Showing posts with label festive special. Show all posts
Showing posts with label festive special. Show all posts

17 Aug 2016

HEALTHY BADAAM BESAN LADDOO ( LOW FAT)

Hello everyone

Whenever I talk about besan laddoo the first name comes to my mind is my mom. She makes best besan k laddoo that we used to relish on ,from our childhood days. My mom makes them generally for holi feast and also when we grew up and went to hostel for further studies. It was just like ritual for us to carry mom made laddoos with us to our hostel . Even now whenever I visit my mom's place or whenever she comes to us, we get those heavenly laddoos without fail. My kids too love my mom's besan k laddoo. I grew up seeing her making scrumptious laddoos and now , when I am far away from her and my kids are demanding Nani k laddoo then I tried to recreate that magic in my way. But still I am missing my mom's made ones. Feeling nostalgic as well as emotional while writing about my emotions attached with these beauties.

Now come back to my laddoos. As generally too much ghee and sugar is used in making these laddoos, making it much more unhealthier for health conscious people. So I tried to cut on both and used only required amount of ghee and sugar along with another healthy addition of almond meal in it.
As my younger one too love these laddoos but hate any dryfruit in it that's why I used powdered almonds to increase the nutritional value of my sweet treat without any prominent change in its texture and flavour.
Stepwise recipe is given below, do try and share your experience with me.

HEALTHY BADAAM BESAN LADDOO ( LOW FAT)




Yield: 25-30  regular size laddoos
Time: 45 mins

Ingredients 

3 cups chickpeas/gram flour ( besan)
3/4 cup ghee
1 1/2 cup boora sugar ( tagaar)
1/2 cup almonds
1 tsp green cardamom powder

Method:

First of all grind almonds to fine powder and keep aside for later use.


Now heat 1/2 cup ghee in a deep heavy bottom wok and add gram flour. Roast it on medium to low flame , stirring constantly till it become nice golden brown and aromatic.



*** Always keep flame medium or low to avoid burning flour and keep stirring constantly.

Now sprinkle 3-4 tsp of water on it and again fry for 3-4 mins. It will give nice grainy texture to your laddoos. Add almond powder to it and again roast for 1-2 mins. Now transfer it to dry vessel to cool till it become easy to handle.



** After add almond powder, don't roast for long as it will kill all nutrients of almond.

** Must transfer flour in another vessel to avoid further roasting due to hot wok.


When it become warm then add boora sugar and cardamom powder. Mix with hand, smashing all the lumps if any. 



Now take handful of mixture and press firmly. Open your fist and if the mixture holds the shape then your mixture is ready to make laddoos. Otherwise add remaining ghee little by little till you get required texture. 



Now make desired size of laddoos and keep in a plate. Let it rest in open plate for 3-5 hrs then keep in dry airtight container. 



Garnish with sliced almonds and Your super delicious healthy laddoos are ready to gobble on. 

Prepare these sweet treats and please your kids and family members in a healthy and yummy way.



** If you don't want to add almond powder then simply skip it. Or can also add any dry fruit of your choice.



* Add sugar as per your taste. Must use boora sugar , it's easily available at grocery shops. As it adds texture to laddoos.



** You can also prepare these for travel snacks or for kids picnic snacks. 



*** This can be stored for 1-2 months without spoling.



These are so easy to prepare and super delicious to eat. Either prepare for any festival or as an offering to God , in every way it will earn you lots of praise . 



Hope you all will love this recipe and definitely give it a try. Please pour your valuable comments and suggestions here , they meant a lot.

Happy cooking....



9 Aug 2016

CHAM CHAM ( COTTAGE CHEESE SWEET)


Hello everyone

Today I am having another very delicious Bengali sweet recipe, which is loved by almost every sweet tooth. My son is a fussy eater yet he always love to relish on ras malai and once again he demanded me to make the same. But I made extra chhena to try my hands on Cham Cham too. He always want to have ras malai but after having Cham Cham , now he became fan of it too.Though the chhena ( cheese) made from carton milk is not as easy to roll into a nice dough but I managed to prepare these. That's why shapes are not as smooth as we get in market but taste wise, full marks given by my lil one.  Hope you all will love to try this delicious treat and come up with your feedback.
Step wise recipe is given below.



CHAM CHAM ( COTTAGE CHEESE SWEET)





Serves: 6-7 ( will make 12-14 regular size dumplings)
Time : 1 hr


Ingredients 

For chhena:

1 lt full cream milk ( cow's fresh milk is best)
2 tsp white vinegar/ lemon juice( as per need)

For syrup:

1 lt water
2 cup sugar
Few drops lemon yellow edible colour ( optional)


For garnishing :

1/4 cup dry desiccated coconut
Sliced pistachio and cherries


Method: 

For chhena:

Boil milk and switch off the flame. Add vinegar , 1 tsp at a time and mix well. Let it sit for some time and check whether it is cuddled or not. If needed add more vinegar and check. 

When all the milk is cuddled and whey is separated , strain it in a muslin cloth. Now wash it under tap water thoroughly to get rid of any vinegar in chhena. 


Now tie a knot on muslin cloth and hang it for 3-4 hrs or till all the extra water drips from it and it remain only moist not water laden. 



* don't cook milk after adding vinegar/ lemon juice, it hardens the chhena.

* But don't over do hanging your cheese as if the chhena become dry you can't make proper dough with it.

* don't add too much vinegar or lemon juice at a time, it will make your chhena hard. Add little at a time  and give some time to curdle and then use next batch.

* Always use only required amount of vinegar/ lemon juice. Vinegar gives much better result , so if possible go for vinegar instead of lemon juice.

Now your chenna is ready to be kneaded as dough. Knead this for 5-6 mins using your Palm to a smooth greasy non sticky dough ( it will release ghee when kneaded well).
 


* I used carton milk so my dough was not as much greasy and was sticky too. If you are using carton milk then don't expect a clean dough and knead for at least 8-10 mins. 

** While making it again this time , I used fresh cows milk available here in plastic gallon and is pretty better than carton milk to make chhena.

To get best chhena and sweet like store ones , I will advice to use cow's milk. 

** Here only packaged milk is available, so I used that. It's little tricky to use packaged milk for making chhena dough but not impossible. Just have some patience 😊, as I did 😜.



For cooking chhena dumplings in sugar syrup:

Boil water and sugar in a wide deep pan ( as chenna expands to double on cooking) till rolling hot. Add few drops of yellow color to the syrup. Now make small rolls of chhena dough as shown in pic and put in rolling hot sugar syrup . 



* Let it cook for a while to check it is not breaking during cooking. If it is breaking then knead your dough for more 2-3 mins and then make rolls.


If it's not breaking while cooking then add all the prepared rolls one by one carefully in boiling suger syrup.

 Cover with lid and Let it cook on high flame for 10 - 15 mins then lower the flame and let it cook for another 10 mins. Switch off the flame and let it cool down .



** If you feel your syrup is getting too thick, You can add some water to it while boiling.


* always add chenna rolls in rolling hot sugar syrup. If it's not boiling then rolls may scatter in syrup.

* To check whether your chhena rolls are cooked well, dip one cooked roll in normal water in a bowl. If the cooked chhena settles down then it is completely cooked otherwise cook for more minutes and check again for doneness.

* let the chhena cool completely in sugar syrup before removing it from pan to avoid breaking your chhena dumplings as they are too delicate to handle while hot.



Now remove all prepared chhena dumplings one by one on a plate. Now roll it in coconut powder and garnish with pistachio and cherry.



Let it chill in refrigerator before serving. You may also serve warm.






Your super delicious cham Cham is ready to please your guests and loving ones. 




Prepare these easy and tempting sweet dish and earn lots and lots of praise . 




I tried to short out all the do's and don't in my post but even if there is any thing left then please let me know in the comments box below so that I can clarify at my best. 

Hope you will love to try this super delicious sweet treat and don't forget to share your experience with me here, they meant a lot.

Happy cooking....

30 Mar 2016

EGGLESS RAS MALAI

Hello everyone

Today I am having a very delicious Bengali sweet recipe, which is loved by almost every sweet tooth. My son is a fussy eater yet he always love to relish on these yummy sweets. He always want to have it. So thought why not to give it a try at home also to satisfy him to core. Though the chhena ( cheese) made from carton milk is not as easy to roll into a nice dough but I managed to prepare these. That's why shapes are not as smooth as we get in market but taste wise, full marks given by my lil one. Today I am not having step wise pics as it was not pre planned and also was not sure for the awesome outcome , so didn't click pics. But will try to explain at my best and will add pics too , when prepare it again. Hope you all will love to try this delicious treat and come up with your feedback.
** Updating stepwise pics too as per my promise☺️☺️


EGGLESS RAS MALAI




Serves: 6-7 ( will make 15-16 regular size dumplings)
Time : 1 hr



Ingredients 

For chhena:

1 1/4 lt full cream milk ( cow's fresh milk is best)
2 tsp white vinegar/ lemon juice( as per need)

For syrup:

1 lt water
1 cup sugar


For base milk:

3/4 lt milk
3-4 tbsp sugar ( as per taste)
8-10 strands saffron ( kesar) , soaked in 1 tbsp warm milk
1 tbsp pistachio, finely sliced
1 tbsp rose water ( optional)

Method: 

For chhena:

Boil milk and switch off the flame. Add vinegar , 1 tsp at a time and mix well. Let it sit for some time and check whether it is cuddled or not. If needed add more vinegar and check. 

When all the milk is cuddled and whey is separated , strain it in a muslin cloth. Now wash it under tap water thoroughly to get rid of any vinegar in chhena. 


Now tie a knot on muslin cloth and hang it for 3-4 hrs or till all the extra water drips from it and it remain only moist not water laden. 



* don't cook milk after adding vinegar/ lemon juice, it hardens the chhena.

* But don't over do hanging your cheese as if the chhena become dry you can't make proper dough with it.

* don't add too much vinegar or lemon juice at a time, it will make your chhena hard. Add little at a time  and give some time to curdle and then use next batch.

* Always use only required amount of vinegar/ lemon juice. Vinegar gives much better result , so if possible go for vinegar instead of lemon juice.

Now your chenna is ready to be kneaded as dough. Knead this for 5-6 mins using your Palm to a smooth greasy non sticky dough ( it will release ghee when kneaded well).
 


* I used carton milk so my dough was not as much greasy and was sticky too. If you are using carton milk then don't expect a clean dough and knead for at least 8-10 mins. 

** While making it again this time , I used fresh cows milk available here in plastic gallon and is pretty better than carton milk to make chhena.

To get best chhena and ras malai like store ones , I will advice to use cow's milk. 

** Here only packaged milk is available, so I used that. It's little tricky to use packaged milk for making chhena dough but not impossible. Just have some patience 😊, as I did 😜.



For cooking chhena dumplings in sugar syrup:

Boil water and sugar in a wide deep pan ( as chenna expands to double on cooking) till rolling hot. Now make small flat discs of chhena dough little bigger than a coin and put in rolling hot sugar syrup . 

Let it cook for a while to check it is not breaking during cooking. If it is breaking then knead your dough for more 2-3 mins and then make discs. 



If it's not breaking while cooking then add all the prepared discs one by one carefully in boiling suger syrup.

 Cover with lid and Let it cook on high flame for 10 - 15 mins then lower the flame and let it cook for another 10 mins. Switch off the flame and let it cool down completely before dipping in prepared milk .

** If you feel your sugar syrup is getting much thicker while boiling then add some water.



* always add chenna discs in rolling hot sugar syrup. If it's not boiling then discs may scatter in syrup.

* To check whether your chhena discs are cooked well, dip one cooked disc in normal water in a bowl. If the cooked chhena settles down then it is completely cooked otherwise cook for more minutes and check again for doneness.

* let the chhena cool completely in sugar syrup before removing it from pan to avoid breaking your chhena dumplings as they are too delicate to handle while hot.




For milk condensing:

Meanwhile your chhena dumplings were preparing, boil 3/4 lt of milk till it remain 1/2 lt. Add sugar and 
Saffron to it and simmer for 4-5 minutes. 

Switch off the flame and let it cool completely. Add rose water and pistachio. 




Now add prepared chhena dumplings one by one to it by squeezing a little, don't press too hard otherwise dumplings will break. 



Let it chill in refrigerator before serving.




Your super delicious ras malai is ready to please your guests and loving ones. 



Prepare these easy and tempting sweet dish and earn lots and lots of praise . 



I tried to short out all the do's and don't in my post but even if there is any thing left then please let me know in the comments box below so that I can clarify at my best. 


Hope you will love to try this super delicious sweet treat and don't forget to share your experience with me here, they meant a lot.

Happy cooking....

23 Mar 2016

WATERMELON SWEET

Hello everyone 

Today is holi , a festival of colors and deliciousness. First of all wishing you all a very happy, colorful and delicious holi.
My daughter is too fond of sweets and somehow she saw a sweet in watermelon shape and color in some mall few days back. From that day she was insisting me to make the same for her and being a lazy mom I always tried to shift it to next day all the time. But now I thought to give it a try on this colorful festival to please my kids. Thought it was only experiment, so made very small batch but soon will make another big batch as it turned out more delicious and eye catching beyond my expectations.
It is perfect for this occasion,very easy to prepare with only few ingredients, little chewy and super tempting tummy and eye treat for everyone.
Step wise recipe is given below, hope you all fall in love with these cuties and definitely come up with your feedback😊😊.

WATERMELON SWEET



Yield: 20-24 pieces
Time: 25 mins ( excluding resting time)

Ingredients 

3/4 cup condensed milk, nearly 200ml
3/4 cup milk powder
1 tbsp ghee
2 tbsp sugar ( as per taste)
1/2 tsp cardamom powder 
2 tsp chopped cashews
Red and green gel food colors

Method:

First of all add ghee and condensed milk in a heavy bottom wok and let it boil. Now add milk powder and mix well stirring constantly to avoid forming lumps. Let it cook until it starts to come together and form a big lump. Now add sugar and cardamom powder, again cook till it again become nice thick mass.



 Take very small pinch of this dough in your hand and try to roll it, if it rolls without sticking then your dough is ready other wise cook few more mins and check again. Be careful while checking as it will be really hot to handle, so be quick in rolling and take very small dough to avoid hurting your palm.

Now let it cool until it become easy to handle. Divide the dough in three parts, two equal and one little smaller than these two. Now add green and red colors to equal part doughs and mix well to get desired color. Leave the third one as it is. Now add chopped cashews in red dough and again mix well.
Your doughs are ready to prepare your sweet. 



Divide all the three doughs in 5-6 equal portions. First of all take red dough portion and roll it to round ball, then take white dough and flatten it with your fingers to make small round poori shape. Now place red round ball on white one and cover it completely by rolling in between Palm, so that red ball is completely covered by white dough. Similarly do with green dough. Finally you will get a slightly big green ball in your hand.


In the same manner make all the watermelon balls and keep in a plate. Now keep these in refrigerator for 1 1/2 - 2 hrs then with help of a sharp knife , cut each balls in quarter.


 Your super tempting easy eye treat delight is ready to serve.


Do all cooking at minimum flame to avoid uneven colored and burnt , final outcome.
Keeping in refrigerator before cutting is an important step to get clean slices, so don't skip it.


This is very easy yet palatable delight to serve this festive season and will surely win your guests heart. 


My daughter is super happy to see these, even my fussy eater loved to hog on. 


So prepare these cuties and please do tell me how's it turned out for you, your valuable comments and suggestions are always invited, they meant a lot.

Happy cooking....

21 Mar 2016

GUJHIYA ( HOLI SPECIAL )

Hello everyone

Holi , the name itself is enough to describe its vibrant colorful celebrations  with lots and lots of delectable snacks . The main snacks which is usually made on this occasion in UP, Bihar and MP is gujhiya. Gujhiya is a very delicious sweet and crunchy snacks made with outer covering of flour and rich filling of dry fruits, nuts and milk solid. Gujhiya is made in different ways, some made with only mawa and dry fruits filling and finally dipped in suger syrup and some are made dry with sugar and dry fruits mawa filling. I am preparing the second one. Those who ate this delectable snacks start drooling over it on mere mention of holi as both compliments each other. And those who remained unaware of this delicious treat, should must try once, you will fall in love with these cuties. I remember, when we were kids , we used to dig in these cuties in such a speed that our parents had to hide some from us for guests. Feeling nostalgic, As holi is just few days away so today I am sharing this special snacks recipe , so that you can also try and make your colorful festival even more delicious and enjoyable.
Step wise recipe Is given below, do try and please share your experience with me.

GUJHIYA ( HOLI SPECIAL)



Yield: 50-60( depend on size)
Time: 2:30 - 3 hrs


Ingredients 

For filling:

1 cup semolina ( sooji)
1/3 cup dry fruits( almonds, pistachio, cashews), finely chopped
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup desiccated coconut
3/4 cup sugar ( or as per taste)
10-12 green cardamom
1/2 - 3/4 cup khoya or mawa

For mawa or khoya :

1 cup milk powder
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 butter or ghee


For dough:

3 cup all purpose flour
3-4 tbsp ghee ( as per need)
Chilled water for kneading dough



Method:

First of all take all purpose flour in a big bowl, add melted gee in it and keep mixing with your fingers. Now hold some dry flour ghee mixture in your palm and press hard , if on opening your fist the flour holds the shape then your flour mixture is ready to be kneaded otherwise add some more ghee and do the same test again . Don't add too much ghee at a time as excess ghee will also spoil your dish, so add only required quantity.
Now using cold water knead the dough, neither very hard nor soft, stiff dough which can be easily rolled.
Cover it and keep aside for later use.



Filling preparation:

Dry roast semolina till nice golden and keep aside to cool. Saute mawa till light pink ( milk solid) if you have ready made. Or prepare it by adding milk powder, milk and ghee in a wok and cook on low flame till everything is mixed well and acquire the consistency of mawa. 


Add this to semolina. Now add all chopped nuts , raisins and desiccated coconut to semolina. You can also lightly roast all dry fruits( I skipped). Grind sugar with cardamom and mix in semolina mixture. 


Now mix everything well with your fingers or spatula. Your super yum filling is ready to be filled in dough covering. This filling is so yummy that I can't resist my self from having few more spoons while tasting 😃.



Final preparation:

Take an orange size ball of dough and roll a big thick chapatti of it. Now using a cookie cutter or sharp edge steel glass/ bowl cut rounds from it. Now again roll these rounds in thin chapatti , nearly transparent. You can see the strips on board through it. Or you can also take very small balls and roll very thin individual chapatti instead of cutting and rolling.


Place this chapatti on gujhiya mold, run wet finger round its edges. Fill 2-3 tsp of filling on this chapatti in middle carefully , leaving the edges clean. Otherwise edges may open while frying and spoiling your oil.Now close the mold and press hard to seal the edges. Remove extra dough from mold and keep the prepared gujhiya on a dry tray.


 Similarly make all the gujhiyas and place on tray at some distance to avoid sticking to each other . Cover the on batch with clean cloth while making another to avoid drying.


Now heat sufficient oil in a wok, you can use ghee or vegetable shortening too. Add 4-5 gujhiya at a time, depend on size of your wok. Fry on medium heat then lower the flame and fry till they become nice golden from both sides. Drain on a kitchen towel or tissue paper. 


Let it cool completely then store in an airtight container to maintain its crunch for long. Your super delicious holi snacks is ready to please your guests.


Always add gujhiya in oil at medium heat and then lower the flame to avoid oil drunk snacks. And this ensure nice crunchy end product for sure. Never fry on high heat as you may end up with dark texture snacks which will become soft on cooling. 




Never try to put too much filling inside the dough as it may open in oil and will spoil whole batch along with oil. Be careful in lifting raw gujhiya as they are delicate . Keeping these simple precautions you can prepare perfect holi snacks and earn everyone's praise.
If you don't have gujhiya mold then don't worry, there are many alternatives, after rolling thin chapatti put filling in middle of it , run wet finger on its edges and fold in half circle and press edges together to seal, either make small folds like momos or press with fork to give nice impressions on edges and done. 


You can also use dough cutter to make nice shape of gujhiya.


You can use any dry fruits of your choice and as per availability. Quantity of semolina, mawa , dry fruits and sugar can be adjusted as per your taste and availability, as there is no any hard and fast rule for taste.

Everyone love to relish on these super yum snacks, specially kids.


Hope you all will love to make and enjoy these super scrumptious snacks this holi and please don't forget to share your experience with me. Your valuable comments and suggestions are precious to me.

Happy cooking....