Thiratupaal

Ingredients
Milk – lots of it (at least 1.5 to 2 litres)
Sugar/Jaggery

Get Cooking!
1. In a huge thick bottomed vessel (preferably non-stick ), pour in the milk. The size of the vessel should be such that it can contain twice the amount of milk taken such that the milk does not boil over and spill or splatter around.
2. On a low heat, boil the milk taken stirring occasionally to avoid browning.
3. When the milk mostly solidifies, add sugar/jaggery amounting to about ¾ths the amount of solidified milk in the vessel.Mix it in well.
4. Keep heating this stirring now and then till the mixture gets solidified and bubbles up.

Tips
Some add cardamom powder but I personally prefer just this as it tastes pretty yummy Typically a good dish to prepare in a slow cooker. A sweet that does not require much attention just the occasional stirring Just right for lazy bones like me

Rice -Coconut Payasam

Ingredients

Rice 1 tbsp
Coconut ¼ grated finely
Sugar
Cashew nuts
Raisins
Cloves
Saffron
Milk
Cardamom powder
Ghee (clarified butter)

Get Cooking!

1. Soak the rice for about an hour or so.
2. Drain the rice of water. Grind the rice with the coconut to a smooth fine paste..
3. Mix this paste into some water and heat over a medium-low heat in a heavy bottomed vessel.
4. Keep stirring to avoid lumps till the solution becomes a bit transparent.
5. Add in the sugar and stir it in, heating till the raw smell of sugar disappears. Then switch the heat off.
6. Put a couple of strands of saffron in a tbsp or 2 of warm milk. Pour this into the payasam.
7. Ghee roast the cloves, raisins, cashew nuts. Add to the payasam.
8. Garnish with cardamom powder.

Tips
You could add some milk too

Eggless Cake with Mocha icing

Microwave chocolate cake topped with yummy mocha icing.

Serves 6

Ingredients
Sweetened condensed milk 1/2 tin
Milk 1/2 cup
Butter 1/2 cup (75 gms)
Powdered sugar 1 1/2 tbsp
Plain flour 1 cup (100 gms)
Cocoa powder 1/4 cup
Soda bicard 3/4 level tsp
Baking powder 3/4 level tsp
Vanilla essence 1 tsp

Mocha glaze icing
Cocoa powder 4 tbsp
Butter 2 tbsp softened
Instant coffee 1tsp
Icing sugar 1 cup sifted
Nuts 2-3 tbsp chopped (preferably walnuts)
Water 4 tbsp

To soak
Cola (like Coke) 1/4 cup

Get Cooking!
1. Sift the flour with cocoa powder, soda bicarb & baking powder. Keep aside.
2. Mix sugar and butter. Beat till very fluffy.
3. Add condensed milk and beat well.
4. Add the milk, vanilla essence, maida. Beat well for 3-4 minutes till the mixture is smooth and light.
5. Transfer to a big, greased deep dish of 9″ diameter.
6. Microwave for 5 minutes and let it cool.
7. Cut the cake into 2 and soak with cola drink.
8. For the icing, microwave 4 tbsp water in a bowl for 1 minute. Add coffee and mix. Add the cocoa & butter, mix well. Return to microwave and microwave at 70% power for 1 minute or till butter melts. Gradually add the sifted icing sugar. Mix well.
9. Glaze the cake with the icing, making peaks with the spoon. Decorate with the nuts.
10. Refrigerate until glaze is set.

Tips
Serve with ice cream
I found that the butter melts without microwaving when making the icing. Less work   I used chopped almonds which worked well enough

Stick a tooth pick/knife and see if it comes clean after cooking the cake, if not microwave for a few more minutes till it does.

Phirni

Serves 4
Ingredients
Milk -3½ cups
Rice – ¼cup
Powdered sugar – ¼ cup or to taste
Rose water – 1 tsp (optional)
Cardamom – 2 or 3
Pistas – 5 or 6 sliced thinly
Almonds – 2 sliced into long thin pieces

Get Cooking!
1. Soak the rice in a little water for 2-3 hours. Grind this into a very fine paste.
2. Mix in the ground rice and milk in a microwave safe bowl.
3. Microwave this uncovered for 6 minutes. Stir with a wisk every minute to avoid lumps. Break the if any are formed.
4. Add sugar. Mix well. Microwave uncovered for 3 minutes, stirring in-between.
5. Mix well. Cool and add roase water and cardamom powder.
6. Pour into individual bowls.
7. Decorate with nuts and serve chilled after 2 or 3 hours.

Eggless Cake

Ingredients
Flour- 2 cups
Butter/ Ghee -1¼ cups
Sweetened condensed milk- 1 tin
Water -1 cup
Vanilla essence- ½ tsp
Salt -1 pinch
Baking powder -¾ tsp
Chopped nuts- 1 cup

Get Baking!
1. Beat butter till fluffy.
2. Mix in the condensed milk, water, creamed butter, chopped nuts in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from fire and cool.
3. Sift the baking powder, flour and salt together. Add to the cake mixture and beat well.
4. Add vanilla essence; pour into a greased and well lined 8″ cake pan.
5. Bake at 150 deg C for 1½ hours.

Raghavdas Ladoo

This is a Maharashtrian sweet.

Ingredients
Fine semolina 2 cups
Grated Coconut 1 cup
Sugar 1½ cups
Raisins
Milk
Cardamom powder

Get Cooking!
1. Roast the sooji with a few drops of ghee and set aside.
2. Stir fry the grated coconut a little and set aside.
3. Mix in the milk and the rava in a kadai which is kept on a low flame.
4. Then add in the coconut, cardamom powder.Stir and mix everything well; then switch off the heat. Set this mix aside.
5. Make a sugar syrup to one thread consistency.
6. Add the mix into the syrup and blend it in well.
7. Pour the above into a greased plate to cool it down.
8. Grease your palms with some ghee and roll the dough made into ladoos.
9. Decorate each with a raisin on top.

Badam Halwa

Ingredients
Almonds
Milk
Sugar
Saffron
Ghee

Get Cooking!
1. Soak the almonds in warm water for a while. Peel the skin off. Grind them to a smooth paste with milk or water (obviously milk makes it more yummy, I use fat free milk and make the paste)
2. Soak a couple of saffron stems in a few tsps of milk.
3. Take sugar almost equaling the amount of paste that you get. Make a one-thread consistency sugar syrup in a heavy-bottomed vessel.
4. Add in the paste and keep stirring avoid lumps. Add in the saffron-milk. Keep stirring
6. As the mixture thickens, add ghee little by little stirring constantly.
7. Once it becomes a uniform mixture and starts leaving the sides of the vessel, transfer to a bowl or plate.

Tips
As the almonds have inherent fat, you need very little ghee. So, take care while adding the ghee. You could soak some cashews alongwith the almonds and make a cashew-almond paste. You could also roast a few cashews and add to the halwa while adding the ghee. This would give a few crunches while eating the halwa. You could also add some cardamom powder and/or “green” camphor. Some people recommend adding some poppy seeds that have been soaked in milk alongwith the almonds to make the paste (about 75 gm poppy seeds for 125 gms almonds) with milk. Some add some maida to make it thick, pour onto a greased plate and cut them into shapes to make badam cake.

Chakkara Pongal

Ingredients
Rice 1 cup
Moong Dal 1/4 cup
Milk
Jaggery 2 cups (can use more or less according to taste)
Cashew nuts
Raisins
Grated coconut (optional)
Nutmeg powder
Cardamom powder
Saffron
Green camphor (literal translation from tamil ) (optional)
Ghee

Get Cooking!
1. Dry roast the moong dal till it is lightly golden brown till you get a nice aroma.
2. Wash the rice and moong dal.
3. Pressure cook the rice-dal with (double the volume of the rice-dal mix or more) milk-water mix.
4. While the rice-dal gets cooked, dissolve the jaggery in a little water.
5. Once the rice-dal is cooked well, mash it well. Add a few spoons of ghee.
6. Mix in the dissolved jaggery.
7. Roast the cashew nuts, raisins, grated coconut in some ghee till the nuts are golden brown in colour. Add some nutmeg powder to this and then add all to the pongal.
8. Soak a couple strands of saffron and then add this to the pongal and mix.
9. Add some cardamom powder, green camphor and mix well.

Tips
The amount of milk in the milk-water ratio is upto you.

Eggless Dates Cake

Serves : 3-4
Preparation time : 45min

Ingredients

Dates 18
Milk 3/4 cup
Sugar 1/2 cup
All purpose flour (Maida or wheat flour) 1 cup
Oil 1/2 cup
Baking soda 1 tsp (or baking powder which makes the cake a little harder)
Cashews, walnuts (optional) 1 tbsp

Get Baking!

1. Soak the dates in warm milk. Remove the seeds if any.
2. Grind the soaked dates, sugar to a smooth paste.
3. Add oil and mix.
4. Seive the flour and baking soda together. Add this one table spoon at a time and mix slowly.
5. Add the nuts and mix.
6. Preheat the oven at 350F.
7. Bake the cake in a greased oven proof dish for 35-40min (or till a knife inserted in the cake comes out clean).

Tips

I roasted the nuts in a little ghee and added some raisins too. I powdered the sugar just in case

Noori Petti Payasam

Arachuvitta payasam in tamil

Ingredients
Rice 1 tsp
Moong dal
Coconut ½ grated finely
Sugar/ Jaggery
Milk
Cardamom powder
Cashew nuts

Get Cooking!
1. Dry roast the moong dal and soak it with the rice.
2. Grind this with the grated coconut to a fine paste.
3. Put this paste into a heavy bottomed vessel, stir on a low heat continuously.
4. Put in the sugar/ jaggery.
5. When it becomes a homogenous mixture, add in the boiled milk.
6. Stir well, allow to boil.
7. Garnish with cardamom powder and ghee-roasted cashew nuts.