4 minute microwave Mysore Pak (Diwali 2014)

Mysore pak was one of moms favorites for Diwali.  She toiled hard for hours on the stove stirring the crazy boiling mix in a large deep pressure cooker so it wouldn't splatter all over the kitchen.  Adding ghee one spoonful at a time, hers was smoother and softer in texture melt in the mouth. Being lazy, I never tried ever.

The microwave mysore pak is slightly coarser, crispier and crunchier like the kind made for weddings.  For a first attempt, I was very pleased with the result.  The recipe was given to me by sis who tried it at a cousins place last Diwali.   Try for yourself!   You can't go wrong with all that sugar and ghee.

Make sure you maintain the proportion. 1:2:1::besan:sugar:ghee.

Ingredients

• 1 cup - Besan(chick pea flour)
• 2 cup - Sugar
• 1 cup - ghee(clarified butter)
• 2-3 tbsp - milk

Directions

1. Measure out sugar and besan into a microwaveable container and mix well
2. Add ghee and mix well
3. Keep a greased plate ready to pour and cut the mysore pak when done
4. One minute power high on microwave, remove and mix well
5. One minute in microwave and mix well
6. Add the milk and mix it well
7. One more minute microwave high and mix well
8. One last minute in the microwave...  It will have frothed
9. Without stirring pour the hot mixture on the greased plate
10. Use a sharp knife to cut while it is still hot
11. Let it cool and enjoy yummy mysore pak

Hope you enjoyed my dysfunctional style of making mysorepak am not sure where the recipe came from to give due credit but thanks to whoever thought of making Mysore pak in the microwave.  My family is very happy with the unexpected treat.

Nei(Ghee) Payasam

Nei payasam takes me back to childhood and the Guruvayurappan temple in  Kerala, where it's served as prasadam(blessed food).  We arrived late and got to eat nei payasam prasadam on plantain leaves served by volunteers.  The temple was having a big celebration with elephants and drums and music.
 
It is also made for Bhagawati sevai puja, a religious function performed for the good of the family and the home.  This puja is performed annually by my sisters family.  I remember her mother-in-law making the decadent and delicious nei payasam in a huge metal urali(vessel/pan) placed over a kerosene stove.  The whole family taking turns to stir the payasam, it was a collaborative effort and the whole family came together to help. The mere thought has me drooling for some. 

Garnished with powdered cardamom(Elaichi)

Knowing how much I loved it, mom improvised the long, hard and time consuming recipe to a much simpler one.  So here goes, Nei payasam in my dysfunctional cooking style.


Ingredients:

•  3 to 4 tbsp - Ghee(nei)
•  2 cups Jaggery(grate for easy melting)
•  1 cup water (to melt jaggery)
•  1 cup cooked basmati rice  (any variety, cooled and separated)

Garnish:

•  1/4 cup golden raisins(kismish)
•  1/4 cup broken cashews or slivered Almonds
•  a pinch or two of elaichi (cardamom) powder 

Method:

1. Heat the water and jaggery and bring it to a slow boil. Allow the jaggery to melt completely, stir continuously otherwise it will burn (2-4 minutes)
2. Continue stirring on medium heat until it starts to thicken (4-5 minutes)
3. In another pan (wok) heat 2-3 tbsp ghee and stir in the rice
4. Stir fry for a couple of minutes
5. Add in the jaggery and stir well
6. Cook while stirring continuously until the ghee starts to glisten on the surface as seen in the picture (7-8 minutes)
7. Heat a tbsp ghee in a small pan, first roast the raisins, remove them with a spoon and add to payasam
8. Roast the cashew in the same ghee and add to payasam. 
9. Top with the elaichi powder and mix well
10. Enjoy delicious Nei payasam.  It is very rich so you can't eat a lot like sweet pongal.  it will stay good for a week or two in the refrigerator 

Served and ready to eat..


Notes: You could garnish with coconut slivers roasted in ghee and a pinch or two of dry ginger powder have seen mom use them on occasion.  I like the cashews and raisins to be soft and incorporated so I add them halfway in step 6 so they could also absorb some of the moisture.

Diwali Special.. Sheera cake with left over haldiram rasgolla sugar syrup.. :)

Wish you all a very Happy Diwali and Saal Mubarak(Happy New Year). 

Diwali Diya(lamp) lit early in the morning before sunrise

This year we decided not to make sweets or savories for Diwali since the girls were busy with their activities thru the weekend.   Ed had a brilliant idea, "Let's open a dabba(box/can) of Haldiram rasgolla's" he said, and for once I agreed, everyone loves it at home and we always stock a couple for special occasions.

Later, while rummaging around the garage fridge, I found the last box of  Sri Krishna Sweets(India) Mysore pak hidden away, they stay good for at least a year refrigerated..  Savories, we had some from the Indian store, last weekend we bought some Anand  jackfruit chips and Swad corn chewda, added some Swad boondi to it to make it mixture, a south-indian must have for Diwali.



Diwali breakfast - Idli, chutney,
jackfruit chips, chewda,
Rasgolla, and Mysore pak

Early morning did the naivedyam and heated up some Deep idli's in the microwave and liquefied some Nirav coriander chutney to go with and we had our yummy Diwali breakfast.

As evening came the rasgolla's were almost gone but more than 1/2 a can of the sugar syrup remained, reluctant to dump it in the sink, I have refrigerated it in the past and then thrown it away after a week.  This time I was determined to try something and what better reason than it's Diwali today!  Looked up for recipes online, but wasn't successful finding any.   Have always loved my sister's Satyanarayan puja sheera made with milk. so thought why not. 


Diwali Naivedhya (or Naivedyam) of sweets and savories

We had the sooji(rava/cream of wheat), the sugar syrup, milk, but wait the store bought Ghee bottle was empty!  Think that would stop a determined me, never! Luckily, we had butter as my younger daughter has been on a baking spree these past few weeks.  So first, I had to make some ghee, well that's another recipe..  not really but let me add it separately for folks who want to make some of the good stuff at home.

Ghee made, drained the liquid ghee into a steel vessel before it hardened and allowed the darkened impurities to stay at the bottom, my older daughter and husband love to eat the left overs, so nothing wasted. 

Here goes the recipe for Sheera Cake(cake, as in cut into diamond shape).  Didn't take many pictures while making the improvised recipe based on watching sis make it over the years.  I can safely say it was a super hit at our house, it all gone by the next morning.

Sheera Cake with Haldiram's left over sugar syrup

From Left, Greetings, Rava(Soji), Sugar syrup, ghee remnants, milk, sheera being stirred, cashew,
Indian golden raisins(kismis) and Sheera Cake cut and ready to serve

Ingredients:
- 1 and 1/2 cups of milk
- 1 and 1/2 cups of water
- 1 and 1/2 cups of the leftover rasgolla sugar syrup (strained)
- 1 cup sooji/rava/cream of wheat(we shall call it rava)
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup ghee(there will be some leftover)
- 1 handful cashews
- 1 handful raisins
(can add more or less of both)

To color and flavor
- a few(7-8) strands of saffron
- 4-6 cardamom (elaichi) peeled and powdered

Directions:

1. Take 1 tbsp of ghee in a small pan, when hot, add the cashew and stir for a couple of minutes.  then add raisins and stir until the raisins are puffed up and the cashews is a golden brown, remove from pan and keep aside
2. Using the same kadai. I wiped it clean with a paper towel, add the rava and stir in 1/2 tbsp ghee.  Stir slowly until it starts to brown takes ~4-5 minutes on low to medium flame.  Remove from pan and keep aside(if left in the pan it will continue to cook and brown).
3. In a larger kadai, you need the extra space for stirring so it does not spill over add the milk and water and a few strands of saffron(kesar), once it starts to get hot, lower the heat and add the strained sugar syrup and stir in well.  Allow it come to a slow boil increase to medium heat. ~2-3 minutes.
4. Reduce the heat to a minimum and add the roasted rava slowly with one hand while stirring with the other, so it does not form lumps.
5. Add 2-3 tbsp of ghee and keep stirring until it starts to thicken(~2-3 minutes) still on low heat.
6. Stir in the roasted cashews and raisins from step 1.  You could add them in at the end, if you like the crunch, or over the top just before cutting into slices,  I prefer it cooked in as it spreads out evenly.
7. Increase the heat to medium low and add 2-3 more tbsp of ghee, continue stirring it will harden as the water gets absorbed.
8. Test if the rava is fully cooked.  If you feel its too grainy and dry, then add 2-3 tbsp of water or milk and continue stirring.  It should not burn or brown.
9. Once its done it will leave the sides of the pan easily and the ghee starts to glisten and ooze out, the cooking time is ~12-15 minutes after adding the rava.
10. The more ghee you add the more ghee will ooze out when done.  1/2 a cup of ghee is plenty.
11. Add elaichi powder and stir well.
12. You don't need to grease the plate.  I like to transfer it to a glass Pyrex and then cut into diamond shape..  Easier to serve and eat..
13. Using the back of a spoon or a knife to make 3/4" wide cuts going in one direction and then a 3/4 or 1" going diagonal to the first, to make diamond shapes.
14. You can make it look fancy; brush ghee across the top, or sprinkle edible glitter or spread silver foil or press in a sliver of almond or a raisin.  You could also roll it into balls and place in a small cupcake wrapper if you want to serve to guests.
15. Let it cool before covering with a lid.  We had missing corners before it had cooled.  So I know it was a hit.

Could we call it sugar free since technically we never used any sugar.  No way!  Enjoy a delicious sweet treat with leftover sugar syrup from Haldiram's rasgolla.  You can use any kind of left over sugar syrup.  If it's thick, dilute on the stove with some water before using.

Hope you enjoyed making my dysfunctional style of cooking sooji/rava sheera, kesari, halwa whatever it may be called across India; a tried and tested recipe in most homes. Mom's 'sunset yellow' food colored rava kesari was never one of my favorite sweets, so never bothered to make it.  Now I'm pretty sure each time we open a Haldiram's rasgolla dabba there will be a request for this Sheera cake!

Tip: Additional milk or water may be needed as it depends on how much liquid is absorbed by the rava to cook.  I used milk and needed 1/2 cup more which I added a few spoonful's at a time as needed before it was done.

Savory and Sweet Pongal with rice and mung dal

Savory and Sweet Pongal

Ingredients:

Ponni Raw rice(can substitute with any variety of raw rice)
Mung Dal(skinned and halfed mung bean)

For savory pongal - Turmeric(haldi) powder, salt, ghee, broken cashews, curry leaves(kadi patta)whole black pepper and cumin(jeera) seeds

For sweet pongal - Ghee, Jaggery(gur), Cardamom(elaichi), broken cashews and Indian golden raisins

Directions:

1. Measure out 1 cup ponni raw rice and 3/4th cup of mung dal in a microwaveable container. 
2. Wash well and add 5 cups of water this will be used for both sweet and savory pongals.
3. Cook in the microwave(typically for 1500-1700 watt MW- 7 mins power2 to soak and 20mins power 8). 
4. Separate half or a third of the cooked quantity in another container for the sweet pongal.

 For savory pongal

1. Add salt as needed and half a tsp of turmeric(haldi) powder to the cooked mixture and mix well
2. Sprinkled 3-4 tsp of water and cook for an additional 3 mins on high. 
3. Roast broken cashews in ghee and add..
4. Also sauté slightly crushed whole black pepper and jeera(not powdered) in ghee with some curry leaves(kadi patta)  and add..
5. Mix well and cook for an additional minute or two on high 
6. Tip - Consistancy should be soft like kichdi not separate like for pulao.

For sweet pongal

1. Add 3-4 tsp of milk to the cooked mixture kept aside and cook additional 3 mins on high for the milk to be absorbed.  
2. In a kadai(deep wide pan) take required amount of jaggery(gur) and add a small amount of water(less than quarter cup). 
3. Heat on a low flame to melt.  Make sure there are no pieces of unmelted jaggary.
4. Add in the precooked mixture and stir well,
5. Add one or two tsp of ghee as desired and stir well.
6. Continue to cook on a low flame until all the liquid is absorbed and the ghee glistens. 
7. Sauté broken cashews and the golden raisins in ghee and mix in
8. Finally sprinkle some elaichi(cardamom) powder on top.

The above was my dysfunctional style of cooking the traditional pongal(my mom's) recipes to celebrate the festival of Pongal on Jan 14th 2013.