Palkova / Milk Cake

Posted by arthi on Oct 21, 2011 in Desserts, Featured | 8 comments

Palkova is a delicious and simple milk sweet. Though it is little time consuming, I love to make palkova. By adding nuts to palkova, we can make Doodh pedas. Quick and easy version of Doodh Peda recipe is already there in SpicyTasty. More milk sweets are coming in SpicyTasty. Enjoy the Diwali with milk sweets . Time of Preparation: 2 1/2 hrs No of Servings : 12 pieces

Ingredients: Milk 16 cups Sugar 1/2 cup (adjust according to taste) Ghee 1 tbsp

Method of Preparation: 1. Heat milk in a heavy bottomed pan or a non stick vessel.

2. Heat the milk in a low to medium heat and stir inbetween to avoid sticking at the bottom. 3. Approximately after 1 1/2 hrs to 2 hrs, we can see the change of color in the milk to slight yellow and will become thicker. 4. When the milk becomes thicker and sticky, add the sugar and stir for sometime. 5. Add the ghee and remove from heat when we get the concistency of pudding. 6. Let it cool and we can make desired shape. 7. Homemade palkova is ready.

Medhu Vadai
Posted by Nithu on Aug 14, 2012 in Appetizers, Indian Festival, Navratri Recipes,Slideshow, Vinayagar Chaturthi | 8 comments

Medhu Vadai or Vada is a traditional South Indian food. They are crispy outside, soft and airy inside. Generally served with sambar and chutney as a side or dunked in a yogurt sauce orsambar or

rasam and served as dahi vada (curd vada), sambar vada and rasam vada respectively . It also accompanies Ven Pongal (a rice dish) or dosa or idli which completes a typical South Indian breakfast. The main ingredient of this dish is whole urad dal, black gram without skin which is very nutritious. Vadas are preferably eaten freshly fried. It is one of the common food you can find in street carts as well as in restaurants. It makes me nostalgic when I think about those days when we used to buy vada and bajji from street vendors. I still continue to enjoy it whenever I visit India. Nothing can beat that taste. Preparation time: 1 hour 30 minutes Cooking time: 40 minutes Yield: 25 vadas

Ingredients: Urad dal 1 and 1/2 cups Green chillies 3 Coarsely ground black pepper 1 tsp Ginger (finely chopped) 1 and 1/2 tsp Salt to taste Curry leaves 10 to 12 leaves Oil for frying Method of Preparation:

Wash and soak urad dal in water for half an hour.

After an hour, strain urad dal in a colander and let it rest for 10 minutes. Reserve the water for grinding.

Grind urad dal along with chopped green chillies, ginger, salt and sprinkle water little by little and grind it until smooth. Make sure you dont add more water, cause the vada will absorb more oil in that case.

Once batter grinds to a smooth paste, turn off the grinder and transfer it to a bowl.

Add coarsely ground black pepper, curry leaves and 1/2 tsp of finely chopped ginger and mix well.

Heat oil in a deep bottomed pan or kadai a little over medium heat or medium high heat. If you cook on high heat only the outside will be cooked and the inside will be sticky. Wet your palms (clean hands) and take a big dollop of batter and place it on your left palm, wet your right index finger and make a hole in the middle like a doughnut and transfer it to your wet right palm and slowly drop it in hot oil. You can also follow the same procedure on a plantain leaf or thick plastic sheet oiled on the surface instead of the sticky mess on your palm;) Repeat the procedure with the rest of the batter frying 4 to 5 vadas at a time depending on the size of your pan. Give a 2 minutes gap between each batch for the oil to become hot. Turn both sides and cook until vada becomes golden brown. Remove from oil and put it on a bowl lined with paper towel.