Navaratri Day 2 ~ Besan Payasam & Kosumalli

Day 2

Besan Payasam


Besan/gram flour/ kadalamavu is roasted in ghee and cooked in milk and finally sweetend with sugar. Its that simple. It requires very less time to make.  A simple, yet exotic dessert is ready in flat 15 minutes. The ingredients are always available in our pantry. 

Besan/Bengal Gram flour/Kadalamvu - 2 tblspn

Boiled milk - 1/2 litre

Sugar - 3 tblspn

Ghee - 1 tspn

Heat ghee in a pan and add besan. Roast the flour till nice aroma comes through. Leave it to cool. Add cool milk to the roasted flour and slowly mix to form a paste avoiding lumps. Stir in the paste to the remaining boiled milk. Boil the milk+besan mix and let it simmer for 5 minutes. The milk will start thickening. Stir in sugar. The sugar will melt and dilute the mix. When it boils again, remove from fire. The payasam will have a creamy consistency and will taste like mysurpa. You can adjust the sugar according to your taste. This will taste good when served warm or chill for few hours and serve like pudding.

Optionaly you can add some roasted cashewnuts too for extra richness. This will serve two people sufficiently When you have unexpected guests and don't know what to make for dessert, this will come quite handy. A very forgiving recipe except that you need to take care that besan doesn't turn lumpy when added to milk.

Kosumalli - Kadalapruppu Sundal

Bengal gram - 1 cup

Turmeric - a pinch

Salt to taste

Grated coconut - 2 tblspn

Seasoning

Coconut oil - 2 tblspn

Mustard seeds - 1 tspn

Green chilli - 2 nos

Red chilly - 1 no

Finely chopped ginger - 1/2 tspn

Curry leaves

Pressure cook kadalapruppu with turmeric till it is soft yet firm. Care should be taken while cooking so that it doesn't turn mushy. If it is not cooked well on pressure cooking, you can cook it for some more time on stove top.Then you will know when to stop. Drain the cooked dal and leave it on the colander for few minutes for the water to drain out completely. Also on cooling, it will firm up. So it doesn't turny mushy on the next step of preparation.

Heat oil preferably coconut oil(or vegetable oil ). Add mustard seeds, red chilli-broken into two, chopped green chillies, ginger and curry leaves. Add salt and the cooked and drained dal. Gently mix with a flat spatula, taking care not to make it mushy. Cook on low fire for 5 minutes for the dal to absorb the flavors and salt. Finally add fresh grated coconut and remove from fire.

Black Sesame Ladoos

Navratri - the nine sacred nights is one of the most celebrated festivals of India. This begins from the first day (Pradhamai) after Amavasya (New Moon Day) in the month of Purattasi as it is known in Tamil. This nine days festival is essentially celebrated to worship Devi and to commemorate the victory of good over evil.
Bommai Kolu is traditionally a women's festival that Tamilians celebrate during Dasshera. Every year, a series of steps is set up and kolu bommai or dolls are displayed. These dolls typically depict gods or village scenes and weddings, anything that interest u. This beautiful clay figurines of gods and goddesses are worshipped during Navaratri, viewing art as Divinity.

A kolu can be as simple or as elaborate as one likes. The woman of the house invites other women to come inspect the kolu, eat a few snacks, exchange a little gossip and go home with a couple of small goodies.
Women traditionally exchange gifts of coconuts, clothes and sweets.
Ellu urundai is also one of Neivethiyam to be done during Kolu. Black Sesame Seeds with Jaggery syrup.
I was going thru DK's, Got this recipe Nugul Untallu - Black Sesame Ladoos (this way its easy  to pronounce, :) ).

Black sesame seeds are an extremely good source of calcium; studies have shown that one gram of seeds contains approximately 85 milligrams of calcium. Black sesame seeds also have high amounts of protein, phosphorous, iron and magnesium.

Here goes the recipe

Ingredients
75gms of Black Sesame Seed
5 tbsp jaggery
a pinch of salt (only addition, i made for that sweet-salt taste)

Method
Wash Sesame seeds and sun dry them. Dry Roast and Grind them to a fine powder along with jaggery.
Transfer the mixture to a plate and shape them into ladoos.
chutki mein ho gaya!!!!

Peanut Butter Frosting

My Hubby's Birthday was on Sep 19. Baking a cake is a bit easy now, Thanks to DK for the Eggless Chocolate Cake recipe.
I wanted to try my hand in Frosting. Searching the Net for some easy frosting recipes.
Got this recipe from cooksrecipes.com. It Came out well

Peanut Butter Frosting

Ingredients
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup Peanut butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
About 2 tablespoons milk
 
Method
 
With an electric mixer at low speed, mix the powdered sugar and peanut butter together. Once combined, add vanilla and milk. Increase speed of mixer to medium and beat for 1 to 2 minutes or until smooth and of spreading consistency.
 
 

For Crumb Coating and Frosting a Cake

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQgSatRiEHY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gJZ75ahfs8