Courses: Sweet

Hesaru Bele Payasa | Moong Dal Payasa | Payasa Recipes

Traditional Karnataka style hesaru bele payasa or moong dal payasa
02/18/2017 9:43:36 PM vindhyadesai

Payasa or payasam is a traditional sweet dish made for festivals. They are usually very easy to make. For me hesaru bele payasa is a soul satisfying dish. For that matter, all payasa varieties are!
My mom makes this usually and it tastes so good. She quickly rustles this up for lunch. The main flavour comes from cooking hesaru bele or moong dal with grated coconut till smooth in consistency. Dal almost melts with coconut.
Hesaru bele payasa is quick to make as moong dal is a very soft dal and cooks quickly. You do not need a pressure cooker to cook this dal. It also takes only a few ingredients to make this delicious hesaru bele payasa.
I would say this is one of the easiest sweet dishes bachelors or beginners can make. You do not have to worry about consistency, if it dries up add little more water, if it is watery, boil for a little while and let it cool to absorb water. Tastes so good and heavenly! ... “Hesaru Bele Payasa | Moong Dal Payasa | Payasa Recipes”

Shenga Barfis | Kadalebeeja Barfi | How to make groundnut barfi? | Sankranti Recipes

Mini cut groundnut or shenga barfis – something for the sweet tooth
01/01/2017 12:08:59 PM vindhyadesai

New Year is here! Let’s us start this new year on a sweet note. A fun to make recipe, shenga barfis. Made with roasted groundnuts mixed into melted jaggery and ghee. Now, what can go bad with that 🙂
Sankranti/Pongal planning has to start soon. This year the harvest festival is on the 14th of January. Make simple sweets like shenga unde, shenga chikki along with these shenga barfis. They will make your Sankranti/Pongal celebration special.
These shenga barfis can be cut into any shape, I have cut them into small squares. Small squares are ideal to distribute amongst friends and colleagues. Everyone can just grab a little barfi and help themselves with more. ... “Shenga Barfis | Kadalebeeja Barfi | How to make groundnut barfi? | Sankranti Recipes”

Carrot Halwa | How to make carrot halwa?

Juicy moist sweet carrot halwa with cashews and raisins
10/21/2016 6:45:02 PM vindhyadesai

Carrot halwa is a famous Indian sweet made from grated sweet carrots, sugar, milk, ghee all sauteed till it turns into a sweet, soft halwa. This light orange coloured sweet is loved by children and is a good way of getting children to eat some carrots. The halwa is flavoured with elaichi and along with added cashews and raisins this halwa is fit to be laid out for a feast.
This is one of those sweets where you do not have to check whether it is set or worry about making a threaded sugar syrup. The only thing to get this halwa to a soft and moist consistency is to stop sauteing it at the right time so that it is moist enough and does not dry out. The pictures below illustrate at what stage the halwa needs to stop cooking.
This will surely be a hit with everyone and is a good sweet to prepare in large quantities. It is easily portable and is a crowd pleaser. It can be served both as a sweet or dessert. Fancy it up a bit by serving with vanilla ice cream right on top. Do try more halwa and other sweet recipes from FOI. ... “Carrot Halwa | How to make carrot halwa?”

Kaju Katli | How to make kaju katli? | Cashew Barfi

Nutty, fudgy, everyone’s favourite with the goodness of cashews, kaju katli
10/18/2016 10:21:39 PM vindhyadesai

Deepavali/Diwali is just round the corner. I started preparing for it over the weekend and with only a few days to go I have recipes lined for Deepavali to be posted on FOI. Kaju Katli or cashew barfi is the most loved sweet both by kids and adults. This is the safest bet when distributing sweets as most people love it! I am no exception to that and I can eat many of these in one day, just chew them all up (I try not to though :)). It seems like a very complicated recipe to make but with only a few ingredients it can be one of the most easiest sweets to make if you get the consistency right. Follow stepwise to ensure you get the right consistency right from making the cashew powder to making sugar syrup to the dough consistency. More Deepavali recipes and festival recipes for you try! Happy preparation for the festival of lights! Let’s begin on a sweet note. ... “Kaju Katli | How to make kaju katli? | Cashew Barfi”

Kayi Holige | Kayi Obbattu | Nariyal PoLi | Coconut Holige | How to make kayi obbattu?

Soft and crunchy sweet coconut/kayi holige, a special dish for the festivals
10/10/2016 10:28:16 PM vindhyadesai

Wish you all a very happy Vijayadashami/Dasara! Coconut holige/kayi obbattu/nariyal poLi is one of my favourite sweets. It is soft yet crunchy on the outside and it has the unmistakable flavour of coconut. Unlike many other dishes where coconut gets lost in between other ingredients, here it is the main ingredient and it gets due importance. Most functions in Karnataka have holige/obbattu/poLi as the main sweet. Usually beLe holige or this kayi holige steal the show and are made in the order of hundreds. They are made with maida/all purpose flour which can make the edges quite hard and the filling inside might not be sufficient to make them soft yet crunchy. I always try and make recipes with whole wheat flour, for the fibre, taste and it makes the holige so much more softer and they hold together beautifully. Make these and a few can be made quite quickly and is not all that difficult. ... “Kayi Holige | Kayi Obbattu | Nariyal PoLi | Coconut Holige | How to make kayi obbattu?”

Gasa Gase Payasa | Khus Khus Kheer | Poppy Seeds Payasam | How to make gasa gase payasa?

Cooling, easy on the stomach gasa gase payasa
10/04/2016 9:48:35 PM vindhyadesai

Gasa-gase or poppy seeds or khus-khus are pungent oil seeds which give a very unique flavour to dishes. It can be added to breads, to gravies or in our very own Karnataka cuisine it is made into a payasa (liquid sweet). It is not as thick as usual payasa/payasams/kheer. It is liquidy and can be consumed as a beverage. Gasa-gase payasa has unique cooling properties, along with the gasa-gase seeds, it has jaggery (bella/gur), cardamom (elaichi), coconut milk (or grated coconut) and milk. It is a must have dessert during festivals in Karnataka. Along with bisi-bele-bhaat this is a delicacy and is consumed warm/cool as a beverage during or after lunch. This dish has a special mention in wiki under Indian cuisine. This is frequently made by my MIL and I learnt this recipe from her. She generally adds desiccated coconut (kobbri/copra), here I have added coconut milk. Sometimes I add grated and ground coconut. The little raisins pop in the mouth when drinking this unique payasa and it tastes great! This is a light sweet for ongoing Navratri festivities. ... “Gasa Gase Payasa | Khus Khus Kheer | Poppy Seeds Payasam | How to make gasa gase payasa?”

Haalbai | Akki Haalbai | How to make haalbai?

Soft, fudgy rice and coconut milk barfis
9/05/2016 4:27:39 PM vindhyadesai

Ganesha Chaturthi is a 3 or 5 or 10 day long festival for some people. If you celebrate Ganesha Chaturthi for more than one day, it is mandatory to make at least one sweet dish as offering/naivedya to Lord Ganesha. After making sweets like holige (poli), kadubu or other traditional ones from sweets list one will need a recipe that is simple, easy and light on the stomach. Haalbai is one such recipe, soaked rice ground into a thick batter with coconut milk lightly flavoured with elaichi it is a super easy sweet to make. It does not need resting time after preparing. Just plan to soak rice a few hours before making this sweet. Only water can also be used in place of coconut milk but coconut milk adds a subtle taste and makes haalbai pliable because of the oils in it. If you want to keep this vegan use vegetable oil in place of desi ghee. ... “Haalbai | Akki Haalbai | How to make haalbai?”

Bele Obbattu | Bele Holige | Puranpoli | How to make holige?

Filling and delicious sweet dal stuffed poli/holige for festivals
09/01/2016 06:27:09 PM vindhyadesai

Bele Holige or obbattu is one of the most filling and delicious sweets. It is a sweet dal stuffed poli/holige. During a festival or a function we all look for one dish that can feed a big crowd which is also filling. Sweets generally are accessories in a big spread. Yes, preparing bele holige or obbattu is effort but when you have mastered the process of making the dal filling then preparing bele holige or obbattu will be easy especially if you have a few people to assist/work with you.
I have used whole wheat flour/atta for the outer covering dough whereas generally all purpose flour (maida) and chiroti rava (fine rava) are used to prepare the dough along with a pinch of turmeric. I prefer whole wheat flour(learnt it from my mother), holige turn out to be soft and do not become stretchy and chewy when they are kept for a while.
*Updated with new pictures for Ugadi 2019. Try more holige recipes:
Kayi Holige/Coconut Holige
Dry Nuts Holige
 ... “Bele Obbattu | Bele Holige | Puranpoli | How to make holige?”

Tambittu | Puthani Unde | How to make tambittu for Naga Panchmi

Tambittu/Puthani unde/ladoo for Naga Panchmi
08/04/2016 11:24:32 PM vindhyadesai

Another sweet for the line of festivals coming up. This sweet is also from Karnataka and is made for Nagara Panchmi as offering/naivedya to Nagappa (snake god). It is made from roasted gram dal/fried gram/puthani/huri gadale/kadale pappu/daria/chutney dal, whew! a lot of names for one ingredient. I learnt this recipe from my mother and is mainly made in North Karnataka. In South, another type of tambittu similar to ‘sajjige‘ is made. This is a very easy ladoo/unde to make. You can even cut them into barfis but for Nagara Panchmi they need to be in the shape as shown in my hand below. I am not an expert in making that shape for unde/ladoo like my mother. Add cashews, almonds if you want. ... “Tambittu | Puthani Unde | How to make tambittu for Naga Panchmi”

Hayagreeva | Hayagreeva Maddi | Kadalebele payasa

Festive and authentic hayagreeva maddi
08/04/2016 11:02:37 PM vindhyadesai

Hayagreeva maddi is a payasa/payasam dish from Udupi region. I made this for Bheemana Amavasya but it can be made for many festivals. It is simple to make, the only detail to pay attention to is when you are cooking gram dal/chana dal/kadale bele. Before we begin the recipe, I would like to mention a little *story/legend* associated with the origin of ‘Hayagreeva Maddi’, I read in a book.
Once there was a sculptor who was trying to make an idol of Lord Ganesha, however all his efforts in making the sculpted idol turned into the head of a horse. He finally gave up and sculpted the idol into the shape of a horses’ head and stashed it away. One night, the Lord himself appeared in the scluptors’ dream and blessed him and asked him to donate the horses’ head idol that he had sculpted to Sri Vadirajaru. The same night Sri Vadirajaru also dreamt about the idol. The next day the sculptor brought in the idol and Sri Vadirajaru established the idol in Sonda in Sirsi, Karnataka. Everyday he started worshipping the idol and as offering/naivedya he made Hayagreeva Maddi a payasa made of gram (horses’ favourite food) and jaggery. Make this authentic and traditional dish from Karnataka for an upcoming festival 🙂 ... “Hayagreeva | Hayagreeva Maddi | Kadalebele payasa”