Drumstick curry ~ Murungakkai puli kuzhambu

I love to cook drumstick as often as possible. Wherever i stayed, the home had an drumstick tree. be it my grandparents place or at our village home or at my mom's place or at my boarding hostel and even in the apartment i am in now. It is said that, the drumsticks taste better, when the tree gets good groundwater. unfortunately drumsticks in our apartment do not taste good. we mostly buy out. I like drumstick leaves dal and drumstick sambhar much than this curry! 

Sri Lankan Pumpkin Curry ~ Wattakka kalu pol

I wanted to try this curry, when i made the sri lankan roasted curry powder last year, but it took a year and finally i cooked this super pumpkin curry yesterday. somehow we loved the curry powder and the flavor it imparts on the curry. You can never find a vegetarian curry so flavorful and spicy other than this. that's my opinion, it may differ with you! 

Appala poo sadam ~ Coconut Rice with Appalam

I hate variety rice to the core, right from my childhood. If my mom packs me any variety rice other than tomato rice and curd rice for lunch, I come home in the evening without even tasting a spoon of it. I am so much adamant on this. Even now, i hate tamarind rice, lemon rice and this coconut rice to the core! Then if you ask me, why i am posting the dish i hate the most, then its because now i started to feel my mother feelings, when my son come home without eating few food which he do not like. and the next reason is my mom makes this coconut rice interesting by adding appalam to it. so i just want to share it here, So you could try and make the kids eat coconut rice! 

Khoya Gulab Jamun

Choosing ready made gulab jamun mix and making jamuns are easy now a days. but making gulab jamun from scratch gives great satisfaction and we know how pure and good it is, when we make at home. also the texture and taste should beg with the popular ready made gulab jamun mixes. i have decided early, that this diwali i should be preparing khoya jamun and also i know i will be following cilantro's recipe! it turned out perfect and its a flawless recipe, so do try this khoya gulab jamun and enjoy this diwali! friends and family tasted the jamuns and it won everyone's heart! those who tasted, asked the recipe for it. so it proves!

How to make Khoya at home

I longed for it for nearly four years, i prayed for it to come to my hands, i was torturing my friends about how i badly wanted it. whenever i am alone at home, i googled and read about it. whenever i saw it on some strangers hand, my eyes looked at it curiously. i hear you saying enough..okay, My Hubby and my dear Son gifted (fulfilled) me the Canon Rebel T3i dslr camera. oh, you still have to wait for me to explore my new love and then we shall bring you the magic here soon. 

Khoya is unsweetened khova / paal khova. it is also known as Mawa. i wanted to prepare gulab jamun from scratch for this diwali, as my son is going crazy over gulab jamun. so today i prepared khoya spending nearly 2 hours in the kitchen. Tomorrow i will post how i made gulab jamun with khoya.

Khoya is just simmering the milk for hours, with stirring occasionally in the start and constant stirring towards end. i guess the recipe for khoya is over in the line before!

Total cooking time: 2 hours
yields 1 cup of khoya(200 gms)

Ingredients:

Full fat milk - 1 and half ltrs.

Method:

In a wide thick bottomed pan, pour the milk and let it boil. then simmer it for about 1 hour so that the milk gets thick and reduced into half. then bring the flame back on high and keep stirring every two minutes, so that the khoya do not stick to the bottom of the pan. even if it sticks, do not scrap hardly as it may ruin the beautiful khoya.

When you see the the khoya (some where looking like thick curdled milk) turn the flame to low and start stirring.  nearly towards the 2nd hour from start, the khoya gets thickening. keep stirring softly, so that it do not stick to the bottom.

Sometimes, the khoya may not thicken up, add 1 or 2 tsp of milk powder, for the khoya to get thick. the khoya should be soft and spongy at the end.

Notes:

Use a wide and thick bottomed pan, so that the milk do not overflow.

if you want to have sweet khova, add 1/2 cup sugar when the milk had reduced to about half a litre. the other procedures are all same.

Sometimes, the khoya may not thicken up, add 1 or 2 tsp of milk powder, for the khoya to get thick. the khoya should be soft and spongy at the end.