Boondhi paayasam / Kheer

I call this as modification.com. I just changed the form of the sweet by adding milk. I had some boondhi laddus at home and the kids doesn't want to eat them. So, decided to do this experiment. Trust me, it came out very well. And guess who ate most of it., my little cheeky one.,

There are no standard measurements for this recipe as we are not preparing it right from the scratch.

Ingredients:

Boondhi laddu - 3-4

Milk - 250 ml to 400 ml depending on your choice of consistency

Almonds - 10 (Soaked and chopped into thin slices)

Method:

Bring the milk to boil.

Mash the laddu with fork and mix it with the milk and boil it again under low flame, until the boondhi absorbs the milk. 

When the mixture reaches the desired consistency, then turn off the heat. Garnish with chopped almonds and serve either warm or chilled.

Potato and Sago tikkis

This is a simple snack, easy to prepare. Kids will like them as they taste more or less like finger chips as the main ingredient is potato. Same as the fries,  you must eat them when they are warm. Unlike the other fritters like bhajis or vadas, these doesn't taste nice when they become stale

Ingredients:

Sago seeds - 1 cup

Potato - 2 medium

Green chili - 2-3 finely chopped

Curry leaves - Freshly chopped - 2-3 tbsp

Rice flour - 1 tbsp
Lemon juice - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Grated potato, soaked sago, green chilli and curry leaves

Method:

Soak the sago pearls / Sabodhana, in enough water to cover it, for about two hours. Drain off excess water. 

Just before making the tikkis, grate the potato and remove the excess water.

Mix together sabudana, grated potato, green chillies, curry leaves, lemon juice, rice flour and salt. Mix thoroughly. Divide into sixteen lemon sized balls, flatten between palms of your hands. 

Heat sufficient oil in a kadai and deep fry vadas in hot oil till golden brown. 

Drain on absorbent paper and Serve hot.

Note - For variation, you can also add chopped coriander instead of curry leaves. You can also add coarsely ground roasted peanuts. 

Floor Lamp Decoration

When I bought this floor lamp, it was plain and looks bit dull.

Thought to decorate it a bit.

I have used some kundans and glitter paints and some glue to stick the kundans. It took less than 30 minutes to decorate this.  Look at the difference...

Home made Paneer / Cottage cheese

This is so simple to prepare at home. It has a fresh quality and a dense, crumbly texture that goes beautifully with strong flavours. We can make n number of recipes using this home made paneer.

Ingredients:

Milk - 2 litre

Vinegar / Lemon juice - 3 tbsp

Method:

Pour the milk into a heavy-bottomed pan that allows plenty of room for boiling.

Set it over high heat and bring the milk to a full foaming boil, stirring often to prevent scorching and sticking. 

Reduce the heat to low, and before the foam subsides, drizzle in the lemon juice or vinegar.

Very gently and slowly move the spoon through the milk in one direction. After 10 or 15 seconds, remove the pan from the heat and continue to gently agitate the milk until large lumps of soft curd form. 

If the cheese has not formed after 1 minute, place the pan over the heat again momentarily until the milk coagulates and leaves the pale yellow-green whey. If necessary, add a little more lemon juice.

Remove the pan from the heat as soon as the cheese forms. Cover it and set it aside for 10 minutes. It you want a very soft cheese, gently pour in 1 or 2 cups of hot water. When the cheese has settled under the surface of the whey, it is ready to drain.

Line a colander with cheesecloth or some clean white cloth that has been dipped in water and wrung dry. Drape the corners and edges of the cloth over the sides of the colander. 

If you want to collect the whey, set the colander over another pan, like I did; otherwise place it in a sink. You can use the whey in making chapathi dough or use it in curries or even in steaming rice for biryani.

Whey that is collected during the process

Remove the large lumps of cheese with a slotted spoon and place them in the colander. Gently pour the smaller pieces and remaining whey into the colander.

Add any fresh herbs now and fold in well.

Gather up the corners of the cloth and twist it around. Hold the bag of cheese under a gentle stream of cold running water for 5 to10 seconds. Gently twist the cloth to squeeze out the excess whey.

Drain the cheese slowly, allowing it to compact under its own weight by hanging the bag to drain. To get the hard paneer, you can place the bag of cheese under a weight until firm (about 20 minutes). 

Unwrap the cheese and keep it in the fridge for 1 hour to solidify more and then cut into cubes.

You can preserve it in the fridge for upto 1 week.

Paneer cubes

Flower Arrangement

Rabri / Rabdi - Milk sweet

Rabri is a traditional Rajasthani sweet, made by boiling whole milk on medium heat for a long time till it becomes dense and changes its colour to creamer.   In the whole process, the dense cream layers are collected and added at the end. Other than sugar, nothing else is added to this. It is chilled and served as a desert. A tongue licking dessert.

Ingredients:

Whole milk - 2 litres

Sugar - as per taste (Roughly about 3/4th cup)

Method:

I have chosen gold top milk as they are rich with cream. More or less, it requires, same effort for 1 litre or 2 litre, so I planned to prepare 2 litres at a time. As we boil the milk for longer period, this sweet will be preserved up to 10 days in the refrigerator. But, I doubt it., as it is difficult to stay away from it.

Take a big vessel to avoid the over flow of the milk whilst boiling. Also, the main thing in this sweet is the cream layers. If is recommended to use  wide bottomed vessel, so that we can collect more cream layers.


Boil the milk in medium high flame for about 2 hours by stirring occasionally. 
Every time, when ever the layer is formed remove it and keep it aside.


Make sure to scratch the edges to avoid burning. Also remember to scratch at the bottom of the vessel. When it has reached the desired consistency, add sugar and the collected cream layers and boil for few more minutes and turn of the heat. It gets thicker when becomes cold.

Whole milk boiled into dense creamy texture

No matter, how the consistency is., the result is a lip smacking desert.

Baapu gaari bommalu

బాపు గారి పేరు చదవగానే మొహం పైన చిరు నవ్వులు వెలుస్తాయి .......

అసలు నాకు తెలుగు భాష మీద మమకారం కలగడానికి కారణం బాపు గారి గీతలే నండి ...

ఆయన పలానా అని లేకుండా., రాజకీయ నాయకుడి గురించి అయితే ఏమి., సామాన్య పౌరుడి గురించి అయితే నేమి.,కొత్త అల్లుడు గారు , ఒక గృహిణి, ఇల్లాలు, ఒక బల్ల, పిల్లి, ఎలుక, తాబేలు., ఆకరికి ఆయనని పుట్టించిన బ్రహ్మ గురించి కూడా గీతలు గీసేస్తుంటారు... 

మన కోసం కొన్ని ఇక్కడ పోగేసాను   ........

Courtesy: Bapu cartoons