Growing up I learnt several traditional dishes from my mom and also inherited the love and passion for cooking from her. She recently shared this laddoo recipe with me. Unlike the regular besan laddoos, these laddoos are made of wheat flour, semolina, nachni/ ragi flour and oats in addition to the besan flour which makes them healthy and nutritious. Since this is my mom's recipe, 'Mother's Day' was a perfect occasion to try these out. The laddoos turned out to be very delicious!
Makes @ 30 laddoos Ingredients -
2 cups chickpea flour/ besan
1 cup semolina/ sooji/ rava
1 cup nachni/ ragi flour
1 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup oats
2 cups melted clarified butter/ ghee
1/4 cup warm milk
3 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tbsps chopped nuts (optional)
2 tsps cardamom powder
3 tbsps slivered almonds and pistachios for garnish
Method -
1. Roast the chickpea flour, wheat flour, ragi/ nachni flour and semolina separately on low flame by stirring them continuously. Also roast the oats for few minutes
2. Add melted ghee in a kadhai, add all the flours and mix well.
3. Cook this mixture until the color changes and then add oats and cook for sometime.
4. Turn off the stove and add the warm milk in it and stir it continuously till the mixture becomes dry.
5. Once the mixture turns warm, add the sugar, chopped roasted nuts and cardamom powder and mix well.
6. Now form ladoos and garnish with slivered nuts by dipping one side of the ladoo in melted ghee and then into the nuts.
Note - Lightly roast all the nuts on low flame in a pan. It is easier to chop and sliver the nuts while they are still warm. While forming the laddoos, if the mixture is dry, add some melted ghee and warm milk as needed and then form the laddoos.
This mini mandaline from India made slivering almonds and pistachios a super easy task.
My cutiepie gifted me a plant that she potted with the help of her teacher at the Daycare with her tiny hands. Also helped daddy make a delicious 'scrambled egg and toast' breakfast for mommy :-)
Last weekend, D was craving some traditional coconut based amti ('Amti' is any dal preparation that can be served over rice) and requested that I prepare one of his childhood favorite 'Solun Harbaryachi Masala Amti' translated as 'Sprouted Lentil Spiced Curry'. I inherited some of these authentic family recipes from my MIL and always make one of these curries when D craves this food that he grew up eating. Although I did not have much liking for such coconut based masala amtis, over the last few years I have developed a taste for them and now I actually enjoy the flavors of such foods.
Basically, this is a coastal maharashtrian dish with sprouted and deskinned black chana (small chickpeas with brownish black skin) and hence requires some planning. The generous amount of cashewnuts and spicy coconut masala makes this spicy and tangy amti very delicious. This is typically served on white rice with a side of a vegetable and some fried papadums or fritters which are a perfect complement and make it a truly complete meal. However, it also goes very well with bhakris, so I made some rice flour bhakris to go along with the amti. A spoonful or two of desi ghee over this spicy amti makes this meal a delectable palate pleaser!
Ingredients -
2 cups kala chana
1 medium onion chopped
1 tbsp broken cashewnut pieces
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala/ goda masala
2 tsp tamarind paste/ to taste
1 tbsp grated jaggery/ to taste
¼ tsp asafetida/ hing
½ tsp mustard seeds
3-4 tbsp coconut masala paste (masalyache khobre)
1 tbsp oil
Salt to taste
Method -
1. Soak the kala chana in warm water overnight. Drain the water and transfer the chana to a clean muslin cloth. Cover them with the cloth loosely and keep the cloth moist. The chana will sprout within a day or two. Now soak the sprouted chana in warm water and de- skin them.
2. Cook the deskinned chana with chopped onions, cashewnuts and some water in the pressure cooker.
3. Heat oil in a pan/ kadai. Add some mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds splutter, add the hing.
4. Now add the cooked kala channa, red chilli powder, garam/ goda masala and cook for sometime.
5. Add salt, tamarind paste and jaggery and mix together.
6. Add the coconut masala to this and let the sal simmer for 5-10 min.
7. Serve with rice, bhakri or chapatti.
This is an authentic Maharashtrian spice mixture. It adds a nice unique flavor to curries, dals and rice preparations and any Mahasrashtrian dish is incomplete without the addition of this masala. Luckily for me, my mom prepares this for me. I bring back a big batch to last me for atleast a year every time I go to India. It has pretty much all the regular spices and dried coconut which are slowly roasted in a pan and then pounded into a fine powder. The secret lies in the proportions and I'm sure every family has their own proportions and procedure of making this masala which gives a slightly different taste.
Ingredients -
1/2 kg coriander seeds
1/4 Kg dried coconut (@ 1/2 dried coconut)
2 tsp cloves
1 tsp asafoetida/ Hing
1/2 cup turmeric powder
1/2 cup red chilli powder (as per ur choice)
1 handful tej Patta/ tamal patra
1 cup white sesame seeds
1 handful dagad phool
1 tsp kesar
1/2 cup cumin seeds
4 tsp shahi jeera
6 -7 finger length of cinammom
3 tsp pepper black
1 tsp methi/ fenugreek seeds
Method -
1. Roast all the above ingredients in a kadai on low flame with very little oil.
2. Let the mixture become luke warm. Then grind the spices in a blender into a fine powder.
This is a traditional coastal Maharashtrian masala paste which is used in many authentic veg and non- veg dishes. This masala can be stored in the freezer for more than a month.
Ingredients -
1 cup thinly sliced onions
1 cup dried grated coconut
6 -8 peppercorns
6-8 cloves
6-8 cinnamon pieces
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1-2 tbsps oil
Method -
1. In a pan, heat 1 tbsp oil. Add the peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon and coriander seeds and roast it on very low heat for sometime till you starting getting a nice aroma of these spices.
2. Add poppy seeds and roast for sometime. Then add sliced onions and fry till the onions turn golden brown.
3. Add the dried coconut and roast till the coconut turns golden brown.
4. Cool the mixture and grind it into a smooth paste with very little water in your blender.
5. This masala can be stored in the freezer for more than a month .
My ultimate baking goal for 2009 was to bake a variety of delicious cakes for Swara's monthly birthdays and also gradually master the art of cake decorating. While I had successfully completed Wilton's course 1, I wanted to practice cake decorating using different tips before I registered for Course 2. I also wanted to spend some time trying out some traditional coffee cake recipes. While I was hunting for a cake recipe to bake for Swara's 8 th month B'day, I came across this lemon bundt cake recipe in my 'The Cook's Encyclopedia of Baking' book. This is a ring shaped coffee cake that’s baked in the traditional bundt pan. I was having a hard time finding a reasonably priced bundt pan. But after looking around for sometime, I finally found the best looking bundt pan at Marshalls and at less than $10, I think it was quite a bargain. Anyways, back to the cake.
This is certainly a laborious cake to make especially if you don’t have a kitchen aid and are relying on a hand blender. The cake requires beating the egg whites till they form hard peaks and is very time consuming. But it was worth the effort, as the cake turned out to be very delicious and moist. The lemon zest and lemon glaze gave it a very refreshing taste. This is a perfect cake to have with a cup of coffee.
Serves 12
Ingredients -
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
11/2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature, separated
2 tsps grated lemon rind
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup plain yogurt
2 cups flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
FOR THE GLAZE -
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 tbsps fresh lemon juice
3-4 tbsps plain yogurt
Method -
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 12 cup bundt or tube pan and dust with flour.
2. With an electric mixer, cream the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Add the lemon rind, juice and yogurt and stir to blend.
4. Sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside. In another bowl, beat the egg whites and salt until they hold stiff peaks.
5. Fold the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, the fold in a dollop of egg whites. Fold in the remaining whites until blended.
6. Pour into the pan and bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 mins. Let stand 15 mins, then unmold and transfer to a cooling rack.
7. For the glaze, sift the confectionary sugar into a bowl. Stir in the lemon juice and just enough yogurt to make a smooth glaze.
8. Set the cooled cake on a rack over a sheet of wax paper or a baking sheet. Pour over the glaze and let it drip down the sides. Allow the glaze to set before serving.
It is almost summer and fresh mangoes have started to show up in the grocery stores. While I was browsing through my baking books, I came across this mango bread in the 'The Cook's Encyclopedia of Baking' book. In the past, I have baked several cakes from this book and they have all turned out delicious so I confidently went ahead and gave it a try. This is a simple quick bread where in some chopped mangoes, shredded coconut and raisins are gently folded in the batter. Some shredded coconut is also sprinkled on the top once the batter is transferred into the loaf pan. The bread turned out to be very moist and delicious. It was not too sweet and had a nice flavor of the mangoes and toasted coconut. A couple of slices of this bread would be perfect for a quick breakfast on weekdays
Ingredients -
2 cups flour
2 tsps baking soda
2 tsps ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup margarine, at room temperature
3 eggs, at room temperature
11/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups chopped ripe mangoes (about 2 mangoes)
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup raisins
Method -
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line the bottom and sides of 2- 9 X 5 inch loaf pans with wax paper and grease. I used 1- loaf pan and 2 mini bundt pans.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
3. With an electric mixer, cream the margarine until soft.
4. Beat in the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the oil.
5. Fold the dry ingredients into the creamed ingredients in 3 batches.
6. Fold in the mangoes, 1/2 cup of the coconut and the raisins.
7. Spoon the batter into the pans.
8. Sprinkle over the remaining coconut. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 50-60 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
Though I have harbored the desire to visit Africa for a long time, I know very little about this country, the people and especially the food. The only thing 'African' I own is a pair of handcrafted wooden soldiers from Dar es Salaam which were a gift from a friend's MIL. Few months back I bought this cookbook from a used book library at work, named 'YOU REALLY HAVEN'T BEEN THERE UNTIL YOU'VE EATEN THE FOOD' authored by Keith Famie. He is a television celebrity who has hosted a television series 'Keith Famie's Adventures' for the Food Network.
In this book, the author takes the readers on an adventure around the globe, exploring different cuisines and sampling the food and the culture from extraordinary places. I thought this book would probably make me more knowledgeable about various cuisines but it was neatly tucked away on one of our book shelves and I completely forgot about it. It is only when I read about the AWED- Africa event that I thought of checking out this book. Coincidently, Africa is the first place the author has covered in this book. It was interesting to see some similarities to Indian cuisine and a lot of Indian influence in some of the dishes. Maharagwe Ya Nasi, Sucuma Wiki (Spinach curry), Ugali (Polenta), Bollas (pumkin fritters), fried pawpaw (fried papayas) are some of the vegetarian dishes in this book.
Few days back, I made 'Maharagwe Ya Nasi' which is Swahili for beans in coconut sauce. This is a popular Kenyan dish. The use of coconut milk in this dish, reminds me of some bean curries from South India. I made some changes to the proportions in the recipe which are noted below. The dish turned out pretty good.
Ingredients -
1 pound kidney beans, soaked overnight in water
8 cups water
1 tbsp olive oil
2 diced white onions
3 diced plum tomatoes
2 minced garlic cloves
1 cup coconut milk
salt and black pepper to taste
Method -
1. Drain the beans. In a medium stockpot, place the beans and water. Simmer over medium heatfor 1 to 11/2 hrs or until tender. Drain and return the beans to the stockpot
2. Heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Sweat the onions, tomatoes and garlic until tender.
3. Add the onions to the beans.
4. Add the coconut milk and bring to a simmer over low heat. Cook for 5 minutes.
5. Season with salt and pepper. Serve warm.
Changes I made -
Use the standard 14 oz can of kidney beans. Rinse the beans with water and let all the water drain. In a pan, saute 2 cloves of minced garlic and 1 chopped medium onion in a tbsp of olive oil until soft. Then add 1 chopped tomato and cook for sometime. Now add the beans and 1/2 cup coconut milk. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for 5-10 mins.
When you think of a traditional Maharashtrian wedding, the picture of a priest chanting the mangalashtak 'Shubh Mangal Sawadhan' immediately comes to mind. A Maharashtrian wedding is a pretty elaborate affair with several customs and traditions starting with the engagement ceremony called 'Sakharpuda' and followed by Kelvan, Haldi, Seemant Puja, Gowrihar Puja, Mangalashtakas, Kanyadan, Saptapadi, Lakshmi Poojan and Griha Pravesh.
At the end of the wedding ceremonies, is the traditional lunch which is attended by all the family members, relatives and friends of the bride and the groom. Traditionally the food is served on freshly washed banana leaves and the guests are seated on wooden planks called 'paat'. The meal is satvik vegetarian without the use of onion and garlic. The food is laid out in a particular order on the banana leaf and each item has a predefined place. A typical maharashtrian wedding thali includes koshimbeer (raita), chutney, varan bhaat toop limbo (dal, rice, ghee and lemon), masale bhaat, panchamrut, aluche phatphate (colocassia leaves), bharli vaangi (stuffed baby eggplants) or batatyachi bhaji (potato bhaji), jalebi or shrikhand- puri or basundi for dessert followed by the traditional 'vidyache pan' for mukhwas.
Of all the dishes above the one that I havent tried making at home is 'Panchamrut'. Panchamrut indicates the presence of 5 main ingredients in a preparation. This Panchamrut should not be mistaken for the Panchamrut (ghee, honey, sugar, yoghurt aand milk) we make during poojas that is used as teerth. The Panchamrut that I made can either be served as an accompaniment or a main course. It is a sweet, sour and spicy dish with peanuts, sesame seeds and fresh coconut being used as the main ingredients. Few years back, I inherited this Maharashtrian cookbook 'Ruchira' from my MIL. Luckly it did have a simple panchamrut recipe which I followed with some changes. This dish turned out to be lip smacking good. I served this with varan bhaat toop limbu to make a complete Maharashtrian meal.
Ingredients -
1/2 cup peanuts
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup grated fresh coconut
3-4 green chillies chopped
2 tsp Maharashtrian goda masala/ kala masala
1/4 tsp asafoetida/ hing
1/4 cup tamarind
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2-3 tbsp jaggery
1 tbsp oil
salt to taste
Method -
1. Dry roast the sesame seeds and peanuts separately and crush them preferably in a mortar pestle into a coarse powder
2. Soak the tamarind into some hot water to make tamarind juice.
3. In a pan, heat some oil. Add mustard seeds
4. When the mustard seeds splutter, add chopped green chillies and asafoetida or hing
5. Add sesame seed powder, crushed peanuts, coconut and mix together.
6. Then add salt, tamarind juice, jaggery and mix well.
7. Let this cook for sometime. Serve this with varan- bhaat, toop limbo
Apart from different Indian regional cuisines, if there's one cuisine I would like to explore, it is the Middle Eastern cuisine. With the similarity in spices and lentils, this food resonates well with the Indian palate and is among the favorites with the Desi crowd in the US.
Living here in MI, which has the largest Middle Eastern population in the US, we have access to several good Middle Eastern restaurants and grocery stores. So, naturally we frequent these restaurants and indulge ourselves in the mouth-watering falafels, shawarma sandwiches and of course the creamy hummus with warm bread straight out of the hearth oven. Hence I never attempted making any of these dishes at home. When I read about Nupur's Blog Bites #2 event, I knew what I was going to make. I found some of my favorite Middle Eastern delicacies on her blog itself and didn't have to look any further. Using her recipe as my inspiration, I decided to create a middle eastern feast in my own kitchen by preparing falafel, hummus, fatoosh salad and pita sandwiches for lunch last Saturday.
Falalels are small deep fried patties made from spiced ground chick peas or fava beans or a combination of both. This is a very popular street food in the Middle East and also in several other parts of the world where Middle Eastern cuisine has gained popularity. I also read somewhere, that falafels are so popular that McDonald restuarants in Egypt serve 'McFalafel' sandwiches which is equivalent to the Big Mac in the US.
I made quite a few changes to the original recipe. In addition to the chick peas, I also used fava beans. I substituted the flour with some bread crumbs and also added some garam masala to add an Indian touch to the dish. I'm not a big parsley fan, so I restricted the use of this herb only for garnishing and used fresh cilantro in its place. The falafels turned out exactly the same as served in any restaurant, in terms of the taste, appearence as well as texture. The deep-fried patties were crispy and crunchy on the outside and soft and delicious on the inside.
I bought a special falafel-making tool from a nearby middle eastern kitchenware store and it was a breeze to make uniformly shaped falafels with this tool. Basically, you hold the tool in one hand and press the spring button down with your thumb. Then with the aid of a small spatula, pile the falafel mixture into the tool, smoothen it out, and then gently release the button to drop the evenly sized patties into the hot oil. I really enjoyed making these with this tool. It was really nice of D to shoot a small video and thanks to Swara for the background music :-). I think the video will give you a better idea on how to use the tool.
Makes around 25- 30 falafels Ingredients -
1 cup Chick peas/ Garbanzo beans
1/4 cup fava beans
1 1/2 cup cilantro
1 medium onion
5-6 cloves garlic
1 jalapeno
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp black pepper powder
3 tbsp bread crumbs (I used seasoned Italian bread crumbs)
1 tsp salt / to taste
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
Method -
1. Soak the garbanzo beans and fava beans separately in enough water overnight.
2. Drain the beans and in the food processor, blend together garbanzo beans, fava beans, cilantro, onions, garlic, jalopeno into a coarse paste.
3. Place this mixture in a bowl and add bread crumbs, salt, cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala, black pepper powder and mix well.
4. Sprinkle the baking soda and baking powder and mix. Let the dough rest for atleast 1 hr.
5. Form small balls of the chickpea mixture or use the falafel scoop to form even sized patties. See pictures and video on how to use the tool.
6. Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the patties 5-6 at a time in the hot oil. Fry on both sides until golden brown. Always fry1 ball in the oil to test. If it falls apart, add some more bread crumbs and repeat the process.
This is a cake that I baked for Swara's 15th month B'day…just didn’t get around to posting it. I'm planning to celebrate her quarterly B'days this year. For her 15th month B'day , I was looking for a coffee flavored cake when I came across this Coffee Butter Cake on Deeba's Blog. I loved this simple recipe and also the idea of decorating it with some chocolate ganache and topping it with sliced almonds. The cake came out really good but I accidently left it in the oven a little longer so it was a little dry. I fixed it by brushing it with some warm coffee syrup (1/2 cup hot water + 1 tbsp instant coffee powder) which made it very moist and delicious. A slice of this cake with morning coffee will certainly wake you up!
The cake is baked in a 9 cups bundt pan. Ingredients -
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 tbsp instant coffee (You may change the proportions to suit your taste)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 pinches salt
4 eggs
180 gms melted butter (I used 1 3/4 stick butter)
6 tbsps heavy cream (I used Half & Half)
FOR CHOCOLATE GANACHE
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2-3 tbsp heavy cream
Slivered almonds for garnish
Method -
1. In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and coffee
2. In another bowl, add eggs, melted butter, vanilla extract and cream and beat this together until smooth.
3. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and mix well.
4. Grease the baking pan and dust some flour on it.
5. Pour the batter in the greased pan.
6. Preheat the oven to 350F and bake the cake for 35- 40 mins. Cool the cake.
7. Melt the chocolate chips with 2-3 tbsp of heavy cream in the microwave.
8. Gently pour this chocolate ganache over the top of the cake and sprinkle slivered almonds.
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