Rawa Laddoo

Last week I was craving for these sooji laddoos, which were my fav fav laddoos during my childhood. My mom used to make these very often and in a large quantity but they would vanish within 2-3 days . And YES!! I used to gobble most of them :) and it had been soo many years since I last ate this laddoo and thus decided to make these on my own for the 'first time'. I know...I know....the shape of my laddoos are not perfectly round as it should be :( COZ ...After removing it from the heat, I was busy talking on the phone and by the time I went back to make the balls it had hardened a bit. But who cares about the shape , when the taste was awesome and as along as my sweet tooth was happy and satisfied :D

RAWA LADDOO

Ingredients:
1 cup of Sooji/semolina,
3/4th cup of sugar,
1/2 cup of dessicated coconut,
2-3 tbsp of pure ghee,
1/4 sup of warm milk,
a pinch of cardamom powder,
1/4th cup of cashew nuts and1/4th cup of raisins.
Method:
Heat the ghee in a non stick kadai/wok on low heat. Add the cashewnuts and raisind and roast till they change their colour to dry brown. Now remove them from the ghee and keep aside. In the same ghee add the sooji and roast till it changes its colour and and a nice aroma fill your kitchen. Now add the sugar and dessicated coconut to the sooji/ semolina and roast for few more minutes. Remove from heat and add a pinch of cardamom powder and the milk -just enough to moisten it a little bit. Add the roasted cashew nuts and raisins to this and form small balls and enjoy these yummy laddoos.

Notes:
Don't add all the milk at once, add little by little just add enough to moisten it.
One can use sugar syrup instead of milk to increase shelf life because if adding milk these should be consumed within 2-3 days.

Double Orange Delight

This is really a delight for those who love yogurt. Easy to make and tastes yummy. Kids would love to have this anytime as their dessert :) speacially my kid who loves yogurt in any form :D And this Yogurt and orange delight is his favourite.
DOUBLE ORANGE DELIGHT

Ingredients:3-4 tbsp of non-fat Yogurt,
1 tbsp of Orange juice,1 large Orange,
50 grams of cocoa powder and
1 tbsp of butter
Method:
Mix Yogurt and Orange juice. cut the orange onto segments and and arrange on the yogurt mixture. Prepare Chocolate sauce with Cocoa powder , little water and butter. Pour the Chocolate sauce over the mixture. Serve chilled.

I want to thank my blog friends for the award they showered on me even in my absence..that is really soo sweet of them all...so, first comes an award from Prasu of FoodLovers. Thanks a lot Prasu for this lovely award :)
And hurray !!! Radhika Vasanth of Food for 7 stages of life has given me this award which she made exclusively for me - for being her 100th follower :D Thanks a ton Radhika.

Ripe Plantain dessert

I have many fond memories of this dessert. I learned this from from one of my SIL (bhabi) who is from Kannur, Kerala, India. She cooks many yummy and authentic Kerala recipes and this is one of those recipe that I learned in the initial stage of my cooking. Would love to learn more recipes from her when I visit India.
I know....I know...this is not how its supposed to be named...but to tell the truth, I forgot its original name in Malayalam....So all my mallu friends out here can help me with the name. This is very easy and quick to cook and tastes very good. But, this is definitely not for those who are calorie conscious :-)

PLANTAIN DESSERT

Ingredients :
2 ripe plantains(nendra pazham),
1/2 cup of sugar,
1 egg-beaten,
1 tbsp of ghee and
a pinch of cardamom powder.

Method:
Chop the plantains into small cubes, add a pinch of cardamom powder to the beaten eggs, mix well and keep aside. In a non-stick pan, heat the ghee on low heat and add the plantains to it and saute till it turns golden brown in colour. Add the sugar to the pan and mix well to coat the plantain completely with it, after 2-3 minutes add the beaten egg to this and a mix well. Cook till the egg is well blended and cooked with the plantains. keep stirring in between, to prevent the dessert from burning. Garnish with cashews and serve hot immediately.

Chana daal halwa/ Daal ka meetha

As kids, we used to eagerly wait for Eid..because that was when my mom always made this yummy halwa. It was one of my favourite desserts and it still is. Though its a bit time consuming and some hard work (stirring continuously) but believe me the outcome is very delicious and yummy. My mom used to use Khoya/ mawa for this dessert..but as I don't get it here, I always substitute it with condensed milk . So, here goes the recipes for this yummy dessert..

CHANA DAAL HALWA

Ingredients:
3 cups of Chana dal,

2 cups of milk,
1-1 1/2 cups of sugar,
250 grams of condensed milk,
few saffron strands,
1pinch of cardamom powder,
1 tbsp of chopped cashews,
1 tbsp of raisins,
1 tbsp of slivered and
2 tbsp of ghee.

Method:
Wash the chana daal and cook boil them and cook till they become soft or for quick method, pressure cook the daal till soft. After it cools, grind the chana daal with the milk to a smooth paste in a mixer. In a non-stick pot, put the grinded dal, add the sugar and and cook on a low flame stirring continuously for around 30-40 minutes or until the halwa has become almost thick in consistency.Add the condensed milk, cardamom powder and saffron strands . In another pan, heat the ghee and add the chopped dry fruits and saute for few minutes and add this to the halwa. Let cool and garnish with more almonds and saffron strands.


This halwa is on its way to JFI- Saffron guest hosted by DK of Chef In You and to MLLA- 18 guest hosted by Srivalli the event started by Susan.

Phirni

Phirni is an Indian sweet, made of rice, milk and sugar as main ingredients. Some people soak the rice and grind it to fine paste, and some use rice flour to make it. I learned making Phirni from my in-laws. My S-I-L used to make this very often, whenever we had guests or for parties. It was her favorite dessert And even I just fell in love with this sweet. Simple yet irresistible. So, here is the recipe.

PHIRNI

Ingredients:
1 liter milk,
4-5 tbsp of Basmati rice,
1 cup sugar,
a pinch of cardamom powder,
2 tbsp of ghee/ clarified butter,
1 tbsp of slivered almonds,
1 tbsp of golden raisins,
1 tbsp of slivered cashews,
1/4 tsp of rose water/rose essence and
few strands of saffron.

Method:
Grind the rice into a coarse powder (like fine sooji/semolina). Boil the milk in a heavy bottomed pan with a pinch of cardamom powder and sugar. When it starts boiling, add the powdered rice slowly, stirring the milk with the other hand, to avoid any lumps. Keep stirring continuously for 20 - 25 minutes or until the rice is cooked and the milk has thickened. Remove it away from the heat and keep aside.
In another small pan, heat the ghee and fry the dry fruits-Almonds, cashew nuts and raisins till light brown and add to the dessert. Also add the rose essence and Saffron strands. Mix well and let it cool at room temperature. Chill it in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours. Garnish with few strands of saffron. Best served when chilled.

I am sending this to Sanghi's Fall In Love (FIL) event. I am also re posting and sending the below recipes to the same event.

Instant Rasmalai


China grass pudding

Shrikhand with apricots

SHRIKHAND WITH APRICOTS

Ingredients:
2 cups hung Yogurt,
3/4 cup sugar,
5-6 golden Apricots and
4-5 sliced pistachios

Method:
Slice the golden apricots. Cook them in a pan with 1 cup water and 1 tbsp sugar on low heat for 15-20 minutes. In another bowl, mix the hung yogurt with the remaining sugar and mix well. Put this yogurt in a muslin cloth and squeeze it.
Put the shrikhand in stemmed glasses/ serving bowls . Drain the stewed apricots and put them on top of the shrikhand. Garnish with the pistachios and serve chilled.

Source : Sanjeevkapoor.com

China grass pudding

CHINA GRASS PUDDING

Ingredients:
8 grams china grass/dry agar agar,
2 cups milk,
1/2 cup sugar,
1/2 tsp vanilla extract,
warm water to soak the china grass,
4-5 drops of green food color (optional),
Raisins and
saffron for garnishing.

Method:
Soak the china grass in warm water. After 1/2 an hour transfer to a pan add bring the china grass and water to a boil. Reduce the heat and keep stirring till the china grass dissolves completely.
In another pan , add milk, sugar and vanilla extract and bring to boil. When it starts boiling, reduce the heat and add the melted china grass to the milk and immediately remove from heat and pour into a flat dish or into individual moulds.
Garnish with raisins and saffron. Let it set at room temperature and then chill it. Cut into diamond shapes and serve. If using a mould, invert the pudding and serve.