Palapazha paayasam/ Jackfruit Paayasam

Jack fruit is one of my best fruit I love. Whenever smell of jack fruit tempts me I immediately buy it. My dad used to get it for me in my childhood days and I used to eat it along with honey. This payasam my mom used to make whenever my sister is back to home after marriage. She too loves it too much. It is very simple and quite easy to make if all ingredients are ready.

Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time : 20 mins
Serves : 4 nos

Ingredients:

Juicy Jack fruit - 1/4 kg (seedless)
Jaggery - 1 cup
Moong dal - 3 tablespoon
Cardamom powder - 1 teaspoon
Coconut milk - 1 cup
Cashewnut - 10 nos
Coconut piece - 3 nos (finely chopped)
Ghee - 2 tablespoon
Salt - 1 pinch
Water - to boil

Method:

1. Fry coconut pieces and cashewnut in ghee and keep it separate.
2. Wash and pressure cook moong dal for 3 whistle, smash and keep aside.
3. To the finely chopped jack fruit, add a cup of water and boil it in separate open pan for 10 mins.
4. In a non-stick pan add 1 cup powdered jaggery and 1/2 cup water and boil it in low flame until jaggery dissolves.
5. Filter jaggery syrup to remove all impurities.
6. To the filtered jaggery syrup add smashed moong dal and boiled jack fruit and allow it to cook for 10 mins in medium flame, until semi thick consistency is attained.
7. Add coconut milk, cardamom powder and a pinch of salt to the payasam and cook for 5 mins in low to medium flame.
8. Switch off the flame and finally add roasted cashew nuts and coconut along with ghee.

Serve it hot. Yummy jack fruit payasam is ready.

Tips:

1. Don't pressure cook jack fruit, when it is boiled in open pan and added to payasam you could feel pieces of jack fruit while eating payasam it gives additional taste.
2. After adding coconut milk don;t boil the payasam.
3. A pinch of salt added to any sweet will enhance the sweetness.

Boondhi Ladoo

One of my favourite recipe which I was planning to try individually without my mom help was Ladoo. I planned it for years, but this time I tried individually and it came out so good. Before marriage, me and my mom used to do this ladoo during Diwali in order to offer goddess Lakshmi. Very simple dish, which can be made in 40 mins if every ingredient is kept ready.

Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 40 mins
Yields : 20 ladoo

Ingredients:

Bengal gram flour - 1cup
Rice flour - 1teaspoon
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
Elachi powder - 1 teaspoon
Nutmeg powder (jadhikai) - 1 tablespoon
Cloves - 5 to 6 nos
Cashewnut - 1/4 cup (broken into fine pieces)
Raisin -1 tablespoon
Ghee - 2 tablespoon
Food colour -1/2 teaspoon (Yellow colour)
Raw camphor (Pachakarpooram) -1/4 teaspoon
Salt - 2 pinch
Aapa soda/ cooking soda - 1 pinch
Oil - to deep fry
Water - 1/2 cup
Diamond kalkandu - 2 tablespoon (optional)




Method to make Boondhi:

1. Sieve both rice flour and bengal gram flour. Add bengal gram flour, riceflour, salt, cooking soda, pinch food colour in a bowl and mix well by adding little water to form batter consistency.
2. Ensure batter is not too thick and not too thin. It should be pouring consistency,
3. Heat oil and a teaspoon of ghee in a pan and pour little batter on boondhi ladle and tap gently.



4. Little droplets of batter falls into oil and fry this boondhi. Ensure boondhi is removed from oil a stage before it turns too crisp. All this process are carried over in medium flame.
5. Repeat the same process for rest of the batter.
6. Using potato masher semicrush half of the boondhi and have half of the whole boondhi.
7. Heat ghee in a separate pan and fry cashewnut and raisins and add it to boondhi.

Method to make sugar syrup:

1.  In a thick bottom pan, mix water and sugar and allow to  boil.
2. Add nutmeg powder, raw camphor. elachi powder and food colour, half crushed cloves into sugar syrup.
3. Ensure one string consistency is formed (ie) when sugar syrup is dropped to a bowl of water, it doesn't get dissolved and a string is formed between index and thumb fingers.



Method to make Ladoo:

1. Add semicrushed and whole boondhi to one string consistency sugar syrup and mix well.
2. Add diamond kalkandu to sugar syrup at this stage. Mix well when sugar syrup is hot.
3. When mixture is half cool, apply ghee over palm and start making balls by pressing it tightly. Ensure the mixture is medium hot while making ladoo. If it is too cold, we cannot make balls out of it.



Yummy Ladoo is ready to be served. Enjoy !!!!



Tips:

1. Have a small bowl of sugar syrup separate. When you feel balls are not formed proper, add little sugar syrup and try.
2. Also use little (teaspoon) boiling water when balls are not formed properly. If sugar syrup turns completely dry, it will be difficult to make ladoo.