Brown Rice Halwa

I used brown rice for making this halwa....Brown Rice is also called as 'unpolished rice' , it is brown in color...(normally all types of rice are brown in color before the process of polishing)
Every rice grain has an outer layer of thick covered layer called 'husk'. Under this there is a thin layer called 'bran' which is the brownish layer. The brownish layer is removed during the process of polishing,that becomes the White Rice, but for the brown rice the bran is left intact.
Brown Rice is believed to be more nutritious compared to the White Rice.

Ingredients for making Brown Rice Halwa:

• Brown Rice: 1 cup
• Sugar : 2 Tablespoon
• Coconut Milk - 1 can ( i used one 14oz can) / coconut milk from one medium sized coconut approx. 3 cups.
• Clarified Butter (Ghee)-1/2 cup
• Few Nuts to garnish like Melon Seeds or Almonds
• Condensed Milk -1 can ( i used one 14oz can)

Method for making Brown Rice Halwa:

Step 1: Soak the brown rice in water for 4 hours.

Step 2: In a blender add rice and sugar and Grind it to a fine paste.

Step 3: Make 3 cups of Coconut Milk (can use store brought or can make from the scratch) and add to the blended rice mixture and mix well.

Step 4: Grease a Plate with Ghee (for pouring the rice halwa) and keep it aside

Step 5: Heat a heavy bottomed Pan , then in a medium heat add the grinded mixture to the pan. Keep Stirring continuously for approx 15 minutes.

Step 6: Add the Condensed Milk and Clarified Butter(Ghee) keep stirring nicely till the Ghee starts forming in the sides of the pan, and the mixture forms a ball shape in the centre.

Step 7: Remove from heat, spread the mixture to the plate. Sprinkle the desired nuts for garnishing. Keep it aside to cool. After few minutes cut into small cubes and this is ready to serve.

This is a nice mild sweet for people who like eating sweets but don't want it to be too sweet..

Note: If you are trying to make this rice halwa from regular rice (polished rice) u need to add food color to it otherwise the rice halwa will be white in color.

Unni Appam

Unniappam is a small round shaped rice cake sweet made out of rice, jaggery, ripe banana, ghee/oil. This is one of the famous Sweets of Kerala. The name for this sweets comes like this, in Malayalam language Unni means small and appam means rice cake.

Ingredients for making Unniappam:

• Raw Rice - 1 cup
• Jaggery - 1 cup
• Ripe Banana - 1 medium size
• Coconut thinly slices - 1 Tablespoon (optional)
• Cardamom - 4
• Baking Soda - 1 small pinch(optional)

Method for making Unniappam:

Step 1: Soak the raw rice for 2 hrs.

Step 2: Grind the rice with jaggery,cardamom and banana to a smooth batter like dosa batter .

Step 3: Remove the batter to a dish and keep aside, let it ferment for at least 6 hrs ( I normally grind this at night and will leave it to ferment till morning and and make it morning itself).

Step 4: Just before making the unniappam, add the baking soda and the thinly sliced coconuts, mix well.

Step 4: Heat the Appa Chatti/ Aebleskiver Pan in medium heat add grease with little Oil or Pan.

Step 5: Once its ready pour each whole with little batter and wait for 5 minutes or till the batter is cooked turn and cook till its gets a nice golden brown color.

Step 6: Remove the Unniappams from the Appachatti or Aebleskiver Pan to a tissue and drain the excess oil or ghee from it.

Step 7: This can be served warm or in room temperature. Store it in airtight container and it will be good for 4 days.

Enjoy this relishing Kerala Sweet.

Aapam

Aapam and Kuruma is a famous breakfast dish of Tamilnadu, however in Kerala its famous with side dish Coconut milk and Vegetable stew (Ishtu).This is one of my favourite breakfast dish.

Ingredients for making Aapam:

• Raw Rice(long Grain Rice) - 2 cups
• Sugar - 2 Tablespoon
• Salt - 1 Teaspoon (according to taste)
• Grated/Shredded Coconut - 1/2 cup
• Coconut Water/ Plain Water - 1/2 cup
• Cooked Rice - 1/2 cup
• Baking Soda - a small pinch

Method for making Aapam:

Step 1: Soak the rice in water for about 3 hours.

Step 2: In a blender add the cooked rice,shredded coconut, sugar and grind them to a smooth paste .Then add the soaked rice to it and blend them to a paste by adding water or the coconut water to it. Such that the batter becomes smooth paste.

Step 3: Add the required amount of salt to it and mix well.

Step 4: Keep the batter aside and let it ferment for at least 8 hrs.(i normally do this process in the night, so by morning the batter is ready for making appams)

Step 5: When the batter is ready, Add a pinch of baking soda to it and mix. Then Heat a flat skillet or "Appa Chatti" .

Step 6 : Wipe the Flat skillet with little cooking oil and then pour a small laddle ful of the batter and rotate the skillet in such a way that a thin layer is formed in the outer side of the aapam and the centre remains thick.

Step 7: Close the skillet with a lid, for the upper side of the aapam to get cooked. Remove the lid after a minute. Check the bottom part of the Aapam. It will be light brown in color and the upper part of the aapam will be soft and shiny - it should not stick to hand when touched.

Step 8: Remove the aapam from the skillet and continue the same process till the batter gets over.

This aapam can be served warm with Kuruma for breakfast.

Venn Pongal

Venn Pongal

Ingredients for making Venn Pongal:

• 1 cup rice



• green gram dhal 1/2 cup



• 1 tsp whole Peppers



• 1 tsp cumin seeds



• 8 cashew nuts (broken into halves)



• ginger 1 inch peeled and cut into tiny bits



• Ghee 2 Tablespoons



• Salt to taste

Method for making Venn Pongal:

Fry Green gram Dhal lightly without adding oil. Then Pressure cook one cup rice and the fried dhal with 4 cups of water . Let it cook for minimum 2 whistles or 20 minutes. Once the pressure goes down, fry the other ingredients in ghee and pour to the cooked pongal,with curry leaves(optional) add salt to taste and add water if necessary and mix well.

This can be eaten as breakfast with side dish kothsu or Sambar or Coconut chutney.