Seven Cups Burfi (for Navrathri)

Navrathri has been one of my favorite festivals since my childhood...as a child I got to dress up nicely in pattu pavadais (silk lehenga) every day....and the place where I grew up Mylai was filled with festive look. The Madaveedi (streets surrounding Kapali temple in Mylapore) is flooded with doll vendors occupying every bit of pavement. Even if one doesnot keep golu at home....it is such a wonderful sight to just walk through the roads and enjoy the display of doll with each vendor. Those days (when I was in First and Second Grade) all my friends used to get dressed and go about house to house in our neighbour hood for Golu and we used to go almost everyday. Gone are those days....now we have some days chalked out for people to visit our homes and we send a mail (email/snail mail) or inform via  phone call to let them know when they should visit our homes....but how much ever it has changed I still love Navrathri.

Here I do not have that many dolls and I keep it in a book shelf. My son enjoyed it too...He liked dressing up in kurta every day and enjoyed playing with my friends kids every evening. I made Channa dal sundal on day 1 ,Black eyed Sundal on day 2,  Kesari on day 3, Ground nut sundal on day 4, Kabuli Channa sundal on day 5, Rajma Sundal on day 6, Yellow Peas Sundal on day 7, Green Peas Sundal on day 8 and Black Channa dal on day 9 for Saraswathy Pooja. I made this seven cups burfi too along with rajma sundal.
Amma made this when she came to visit us couple of years ago. I wanted to substitute the milk with ricotta but reserved ricotta for making rasamalai and used almond paste instead of milk. Navrathri celebrations went well. All my friends came over to my house and I had a good time dressing up in my pattu sari...after a long time all my silk saris saw some light (they were all confined to my suitcase for a long time).

Recipe....

1 Cup Besan Flour
1 Cup Almonds (you can use milk too..the original recipe calls for that)
1 Cup Ghee
3 Cups Sugar
1 Cup Ground coconut

If you are going to go with almond paste then soak the almonds in boiling water for an hour. Then peel the skin and grind it well to form a smooth paste (else you can just add milk).

First step before starting on the sweet is to always grease the plate with ghee.

Take a heavy bottom pan and add a tbsp of ghee and fry the besan flour until it turns slightly brown and brings a nice aroma! Add the sugar, almond paste, coconut and mix well. Keep stirring it. When it starts sticking to the bottom. Start adding the ghee. Pour it into a greased plate when it start leaving the sides.
Allow it to cool for a while and then cut the desired shape. The yummy seven cups burfi is ready! Everyone loved the burfi...it was a great hit!

Badam Kheer

I love the payasam which is jaggery based and hence keep making it all the time. I do not think twice about making Akkaravadisal. For this year's Tamil Varushapirappu I choose to diagress from making akkaravadisal and decided to make something different. I started to think of the different options available - "Semiya Payasam" was a big NO...then thought of making "Pal Payasam"  - I was not happy with that either...you may wonder "anyway she is not going to taste it ..so why bother".you know it should sound rich and delicious (I am even bored of hearing the same old stuff - nan varusha pirappuku semiya payasam pannen)..so finally decided on Badam Kheer. I had made this couple of years ago and totally forgot the way of preparing it.. so I called my perima to find the recipe...she is the one I resort to for any doubts related to cooking.

Ingredients -

4 Cups of milk
1/2 Cup Almonds (about 50)
3/4th to 1 Cup Sugar (as per your taste)
Few Strands of Saffron

Slivered Almonds for garnishing

Sara Paruppu (I guess this is called chironji)

Soak the almonds in boiling water for an hour or so. Always soak it in boiling water as it helps in peeling of the skin easily from almonds.

Grind it into a smooth paste.

Take a heavy bottom pan and add the sugar with very little water. Let the sugar dissolve well.

Turn on the gas after the sugarr gets completely dissolved.

After 5 minutes add the Almond paste.

Allow it to boil till the raw taste of badam is completely gone.

Add the milk and allow it to boil...simmer the gas and allow the milk to thicken....my husband told me that this made the kheer taste richer. It is not necessary to make it too thick...you may turn off the gas earlier too before it starts thickening (but it should not be too liquidy though).

He enjoyed the kheer. I also gave it to my friends who came home ...they enjoyed it too...

Take a teaspoon of ghee and add the slivered almonds and sara paruppu.

Add it to the kheer.

It does not take a lot of time.........and it is good to serve this during festivals and get togethers. This can be served hot or cold.....it tastes good either way!