Srivilliputhur Palkova/Thiratti pal

Srivilliputhur is another ancient town in Virudhunagar district near Madhurai. 

The town is famous for its ancient heritage, temples and Palkova(Milk sweet).The temple tower in this town is the official emblem of Tamil nadu.There is a separate temple for Andal here.

There are numerous shops selling Palkova near the Andal temple which has a unique taste.

Nowadays I make them only in microwave using condensed milk (Click here for recipe), but for the marathon I made this in stove top just to retain its authenticity

Ingredients

Milk: 8 cups

Sugar: 1 cup

Titbits from my Grandpa: Looks like they add only 1/2 cup of sugar in Srivilliputhur Palkova as the milk in nature is very sweet there.And that is the secret of the uniqueness in the palkova sold there.

Procedure:

Step1:

Bring the milk to a boil

Step2:

Reduce the flame and simmer for 1 hour stirring every 10 minutes.

Use a flat splatula to stir and scrap the sides of the pan.

Make sure that the milk does not get burnt at the bottom

Step3:

After some time, the color changes to ivory color and starts to solidify

Step4:

Once it starts solidifying, add sugar and stir continuously otherwise the milk will get burnt

Step5:

Keep on stirring until the milk solidifies and starts leaving the sides of the pan

Packed them in butter paper as sold in Andal temple.I got only 4 packets with 8 cups of milk!

Mutton Kola Urundai-Madurai

Kumar Mess Special

I had heard a lot about kola urundai but didn't have any chance to taste it.Moreover I don't like mutton and I hardly cook mutton at home too..Last week we went to Madurai Philatelic Bureau(This is all time great Obsession from my childhood!!)to collect the new philatelic stamps..We had our lunch at Kumar Mess-a famous non vegetarian hotel in Madurai which serves many exotic chettinad varieties.

By compulsion of the one who served,I happened to taste the kola urundai...The balls didn't have a drop of oil in it..though it was deep fried!!!

I just felt in love with the Kumar mess Kola Urundai.I came home but still cannot forget the taste.

I kept browsing many blogs,but finally followed Solai Achi's recipe and made these balls.What a surprise!!!It tasted similar to that of the ones which I had tasted at the Kumar mess.It was a super hit and passed a few balls to my friends..Even they were much taken back by the exotic taste of the balls..

So do try it and U will then say kola urundais are much easier to make..

Just stick on to the ingredients..Don't do any changes..Do as I did..I strictly followed Solai Achi's recipe..

For the recipe please click READ MORE below...

INGREDIENTS:

Recipe source:Solai Achi

Serves:15 balls

150 gms of minced Mutton-Boneless

2 nos of whole dry red chillies

1 Tbsp of roasted gram/Pottu kadalai/varu kadalai

4 nos of cashewnuts

1 Tsp of fennel seeds

2 Tbsp of grated coconut

5-6 nos of small onions/Shallots

6 pods of garlic

2 Tsp of grated ginger

1 no. of cardamom

1/2 inch of cinnamon

1 no of clove

Few curry leaves

1 no. of egg

Salt to taste

Oil for deep/shallow fry

PROCEDURE:

Keep all the ingredients ready.The correct quantity of the ingredients should be used.Do follow the same quantities or else ur urundai will not taste or turn out well.

In a pan first add oil.

Then temper it with cinnamon,cardamom,clove,curry leaves.Then add ginger(either grated or piece).Saute it.

Then add garlic,onions and saute it.

Add the green,red chillies,cashew and saute till the ingredients get roasted well.

Then add fennel seeds and saute it.

Add coconut,saute it.

Finally add roasted gram and give a slight roast.

Keep all the roasted ingredients aside.Let it get cooled.

Add little oil and saute the minced mutton.If u have whole mutton then use a mixie to mince it.let it be boneless.Saute the mutton for 2-3 minutes.

(Usually in the original chettinad recipe they don't saute the mutton.They add it raw.)

But I want the mutton to get cooked well.So i sauted it.See to it that it gets half cooked and also water gets dries up completely.

Cool the mutton.

In a mixie add all the roasted items(except mutton)

Grind it.Don't add water at any stages.

Then add mutton and salt.

Grind it nicely so that it becomes a thick dough like thing.

Don't add water.If u want just sprinkle very little water.If u add water then making the balls will be difficult and they will absorb lots of oil while deep frying

(If u want to reserve some for the next day's cooking then at this stage keep it in the fridge)

Add a whole egg(both yolk and white) to the grinded mixture.

Mix well till the egg mixes well with the mixture.

Make small  round smooth balls.The balls should not be too big.. If so it will not get cooked inside.

The ball should be of the size of the squash ball(this is my another present obsession!!).The ball should be of the size of gulab jamun-before frying..or a medium sized lemon.

Heat oil in medium flame.I did shallow frying.U can also do deep frying.The taste will not vary much

Fry them in oil till they become dark brown in colour.

Serve them hot as a starters or u can do kola urundai Kuzhambu with it..

HANDY TIPS:

While grinding the mixture don't add water.Or else it will absorb more oil

See to it that u take boneless mutton.

Heat oil in medium flame.If u keep it in high flame the outer layer will become black soon but it will not get cooked inside.

If u want to reserve some in the fridge and make it the next day,then do all the things as mentioned in the procedure.Don't add egg.Keep the mixture as such in the fridge and when u want to fry it add egg mix, make balls and fry it.

Let the mixture be little coarse.

U can also deep fry it.I did shallow fry.The taste didn't vary.

Don't make big balls.Make it in the size of a gulab jamun(medium sized).If u make big size it will not get cooked inside.Also the ball will tend to break when u deep fry it.

If u don't make the ball in correct size it will tend to break.So making the correct size is the most important one.Also while making balls roll it nicely so that there are no cracks.It should be smooth.

The same procedure can be used for making chicken balls too...

Iruttu kadai halwa

Thirunelveli Halwa
Thirunelveli also called Nellai is an ancient city in South of Tamil nadu, situated on the banks of the river Tamirabarani.I guess everyone in South India will be familiar with the famous Thirunelveli Halwa sold at Iruttu kadai (meaning dark shop) in Thirunelveli
This is one of my favourite sweet and I was lucky am  in Thirunelveli ,my mom used to get for me from Iruttu kadai .


I bookmarked this recipe from this video.Here they have explained how they make this halwa at Thirunelveli.I just followed this recipe with only one change.I reduced the amount of sugar alone.It took almost 3 hours for me to make this halwa.I would say this almost tastes close to Thirunelveli Halwa so it is worth the effort.Also I was amazed with the yield.1 cup of wheat can yield more than 1/2 kg of halwa


Ingredients
Wheat : 2 cups (approx 450gms)
Sugar: 7 cups
Water: 12 cups
Cardomom powder: 1/2 tsp
Ghee: 3 cups


Procedure:
Step1:
Soak the wheat is sufficient amount of water for 8 hrs

Step2:
Grind the wheat with some water and extract the wheat milk
To get the milk, grind the wheat in mixie/blender for 5 minutes and filter out the milk.
Grind the wheat with fresh water again and filter.Repeat this atleast 3 times

Step3:
Allow the milk to ferment overnight

Step4:
In the morning , you will find that the thick milk has settled at the bottom and the clear liquid on top.Discard the clear liquid. I got approximately 3.5 cups of milk
Note: If you are able to extract more milk, adjust the quantity of other ingredients accordingly

Fermented milk


After clearing the liquid on top

Step5:
In a wide non stick pan, pour this milk and add 12 cups of water and mix well

Mixed with water

Step6:
Cook in a medium flame and keep stirring once 3 -5 minutes.After 1 hour, the mixture starts to thicken


Step7:
At this point add sugar and keep on stirring


Step8:
Once it reaches semi solid stage, add ghee little by little and keep on stirring.After another 1 hour or so, the ghee will start oozing out.The halwa will look transparent as well.When you take the mixture in the laddle, it should slide and not stick to the laddle
The ghee will really start oozing out at the last stage. I recollected more than 1/4 cup of ghee once I was done with the Halwa


Step9:
Add cardomom powder and fried cashews and switch off the flame

About to be done.Still sticky


Almost done.The halwa has to slide from the spoon.Should not stick

Adding color to Halwa
1.             Heat 3 tsp of ghee
2.             Add 2 tsp of sugar and keep stirring until the sugar starts melting and starts caramelizing
3.             At one point (within a minute or two), the ghee starts changing color to brown
4.             Pour this to the Halwa mixture and you will get the required color naturally


Heat ghee and sugar


Add it to the halwa

This will become more darker once the halwa is done
Tips:
1.             If you want to try this halwa for the first time, cut the recipe by half.Use only 1 cup of wheat.The yield is really huge.So 1 cup will be more than enough for a family
2.             Use a good quality non stick pan so that it will be easy to stir and also to clean
3.             I got only 3.5 cups of milk from 2 cups of wheat.If you extracted properly with good squeezing and grinding more than 3 times, you may get even more.In that case increase the other ingredients accordingly
4.             Do not add any artificial colors.You may not get the color naturally when you are making with less quantity.However use the above tip to bring the color