Sunday, March 25, 2012

Moong Daal ka Halwa..

Moong Dal Halwa..
***ingredients marked in Magenta***
1. Take 1 cup Moong Dal (dhuli). Wash and soak the dal for 6 hrs or a night.
2. Take it out of water. Grind the dal coarsely (not very fine) using very little water.
3. Prepare string sugar syrup with 1 cup sugar & 1.5 cups of water. Add Almonds & Kaju (10-15) in the syrup so that they become soft.
4. Add Saffron(kesar) in 1/2 cup hot milk & keep it aside for a while.


5. Heat ghee or refined oil (1cup) in a pan or kadai. Add ground moong dal, keep stirring over a low frame, till the dal loses moisture and turns golden brown.
[Hint: This takes time... have patience, don't rush in above step]
6. Now add sugar syrup & saffron milk, stir till they thoroughly incorporated and halwa starts getting dense.
7. Add 3/4 cup mawa(khoya) or 1/2 cup fresh cream. Cook, till it dissolves.
8. Garnish with Almonds, Kaju & chocolate soss.

BAKE A CAKE


Cake

1. Take a small glass of your finger's size or take a medium sized cup. It will be used to measure all ingredients uniformly through out the recipe.

2. Take 2.5 glasses of sugar. Grind the sugar in mixer to make fine powder.

3. Take 2 glasses of refined floor (Maida), 6 eggs. Take 1.75 to 2 glasses of refined oil.
4. Mix maida, oil, eggs and sugar with hands and make very thick paste. Add 2 tspns of Baking powder and 2 tspns of essence (edible food flavoring essence like vanilla/pineapple)

5. Optional: Add Cadbury Choco powder 5/6 spoons to make chocolate cake. Add more chocolate is u want to make Dark chocolate cake. You can put chocolate chips in between to have melt chocolate between the cake.

6. You can use microwave oven or cake making utensil or cooker shown in the picture, if you want to cook it on flame.

7. Oil the Pan internally, so that cake come out easily after baking. Put the thick paste in the utensil. Cover it and put over very low flame. Don't put it directly over flame. Keep it over a sand base.

8. If you are cooking it on flame, put the flame very low & you need to cook it for more than 1.5 or 2 hrs.

9. When the Cake becomes little hard put kismis  (raisins) and Kaju on it.

10. To test whether your cake is fully cooked or not, use a spoon and insert it into the cake. When you take it out, if no paste is stick on the spoon that means the cake is cooked well from inside.
11. Don't wait till the cake cools down to take it out of the pan. Because, when it cools down it doesn't come out easily.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Kachori, the perfect spicy snack !!!

The kachori is supposed to have originated from Rajasthan.
There are several types of Kachori like Shegaon Kachori (Maharashtra), Lilva Kachori (Gujarat), Matar Kachori, Daal Kachori, Pyaz ki Kachori and Khasta Kachori.
This is mostly a north & west Indian snack which is tasty & spicy.

Today I cooked Khasta Kachori with Imli Chatni....
Cooking is an art which comes naturally to some, like me, others need to learn this skill, only if they have deep interest !!!
Interest makes learning easier & quicker.
Let me share my recipe, try it when you desire to cook ...
Ingredients are highlighted in blue color, if you want you can note them down before starting.
  1. Take Urad dal (Split black gram) 1/2 cup. Soak the dal in water for 2 hours. (You can keep it soaked for one night as well)
  2. Take 2 cups of Refined flour (Maida) for 12 Kahoris. Mix the flour, salt (as per taste) & baking powder (1/2 spoon). Add 4 tblspns of refined oil & mix it well using hand till oil disappears in the flour. [Hint: Add ghee instead of oil if you are not calorie cautious, to add more taste. ] With water, prepare a soft dough (maida gondna). Cover with a moist cloth & keep aside for sometime. [Hint: To check whether the dough has enough salt or not make a tiny ball out of it & put it in hot oil kept for deep fry, take it out once it is hard & crispy, taste it and if required add more salt to the dough.]
  3. Take the Urad dal out of water and grind it coarsely (rough, not very fine) with little water.
  4. Prepare Stuffing: Heat oil in kadai. Add chopped ginger (1 inch), chopped green chillies (3/4 pieces or as per taste), Hing (asafoetida) a pinch, Dhaniya powder (Coriander powder) 1 tspn, Jeera powder (Cumin powder) 1/2 tspn, Red chilli powder (Lal mich powder) 1/2 tspn, Soaf powder (Fennel powder) 1/2 tpsn and stir well. Add dal and cook it till it dries up. Add sugar (1 tspn) and salt (as per taste) and mix well. Remove the mixture from kadai & let it cool for some time.
  5. Now take the flour dough and make 12 equal balls out of it. Flatten each ball with your fingers & mold it like a small bowl. Make the edges thinner. Place little stuffing in center and bring the edges together to enclose it and form a ball. Flatten slightly & roll into small discs. [Hint: The stuffing shouldn't come out of the balls while rolling it, no need to flatten it more if you think the stuffing will come out while deep frying]
  6. Heat Oil in Kadai. Fry the kachoris on slow flame till they are golden brown in color.[Hint: If the flame is high, the kachoris won't be cooked completely from inside. Keep moving them, when you put it in oil, so that it becomes well puffed & crispy]
  7. Garnish is with green chillies, chopped onions, dhaniya/pudina leaves. Serve with tamarind (imli) Chutney or tomato soss.