My MIL’s neighbor offered this sweet dish to her and my MIL absolutely fell in love with this. She took this recipe from her  and tried a few times. It’s so simple that every time it came out tasting superbly. She had to share this with me and our readers. I’m so excited to try this out. Very few ingredients readily available in the pantry, and an easy method to make.

Ingredients:

Maida/ All Purpose Flour, 1 cup

Ghee, 1 tbsp

Water, as required

Salt, pinch

Make a dough with the above like a stiff chapthi dough.

Filling:

Powdered Sugar, 1/2 cup

Unsalted Cashew Powder, 1/2 Cup

Elaichi Powder, 1 tsp

Mix all above together very well.

Garnish:

Powdered Sugar

Method:

Roll out one very thin roti.

Top with sugar-cashew filling.

Top with one more thin roti on top and seal the edges with little cold water.

Roll the whole roti and cut into 1 inch pieces.

Deep fry and garnish with powdered sugar.

Serve hot or at room temparature.

Lasts for 10 days in a tight container in your pantry.

If you put it in the fridge, it becomes rock hard.

Gasagasa (Khus Khus or Poppy Seed) payasam

Vidya is famous for making this payasam in her family. When everybody gets together, they look to Vani, Vidya’s sister for Pulihora; but when it comes to this payasam, Vani does not stand a chance. There are subtle battles going on in the kitchen though everything looks rosy on the outside. It happens all the time between my MIL and me too. And this is true in every kitchen all over the world. This idea is what must have inspired the hit TV series, Iron Chef. The truth is, we housewives are the real Iron chefs. Our family and friends know when to approach us for a certain dish, or when to tactfully disappear when we cook one. And clearly Vidya takes the crown in making this payasam. Wonder how my family will react when I make this. Hopefully; it’s too cold for them to disappear at this point of time!

Ingredients:

Gasagasa, 1/4kg or 1/2 pound

Jaggery ½ kg or 1 pound

Grated coconut, ½ cup

Dry coconut, 2 tbsp, grated or flakes

Rice, 1 tsp (uncooked)

Garnish:

Ghee, as required

Cashews, 10

Raisins, 10

Edible camphor, a speck

Method:

Soak gasgasa overnight and grind with all the above ingredients except jaggery.

Add water as required to make a thick paste.

The ground paste should look like butter, to this mix 2 cups water and mix well with your hand to prevent any lumps.

In a large pan, boil 1 cup water and melt jaggery.

Add ground paste  to this jaggery mix and stir. Let it roll to a boil.

Stir in between to make sure it does not stick to the bottom.

The payasam should be thick, so boil with water if needed a little more, 20 minutes

Separately, Heat ghee,  add cashews, raisins, and edible camphor.

Garnish hot payasam with this.

Serve hot or cold. I peronally love this hot. I have eaten this several times when I was a kid.

Srikand Sandwich

Who does not love a dessert that actually has several of one’s favorite foods? I love jam, bread toasted in ghee and topped with butter, dry fruits toasted in ghee, and of all things in life, Srikand. When all of my favorites come together, it culminates in a Srikand Sandwich which is a dessert that is simply out of this world. I have to crown my MIL for creating this lovely dessert. Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 Cup thick yogurt

Sugar, ½ cup

Cardamom, 1tsp powder

Dry fruits, sliced finely, (Toast it in ghee if needed) 3 tsp.

Jam 2 Tbsp (your favorite flavor)

6 slices White bread (Remove brown crust)

Method:

Toast bread slices in ghee and keep aside.

Remove excess water from yogurt even if it’s thick.

I use Greek Yogurt, but still hang it a towel for a few hours to remove even that little water from it.

To the yogurt, add sugar, cardamom powder and mix well.

Srikandh is now ready.

Take two slices of bread.

To one slice, apply srikand on one side, top with dry fruits,

Take the other bread slic, apply jam and dry fruits.

Place one slice on the other making sure that the srikand, dry fruits, and jam become sandwiched in the middle of the two slices.

Cut in triangles.

Serve immediately.

Optional: 1/2 tsp lemon juice on top of jam can be added for a little intense flavor.

Rawa Appalu

Remember those days in childhood when you would go to temple just for the prasadam? Well, I went to the neighboring Hanuman Temple on those days that they served these appalu. I had trusted sources that would let me know the day before when this particular dish would be served and I would promptly show up. The priest there would reserve fresh hot ones for me in particular. I was always that well behaved cute girl (obviously they had not seen my tantrums at home), so the priest kind of thought that I was a model child (I know, that’s hilarious). The priest was my dad’s age, and also his friend. After marriage I missed these appalu very much here in the US. One day, as I was sleeping in the morning, all groggy and weak due to pregnancy, I smelled these appalu with ghee. I thought I was dreaming. Then my MIL woke me up and gave these on a plantain leaf. She had remembered my ranting a long time ago about these appalu and it was on her list to make it for me during my pregnancy. I enjoyed it so much, and am delighted to share the recipe with you all. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Rawa 1 cup

Rice flour 1 cup

Sugar 1 cup

½ cup ghee

1 tsp cardamom powder

water, 1 ½ cup

Method:

Heat a thick bottomed pan and fry Rawa on low flame for about 2 minutes. Take care not to burn the rawa or it will break when you form the disks. When you fry the rawa, the raw smell will be gone. Do the frying even if you buy a rawa that was previously fried. Remove the rawa to a cool plate.

In the same pan, add water and bring to a boil. Once it starts to boil, low the flame to medium.

Add the rawa now and mix gently. Make sure there are no lumps. Next, add the Rice Flour and mix briskly. Lumps will form easily, so be careful.

Now, add sugar and mix well. This will release more water. Add ghee and the mixing will be easier. Do a taste check, you may have to add a little more sugar at this point according to your taste.

Remove the lid now and allow it to cool. Now you have a wet greasy dough to work with. Grease your hands with ghee, take a small bite sized portion and shape them into rounds. Pat them flat into quarter inch disks.

Alternately, use a plastic paper or wax paper, and pat the dough like medu wada, or with a hole in the center. You can now arrange all the patties on a greased plate or you can directly drop them in oil while you shape them like my MIL.

Heat oil in a wide bottomed pan with 2 inches deep oil or ghee. We do not want smoking oil. So we will leave the pan on medium flame and wait for a few minutes till it reaches the apt temperature.

Add a pinch of the disk. If it floats to the top and turns crispy, your oil is ready.

Drop each disk slowly into oil. Add only a few disks at a time. It takes patience. If you brown the disks too much, then it will become hard like stones. So you should fry it just enough for soft appalu.

These appalu can be stored in an airtight container for about 7 to 10 days. Just pop it in the microwave for 5 seconds and it will again become warm and soft. It can also be eaten without heating.