Custard Halwa

Happy Diwali to all. We don't celebrate it but having brought up in North India, it definitely gets real nostalgic every year when Diwali comes. We have been sharing pics of Diwali sweets over the family whatsapp group for the past couple of days. Everybody is either making it or getting it from the market to refresh the memories of Diwali spend in the small township that I was brought up in. Getting days off from school or work was always the highlight. But nothing can beat the fun having some diwali sweets or snacks and busting crackers with friends in our neighborhood. Ahh well, those days are gone, having left us with some memories to cherish.

That last minute rush to make some goodie for festivals is always there. No matter what the festival is. Well at least in my case it stands true. I go for the last minute rush. Even though I would have made n number of things , I might just add up one more thing to make it even more memorable or interesting. If it stands true in your case too, then this might be the last and right thing to make this Diwali. A halwa that hardly has anything fancy involved but would definitely have its absence been felt if not put up on the menu. So grateful to have found this recipe while I was so badly craving for sweets having gone through so many Diwali posts from fellow bloggers and friends. Made me calm down the cravings so easily :). So go for it, this Diwali. 

Mango Ladoo

There are umpty ways to relish the mangoes. As soon as they appear in the market, we get so excited to have them. My lil one hates all fruits but mangoes and pears. So I try not to make him overloaded with mangoes in just one form, that he starts hating them too. So every time he is served with it, there is some variety. It could be some drink or dessert or salad etc. This mango ladoo was just another version.

One day, after having lil J put to nap, I returned to the kitchen, just to find Big J searching the entire pantry to find something sweet to eat. Now a sweet craving is very unusual of him. I was looking for some reason to finish off the condensed milk left in the refrigerator. I had some dry coconut powder too and mangoes are always found at home, during summer. So I quickly made this 3 ingredients ladoo, which we happily munched on and had some left over to be chilled too.

Papaya Halwa

Its a task to make my lil one eat some fruits. There are very few fruits that he would eat it raw, else I have to transform them into more yummier things to let it go in. Papaya is one such fruit. The way he would call out papaya and throw tantrums if we don't get it, while in a grocery store, you would think he is gonna hog on it all by himself. But no, that's not the fact. He loves Papaya Halwa, but doesn't know that papaya is in it. Mama hasn't told him yet with the fear that he would give up on that too.

I used to love papaya halwa. I still do. So we make it quite often and serve it as a dessert post meals. If you too would like to try it, here is the recipe to it.

Coconut Ladoo / Indian Coconut Macaroon for a win !

Anything sweet with coconut in it , tops my list of favorites. Love those Bounty chocolates which has the richness of chocolate combined with the goodness of coconut. Coconut ladoos is a very close competitor to the bounty chocolates. Love the ease with which they are done. I have used a very shortcut method, which will help you make the ladoos  in just minutes to enjoy it.

I thought a sweet could be the next post to celebrate a win. Yes, Palaharam won the DMBLGiT or 'Does My Blog Look Good in This' contest, for the month of Jan 2016. It was the pic of the Pomegranate Raita that made me a winner under the Edibility category. Words fall short to describe my gratitude to all of you who have been supporting my blog. Thank you so much for being the pillar of support and helping me and my blog grow. Here is the link to it, if you might be interested to know more about it and know about other winners.

Rasgulla

Belated Diwali wishes. I love diwali season because of the enthusiasm filled in everyone to decorate their houses with lights. Even the shops are decorated with lights - different types and in different colours. They look amazing. Every weekend and sometimes on weekdays too, we have a walk outside. The streets are pretty busy irrespective of whichever day we choose to go out for the walk. The chaat walas, balloon vendors, vegetable vendors etc. make sure that the street is always lively. My main attraction amongst them is the Halwai/ sweet shop vendors. It would be very unusual if we don't stop by the sweet shops. They even know how to make sure that we stop by, even if we were not intending to.

The other day, we were double minded if we should get some sweets, since we were feeling guilty of having them on a regular basis. And by the time we passed by the sweet shop, the vendor called out, Jalebi garmagaram , meaning Hot Jalebis. Oh god, this is called temptation. We were trying to control ourselves and there we let go our control over those two words that guy called out and fell for it.

Bread Gulab Jamun for a celebration !

Gulab Jamun has always been in my list of favorite sweets. But the effort involved in making it kept me procrastinating the plan of trying it. Sometime back I happened to see a post on Gulab Jamun made with bread and that too an instant one. I had to add it on to my to-make list. 

It would have remained in the to-make list like so many other dishes, if the happy news of Palaharam having featured as one among the Top 16 socially active food blogs, wouldn't have appeared in my mailbox. And there was a cute badge that I got to put up on the blog, which I placed on the right hand side among other recognitions.

Ellunda / Sesame seed ladoo / Til ke Ladoo

I have always been a fan of it. So when Papa mummy visited us, I asked them to get it. Now once you trigger your taste buds of the long forgotten taste of this ladoo, instead of calming down the craving, it gets doubled. 

Its just one of those cravings that hit me, which resulted in multiple visits to the Indian store. Every time I was there they had ran out of stock for these Ellunda.  So finally I gave up. After all its just a matter of 3-4 ingredients combining together to make these. So I bought the ingredients and made it at home. 

Paal Payasam / Rice Pudding / Rice Kheer / Milk Pudding

This payasam is the easiest of all. With just minimum ingredients it can be made quickly. After all it is Onam, and a payasam is a must have.

This time, it was at the last moment that I decided to go with this payasam. Well, I had to, as I had not planned well for payasam preparation for Onam in advance and hence didn't have ingredients to make our favorite payasam - Cherupayar Parippu Payasam. Neither did I have Semiya to make Semiya Payasam. So we ended up making it.

Kozhukatta / Modak/ Modakam

Have you heard of Kozhukatta perunnal ? I am sure most of you have not. Because it is a catholic tradition followed only in certain parts of Kerala. My mom had never heard about it untill she got married. At my father's home this is a great tradition, where every one joins in to make it the day before Palm sunday and its called Kozhukatta sheniyazhcha. So we too used to follow the same tradition.

Its celebrated in memory of Jesus Christ being stoned. Its in memory of that, that we make these round stone shaped sweet dish. It has always seemed a strange thing to me to eat something sweet in memory of someone who was hurt that day. That is just one version of the history behind it. There are so many other versions. Hmm...anyways, I love having it and it gets all nostalgic when I start making it. It reminds me of those days as kids when we would sit down to give a hand in making these and my father would pour out so many memories from his childhood. 

Cherupayar Parippu Payasam / Split Mung Beans Payasam

When engagement anniversary, wedding anniversary and birthday falls in the same month with an interval of less than a week, making specials for each event gets exciting but at the same time leaves us with too much of left overs. Yes, February is special for us. We used to bake cakes for each of these occasions, but realized that its too much for just two of us.

So now, we have come up with a solution of spreading it in the form of a special dinner or a cake/bake or a dessert - anyone of these for each of these occasion. Also these get to be made only in amounts that suffices our appetite and craving.

Semiya Payasam / Semiya Kheer / Vermicelli Pudding

I guess, this payasam does not need an introduction. Any one from India would have tasted it at some point of time. I have had this as a Naalu mani palaharam, as a dessert post lunch or dinner, to celebrate special occasions etc.

The nostalgic memories of this kheer hits me when the semiya gets roasted in ghee. I go back to those days when my mom use to make it for us. These days its me, who roasts it, smells it and has the kheer. Personally I feel, after having smelled the aroma and going through the feedback loop(tasting and adjusting the sugar) through out the entire cooking process, my stomach gets full that I end up having a little when its fresh. But when had later, the left overs taste good :). Do you feel the same?  Anyways, getting back to semiya payasam recipe; here it is.

Ladoo

Ladoo - another Indian sweet, that is close to our hearts. May it be a festival, or any other happy occasion - personal or professional, ladoos are a must to be served to share the happiness. Its after having seen the English Vinglish movie that I got an idea to try these :).

                      

It was like turning my promise of making it, a reality. Yeah, I had been asking my husband, if he liked ladoo and everytime the answer would be a big YES. One day he asked me if I really had the intention of making it or was I just making him tempt for it. Now when you are questioned like that , would you give up? Well, in my case, the next day there were ladoos at home when he was back from work.

Hot Jalebi for the festival of colours!

Happy Holi everyone !

Any festival is incomplete if you are not served with a sweet. On Holi, everyone looks forward to playing with colours. But at the same time, having sweets is yet another activity that has its own priority and can't be replaced. So how about having some Hot Jalebi's this year to make Holi special.

Hot Jalebi had been an obsession for myself and my brother since we were kids. I guess all kids like it- remember the Dhara ad, where the kid gave up the idea of leaving home just to have jalebi :). We looked forward for a holiday to enjoy having it. We would get it from a Halwai's shop on Sundays, the only day we didn't have to go to school. How much ever we got it, it wouldn't stay long.