Benne Murukku/ Crispy Savory Chakli

Benne means butter in Kannada and Murukku mean crunchy savory snack. Murukku is also known as chakali is a traditional treat made during festivals of Diwali and Krishna Janmashtami. There are so many variations of this chakli, but this is a tried and a tested one, the one I can rely one. I learnt this recipe from my mom who has been making these for years now. ‘Benne Murukku’ is so crispy that it melts when you pop it in your mouth. This is easy to make and does not consume too much time. This forms a good afternoon snack…

Corn flakes Cereal Chivda (Spicy Indian Mixture Recipe)

Chivda is a snack popular in Maharashtra and North Karnataka usually made of flattened rice/poha. The poha is first deep fried and it is then spiced with masala mix and jazzed up with other ingredients like peanuts, raisins, cashews etc. Crispy and delicious it is a wonderful tea time snack or also as an appetizer. Referred to by different names in India, it is one of the important snacks made during the festival of Diwali. It is simply referred to as Mixture in South India As I have said in an earlier post, the poha can be substituted with corn…

Ganesh Chathurthi /Vinayaka Chavthi Sweets Recipes

Ganesh Chathurthi is one of our well loved festivals. We perform this festival every year religiously starting with Mangala Gauri and then the Ganapathi festival itself. I have compiled some recipes of sweets from my blog here. People from different regions follow their own custom and have their own traditional sweets. These recipes are based on Konkani cusine in Karnataka and I hope you enjoy them. Wishing you all a happy and blessed Vinayaka Chathurthi. Sweet Kadubu/ Konkani Patoli/ Sweet Dumpling Sweet Poha/ Goda Pohvu Hayagreeva (chana daal jaggery dessert) Banana Sooji Halwa/ Sheera Kadlebele Payasa/ Madgane Bottle Gourd Kheer Chana…

Banana Fritters/ Kele Mulik or Mulka

Mulka or Mulik as they are called in Konkani are fritters made from fruits like jackfruit and bananas. In most Konkani households they are usually made out of jackfruit and are called as ponsa mulka. But we make them using ripe bananas as well using the same procedure.  Also since it is difficult to find good quality of jackfruit here in the US, I resort to making them using bananas whenever I have some craving for them.  These are perfect if you want to have something sweet and have some over ripe bananas to be used. Crunchy on the outside…

Sweet Dalia Pongal

Sweet Pongal is a South Indian traditional dish made with the combination of rice, jaggery and moong daal. It is like a thick porridge with gooey consistency.  This along with the spicy khichdi/ Khara Pongal is prepared during special occasions and also during the festival of Pongal/Sankranthi . This sweet pongal is something that is adored in our family. During festivals, I mostly prepare this dish using the traditional method of rice and moong daal. However I had some broken wheat/dalia that I wanted to use and so decided to try this sweet, by substituting rice with dalia.  I had tried the spicy…

Easy Apple Kheer

Every time, I visit the produce section in the local grocery, the wide varieties of apples there on display catches my attention. With different sizes and colors they are a treat for the eyes. This time around the grocery had a sale on red delicious apples and I splurged and brought more than necessary.  I had a good bit of apples left in the pantry and with some I made the easy Apple crisp. And with the remaining ones I had idea of making either apple halwa or apple kheer. I finally settled for the kheer as it seemed much…

Spicy Broken Wheat Pongal/ Dalia Khichidi

Pongal is a famous tiffin item in South India. It is usually made of rice and moong daal in a pressure cooker with appropriate seasonings. I mostly make it with rice the traditional way, on occasions I make it with rava (Rava Pongal) but this time I made this Spicy Pongal using broken wheat/dalia.  I had a packet of broken wheat lying in the pantry for a long time and was looking for ways of using it. I have tried some kheer with it before, but have not used it much in regular cooking. After looking around on the web,…