Kaaya Varathathu/Banana Chips

Banana chips is an integral part of any sadhya/feast. Instead of the usual round chips, when it comes for festive spreads, the quartered chips are mostly preferred. This kind is not thin, will slightly thick too. All these years, being in Kerala, I have not bothered to make this at home. I get fresh chips at shops which are just a stone's throw away. Now that I am away from my native, I thought I should make some at home. Its not that I don't get it here. Husband has already got the quartered chips and the Sharakkaravaratti for the Onam Sadhya.  Frying the chips is not a big task. The variety of banana is important to get the right taste and crispness. Then Nendran variety, which is very popular in Kerala, is the preferred one. Unlike the other variety of bananas, the matured and not ripe ones has a slight pinkish color.

You need

• Raw banana - 4 nos
• Salt - 2 tspn
• Turmeric - a pinch
• Water - 1/2 cup
• Oil to deep fry.

Method
Remove the skin. The chips makers at Kerala removes the skin in such a way that its not scrapped but the whole peel comes out. They score along the thick line on the banana. With the pointed part of the knife, slightly lift the skin. That way, the entire skin will be removed and will leave no marks on the banana too. That calls for some practice. I tried that way and was partially successful. Don't discard the removed skin. Preserve it and make a tasty side dish. I made that the next day. Shall post that recipe later. Now on to the business making chips.

Take half cup of water in a bowl. Add turmeric and salt. Stir well so that the salt is dissolved. Heat oil in a kadai. Take the prepared banana and slice it directly to the hot oil. If you are not comfortable doing it directly over the hot oil, slice it on to a plate and drop them into the oil. After a minute of frying, sprinkle some salt water on to the frying chips. There will be a rise in the sizzling sound. It will not last for few seconds. Oil doesn't spill also. No need to get scared for this. This will help to give some nice color to the chips and a salty taste too. 

When the chips turn golden yellow and is crisp, drain on to a strainer. Repeat with the remaining bananas. Store it in air tight container. Enjoy fresh, home made chips.

Wishing all my readers a very happy ONAM.

Bhatura ~ Deep Fried Indian Bread

For the Indian Bread series of the Blogging Marathon, today I decided to post a deep fried bread. Soft and fluffy bhatura served with chole is very hard to resist. As a kid, I liked to order bhatura for its big size. Bhatura is usually made with maida or all purpose flour. I have used half and half of maida and whole wheat flour/atta. Once its deep fried, though maida or atta, doesn't make much difference

You need

• Wheat flour/Atta - 1 cup
• All purpose flour/Maida - 1 cup
• Yogurt/curd - 1/2 cup
• Cooking soda - 1/2 tspn
• Salt - 1/2 tspn
• Water to make the dough
• Oil to deep fry

Method

Sift atta, maida, cooking soda and salt. Add yogurt to the flour mix. Knead to a soft dough by adding water.  Apply oil on the surface of the dough and cover with a damp cloth and leave it for an hour. 

Divide the dough into equal sized balls. Roll out the dough into circles. The size depends on the size of the kadai in which it will be deep fried later. I don't roll out into big circles, since that will call for more oil and I don't want too much of left over oil after deep frying.

Enjoy hot baturas with Punjabi Chole.

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me

Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

Suruttai Poli for Indian Cooking Challenge

The challenge for the month of February was Suruttai Poli,  the recipe given by Nithya's mom. Srivalli also gave the recipe link at Pavithra's who has blogged the same sometime back. The recipe is a simple one. The only challenge is to fry the pooris soft and roll them before they turn crisp. I made with 1 cup of flour. So it was easy. When it is to made in large quantities, it will be better if you have another person to tag along. So while one rolls the pooris, the other can fry and fold it. Else it will be very time consuming. I went through Pavithra's recipe and noted the tips given by her. It was very helpful. Also I went by her measurements for the filling, which was enough for the polis I made. Even if you have some left over filling powder, you can simply eat it as it is or add some warm ghee over and roll it into ladoos.

I like to finish the whole work in one batch. So I prepared the  dough and left it to rest for half an hour. Meanwhile, did the filling. And I could finish the whole process in less than an hour.

  

You need

 

For filling -

• Roasted gram/Pottukadalai/ - 1/2 cup
• Sugar - 1/2 cup
• Cashews,broken into bits - 1 tblspn
• Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
• Fresh grated coconut - 1 tblspn
• Ghee - 2 tsp

 

For Papad/Poori

• Maida (all purpose flour) - 1 cup
• Salt - a pinch
• Oil - for frying
• Water to prepare the dough
• Extra maida for dusting

Method for filling:

 

Powder the roasted gram and sugar together. Heat 2 teaspoons of ghee in a pan. Roast the cashews bits and coconut till it starts to brown. Remove from fire. Add the powdered mix and stir to mix well. Transfer to a bowl. Filling is ready.

 

 

 

Making pooris and the final assembly
Take all purpose flour and salt in a bowl. Prepare the dough by adding water in parts. The consistency is that of the chapathi dough. Leave it aside for half an hour.

 

Divide the dough into 12 balls. Roll each ball into thin pooris. Make sure it is not thick, else will puff up like a normal poori. These pooris should not puff and small bubble like puffs here and there is fine.

 

Roll all the pooris and leave it on a paper to dry.

Heat oil in a kadai. When the oil is hot, adjust the heat to medium. Start with the pooris rolled first. Gently slide the poori into the hot oil. don't press it using the spatula, since it will puff up. Also ladle oil over the poori from the sides. Don't flip the poori. Frying each poori should take only few seconds. Drain and leave it on a plate. Quickly spread a heaped tablespoon of the filling on to the poori and start rolling from one end.

The poori will be very soft at this stage. By the time you roll, you can feel it getting crisp. On cooling, it will turn crisp.  The polis were very tasty and it got over with in a day.

 

 

VazhaiPoo Vadai ~ Banana Blossom fritters

Banana blossom/Vazhai poo is usually made into a pitlai or usli at home. Very rarely, I make vadai with these. I mainly cook the vazhai poo for its nutrients and I feel deep frying will not yield the same result.  But at times, you tend to throw all the nutrition and health benefits out of the window and decide to go for a deep fry indulgence.  This vadai is more popular in TamilNadu.

Yields - 12 nos

You need

• 1 medium sized banana flower - picked and finely chopped
• Chana dal / Kadalaparuppu - 1 cup
• Tuvar dal - 1 tblspn
• Red chill- 2 nos
• Saunf /Fennel seeds- 1 tspn
• Green chilli - 3 nos
• Curry leaves - few sprigs
• Turmeric - a pinch
• Salt to taste
• Oil to deep fry

 Method

 

Pick the florets, clean and chop them finely. Soak it in water mixed with buttermilk till you use it. Soak chana dal and tuvar dal for an hour. Drain.

Steam cook the chopped flower with a pinch of turmeric and salt for 10 minutes. You can microwave it for 5 minutes. Squeeze to remove extra water if any.

Grind the dal coarsely. Dry roast red chilli and saunf and powder it.   

Take a bowl. Add the ground dal, powdered red chilli and saunf, steamed banana flower, chopped green chilli, curry leaves and salt. You may not need to add water to prepare the batter. The moisture from dal and the flower will be  enough. Heat oil in a kadai. When hot, pinch lemon sized batter and pat into disc on your palm or greased plastic sheet or banana leaf. Slide into the hot oil and fry till it is brown and crisp.

 

 

 

Uzhundu Vadai/Medhu Vadai

This is in continuation with the last post of Pongal nivedyam. As I told, for a change, this year I made Uzhundu (Urad dal) Vadai. Unlike the paruppu vadai, this is a bit tricky. You need to get the batter consistency right to get crisp , yet soft vadais. The dal should be soaked well and grind to a smooth, thick batter. While grinding the dal, you should not be tempted to add water liberally. Add just enough water to get the blades of the mixer grinder move. Next hurdle is to get the shape right. You can use a oiled plastic sheet or banana leaf to pat the vadai. I am comfortable shaping on my hand. So the vadais are not big in shape. I find making it on a sheet/leaf is more cumbersome and I don't get the shape also well. So I do it on my hands which makes the process fast.

You need

• Whole urad, skinned - 1 cup
• Green chilli - 3 nos
• Peppercorn - 1/2 tspn, crushed
• Curry leaves, chopped - 1 tspn
• Salt to taste
• Oil to deep fry

Method

Wash and soak the urad dal in enough water for 2 hours or so. The dal should be soaked well. Grind it in mixer grinder or wet grinder to a smooth batter, adding minimal water. Add the rest of ingredients to the batter and mix well.

Heat oil in  a kadai. When the oil is hot, shape the batter into round discs with  hole in the centre. Gently slide it into hot oil. Fry till it is golden brown.

While shaping vada, moist your fingers by dipping in a bowl of water. Then take the batter in your hands. This will ensure the batter not to stick on your palm while shaping and sliding it into oil. Take care you don't add water to the batter in the process

Variations: Chopped onions or grated carrot or finely chopped keerai/spinach can be added.

Kaala Jamun ~ Diwali Sweet

With instant gulab jamun mixes available in the market, making them at home is a breeze. And that is not

the case with kaala jamun. This is the third sweet which I made for Diwali.  I followed Viji akka's recipe (Vcuisine-Private blog) with slight modifications. It came out well. I was relieved when I checked if the jamuns were soft after their soaking time. And needless to say, this was my first try. The measurements of ingredients and frying plays an important role in getting soft jamuns.

  

  

You need

• Khova/Mawa - 1 cup (Used store bought)
• Crumbled paneer - 1 cup (used fresh home made paneer)
• Maida/All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
• Baking soda - 1/4 tspn
• Water/Milk if required. (I didnot need any)
• Oil to fry

For filling

 

Cashew/Raisins/sugar candies

 

 

 

For syrup

 

• Sugar - 2 cups
• Water -2 cups
• Milk - 1 tbspn
• Cardamom powder - 1 tspn

Method

 

 

Mix maida and baking soda. If your khoya is hard, grate it. Add crumbled paneer to khoya. Add all purpose flour and knead to a soft dough. If needed add milk. I used fresh paneer and the moisture from the paneer was enough and didn't not add any milk.  Be cautious in case you add milk. Do add in small quantities since the fat from khova and moisture from the paneer will be enough. Else you will end up with a sticky dough and will have to add some more of one of the ingredients and it may not yield soft jamuns.

Rest the dough for half an hour.

  

Sugar Syrup

 

Take sugar and water in a vessel. Bring it to a boil and add milk. Remove the scum that floats on the top. Let the syrup boil till turns sticky to touch. Add cardamom powder and remove from fire. The syrup preparation is similar to what we make for Gulab jamun.

 

 

Frying the jamun

 

Knead the dough and make gooseberry sized balls of the dough. Keep cashew/raisin/sugar candy in the
centre and roll it again with out any cracks.

  

Heat oil till it is moderately hot.  Add 4 balls at a time. After few seconds, lower the heat to the lowest and fry till it is dark brown in color. Note that you don't fry it  for longer time after it gets that  dark color else you

will end up with hard crust jamuns.

 

Drain the jamuns and put it in the sugar syrup. Fry all the remaining jamuns. In case if you feel the oil has become too hot, switch off the stove for few minutes and then start again.

  

Jamuns should soak in the syrup for 7 hours. After its soaked well, remove them from the syrup and transfer to the serving tray. Leave the unused jamuns in the syrup.  Garnish the jamuns with grated coconut or chopped nuts.

 

Enjoy delicious, soft jamuns with nutty centres.

  

Mawa filled Gujiya/Karanji ~ Diwali Sweet

Gujiya/Karanji is in my to-do list for a long time. So Diwali was the perfect time to give it a try.  Preparing the filling isn't any difficult. I wasn't sure if I the outer cover will come out well. It should neither turn soggy or very hard. I told my MIL, if it doesn't turn out well, I will convert this into Bolis. After frying the first batch and I switched off the stove and waited for it cool down. I asked my MIL to do the taste testing and she gave a thumbs up.

Since sugarless khova is easily available here unlike my hometown, I decided not to prepare the khova at home since its very time consuming and  I had other sweers and savories also to be made. I got khova from a near by dairy farm and it was very fresh.

You need

For the outer cover

• All purpose flour /Maida - 1 cup
• Ghee/Butter - 2 tblspn
• Powdered sugar - 2 tspn
• Warm water to prepare the dough
• Oil to deep fry

For Filling

• Mawa/Khova - 1 cup
• Dry Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
• Powdered sugar - 3/4 cup
• Cashews/raisins - 1/2 cup
• Cardamom - 1 tspn
• Semolina - 1 tblspn

 Method

Add ghee and sugar to maida. Mix in well so that the ghee/butter coats the flour well. Slowly add warm water to get a stiff dough. Cover with a damp cloth and leave it for at least an hour.

Take mawa in a kadai. Roast it over low heat for a minute or two. I used store bought dry coconut. If you are using fresh grated coconut, roast it separately till it starts browning.  Add in grated coconut, sugar, cashew, raisins, semolina and cardamom. Mix well and continue cooking till it comes together. It might appear a bit sticky but on cooling it will be fine. While filling, if you find it too sticky, just add a teaspoon of maida and mix.

Take a marble size dough and roll into a thin poori. I rolled into a big chappathi and cut out using a lid of steel dabba. I did not  need any flour for dusting while rolling. Not using any flour also helps in the texture of the fried gujiya, to keep it soft.

Keep a spoon of the filling on one half and fold the other half on top of the filling.

Seal the edges well. Take care that it is sealed well so that it doesn't open up on frying.

To seal, you can use a paste of maida and water. I didn't require any.I pressed it well and I didn't have any problem of opening up. After shaping the gujiyas, if you are not immediately frying them, cover them with a damp cloth. Deep fry 3 or 4 at a time in a moderately hot oil. Drain them when it is golden in color.

The covering was very crisp and soft and indeed has layers too. I wanted to try applying rice flour and ghee paste on multiple pooris and then again roll it out to get layers. But in spite of not doing that, I got perfect Gujiyas. To make it more rich, you can just dip them in sugar syrup. I chose not to do that.

You can practically stuff this with any filling of your choice. I had made the dough using 1 1/2 cups of maida. The filling was not enough. So for the remaining dough I made a filling of chutney dal/pottukadalai powder , sugar, dry coconut and cashews. I just mixed everything and filled it. That also turned out very delicious.

Thattai - Savory crisp for Diwali

Thattai is a favorite at home. But its not often made since its time consuming. And when it comes to festivals, we are ready to go that extra mile and I decided thattai has to be made for this Diwali. Since my MIL is with me, she helped in patting the discs, which made it easier for me.  And when it comes to Diwali menu, the constant item is Ribbon Pakoda. And I usually go for 2 savouries and 3 sweets.  While at home town, the flour mill was nearby. All I had to do was to prepare the rice for pounding and my maid will get it done from the flour mill. Here I am to locate a flour mill. And I doubt if I will get rice flour with out traces of wheat flour in it since its the wheat that is pounded more here. So I did not want to take any risk and decided to make rice flour at home. And in order not to tax my mixer grinder more, I made thattai and pakoda on alternate days. Thattai should work fine with store bought flour too.

You need

• Rice flour - 4 cups
• Urad flour (Roasted and powdered) - 4 tblspn
• Butter/Ghee- 2 tblspn
• Chana dal, soaked - 2 tblspn
• White sesame seeds - 1 tspn
• Curry leaves few (I did not add)
• Hing
• Salt - 2 tpsn
• Red chilli powder - 2 1/2 tspn
• Water to make the dough
• Oil to deep fry

Method

Soak the chana dal for an hour or so. It will make it soft and crunchy on deep frying.

Mix all the ingredients in a wide bowl. See to that the butter/ghee added is mixed thoroughly with the flour. This will ensure crisp thattais. Add water little by little to make a soft, non sticky dough.

Take marble sized dough. Pat it into thin discs on a greased plastic sheet or cotton cloth. Don't make it too thin and it will break while you peel it off.  While patting, see to that the edges are not thicker than the inside.

Heat oil in a kadai. When it is moderately hot, slide the discs and deep fry till golden color. Drain, cool and store in air tight container.

While you make the discs, keep the dough covered with a damp cloth so as not to leave it dry.



With the above measurements, you will get between 45-50 thattais.
 
 
 

 

Kara Sev for Indian Cooking Challenge

Srivalli challenged us this month to prepare kara sev, as part of the monthly Indian Cooking Challenge event. I missed the previous three challenges in a row. So this time, I prepared as soon as it was announced instead of  usual practise of making it nearing the post date. Kara sev was in my to-do list for a long time. I very much wanted to try it making with the ladle. I understand that there is a special ladle for that. I tried making with the perforated ladle. The holes are big enough in that. I found it very hard to press down the dough. It was falling perfect, about one inch in length. But it was time consuming. I guess it requires lot of practise. So eventually I went back to the murukku press and it was easy to press.

You need

 

• Gram Flour (Besan)- 2 1/2 cups
• Rice flour - 1 cup
• Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
• Black pepper coarsely powdered - 1 tsp
• Ghee - 2 1/2 tsp
• Cooking soda  - a pinch
• Salt to taste.
• Oil to deep fry.

 

 

 

Method:

 

1.Mix gram flour and rice flour well. Make a well in the centre.

 

2.Add chilli powder,pepper powder, salt,ghee and cooking soda.

 

3.Mix thoroughly with hands so that the flour mix resembles bread crumbs.  Divide the dough into 4 portions.

 

4.Take one portion of this mixture, sprinkle water, knead like Puri dough.

 

5.Heat oil in a kadai, Press dough using the sev maker. Drain when the sizzling sound round the sev subsides.

 

6. When it is cool, break them into one inch long strings and store in airtight container.

 

 

Pyaz Ki Kachori ~For Indian Cooking Challenge

Indian cooking challengers were given Kachori as part of the Jan challenge. I have made kachoris before using urad dal filling. So decided to go for the easier onion filling. This time I made the outer covering using only maida. It sure resulted in more flaky crust. Medhaa of Cook with love has given the tried and tested recipe. I halved the orginal recipe and got 6 kachoris. Thanks Srivalli and Medhaa for coming up with this challenge.

For the Dough



You need
All purpose flour / Maida - 1 cup

 Ghee - 2 tblspn
Salt - 1/4 tsp

Water for kneading



Method

Mix the flour and salt, Add the ghee and mix till you get a bread crumbs texture. Slowly add water and make a soft dough. Knead well for about 8 minutes. Cover and keep aside to rest for atleast half hour.



Special Tips / Notes for the dough:


Keep the dough covered at all times, if not it will dry up and not puff up when frying. If the dough is made right wet cloth can be used if not just a towel.

The dough could spring back for many reasons:

Dough is too cold (If wet cloth is used)

Dough is not soft enough.

Not kneaded for enough time.

Oil is less.

Not rested enough.
 
 



For the onion filling



Finely chopped onions - 1  cup

Nigella/Kalonj seeds - 1/2 tspn
fennel seeds/saunf - 1 tpsn

Green chilly - 1, finely chopped

Besan - 1 tblspn

Coriander powder - 1 tspn

Chilly powder - 1/2 tspn

Kitchen king masala -1/2 tspn
Chopped coriander
Oil - 1 tblspn

salt to taste


To make the onion filling


Heat the oil in a pan. Add the nigella seeds, fennel seeds,  green chillies and onions and sauté till the onions turn light brown in colour.

Add the gram flour, coriander powder, chilli powder, garam masala and salt and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the chopped coriander and mix well.  Allow the mixture to cool completely.

Divide into 6 equal portions and keep aside.



To Make Kachori's

Make a small ball from the dough. Flatten the ball using your fingers into 2inch diameter circle, having the center thick and sides little thin.

Place about 1.5 tsp of the filling in the center of the rolled dough.

Cover the filling with the dough by slowly stretching it over the filling. Seal the ends and remove excess dough. Repeat with all the balls and keep aside for 5 -7 mins.



Then using your palm, flatten the balls by lightly pressing it, as using the rolling pin will make the filling come out.  Keep aside covered. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Meanwhile heat some oil for deep frying. The oil should not become smoking hot. Test to see if the temperature is right by dropping a tiny ball of dough and see if it is rising slowly to the top.

Drop the kachoris in batches of 3-4 gently into the oil. It should rise up slowly. If you don't want to use lot of oil, use just enough for two or three at a time and fry them. After it rises up (about 2 minutes), turn it over.
Cook for about 6 to 10 minutes till the side down gets a golden brown color. Turn and cook the other side for another 6 minutes or till its golden brown in color.
Making onion filling is quite easy and gets down in less time.

Remove when done, cool and store in airtight container.
 
 
 

 

Dal Kachori

Kachori is a popular snack in the North India similar to what is bajji/vada to South India. This deep fried snack is a round ball which has a flaky covering made of maida flour with a spicy, dry filling of urad dal/moong dal. There are many variations to the fillings. Fillings can be made according to one's choice and taste. I first tasted kachori at Janpath market during first visit to Delhi. We were feeling hungry and I told my sister that I need to eat first before I can shop any more. It was then my brother-in-law suggested Kachoris and a vendor was just near us in his bicyle. Kachoris was served in the leaf bowls along with a potato gravy. First bite, I just loved it. Seeing the size of the kachori, I thought I can have only one but finished with 3. It was absolutely tasty. After that, my husband used to get this from a North Indian bakery near his office.  Once I decided to give it a try. I used half and half of maida and wheat flour instead of using only maida. Inspite of using atta, the outer cover was flaky.  I got decent kachoris if not the best. 

For outer cover

All pupose flour/Maida - 1 cup
Wheat flour/Atta - 1 cup
Ghee - 2 tblspn ( Don't melt the ghee)
Cold water - 3 tblspn
Salt
Ajwain - 1 tpsn

Mix flour,ghee, salt and ajwain till the flour resembles bread crumbs. Slowly add water to make a dry dough. Don't knead it. Just bring together the flour and make a dough. This is essential to get the flaky crust. Cover and keep it aside for 30 minutes.

Filling

Urad dal - 4 tblspn
Cumin - 1 tspn
Fennel seeds - 1 tblspn
Green chilly - 2 nos
Red chilli powder -1/2 tspn
Coriander + mint - a handful
amchur powder - 1/2 tspn

Oil for deep frying


Method

Soak urad dal in hot water for half an hour. Else you can soak it in cold water for 2 hours.

Drain the urad dal and grind it coarsely with out adding water.

Roast cumin, fennel seeds for a minute. Roast green chilly , coriander and mint in a teaspoon of oil till the leaves wilt.

Grind the roasted ingredients along with salt, red chilli powder with out water. Mix the ground masala to the urad dal paste. Heat a tablespoon of oil and saute the filling. Don't make it dry, it should be moist.

Preparing the kachori

Pinch off a lime sized dough. Press the dough with your fingers to the shape of a poori. Let theedge of the poori be thin compared to the centre.  Place a tablespoon of the filling. Gather the edges and shape into kachoris. Heat oil in a kadai till hot. Lower the heat to medium and deep fry the kachoris till golden brown. Serve with mint chutney or sweet tamarind chutney.

This is off to WYF:Tea Time Snacks hosted by EC.

Chegodilu /Ring Murkku for ICC

Srivalli challenged the bloggers with the chegodilu/ ring murkku as part of the Indian Cooking Challenge. I have tasted the ring murkku from TamilNadu. I haven't tried this nor do I have a recipe for the same. So when Srivalli announced the challenge, I was happy to try a new savory. My dad loves to help me in the kitchen expecially when making sweets/savories. Appa knows the paakam of sweeets very well. But he cannot make any dish on his own, that is another thing. His judgement will always be right with respect to paakam. Also he will help in deep frying the savories. This time, he helped me in making the rings.

Srivalli gave two recipes to choose from. I opted to try the first one. The preparation of the dough was new to me in a savory recipe. I have never cooked the flour for a savory dish. The mrukku came out very crisp and crunchy. I used 1 1/2 cups of fresh rice flour. 

Ingredients Needed:


Rice Flour - 1 cup

Water - 1 cup

Split Yellow Moong dal /  Pasiparuppu - 1 1/2 - 2 tblsp

Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Sesame Seeds - 1 tsp

Chili powder - 1 tsp

Ghee or oil - 1 tblsp

Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

Method to prepare:



Making the dough:



Soak moong dal in water for half hour to 1 hour.



In a deep bottom pan, boil water, then add salt, ghee and moong dal. Bring it to boil, simmer and slowly add the rice flour. Using a ladle, mix the flour with water by stirring it well. When the flour is mixed and done, turn off the heat immediately. Cover with lid and keep aside for 10 to 15 mins.


Once the dough is cool, add chilli powder, sesame seeds, cumin seeds and mix well. Knead till you get a smooth dough. Adjust the salt and spice depending on your preference. When using fresh flour, you will have to knead more to break the lumps. Though I kneaded well, I could find some after deep frying. But it didnot affect the texture since those lumps were very small and got fried well.



Frying the Chokodi:

Heat a pan with oil, enough to fry 3 -4 at time, if you conscious of not using too much oil. Simmer once it gets hot. The temperature should not be smoking hot.


Grease your fingers with oil and pinch out a small lemon size ball and roll between your palms to form a thick rope. Bring the two ends to together and press to form a rope. Ensure the ends are firmed pressed as not to give out during frying.


Continue with the rest of the dough until you are done with the entire batch. You can either cover it with a plate or a cloth to prevent the dough from getting dried.

Gulab Jamuns ~ For October ICC

Sweet and juicy gulab jamun is the chosen recipe for October ICC. In this age of instant mix available to make them, Srivalli chose to do it from scratch. So we were required to make the Khova at home. The earlier posting date for ICC was last day of the month. After the over dose of Diwali sweets, I wanted to stay away from sweets for the rest of the month ( i.e only around 10 days). For sweet tooth like us, thats a long period. At first I had thoughts of giving this month's challenge a miss. On the other hand, I wanted to make it too. So I casually mentioned to my husband about the month's challenge and my thoughts of not doing it. He suggested making in small quanity and that was the gentle push needed and I went ahead with the preparation. Infact the day after I made, Srivalli mailed the challengers informing the change in posting date ie its going to be the 15th of every month. So that gave extra two weeks for us. But I had already made.

Out of the three recipe, I decided to follow the Yum Blog recipe. I used half litre of milk to prepare the khova and ended up with 3 tablespoons of it. I adjusted the quantity of ingredients accordingly and got 12 jamuns. Needless to say, we both finished it the same day. I am giving the measurements I used. So those of you, who are craving for jamuns and want to try in a small batch, here is the recipe for you.

You need

Khova - 3 tblspn

Maida - 1 tblspn

A tiny pich of soda

Milk - 1 tblspn (you may require )

Oil  - 1 cup to deep fry



For the sugar syrup

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Water - 1/2 cup

Saffron+cardamom syrup - 1 tspn

Rose essence - few drops


Method.

Preparing Khova is easy but time consuming. You have to continue boiling the milk till the solid residue is left behind. If you plan to make khova, make sure you have plenty of time to spare. While making khova for jamuns, stop the cooking when the khova is moist and not too dry.

Mix khova , maida and soda. Don't knead it too much. If the mix is dry, add few drops of milk and bring the dough together. Divide the dough into12 portions and roll them into balls. Don't press hard while rolling. Else the inner portion will not get cooked properly and later doesn't soak in the syrup well.

Heat oil in a kadai. Don't heat it to smoking point. When the oil is moderately hot, carefully drop the balls into the oil and fry the jamuns till golden brown in medium heat.

Meanwhile prepare the syrup by heating sugar and water. The syrup should be slightly sticky to touch. If you have saffron add it along with powdered cardamom and few drops of rose essence. I have the saffron cardamom syrup with me. So I used that. Adding saffron is purely optional.

Drop the fried jamuns in the warm syrup. You can add the drained jamuns directly to the syrup. After one hour, the jamuns must have soaked in the syrup and is ready to serve. You can chill and serve or serve warm with a side of vanilla ice cream.