Kheer ~ Payasam

Kheer is one of the very easy recipe, that I do mostly to offer God on Friday's or any special occasion. It can be make with rice or vermicelli. 

Ingredients:

Vermicelli - 1 cup
Whole Milk - 3 cups
Sugar - 3/4 cup
cardamom - 4 powdered
Raisins - 1 tbsp
Cashews - 2 tbsp
Almonds sliced - 2 tbsp
Saara pappu ~ Charoli/Chironji - 1 tbsp
Pistachios - 2 tb chopped
Saffron - optional
Ghee - 5 Tbsp

Method:

In a pan heat 2 tbsps of ghee and roast all the dry fruits together. As soon as they they are changing color, remove it into a bowl. Now add 3 more tbsps of ghee to the pan and add the vermicelli to it. Roast it until it becomes golden brown color. Now add 3 cups of milk to this and sugar and mix all of it. Let it cook on medium heat for 10 minutes and add cardamom powder to it. let it cook for another 10 minutes. You could smell the nice aroma. Vermicelli will be all cooked. Now take this into a bowl and garnish it with all the dry fruits roasted earlier.

Gulab Jamun

This is my husband and my son's favorite sweet. 

Ingredients:

Milk Powder - 1 cup 
All purpose flour - 1/2 cup 
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp 
Ghee - 2 tablespoons 
Whole milk just enough to make the dough


For the Sugar Syrup 
Sugar - 2 cups 
Water - 3 cups
Cardamom - 4 crushed
Saffron - few strands for color
Oil for frying



Method:
The syrup should be made earlier and kept warm. To make the hot sugar syrup add mix the 2 cups of sugar to 3 cups of water. Add 4-5 cardamom pods, slightly crushed and a few strands of "Saffron". Mix with a spoon and then heat at medium heat for 5-10 minutes until sugar is all dissolved in water. Do not overheat, that will caramelize the sugar. Transfer this hot syrup into a serving dish.

Make the dough by combining the milk powder,all pupose flour, ghee, baking powder and butter. Add whole milk to make a medium-hard dough. Divide the dough into 18-20 portions. Make balls by gently rolling each portion between your palms into a smooth ball. Place the balls on a plate. Cover with a damp dry kitchen towel.

Heat the oil on the medium heat for deep frying. Slip in the balls into the hot oil from the side of the pan, one by one. They will sink to the bottom of the pan, but do not try to move them. Instead, gently shake the pan to keep the balls from browning on just one side. After about 5 mins, the balls will rise to the surface. The Gulab Jamuns should rise slowly to the top. You can move them now to ensure even browning on all sides. If the temperature of the oil is too high then the gulab jamuns will tend to break and becomes brown on the outside quicly and doesn't cook inside. So make sure its cooked on medium heat. After its brown, take them outside.

Let the fried balls cool down for a minute and then drop them in the warm sugar syrup. Let them soak for at least an hour. They can be served warm or at room temperature.

Khoya

This is the base for many Indian sweets. I use this to make gulab jamuns and few other sweets.


Ingredients:
Milk Powder  - 2 cups
Ricotta Cheese  - 1 1/4 cup 
Butter  - 3 Tb sps
Sugar - 1/2 cup

Method:

Heat 1 tbsp of butter in a wide open pan on medium low heat. Add ricotta cheese to it and let the water evaporate. Cook it all on medium low heat. 

Add milk powder to it and mix well. Stir it constantly. Add 2 tbsp of butter and sugar in it and stir constantly. Sugar and butter melts and becomes little watery. Stir it constantly.  Let it become soft enough to be able to made like round balls. Take it in a bowl.