Coconut Burfi

Ingredients
Wet Coconut - 2 cups (finely grated)
Sugar - 1/2 kg
Malai (double cream) - 1 cup
Gram flour - 2 tbsp
Ghee - 2 tbsp

Procedure
Heat 2 tbsp of ghee in a frying pan. Add the gram flour to it and fry for 2 to 4 minutes. Now add coconut, sugar and double cream on low flame with constant stirring. You will need to fry for around 15-20 minutes till coconut releases the water completely. Now take it off from the flame.
Take a flat based plate and apply ghee to it. Pour the above prepared Coconut mix in the plate and spread evenly. Cut into diamond shaped or square pieces and allow to cool. And your delicious coconut burfi is ready to savor.

Author's Note
This can be preserved for around a week. But the earlier you consume the better the taste would be. Don't fry the coconut for too long to burn it.

Dudhi Halwa

Ingredients
Dudhi - 1/2 kg (finely grated)
Khoya (Mawa) - 1/2 kg
Sugar - 1/4 kg
Milk - 1/4 kg
Kismiss - 100 gms
Cashewnuts - 150 gms
Ghee - 50 gms
Cardamom - 5 gms

Procedure
Heat ghee in a deep frying pan. Add the grated dudhi to it and fry it on medium flame. Fry with constant stirring for around 15 minutes till the dudhi starts getting dry. Now add sugar and khoya to this and fry for around 10-15 minutes. When sugar melts add coarsely cut

Cashewnuts, Cardamom powder and Kismiss. Stir for around 5 mins by adding milk to this. And
your tasty Dudhi halwa is ready.

Author's Note
Most important while preparing Dudhi halwa is to fry the grated dudhi on medium flame till dudhi starts getting dry. This is one of the tastiest sweet dishes.

Carrot Halwa (Gajar ka Halwa)

Ingredients
Red Carrot - 200 gms (grated)
Ghee - 20 gms
Milk - 150 gms
Sugar - 100 gms
Cashewnuts - 20 gms
Pista - 10 gms

Procedure
Heat ghee in a deep frying pan. Add the grated carrot to it and fry it on medium flame. Fry with constant stirring for around 20-25 minutes till the carrot starts getting dry. After this add the sugar to this and constantly stir. After around 5 minutes when the sugar gets melted you can add coarsely cut cashewnuts and pista. You may want to add the milk now and stir for another 2-3 minutes. And your Gajar ka halwa is ready.

Author's Note
Most important while preparing Gajar ka halwa is to fry the grated carrot on medium flame till carrot starts getting dry. Also, add the milk is at your discretion. By adding milk you can reduce the sweetness but not the taste.

Chekkara Pongali

Ingredients
Sugar - 1 Kg
Rice - 1/2 Kg
Plain Moong Dal - 300 gms
Ghee - 200 gms
Cashewnuts - 50 gms
Kismiss - 50 gms
Elaichi (Cardomom) -10 gms

Procedure
In a shallow frying pan heat some ghee and fry the moong dal for around 5 min. Wash rice and in a rice maker (Cooker) cook rice and moong dal together (For one glass of this mix, add around 1 1/2 glass of water). Remove from flame when the Rice is cooked (Usually after around 4 whistles if you are using Cooker).

In a frying pan, add the ghee and heat it. Now fry the Cashewnuts and Kismiss and put aside. Switch off the flame. In a bowl, take the sugar and a glass of water and heat to prepare Sugar Syrup. The syrup should be single thread (When you dip a spoon in the syrup and hold it above it should drop as a single thread). Add the cooked rice to it and also add ghee, Cashewnuts, Kismiss, Elaichi Powder and mix well. With this your Chekkera Pongali is ready.

Author's Note
This is one of the most important sweet dish for all the festivities in Andhra Pradesh. Most importantly, this is distributed as Prasaddam in Tirupati. A simple dish to prepare yet very tasty.

Sabudana Pakoda

Ingredients
Sabudana - 1/4 Kg
Rice flour - 1/2 Kg
Plain flour (Maida) - 1/4 Kg
Curd - 1/4 Kg
Onions - 4 Nos.
Green Chillies - 5 or 6
Ginger - Small piece
Red Chilli
Salt to taste
Coriander
Curry Leaves

Procedure
Wash Sabudana clean and soak in curd for around 5 to 6 hours (you can soak them overnight). To this mix of Sabudana and Curd, add Rice flour, Plain flour, Red Chilli powder, Salt, Chopped Onions, chopped Green Chillies, finely chopped Ginger, chopped Coriander, Curry Leaves. Add sufficient water to this and mix well. Prepare into a batter.

Now in a deep frying pan, heat oil on medium flame. Take small amoun tof dough in your hand and release into the heated oil in small quantity to prepare round pakoda's. Fry till golden brown. Prepare all your pakoda's in similar way.

Author's Note
These pakoda's are very tasty and can go as evening snacks. The batter should be just thich enough to be able to release them in the oil into small pieces (The same way we prepare the Onion Bhajji's).

Sabudana Vada

Ingredients
Sabudana - 1 cup
Boiled Potatoes - 2 (Big)
Green Chillies - 3 or 4 (chopped)
Ground nut powder - 1/4 cup
Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

Procedure
Wash Sabudana clean and soak in water for around an hour. Now remove the excess water. Soaking in water would make Sabudana softer.

In a bowl crush the boiled potatoes and add chopped green chillies, ground nut powder, Cumin seeds, Salt and the soaked Sabudana. Mix all these ingredients well.

Now heat the oil in a deep frying pan. Make sure you heat the oil on low flame. Take small amount of dough in your hand and press to make small round shaped vada's. Once the oil is heated, release these vada's slowly in the heated oil and keep stiring. Fry these till golden brown on both sides. Similar way prepare all your vada's.

Author's Note
These goes very well with Tomato Ketchup as an evening snack. This is also prepared during fasting days. The most important thing to consider while preparing these vada's is the dough. It should be just thick enought to prepare into vada's.

Sabudana Dosa

Ingredients
Sabudana - 1/2 cup
Curd - 1 cup (Sour)
Rice Flour - 1/2 Kg
Salt to taste

Procedure
Wash Sabudana clean and soak in the curd for around 8 hours (overnight).

Add Rice flour to this mix of Sabudana and curd. Add salt to taste and mix well into a batter. Batter should be thick enough to prepare the dosa's.

In a non-stick pan take a big tbsp of the batter and spread from the middle towards the edges to prepare dosa. You can garnish this with a mix of onions, green chillies and coriander and your Sabudana Dosa is ready.

Author's Note
This is a simpler dish to make and goes well with the Idli chutney.