Coconut Burfi

 

Diwali 

What comes to your mind when you think of Diwali. 

God ?  Lamps ?  Family ? Friends? Crackers ? Sweets? Snacks? New Dress? Celebrations? Holidays?

Yeah... We think about all of these.

Well,  I can't all put all my excitement and happiness into this post, but can share it with some easy and sweet recipes. Coconut Burfi is one of those.

 

Ingredients( Makes 32)

1 cup Grated Coconut / Dessicated Coconut

1 cup Sugar

2-3 tablespoons Water

20 Almonds

2 pinches Cardamom Powder

2 tablespoons Ghee

1. Grease 2 plates with a tablespoon of Ghee.  Keep aside. Cut Almonds to half. Heat remaining Ghee in a small pan, fry Almonds till golden brown. Remove these from the pan and keep aside.

2. Heat a heavy bottomed pan. Add Grated Coconut and Sugar to it. Mix it well. Add water to the pan and let coconut mixture boil for few minutes. Mix and Stir every minute. Add Cardamom Powder, mix continuously until the whole thing comes close and starts leaving walls of the pan. Don't let it change colour.

3. Now transfer this onto greased plates, half of the mixture into each. Flatten it and shape it like a square of about a centimeter thickness. Use a sharp knife to adjust the sides and to cut into pieces. Place Almonds on it. Burfi thickens in about 20 - 30 minutes. Gently remove burfi from plate and store it. 

4. Family and Friends, Have a Safe and Happy Diwali

Maida Diamond Cuts with Ajwain

 

Diwali is coming soon !!! Have to make so many preparations for Diwali.  Lets start with Maida Diamond Cuts. Beginners you can start your snack list with this easy, crunchy, tasty recipe. 

This time I am making Diamond Cuts with Ajwain. 

Ajwain is good for health. Have a look at Ajwain Biscuits - baked . 

This is a good tea time snack. I am sure you just can't stop eating one.

   

Ingredients

1 cup Maida / All Purpose Flour

1/2 teaspoon Ajwain

1/2 teaspoon Salt

Water

Oil for Deep fry

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of Oil. Add Ajwain, Salt, Baking Soda and hot Oil to Maida. Add Water and make a tight dough. Knead it for 10 mins and keep it aside for 10 mins. 

2. Divide dough into 6 portions. Now flatten each ball with roller pin into a circle.

3. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter cut this  lenghth wise like stripes (an inch apart) and then cut at an angle to get diamond shapes.Don't mix up all these diamond cuts.

4. Heat Oil for deep frying. Once the Oil is hot, place a tiny dough ball, if  it raises immediately to the surface then that is the right temperature to add Diamond Cuts. Now place Maida Diamond Cuts one by one into hot Oil.  Fry till they turn golden brown. Take them onto an absorbent paper. Store them in a container and have for 10-15 days. 


5. Share your excitement and fun of Diwali with your family and friends :)

Carrot Halwa / Gajar Ka Halwa

 

Dussera celebrations are over. Enjoyed Ravan Dahan and chantings of Rama. But still not able to come out of the mood of making sweets.May be, I am already getting ready for DIWALI.

Carrot Halwa is one of my favourite sweets. We can call it 'Any Occasion Sweet'. Because, be it a festival, party or get-together , we can make this as a dessert and can impress our guests.

 I am not a big fan of sweets but I tasted Carrot Halwa first time when my Mom's sister made this for us. I liked it and learnt this recipe from her. She gave me a simple tip to remember the proportion for this recipe 3:2:1. Let's see how.

Ingredients

3 cups Grated Carrot

2 cups of Milk

1 cup Sugar ( + 2-3 tablespoons if you want more sweetness )

1/4 cup Ghee

pinch of Cardamom Powder

10-15 Cashews

10-15 Almonds

1. Grate Carrot. Heat a heavy bottomed pan, saute grated carrot for 5-8 mins or till the raw smell goes off. Transfer this into another bowl.

2. Boil milk in the same heavy bottomed pan . Add grated carrot to milk.

3. When bubbles appear in milk, give a stir from the bottom of the pan. Stir it continously, take care not to burn Halwa at the bottom of the pan. Add Cardamom Powder after milk completely evaporates.

4. Now add Sugar,mix it well. When Sugar melts completely add 1/2 of Ghee (1/8 cup ). Stir continously. Let the whole thing come close. Remove the pan from stove.

5. In a small pan, heat remaining Ghee and fry Cashews and Almonds till golden brown. Add all this to Halwa.

6. Make this all time favorite, 'All Occasion Sweet' anytime at home and Enjoy :) . Remember 3:2:1 Carrot : Milk : Sugar ratio.

Boorelu / Poornam Boorlu / Sukhiyan

Boorelu - Traditional Andhra Sweet is made for festivals, weddings and for many other occassions.

Cripsy outer layer and sweet channadal stuffing makes it very delicious and mouth watering. 

Boorelu are traditionally served with Ghee poured on it.In our childhood days we used to put a hole in the boori to get more ghee into it. This has become like a competetion in our family.

 Whoever makes a big hole and gets more  ghee in Boori is the winner.It doesn't really taste so good with toomuch ghee but competetion is competetion.

Make our favourite Boori in your kitchen too and celebrate festivals.

Happy Dussera :)  

Ingredients

For Outer Layer

1/2 cup Black Gram / Urad Dal

1 cup Rice 

1/2 teaspoon Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Salt 

For Stuffing

1 cup Bengal Gram / Channa Dal

1 cup Sugar

2 cups of Water

pinch of Cardamom Powder / Elaichi

1. Soak Urad Dal and Rice for atleast 8 hours. Remove Water and grind it. While grinding add little Water. Leave it to ferment for just 6 hours. Add Sugar and Salt to it and properly mix it. Make Poornam. Click on How to make Poornam . Heat Oil for Deep fry.

2. Dip Poornam in this batter, coat it all over with the batter..

3. Sometimes after placing Boori in hot oil you may see tails of Boori . Tails are crispy and some people like it. But if you want to avoid these touch the Boori to the wall of a bowl and remove the portion which hangs down and then gently place it in Oil . Place only one Boori first to test the consistancy of the batter. If the consistency of the batter is correct, skin/ outer layer will not tear apart. (Tips Below).

4. After the consistency test you can place 4-5 Boorelu at a time. When the Boori turns to golden brown remove it from oil.

5. Enjoy this festive season with Boorelu :)

Tips

• Outer Layer batter is almost similar to Dosa Batter but not fermented overnight or for more than 12 hours. Too much fermented batter doesn't give a good result. This batter is only fermented for just 6 hours. Left over batter can be used to make Dosas.
  Click on How to make Dosa
• Stuffing / Poornam is heavy, so the outer layer should be thick enough to hold the stuffing, otherwise as I have mentioned outer layer / skin tears apart and you may see disasters in hot oil. You can add a tablespoon of Maida / All Purpose Flour or Rice Flour to adjust the consistency of batter.
• While deep frying turn Boori all around so that it gets cooked properly on all sides. By doing this we get nice evenly coloured Boori.
• You may add small Coconut pieces (1/2 cup) to Poornam.