ASHOKA HALWA

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Ashoka halwa is a very popular halwa from Tanjore/ Thiruvayaru districts in Tamil Nadu.
It is best when served hot with dripping ghee.It tastes heavenly and also partially guilt free packed with the goodness of moong dhal and wheat.

Ingredients

Yellow split moong dal	1/2 cup
Wheat flour/Atta	1/2 cup
Sugar	1 cup
Ghee	1/2 cup
Cardomom	5 or 6 pods
Cashew nuts	1 tablespoon
Kesar color	a pinch
Saffron	a pinch
Milk	1 tablespoon

Procedure:
1. Dry roast the moong dhal until a nice aroma comes out
2. Add 1.5 cups of water and pressure cook for 3 whistles

3. Allow to cool and mash the dhal well

4. Soak the saffron in 1 tablespoon of warm milk.
5. Heat 1 tablespoon of ghee in a pan and fry the cashews

6. Keep this aside and in the same pan add 2 more tablespoons of ghee and fry the wheat flour  until it becomes light brown
7. Take 1/4 of water and add the sugar. Bring it to a boil

8. Boil the sugar syrup until 1 string consistency is reached

9. Add the wheat flour and the mashed dhal and mix well without lumps
10. Stir the mixture continously until it thickens

11. Add the saffron and milk and also kesar color and stir well
12. Once the halwa becomes a mass and does not stick to the sides, add the cardomom powder and swtich off the flame

13. Garnish with fried cashews
14 Serve hot

How to grind Idli batter in Mixie/Blender | Beginner Recipes

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Being a typical South Indian, most of my mornings starts with the aroma of steaming idlies. I dont know why but I never bothered to know how my mom makes these idlies or atleast what goes into the idli batter.I have collected a zillion recipes from my mom from my childhood but not the idli recipe. May be I was so bored with the daily menu containing idlies.

When my mom starts grinding the batter (She had the big grinder which she bought in late 80s!),I used to run away from that place. I had such an aversion for the grinding process.Also since my mom spends a lot of time cleaning it, I thought owning a grinder is really an overwork which is not really worth it just to get the regular idlies.

Even after marriage I never bothered much about the idlies (Ok. who wants to worry when hot plate of idli is served everyday and both myself and my husband used to ignore it as usual).

So far so good. The problem started when we moved from Chennai to US two years back.After couple of days of jetlag my kids started asking 'Idli engamma? (Where is the idli?).I tried feeding them pongal, Adai, pancakes. But nothing worked out.They adapted very well to the harsh winter here but not to the breakfast menu.

So the necessity arrived and I started grinding idli batter with my Preethi mixer. The rice to dal ratios whatever worked prefectly for my MIL and mom did not work me. The batter refused to ferment irrespective of applying all the tips that I gathered from internet

After couple of months of trial and error I started making decent idlies though they were not soft and spongy.Then my friend came to the rescue and she suggested adding raw rice as well while grinding in mixie and also to reduce the soaking time for urad dal. That really helped. 

The main challenge in grinding the batter in the mixie is the motor gets heated up very quickly which is not very good.I use ice cold water for grinding. Also I used to grind in 3 batches (1 for urad dhal and 2 for rice) with atleast 15 minutes of interval between each.

SPICY PORICHA KOOTU

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This is one variety of Poricha kootu which uses red chillies instead of green chillies and also urad dhal. This tastes great when served with hot rice and ghee.
Checkout the recipe for original version of poricha kootu

Preparation time: 10 min
Cooking time: 20 min
Serves: 4