Besan Laddu

  Besan Laddu can be made within 20 mins and I recently made it for the local Sai Baba temple on Thursday. It is a dry sweet and it has a relatively longer shelf life (2-3 weeks) if stored in an airtight container. 

 
Ingredients:

1 cup of besan/ gram flour
3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of ghee
2 cardamom
Nuts for garnish

Preparation:

1. Dry roast besan in a heavy bottomed vessel, stirring continuously till they change color and sweet aroma comes. 
2. Add fine powdered sugar and cadamom to the kadai, mix well. Add warm ghee and stir them.
3. Allow them to cool enough to hold them and make lime sized balls
4. Garnish with nuts.

Carrot Halwa

             Happy new year to all my readers!

               

  

 Ingredients:

2 cups of shredded carrots
2 cups of milk
2 pinches of cardamom
1/4 cup of sugar 
2-3 tbsp of ghee
cashew nuts and raisins for garnish

Preparation:

1.Add a tbsp of ghee to the thick bottomed vessel, add cashews and raisins to roast.
2. Then add the shredded carrots to roast for 5 minutes. Add warm milk to the pan and mix well.
3. Keep stirring till the moisture is absorbed and the carrots are well cooked.
4. Add sugar and cardamom to the pan. Stir well and add the remaining ghee.
5. Carrot halwa is ready. Very simple and very delicious to taste!

Badam Halwa

  I wish all my readers a very Happy Diwali. Diwali is arguably the most celebrated festival in India and people enjoy the occasion with sweets, lights and fireworks! This year I tried making badam (Almonds) halwa. I think peeling the almonds is the tricky part as it takes sometime. I did realize that we get peeled almonds from the supermarket and can save some time and effort. Making of halwa itself is not that difficult.

Ingredients: 

1 cup of Badam
1 1/4  cup of sugar
3 tbsp of ghee
1/4 cup of milk
few strands of saffron


Preparation:

1.Soak Badam for 4 hours in warm water. Soak saffron in 1 spoon of milk.

2.Here comes the tricky part, peeling the skin of badam. Grind badam with milk (use as little milk as possible). Take heavy bottomed vessel and pour the mixture.

3.Add fine sugar and keep stirring. When badam paste starts to thicken, add ghee(clarified butter).  Cook in medium flame. Stir constantly.

4.As the halwa bubbles reduce the flame. As it thickens and halwa starts leaving the sides of the pan.

5.Add saffron which gives nice yellow color and flavor.  Mix well.

         

6.Allow them to cool and Badam halwa is ready.                                                   

                                                                        

Puran Poli

  Puran Poli is another sweet dish which is common in India. This dish combines bengal gram and jaggery to bring a unique flavor and is relished both in South and West India.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup of maida/all purpose flour

pinch of turmeric

pinch of salt
2 tbsp of coconut (optional)

water as required

Ghee as required

Oil for frying

Filling:

1/2 cup of Bengal gram dhal/ chana dhal

1/2 cup of toor dhal

1 cup of  powdered Jaggery
1 tsp of powdered cardamom

Preparation:

1.Mix the maida flour, salt, oil and add water. Knead well enough to make a soft dough. Keep aside for an hour.

2.Soak Bengal gram dhal and toor dhal for 1 hour. Pressure cook them together but do not overcook them. Filter the water and allow it to cool.
3.Grind the dhal with jaggery. Fry the coconut for 2 minutes and add to the filling. Add the cardamom and mix well and the filling is ready. Make small balls of the filling.

3. Make lime sized balls out of the dough, add the filling to it.

4. Roll it out. 

5.In a pan put little oil, fry the poli on both sides till it turns golden brown. 

6.Apply ghee on the surface of the poli.

                       

Rava (Semolina) Kesari/ Sheera

   Rava Kesari is another sweet which can be made quickly and easily at home. This sweet is commonly made for several festive occasions and there are several versions of this recipe across India with slight variations. You can increase the quantity of the nuts and reduce the amount of sugar and ghee to appeal to the health conscious folks.

Ingredients: 

1 cup of rava (Semolina)
1 cup of milk
1 1/4 cup of sugar
handful of cashew nuts
10 raisins
3/4 cup of ghee (clarified butter)
1/2 tsp of cardamom powder


Preparation:


1.Add a tbsp of ghee to heavy bottomed vessel and add nuts and raisins. Roast them till they turn golden brown. Be cautious with the raisins and remove before it turns dark.

2.Transfer them to a plate and add the rava to the ghee. Roast them slightly till nice aroma comes.
3.Add boiled milk (warm milk) and 1 cup of warm water to the rava and keep stirring so that there is no lumps. The addition of milk softens the rava and it melts in the mouth.

4.The amount of ghee can be varied from half cup to 3/4th of a cup. Add the ghee and cook in low flame and keep stirring
5.Add the sugar and allow them to dissolve.

5.Transfer the nuts and cardamom powder.  Mix them well. Kesari is ready.

*If needed add kesari (saffron) powder.

Badam Halwa

   A very Happy Diwali to all my readers. Diwali is arguably the most celebrated festival in India and people enjoy the occasion with sweets, lights and fireworks! This year I tried making badam (Almonds) halwa. I think peeling the almonds is the tricky part as it takes sometime. I did realize that we get peeled almonds from the supermarket. Then making of halwa itself is not difficult.

Ingredients: 

1 cup of Badam
1 1/4  cup of sugar
3 tbsp of ghee
1/4 cup of milk
few strands of saffron


Preparation:

1.Soak Badam for 4 hours in warm water. Soak saffron in 1 spoon of milk.

2.Here comes the tricky part, peeling the skin of badam. Grind badam with milk (use as little milk as possible). Take heavy bottomed vessel and pour the mixture.

3.Add fine sugar and keep stirring. When badam paste starts to thicken, add ghee(clarified butter).  Cook in medium flame. Stir constantly.

4.As the halwa bubbles reduce the flame. As it thickens and halwa starts leaving the sides of the pan.

5.Add saffron which gives nice yellow color and flavor.  Mix well.

         

6.Allow them to cool and Badam halwa is ready.