Happy's Cook: 2020

Saturday, December 12, 2020

Caramilk Snowballs Recipe | Caramilk Balls | No Bake Caramilk Balls | Christmas Special

December is here and it is the most wonderful time of the year. To celebrate this holiday season, I am planning to post some yummy treats. To begin with I am sharing a no-bake caramilk balls. We can make these balls with just a few ingredients and it keeps well in the refrigerator for a week. You can easily modify this recipe as per your sweet and flavour preference.

Bread Halwa Recipe | Diwali Special Sweet

Wishing all my dear readers and family a great Diwali. May this festival of joy brings more happiness in your life. Today I am presenting a delicious sweet which you can make in a jiffy without much planning. Every year during Eid, my Muslim friend here in Sydney gives us delicious Biryani and Sweet. Two years back, she gave me this bread halwa and I tasted it for the first time. It tasted so yummy and I was planning to make it at home since then. Also, she told me that this sweet is very common in Muslim Wedding Menu along with biryani. When I was planning to make some Diwali sweet, this came to my mind and I got the recipe from her. I tried it yesterday with few changes and it came out so well. Traditionally, the bread pieces are deep-fried in ghee and I have followed the same. You can also deep fry it in any oil or shallow fry it with little ghee. Please read the notes section for other options. Do check out my diwali special collection too.

Ingredients:

Bread Slices - 6 (250 grams)

Full Cream Milk - 1 Cup(250 ml)

Water - 1 Cup(250 ml)

Milkmaid(condensed milk) - 1/2 Cup
Sugar - 1/4 Cup(more or less as per need)
Ghee - 1/2 Cup
Cardamom - 1 tsp(crushed)
Nut & Seeds - as required

(I used cashews & sunflower seeds)

Method:

1. Measure and keep the ingredients ready. Chop the bread slices into small pieces. Reserve two tablespoons of ghee for later use and heat the rest of the ghee for deep frying the bread pieces. You can also deep fry it in oil or shallow fry the bread with little ghee.

2. Fry the bread pieces until crispy and golden brown. Remove it and keep it aside.

3. Now, in a pan heat the milk, water, condensed milk and sugar. Stir it well until the sugar and condensed milk dissolves. Bring it to a rolling boil and add the crushed cardamom pods.

4. Add the fried bread pieces at this stage. The bread pieces will observe the liquid and becomes soft. Reduce the flame and cook until the bread pieces are soft and mushy. When everything starts to come together, add a tablespoon of ghee and mix it all together.

5. In a tablespoon of ghee, fry the cashew nuts and pour it over the halwa. Mix and cook until the ghee starts oozing out. Switch of the flame and the yummy halwa is ready to be served.

Like carrot halwa, the bread halwa also goes well with vanilla icecream. Serve it warm or cold based on your preference.

Points to remember:

Instead of deep-frying the bread pieces completely in ghee, you can use half oil and half ghee or you can fry completely in oil.
If you want to use less ghee, you can toast the bread pieces in little ghee and add a few teaspoons of ghee at the later stage.
Bread pieces will drink lots of ghee/oil. Few days old stale bread slices left in room temperature is ideal for this recipe. You can sundry or fan dry the bread pieces for a few minutes before deep frying. You can also stale the bread in the oven.
Since we are adding ghee and milkmaid the halwa will be very rich and hence I have added only one cup of full cream milk. If using light milk, you can go up to 2 cups(500 ml) of milk and skip the water.
Adjust the sugar based on your preference and you can increase it up to 1/2 cup.
I have used big sized wheat bread slices along with the sides. I have mentioned the bread quantity in grams as well and following this will give you a better idea to adjust the sugar quantity.
White bread can also be used for this recipe. I prefer wheat bread for the dark colour halwa.
If you need really smooth halwa, you can ignore the sides of the bread slices. Powdered rusk can also be used for this recipe.
Compromising the ghee quantity will surely give a difference in the texture of the halwa.
Almonds, Raisins, Tutti Frutti and any melon seeds can be used as toppings.

Warm Regards,
Happy's Cook - Divya

Keerai Kootu Recipe | keerai Molagootal | Spinach Dal Kootu

I try to include spinach in our diet at least once or twice a week. I make thoran/poriyal, if I get thandu keerai or murungai keerai and these kinds of spinach is very rarely available in Sydney markets. However, English Spinach(similar to Indian Palak Keerai) is commonly available and I make kuzhambu or kootu with that. Today I am sharing the recipe of keerai kootu with dal and ground coconut paste. I used the English spinach to make this kootu and it could be made using any kind of available greens. I have linked some of the already posted spinach recipes below for your reference:

Keerai Kuzhambu

Drumstick Leaves thoran

Manathakkali Paruppu Keerai

Spinach Thoran

Zucchini Thoran Recipe | Courgette Thoran | Zucchini Stir Fry | Zucchini Poriyal

Zucchini is one of the very common vegetables that can be seen in all the Australian supermarkets. English speaking countries call it as Zucchini while the European Countries call it as Courgette. Zucchini is a summer squash and it has a slightly sweet taste. Though it looks similar to cucumber, it is not eaten raw since it is not juicy and refreshing like the cucumbers. The sweetness in zucchini becomes more evident when it is cooked. Cooking also serves to soften zucchini, although it is tender to bite into even raw. I always make thoran or kootu with this vegetable and it tastes delicious when we balance the sweetness of the vegetable with green chilli or red chilli powder. It requires very little cooking time and I don't prefer it when overcooked.

Ragi Sweet Adai Recipe | Finger Millet Sweet Adai | Millet Recipes

Finger Millet(ragi) is a rich source of calcium and iron. It is good to include it in our diet, considering its health benefits. If you have a sweet tooth like me, then you will absolutely love this healthy and delicious adai. It will be a filling after school snack for kids. If you prefer savoury adai then check out my Ragi Adai with drumstick leaves.

Palak Poori Recipe | Spinach Poori

Poori is one of the kids friendly food that most of the children love. Those who follow me on Instagram would know that I pack Poori for Happy's lunch box once a week. I pair it with poori masala, channa masala, aamras or any non-veg gravy. Somedays, instead of plain poori, I make masala poori, beetroot poori or spinach poori and pair it with Greek yoghurt. Also, on lazy days I pack poori with Nutella or any chocolate spread. Recently, when I was going through my recipe index, I figured out that I have not shared any other poori recipes here apart from the regular poori and hence thought of including it now.

Do check out my other paratha/roti recipes below:

Aloo Paratha

Broccoli Paratha

Gobi Paratha

Methi Thepla

Soft Chapathi

Capsicum Sambhar Recipe | Kudamilagai Sambhar | Sambhar Recipes

Sambhar is a very popular South Indian dish and every household will have it, at least once in their weekly menu. When I started cooking, I always made mixed vegetable sambhar and never bothered to think about any other sambhar. Later, when I want to make quick sambhar without chopping too many veggies, then I started making this capsicum sambhar. Though I am not very much fond of capsicum, I love this sambhar since capsicum brings out a unique flavour to the sambhar.

I have already posted the below Sambhar Recipes in the blog:

Tiffin Sambhar

Mixed Vegetable Sambhar

Radish Sambhar

Varutharacha Sambhar

Ragi Adai Recipe | Finger Millet Adai | Ragi adai with drumstick leaves | Kezhvaragu Adai | Millet Recipes

Millets are very nutritious and I started to include millets in our routine meal plans more frequent now. When I was in Chennai, I always have a batch of homemade ragi flour from my native and I regularly make puttu with that. When Happy was a baby, we give her ragi porridge sweetened with karupatti(palm jaggery) and I stopped it after a few years when she lost interest.

During my last India trip in December, I brought a pack of homemade ragi flour and started using it again. When I was planning to post new recipes with ragi in the blog, I found these pictures on my hard disk which was taken in 2015. Back then I made this ragi adai with homegrown drumstick leaves and homemade ragi flour. I was not really happy with the photos hence thought of discarding it. However, chances to get drumstick leaves in Sydney at the moment is not possible for me. Hence thought of sharing the recipe with the very old images that I have. I will be posting more ragi based recipes soon. Also, if you are looking for more millets recipes then please check the below links:

Ragi Kozhukattai

Samai Sweet Pongal

Kuthiraivali Khara Pongal

Pineapple Rasam Recipe | How to make pineapple Rasam? | Rasam Recipes

It is winter in Sydney and a bowl of hot rasam rice is really a comfort food for this cold weather. I am trying lots of different types of rasam these days and I wanted to share some recipes here as well. So, before clicking anything new, I thought of clearing my drafts and I found this pineapple rasam. I clicked it in 2017 when I was in my native for vacation. During my school days, dad was growing lots of pineapple on our farm. Relishing those homegrown pineapples with lots of sugar sprinkled on it is one of my favourite snacks. Nowadays, dad started buying pineapple whenever we are home. So, I made this pineapple rasam in my mum's kitchen and clicked it for the blog. I have shared chicken rasam and tomato rasam before and stay tuned for more rasam recipes.

Some of the pineapple based recipes that I shared earlier are:

Pineapple Kesari

Pineapple Pachadi

Pineapple Pomegranate Raita

Pavakkai Kichadi Recipe | Bitter Gourd Kichadi | Onam Sadya Recipes

Today I am sharing yet another recipe from my never-ending drafts. I clicked this Pavakkai Kichadi for Onam, a few years back but somehow it didn't make it to the blog. This recipe calls for deep frying the bitter gourd pieces, but you can shallow fry it with a little oil or air fry/oven bake without any oil. This is one of the easiest ways to eat bitter gourd if you are not a lover of it. On busy days, I just air fry the bitter gourd pieces and mix it with the whisked curd. Then give a very basic tempering and it still tastes amazing. I have already shared a bitter gourd fry recipe and lots of Onam Sadya recipes, do check it out. Also, some of my favourite pachadi's are:

Beetroot Pachadi

Pineapple Pachadi

Cucumber Pachadi

Vendakkai Kichadi

Brown Rice Adai Dosai Recipe | Brown Rice Adai | Brown Rice & Lentil Crepes | Protein Dosa

I have already shared the recipe of regular adai dosai in the blog. Whenever I think about reducing weight or restricting the intake of white rice, I always go for millets or brown rice. So, the wholesome protein-rich adai dosa when made with millets or brown rice can be had without any guilt. I clicked this recipe more than two years back and finally, it is making its way to the blog. Please check out the below millet based recipes as well:

Kuthiraivali Khara Pongal

Samai Arisi Sakkarai Pongal

Ragi Karupatti Kozhukattai

Palappam Recipe | Appam with Yeast | Kerala Appam | Vellayappam

If you are my regular reader and a follower on my Instagram account, by now you would know that I make appam every week. I grind both the Idli/Dosa batter and Appam batter on the weekend and use it for the whole week. The appam batter recipe that I shared earlier in the blog is the one I follow and it doesn't disappoint me. However, I always wanted to share the Kerala style appam with yeast. Though this is almost similar to mine, the addition of yeast makes a huge difference and it is fuss-free. I have another version of this palappam with cooked rice porridge(more details in notes). Please check out my Kallappam and Vattayappam recipe if you are interested in Kerala style appams.

Rasam Vadai Recipe | Nagercoil Style Rasavada | Rasavadai

Rasavada is one of the famous breakfast accompaniments in my native. Many hotels in Nagercoil have this on their menu and I have relished it from my childhood. Other parts of Tamilnadu might not be so familiar with this rasavada because they usually pair the rasam with Medhu Vada(Ulundhu Vada). But in my hometown, rasavada is made with paruppu vada. Whenever my mum makes Paruppu Vada for tea time in the evening she makes it in excess. She soaks the leftover vadai in the rasam and we will eat it the next day with Idli/Dosa for breakfast. Do try this combination once and thank me later. This is not really a usual recipe post because this is just soaking leftover vadai in rasam. But I have shared few tricks to make this perfectly and also have shared another version of rasam.

Kallappam Recipe | Kallappam with Yeast

I grow up eating lots of Kerala based breakfast/tiffin items since my native is close to the Kerala border. I can never survive without puttu and appams. It is my most comfort food and everybody at home loves it. Today's recipe Kallappam is traditionally made with Kallu(toddy) and since it is not widely available these days, we are using yeast to help with the fermentation. For appam's my mom-in-law makes homemade kallu using coconut water and sugar(check notes). We can use it for fermentation if you couldn't source yeast. These kallappams are really spongy, taste delicious with the coconut, cumin and onion flavour. If you love Kerala based tiffin items, then do check the following recipes as well.

Puttu

Chicken Puttu

Puttu Kadala Curry

NoolPuttu(Idiyappam)

Appam

Jackfruit Appam

Unniyappam

Jackfruit Elai Appam

Therali Appam

Ethakka Appam(Pazham Pori)

Nuts and Dry Fruits Ladoo Recipe | Nuts Bliss Balls with dates | Energy Bites with nuts and dry fruits | No Sugar Energy Bites

If you are looking for a guilt-free treat for the kid's lunchboxes, these bite-sized bliss balls are the ideal pick. Also, if you are a person who is like me looking for something sweet immediately after lunch, then this will surely get you through the afternoon. These energy bites are very healthy, delicious and they are naturally sweet from the dried fruits.

I have made this with whatever is available in my pantry. But you can always substitute with any other nuts, seeds and dry fruits (see notes). They are so easy to make and hardly takes 10 minutes.

Apple Halwa Recipe | How to make apple halwa

Hello everyone!! It's been more than a year since I posted anything new in this beautiful space of mine. I will be pushing myself to be more active in the coming days. Recently, I am very much active on Instagram, where I share my day-to-day cooking videos and meal plates. Also, I have a YouTube channel with a few videos and I will be sharing more video recipes as well. If you are not following me on Instagram please do it now. Also, do subscribe to my channel. I have not clicked any new recipes recently, but I have lots of recipes in my drafts that I clicked a year ago.

Today, I am sharing the apple halwa recipe. This recipe can never go wrong, but the only point we should be careful is the sugar quantity. Depending on the sweetness and the size of the apple, it should be adjusted. Also, choose the kind of apple that is not sour. Please check out other Halwa recipes from the blog in the below links: