in the xylitol mixture and cover the pressure cooker and cook in medium heat till you get one whistle. Now put the flame in low and switch off in 5 minutes.Once the pressure cooker is cool enough to handle, remove the weight on top and open the pressure cooker and add the rose water. Chill and serve. You can also add few pieces of crushed saffron for flavor.

 

Boil the milk

 Pour the vinegar and stir till the cheese and whey separates.

Events



Sending this to Cooking Concepts - Festive Food hosted by Srav's Culinary Concepts.

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Brown Rice Puttu(Steamed Brown Rice & Jaggery Sweet)

Navarathri - is a nine day festival and is celebrated all our India in different ways. Each region, state celebrates it differently. We celebrate the nine days by keeping Golu/Kolu an arrangement of dolls in odd numbered steps and each day the Goddess is worshipped and a prasad is offered. Women are invited and slokas and devotional songs are sung in front of the golu and they are given turmeric and kumkum along with prasad. The celebration ends on Vijaya Dasami day which is today and is a very auspicious day to start all kinds of learning related activites. Each day a different prasad is made and offered and this puttu is one such traditional one which is offered normally on Tuesday's or Friday's during Navarathri.

Normally this dish is made with raw white rice and jaggery(panela), I tried this one with brown rice and
definitely didn't feel any difference in the taste at all. So check out this recipe and do give it a try and let me know, how you liked it.

Preparation Time - 20 Minutes
Cooking Time - 45 Minutes
Serves - 4 to 8


Ingredients

Brown Rice - 1 Cup(You can use white rice also if so go for the raw one and the parboiled one)
Water - 1 Cup
Jaggery/Panela - 1 1/4 Cup or more if desired
Cardamom powder - 1/2 Tsp
Grated coconut - 1/2 Cup
Salt - pinch
Turmeric powder - pinch
Cashews - 1 Tbsp
Ghee(Clarified butter) - 1 Tbsp


Method

1) Soak the rice in water for 2 hours(if using white rice, 1 hour is enough)

2) Drain the water completely from the rice and set this aside. Meanwhile
heat a heavy bottomed pan(I used an iron one) and set it on medium heat.

3) Divide this drained rice in three portions and fry this rice in the iron pan
till they are well spluttered and fried stirring in between so that the rice doesn't
get burned.

4) Once the rice is cool enough to handle, transfer the contents to a food processor and make a fine powder out of this rice(fine and not super fine). To the rice flour add the turmeric powder and salt and keep it aside.

5) Heat a cup of water and once it reaches the boiling point, switch off. Pour the water little by little on to the rice flour stirring and checking the consistency. The flour should be all wet and should be able to hold shape when made into a ball.

6) Now, cover this wet flour and in a pressure cooker/pan cook for 3 whistles and switch off. Once the pressure cooker is all set to open, open this and let this cooked rice cool a little bit. After it is cooled enough to handle by hand, using both your hands rub the flour in between to make a nice powder/flour.

7) Dry fry the coconut till it becomes slight brown and fry the cashews in ghee and keep it also aside.

8) Take the jaggery in a pan and pour just enough water to cover its surface and boil it till becomes thick. One point the jaggery would have become thick and if you put the spoon out and take it you will see strings. Now switch off, add the cardamom powder, cooked rice flour and stir well immediately. Add the roasted coconut and cashews and enjoy.

Events

Sending this to Cooking Concepts - Festive Food hosted by Srav's Culinary Concepts.

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