Tapioca Halwa

Yesterday being Janmashtami, I wanted to prepare some new sweet that I had not tried eating or making earlier. I had got this tapioca for dosa making and it came handy in my halwa making. Kundan is fond of Thirunelvelli halwa and keeps prodding me to try it at home, but I was too skeptical for the effort and knack it demands. Surprisingly, the tapioca halwa reminded us in taste and texture the wheat halwa. I have now earned some confidence through this to venture into making the actual ‘irrutu kadai halwa’… Ok, now about this tapioca halwa, it is pretty simple and yumm. I won’t cheat you calling it a healthy one though ;) After all it ate some sugar and is flab-ed with ghee.

Serves:  2

Preparation Time:  5 minutes

Cooking Time:  20 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Tapioca (Maravallikizhangu) – half a foot long

2.    Ghee – 4 tbsp

3.    Sugar – ½ cup

4.    Kesar color – 1 pinch (optional)

5.     Cardamom powder – ¼ tsp

6.    Milk – few tbsp

Method:

Step 1: Wash, cut the tapioca into 2 or 3 pieces and boil for at least 6 whistles.

Step 2: Peel the cooked tapioca skin and chop it roughly into small bits.

Step 3: Grind it using a mixer jar or mash using potato masher but generally it has fiber and is hard so grinding is a better option. While mashing use some milk if it is lacking moisture.

Step 4: Heat a spoon of ghee and roast cashew nuts in it, drain and keep aside.

Step 5: In the same ghee add the mashed tapioca, add milk dissolved kesar color to it and keep cooking by stirring constantly until it doesn't stick if held between fingers.

Step 6: Add sugar and cardamom powder and mix well; in few minutes the halwa turns glossy and glassy.

Step 7: Start adding ghee spoon by spoon, at a stage it stops absorbing ghee and then it is done.

Step 8: Mix the fried cashew nuts and turn off heat.

Step 9: Serve the melt-in mouth hot tapioca halwa.

Baingan Bartha

Baingan is Brinjal and this dish is more like a ‘kathirikai masiyal’ that we’ve in south India. Here we like to eat it with steamed rice while in north it is preferred with rotis mainly. Traditionally for Baigan ka bartha, large eggplants are chosen and charred on stove before the skin is peeled to prepare bartha as I din’t get large ones I just chopped them fine and used in the recipe. This is so flavourful and totally different in texture from other Brinjal recipes and so even people who detest Brinjal would like to try it.

Serves:  3

Preparation Time:  10 minutes

Cooking Time:  15 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Brinjal large – 1 or small -4

2.    Tomato large – 1

3.    Onion medium – 1

4.    Salt to taste

5.     Oil – 1 tbsp

6.    Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp

7.     Asafoetida – 1 pinch

8.    Coriander powder – 1 tsp

9.    Chili powder – 1 tsp

10. Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp chopped

Method:

Step 1: Char the large brinjal directly on stove on all sides. Cool it, wash, peel the skin and slit to check for worms and mash it with masher chop if using small ones.

Step 2: Alternatively chop the small brinjals into small cubes as I have done.

Step 3: Heat oil in a tawa, temper with cumin seeds and asafoetida.

Step 4: Sauté with it finely chopped onions then add coriander, chopped tomatoes, chilli powder, coriander powder and salt in that order. 

Step 5: Add little water if required and let it get cooked. Add chopped brinjal if using small ones and mash it using potato masher.

Step 6: Else when done add the mashed large brinjal to it and stir well.

Step 7: Serve with rice/ rotis.

Praline

Praline for me was an accidental discovery. I was trying to prepare taagar/ bura for urad ladoos but I had mistakenly added less water than required; hence turned darker. I can pat my back for the presence of mind to add some butter and melon seeds to transform my blunder into a sweet outcome.

Serves:  NA

Preparation Time:  NA

Cooking Time:  15 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Sugar – 1 cup

2.    Water – ¼ cup

3.    Melon seeds – 2 tbsp (can be substituted by almonds or peanuts or so )

4.    Butter – 1 tbsp

Method:

Step 1: Mix sugar and water and heat it by constantly stirring it.

Step 2: The sugar dissolves, then thickens and then turns into honey colour.

Step 3: At this stage, butter and melon seeds to it and turn off heat.

Step 4: Stir well and pour immediately into a butter greased plate or tray to about 1/8^th on an inch’s thickness. Slightly thicker is ok, just that it takes more time to solidify.

Step 5: Once it comes to room temperature, remove the praline using a knife tip or back of the spoon or fork.

Step 6: Store it in an airtight container until use, preferably use it within a week.

Step 7: This can be relished just as we do candies or can be crushed and dressed on ice-creams or milkshakes or garnished on desserts.