DEVAKOTTAI SAMAYAL ARAI

Holiday season is here and everyone will be baking cookies for parties or get-togethers. I baked these cookies that have a light and crunchy texture. I experienced a warm feeling when I had a bite of these freshly baked cookies. I want to share this recipe with all of you.  Recipe Card: (Makes 30 cookies) Whole Wheat Flour - 1 and 1/4th cup Powdered Sugar - 1/2 cup Cardamom Powder - 1/4 tsp Baking Powder - 1/4 tsp Salt a pinch (to enhance the taste) Melted butter - 1/2 cup Milk - 3 tbsp *Pre-heat the oven to 310 ° F.  *In a large bowl, add the powdered sugar and the melted butter and mix well. Then sift the flour, baking powder, cardamom powder, salt and add this to the wet mix. *Now form dough by adding the milk and gently mixing it. Do not overmix. *Roll the dough in between 2 pieces of parchment paper with the help of the rolling pin. Using a flower shaped cookie cutter, cut out 1/4 inch thick cookies.  *Lay them one inch apart on the baking sheet lined with parchment ...

On the occasion of Vinayaga Chathurthi, I wanted to share the recipe for making Poorana Kozhukkattai with three different fillings, 2 sweet and 1 savory. Let's get started. For the outer layer: Rice flour - 1 cup Boiling water - 1 and 1/2 cups to 2 cups Salt - 1/2 tsp Ghee - 1 tsp Ingredients for Filling # 1 - Chana dal Sweet filling  Chana Dal - 1/2 cup (soaked for 2 hours in 1 cup of water and pressure cook until soft) Jaggery powder - 1/4 cup (You can add little more jaggery if you wish) Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp Water - 1 tsp Cashew nuts - 2 tbsp broken pieces Ghee - 1 tbsp Ingredients for  Filling #2- Moong Dal Savoury filling Yellow moong dal - 1/4 cup, soaked for 10 minutes and pressure cooked  Grated coconut - 2 tbsp Green chillies - 2 medium finely chopped Cumin seeds Mustard seeds curry leaves a few Oil - 1 tsp Asafoetida - 1 pinch salt as per taste Ingredients for  Filling #3 - Moong Dal Sweet filling  Yellow Moong Dal - 1/4 cup, soaked for 10 minutes...

Today I am here with a yummy cookie recipe. You can try this recipe while your kids are at home during this summer vacation. This is a perfect tea time snack or a travel snack.  Recipe Card (Makes about 40 cookies) All purpose flour - 1 cup Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup Ghee - 1/2 cup melted Baking powder, one pinch Note 1. Add 1/3 cup sugar to a blender and powder it or use half cup powdered sugar 2. Ghee substitute - 1/4 cup Melted butter + 1 tablespoon milk + 3 teaspoon milk if needed (I used this substitute for this recipe) 3. If you add just the ghee, the cookies will be soft. But if you add milk, it will become hard.  In a bowl add the ghee and the powdered sugar and cream it well until you get peaks like in the picture below.                                                   Now add the flour and make a dough. If it is hard to form the dough, add ...

I made this dish for dinner tonight and thought of sharing the recipe with you.  First let's make the pesto sauce I used - (serves 2 people) Fresh Basil leaves - 1/2 cup Pecans - 1/4 cup Peppercorns - 7 to 8 nos. Garlic cloves - 3 small (peeled and crashed) Salt - 1/4 tsp Olive Oil - 2 tbsp In a blender, add the pecans, peppercorns and salt and powder them using pulse mode. Then add the basil leaves, garlic and the olive oil and grind to a coarse paste. Keep it aside. Ingredients for the main dish: Serves 2 people Uncooked pasta (any type) - 2 cups Shrimp - 10 nos. (shelled and deveined) Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp Chilli powder 1/2 tsp Salt - as needed Cherry Tomatoes - 10 nos. cut into halves *Cook the pasta to 'al dente', by adding a tsp of olive oil and salt as needed.  *In a pan, heat a tsp of cooking oil and the shrimp, salt, turmeric powder and the chilli powder and saute the shrimp and cover and cook for 5 minutes.  *Add the ground pesto sauce and saute for 2 minute...

Fathers Day Special Mini Cake!!! Do you want to celebrate Father's Day and you haven't baked a cake yet?? Then you are at the right place, because I am going to share a recipe of an easy to bake mini cake with just the ingredients you might have ready at home.  I have used two 10 oz ramekins to bake these mini cakes, but you can use any baking dish of your choice.  Gather the following ingredients ( makes 2 mini cakes) (Prep time 5 minutes, Bake time 12 minutes) All purpose flour - 1/3 cup Light brown sugar - 3 tbsp Banana - 1 ripe mashed Pecans - 8 halves, chop 6 halves and save the remaining 2 for topping Unsalted butter - 1 tbsp, melted Yogurt - 2 tbsp Baking powder - 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract - 1/4 tsp Preheat oven to 350 F, I have used air fryer option in the oven. Prepare the baking bowls or the ramekins with cooking spray, dust with some all purpose flour and keep aside.  In a bowl, add the mashed banana, yogurt, brown sugar, melted butter and vanilla extract and mix...

I am back with a recipe to make healthy laddoo without adding sugar or jaggery. Dear ones who are diabetic, can also eat this laddoo without any guilt. Yes! Yes!! You need (makes 12 laddoos) Almonds - 1/2 cup Cashew nuts - 1/4 cup Walnuts / Pecans - 1/4 cup ( I used Pecans about 17 halves) Lotus seeds - 1/2 cup  White Sesame seeds - 2 tbsp Dates - 1/2 cup or 10 to 12 pieces depending on the size, deseeded and roughly chopped  Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp Ghee - 1 tbsp In a pan, dry roast each nut and lotus seed seperately, because each nut has a different roasting time. Allow them to cool down. In a food processor, add all the roasted ingredients except the dates and ghee. Grind into a moderately fine powder. Then add the chopped dates and grind it until well blended with the nut mixture.  Transfer this mixture into a bowl and mix well. Grease your hands with a little ghee and start making balls.  The nutritious bites / laddoos are ready to serve. Consume 1 laddoo per d...

This is a yummy and healthy snack / breakfast dish made with sweet potato. One of my favorite dishes! You need a very few ingredients. Sweet Potato - 1 large Onion - 1/4 cup chopped Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp Green chillies - 2 small, deseeded and finely chopped Ginger - 1/2 inch, peeled and finely chopped or crushed Curry leaves - a few, washed and torn to pieces Asafoetida - 1 pinch Oil - 1 tsp Salt - as per taste Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp First wash and cut the sweet potato and steam in a steamer for 7 minutes. Then allow it to cool down and peel off the skin, mash and keep aside.                                                        Now, in a skillet, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds. After it crackles, add the green chillies, ginger and curry leaves and  saute for a minute. Now add the onion, turmeric powder and required salt and saute...

I am going to share the recipe of my homestyle mutton kuzhambu.  Ingredients Goat meat - 250 gms, cut, washed and marinated with little salt and turmeric powder Shallots (chinna vengayam) - about 10 pieces Ginger - 1 inch piece, peel the skin and chopped into small pieces Garlic - 5 cloves, peeled  Tomato - 1 medium size, cut into large pieces Coriander powder - 4 tbsp Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp Salt to taste Cooking oil - 2 tbsp ( I used Canola oil) Water - 1 1/2 cups Curry leaves - few Whole spices -  Cinnamon - 1 and 1/2 inch piece, cloves - 2, Bay leaf - 1,  black peppercorns - 1/2 tsp, fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp, whole red chillies - 3 medium  In a pressure pan, heat 1 tbsp oil. Then add the whole spices and fry until they crackle. Then add the shallots, garlic and ginger and saute well. Then add the tomatoes, salt, and turmeric powder and saute for 1 mintue and switch off the stove, Let this cool down and then grind it into a fine paste, by adding about 1/4 cup...

The weather is getting better and who will say NO to a refreshing chilled payasam... Let's get started.. Ingredients (Serves 5) Milk - 2 1/2 cups Water - 1/2 cup Saffron - few strands (optional) Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp Raw rice - 1 tsp Almonds - 10 nos Light brown sugar - 1/4 cup Ghee / clarified butter - 1 tbsp Nuts and raisins of your choice to garnish.  Soak the almonds, rice and the saffron strands in 1/2 cup of hot water for about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the skin from the almonds. Using a blender, grind the soaked almonds, saffron strands and the rice into a fine paste by adding 2 tbsp of the water that we used for soaking. Then add the remaining water into the blender, mix well and keep aside.  In a saucepan, heat the milk. Once bubbles start forming around the edges of the pan, pour the almond and rice mixture. From now on, you have to stir continuously to avoid burning at the bottom of the pan.  The mixture will start thickening. Now turn the heat to low and ad...