Maavu Urundai / Moong Dhal Laddoo

I have been getting many requests for the recipe of Murukku and Maavu Urundai.  So thought of posting the recipe for Maavu Urundai today.   

Maavu Urundai, is very famous in chettinad.  No function is complete without Murukku and Maavu Urundai. During marriages the brides house has to give Kai Sutthal Murukku and Maavu Urundais to the bride grooms house, the number depends on the demand /requirement of the bride grooms family. They are also given to all the close relatives with the Thambulam gift, for the marriage. 

Other than marriages, even at sadangu functions maavu urundai plays a very important role in the sadangu thattu. Sadangu Thattus are small silver cups lines in a silver plate.  Since the cups are small are able to hold just maybe a couple of maavu urundais, my athai made an idea.  What she does is, instead of making small urundais, she greases the nei karandi and fills up the maavu urundai maavu in it and taps it. So they take the shape of  half kutti kutti mavu urundais.  And all, elders as well as children, are very tempted towards the shape and size of the maavu urundais, that they get over very soon. Everytime I visit my athai, she gives me a bag of maavu urundai maavu ready to be formed into urundais.  I bring it home and put it in the freezer.  And use it as and when required.

Not only in Marriages and Sadangu, you will find this duo during all the functions of Lord Muruga in Chettinad.  It is served as a Neivedhyam to all the Kavadis and then distributed as prasadam. During my childhood days, when my father used to return from home after Thaipoosam festival, I and my brother used to search his bag eagerly for Murukku, Maavu Urundai and Thengai Mittai.

Sorry about that Thanglish, couldn't help it.  So lets move on to the recipe. To make these tempting, delicious maavu urundais. it requires very few ingredients and are easily available in all the households.  

Ingredients

Passi paruppu / Moong Dal - 2 cups

Sugar - 4 cups

Ghee - As required ( Approx. 3/4th cup)

Method

1) Dry roast the passi paruppu, till a nice aroma comes. It should not turn brown. 

2) In a flour mill or mixer, grind together the passi paruppu and sugar to a very fine powder.

3) When warm ghee a little and pour it on the mixture little by little and keep mixing. Once you feel you can make the balls easily without breaking then stop adding ghee. The measurement of ghee I have given is very approximate, because whenever I make maavu urundais, I just warm up some ghee and keep on adding it in the maavu and mixing, if I feel, I am still not able to make balls out of them, then I warm up more ghee. 

4) Make maavu urundais and store in an air tight container and enjoy.

It was easy, isn't it.  Try out the recipe and let me know how it turned out in your kitchen.

For the tamil version of this recipe please click here. http://elvisalakshi.blogspot.ae/2014/11/maavu-urundai.html

Thanks

Lakshmi Venkatesh

Godhumai Halwa / Wheat Halwa

Wheat Halwa / Godhumai Halwa is very famous throughout India. People of different parts of India have their own version of Wheat Halwa. But in Tamil Nadu preparation of Godhumai Halwa means, making the Halwa using the milk extracted from the wheat berries.

I have seen in many marriages and functions in Chettinad, the cooks soak the wheat berries and grind it using the Aattukal. Extract milk from it and prepare the Halwa. The cooks always insist for Samba Godhumai variety, a variety of wheat, which has a rough texture and is not much used to make the chapathi flour. But Samba Godhumai has a peculiar and a nutty taste and so is very well suited for Halwas. 

And I have seen the cooks working hard to prepare it.  From that day I have been always scared to make it, thinking that it is a huge process and needs a lot of help.  But then I love to eat when it is served in the functions and wait for it. And now its my Sons turn. 

Somedays back I saw a very easy version of this in Sharmis Passion. She had used wheat flour to extract the milk and this made the process much simpler. So thought of giving it a try.

This month Priya had chosen Sharmis Passion for the Tried and Tasted Event. So I wanted to make use of this opportunity to thank Sharmi for the easy recipe.

Ingredients

Wheat Flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 2 cups
Ghee - 2 1/2 cups
Cardamom Powder - 1/2 t.sp
Food Colour - 1 pinch
Fried Nuts - 1/8 cup

Method

1. Knead the wheat flour to a soft dough using some water.
2. Now place the dough in a container and cover it with about 2 to 3 cups of water.
3. Let it rest for the night.
4. Next day, completely dissolve the dough in the water using your hands till there are no more lumps left.
5. Drain this liquid using a strainer. Discard the gluten, after straining the milk.
6. Leave the milk to rest in the container for about 1/2 hr to 1 hr.
7. The thick milk will settle down and a layer of water will be seen up.
8. Try to discard this layer of water slowly without disturbing the settled milk.
9. Now in a non-stick pan heat the sugar with about 1/4 cup of water.
10. Let the sugar form the single string consistency.
11. Once the right consistency is reached add the thick wheat milk and keep stirring.
12. Slowly it will start getting thicker.
13. In the meanwhile slightly warm up the ghee in a different vessel and keep it ready.
14. Once you have reached the porridge consistency start adding the ghee about 2 to 3 tb.sp at a time and keep stirring.
15. Add the colour and keep mixing.
16. Keep on stirring and adding the ghee slowly. Everytime you add the ghee and stir it will be absorbed, then again add ghee and stir.
17. At a point of time the whole mass will start moving together.
18. At this time add in the Cardamom Powder and roasted nuts and keep stirring.
19. Keep stirring and adding ghee.
20. Slowly it will start oozing out the ghee.
21. At this stage you can stop adding the ghee. But keep stirring. Stir till it has reached the Halwa consistency and its raw smell or raw taste :) has gone/vanished. When you are able to make a ball, that means the Halwa consistency has reached.
22. Transfer it in another vessel, serve hot or cold.
23. You can also pour it into a tray and cut into pieces.
24. In the whole process do not stop stirring. When the final stage is nearing it becomes hard to stir, but do not leave keep stirring.
25. And there the excellent Godhumai Halwa is ready in a easy way.

Sending this to my announcement post of the Tried and Tasted Event in Kitchen Chronicles and to Priyas Versatile Recipe who is hosting the Tried and Tasted Event this month.

And this delicious Halwa is also going to
Kids Delight - Dessert event hosted by Veg Nation. The event was started by Srivalli of At Spice your life.
Foodabulous Fest hosted by Preeti's Kitchen Life.
Hot Beverages and Desert within 45 minutes hosted by Just Cooking N Baking
Manasi of A Cook @ Heart is holding a event called "I Must Make That" and she also has a giveaway. And after seeing her announcement I realized that the CupoNationIndia is catching up faster. And so sending this entry to her.
and to the Sweet Luv - CJ#4 hosted by Cooks Joy

மைசூர் பாகு - Traditional Mysorepak in Tamil

மைசூர்  பாகு

கடலைமாவு 1 கப்

நெய்        1 1/4 கப்

சர்க்கரை    1 1/2 கப்

செய்முறை   

1. வாணலியில் நெய் விட்டு கடலைமாவை வறுக்கவும்.
2. பச்சைவாசனை போகும்வரை வறுக்கவும்.
3. வாணலியில் சீனிபோட்டு சீனீமுழ்கும் வரை தண்ணர் விட்டு பாகு வைக்கவும். ஒரு கம்பி பாகு பதம் இறுக்க வேன்டும்.
4. அடிபிடிக்காமல் இருக்க சிறிது நெய் விடவும்.
5. பிறகு வறுத்த கடலைமாவை தூவி கட்டியில்லாமல் கிலறவும்.
6. வேறுஒரு வாணலியில் நெய் காயவைக்கவும்.
7. காய்ந்த நெய்யை சிறிது சிறிதாக மாவில் ஊற்றி கிளறவும்.
8. சட்டியில் ஒட்டாமல் (நுரைத்து) வரும்வரைகிளறி நெய் தடவிய தட்டில் கொட்டி சிறிது ஆறிய பின் உடனே கட் செய்யவும்.

The english version for this recipe can be found here in my other blog Kitchen Chronicles.