Churma Na Ladoo ~ Wheat Flour Ladoos

Ganesh Chaturthi is incomplete without Lord's Favourite Ladoos. Last year I made authentic Modak for Vighnaharta, this year I decided to serve him with our traditional Gujarati Ladoos called Churma Na Ladoo. Gujaratis and brahmin community in particular are very fond of these Ladoos. They made from wheat flour and ghee and it gets its sweetness from jaggery. Guajarati Brahmin's feast is incomplete without Churma Na Ladoo.

Ingredients:
2 Cups of Coarse Wheat Flour
1/2 Cup of Rawa (Semolina)
1/2 Cup of Milk
1/2 Cup of Water
2 Cups of Ghee
1 Cup of Ghee / Oil for Frying
2 Cups of Shredded Jaggery
2 Tablespoons of Elaichi Powder
1 Tablespoon of Jaiphal Powder (Nutmeg Powder)
1/2 Cup of Khus Khus (Poppy Seeds) / Sesame Seeds

Method:
1. Take course wheat flour, and add rawa to it. If you don't have course wheat flour, increase the amount of rawa to 11/2 cup. Add water, milk and knead a very though dough.

2. Make small balls or muthias out of this dough. Heat ghee or oil and deep fry these wheat balls till they turn brown in colour. This is the easy and best way to cook the wheat flour instead of traditional and time consuming method of making bhakris out of these small balls and then roasting them.

3. Once the wheat balls are fried, allow them to cool, later grind them coarsely in a food processor. The consistency should be of a coarse powder. Add elaichi and jaiphal powder in the grinded wheat.

4. Heat ghee in a pan, add shredded jaggery and allow jaggery to melt in the ghee, spread this mixture in the grinded wheat powder. Mix well with ghee, jaggery and wheat mixture with the help of a stapulla. Don't mix it with your hands as it will burn them as the ghee and jaggery mixture is very hot.

5. Once properly mixed, apply small amount of ghee on ur palms, take the ghee, jaggery and wheat mixture and make small round balls or ladoos by pressing it in between your palms. Make the ladoos when the mixture is still hot. Roll the ladoos in khus khus or sesame seeds.

6. Allow them to cool and place them in the air tight container. They can be stored for almost 10 days.

This is my entry for my very own Janmashtami & Ganesh Chaturthi Event.

This post also goes for Sanghi's IFL - Milk Event and Sara's Sweet and Savoury Event

My Dear Friends Sanghi, Priya Raj and Lone Acorn have tagged me, you can know more about me through this tag here..... thank you girls for thinking about me and tagging me.

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Suji Ka Halwa ~ Rava Sheera

Wishing Happy Ganesh Chaturthi

Lord Ganesha is the God of prosperity and wisdom. Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated with great pomp and devotion in Mumbai. There are Ganesh Pandals in every nook and corner and lanes of Mumbai. Pandals are decorated and there are many festive programmes organised for the Lord. Ganesh Idols are bought one day earlier at night. Every body is out to welcome the beloved God by Chanting ''Ganpati Bappa Morya''.

This 10 days Sarvajanik festival is celebrated all over Maharashtra with great zeal and enthusiasm. People also get Ganesh Idols in their homes and in their Societies or apartments. Even our apartment has got Ganesh Idol for 5 days. There are lots of exciting programmes lined up to celebrate the festivals. Will include my readers with this celebration by showcasing the pictures of the festival in my next post.

This time I prepared Suji Ka Halwa or Sheera as one of the Naivedya for Vinayaka. Suji Ka Halwa, is popularly known as Sheera in Western India. It is a sweet semolina pudding Sheera is always prepared as Prasad or Naivedyam for Satyanarayan Pooja. This is by far the simplest and easy dessert one can prepare for any occasion. All the ingredients required to prepared this rich and aromatic dessert is easily available in our house. I love the aroma, when suji (semolina) is getting roasted in ghee and the best part about Sheera is you can even store it for one day and re heat it the other day and enjoy it.

Ingredients:

1 Cup Suji (Rava, Semolina)
4 Tablespoons of Ghee
1 Cup of Sugar
1 Tablespoon of Malai / Cream (Optional)
2 Cups of Whole Milk
1 Tablespoon of Elaichi (Cardamom) Powder
1 Tablespoon of Kish Mish (Raisins)
1 Tablespoon of Chopped Nuts (Cashew nuts, Almonds, Pista)
Few Saffron Strands


Method:
1. Heat ghee in a deep pan, add chopped cashews and roast them, once roasted remove them and keep them aside.
2. Add rava or suji or semolina in the melted ghee. Roast the suji for 5 to 10 minutes on a low flame.
3. While roasting the suji, add sugar, cardamom powder, raisins, roasted cashews and other chopped nuts. Meanwhile, boil the whole milk and add kesar to it.
4. Roast the suji till it turns light golden in colour and one can smell the aroma of the roasted suji.
5. Once the suji is roasted add boiled milk and cream to roasted suji, on a low flame keep on stirring the suji and milk. See to it no lumps are formed while mixing suji and milk.
6. Keep on stirring the mixture till you get a thick halwa like consistency. Garnish it with chopped nuts and serve it hot.
The whole post is for my very own Janmashtami & Ganesh Chaturthi Event.

This post also goes for Sanghi's IFL - Milk Event

Sireesha, Priya Raj and My Dear Friend Sukanya has shared with me Scrumptious Blog Award -a blog award given to sites who: Inspire you Encourage You May give Fabulous information A great read Has Scrumptious recipes Any other reasons you can think of that make them Scrumptious!

Thank you girls! for considering me worthy for this award, I promise will come up with more exciting recipes.

Sukanya has also shared with me Kreative blog award, One lovely Blog Award and award

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Basundi ~ Awards

I usually make milk based dessert for Janmashtami as Milk was loved by my Bal Gopal. Last year I made Kheer
for Nandlala and made recently made Kalakand on Rakshabandhan, so decided to try my hands on Basundi this time.

Inspite of Swine flu scare in Mumbai, people were out on the streets with or without mask to watch the Dahi Handi Procession, it did not hamper the festive spirits of people and like always there were lots of Dahi handis all over Mumbai.

Basundi is a rich dessert loved by all in my family. Basundi is a thick, creamy dessert made by burning milk on a low heat and reducing milk to half. It is served chilled and garnished with lots of dry fruits. It is prepared usually during festive seasons in Gujarati households.

The best part about this dessert is one can prepare Basundi, one day in advance, and it becomes more rich and creamier as you chill it more.


Ingredients:
2 Litres of Full Fat Milk
1 Bowl of Sugar
1 Tablespoon of Elaichi Powder (Cardamom)
1/2 Tablespoon of Nutmeg Powder
3 Tablespoon of blenched nuts (Charodi, Almonds and Pistachio)
A pinch of Saffron

Method:
1. Take a deep pan (preferrably Non-stick), add 2 litres of full fat milk and bring it to boil.
2. Allow it to boil on a very low flame, keep on stirring it occassionally.
3. s the milk keeps on burning it will start coating on the sides of the vessel. With the help of a spatula keep on stirring the milk and remove the milk coating from the sides.
4. When the milk reduces to half, add sugar, elaichi powder, pinch of saffron and half blenched nuts.
5. Milk will turn light pink in colour and will be very thick in its consistency. Remove it from the heat and allow it to cool.
6. Once cool down, refrigerate it for few hours. One can see the layers of thick cream on top once the basundi is chilled.
Garnish it with nuts and saffron, serve it chilled.

This whole post is for my very own Janmashtami and Ganesh Chaturthi Event

This post also goes for Sanghi's IFL - Milk Event

Lovely Sangi has showered me with this cute gift ''A Fabulous Blog Award'', Thank you dear, will always cherish your lovely gift

Pinky has also shared with me Kreative Blog award, I love your Blog award and One Lovely Blog Award, Thanks a ton for considering me worthy for this award.

Kalakand ~ Awards

With The Onset of Sharavan, starts the Festive season of all Hindus and my grey cells starts working overtime thinking on what to prepare this time for the family and friends on the occassion of the auspicious festivals. This time it was my first Rakshabandhan after my marriage in India, as we left for UK immediately after my marriage.

We had planned a big get-together for my Hubby's sister and his cousin sisters as it was Rakhi and house warming party clubed together. The whole menu was decided except for the sweets. I was not able to decide which sweet to prepare for them as well as my brother.

Have you ever heard that a disaster in your life brings lots of praises and appreciation. I am a perfect example, that a disaster was a blessing in disguise for me and it got me lots of praises. One day left for Rakhi and I had still not zeroed upon the sweet, I was boiling the milk and it got spoiled. I was so upset as it was almost 10 at night and all the shops had closed and there was no milk at my place for the next day morning tea. But I litted my Dimag ki Batti and decided to make Kalakand for the Rakhshabandhan. I sieved the spoiled milk in a clean muslin cloth and removed the excess water and collected the Chenna and referigerated the Chenna for my next day preparation.
The Kalakand was appreciated by all and was over in one go. My Hubby's cousin were all ears for the recipe of the same. And I was all happy with my collars up with those appreciations.

Let me share the exact recipe in detail for this rich milk based delicious sweet ''Kalakand''. But let me caution my readers that this sweet is simple and easy but demands lots of patience.

Ingredients:
4 Litres of Milk
1 Cup of Sugar
Juice of 1 Lemon
1 Tablespoon of Elaichi (Cardamom) Powder
1/2 Cup of Chopped Pistachio and Almonds
Patience (A must Ingredient )

Method:
1. Take 2 Litres of Milk and allow it to boil. When its boiled with the gas on add lemon juice to it and allow the curd like small balls to separate from the milk. Keep boiling till all the milk turns in to curd like balls and one can see water separated from the milk.
2. The curd like balls are called Chenna (Fresh Paneer). Sieve the Chenna with clean muslin cloth and remove the excess water. Press the Muslin Cloth and remove the excess water if any. In my case I have used previous day chenna of spoiled milk which was 1Litre Milk and I bought other 3 Litres of Milk, Out of which I used 1 litre of milk to prepare the more chenna and other 2 litres of Milk for khoya preparation. Since I had to cater many people the quantity of milk used for Kalakand is more. One can used 2 litres of Milk - 1 litre for Chenna and remaining 1 Litre for Khoya.
3. Take a deep pan (preferrably Non-stick). Add remaining 2 litres of Milk and bring it to boil. When it reduces to half the quantity add the sieved Chenna, Sugar and Elaichi powder.
4. Now comes the most important ingredient - Patience in to picture. Keep on burning and stirring the milk on a low flame and Chenna continously. As the milk keeps on burning it will start coating on the sides of the vessel. With the help of a spatula keep on stirring the milk and remove the milk coating from the sides. The whole process may take 45 to 60 minutes or at times even more.
5. Keep on stirring the milk and chenna, till the milk is reduced to a thick lump. Milk is burnt completely and converted to Khoya and is mixed with Chenna, sugar and elaichi powder to become ''Kalakand''. Grease a plate with Ghee (White Butter) and spread the Kalakand mixture on it.

6. Allow the mixture to cool and spread chopped nuts on it and one can refrigerate the mixture. Once the Mixture is set, cut in to desired shapes. Your Kalakand is ready and even you be ready to receive the praises.

This is my entry for My dear Friend Priti's FF - Rakshabandhan Event a joint venture started my us to enjoy the festivities of the season.

This entry also goes for Sanghi's FIL - Milk Event

Dear Chakle Re....(Sorry I am not aware about her Name - Kindly share it withe me next time) and Malini Has shared with me I love your Blog Award, Kreative Blog Award and One Lovely Blog Award. Thank you gals for sharing this bundle of Joy with me, I am really honoured.

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Shahi Rabdi ~ 100th Post

Hurray! I have finally reached my 100th post. Its a benchmark that deserves a celebration. Thank you to all my readers and my blogger friends for taking interest in my blog, for your encouraging comments, Emails and feedback.

Shahi Rabdi is a rich dessert prepared from full fat milk and is flavoured with saffron strands and dry fruits. Rabdi can be prepared from minimum ingredients available in your house, but the most essential quality required to prepare this dish is patience. I have come across many shortcut recipes and have tried them as well but nothing taste better than authentic and traditional method of preparing it.Rabdi is one such dish which can be relished alone as well in combination with other desserts like Malpua with Rabdi, Shahi Tukda with Rabdi, Gajar Ka Halwa with Rabdi and so on....


Ingredients:
1 Litre Full Fat Milk
1/2 Cup of Sugar / Condensed Milk
2 Tablespoon of Elaichi powder / Cardamom powder
2 Tablespoon of Chopped Almonds
2 Tablespoon of Chopped Pistachio
1 Tablespoon of Rose water
1 Silver Sheet / Silver Varakh (Optional)
1 Tablespoon of Ghee

Method:
1. Coat the non stick pan with ghee, and allow to heat the ghee. Add milk to the pan, and keep stirring the milk continuously.
2. Boil the milk by stirring it and reduce to half of its original volume. Add sugar / condensed milk, elaichi powder.
3. Its is important to stir the milk and avoid the milk sticking to the bottom of the pan. Scrape the sides of the pan as well since all the rich malai / cream is gets coated on the side of the pan.
4. Cook till the milk becomes thick, creamy and reduces to 1/4th of its original volume.
5. Add almonds, drops of rose water and few saffron strands and allow it to cool. Place it in the refrigerator. Once chilled it will become more thick.
6. Before serving garnish it with chopped pistachios, saffron strands and silver sheet if using.

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Sweet Sukanya has showered me with Adorable Blog award, Amazing Blog Award, Triple Blog Award, Friends Award, One Lovely Blog Award and Great Buddy Award.

Thank you Sukanya, you made my day

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Fruit Salad and Awards

The Indian sky is changing - the March winds are coming in and winter begins to bow out. Holi is the festival that carries the country into the bright days of summer. A feeling of plenty is in the air with the crops cut, and the farmer enjoying a bountiful of harvest. 'Holi' falls on the full moon, in the month of Phalgun, which spans the end of February and the beginning of March on the Gregorian calendar. A time when spring is in the air.

Holi is a harvest celebration marking the climax of spring. Bonfires are lit, marking both the end of winter and the death of evil, and proceeds from the seasonal harvest- grains, coconuts etc- offered to the flames. The next day, dhuleti involves plenty of colour throwing, prayer, fasting and feasting. People have fun throwing coloured powder and colourful water at each other. This year I am at my hometown Mumbai celebrating the festival at the fullest. I had prepared Fruit Salad for the dessert on Holi. This simple dessert, packed with delicious fruits will be best summer cooler. One can select any seasonal fruits but avoid using citric fruits like orange, sweet lime while preparing fruit salad, but I avoid using them as they fall under Sanyoga Virudh Catogery means food combinations which are contradicting under Ayurveda. Citric juices of these fruits will tear the milk.Other delicious items prepared for Holi will follow in the other posts.


This is my Entry for the Colourful Event 'Holi Hai'

This post also goes for Magnificent Click Contest hosted by Gayathri

Ingredients:
1 Litre Milk
4 Tablespoons of Custard Powder
3/4 Cup Sugar
6 Finely Chopped Bananas
2 Big Finely Chopped Apples
5 Finely Chopped Chickoos
1 Cup of Pomegranate 1/2 Cup of Chopped Green Grapes
1/2 Cup of Chopped Black Grapes
1/2 Cup of Tutti Fruity (Optional)
1/2 Cup of Chopped Almonds (Optional)

Method:
1. Boil the milk on a very low flame. Boil it for almost 20 minutes.
2. Melt the Custard powder by adding 2 tablespoon of boiling milk.
3. Add the melted Custard in the boiling milk along with the sugar and keep stirring the boiling milk.
4. Once the custard and sugar is dissolved properly and the milk is thick i consistency, remove the milk from the gas and allow it to cool. Once the milk is cool, refrigerate the custard milk for almost 3 to 4 hours.
5. Add apple, banana, chickoos, tutti fruity and almonds in the custard milk and again chill the milk by refrigerating it.
6. Just before serving add citric fruits like grapes and serve the delicious Fruit Salad.

Its time to acknowledge long awaited awards

Trupti of Ruchira has passed this lovely Super Chef Award, Thank you for considering me worthy for this award.

Jaishree and Gita has passed me these bundle of awards, I am really lucky to have such dear friends like you.


I would like to share these bundle of joy to Smitha, Prema, Priyanka, Soma, Vicky, Lakshmi Venkatesh, Lubna, Cham, Trupti, Varsha, Priya and Chandani.

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