Kaju Katli

                                          Kaju Katli

    One of the easiest sweets to make and requires less ingredients. An expensive sweet, as it is usually called, can be made at home with in a cost effective way.

 

 

 

Ingredients:

 

Cashews - 1 cup

Sugar - 1/2 cup

water - 1/4 cup

Cardamon - 2 pods finely pounded

Milk Powder - 2 tablespoons (optional)

Ghee - 2 teaspoons (for greasing)

 

 Method:

1.  Dry roast the cashews without browning it and let it cool to room temperature.
2. Pulse grind the cashews in a mixie jar to a fine powder and keep it aside.
3. Place a pan over the stove on a high flame. Add 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of water, cardamon and mix it well.
4. Boil the sugar till it attains 1 string consistency.
5. Now add the cashew powder and mix it thoroughly without any lumps, in this stage you can add milk powder and give it a thorough mix.
6. Keep on stirring till rainwater-like bubbles appear on it (when rainwater touches the ground)
7. When the mixture leaves the side of the sides of the pan, pour it into a greased plate and let it cool.
8. Cut it into diamond shape before it cools down.
9. Store it in an air-tight container.

 

 

 Note:

1. Kaju Katli stays well for 10 days.
   

Rasgulla

                                      Rasgulla

     When I was 8 years old, my uncle Jayprakash, bought me rasgullas. Its unique texture, sponginess and  juicy taste made me instantly like it. It remains my favorite even today. So, here I am posting its recipe.

 

 

Ingredients:

 

Full Cream Milk - 1 litre

Lemon Juice - 2 & 1/2 teaspoons

Sugar - 1 cup

Water - 5 cups

Cardamon - 3 pods

Rose Essence - 2 drops

Ice Cubes - 8 nos

 

Method:

 

1.  Boil the milk in a wide pan, when the milk is about to boil, add lemon juice and mix well, it will start to curdle. Let it rest for a while.
2. Place a muslin cloth over a strainer, pour in the curdled milk and rinse it well with clean water to ward off the sourness caused by the lemon. Tie the cloth and hang it at a tap so that the water drips off.
3. It takes about 10 minutes to drain off the water, this curdled mixture is called chena or paneer.
4. Put the paneer in a wide plate and knead it with well, with no lumps in it.
5. Now make it into gooseberry-sized balls with no cracks in it.
6. Place a wide pan on the stove over a high flame, add 1 cup of sugar and 5 cups of water and allow it to boil for 5 minutes.
7. Change the flame to medium high and add in the paneer balls and close it with a lid. Let it boil for 10 minutes.
8. After 10 minutes, the rasgullas would have doubled in size.
9. Take a wide bowl, add the ice cubes and cold water.
10. Transfer the rasgullas to the ice cube bowl. Keep it in chilled water, retains its shape.
11. Once the sugar syrup comes to room temperature, transfer the rasgullas to it and refrigerate it.

 

 

 Note:

1. Never boil the rasgullas for more than 10 minutes or less than 10 minutes. It becomes rubbery if boiled more and breaks if boiled less than 10 minutes.
2. Always place it in bowl of ice cubes to retain its shape.
   

Bombay Mixture

                                                  Bombay Mixture

 For a long time, I had wanted to post on my blog. I usually make Madras mixture and murukku for Deepavali, this year I wanted to try this Dal Moth or Bombay mixture. It turned out really well and so, I am posting it.

 

 

Ingredients:

Masoor dhal with husk: 200 gms

Besan flour: 2 & 1/2 cups

Rice flour: 3/4 cup

Ajwain: 1/3 teaspoon

Chilli powder: 1 teaspoon

Dried Peanuts or Groundnut: 1/2 cup

Cashews: 2 table spoons

Asafotedia or Hing: 1 teaspoon

Curry leaves:  A handful

Chat masala: 1teaspoon

Dry Mango powder: 1/2 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Cooing Oil: For frying

Hot Oil: 2 table spoons

Method:

1) Wash the Masoor Dal well and soak it for 2 hours, drain the water and dry it on cloth under the fan, so that it is completely dry and keep it ready.

2) Soak the ajwain in hot water for 10 minutes and filter it, discard the seeds and we will be using the water alone for making the dough.

3) Take a wide bowl, add in the flours and mix it well. Add chilli powder, hing and salt. Sprinkle the ajwain water and add hot oil and mix well, knead it into soft dough.

4) Heat oil in a kadai, take a murukku presser with ompodi mould and fill it with the dough.

5) Squeeze or press this dough gently into the hot oil and fry till the bubbles settle down. Now drain the oil from the friend ompodi and take out.

6) Now fry rest of the dough as mentioned above.

7) Let the ompodi cool to room temperature and keep it aside.

8) In the same oil, fry the masoor dhal, drain the excess oil and keep it aside.

9) Fry the cashew and groundnuts in the same manner and keep it aside.

10) Fry the curry leaves and allow it to splutter.

11) Take a wide bowl, add in ompodi, massor dhal, fried groundnuts, cashews and curry leaves.

12) Add chat masala, salt and dry mango powder and mix thoroughly. Now the mixture is ready. Store it in an air-tight container.

 

Note:

1) Adding chat masala and dry mango powder gives a nice aroma and flavor.

2) The mixture stays well for a fortnight, if handled with dry hands or dry spoon.

 

 

Jalebi

 

 

                                                          Jalebi 

 

     Jalebi, also known as Jilapi, zalabia is an Indian and Arabic sweet snack popular all over South Asia and Middle East. This recipe was brought to medieval India by Persian speaking Turkish invaders. In India this sweet is usually served with sweetened condensed milk dish, rabri or eaten with kachori in the northern parts of Indian Subcontinent. In our home, the hot jalabi is a favorite. This should be crisp, juicy and slightly tangy. Corn flour gives it the crispness and curd and lemon juice gives it sour taste. Coming to the recipe.

 

 

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Resting Time: 15 minutes

 

Ingredients:

All-purpose flour or maida: 150 gms

Curd (well beaten): 4 table spoons

Corn Flour: 4 table spoons

Baking Soda: 1/4 tea spoon

Water: 25 ml

Orange food color: 1/4 tea spoon

Cooking Oil: As needed for frying (200 ml)

For Sugar Syrup:

Sugar: 150 gms

Water: 300 ml

Cardamom: 2 pods well crushed

Lemon Juice: 3 tea spoons or half of a lemon

 

Method:

1) Take a bowl, add maida, corn flour, baking soda, curd and mix well.

2) Add water little by little and mix it into a smooth batter, with out any lumps.

3) Let the batter rest for 15 minutes.

4) In the meantime, prepare the sugar syrup.

5) Place a wide and deep bowl on the stove over high flame, add sugar and water. Mix well.

6) Let the syrup boil for 7 to 10 minutes.

7) Add lemon juice and cardamom and put off the fame.

8) Fill the batter into a ziploc and seal it well.

9) Cut it in one end, like a piping bag.

10) Place a wide frying pan, preferably pressure pan on the stove over medium high flame, pour oil and heat it.

11) When the oil is hot, take batter filled in ziploc and squeeze it in a circular way, like concentric circle for 3 rounds.

12) Likewise, make the jalebis and fry them until crisp and when done, take it out and soak it in the warm sugar syrup, for not more than 2 minutes. Take it out and serve hot.

 

                              

 

Note:

1) The recipe, I have given is an instant one, traditionally the batter is fermented for 8 hours before it is fried into jalebis. These instant ones tasted similar to the traditional one. 

2) The batter should not be too thick or too flowy, the consistency of the batter makes good jalebis. If it is, too thick, the jalebis turn out soft and thick. If the oil is not hot enough, you have flat jalebis. If over fried or fried on low heat, jalebis shrunk. So the batter should be in right consistency and oil should be hot. 

3) Always use a wide pan or else jalebis may shrunk and becomes clumsy.

4) The syrup should be warm, otherwise jalebis won't absorb syrup.

5) The optimum time for soaking the fried jalebis is, let it soak, till next batch is fried ready for soaking.

 

Orange Cookies in Pressure Cooker

                                 

                                 Orange Cookies in Pressure Cooker

        Tangy orange flavor is a favorite for many, during my childhood days, my mom used to buy orange cookies, the taste still lingers in mind. Recently I  happened to taste, orange cookies it was kind of similar. I derived a recipe from my basic cookie recipe, using orange juice, zest and orange flavor, it really came out well. So posting the recipe here.

 

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour: 1 Cup (200gm)

Orange juice concentrated: 2 table spoons

Orange Zest: 1/4 tea spoon

Softened Butter: 75 gm

Food Color Orange: A pinch (Optional)

Milk: 1 table spoon

Baking Powder: 1/2 tea spoon

Baking Soda: 1/4 tea spoon

Method:

1) Sieve the flour well and take it in a wide bowl.

2) Add the concentrated juice, butter, grate in some orange zest, baking powder, baking soda, milk and mix well, adding food color is optional.

3) Make it into a soft dough, gather the entire dough and make it into a cylinder. Wrap it in the cling film or any plastic sheet or Ziploc cover and refrigerate it for 30 minutes.

4) Take an old pressure cooker or pressure pan and pour in the salt (table salt). Preheat it over medium flame for 15 minutes.

5) Now take dough from fridge after 30 minutes, it would have been set by now and cut it out into discs like cookies.

6) Grease a plate or tray and place the cookies leaving space in between.

7) Place a wire stand in the cooker and put the tray over it and close it with cooker lid, removing the gasket and wait. Bake it for 20 minutes or until nice aroma comes out.

8) Take the tray out of the pressure cooker and let it cool to room temperature.

9) Once cooled the cookies will be crisp and crunchy.

10) Store it in a air tight container.

 

 

Note:

1) Cookies will be chewy when hot,but once it cools down, it becomes crispy.

2) The Cookies stays well for about a week.

3) Never use the cooker lid with gasket and wait, as the high heating melts down the gasket.

4) Always use the exact measurement given.

Coconut Roti - A Srilankan delicacy

 

 

 Coconut Roti - A Srilankan delicacy

 

      Srilanka, an island nation in the south east Asia. The country is very beautiful, very rich in flora & fauna.While browsing the food trail of Srilanka, I learnt that it looks very similar to Kerala cuisine, usage of coconut oil and coconut milk, etc.  Coming to the recipe

 

 

 

Ingredients:

Wheat flour:  2 cups

Finely chopped onion: 2 nos (big ones)

Finely chopped green chillies: 3 nos

Grated Coconut: 3/4 cup

Salt to taste

Oil for cooking as needed

Water as needed

Method:

1) Take a wide bowl and add in all the ingredients one by one and give it a through mix.

2) Once it is mixed well, add water little by little and knead it into a soft dough. 

3) Let the dough rest for 20 minutes.

4) Divide the dough in equal size roundels.

5) Roll out the roundels into thick chapati.

6) Place a tawa on the stove over medium high flame and cook the chapati until nice golden spots appear on it. Take it out and serve hot.

7) Taste best with onion sambal or any pickle.

Note:

1) Do not rest the dough for more than 20 minutes, as the onions may leave water and the dough becomes soggy.

For Onion Sambal:

1) Take 2 onions, 2 red chillies, 1/ 2 cup grated coconut, salt, oil 2 tea spoons and 1 lemon.

2) Grind all the above except oil and lemon to a coarse paste.

3) Heat oil in a kadai, temper with currey leaves, mustard seeds and saute the paste for 10 minutes till it becomes dry and squeeze lemon juice. Mix it well and serve.

4) Tastes best with plain rice and coconut chapati.