Fruit Salad for Shivaratri and Some Memories.

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Wishing everyone a very happy "MAHASHIVARATRI"

When we were young, we used to wait for this day. There were lot of things used to happen on this day.

We were almost 15 kids in a colony. Our day started at 4 in the morning. Previous night we used to plan and keep our things ready. Morning at 4.30 we used to leave the house with few elders and start walking. After walking for 5 kilometers we used to reach the temple. It was Someshwara temple. Its built in 12th century, by Chalukyas. It is a birthplace of  river Shalmala where she flows underground. There is a big pond. We used to take bath in that pond. Take the darshan of Lord Shiva in that big temple. Eat some prasad and come back home.

That was a day of fasting.

Mothers used to keep the breakfast ready. That was Sabudana kichadi.

The whole day we used to play and listen to the devotional songs.

Again evening was the feast time.

There used to be Chana usuali, fruit salad, Lime juice. Fresh dates....

As I grew big, I used to keep fasting without water also.

Those were the days. Now, we do not have that much patience. Only remembering the good days.

This fruit salad brings lot of memories back.

Sharing with you the recipe.

Ingredients:

Musk Melon : 1 big bowl or half of the melon(depends on the size) -skinned and cubed 

Banana - 2 to 3, peeled and cubed

Grapes - 15 to 20(I skipped it because my both the kids have cough)

Jaggery(grated or crushed or powdered) - half the quantity of melon, again check the sweetness of the Muskmelon.

Nuts - 1 tbsp, roasted in 1/2 tsp ghee

Method:

Mix all the ingredients in a big serving bowl. 

Keep it aside for 15 to 20 minutes for jaggery to get mixed well with the fruits. 

Serve it like that or

Keep it in the fridge for some time before serving to have chilled fruit salad.

Sending it to

Akila's Event: Dish Name Starts with F

Keep Smiling,

Fresh Coconut and Jaggery Kheer(ಕೊಬ್ಬರಿ ಗಿಣ್ಣ)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Jaggery is the best substitute for sugar. Jaggery is rich in many nutrients. Jaggery should be eaten everyday in any form. Or add it in the rasam, sambhar, vegetable preparation. 

Here is the dessert which is very tasty and should be eaten hot or warm. Rice chapati is the best combination with it.

This is not very regular  sweet in my house because of the coconut used in it. Coconut is not good for me and my daughter. Even though I like it, I avoid making it.

Here is the recipe, 

Ingredients :

Fresh coconut - 1 cup

Jaggery (powdered or crushed) -  same as the coconut milk

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Hot water  - 1 cup

Salt - half a pinch

Nut meg powder - a pinch

Method:

• Grate the fresh coconut and Grind into a fine paste. 
• Add 1 cup of hot water and keep it aside for 10 minutes.
• Squeeze the coconut water and keep it ready.
• The coconut milk and the jaggery should be of the same quantity.
• Keep the coconut milk to boil
• Once it starts boiling, reduce the flame and add the jaggery. 
• Mix well, keep on stirring till you get the nice jaggery brown color. (It may take 15 minutes)
• Add the cardamom powder and Nutmeg powder. Mix well.
• Boil some more time(for few more minutes). 
• You can see the milk has become thick and nice aroma will start coming.
• Off the fire. Add half a pinch of salt. Mix well.
• Serve hot.
• Either drink it or have it with rice flour stuffed chapatis or puris.

Garnish with grated fresh coconut(optional)

Its watery dessert. You can enjoy the way you drink your tea :-)

I enjoy each sip with a spoon.

Love this hot Kheer during winter.

Sending this to two events;

Priya's(Priya (Yallapantula) Mitharwal) ongoing event  

Celebrate Sweets - Warm Desserts

(event started by  Me ) 

and

Akila's Event: Dish Name Starts with F

Chocolate Kheer

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

I always get inspired to cook something new dishes when there is an event announcement. It forces me to use my brain to try something new.

This Kheer took birth because of the event only. There are four  reasons to prepare this kheer. 

Kheer is my mom's favorite, and we make milk kheer often.

I wanted to use the chocolates which mom brought from Egypt few months back

I wanted to use the left over milk.

And I wanted to cook something for chocolate event.

No ingredients or method separately written. Its all in the down paragraph. Please read the full post to get the recipe.(I have typed the ingredients bold and in different color)

When I entered the kitchen, I was not sure how I am going to prepare this as I did not browse any blogs or websites. I had kept the chocolates out from the fridge. Mom brought a big box of chocolates from Egypt and all remaining in the box, as the chocolates are bitter. 

I just kept the milk(1/4 litre) to boil on one side. Another side, Ajjiri was making hot chapatis. I was thinking how to melt the chocolates???? Tinggg :-)  when I saw ajjiri finishes making chapatis and the tawa was hot.

I took little milk in another steel vessel and put the chocolates. Kept that vessel on the tawa. Viola!! The chocolates got mix with the milk and got nice choco milk. I added 2 tbsp of sugar to the milk and allowed it to boil on a low flame for 10 minutes. Now was the time for Cinnamon and Cardamom powder (1/2 tsp) to go into the milk.

Boiled it for 2 more minutes. Added the choco milk to it.  Stirred and again kept it to boil till the milk became 1/2 the quantity and it got the kheer consistency.It took another 10 minutes. But be careful at the end otherwise your milk will get burnt at the bottom.

Yummmmmmmmmmm!!! The chocolate kheer tasted heaven.

I could feel the chocolate flavor and the bitterness was totally missing.

I had the thick curdled cream melting in my mouth........

You want any more sin than this!!!!!!

I loved to have it hot, and my daughter has kept it in the fridge to have it chilled for tomorrow. :-)

Sending it to 

 Jyoti's (The Veggie Hut )

Lets Celebrate Sweets - Chocolate! An Event Announ...
which is started by Me.

Keep Smiling,

Chocolate Halwa(Food remake)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Trying to make some sweets adding chocolate. And suddenly remembered this halwa which I prepared few months back. It was Srivalli's recipe and I could not wait to make it. The photo was lying in my drafts.

Taking this chance to post it for the event.

Don't compare my click with Valli's. :-)

For the recipe visit HERE by  Srivalli. Thanks Valli, for this recipe.

This is a winner dessert for everyone at home.

Giving you the recipe in my words:

Ingredients:

Cocoa powder - 1/2 cup

Condensed Milk - 1 tin(400gm)

Sugar - 1/2 cup+2 tbsp more.

Butter - 50 gm

Nuts - as per your taste(chopped finely), you can skip this one.

I did a little variation, I did not roast the nuts.

I took 2 tbsp more sugar, as I knew the sugar I had was not so sweet.

I used Microwave.

Method:

Mix all the ingredients except the nuts, in a think bottomed M/W safe glass bowl.

Mix well.

Cook on HIGH in M/w for 1 minute.

Take it out, Mix again and Cook till you feel the nice aroma of the Cocoa powder turning into choco flavor.It may take another one or two minutes depending on your M/W settings.

Take care not to make it thick. Otherwise it will become hard.

Garnish with nuts and serve it with cold ice cream or enjoy it like that only

Sending it to 

 Jyoti's (The Veggie Hut )

Lets Celebrate Sweets - Chocolate! An Event Announ...
which is started by Me.

Keep Smiling,

Marie Biscuit Chocolate balls (Food Remake)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Chocolates..... Who does not like chocolate?? And home made chocolates??? Yes, we all love anything thats home made and as I say we are magicians in the kitchen to turn simple things into amazing mouthwatering and yummy dishes.

This time, its not me, I have followed the recipe from Sailu. She has made it very simple and tasty. I kept her recipe in my drafts since long time, but never got a chance to make it. But now, when I was checking the recipes, my daughter saw the photos in her blog and was behind me to make it NOW itself. Even I wanted to make something for 2 events. 

And here I am with it. But I did not allow my daughter to eat more as she is down with fever.

The original recipe is here.

Ingredients: (I used)

Marie biscuit - 12

Butter - 1 tbsp(I used 2 Amul cubes)

Cocoa powder - 1 1/2 tbsp

Condensed milk - 90g(A small tin)

Vanilla essence - 1 drop

I love this!!!

Method:

1. Break the biscuits in to pieces and powder them in a mixi. Sieve it to get the fine powder.
2. Beat the butter for a minute.
3. Add all the ingredients to the butter and mix well to make a soft dough.
4. Divide the dough into equal balls and give desired shape.
5. Decorate the choco balls with dessicated coconut or sugar granules or stuff it with some almonds. Or serve it just like that.

Sending these to two events:

One is Jyoti's (The Veggie Hut )

Lets Celebrate Sweets - Chocolate! An Event Announ...
which is started by Me.

another is Srivalli's (Spice your Life )

Announcing Kid's Delight - Chocolate Feast!

Hope all of you will prepare this and make your kids happy.

Keep Smiling,

Carrot and Dates Halwa.

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

WISHING EVERY ONE A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR.... MAY GOD BRING ONLY THE BEST THINGS IN THIS YEAR.

This is my first post in this year 2011.Two nights party and hectic schedule kept me away from blogging. Today I am here with a sweet to start my year so that, the whole year I will keep blogging on sweet things. I am following my fellow bloggers who started the year with halwa.  I am here with carrot and dates halwa which I prepared for dinner tonight. It was delicious. 

My DH got 2 boxes of mini(90g) condensed milk tins and kept for me as I love to use it in my desserts instead of sugar. 

I will be waiting for the chance to use these mini tins which I love to eat just like that if I do not have time to make sweet but desire to have a bite.

Here are the ingredients:
Carrot - 2 big, cleaned, grated
Condensed milk - 1 tin(90g)
Dates - 6(Soaked in 1/4 cup warm milk for 15 to 20 min)
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Sliced or grated almonds - 1 tbsp
Ghee - 1 tsp
Method:

• Take 2 tbsp of grated carrot and add it to the dates. 
• Grind this into paste.
• Transfer this into a M/W safe bowl.
• Add the remaining carrot. Mix well and cook on HIGH for 3 minutes to remove the raw smell of the carrot.
• Take the bowl out, add the condensed milk and cardamom powder. Cook on HIGH for 3 more minutes.
• Remove, add the sliced or grated almonds and ghee. Mix well and cook on HIGH till the mixture becomes thick(as it looks in the photo). It may take 3 to 5 minutes as per the M/W settings.
• Serve it hot with cold ice cream ball or refrigerate it before serving to enjoy the chilled halwa.

Sara's ongoing event 

Celebrate Sweets - Sugarless Event Announcement !!... 

which is started by me.

AND 

Srivalli's 

365 Days of Microwave Cooking!

Keep Smiling,

Maadli or Maaldi(Powdered Chapati and Jaggery)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

A very different sweet to make and the taste is very good. Basically it is a North Karnataka dish. I am not sure if it is prepared in some other states and with different name.

I do not know the origin of the name of this sweet. Sorry, I can not explain the word Maadli or Maaldi. 

It is usually prepared during marriages. It can be prepared and stored for a month and it will be handy for a family to share the sweet for the occasion. 

Do I need to say I love it.... :-))))))

There is actually a very traditional way to make it.(I have striked the traditional way because it takes long time and not possible in metro cities or abroad where you do not get flour mills for making flour.)

I will explain both the ways.

Traditional way:

Wheat - 1/2 kilo

Chana dal - 1/4 cup

Clean the wheat and chana dal. Mix it and take it to the flour mill. Make it little coarse flour(not very fine).

Modern way:

Wheat flour - 1/2 kilo

Gram flour - 1/8 cup

Knead the flour with very little water and 1 tsp of salt.. Keep it for some time.

Make thick and big chapatis and roast them with  out oil.

Let the chapatis be cool.

Put them in a big mortal and pestle( traditional and very big one, made with stone or iron). Crush the chapatis into coarse powder.

Modern way:

Cut the chapatis in to small pieces. 

Grind in a dry grinder till coarse powder.

Take

Crushed or powdered Jaggery - 1/2 kilo or according the the sweetness of jaggery

Cardamom powder - 1 tbsp

Nutmeg powder - 1 tsp

Grated dry coconut - 1/4 cup

Salt - 1 tsp

Daliya split - 1/2 cup

Mix all the above ingredients with powdered chapati.

Eat with lot of ghee and hot milk. 

You can it it dry too.

Store in a airtight jar for a month. This quantity is enough for 10 to 12 people.
Sending this sweet to two events.

Sara's ongoing event 

Celebrate Sweets - Sugarless Event Announcement !!... 

which is started by me.

and

Sujana's

"Celebrating Regional Cuisine"

Keep Smiling,

THIRATTUPAAL(Milk and Jaggery sweet) (Food remake)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Being and integrated country, India is famous for its unity in diversity.  Each state has its own culture. In each state, there are many mini India with rich culture of their own to follow. The blogging world has introduced such wonderful customs, food and recipes to each other and brought us together.

THIRATTUPAAL is one of the recipe which has a very sweet custom with it. Shanti of Shanthi Krishnakumar's cook book has shared this recipe in her blog. 

Read in her words:

This is a traditional Tamil brahmin sweet and is made on all important days. In Iyengar marriages, there is a lovely function. The bride is given a small cup of thirattupaal and will be asked to distribute it to all the people available. Elders tell her that if she distributes to everyone, she can run the family within the means effectively. It is a great deal to make very small balls, like a chickpea, out of it and to distribute it to everyone.

Isn't it sweet!
She has explained it very well with step step by photos. Visit her for detailed recipe.

Here is my post.

I used only half a litre of milk where as Shanti has used 3 litres of milk.

BUT THE TASTE WAS HEAVEN! I LOVED IT.

Ingredients :

My measurements:

Milk - half a litre

Jaggery - 1/4 cup or less, crushed or grated or powdered

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Ghee - 1 tsp

hey! hey! Wait, I can send this to the event "Celebrate sweets- Sugarless sweets"!!! Yes, Now,When I typed Jaggery, it flashed to me!!

 

Method

• Boil the milk in a thick bottomed vessel. 
• Keep a small plate in it to prevent the charring of the milk.
• Boil the milk till it becomes almost half and gets curdled.
• Remove the plate and add jaggery. 
• Mix well. Add cardamom powder. 
• Add ghee and keep on stirring it the jaggery get mixed well with the milk and starts leaving the sides.
• Remove from the heat and transfer it into the serving bowl.

Wow!

Tasted real heaven. Amazing.

I am going to make it again very soon!!

Thank you Shantiji for such a wonderful recipe.

Sending this to 

Sara's ongoing event 

Celebrate Sweets - Sugarless Event Announcement !!... 

which is started by me.

Keep Smiling,

Payesh(Rice Kheer)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

I always wait for a chance to prepare sweets and have it too.This week is Bengali sweets week for me.  I am already late in my entries to PJ's event. I do not want to loose this chance to try new sweet dishes from Bengal.

Here is one simple yet yummy sweet which I really loved to eat. My younger daughter loved it.

I browsed many sites for the recipe and I got the same recipe from all. There were 2 recipes. One with sugar and another one was with condensed milk.

I went for sugar one. 

Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice - 1/4 cup

Milk - 1/2 litre

Sugar - 1/4 cup or more

Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Saffron Strands - 2(soaked in 1 tbsp warm milk)

Bay leaf - 1

Chopped nuts - 2 tbsp(Soaked in warm milk)

(I chopped the nuts very fine, as my kids do not like if I put whole)

Method:

Soak the rice for 15 min to half an hour. Drain it and keep aside.

Keep the milk to boil. 

When it is boiled for few minutes, add the drained rice and bay leaf.

Cook the rice till it is boiled 3/4th on low flame (It may take around 25 to 30 minutes).

Keep on stirring in between.

Add the sugar and cardamom powder. Mix well. Add chopped nuts and keep on cooking till the rice is cooked.

Add the saffron strands and cook for a minute.

Allow it to cool.

Serve with some  more chopped nuts.

Serve chilled if you like.

Sending this to 

PJ's ongoing event  

Celebrate Sweets-Bengali Sweets which is started by Me.

Keep Smiling,

Karah Parshad

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Most of us go to the temple to pray to God to fulfill our wishes.Many times, we make a deal with God that if our wish comes true, we will offer him many things!!!  But, believe me,I go to temple only to have parshad. Yes, I am fascinated(!!!! is this the right word??) about the food that is distributed in the temples. Even though its simple and limited, the taste is divine.

The same thing I feel with baby's food. The food prepared for babies or small kids, is very tasty and if we make the same food for ourselves, it won't taste the same.

Today I tried this sweet or halwa which is distributed in Gurudwara. I always tasted this in Dubai Gurudwara. And thought of trying it my self. I started browsing the net and got  This.

The taste was good, but there were two things which went wrong:

One is I was late in adding the water and second is I felt the ghee is too much for the quantity.

 My parshad came out dark in color but the taste was good.

 The Karah Parshad what Sindhi's make is dry but in this water is added.

Lets go to the recipe:

 Ingredients:

Wheat flour - 1 cup

Ghee - 1 cup(But I feel 3/4th cup is enough)

Sugar - 1 cup

Water - 2 cup

Method:

1. Take a thick bottomed pan and roast the wheat flour till light brown.
2. Add ghee and sugar and mix well.
3. Keep on stirring or else the halwa will get burnt.
4. Stop cooking once the halwa starts leaving the sides.
5. You can add cardamom powder or nuts to these. But usually it is served plain like this in Gurudwara.
6. I am not sure how has this come out and want to apologize if there is any mistake in it.

Sending this to 

Pari's event Flavours Of Punjab an Event Announcement  

which is started by Nayna  of simply.food

Keep Smiling,

VARO-Indian Praline with Mixed Dry fruits for ICC

Tried and tasted by Nivedita 

Hi All,

Srivalli's this month's  Indian Cooking Challenge  is  Varo – Indian Praline with Mixed Dry fruits . It was very helpful for me as it eased my work for Diwali.  Alka suggested the proper sweet for Diwali. Varo is a Sindhi Special on the Diwali day. 

Usually we make with other ingredients also such as, roasted peanuts, Dalia, kurmura, til.... 

But this Varo is special and everyone waits to tastes it.

I am directly coming to the Challenge with photos. The recipe is from  Simply Sindhi Recipes:

Ingredients:

Mixed Nuts - 1 cup(I took almonds and cashew nuts only)

Sliced dry coconut - 2 tbsp

Sugar - 1 cup

Cardamom powder - 1tsp

Poppy seeds - 2 tbsp

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Vessels to make:

Thick bottomed kadai,

Big, wide steel plate or rolling board(greased)

Rolling pin

Method:

1. Cut or slice the nuts into small pieces.

2. Keep everything ready near the gas stove as you should be quick at the end.

3. Heat ghee and sugar and on low heat.

4. Wait till it melts and gets caramelized.  Be patient as it needs more time(almost 10 to 15 minutes)

5. Once it is light brown, add mixed nuts, poppy seeds and cardamom powder. 

6. Mix well to get the nuts properly coated.

7. Now, be quick and pour this on rolling board or steel and immediately roll it to make thick circle.

8. Here, if you are late, you are out of challenge!! Because the mixture gets hard very fast. 

9. Wait till the Varo is cool.

10. Break into pieces and store in a airtight jar.

This is for  Indian Cooking Challenge

Keep Smiling,