Vegetarian Kheema

To cook vegetarian kheema is not very different from mutton/chicken kheema, but it is way more healthier, protein rich and has less fat. For this, you need

Ingredients - 
1 cup soy crispies (I use Nutrela)
3 cloves
5-6 peppercorns
1 tsp red chilly powder
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
1/2 inch ginger (minced)
2 onions
2 tomatoes
2-3 tsp. oil for cooking
Salt to taste

Method -

1. Cook the soy crispies by boiling 1 cup crispies in 3 cups water for 5 mins. Once the water is cooled a bit, sqeeze the soy crispies and keep aside. Soy crispies are ready to use.
2. Finely chop onions and tomatoes. Keep aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan. Add cloves and peppercorns. Once the cloves swell, add ginger and garlic and fry for a minute till you get the fragrance. Then add onions.
4. Once the onions are fried golden brown, add tomatoes and fry some more. Once the onions-tomato mixture starts leaving oil, add the soy crispies and mix well. Add salt and red chilly powder. Add 1/2 cup water and cover with a lid to cook for a few minutes. Kheema is ready!

Rawa Ladoo (With Sugar Syrup)

After many years of failed experiments to make this ladoo, I have finally done it! I got the sugar syrup of the right consistency! Oh I feel so proud of myself…  So without further delay, lets get to the recipe –

Ingredients –

Rawa/Semolina (fine if available) – 1 cup

Sugar – ¾ cup

Water – ½ cup

Ghee or clarified butter – 4 tsp.

Fresh grated coconut – ¾ cup

Cardamom powder – ½ tsp.

Raisins for garnish

Saffron (Optional)

Method –

In a pan, dry roast rawa till it gets light fragrance. Do not make it brown. Add ghee and roast further for another minute or so. Then take it out in a plate

In the same pan, take fresh grated coconut and dry roast it till it becomes slightly crunchy. Remove it in the same plate as the rawa. Mix the rawa and coconut.

Take sugar and add water. Sprinkle some saffron. Keep on a low flame and let the mixture simmer for a few minutes till it gets a one thread consistency.

Once the syrup is ready, mix in the rawa and coconut mixture and cardamom powder and stir well. Keep aside to cool for a few minutes (Do not let it cool completely).

Grease your palms with ghee. Take some amount of the mixture and press to roll into a ping pong sized ladoo.

Note –

To know if the consistency is right, you can do one of two things –

-          Take water in a small bowl. Drop a drop of sugar syrup. If the drop goes down without dissolving but does not settle down hard, the syrup is ready

-          Place a drop of sugar syrup in a plate and blow on it to cool it. Then take it between your index finger and thumb and see if it forms one thread when you draw the two fingers apart. If yes, the syrup is ready.

If your mixture becomes too hard when you have kept it to cool, using a spoon, scoop it well and break all lumps. Then add 1-2 tsp ghee and splash some milk. Mix it again till all the milk and ghee is absorbed. Place the pan on low flame to mix well. Roll into ladoos immediately.

Chakli with All Purpose Flour

Usually I make chakali using Rice Flour, Moong Dal and Udad dal. It comes out quite well too. This time around, I decided to make something different. I didn’t want to use bhajani. So while discussing with a few friends, I fell upon this new recipe. I used maida as the main ingredient. I was quite skeptical how the chakalis  would turn out to be, but I was pleasantly surprised to find them to be as good as the bhajani chakalis or even better! The recipe is also very easy unlike some other more tedious chakali recipes.

Ingredients –

1. Maida/All Purpose Flour – 1 cup
2. Moong dal – ¼ cup
3. Red Chilly Powder – 2-3 heaped tsp (Depending on how spicy you like it. We use 3 tsp.)
4. Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp.
5. Coriander Powder – 2 ½ tsp.
6. Sesame Seeds – 1 ½ tsp.
7. Ajwain – ½ tsp.
8. Salt to taste

Method –

1. Take dry maida in a bowl. Place the bowl in a cooker (put some water in the cooker first). Cook for 15 minutes without whistles.
2. Once the cooker is cooled, remove the bowl of maida and stir till all the lumps are removed. Then using a big strainer, strain the maida in a plate. Throw away the lumps that remain.
3. Wash moong dal nicely. Add ¾ cup water and pressure cook for 2 whistles. Once the cooker is ready to open, add ½ cup water to the cooked moong dal and whisk well till it is all blended. Using the same strainer, strain this dal to get a fine moong dal paste.
4. In a mixing bowl, take the strained maida, add all the dry spices and salt and give it a fine stir. Then adding spoonfuls at a time, mix the entire dal paste and knead the dough. If the dough is hard, you can add 1-2 tbsp water (This is not mandatory). Cover the dough with a lid.
5. First take oil in a frying pan to deep fry. On the side, take a bowl of cold water. Take a ball of dough. Dip you hand in cold water and knead this ball of dough again. Insert it in a chakali mould and make chakali.
6. Deep fry in the oil till it is golden brown. Remove on a tissue paper to soak the excess oil.
7. Nice spicy and crispy chakali is ready to eat!

 

Happy Diwali!!!

Karanji

Karanji has been on my list for quite some time now. However, for the last 2 years, before Diwali I was in Bombay with mom, so did not make any faraal myself. So after a break of 2 years, I am back to making faraal. And this time around, I decided to do it all the way. So last evening, I made karanji and they turned out fabulous. DH loved them, although he has been forbidden from touching them till next Tuesday!

So without wasting much time, lets get down to the process – 

Ingredients –

Filling –

Dry coconut (dessicated) – 1 cup

Khuskhus (poppy seeds) – 1 tsp.

Rawa/Semolina – 1 tsp.

Powdered sugar – 1 cup

Cardamom powder – ¼ tsp.

Raisins

Saffron (optional)

Cover –

Maida (All Purpose Flour) – 1 cup

Rawa/Semolina – ¼ cup

Milk (warm) – ½ cup

Salt – 1 pinch

Oil – 2-3 tsp.

Oil for frying

Method –

1. To make the cover, heat oil. Take maida in a bowl, mix rawa and salt. Stir well. Then add hot oil and mix the entire mixture till it is a little crumbly.
2. Add warm milk and knead into a dough. The consistency should be softer than a poori but harder than a chapatti. Cover with a damp cloth and keep aside for ½ hour.
3. To make the filling, dry roast rawa and poppy seeds separately. Take in a plate. Then dry roast coconut and mix with rawa and poppy seeds. Add powdered sugar, cardamom and raisins and mix well  

 

1. Make all karanjis together. Make sure to store them in a damp cloth or they will stick to the plate. Then deep fry till they are slightly golden. Karanjis are ready to be gobbled down!

Besan Ladoo in Microwave

Making desserts is all a matter of technique. Now I may be sounding like one of the pastry chefs on “Top Chef”, but it is so true. Experimental cooking has never worked for me when I make any desserts, be it Indian or any other. Besan ladoos was one of my failed experiments, not because it tasted bad, but because I could never get the right consistency. Today, with 2 small kids in my toe, I did not have much time to make these.  So I decided to experiment with this ladoo in my microwave, and dare I say it was a superhit! What more – the ladoos were ready in less than 10 mins! So no more frying besan worrying about the besan sticking to the pan etc…etc… 

So let’s see what you need to do…

Ingredients –

Besan – 2 cups

Rawa/Semolina – 1 tsp.

Sugar (Powdered) – 1 cup

Ghee (liquified butter) – 7 heaped tsp.

Raisins

Cardamom powder  - ¼ tsp (or as per taste)

Method - 

1. Take ghee in a microwaveable bowl and heat it in the microwave on medium heat for 40 second
2. Once it is nicely liquefied, mix rawa and besan. Mix well till it is a thick paste. Microwave for 1 min.
3. Remove from the microwave and mix well. Microwave again for another minute. Continue the process like this for 5-6 times. Then keep aside and let the mixture cool down
4. Once cooled, mix in powdered sugar and cardamom powder and stir nicely. The mixture is ready to be made into ladoos. Stick in raisins in every ladoo and ENJOY!!

HAPPY DIWALI!!!!

Mango Jam

My hiatus from the blog has been so long, it actually took me a while to get used to the new UI. So much has changed since I last posted here... Moved to a different country, then a different city in the new country, had 2 wonderful babies and made a temporary shift from a working mom to a full time mom. And may I say my new job is more busier albeit more fun than ever! I hope my blogger friends have not forgotten my forum here. And I hope that I can be more active on my blog than what I have been in the past 2 years. Its not like I haven't cooked. Infact, this mango season I went overboard. I have experimented with all kinds of mangoes - raw or ripe. From mango jam to mango pickle and more... I have made it all and from the amazing response that I have received from friends and family, I am motivated to put that all down to paper here. So for the next few post, I am going to be all mango-eee...

This post is for Mango Jam - It is so simple to make! And the best part is my DD loves it. Since it was an experiment, I only used 6 mangoes to make 1 Kg. But I have promised myself to make with atleast 2 dozens next year as my 1Kg. jam is almost over. DD will not have lunch/dinner without her god god on the side...

The mango jam recipe can be applied to any mango. But for the authentic taste, you need the special big mangoes (in Goa they call it halwa mangoes). For your convenience, I have borrowed the picture of these mangoes from Simply Homemade.

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 Dozen Mangoes
2. 1/2 Kg. sugar
3. 8-10 Cloves

Method:

1. Peel and de-seed the mangoes. Grind the mango pulp in a grinder to get a smooth paste
2. In a thick bottom pan, take the pulp and on a low flame keep it to reduce. Occasionally stir to ensure that it does not stick to the bottom
3. Once the pulp thickens a bit, add sugar and keep stirring. You will have to stir it more often now.
4. When the pulp starts sticking to the vessel, stir continuously. Turn off the heat in another 5 mins.This recipe makes about 1 Kg. jam.
5. Mix in the cloves in the jam as a preservative. Since DD eats this 2-3 times a day, I avoid using any other artificial preservatives.

  

Note:

1. The sugar content of the jam should be altered depending on the sweetness of the mangoes and your sweet tooth.
2. The same recipe can be used to make pineapple jam as well.