Sunday, January 14, 2007



One Year and Badam Halwa

Eat Little, Sleep Sound goes an Iranian Proverb.
Simple words for a Healthy living.
To eat little, someone has to cook and I love Cooking.

I had learnt cooking from my Mother, MIL and my friends Mothers etc. Always eager to watch the Cooking shows on TV.

With time to spare and having introduced to Sailu's blog by my husband, critiqued by my Son, encouraged by friends around, I took up to food blogging in January '06.

Named it MenuToday and initially posted few traditional items like Thiruvathirai Kali, Sarkarai Pongal, Kuzhi Paniyaram, Milagu Vada etc.
They were not big draws then but brought me my first few blog friends in l g,
Towards a better tomorrow, Pushpa, Saffronhut.

Am quite happy that some of my traditional items finds comments and new friends even after many months of their posting.

I like the idea initiated by Indira on JFI and participating in the JFI events always brought Joy to me. It makes me work a little hard to find an item that would fit the bill and am always amazed by others unique contributions that make the JFI so varied and colourful. Till now have not missed making my contributions to it.

VCC Contests, Breakfast blogging, Weekend Curry Mela have all been interesting and bring good food on to your screens at regular intervals.

I always look out for the postings of Asha, Indira, Sailu, Archana, Ashwini, PriyaS&S, Vaishali who always excel not only in their Culinary skills but also on Writing and Photography skills that I am quite envy of. Their posts are a pleasure and they bring more than just a recipe.

Have gained friends like Shammi, Archana, Prema Sundar, Meena, Jayashree, Krishna Arjuna, Akshayapatra(m) Priya and Chandrika, IndoSunGod whose blogs that I my Computer visits automatically whenever I login.

New to Food blogging are LakshiAmmal, Ultimate Foodie, VCuisine but experts in their own way whose blogs are added in my list to frequent.

Have earned many Culinary Cousins (All of you food bloggers) in this One Year and all of whom are worthy of mention and close to my blog and heart.True to tradition, On an occasion like this I have to certainly name a few Asha, Krithika, Daily Girl Priya, Prema, Sudha, Shilpa, Vineela whose words of support I always eagerly look for and also feel encouraged by it.

Initially I didn't know much about food blogging but now I wonder how I have, in this 1 year, made 150+ postings.

I also learnt that it is world of its own and am glad to be part of it.

On this occasion I raise a toast, Oops, a Spoon of Badam Halwa to the Good Health and Happiness of all Food bloggers and readers.




Badam Halwa

* - * Badam (Almond) has good Cholestrol.
* - * Badam Halwa easy to prepare and tastes nice.

Ingredients Needed:

1. Badam (Soaked in Hot water for 30 minutes) 1 cup
2. Sugar (1cup of paste = 1 cup sugar)
3. 1/4 cup hot milk.
4. Saffron strands 10 to 12 soaked in hot milk.
5. Ghee 3 table spoons
.

Method:
1. Remove Brown skin from the soaked badam and grind it to a fine paste
adding milk.(Saffron Soaked Milk)
2. Add Sugar and mix well.
3. On stove, Cook in medium flame for 15 to 20 minutes, in between add 2
tablespoons of ghee.
4. When bubbles form on edges, and in center, small layer like (malai)will
form switch off. (Now it will be semi solid consistency)
5. Switch of the stove and Now add remaining one tablespoon of ghee
and Mix gently till it forms to a lump.

# Serve the Delicious, Rich Halwa Hot or Cold to Young and Old.
#


Badam Halwa



Note:1. Here I didnot add any food colour, colour from saffron gives rich look
to Badam Halwa.
2. If you wish, few drops of Almond essence can be added.
3. Mixing of Halwa will gives it a smooth texture.

Happy Pongal, Happy Makara Shankaranthi ! ! !

32 comments:

USHA said...

Wow!that awesome sweet!!its so tempting and inspired alot,planning to get allthings neededfor the preparation,surely gonna try this...

I liked your thanking post by remembering their support

FH said...

MT!! Thank you for your sweet words and I myself am honored to know you.Not only you post the most wonderful traditional recipes and dishes, you are a woman with a big welcoming heart with no malice!

Ofcourse Badam halwa is delicious looking as usual and I thank you again hoping to be friends with you for a long time to come!:) Hugs! Happy Pongal!

Krithika said...

Congratulations L !! Thank you for the kind words. Your blog has one of the best recipes and reminds me of my mom's cooking.

Badam halwa looks delicious ! Happy Sankranti.

Ultimate Foodie said...

Hi MT..Congrats and all the best! I came here to wish u a happy pongal and to my (pleasant) surprise found the mention about my blog..thanks a lot..looking forward to knowing you better..and let me not forget...Iniya Pongal Nalvaazhuthukkal!

Pavani said...

Hi MT, Wish you a very Happy Pongal. Congratulations on successfully completing one year and good luck for the upcoming one.

Bong Mom said...

Congatulations MT on the one year Mark. We love your blog and thanks for all the lovely recipes you put in

Badam Halwa looks awesome

Viji said...

Dear MT, nice write up. Congrats for anniversery and keep posting our traditional ones. Badam Halwa looks great. Thanks for compliments. Wish you good luck. Viji

Anonymous said...

MT, Happy shankaranthi and Blog Anniversary :)I hope to see you Blog with your usual enthusiasm all through the year and years to come.

Unknown said...

Very nice write up, MT (how I wish I knew ur name :o)) All the best for more anniversaries & happy ponggal.

Anonymous said...

Great halwa, I am not a sweet fan but love making them but i have never made halwa before, always bought it...I think I will try it...thanks for sharing...

Krithika said...

Happy Pongal to you too !

Anonymous said...

Hi MT,

Happy Anniversary for your blog! I want you to know that I really appreciate your straightforward presentations. I learn alot from the "bullets" you place in each post for ex: "this dish is cousin of that dish", "badam is good for health" etc... these are wonderful tidbits I would not know otherwise. When I want to try a complicated recipe, I always look to your blog. You make difficult look easy :)

Wishing you many more years of happy cooking and blogging!

jacob said...

it's touching to read your blogging adventures. i'm new to blogging myself and am still amazed with its power to bring all these people together and put all this knowldge out for whoever wants to use it. long may this continue.

sra said...

Happy Anniversary!

Anonymous said...

Happy anniversary, MT! Hope you have many more.
Your New Year wishes in different languages was very thoughtful.

Sri said...

Wow!!! Badam halwa looks really deilicious...sounds easy,will be good for my little one too :) and Congrats on your one year mark.

Rashmi said...

Congrats! on your first year completion.Wish you more and more years to come.

I am not so fond of sweets,but the halwa is tempting.

Like the saying "Show me your friends,i will tell who you are" ,Your post portrays you.

Hyderabadiz said...

Happy Sankranti again.
Glad to let you know that your blog appears in our Sankranti slide show.
Would appreciate if you link us.
Also, tell us how we can improve our content.
Best, Hyderabadiz Team

Unknown said...

Congratulations on your first anniversary...Hope to see more delicious recipes from you like this delicious mouthwatering badam halwa.

Anonymous said...

Lovely post MT and congratulations for the blog!!!!! Your emotions were truely reflected!!!!

The halwa looks lovely :)

www.mykhazanaofrecipes.wordpress.com

Annita said...

Congratulations on completing 1 yr MenuToday..Keep up the good work

Ashwini said...

You go girl!!! Congrats MT...I look forward to many more years of lovely recipes from you

Meena Kandlakuti said...

WoW! MT, Nice write up and thanks buddy for mentioning me as ur friend.It really sounds great and proud to get such a nice friend and excel in cooking day by day.Enjoy cooking and I hope we grow up as friends day by day though with some blog breaks:-))

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Menu Today !

Love your blog for its simplicity and everyfood. Happy Blogging and hope to learn many more yummy dishes for my Menu Always !

indosungod said...

MT that is really wonderful. Congratulations! and Good Luck on your blogourney.

Menu Today said...

Hi Usha, Asha, Kirthika,UF, Pavani,
Sandeepa, Vcuisine, Lera, Pushpa, Dilip,Linda, Jacob, Sri,Sra, Gini, Rashmi,Hyderabadiz, Maheshwari, Coffee, Ashwini,Meena, Priya, ISG,

Am overwhelmed by the downpour of all your love and friendship in your comments.
It has been a great one year for me knowing you all.
I hope to continue my postings and get to know you all more in this year too.
Thanksssssssssssssssssss !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, dear friend. I have always enjoyed your recipes and appreciate your kind words about me..:).

Wish you many more blog anniversaries and look forward to some wonderful recipes from you.

Best wishes,
Sailaja

Anonymous said...

First of all,Congratulations on succssfully completing one year.
For past few days I could not come here because of lots of tensions going on in my life. But whenever I came here, I loved your posts. I always like traditional recipes because they are the ones getting extinct very fast and someone needs to come forward to save them.
Your badam halva looks very good.

Mallika said...

Huge congratulations on the first year anniversary! It takes a lot of dedication, time and effort and I'm looking forward to trying some of your traditional recipes.

Prema Sundar said...

Hi MT,
Congrats and it was nice of u to mention me. U always share wonderful recipes and badam halwa looks very attractive. Thanks and all the best.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for this recipe. The badam halwa came out really well.

Warm regards,
Priya

Anonymous said...

Hi MT,

Where are you? Missing you... do come back soon!

I made this superb halwa today. Followed your timing as well and it didn't fail me. Excellent taste with so little ghee. Thanks for yet another fool-proof recipe:)