Semya Payasam - My favourite Dessert

My all time favourite Sweet is Gulab Jamoon...not the one made out of flour, instant mix etc etc...Ammamma makes Gulab Jamoon in a different style..She first makes Pala kova (peda)..it's a very loooooong process...Boiling the milk in a large pot, then adding sugar to that...and then stirring it continously for about 2hrs on medium flame until it thickens...and that's her Kova...which tastes heavenly...and then using this kova she makes the Gulab Jamoon...it totally takes about half a day to prepare Gulab Jamoon from Scratch...So I never even tried to make this by myself...

Next to Gulab Jamoon, I love Kheer...Payasam with Sago seeds, Vermicelli or using both...simply love it...not just becoz of the taste, its so so easy for me to prepare a neivedyam during weekdays for festivals before leaving to work...I've tried Kheer with Jaggery, rice flour, moong dal, Chana dal from various recipe sources..all of them tasted good and loved all the versions...However when it comes to choosing the favourite version of Kheer I opt the basic recipe of Sago/Vermicelli Kheer....So here's my version..

Ingredients:

Vermicelli/Semya - 1 cup (I do not know the exact way to measure this, but when broken and measured in a cup, 1 cup of raw vermicelli would serve 2 people)

Milk - 3 cups

Sugar (powdered) - 3/4th-1 cup (adjust to taste)

Ghee - 1 table spoon

Cardamom powder - 1 generous pinch

Cashews/Almonds/Raisins - 5 each (adjust acc to your preference n availability)

Saffron - one small pinch (optional)

Procedure:

1. Heat the Ghee in a pan and roast the cashews/almonds/raisins for about 2min. Remove and set aside.

2. In the same Ghee add the broken Vermicelli/Semya and roast until they start turning brown. Take care not to burn.

3. In a Milk Pan, heat the milk. When the milk starts to boil add the roasted vermicelli.

4. Cook for 4-5min or until the vermicelli is soft and well cooked. The mixture starts thickening.

5. Add the Cardamom powder and mix well.

6. Turn off the heat and add the powdered sugar. Mix well until the sugar dissolves.

7. Add saffron if you are using.

8. Garnish with roasted nuts and raisins.

Tastes great either hot or chilled...

This's my entry to WYF-Dessert event hosted by dear Hima of SnackORama.

Image courtesy - Google Search

Chowmein - express lunch

S doesn't like noodles how so ever they are cooked...So I never make noodles at home...But today I've been to Tesco and happened to see "Amoy - Noodles Straight into the Wok"...seemed to be interesting, so purchased a pack and returned home...The pack says "These precooked noodles can be directly added to your Stir-Fry vegetables and delicious chow mein would be ready in minutes...S was not there for lunch today, So I thought it's the best time for me to enjoy an express lunch with noodles...recipe is so simple...

Ingredients:

Noodles - 1 cup (pre-cooked according to instructions or store bought cooked noodles)

Grated Carrot - 2 table spoons

Green peas - 1 fistfull (frozen) - Soak in hot water for 3-5min.

Onion - 1/2 thinly sliced

Grated ginger - 1 tsp

Crushed garlic - 1 tsp

Ground black pepper - 1/2 tsp

Soy sauce - 2-3 tsp

Oil - 3 tsp

Salt - to taste

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in a wok. Add the crushed ginger and garlic. Saute for 1min.

2. Add the onions and saute for 2-3min.

3. Now add the grated carrot and green peas (without the water). Cook for 2-3min until the raw smell disappears.

4. Now add salt and ground black pepper powder, soy sauce and stir well.

5. Finally add the cooked noodles and stir well. Cook for 3-4min and turn off the heat.

6.Serve hot.

I could not do much experimenting with the photographs as I was so tired today...I know this's not a perfect entry for an event based on photgraphy, but still I'ld like to send this as my entry to Bee n Jai's CLICK EVENT, this month's theme being Noodles...

Wholemeal Burfi

It seems like I can blog my recipes only over the weekend....weekdays I am being damn busy...tuesday 30th of Oct was my birthday and I had no time even to pamper myself with my favourite food item atleast..added to this I had to start off to work at 5.30AM that day...I've booked my holidays in December and 'm counting days...huhhh!

Anyways coming to the recipe I was craving for some festive sweets for the past few days....I just made pulihora for Dasara and did no rituals...Even for Diwali I don't think I can perform the pooja bcoz it's on Friday and fridays are the most busiest for me now a days...So I made my Diwali sweet today itself...coconut burfi, besan burfi are the normal versions of Burfi I make..but this time I wanted to try something else...and there were few left over bread slices...recently I've come across the procedure to make bread crumbs on video jug....So I decided to make bread burfi..I just followed the traditional version of besan burfi made by my mom, just replaced besan with finely ground bread crumbs...The taste was delicious especially I loved the color....I used wholemeal bread and hence I've got a dark brown color to the burfi...

So here's my Diwali treat to my blog buddies...

Ingredients:

Bread Slices (white/brown) - 6 - maked about 2 cups of fine crumbs

Sugar - 1 cup

Milk - 1 cup

Water - 1 cup

Ghee - 1 table spoon

Elachi powder (cardamom powder) - 1 large pinch

Almonds - 10

Procedure:

1. Place the bread slices on a baking tray and bake in a oven at 120C for 30min. Do not bake at higher temperatures orelse the bread slices will get burnt. After 30min the breadslices turn very crispy.

2. Break these crispy slices into chunks and grind them to a fine powder. Set this powder aside.

3. In a wide pan heat the Ghee and roast the almonds for a couple of minutes and set aside.

4. In the same ghee add the finely ground bread crumbs and roast for 2-3 minutes. Take this roasted crumbs powder in a bowl.

5. Now in the same pan add one cup of water and bring to boil.

6. When the water starts boiling add the sugar and keep stirring.

7. The sugar syrup starts thickening after a few minutes. At this stage quickly add the bread crumbs flour and keep stirring to avoid forming lumps.

8. Add the milk and elachi powder to this and keep stirring for 3-5min.

9. When the mixture starts thickening remove from heat.

10. Grease a plate with ghee and pour this mixture into the plate. Level the top with a spatula.

11. Let it cool for 2hrs. Cut into desired shapes and garnish with roasted almonds.

Note: If the mixture doesn't get hard enough put it in a freezer for 30min to cut into desired shapes.

This' my entry to (Jihva Special Edition: The Festive Series) JFS:Diwali hosted by dear Vee of Past Present and Me