Krishna Jayanthi marks the birthday of Lord Krishna, a much-loved Hindu deity. It is also called Krishna Janmashtami or Gokulashtami. Many sweets and savouries are prepared on this occasion as offerings for Krishna. in case you can’t prepare a lot of things, even butter, curd, milk, and rice flakes with jaggery will please him. These were his childhood favorites.

1)Uppu Seedai
Ingredients

Rice flour – 1 cup

Roasted urad dal flour – 1 tbsp

Butter (unmelted) – 1 tbsp

Water and salt – as needed

Hing – 1/8 tsp

Grated coconut – 1 tsp

Sesame seeds (black) – 1.5 tsp

Oil – for frying

Method

Grind the coconut into a powder in a dry mixie jar.

Take the rice flour (roasted) and urad dal flour in a bowl. Sieve a couple of times. Add sesame seeds, ground coconut powder, and hing. Finally, add the butter and blend well using your fingers. Don’t apply too much pressure to the flour.

Make a non-sticky dough by adding water. There should be no cracks. Make small dough balls using a cloth or paper. Avoid rolling too tightly. 

Let the balls dry for 30 mts. In a pan, heat oil. Then deep fry the balls in batches (medium flame). Toss the seedai so that the color will be uniform.

Remove when there are no more bubbles. Once they cool down, store them in a box. 

2)Nei appam 

Ingredients 

For batter:

Rice flour – 1/3 cup

Sooji Rava – ½ cup

Wheat flour/Maida – 1/3 cup

Grated coconut – 3 tbsp

Grated jaggery – ¾ cup

Cardamom powder – ¼ tsp

Cooking soda/baking soda – ¼ tsp

Salt – a pinch

Ghee/cooking oil – as required

Water – as required

Method 

Take all the ingredients (except baking soda) in a wide bowl. Mix well, adding water. The batter should be partly thick but easy to pour. If the jaggery is not pure, boil it with water (1:2 ratio of water and jaggery). Strain using a metal filter and add the water to the mix. Add baking soda 10 mts before making the appam. Mix well. Allow it to sit for a while. 

Add 1 tsp ghee in each hole of a paniyaram pan and pour the batter. Cover and cook for a few minutes on a low to medium flame. Use a spoon to flip the appam over. Cook for some more minutes till it turns golden brown.

If you wish to deep fry, pour some oil into a pan and heat it. Pour the batter with a small ladle. Deep fry the appams one by one.

3) Vermicelli kheer 

Ingredients 

Roasted vermicelli – ½ cup

Boiled milk – 2.5 cups

Water – 1 cup

Sugar – ½ cup

Crushed cardamom – 2 nos.

Cashew nuts and dry grapes – a handful

Almond powder- 1 tsp (optional)

Saffron threads – a few (optional)

Method

In a pan, heat 1 tbsp ghee. Roast the dry grapes and cashews. Remove and keep them aside. Roast the vermicelli in the same ghee. Boil 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of water in a wide vessel. Once it boils, add the vermicelli. Cook it in low to medium flame. Once it is well-cooked, add sugar. Boil until the sugar dissolves. Add the rest of the milk and almond powder. Boil for some minutes. Finally, add the cardamom powder, roasted dry grapes, and cashews. Switch off the stove. The kheer will become thicker when it cools. Add more milk if it’s too thick. Serve warm or cold.

4) Rava Laddoo

Ingredients 

Rava Sooji/Semolina – 1 cup

Cardamom seeds – 3 or 4 (powdered)

Ghee – 4 or 5 tbsp (add a little at a time)

Sugar – ¾ cup

Cashewnuts – 8 or 10 (broken)

Method

Dry roast the rava until there is a nice aroma. The color of the rava must not change. Powder the rava in a mixie and sieve it. Powder the sugar and sieve it. Mix well. Add the cardamom powder and roasted cashews. Mix well. Add the melted ghee bit by bit and mix well. Stop adding ghee when it is possible to make balls of the mixture. Make even-sized balls and store them in an air-tight box.

5)Aval Laddoo

Ingredients 

Thick aval/poha – 1cup

Sugar – ½ cup 

Clove – 1 

Cardamom – 2

Melted ghee – ¼ cup

Roasted cashews – a few 

Method

Dry roast the aval in a pan for 3-4 mts in high flame, mixing constantly. Make sure that the aval does not burn. When the aval begins to puff up a bit with a nice smell and slight golden brown color, remove and cool. Powder the clove and cardamom with sugar and put it in a bowl. Powder the aval and mix it with the powdered sugar. Heat the ghee and roast the chopped cashew nuts. Add this ghee to the mix. Mix well with a spoon till it turns warm. Make balls and place them on a plate.

6) Aval payasam with jaggery

Ingredients 

Poha/Aval – ¼ cup

Jaggery powder – ¼ cup

Coconut milk/boiled milk – ¼ cup

Cardamom seeds – 2 (powdered)

Ghee – 2 tsp

Water – as needed (about 2.5 cups)

Roasted cashews – a few

For more flavor, roast the following in a tsp of ghee and add:

Cloves – 2 

Roasted nutmeg powder – a pinch

Edible camphor – a pinch

Method 

In a pan, heat 1 tbsp ghee. Then roast the cashews. Remove. Clean the aval and remove any debris.

In the same pan, roast the aval and cardamom for 3-4 mts. When the aval turns crisp and a little brown, remove and allow it to cool. Powder it well (or you can wash the roasted aval and cook it). 

In a bowl, add the water and aval and mix well, without lumps. Cover and cook for around 5 mts. In between, stir the mixture and add more water if needed. Let it thicken.

Once it thickens, add the jaggery powder and mix well. Boil for 5-10 mts. Lastly, add the roasted cashews. Turn off the flame and add ¼ cup of boiled milk or coconut milk. Aval payasam is ready.

7) Sweet appam with wheat flour

This is a sweet, spongy, and soft appam that can be deep-fried or shallow fried.

Ingredients 

Wheat flour – 1 cup
Ripe banana – 1
Rice flour – 1.5 tbsp
Grated jaggery – ½ - ¾ cup
Cooking soda – 1/8 tsp
Salt – a pinch
Cardamom (powdered) – 2
Oil – to drizzle

Method

Mash the banana well in a bowl. Add rice flour, wheat flour, salt, jaggery, baking soda, and cardamom powder.

Add some water and make a smooth paste, without lumps. Batter consistency should be ribbon-like.

Heat a paniyaram pan. Pour ½ tsp oil in each hole. Pour a spoonful of batter into each of the holes. Cover and cook for sometime on a medium flame.

Flip it over after a while, and again add ½ tsp oil. Cook for 1 minute and remove. 

8)Panchamirtham with aval and fruits

Ingredients 
Aval – ¼ cup
Honey – 1 tbsp
Grated jaggery – 1-2 tbsp
Small apple – ½ 
Small banana – 1 
Mosambi – 2 pieces
Pomegranate – a handful
Mango – 4 cubes
Guava – ¼
Crushed cardamom – 1 
Ghee – 2 tsp
Edible camphor – a pinch (optional)

Method

Wash the poha a couple of times, drain, and keep aside. Take the poha, fruits, honey, chopped fruits, grated jaggery, crushed cardamom, and edible camphor, and mix well.

Wait for 30 mts for it to become soft.

9) Paal Kozhukkattai

Ingredients 

Rice flour – ½ cup
Water – ½ cup + 2-3 tbsp (for dough)
Gingelly oil – a drop
Salt – a pinch
Sugar – 2 tbsp
Boiled milk – ½ cup
Thick coconut milk – ½ cup
Saffron threads – a few 
Cardamom - 1

Method

Mix a pinch of salt and rice flour in a bowl.

Boil some water with a drop of gingelly oil. When it boils and forms big bubbles, switch off the flame.

Add the boiled water to the rice flour a little at a time, and mix well. Once you get a non-sticky dough, stop adding water. Knead the dough when it is still warm. Grease your fingers and make small balls. Cover the balls.
Boil some water in an idli vessel. Grease the idli vessel with oil and spread the balls. Steam for 5-10 mts.

Mix 1.5 tbsp of coconut milk powder in ½ cup of boiled and cooled milk without forming lumps. Add sugar, saffron thread, and cardamom powder to this and stir well.

Boil for 2 mts in medium flame. When the milk thickens slightly, add the cooked rice balls and boil for a few seconds. Remove.

10)Atta halwa

Ingredients 

Whole wheat flour – ¼ cup
Sugar – ¼ cup
Melted ghee – ¼ cup
Water – ½ cup
Cashewnuts and sliced almonds – for garnishing
Cardamom powder – a pinch (optional)

Method

In a wide, non-stick kadai, heat ¼ cup ghee. Add wheat flour and roast until it turns a nice golden brown, with a good aroma. The flame should be low to medium for roasting. Keep mixing it to prevent burning. Roast for 3-5 mts. 

Boil ½ cup of water in a bowl and add the water to the wheat flour carefully. Add cardamom powder and ¼ cup sugar. Mix well without lumps. The water is absorbed by the flour, and it gets cooked.

Keep mixing until the halwa leaves the sides of the vessel fully and becomes a composite mass. Don’t turn off the flame. Continue mixing until ghee oozes out at the sides of the kadai and turns glossy. The procedure should be done in a medium flame, and it may take 3-5 mts for the ghee to be released. Switch off the stove and transfer the halwa to a bowl.  

Milk and grated jaggery too can be used instead of water and sugar.

Krishna Jayanthi 2021/Krishna Janmashtami 2021 is on August 30.