Sabudana Halwa

Yum Yum Yum! is all I can say :) Do try this recipe, you will love it. It is simple and yet so delicious. No wonder my Mom used to make it sooooooo many times when I was little. Kisiko bachaa hua, sabudana halwa. kisika birthday hain, sabudana halwa. Koi ghar ayaa, sabudana halwa!!! So here is the recipe for everybody to try - in pictures. It seems more easier that way!

Take 1 cup of Sabudana. And soak them in 1 cup of water for approx 2 hours. I did that and then realized there is no ghee at home! So ended up soaking it overnight. But the water had dried up and did no harm. This is how it looked like in 2 hours. Take 2 tsp of ghee. I used 2 tb sp :) I am big hearted (and big tummy) person you see :)

Take 4-5 cloves and add to ghee Add the sabudana to the ghee Add dry fruits - I added raisins and almonds

You would need 2 cups (double the quantity of sabudana) of coconut juice. If you can extract from fresh coconut GREAT! If you cannot, its fine too. You can use the tin ones you get.

Add the coconut to the sabudana and cook for some time.

Add saffron to the mixture.

Add sugar - same quantity as the sabudana you started with (remember the sabudana will double in quantity when you soak in water)

How does it look? Pour it in a tray/dabba and let it settle for some time. Cool off and then refrigerate. Taste great cold and hot alike.

Ingredients

1 cup Tapioca/Sabudana

1 cup sugar

2 cup coconut milk

Saffron

Almonds and raisins

1 tsp ghee

Few cloves

Pineapple Firnee

Yesterday I tried my hands at Mom's favorite recipe Pineapple Firnee. And it turned out amazing! I recommend it to all my friends.

So here are the steps - In pictures for easy understanding :)

Take a fully ripe Pineapple

Cut it into 2 pieces - One that will later be used as the container for the firnee and other as the lid. So you can figure where to cut the pineapple.

Remove the flesh from the fruit.

This is how the skin will be left after you remove all the flesh.

Soak 1/2 cup rice and then fry in an open container as shown here.

Heat 1 spoon of ghee in a pan.

Fry 10-12 cashew nuts in the ghee for 2 minutes.

Add the rice to the cashew nuts and fry for a minute.

Now take the rice and cashew nuts off the stove and let it cool for some time.

Make a sugar syrup with the pineapple flesh. If you have 2 tb sp of pineapple, add 2 tb sp of sugar and 1 tb sp of water. (Basically same amount of sugar as the pineapple pieces and half the amount of water).

After some time the pineapple syrup will look like this.

Now grind the cashew nuts and rice that we kept for cooling off. Now take the powder, add 3 times the water and pressure cook. Add almonds and raisins while pressure cooking.

Yes, here's a picture of the pressure cooker for you. JLT. Cook for 2 whistles.

This is how the mixture in the cooker will look like.

Boil 1-2 cups of milk in a pot. Add 2-3 spoons of sugar. Add the cooked rice paste to the milk.

After a quick boil, add the pineapple paste. REMEMBER - You cannot add fresh pineapple to the milk directly. The milk will spoil and you will mess up the dish.

Add some pineapple essence to the firnee (This is optional. I did not have essence so skipped this step). Also add a pinch of kesar. Then cool the firnee in a refrigerator. Pour it in the pineapple shell we prepared in the beginning.

THEN ENJOY IT!

Ingredients -

1 Pineapple (you would use only 1/2 of it. That would serve 8-10 people)

1 tb sp ghee

10-12 cashew nuts

1/2 cup rice

1 cup milk

3/4 cup sugar

pineapple essence

kesar

Few raisins

Some almonds

So there you go people, have fun!