Vermicelli Halwa (Semiya Kesari)

Ingredients:

1) Vermicelli (Semiya) = 1Cup.
2) Water = 1 Cup.
3) Milk (Boiled) = 1 Cup.
4) Sugar = 3/4 Cup.
5) Orange Food Colour = 1 Pinch.
6) Ghee (Manchi Neyyi)  = 2 Tbl Spoon.
7) Cashew Nuts (Zeedi Pappu) = 6 Pieces.
8) Cardamom Powder (Yaalukalu) = 1/4 Teaspoon.
9) Badam = 5-6 Pieces.(Optional).

Method:

1) Take a wide pan add 1 Tbl Spoon of Ghee and roast Vermicelli for about 2 Min and keep aside.
2) Take a small vessel add water and Milk and a pinch of food color boil once or twice.
3) Then add Vermicelli and put the lid on wide pan, cook until it become soft.
4) Then add Sugar, Cardamom Powder in the same wide pan and cook for about 3 Min.
5) To check if Vermicelli Halwa is ready, separate little Vermicelli Halwa from the wide pan let that become cool enough to touch, you can see a string formation / sticky feel when you touch Vermicelli between your fingers.
5) Take a small pan add 1 Tbl Spoon of Ghee, fry Cashew Nuts, Badam and mix them well in Semiya Kesari
Note: 1) Don't fry Vermicelli too much, as you may not get the color you expect.
         2) Don't cook Vermicelli too much, it may become sticky (like Dough / Mudda).

            

Thotakura (Amaranthus) Pulusu

Ingredients:

1) Amaranthus Leaves (Thotakura Akkulu) = 2 Cups.
2) Besan (Senagapindi) = 2 Tbl Spoon.
3) Jaggery (Bellam) = 1 Tbl Spoon.
4) Bengal Gram (Pachi Senagapappu) = 2 Tbl Spoon.
5) Red Chilly Powder (Karamu) = 1 Tbl Spoon.
6) Oil (Nune) = 1 Tbl Spoon.
7) Green Chillies (Pachi Mirapakayalu) = 2-3 Pieces.
8) Onion (Vullipayalu) = 1 Piece.
9) Turmeric Powder (Pasupu) = 1/4 Tea Spoon.
10) Salt = Acc to taste.
11) Tamarind (Chinta Pandu) = Small Lemon Size.
12) Asafoetida (Inguva) = 1Pinch.



Method:

1) Soak Bengal Gram in a cup of  water and keep a side.
2) Soak tamarind in water for about 10-15 Min and squeeze tamarind to extract pulp out of it.
3) Remove the stems of Amaranthus Leaves and chop the leaves and keep them a side.
4) Clean Amaranthus Leaves once or twice and drain out excess water.
5) Chop Onions and Green Chillies.
6) Take a small vessel add Amaranthus Leaves, Green Chillies, Onions, soaked Bengal Gram add some water and put the lid on it and cook until they become soft.
7) Add extracted Tamarind pulp, Jaggery, Salt, Turmeric Powder, Red Chilly Powder and cook
for about 5 min to prepare pulusu.
8) Add Besan and water in a small bowl and mix well to avoid besan crumbs, finally mix this solution with pulusu prepared in above step. Then cook until pulusu becomes little thicker.
9) Add Popu for pulusu prepared above

Serve hot with Papad or any crispy item with white rice.

Maida Biscuts

Ingredients:

1) Maida = 2 Cups.
2) Salt = Acc to taste.
3) Ghee/Butter = 1 Tbl Spoon.
4) Chilly Powder = 1 Tbl Spoon.
5) Sesame Seeds (Nuvvulu) = 2 Tbl Spoon.
6) Oil = For Frying
7) Cumin Seeds (Jeelakara) = 1 Tbl Spoon.
8) Rice Flour = 3 Tbl Spoons

Method:

1) Take a small bowl add all above items except Oil and mix well.
2) Then add adequate amount of water to knead smooth dough .
3) The dough should not be too sticky .
4) Keep the dough set for about 10 min.
5) Divide the dough into large Lemon size balls and roll them into slightly thick Chapathis.
6) Cut the Chapathis into Squares or Diamonds (as shown in the fig)

7) Take a wide vessel add some oil after heating it add all the squares and deep fry on a medium flame for about 3 Min then increase the flame and deep fry until they turn to light brown colour (as shown in the fig).

8) And spread them on a tissue paper that will absorbs excess oil.

9) Once the Biscuts are prepared let them cool off for few minutes, store them in a air tight box to retain the crispiness for a longer time.

Coconut Jaggery Laddu (Kobbari Undallu)

Ingredients:

1) Fresh Grated Coconut = 1 Cup.
2) Cardamom (Elachi) = 1/2 Tea Spoon.
3) Jaggery = 1 Cup(Cut into small pieces).

Method:

1) Take a wide vessel add Coconut, Jaggery and cook on a medium flame.
2) In few minutes Jaggery will start melting and let Coconut cook well in Jaggery syrup.
3) Some times the mixture of Jaggery and Coconut becomes dry then sprinkle little water
4) Cook until the mixture becomes thick.
5) Then add Cardamom powder.
6) Switch off the stove and keep vessel aside.
7) Spread the mixture in a wide plate.
8) Then apply Ghee on your palm and start making small size round shape balls with the mixture.

Note: Don't cook Jaggery and Coconut for too long, the mixture will becomes too hard.