Wishing you all a wonderful New Year 2025! Thank you for your continued support to Rathika's Nest.

Fruit Cake (Eggless)

This festive season, I was tempted to bake a fruit cake to celebrate the season and welcome the New Year. Fruit cake is made using curds instead of eggs. Let's check out this easy-to-bake recipe!

Ingredients:

All purpose flour or maida - 160 ml measure

Semolina or rava - 60 ml measure

Cooking oil - 60 ml

Cinnamon and mace powder - ½ teaspoon

Brown sugar - 160 ml measure

Honey - 30 ml

Baking soda - ½ teaspoon

Baking powder - ½ teaspoon

Curds - 160 ml

Dry fruits and nuts - ½ teacup or 100 ml measure*

Orange rind - grated, 1 teaspoon

Lemon juice - 3 tablespoons

* You may use Indian raisins, black raisins, dates, tutti-fruiti, dried figs, cranberry, cashew nuts, almonds, walnuts, pecan, pistachio etc.

Method:

• Chop the nuts, dates and figs into small pieces. Add to other dried fruits and mix with lemon juice. Allow the nuts and fruits to soak for 6-8 hours.
• Sieve all purpose four, baking soda and baking powder together. Add in semolina and mix well. Keep aside.
• In a bowl, Mix curds, oil, honey and brown sugar. Beat very well till the mixture becomes smooth.
• Add in the flour mixture, soaked fruits and nuts, orange rind and cinnamon-mace powder. Blend together.
• Transfer the cake mixture to a greased baking tin. Gently shake the tin to get the mixture spread evenly.
• Preheat the microwave oven in convection mode or OTG (oven-toaster-griller) at 180℃ for 3 minutes. Bake the cake mixture at 180℃ for 20 minutes. Check with a tooth pick if the cake is done. If not, bake for 5 more minutes or till the crust turns golden brown in color.
• Once baked, remove from the oven, demould and allow the cake to cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.

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Badusha (பாதுஷா)

Traditionally, Diwali celebrations call for preparing an array of sweets for the family to enjoy! Badusha (பாதுஷா) is one of the popular sweets made for Diwali festival. Let's see how to prepare this yummy sweet at home!

Ingredients: (makes 15 pieces)

All purpose flour or maida - 1 cup or 240 ml measure

Fresh curds - 2 tablespoons

Baking soda - ⅛ teaspoon 

Baking powder - ¼ teaspoon 

Ghee - 2 tablespoons

Cardamom - 3 no, powdered

Sugar - 1 cup or 240 ml

Saffron - a few strands

Pistachio or almond - 4 no, sliced

Lemon juice - 1 tablespoon

Oil - for deep frying

Milk - as needed

Method:

Preparing the dough 

• Mix curds with baking soda and baking powder in a bowl. Whisk very well till the curds become frothy.
• Add in all purpose flour and ghee. Gently knead to form a soft dough. If required, add 1-2 teaspoons of milk while kneading to get the right consistency (Fig.1). Cover with a damp muslin cloth and allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes.
• Later, divide the dough into 15 portions. Shape each portion into a ball, flatten it into a 2" disc and make a depression in the center (Fig.2). Repeat the process with the remaining dough.

Preparing the sugar syrup

• Mix sugar and ¼ cup or 60 ml of water in a kadai. Heat the kadai on medium flame till the sugar dissolves fully. Bring it to boil and then simmer.

• 

     String consistency

  Stir continuously and you will find that the syrup starts to thicken. At this stage, the syrup is sticky to touch. Soon the syrup reaches 'half-string consistency' and then ‘string consistency' (Fig👉) – when touched between thumb and index fingers the syrup stretches like a string. 
• For badusha, you need 'half-string consistency' (before it reaches string consistency) – when touched between thumb and index fingers the syrup DOES NOT FULLY stretch like a string but breaks mid way. At this stage, add in lemon juice and mix well.
• Switch off the stove. Add in saffron strands, powdered cardamom and mix well. Cover the sugar syrup and keep aside.

How to check the consistency of sugar syrup: Place a drop of the syrup on a plate and let it cool for a few seconds. Touch the syrup with your index finger and press it with your thumb. Then separate the fingers. If the syrup stretches between the fingers, but breaks midway, it has reached the ‘half-string consistency’ (அரை கம்பிப் பாகு). If it stretches as a thick string between the fingers, it has reached the ‘string consistency’ (கம்பிப் பாகு).  

Preparing the badushas

• Heat oil in a kadai on low flame. Once it is hot, drop a small bit of dough in the oil. If it rises to the surface, oil is ready.
• Drop the prepared dough discs gently in the oil, one by one, 4-5 at a time. Once cooked, they rise to the surface (Fig.3).
• Turn them over and cook till they turn golden brown on all sides (Fig.4).
• Remove the cooked badushas from oil and place them on a tissue paper. Drop the next set of dough discs in oil.
• Now transfer the cooked badushas to the kadai containing sugar syrup and dip them fully in the syrup. Let them soak for 10 minutes. Turn them over and soak for another 5 minutes in the syrup. Then transfer them to a plate.
• Repeat the process with the remaining dough. Once all the badushas are soaked in sugar syrup and transferred to the plate, garnish them with sliced nuts (Fig.5).
• Allow the badushas to cool fully and store in an air-tight container.

Note: After making badusha, you may have left over sugar syrup, which you can use to make payasam or kheer. 

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Happy Diwali !

 

Wishing you all a wonderful Diwali! Thank you for your continued support to Rathika's Nest.

To add to the festivities please try some of the Diwali Recipes on Rathika's Nest.

Okkarai (ஒக்காரை)

Okkarai (ஒக்காரை) is the traditional sweet that is made in the Brahmin homes on Diwali day, especially in the southern part of Tamil Nadu. This sweet is made using dhal, jaggery and very limited quantity of ghee, which makes it a healthy Diwali sweet option! Let us make okkarai for this Diwali!

Ingredients:

Bengal gram dhal (channa dhal) - 1 cup or 200 ml measure*

Jaggery - powdered, 1 cup or 200 ml measure

Ghee - 2 tablespoon

Cashew nuts - 12 no, broken

Cardamom - 3 no, powdered

Salt - a pinch

Coconut - grated, 1 tablespoon (optional)

* Dhals in various combinations are used to make okkarai, such as Bengal gram dhal only, (green gram dhal) moong dhal only, Bengal gram dhal and moong dhal (1:1 ratio or 2:1 ratio) or Bengal gram dhal, moong dhal and (Red gram dhal) thur dhal in 1:2:1 ratio). I prefer to use Bengal gram dhal alone.

Method:

• Roast Bengal gram in a kadai till it starts to turn reddish in color. Transfer to a bowl and soak in sufficient water for 2 hours.
• Roast the grated coconut in the kadai till the it turns light brown in color. Keep aside.
• Later drain water and grind the dhal with salt in a mixer-grinder into a slightly coarse paste.
• Heat ghee in the kadai, add in cashew nuts and fry till they turn light brown in color. Transfer the nuts to a bowl. 
• Add in the ground dhal paste to the kadai and mix with the remaining ghee. Cover and cook on low flame, stirring occasionally till the paste is cooked and starts to crumble as shown in the picture. 
• Meanwhile, add jaggery powder to another kadai or a thick bottomed vessel. Add in ¼ cup (50 ml) of water and mix well. Bring it to boil and continue to cook on medium flame. First the syrup boils and starts to thicken. At this stage, the syrup is sticky to touch. Soon the syrup reaches ‘string’ consistency – when touched between thumb and index fingers the syrup stretches like a string. Now reduce the flame and continue to stir till the syrup reaches ‘soft ball consistency’ (உருட்டுப் பாகு).
• Now add the cooked dhal mixture to the syrup. Mix well and continue to cook on low flame till the syrup is fully absorbed. Add in cardamom powder, fried cashew nuts and roasted coconut gratings. Mix well and remove from fire. Okkarai is ready!

Soft ball consistency

How to check the consistency of jaggery syrup: Drop little syrup in water. If it dissolves, the syrup is not ready. If it stays intact and you are able to roll the syrup into a soft ball, the syrup has reached 'soft ball consistency'.

Note: If you add coconut, you will have to use up the sweet within a day. Without coconut, okkarai stays good for 3-4 days.

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