Dates Ladoo / khajoor laddu

Year is going to end and I was not much active here. I revived by other blog with 30 days posting without a break.

These dates laddu I made it for Diwali. I thought of making something healthy without extra carbos. So these laddus are sugar free as dates itself are sweet.

Dates 2 cups shredded

walnuts 1/2 cup

cashews 1/2 cup

Almonds 1/2 cup

Pista unsalted 1/2 cup

Dry coconut powder 3 tbsp

Ghee 3 tbsp

How to make them ?

Take all the nut in a grinder and crush them. Here we are not making fine powder but coarsley grinding them.

Take a pan. Add ghee.

when ghee melts add dates.

Saute for a while, dates starts sticking to each other.

Turn off the flame. Add nuts.

Take little ghee on palms and make round balls.

In a plate take dry coconut powder and roll the ladoos in it.

Isn't it very simple. The time taken to eat is less than time taken to make them.😜😜😜

Maida Chips

Wishing you all a Happy Diwali and have a wonderful and safe diwali.

The quickest and easiest diwali sweet is maida chips or diamonds (which we kids used to call when my mom made them when we were kids)This is my mom recipes and it can done in a savories too.And this sweet calls for very few ingredients.Here goes the recipe :-

Ingredients:-

Maida/plain flour 1 1/2 cup
Ghee 1/4th cup
Sugar 1 cup
Oil for deep frying

Method:-

Make a hard dough with maida,ghee and water similar to puri dough.Let it rest for 1/2 an hour.

In the meanwhile take the sugar in a deep bowl and add water just till the sugar.Leave a side so that sugar dissolves in the water.

Make balls similar to cricket ball and roll out into a big round circle.Dusting on both the sides.

Make long cuts diagonal and vertical lines and the cut pieces should resembles diamond shape.(I have a spoon which can be seen in the picture which a small disc at one end.I always use that spoon to cut the diamond shapes.

Heat oil in a heavy bottom kadai and deep fry the cut diamonds in batches till golden colour.
In the meanwhile make sugar syrup.Let it cook till you get thick syrup.To check if it is done or not,take water in a small plate and add a spoon of the syrup to the water.With your fingers if you can make a ball then the syrup is ready.

Then slowly add the diamonds to the sugar syrup and mix and take them on a plate.Once they are warm try to separate each pieces.

More diwali sweets and savories below :-

Savories

Panasa thonalu 
Murukulu/Jantikalu
Ribbon Pakoda
Mathri
Chegodilu
Karapusa
Chakalu
Murukulu--2


Sweets :-

Gavvalu
Kadhu ki Kheer 
Kajjikaya/Gujjiyas
Bellam kommulu/sweet muruku

Karapusa

This is the easy muruku one can make.I make this very often and now kids at home and they ask for something or the other to munch.Sometimes i buy murukkus from a store but they wont last for long as the oil they use is not good.Here goes karapusa recipe which calls for very few ingredients.

Ingredient:-

Rice flour 2 cups

Besan/Senagapindi 2 cups

Ajwain/Vamu 1 tbsp

Butter/Vena 3 tbsp

Red chilli powder 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

Water to make a hard dough

Method:-

Mix all the ingredients.Add very little water and made a hard dough.

Apply oil to the inner part of the muruku maker.

Take a wide bottom kadai and add oil.

Fill a small quantity of the dough in the muruku maker.

Once the oil is hot,reduce the flame and with the muruku maker press muruku into the kadai in a circular motion.Once down increase the flame.

When the bubbles start reducing,it means the muruku is cooked.Remove the muruku with a long laddle with holes.And drain on a kitchen napkin.

Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Once muruku is cooled store them in a air tight container.

Sunnudalu

Sunnudalu is a traditional Andhra sweet which is made during festivals and baby showers.It is very nutritious and involves very few ingredients.I usually make this for my daughters and everyday without fail i give them one in the evening.Its been a while i made them and i was told by mom and other relatives to make them for my daughter who was hospitalized for 3 days due to high temp and she lost 4 kgs of weight,as such she is thin and now she was become very weak.The good thing is now she is having her summer break from school so i can utilize this time to give her healthy food with enough rest at home.This laddu my mom made for her and here goes her recipe

Ingredients:-

Udad dal 1 cup

Rice 3 tbsp

Jaggery 1 cup

Ghee 1/4 cup

Method:-

Dry roast udad dal until light brown colour and remove from the pan as even after switching off the stove the hot pan still fries the dal and dal turns into dark brown colour (it doesn't taste good).Immediately after switching off the flame take the udad dal on a plate and spread it to cool.

In the same pan dry roast rice until light brown colour and add that to the udad dal.

Let both completely cool.

In a mixer grind both into powder not completely soft but a little coarse.

Grind the jaggery on a paper with a mortal (i don't grind jaggery in the mixie as it tends to leave water when grinded with the dal and rice.

Add the jaggery to the dal and rice powder.Now slowly add ghee and make round balls.The amount of powder to take in your palm depends on your palm size.

Let it dry for sometime before you store in a air tight container.

Panasa Thonalu with a twist

Panasa thonalu is a traditional sweet made in andhra during festivals.The dough is made into panasa thonalu (jackfruit) shape and dipped in the sugar syrup.But my granny used to make them hot rather than sweet.She used to add salt and chilly powder in place of sugar.

When ever she was at my place she used to make them for us with her weak hands (she was

70+ then).She is no more and we all forgot about this snack.One day suddenly i remembered this and made but i was not sure of the name.Then i checked with Rekha of plantain leaf and she in turn checked with her mom and told me the name.Thanks rekha....

Here goes my granny recipe with a twist...

Ingredients:-

Maida/All purpose flour/Plain flour 1 cup

Ghee 2 tbsp

Salt as per taste

Ajwain(vammu) 1 tsp

Red chilly powder 1 tsp

Oil for deep frying

Method:-

Take maida,ghee,salt,red chilly powder and ajwain.Add warm water and make a dough similar to puri dough.Let it rest for 1 hour.

Now take a lemon sized dough and make thin puri.

Then make vertical slits from end to other without cutting the edges of the puri.

Then slowly rotate the puri holding the edges.And slightly press the edges.

Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Take oil in deep bottom kadai and once the oil is hot,leave thonalu in batches and deep fry until light grown in colour.

Let it cool and store in a air tight container.

Gavvalu

Gavalu (shell) is a famous sweet which is made during the festivals.I made this for sankranthi.Gavalu can be sweet and hot.I have done both but i prefer sweet than hot.

The ingredients are very few but to make this you need gavalu chaka ie a wood piece which has small horizontal slits.And the dough is made into small marble size balls and rubbed on the slits and they form a shape similar to shells which in telugu called gavalu.

This is the shape of gavalu chakka (wood piece)

What is needed to make gavalu :-

Plain flour/maida 2 cups

Samolina/suji/bombay rava 1/4th cup

Milk 1/2 cup

Ghee 4 tbsp (optional)

Jaggery 1 cup grated

Elachi 1

Oil for deep frying

How to make gavvalu :-

Make a soft dough with maida,rava,milk and ghee.Let is rest for 1/2 an hour.

Apply little oil to the mould (gavvalu chakka)

Make small marble size balls and rub each ball on the mould.You will get shell shape.Do with entire dough.

Heat oil and add gavvalu in batches and fry till golden colour.Take them on a kitchen tissue.

In a thick bottom pot take jaggery and add water till the jaggery immerse in the water.

Let it cook till you get thick syrup.To check if it is done or not,take water in a small plate and add a spoon of the syrup to the water.With your fingers if you can make a ball then the syrup is ready.Add elachi powder to it.

Now add the fried gavvalu and mix well and spread them in a big plate.If you

found gavalu are attached to each other,slowly try to detach them and spread them.

Let it come to room temp and store in a air tight box.

Now the recipe for salted gavvalu

Maida 2 cups

Semolina/suji/bombay rava 1/4 cup

Carway seeds/Ajwain 1 tbsp

Red chilly powder 1 tbsp

Salt as per taste

Method:-

Same as sweet gavvalu but with this there is no need of adding jaggery.

Diwali wishes and Paramannam (rice pudding)

WE WISH YOU

A

VERY HAPPY, HEALTHY, PROSPEROUS, VIBRANT & COLOURFUL

DIWALI.............

MAY ALL YOUR WISHES BE COME TRUE....

Paramannam or rice payasam is the most common prasadam in andhra.In my house mom used to make this for every festival as this is the most favourite dessert.Paramannam can be done with both sugar and jaggery but i prefer jaggery.This sweet can be eaten both warm or cold.

Ingredients:-

Raw Rice washed and drained 2 cups
Grated jaggery 1/2 cup
Milk 1 liter
Green cardamom 2 (crushed)
Fried cashewnuts and raisins for garnish
1 tbsp ghee(clarified butter)for frying cashewnuts and raisins

Method:-

Soak rice for 1 hour.

Drain water from the rice after one hour and add milk.

Cook till the rice is soft and if needed add little water or milk.

Mean while fry cashewnuts and raisins in the ghee.

Once the rice is cooked and is soft switch off the stove and add grated jaggery,cashewnuts and raisins.

Mix throughly and cover it until served.

PS:-After adding jaggery don't cook payasam,if cooked it will split.

The prasadams i made today.

My laxmi poja.

Bellam Kommulu (sweet muruku) -- Diwali special

Ingredients:-

Channa flour (chanaga pindi) 1 kg
Rice flour 1 cup
Jaggery (bellam) 500 gms
Elachi 2 (powdered)
Ghee 250 gms
Oil for deep frying



Method:-

Mix channa flour and rice flour thoroughly.Warm ghee and add it to the channa flour.Make a soft dough by adding little water.
Now slowly add water and knead a dough which is little more softer than the puri dough.

Heat a kadai with oil enough to deep fry. Once the oil is hot enough, simmer to low flame.



Take the big holes Muruku Aachu, wash and wipe it clean. Then divide the dough into equal balls.
Fill the Muruku maker with the dough. You can either press it directly in the oil or press over a paper or plate and gently slide it down into the hot oil.


Press muruku in the hot oil.Let it cook for 1 min and turn it.Once the bubbles in the oil reduces,then the muruku is done,mostly it will be in light brown colour.Remove it from the hot oil and press muruku with the left over dough.



In a another big vessel take jaggery,elachi and little water.Boil until thick,to check whether the syrup is done or not,take a small plate with little water,add the a tsp syrup and when touched with finger if it forms a ball than the syrup is done.Keep it down on the floor.

Break the muruku into small pcs and add it to the syrup.Don't mix it with spoon or ladle,just hold the bowl with cloth on both the sides and turn the vessel so that all the muruku is coated with the jaggery syrup.Remove and let it cool.Store in a air tight container.It taste best after one day.



This muruku i made it for the first time and it tasted quite well.But one major disaster was averted.Usually i press the muruku directly into the hot oil.Some how my instinct told me not to do, so i pressed few on a plate and transferred them into the hot oil.After finishing two batches when i tried to press another one on the plate the muruku press spring and the handle came off with much pressure that the top lid of the muruku pressing machine came off,had it been on the hot oil i would have got burn injuries and my baby was also present in the kitchen.Later i didn't had courage to make anything with the left dough.So i want to tell my readers/friends to be careful in using muruku pressing machine.The below picture says everything.
.

Have a wonderful and SAFE Diwali.

Jantikalu or Murukulu for Indian Cooking Challenge

I am very fortunate to have got included in the cooking challenge and i thank srivalli for accepting me in the challenge.This is 4th challenge and since the beginning i had my own doubts whether i deserve to be in the challenge.After i made this muruku all my doubts are cleared,muruku came out so well just like what we get to eat from swahagruha back home.I can't wait to make this for my mom and sisters.

Thanks so much valli for including me in the challenge.You have given the recipe so well that the muruku came out well and the taste is awesome,it got over within a day.My kids had that for breakfast,lunch and evening snacks.Only thing i altered is that i didn't take raw rice,as i found it difficult to grind the raw rice into fine powder.Now the recipe

Ingredients:-


Rice flour 3 cups (raw rice 4 cups given by valli)
Udad dal 1 cup
Water 1/2 cup or more

For Seasoning

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Sesame seeds- 1 tsp
Asafetida/ Hing - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Butter - 75 gms

How to prepare:

Wash and drain the rice. Shade dry the Rice for 1/2 hr. Dry roast the Urad dal to light brown. Allow it to cool.
If you are using more quantity, you can get it ground in rice mil, else use your mixie to grind both Rice and Urad dal.

First grind rice into a fine flour, keep it aside. then grind the urad dal to fine powder.

In a wide vessel, take both the flours along with salt. Mix well.

Add cumin, Sesame seeds and asafetida powder to the flour, mix well.And finally add the butter.

Gather everything well and you will get more of a crumbling mixture.

Now slowly add water and knead a dough which is little more softer than the puri dough.

Heat a kadai with oil enough to deep fry. Once the oil is hot enough, simmer to low flame.

Take the Muruku Aachu, wash and wipe it clean. Then divide the dough into equal balls.

Fill the Muruku maker with the dough. You can either press it directly over the flames or press over a paper and gently slide it down the hot oil.

Cook over medium flame, using a slotted spoon, turn it over to other side to ensure both sides turn golden colour. You will know by seeing the colour that its cooked. Remove to a kitchen paper and store it in a air tight container.

Thank you srivalli for this wonderful recipe.

This is my entry to the cooking challenge started by srivalli.

Happy Dussehra and its delicacies

Happy Vijaydashmi to friends and the readers.I miss the festival atmosphere back home and i dont feel like doing it here but as my kids are small i want them to know what is a festival,what we do on that day,what parasadams we offer to the god and goddess.I remember this day my dad used to do puja for his scooter and mom's tvs and put a big marigold garlands on the both the vehicle.Inspite of having a car here we can't do puja for the car.I made vada,nimakaya pulihora (lemon rice) and booralu.Before the festival day i made murukulu and kajikayalu.Vada/Garelu recipe is here,Borralu/purnalu recipe is here

Nimakaya Pulihora (Lemon rice)

Ingredients:-

Rice 2 cups
Salt as per taste
Turmeric 1/2 tsp
Juice of 2 lemon

For seasoning

Channa dal few
Udat dal few
Rai few
Red chilly 2
Curry leaves few
Peanuts
Salt as per taste
Asafoetida

Oil 5 tbsp

Method:-

Cook rice.Add turmeric powder and mix thoroughly.
Heat oil,fry peanuts and keep aside.

In the same oil add all the seasoning and when they splutter,add it to the cooked rice.
Add peanuts,salt and mix thoroughly.Lastly add lemon juice slowly to the rice and mix properly.

Kajjikayalu and murukulu recipe will follow in my next post.

Vinayaka Chavathi

I never did Vinayaka chavathi alone and this is my first vinayaka chavathi which i did i alone without the guidance of my mom or my m-law.Last year i was fortunate to celebrate the festival with my mom who did puja and read ganesh story.After coming here to gulf i never got holidays on our festivals and there is no public holidays for our festivals.So i always used to go to work and my m-law who was staying with me used to do puja and in the evening i used to eat the delicacies.My friend sandhya gave me the sholkas to do the puja and mom told me how to make the delicacies.

Called up mom and took the recipe of undralu and kudumulu and made pasham which my m-law used to make it.That came out well but i am not sure of the measurement hence i wont be writing the recipe of pasham.

My girls

Undrallu

Ingredients:-


Rice flour 1 cup
Channa dal 2 tbsp (soaked for one hour)
Salt a pinch
Oil 1 tbsp
Water for making dough


Method:-


Make a hard dough with riceflour,channa dal,salt,oil and water.Make desired size balls and steam the way idles are steamed for 7-8 minutes.

Sweet version of undrallu


Ingredients:-



Rice flour 1 cup
Jaggery 1/4 cup
Water for making dough



Method:-


Make a hard dough with rice flour,jaggery and water.Make small size balls and steam the way idles are steamed for 7-8 minutes.


On the day of the festival we are supposed to see nine ganesh.In Hyderabad each and every lane ganesh idol are worshipped and we all used to visit nine ganesh.Now here i hardly know anyone who celebrate the festival,today i will blog hop and see ganesheshas in the other blogs.

Happy Ugadi and its Delicacies

Happy ugadi to you all.

Ugadi pachaidi,garulu,pulihora and purnalu are the traditional dish done on the ugadi day.My mom used to make other dishes as well but i didn't get much time to do all.

All these i learnt it from my mother.I miss the festive atmosphere back home.Early morning we used to get up put a big rangoli(mugu) in front of the house.Wear new clothes and go to grannies and uncles house and eat the delicacies cooked by granny.This country i hardly have anyone celebrating this festival.Anyways i and my kids had a good time.My elder kid has helped me a lot today.She kept her kid sister busy so that she doesn't disturb me.

Ugadi Pachadi

Ingredients:-

Raw mango 1cup(finely chopped)
Neem tree flowers 1 tbsp

Jaggery (grated) 1 cup
Honey 1 tbsp
Tamarind paste 3 -4 tbsp
Red chilli pwd pinch
Salt to taste

Method:-

Mix all the ingredients and added little water.Few don't add water,but i prefer watery.

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Garulu/Vada

Ingredients:

Urad dal (black gram dal,minappappu) 1 1/2 cup

Ginger 2"

Green chillies 3

Coriander leaves finely chopped

Pudina leaves finely chopped

Onion 1 (finely chopped)

Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

Method:-

1. Soak whole black gram dal for 5-6 hours (i soaked over night)
2. Strain the water from the dal and grind to a paste with ginger,green chillies and salt.Avoid adding water.
3. Then add chopped onions,coriander leaves and pudina leaves and mix well.Heat oil in a deep frying vessel and the oil should be very hot.
4. Wet a plastic sheet with little water and take a lemon sized balls and flatten it on the sheet and make a hole in the center so that vada cooks evenly.
5. Slowly drop the vada in the oil and cook till golden colour and serve hot.

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Purnalu
Ingredients:-
Udat dal 1 cup
Rice 3 tbsp
Toor dal 1 cup
Jaggery 1 1/2 cup
Elachi 2
Salt a pinch
Oil for deep frying

Method:-

1. Soak udat dal and rice overnight
2. Grind udat dal and rice to a fine paste and the consistency should be like a bajji batter.Add little salt to the batter
3. Pressure cook toor dal until soft.
4. Add jaggery (crushed) and cook till the mixture is completely dried.Add elachi.
5. Make small lemon sized balls and dip it in the batter.
6. Leave purnalu in the oil and fry till golden colour.And take it on a tissue.

Jaggery can be adjusted according to the taste.
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Pulihora/Tamarind Rice

Ingredients:-

Rice

Salt as per taste

Turmeric 1/2 tsp

Tamarind 1/3 cup (pulp)

For seasoning

Channa dal few

Udat dal few

Rai few

Red chilly 2

Curry leaves few

Peanuts roasted

Sesame seeds(nuvulu) 4 tbsp (roasted and powdered)

Green chillies (slited)

Salt as per taste

Ginger 1"

Asafoetida

Oil 5 tbsp

Method:-

1. Cook rice.Add turmeric powder and mix thoroughly.
2. Heat oil add all the seasoning except peanuts and sesame seeds.
3. Add tamarind pulp and salt and cook till the raw smell of tamarind disappears.
4. Lastly just before taking the pulp from the stove add sesame seeds powder and roasted peanuts.the pulp should be thick but flowing paste.
5. Pour this pulp on the rice how much you require and mix thoroughly.

This Tamarind pulp can be stored in the refrigerator for long and can be used when required.I usually store this for 10-15 days.
Have a great day.................................