Onam 2023: The Onam festivities have begun and so has all the enjoyment that definitely does include food. Believe it or not, food plays an imperative role in every Indian festival just like it does in Onam. There is a particular joy and emotion associated with the traditional food served during any festival.

However, if you are living away from home and are afraid that you will end up missing out on your favourite Onam dishes, you have nothing to worry about because we have got your back. Here are the recipes for some amazing delicacies that you can whip up by yourself and enjoy in the comfort of your home.

Check out the recipes-

Ney Appam

Ingredients:

• Raw rice – 1 Cup
• All-purpose flour – ¼ Cup
• Crushed Jaggery – ½ Cup
• Ripe banana – 1 No
• Cardamom powder – ¼ Teaspoon
• Dry ginger powder – 1 Teaspoon (optional)
• Black sesame seeds – 1 Tea Spoon (optional)
• Thinly sliced coconut – 2 Tablespoon (optional)
• Pure Cow Ghee – 2 Tablespoons
• Cooking oil – For deep frying
• Salt – 1 Pinch

Method:

1. The rice should be washed and soaked in 3 cups of water for at least 5 hours. (It is preferable to soak the rice overnight, grind it the next morning, and make Neyyappam that night.)
2. Jaggery should be crushed before boiling with 1/2 cup of water to create syrup. The syrup should be strained to remove contaminants.
3. Set it aside and give it time to totally cool.
4. One tablespoon of Aashirvaad Svasti Pure Cow Ghee is heated in a pan.
5. Coconut that has been thinly sliced is added and fried till golden brown. Set it aside and let it totally cool.
6. Using a mixer grinder, pulse the rice after thoroughly draining it and adding the jaggery syrup. (Avoid adding water).
7. Using a mixer grinder, pound the banana into a fine paste after peeling it. The Neyyappam batter is now being prepared.
8. Combining the ground mix, all-purpose flour, mashed banana, cardamom powder, dry ginger powder (optional), sesame seeds, fried coconut bits (optional), Pure Cow Ghee, and salt to make a semi-thick batter (similar to idli batter consistency) in a large mixing bowl.
9. Water may be added in small amounts as needed.
10. Keep the batter aside in a warm place for a minimum of 4-5 hours and let it ferment.
11. Heat the cooking oil for deep frying on a high flame, Once the oil is heated up, reduce it to medium flame drop a ladle full of batter into the oil and let the neyyappam fry on both sides until golden brown in colour.
12. Once it is done, drain them in a paper towel to get rid of excess oil and repeat the steps for more neyyappams.

Neyyvada

Ingredients:

• Baking powder – 1 tsp
• Baking soda – a pinch, less than a quarter tsp
• Butter – 2 tsp, softened
• Aashirvaad Svasti Pure Cow Ghee – quarter a cup, softened (can add a little more)
• Yoghurt – 3 tbsp
• Sugar – 2 tbsp
• Egg – 1
• Milk – use only if needed for kneading
• Oil / Aashirvaad Svasti Pure Cow Ghee – for deep frying

For Sugar Syrup –

• Sugar – 2 cups
• Water – 1 cup
• Lemon juice – 1 tbsp
• Cardamom powder – a pinch

Method:

1. All-purpose flour, baking soda, and baking powder should be added to a large bowl. SIEVE them first, then add.
2. This has major significance. Add melted butter to this and combine it thoroughly with your fingertips in the flour mixture.
3. Add the Aashirvaad Svasti Pure Cow Ghee to this and combine it thoroughly like breadcrumbs.
4. The flour and pure cow ghee must be well combined. Be careful not to knead right away; instead, combine well with your fingertips to create fine breadcrumbs.
5. Now thoroughly combine the egg, curd, and sugar in a bowl.
6. To create a very soft dough, gradually add this egg combination to the flour mixture and knead well. The dough needs to be thoroughly worked.
7. When finished, leave out for half an hour, cover. Don’t skip this procedure.
8. So prepare the sugar syrup in the interim.
9. In a pan, heat the sugar and water and let it boil until one string forms.
10. Add cardamom powder and lemon juice. After thoroughly blending, extinguish the flame.
11. Heat a small nonstick frying pan with oil or pure cow ghee after 30 minutes.
12. Rather than a typical wok, choose a nonstick pan. When it’s heated, lower the FLAME.
13. This step is crucial; failing to do so will result in neyyvadas with an undercooked interior. Create little balls out of this soft dough now.
14. At this point, do not knead; instead, roll the dough into little balls in your hands.
15. Create a HOLE in the middle and slowly flatten.
16. One by one, dip into the oil. With the remaining dough, repeat the process.
17. Fry in groups. After two or three minutes, flip the other side.
18. Fry until golden on a medium-low flame. Don’t fry in a hot pan.
19. Put them in warm sugar syrup for five minutes or until the next batch is cooked after draining them when they are finished.
20. Transfer the sugar syrup to the platter, set it aside to cool, and then serve (you can reheat the sugar syrup for a minute if it has cooled).
21. When eaten right away, it (the outer section) will be quite soft, but after cooling, the crust will turn crispy and the interior will become soft and sweet.
22. The flavour is quite pleasant, soft, juicy, and sharp the next day. For two to three days in the refrigerator.

Nei Payasam

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unakkalari rice
• 4 tbsp pure cow ghee
• 1 cup jaggery
• 3 cups water
• 1/4 cup grated coconut
• 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
• A tiny pinch of dry ginger powder
• 7 cashews broken

Method:

1. Crush the jaggery well and soak it in warm water until completely submerged.
2. Then heat it up until it becomes slightly thick (the consistency of the string should not be tested). Strain, cool down, and set aside.
3. After measuring and thoroughly rinsing the rice, add it to the pressure cooker. add two glasses of water next.
4. In a low-medium burner, pressure cooks until at least five whistles.
5. The goal is for the rice to be soft but not mushy so that the individual grains can be seen.
6. Jaggery syrup is measured and added. Mix thoroughly, then simmer the rice and jaggery syrup together for a few minutes.
7. Add the grated coconut now. After thoroughly combining and cooking for two minutes, gradually add pure cow ghee.
8. Keep stirring; eventually, the payasam will acquire a thick, saucy consistency.
9. Switch off after adding the cashews, cardamom powder, and dried ginger powder. Serve the Nei Payasam warm or hot.

Enjoy!