Green Chili Pottukadalai Murukku

Ingredients:

Rice Flour - 5 cups

Pottukadalai /Roasted Chana Dalia  - 1 cup, powdered

Green Chili Paste* - 2 1/2 tsps

Salt - as per taste

Lemon Juice - 2 1/2 tsps

Water - required for making dough

Oil - for deep frying

*Use fresh green chilies to make a paste. Adjust according to your spice level.

Method:

Mix the rice flour, pottu kadalai powder and salt. Divide the mixture into 5 equal portions. Heat the oil in a kadai for deep frying. Once the oil is hot enough for deep frying, add 1/2 tsp of lemon juice, 1/2 tsp green chili paste and sprinkle water to make a stiff dough to the first portion of the mixture. Make out enough balls from the dough, put in the murukku press. Squeeze out the murukku over a greased plate and drop them gently into the hot oil, fry on both sides until the oil stops bubbling and the murukku turn golden in color. Drain in a paper towel and cool completely. 

Once the first portion is done, do the same to the remaining four portions and deep fry the murukkus till golden brown. Cool completely and store the murukkus in a airtight container.

NOTE: When making in large batches do not add the lemon juice to the entire dough. It will make the murukku brown without being fried properly. Add the lemon juice little by little to the portion you are using to press. 

Apple Halwa

Ingredients:

Apple* - 3 big, peeled, chopped and pureed

Sugar** - 1 cup + 1 tsp

Cardamom - a pinch

Orange Food Color - a pinch soaked in a tsp of milk

Cashews - 1 tbspn, chopped

Ghee - 4 tbspns

*You can either grate it or make puree, approximately 3 cups puree

**Adjust according to the sweetness of the apple. Mine was too sweet

Method:

Heat 1 tbspn of ghee in a non stick kadai. Fry the cashews till golden brown and keep it aside. In the same pan add the remaining ghee and add in the apple puree. Fry it on medium flame until the water content in the puree is evaporated and the puree becomes slightly thick, it will take approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Now add sugar to the puree and mix well. Keep stirring the mixture and add the food color soaked in the milk. Stir until the halwa leaves the sides of the kadai and until the mixture looks glossy. Now add the cardamom powder and the fried cashews. Finally mix everything well and transfer it to a greased bowl. 

Apple Halwa is ready to serve :) :) You can serve as it is or cut into squares.

Rava and Coconut Ladoo/Rava and Coconut Laddu

Yields 19 Balls

Ingredients:

Rava (coarse) - 1 cup (250 ml cup)

Coconut - 1 cup, scrapped

Sugar - 1 cup

Cashews - 2 tbspns. chopped

Cardamom - 1/4 tsp, powdered

Ghee - 2 tsps

Milk - 1/4 cup + 2 tbspns

Method:

Add the ghee in a pan and roast the cashews on low heat until golden brown. Keep it separate. In the same pan roast the rava until you get a nice aroma ( until it starts turning golden brown ). Remove the rava from the pan and keep it aside. In the same pan add the scrapped coconut and fry for few minutes approximately 2-3 minutes. Now add the rava to the toasted coconut and mix it until the mixture is well blended. Now add the sugar and mix it well with the rava, coconut mixture. Add the roasted cashews. Mix everything well for a minute or until the sugar starts to melt. Switch off the stove. Let it cool approximately for 2-3 minutes. Now add the milk little by little until you are able to hold the mixture and shape into balls. Make equal sized balls of the mixture. If you are not able to shape into balls, heat the mixture for a minute and sprinkle some more milk. 

Let the balls cool completely. Store them into air tight containers.