Sesame Coconut laddu

In our recent trip to India, my mother in law made these awesome healthy laddus. I immediately bookmarked the recipe in my mind. And ofcourse after coming back I made these 2 weeks back. My baby loved them. Here is the recipe

INGREDIENTS

1 cup Sesame seeds ( Black or white, I used white )

1/2 cup grated Coconut

1 cup Jaggery

PROCEDURE

1. Take a pan and roast sesame seeds on low flame for 5 minutes. Keep them aside and let them cool down completely.

2. Grind all the ingredients together into a fine powder.

3. Use your hand to make a lemon sized laddus out of the sesame coconut mixture. Oil which is oozed out of the sesame seeds is sufficient to make the laddus.

 

7 Cups Sweet

This is the most addictive kind of sweet for me. I just cant stop with one piece. My mom is a mysore pak and 7 cups sweet expert. I used to ask her to make these for me all the time. Even my childhood friends remembers my mom by her 7 cups sweet..:)

INGREDIENTS

Gram flour( Besan) 1 cup

Melted Unsalted butter or Ghee 1 cup
Shredded Coconut 1 cup
Milk 1 cup
Sugar 3 cups 

PROCEDURE

1. Take a wide pan and roast gram flour on a  low flame for a few minutes.

2. Add all the remaining ingredients to the pan and mix well on a medium flame.  Stir continously until the mixture becomes thick. When the mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan, reduce the flame and continue stirring for a few more minutes. Be careful not to burn the mixture.

3.  Apply ghee on a plate and transfer the mixture to the plate. Let it rest for 3 to 4 minutes, then cut it into squares or diamonds by using a knife. When they are completly cooled down, store in a air tight container.

Kalakand ( Contributed by Shilpi)

Shilpi is my cousin. She contributed her Kalakand recipes to this blog. It looks yummy!! We used to spend our summer holidays together in our grand parents house. Our grandma bought us few earthernware utensils for us to play with. I remember preparing sweet pongal in those clay pots and forcing everyone to taste it...:) Those were also the days I started learning to use sewing machine. Shilpi used to gather all the sarees(even new sarees) from our auntsand our mom's, I used to sew the ends of the sarees for my practice. And then Shilpi packs each saree in a newspaper and distribute them to their owners. We used to collect 2 rs for our work...hahaha. I cant stop laughing now by remembering all those fun days. Atlast our elders banned us from touching their sarees.

INGREDIENTS


Ricotta Cheese -150z


Condensed Milk - 14oz


MilkPowder - 1/2 cup


Almonds for garnishing


Unsalted Butter 4tb spoons.
Sugar - 1/4 cup (Add only if the milk powder is unsweetened)
Cardomons - 5

PROCEDURE

1. Take a microwave safe bowl add butter and microwave for 1 minute. Mix Ricotta Cheese, Condensed milk, Milkpowder, sugar and mix properly as shown in the below picture.


2. Microware for 9 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes. Add Elaichi powder and mix properly.



3.Take a plate and grease with little butter.Pour the mixture and spread.


4.Garnish with almonds. Let it cool down and cut in to square or dimond shaped pieces.

Kajjikayalu

INGREDIENTS

All purpose flour(Maida) 1 1/2 cup
pinch of salt
Oil for frying
Water
Kajjikaya maker

FILLING INGREDIENTS

Dalia 2 cups
Sugar 2 cups
Cardamom powder 1 tbsp
Grated dry coconut 3/4 cup


PROCEDURE

1. Mix maida, salt and 2 tbsp oil by using enough water...knead it into a firm dough. Keep it aside for 20 mins.

2. Grind dalia, sugar and cardomom powder into a smooth powder. Add grated coconut to it and mix well.








3. Make small balls out of the dough and roll them into small pooris. Now place a poori on the kajjikaya maker,
fill it with 2 tbsp of the filling powder and close the kajjikaya maker slowly and press it for a while and take out the extra poori dough on the outside. Then
open it gently and take out the kajjikaya carfully and place it on a plate. Make sure that all the edges are closed
to avoid the filling comming out while frying. Repeat the process to make enough kajjikayalu to fry in a batch.


4. Heat oil in a pan and fry them until they turn golden brown. Let them cool. Store in a air tight container.

Rasgulla

I love rasgullas. And the recipe is not as hard as we usually think. As i have already said, we can get wonderful tasting rasgullas in Kolkata. Whenever i go home on vacation, i used to take canned rasgullas for my family.
INGREDIENTS

Whole milk 4 cups
Sugar 1 1/2 cup
Water 3 cups
Lemon juice 2 tbsp
Cardomom Powder 1/4 tbsp

PREPARATION





1. Bring milk to boil by stirring occasionally, make sure not to burn the milk. Mix lemon juice with 4 tbsp of water and add it gradually to the boiling milk. Then the milk solid starts seperating from the water. Leave it for a minute or two. Then turn off the heat and drain using a cheesecloth or a thin cotton cloth. The milk solid left is called paneer. Run some cold water on the panner to wash away the lemon flavor. Now squeeze off as much water as you can. Just to check if your paneer is ready, take a small piece on your palm and rub it with you thumb for 3 to 4 times then you should be able to make a soft ball out of it.


2. Knead the paneer for few minutes and make it into small balls because they increase in volume when cooked. So, make sure the balls are small in size.


3. Take water and sugar in a pressure cooker and bring it to boil, then add the paneer balls. Make sure there is enough space for the paneer balls to expand. Now close the lid without the whistle and cook for 8 mins and switch off the heat. Open the lid and add cardomom powder. Serve chilled.

Palkova

My mom used to make this sweet at home since our childhood. She used to get thick milk to make it as a snack by the time we come back from school. After getting married i started making it on thursdays to offer it to Sri Sai Baba.When i prepared it for the first time, my hubby wondered by tasting it. He said ' I thought you just started learning to prepare dal and rice, how did u do it'. You should have seen the look on his face...:)

Sometimes my mom used to give 2 or 3 biscuits for me and my brother to eat, my brother used to eat all his biscuits fastly and will start asking for a share of mine. Me being a slow eater, used to hide my chocolates in the fridge. After 2 or 3 hrs, when i go to take out my chocolates they will be vanished, then starts an other fight. Not only biscuits, we used to get an equal share of diwali crackers too. Even with them the same continues...

INGREDIENTS

Milk 5 cups(Whole milk)
Sugar 1 cup



PREPARATION



Add milk to a heavy bottomed pan and bring it to boil on a medium flame. In 1 hr, milk reduces by quantity and thickens. It also changes its colour to creamy. Add sugar and keep stiring. In an other 30 mins,consistency becomes even thicker and sticky. You can see a thick layer of milk on the sides of the pan. At this point switch off the stove. When it cools down, shape as desired.

I didnt get to take more pictures in the process of cooking, will try to do it next time.

Oligalu / Bakshalu / Bobbatlu / Puran Poli

Oooh, the name Oligalu itself makes me mouth watering. This is my all time, the most favourite food. It is one of Rayalaseema's popular dish. My mom always makes them on every festival. Now a days in my native place Anantapur, we can get these ready made too. Many of my Dad's and my tastes are similar. We both have sweet tooth..:) Ofcourse i dont have to tell that this is also my dad's favourite dish. We love to eat leftover Oligalu as breakfast the next day of the festival. I am not a very gud cook in my early days of marriage. I desparetly missed many of my favourite foods. Slowly i tried and tried to cook better tasting food. Now a days, i get a lot of compliments for my food..:)My dad wonders that his little girl is soo grownup. I always send him my food photos and he teases my mom saying that 'Siri's food looks better than yours'.

Comming to Oligalu recipe, we can make poornam(Sweet stuffing) either with Toordal or Chanadal. We make it with toordal. Here is the recipe

INGREDIENTS

Toordal 1 cup
Jaggery 1 cup
Water 3 cups( for poornam)
Maida(All purpose flour) 1 cup
Poppy seeds 2 tbsp
Cardomom Powder 1 tbsp
Oil 1/2 cup
water 1/2 cup( for dough)
Turmeric 1/2 tbsp (Optional)

PREPARATION


1. Mix maida, water,turmeric and oil(3tbsp) to make a soft dough. Keep it aside for 3 hrs. It helps in making smooth Oligalu. Turmeric is used for nice colouring.


2. Take a vessel and cook toordal with water. Bring it to boil, When the dal is soft and all most cooked, drain out the excess water completly. Add powdered jaggery and simmer it for 5 mins. Add Cardomom powder and grind the whole mixture into a smooth and firm paste. Keep your poornam aside.







3. Knead the dough for 5 to 10 mins. Divide the dough into small sized balls. Take an aluminium foil and grease it with oil. Roll out the dough into a small round on the foil, place a small poornam ball on the middle of the round and cover it by bringing the edges together. Roll it into a round by using rolling pin like a chapathi. Sprinkle few poppy seeds it and gently press them.





4. Heat a pan, gently place the oliga on the pan along with the foil. Now slowly remove the foil from the oilga. Let the Oilga cook for 3 to 4 mins, flip it on the other side and let it cook for 2 more minutes. Add some oil to it and remove. Serve with ghee or warm milk