Aata Halwa / Wheat Flour And Almonds Pudding

Last two weeks when my kiddo was at home each day seemed to be very short, our mornings started late and the day was spent  playing with her, evening also disappeared fast while she enjoyed cycling and I chatted with some friends. But now when her school has resumed and she is away from me for almost 8 hours , it seems like eternity waiting for her. I really miss her so much, the time seems to have stopped, though now I have plenty of time for myself, I really miss being troubled by her all day.

My baby has transformed into this small girl who no longer misses her mom, but enjoys her school and likes to spend time with her new friends. She has joined new school and I had been worried as how she will adjust in new atmosphere, find the way to her classroom in the huge campus and board the right bus, you know how capable we mothers are to burden ourselves with unwanted thoughts. But to my surprise after coming back from school she proudly told me how easily she herself went to class and even explored a little bit of her new campus. It's really surprising as to how independent she has become.

And to celebrate this I made her favourite Aata halwa. She got really happy and I was really very proud of her.

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Flour (Aata) - 1 Cup
Almonds- 3 Tbsp ( Roughly Chopped)
Clarified Butter (Ghee)- 1/2 Cup
Sugar- 1 Cup
Water- 2 Cups
Cardamom Powder- 1/4 Tsp

Procedure:

• Combine water and sugar together in a pan. Boil and keep aside.
• In a heavy bottom skillet add in ghee, once ghee heats up add in whole wheat flour.
• Roast the flour on a low flame by stirring continuously till the flour turns almost brown, this will take around 20 minutes. Take care to stir continuously else the flour may burn.
• Now add in almonds and mix nicely.
• Pour the water and sugar mixture in the flour mix and stir vigorously, so that no lumps are formed. 
• Add in cardamom powder and mix.
• Now at this stage the halwa will come together like a ball.
• Switch off the gas.

Enjoy the halwa / pudding warm.

Panagam / Jaggery & Lime Cooler

Ramnavmi is coming on April 1st this year. This is the day when according to hindu mythology Lord Rama was born, on this day special pooja (prayers) are performed across temples and neivedyam of Panagam, kosambari is offered to the lord.

Panagam is made with jaggery, lime and ginger and some other spices are added to it. This also makes a very good cooler for the body.

Ingredients:

Water- 4 Cups

Jaggery- 2/3 Cup ( add more or less according to the sweetness )

Juice Of Two Small Limes

Green Cardamom- 4

Dry Ginger Powder- 1/2 tsp

Edible Camphor- A Pinch

Saffron- Around 10 Strands

Nutmeg- A Pinch

Procedure:

Powder cardamom and saffron in a mortar. Dissolve jaggery in water, to this add lime juice, dry ginger powder, camphor, nutmeg and cardamom and saffron powder. Stir till everything dissolves well. Filter using a fine mesh. Offer to god and drink as it is or chill in the refrigerator for some time.

Sweet Boli

As pongal is nearing by we all are getting geared up for celebrating this. Even though most of us are living outside our country the spirit of celebrating festival is always there. Oh I so much miss India during these festivals. My in-laws live in a beautiful village in tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu and being a farmer family celebrate this festival with all the customs and traditions. My MIL makes so beautiful and large kolams and I always stand on one side doing nothing else but admiring her. So much ever I try I can never master this art of kolam :(

The first day of pongal is known as bhogi pongal and is a day marked for family get together. Boli is made this day to celebrate the festival.

This is my MIL's recipe and is very much cherished by us.

Ingredients:

Chana Daal - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 cup

Maida - 1 cup

Water - little less than 1/2 cup for making the dough

Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Rice flour - for dusting

Yellow food colour - a pinch (optional)

Sesame oil - 3 tbsp

Ghee - for shallow frying the boli

Procedure:

• Soak chana daal in water for 2 hrs. Drain and wash 3-4 times.
• Cook daal in an open vessel adding just enough water so that the daal gets cooked but does not loose its shape.
• After the daal is cooked add in sugar and stir till sugar melts. Off the gas and keep the mixture to cool.
• Once the mixture is cooled grind it nicely without adding any water in a smooth paste.
• Cook this mixture in a kadhai till it thickens and then add cardamom powder. Keep to cool.
• For the dough mix maida and colour and knead with lot of water(around 1/2 cup) so that dough gets really sticky. Don't get scared it will be really very gooey.
• Then in the end keep adding sesame oil little by little so that dough absorbs all the oil and does not stick much in the hand.
• Let the dough rest for 6-7 hrs.
• After the dough has rested take lemon sized ball and with the help of rice flour make a small roti and stuff with lemon sized ball of chana daal.
• Close the ball and roll again as thin as possible.
• Fry in tava with some ghee till light brown specks appear and serve hot or cold.

My MIL serves this with a big dollop of ghee. So just do some extra exercise and enjoy this sweet boli.

The chana daal mixture can even be stuffed inside normal whole wheat roti to avoid the extra calories.

Sending this to Kurinji's Pongal Feast Event.