Happy Pongal!

It is great when you wake up on a Monday morning and it happens to be a holiday! The cherry on the cake is that the holiday is for Pongal- a festival to celebrate the abundance of food and good health at home.
Yours truly did not move one finger for anything but taking pictures. All the cooking was done by Amma, that too in record time!

Before i knew it, there was a spread of venn pongal ( khara pongal) , shakkarai pongal, sambar and avial for the usual Pongal brunch after the pooja. Was planning to post the recipe. But you can find it here. The only difference being, Amma adds a pinch of pepper powder instead of the salt and lots of coconut shavings get fried in ghee, along with the dry fruits and add a great texture to the Pongal!
So here is wishing all of you lots of prosperity at home and to churning out many more lovely delicacies in the kitchen the year ahead. Iniya Pongal Nalvaazhtukkal!

|| A New Beginning ||

Of all the things in the world, the one constant is that things will change. Change is challenging and it is fun! I look back now to what i used to cook when i started off in the kitchen, the clothes i bought and my tastes when it came to home decor and i know that it has changed and matured over the years. But despite all the changes happening, one thing remains constant -my unending love for food, crafts and textiles. Hence the thought of cataloging it in this blog. A little bit of sugar and a lot of spice and a journal of all things pretty and nice.

And what better than a sweet during the festive season as the first post? I started off with the idea of making a Lauki ka halwa. Turned out there was not enough lauki to make a substantial amount. So i decided to add carrots to it. While grating the carrots, my eyes fell on the pumpkin, waiting to be used. And thus i set out to make the Tiranga Halwa 

Preparation time - 15 mins

Cooking time      - 30 mins

You would need

Carrots, Pumpkin and Bottle gourd    2 cups in all, grated well

Milk                                                  1 cup

Sugar                                                3/4th cup

Green cardamom                               2 pods, powdered

Ghee                                                 5 tbs

Cashew or almonds                           a handful, finely slivered

In a thick bottomed pan, add in 1 table spoon of ghee and fry the dry fruits until it changes color. Remove and set aside.

Add the remaining ghee to the same pan and add in the vegetables one by one. Pumpkin goes in first cause it takes the longest to cook. After sauteing for about 5 mins, add the carrots and let it cook. Finally, dunk in the grated lauki, when the other two vegetables appear half done. 

Continue frying till the vegetables soak in all the ghee and lose all their water. Now add in the milk, cover and cook for 10 mins on low heat. The vegetables should be fully cooked in that time. Remove the cover, add the sugar and the elaichi powder and give it a nice stir. On medium heat, without the cover, work on the halwa by constantly stirring it, until all the moisture is soaked up and the ghee starts separating on the sides. Switch off the flame and top it with the fried nuts. Allow it to cool and serve as it is or with a scoop of ice cream.

Happy Diwali!