Gajar Halwa

Ingredients:

Indian red carrots: 1 kg
Sugar 1 to 2 bowls
Khova/mava: 100g
Elaichi: 6 to 7
Ghee: 4 to 5 tblspoons

Preperation:
Grate carrots to thin shreds. in a deep vessel, preferably a large pressure cooker as you need lots of room to stir, pour in ghee and stir fry the grated carrots till the raw smell of the carrots are gone. Then add in crushed khova and sugar with crushed elaichi seeds. Mix in very well till it reaches its thick consistency. It will take around half an hour for the halwa to reach its desired consistency. You can garnish it with sliced almonds and pistachios if desired. Serve hot. 

Aval unda or Poha laddu or Sweetened rice flake balls

Rice flakes is just the flattened form of rice. In south India it forms a prominent part of the diet, especially the breakfast.There are many ways in which Poha or rice flakes can be confused. As individually it doesn't have a strong taste it can be easily blended with any flavors. In this recipe i have tried the sweetened version of it in such a manner that all the ingredients together compliment the taste of the dish.

Ingredients:

Flattened rice flakes (paper flat ones): 2 cups 
Powdered sugar: 1 1/2 cups
Grated coconut: 1/4rth cup
Vanilla essence: 2 drops

Procedure:

Roast the flattened rice flake for 5 minutes. Keep aside for cooling. Grind them into granules. Mix the rest of the ingredients to it.In case the mixture isn't sticky enough to roll, a few drops of water can be added to it. now, slowly roll them on your palms to make small balls of them and serve. I have used fresh grated coconut in this recipe therefore, the required moisture is released when mixed with powdered sugar.*-> please do note that if you do not prefer this level of sweetness, you can reduce the sugar level but make sure not to spoil the taste. 

Besan ladoo in a healthier avatar.

Besan ladoo is a typical North Indian Desert. It is easy to make and rich in flavours. The main ingredient of a Besan Ladoo is 'chick Pea flour'. Even though, it is listed as one among the favourite deserts of Indians, I wouldn't possibly tag it as healthy. The reason is the amount of Ghee (clarified butter) used in a typical Besan Ladoo.

So, I thought about making this recipe a bit more healthy. And VIOLA! It was better than the original. This version of the Besan Ladoo i made was much less oily, it didn't make me feel bloated, and the dusty texture was excellent! So here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

Besan (chick pea flour) : 1 cup

Ghee( clarified butter) : to the max 5 t-spoons

Sugar : 1/2 cup

Powdered cardamom: 1/4rth tsp (optional)

Preparation:

Sieve the besan to separate small lumps from the rest of the powder. Heat a pan and roast (without any kind of oil or ghee) the besan till it turn medium brown. Please make sure the flame is low and you have to keep stirring, as the powder has a chance of getting burnt quickly. Besides the colour, a perfectly roasted besan powder emits a cooked and a pleasant smell indicating its done. When done, keep aside for cooling and then sieve again to make sure you get the fine besan powder at the end. Meanwhile powder the sugar with the cardamom powder. When done mix the roasted fine besan and the powder sugar. with you hand mix well.

Now is the tricky part. Keep adding the ghee t-spoon wise till you can make small balls of this dry mixture. you need to press hard with your hand to make the balls so make sure to keep trying every moment you mix a t-spoon of ghee. Make small balls of the mixture and your besan ladoo is done.. but if the ladoo is glossy means that the proportion of ghee used is more than needed.

It took me 3 tries to reach the perfection. But all for good!YUM!

Biscuit delights

 Ingredients:

Marie biscuits: 12

Powder sugar: 2 bowl

green colour: 3 to 4 drops

Vanilla essece: 1 t-spoon

Scraped Coconut: 1 small bowl

Milk: as required

Banana smoothie: 1/4th cup

Sugar balls: for decor

Red colour: for decor

Preparation:

Powder the Marie biscuits in a mixer grinder. Mix 1 cup sugar, essence and colour to the powdered Marie biscuts. Pour in milk, little by little to form a smooth dough. Meanwhile, in another bowl mix coconut with the banana smoothie ( add yellow colour if required). Make small boats off the dough. pour the banana smoothie in the small provisions. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Decorate with red colour and sprinkle sugar balls and there!

banana dates surprise

Ingredients:
Dates: 12 numbers seedless
Milk: 500ml
Bananas: 2
Sugar: 1/4 th cup
Strawberry sauce: 2 tablespoons
Almonds: for decor
Yellow colour: 1/4th pinch

Preparation:
Make a smooth paste of the dates. Please note to not soak the dates prior to making paste because this will take away the crunchiness of the dates. after making the date paste, it can be noted that some dates are still there as lumps and these act as little surprises in the smoothie. Use milk to make the paste. Make a paste of bananas too in the blender, separately. While making banana paste with milk, add sugar and colour.

In a glass pour in the date smoothie first and then the banana smoothie. Then pour a tsp of strawberry syrup. With a small rod, pierce the side to get the texture. Pour another tsp of strawberry syrup on top and decorate with almonds.

PS_> if there is no syrup, it is fine. you can use other syrups too as black current, other berries etc.

Momos / Dumplings

Ingredients:

(for the dumplings)
Maida(plain flour): 1 cup
Salt : to taste

(Filling)
PS-> the filling can be of your choice. A typical Chinese filling like the one i mentioned in "Spring Dosa". But if this is the first time you are trying make the filling as simple as possible. I made a sweet momos here.
Sugar: 1/4th cup
Coconut: 1/4th cup
Cardamom: 2 crushed( optional for flavouring)
Can also opt 1 or 2 drops of vanilla essence instead.

Decoration:
Red colour

Preparation:

Make a smooth dough of the flour and salt. Keep aside for 15 minutes. Mix coconut and sugar, if other filling, make it ready. Please make sure the filling is cooked and are ready to eat.Roll small balls of the dough with a rolling pin into small chappathis. place a little of the filling in the middle and start making pleats of the sides as done in a sari. When the other end is met, slightly press in the middle to form a pouch. Make the steamer ready. If don't have a steamer. Place a huge vessel with water and in it a small vessel without water. Dip the "mouth of the momos in red colour and place for steaming.. Let it be for 15 minutes and your momos are ready to be served.

Srikhand

Ingredients

Youghut: 400ml
Sugar(powdered):1/2 cup
Badam milk powder: 2 pinch

Preperation

Take a vessel, place a cloth over the vessel. Push it in the hollow part so that the youghut can be put in it. Por in the youghut into the cloth and carefully hang the cloth making sure the youghut doesn't spil... Let the exess water in the youghut drip off for say 2 hours. After which... Place the tight hung youghut/curd in a vessel.add in sugar and badam milk powder( you can substitute this with cardomom powder, kesar and crushed nuts). Mix well. Refrigerate. And serve. I used 1/th pinch yellow colour for appearence.