Home made sweets and local delicacies

One of the things I miss during these Covid days are the sweets that we used to buy. Oh, I wish I could drive to one of those sweet shops and buy one of each variety. 

I immediately decided that the least I can do is write a post on my favorite Indian sweets. I was surprised by the sheer number of the sweet dishes and realized that one post would not be able to do justice to all of them.

Here is the list of sweets that are predominantly home made - 

• Rava kesari - the most easiest sweet to prepare at home. I don't think we have ever bought this from any sweet shop. This is the first choice to make at home for any function. This dish is prepared with two basic ingredients - rava and sugar. At home, we usually add cashew nuts and dry grapes.

• Carrot halwa - the only sweet I am guessing that is good for health. Again this is one, we never buy from the shop. I only love the one my mom makes. I step away from the ones that are made in restaurants, social gatherings or even made by anyone else other than my mom. Carrot and sugar are the basic ingredients that are needed for this sweet dish. Just like rava kesari, cashew nuts and dry grapes make them more delicious

• Payasam - I don't think there is any household that does not know how to make payasam. There are different variants. The two usual variants that they make in our family are - one with jaggery and dal, another with milk, vermicelli, sagoo and sugar (called white or vellai payasam). Unlike the others in the family, I prefer the vermicelli payasam. On days when they make the other type of payasam, I just ignore the sweet dish.

• Kozhukottai - another sweet that has many variations. I have seen many families in Chennai make kozhukottai's at home. Unfortunately, Iam a little choosy that way. I just can't bring myself to have them. Not just preference, I can only have the ones that are made at home or by our relatives since we all do it the same way. There are two variations to this sweet dish - one is prepared of rice flour that is filled with sesame and jaggery mix and then steamed. The other is prepared by mixing the rice flour with jaggery and then steamed. I love both of them and can munch on more than 3 pieces at a time.

Kozhukottai

• Gulab jamun - it is one of those easiest sweet to cook at home, thanks to those ready to make packets that are sold. An all time favorite. I still remember how a family friend (a grand mother figure to me) used to make gulab jamun from milk and khova. It was the most tastiest gulab jamuns I have ever had.

• Simbli - this is something that is not sold in sweet shops. It is a local delicacy and takes a lot of hard work and patience to make it. We were excited when we found a sweet shop in our native place that sold this. Although it did not taste exactly like how we make at home, it was close to it. A dough is prepared using ragi flour. Small pieces of the dough are flattened using a rolling pin and cooked on a tawa. The sesame, jaggery, roasted groundnuts are then pounded using hand on the traditional stone grinder along with the ragi bread pieces that were cooked.

Simbli

• Paruppu urundai - a very simple sweet and my favorite. Everyone at home know that this is my favorite of all the sweets. It is prepared by grinding the boiled dal with jaggery. Small balls are made from this mix and the balls are dipped in maida flour to cover the dough. The balls are then fried in oil. Another local delicacy that is prepared only in our homes. The quickest way is to eat this fried urundai as is. This is how it is also served to guests. But at home, we take it in a different way - one has to crumble two to three pieces of the sweet, add a little milk and ghee and mix them. Then eat it. Oh my!! no other sweet can beat the taste. At my grand mother's place, we don't usually use an electric mixer to grind the dal and jaggery. This is done with hand on a traditional stone tool. And that adds to the taste. It is much more delicious than made on an electric mixer.

• Oppattai - a variant of the paruppu urundai. It looks like a sweet poli. That is where the similarity ends. After the ball is done, it is placed inside a small quantity of maida dough and then a rolling pin is used to make a round flat bread. It is then heated on a tawa.

• Adhirasam - another sweet we have never bought from sweet shops. In fact, I just can't bring myself to eat the version we get in sweet shops or prepared in anyone's house unless it is from someone who has made it in my native place. There are two versions of the adirasam they make in our families - chakkarai adhirasam (the one made with sugar) and vellam adhirasam (the one made with jaggery). My favorite is the vellam adhirasam.

Chakkarai adhirasam

Vellam adhirasam

• Vellam vadai - this is another sweet dish that I have never seen anyone cooking it except in the families in my native place. The adhirasam and vellam vadai are made only twice a year, during  deepavalli and pongal. The vellam vadai is always made in small quantities compared to the adhirasam. I have still not understood the logic because invariably all of us like the vellam vadai more than the adhirasam. The vellam vadai is the sweet version of the medhu vadai. Only difference is the the ingredient. This one uses ulutham paruppu and jaggery. Again the ones that are mixed by hand on the traditional grinding stone tastes better than electric mixer.

Vellam vadai

Adhirasam and vellam vadai - The easiest way to eat them both is just to eat them as is. But wait, we are always different and so there is a second way to have them - one that takes some time and effort!!! This is an elaborate process and this is the first thing that everyone does when they sit to have their lunch during the two festivals - deepavali and pongal. 

What we do is - mix the adhirasam, vellam vadai and banana. Yes, it may not sound nice, but trust me it takes sooooo goood. For one serving per person, use two adhirasams, one vellam vadai and one banana. Crumble the adhirasams and vadai and then smash the banana. Mix them on hand and voila you have the sweet - you just have to eat it to understand how it tastes. No words can describe it. After the festival day, my dad usually prepares this sweet mix at home. We then store them in a container for 2-3 days and eat small quantities of this sweet delicacy whenever we want to.

Sweet dish - after the mix

• Ukaaram - a sweet dish made of rice flour and jaggery. It is not prepared regularly since it is an elaborate process and needs a lot of time and effort. One needs to continue mixing the flour and jaggery as it gets cooked slowly until it reaches the right consistency. A favorite of my dad's. 

• Rava ladoo and besan ladoo - rava ladoo is a sweet dish that can be prepared in very less time. Another popular sweet dish that is prepared at home. Besan ladoo is not something we make quite often at home although it is easy to prepare one.

• Kadum paal and milk sweet - this is a sweet that is unique and is not something that you can prepare any time. It can be only made from the first milk that is got from a cow after it has given birth to the calf. Iam guessing that the first milk right after birth is different from the milk that is received on the next few days. When one of the cows give birth, this first milk is given as a gift to close relatives in our native place. There are two sweet dishes that are made from this - one is the kadum paal (which is the liquid version). It is semi brown in color. The other variation is a sweet that is made out of this milk (this look a little like custard). Everyone loves and prefers the kadum paal than the milk sweet. I guess Iam the only one who does not like the paal, but prefer the sweet.

• Puttu - this sweet dish is prepared using rice flour and jaggery. This post is only about the sweet version that we prepare at home. Rice flour grounded specially for puttu is steamed, mixed with jaggery and then served as a sweet dish. Some of the folks in our family prefer to mix puttu with milk.

Now for the sweets that are local delicacies (popular in the sweet shops at my native place) - 

• Makkan peda - this is a local favorite. Only the sweet shops in my native place sell this one. It looks like a big dry gulab jamun. Every time my grand parents visit us, this is one item they never miss to get us. This sweet is usually sold out in a few hours.Most of the popular shops make fresh batches in the morning and evening.

Makkan peda

• Jhangiri - that orange or red color small sweet made of flour. Although I have bought and sampled the jhangiri in the sweet shops in Chennai, the ones that we get in my native place are different. They are small in size and are bright orange/red in color.

• Boonthi - another all time favorite. The ones that we get in the sweet shops in our native place are small oval shaped and yellow in color. I have been craving for this sweet for a long time. Adding a dollop of ghee to this sweet makes it more delicious!!