Jackfruit Idli

Ingredients:
Jackfruit- about 16-18 ripe pieces
Rice or Idli Rava- 2 Cup (Soaked for 4-5hrs or overnight)
Grated Coconut- 3/4cup
Jaggery- 1/2 cup powdered or if the jackfruit is sweet add less
Cardomom powder- 1/4 tsp 
Salt- 1/4 tsp

Method:
I had a huge half of jackfruit with me, so had enough jackfruit pieces to make idli twice in 2 weeks. Once with Rice and once with Idli Rava. Jackfruits were deseeded and kept safe in the fridge in a Tupperware box.
Grind the Jackfruit pieces. I ground it to a fine paste, you may decide to keep a few pieces in between so that when you bite into the idli you get to bite into jackfruit pieces too. 
Grind the soaked rice along with the coconut & jaggery. 
Now mix the rice mixture with ground jackfruit. 
Add salt & Cardomom powder and mix well.
Now ready the idli plates by slightly oiling them
Steam the idlis for about 15 mins and your idli is ready to serve.
Serve the sweet idlis with ghee on it and a little mango pickle to tickle your taste buds.

Note: the more jackfruit you add, the softer & stickier the idli will be.Use the above measurements and you will get a cake like consistency in your idlis. which you can bite into...non-messy.

This was the first time I actually cut open a complete jackfruit and also prepared something out of it :)
Proud of myself.

Eggless Pumpkin Cake

I had a small pumpkin lying at home and didnt find my mum-in-law too interested in touching it :-P, so decided I pick some recipe from the net and try it at home. So this is what I did...I picked up this cake recipe from Gayathri's cook spot and went exactly as per her measures except that I did not add Pumpkin seeds to decorate the cake and...I baked my cake in Microwave instead of an OTG.

 

I missed clicking a pic before I ran the knife through my cake

Ingredients:
Grated Pumpkin-1 1/2cup  
Maida-2cups  
Butter-1/2cup
Curd-1/2cup  
Milk-1 1/4cup  
Baking Powder-2tsp
Baking Soda-1tsp  
Sugar-3/4cup  
Vanilla Essence-2tsp
 
Procedure:  
1. Beat butter until soft and creamy.  
2. Add the granulated sugar and beat again
3. Add curd, vanilla essence and milk and mix well.
4. Mix flour with baking powder and baking soda.  
5. Add this to the butter mixture and mix it slowly until fully mixed
6. Add the grated pumpkin and mix it.
7. Pour it in a greased and dusted tray.
8. Preheated oven (180C) and use Microwave+Convention mode, set it at 180C and bake for about 12 mins. Check the cake at 10mins to ensure everything is right. Pass a knife and check to see if it comes out clean. You could keep for another minute or two incase the cake is still moist.  
9. Slice it and serve.

When I started with the preparation my daughter had a face that said she didnt like the idea of having pumpkin in a cake, but once she had tasted it, she came back asking for more. The Cake did not have the usual Golden crust on top, but was a nice spongy one.

Ragi hurihittu

Ingredients:
Ragi Hurihittu- 2 cups (you would ready hurihittu pack in any of the leading departmental stores)
Jaggery- Crushed- 2 cups
Coconut- freshly grated 1/2 cup
Elaichi- 1 tsp
Milk- for mixing into dough

Method:
Mix all the ingredients and add milk little by little to mix it like a dough. Keep aside for about 15 mins. Roll it into small balls and serve with ghee on top.

Badam Burfi

Ingredients:
Badam/ Almonds: 1 cup
Ghee: 1 cup
Sugar: 1 cup
Maida: 1 spoon

Method:
De-skin the badam. Either soak the badam in water overnight and then remove the skin or take the badam in a bowl of water and heat in microwave for about 2-3 mins and de-skin. Now grind the skinned badam to paste. You could add milk/ water while grinding. In a thick bottomed pan, add the sugar and heat till the sugar melts fully (You could add a little water to it). Once the sugar has melted fully and starts thickening add the badam paste to it and stir continuously. Add ½ cup of Ghee to it now. Add maida also to this. Just when the mixture starts thickening, add the remaining Ghee into this mixture and mix well for about 10 mins. Keep a greased plate ready and pour the mixture onto the plate and tap so that the thickness is that of a “badam katli”. Cut into square/ diamond shaped pieces. Once it cools down, its ready to be eaten.

Hurikadle Cobrichini

Ingredients
½ kg Kadle pappu/ hurikadle- powdered in mixie
Sugar- (check on how many cups of powdered hurikadle you have) equal cups as the hurikadle or one cup less.
Elaichi powder
Copra- grated for garnishing
Ghee for greasing the plate

Method:
Heat the sugar in a large heavy bottomed vessel. Add a little water if required. Stir the sugar once in while till it melts. Heat the melted sugar until you get a sticky consistency (put a drop of sugar syrup in a bowl or plate of water and check if it getting dissolved in water easily or forms a ball when you try to). Once the sugar stops dissolving in the bowl of water, the syrup is ready. Now put in the powdered kadlepappu into the syrup little by little and mix well so that no lumps are formed. Add the elaichi powder. Once the mix gets a shiny coat pour the mixture on the greased plate. Spread into a thin sheet and sprinkle the grated copra. Cut into diamond shape when it starts to cool down.

Banana Jamoons

Ingredients:
Banana- 2 numbers (elakki bale)
Rava- 1 Cup
Coconut- 1 Cup
Sugar- 4 spoons
Elaichi powder
Kesar- a pinch, if required
Milk- 2-3 spoons for mixing
Oil for frying
Method:
Mix all the above ingredients and add milk to bring it to dough consistency. Keep aside for a few minutes so that Rava absorbs the milk.
Now heat the oil and make small balls out of the dough and put in hot oil. Fry till golden brown and remove. Banana Jamoon is ready to serve. Tastes best when served hot. This dish can be stored outside even for 4-5 days.

Kashi Halwa

My husband & my bro-in-law, both love this dish. After my marriage, this was the first time we prepared Kashi Halwa at home..and it was a success :-)

Ingredients:
1 kg White Pumpkin
1 1/4 cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Elaichi/ Cardamom
2 tsp Ghee
Dry fruits- kismis, Badam, Cashewnuts

Method:
Remove the skin & seeds from the pumpkin and grate it. Squeeze out the water from the grated pumpkin. Put it a tumbler and start heating till its cooked. This may about 20-30 minutes in medium/ low flame. Once cooked, add the sugar and start mixing. Keep stirring till the sugar melts and mixture starts becoming dry. Add Ghee into this and stir again. Now roast the dry fruits in a little ghee and add it to the above mixture along with Elaichi powder. Kashi halwa is ready.
Note, do not add sugar until the pumpkin is cooked properly.