sweet shankarpali

sweet shankarpali

Happy diwali to all!
Here is my sweet recipe for Diwali this year.Very simple and easy recipe to make.

The ingredients required are,

1. ghee or clarified butter 1 measure
2. sugar 1 measure
3. milk 1 measure
4. maida or All purpose flour.(APP)(just enough to form a soft dough ..not too much. I lost the measurement of how much I exactly used this time.. but will check and post back later)
5. Oil to deep fry

Preperation:

• In a vessel  warm the milk .
• add sughar to dissolve
• add melted ghee or clarified butter
• Let the mixture cool for some time.Add maida(APP) to the mixture and keep on adding till a soft dough is formed.Note that too much of maida or excess maida is going to make the shankarpali hard and not very crisp.
• Let the dough of maida,sugar,milk and ghee rest for about 4 hours.

method :

• make medium sized  balls of the dough.Roll with the help of rolling pin. You will not need any maida for dusting,to roll out the roti ,out of the dough as it has lot of ghee in it.
• cut diamonds out of the roti rolled.
• deep fry in batches till light golden in colour.

Enjoy crisp shankarpali on Diwali

Store in air tight container for about a week on the shelf.

TACHANI BESAN LADDU / RAVA BESAN LADDU

HAPPY DIWALI !

my diwali 'Pharal' is ready. I have made shankarpali,badam halva,chivada,chakli,nippattu(almost got over) and today yet to make karanji(karchikayi/gilaganchi) and cornflakes chivada.

Will post a picture of the pharal items shortly.

Yesterday I made 'Tachani besan laddu' also called as Rava besan laddu.This is second time I am making this after a small trial batch last week. I prefer this laddu to besan ladu ever since I was small . I made it on my own after my mother told me over phone exactly how to make it. And she was very happy when I said that it really turned out very well.

This is my first post of diwali pharal(many more yet to post ) and also for the contest ''sweet celebrations '' by Aparna.. http://mydiversekitchen.blogspot.com/2008/10/celebrating-one-year-of-posts-at-my.html

recipe:

for syrup: 2 cups sugar( u can add 1:1 ratio also... i prefer less sweet)

water just enough to cover the sugar.

few strands of saffron

other ingredients:

1 1/2 cup bombay rava(fine semolina)

3/4 cup besan (ratio is 2 rava: 1 besan)

ghee 4 tbsp + 7 tbsp

few cashews halved

few raisins

pinch of cardamom powder.

Process:

roast rava in 4 tbsp ghee on a medium flame stirring continuously to get nice golden colour and keep aside in another bowl.

roast besan in 7 tbsp ghee till it becomes golden and add the dry fruits and pour in the same bowl of rava.

prepare sugar syrup by adding just enough water to cover the sugar and stir occasionally.add saffron. to check the consistency take some water in a small katori(steel bowl) drop the syrup and if it does not mix into water and forms like jelly... it is ready.(or make one string consistency syrup .What i mentioned is little kachcha syrup))

pour the syrup on the rava besan mixture mix well and let cool.

keep on checking... may be after 2 hours.. you will find that the mixture is just right to roll into balls. add cardamom powder and mix well and make the laddus of the size u like.

Enjoy the delicious 'TACHANI BESAN LADDU'

kesari bhat

kesari bhat ( sweet rice )










kesari means 'orange' colour in Kannada and bhat is the Marathi word for rice.In northern parts of karnatak kesari bhat means a sweet rice unlike the rava kesari or the sooji halva.This sweet is considered one of the PAKWANNAS. I am presenting this on the occasion of Durgashtami one of the holy days of NAVARATRI FESTIVAL.
ingredients:
1/2 cup Basmati rice( I used Royal brand here)
3/4 cup water to cook the rice.
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water to make the sugar syrup
1 tsp pure ghee
4 cloves cloves
few cashews and raisins
1 cardamom
1/4 tsp saffron strands.
Method:
thoroughly wash the rice and cook the rice.Let it cool and separate the grains with a fork.
heat a vessel and add ghee.add cloves,cashews,raisins and cardamom and fry to get golden colour.
add 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar and the saffron strands. Let sugar dissolve in the water and cook for another minute or so.
add the cooked and cooled rice and gently mix well.
cover and steam for few minutes taking care not to scorch the bottom.
aromatic Kesari bhat is ready to enjoy!
In this recipe even though I have used cardamoms the fragrance of saffrons overpowered the cardamom. I did not bother to get the perfect orange colour by adding artificial food colours. i am very much happy with the natural colour of the saffron.

Besan Ladu (ಬೇಸನ್ ಉಂಡಿ)

BESAN LAADU (ಬೇಸನ್ ಉಂಡಿ)

this is the most traditional sweet and a must to do during most of the festivals ,marriages and other celebrations.Actually I like this and Motichoor ladu among the ladus. So I asked my mother to give the recipe for this. she always cooks ... but by what she calls by ANDAZ. i.e eyeballing everything and does not measure. For me it was tough to learn like that.So I just followed the procedure she told and after doing ladus over several times . .got the procedure right.Hence noted down the recipe to make it easier next time.Here is the recipe I like to share with you.
Ingredients:

1. 2 1/2 cups Besan ( chickpea flour)
2. 2 cups powdered sugar
3. bombay sooji(semolina) 1 tbsp
4. Pure ghee 250 ml..or 15 to 16 tbsp
5. cardamom powder 1 tsp
6. 1 tbsp dry grapes (raisins)
7. 1 tbsp cashews cut into pieces( or any dry fruits of choice)

• in a kadhai or any nonstick saucepan add the besan and half of the ghee
• set on medium flame and keep stirring continuously
• add ghee little by little and the besan starts becoming runny.
• when it almost turns light golden in colour add the semolina and the dry fruits and raisins and keep aside from the flame.
• let it cool 4 1/2 to 5 hrs. when it has thickened add the powdered sugar and the cardamom powder. mix well and knead in any lumps.
• make small balls of equal size, in the palms of your hands .Makes about 25-30 ladus.

ENJOY! :-D

7 cup sweets,seven cup sweet

seven cup sweets

ingredients

1. 3 cups sugar
2. 1 cup grated coconut(fresh coconut)
3. 1 cup pure ghee/dalda
4. 1 cup milk
5. 1 cup besan.

Method

• in a kadhai mix all the ingredients together and heat on a medium flame stirring continuously.
• when the mixture starts to leave the bottom of the kadhai spread on a greased thali ( apply some ghee on your hand ,gently touch the mixture... if doesnot stick then ready).when cools cut into diamond shape.

I prepared this sweet for my daughter's birthday party.(the same in pictures was done for my daughter Prachi's  2 nd Birthday party)I thought of something traditional and homemade to share with .This is an alternate to mysorepak as it almost tastes like it.

coconut burfi/kobbari mithai

kobbarimithai/coconut burfi

1. 1 cup grated coconut(fresh coconut)


2. 1 cup sugar


3. 1/4 cup milk


4. 1 tsp cardamom powder


5. 1 tbsp of coarsely ground dry fruits to garnish

method:

•  mix coconut and milk in a blender and grind to form a smooth paste


• heat a kadhai and pour in the coconut paste and sugar and keep stirring on medium heat till the mixtures starts to thicken and forms like a ball


• grease a thali and spread the ground dry fruits and over this pour the cooked mixture and carefully spread it


• let cool and cut into shapes you like.