Revision as of 14:33, 2 March 2015

Desserts: Indian cuisine

Til gajaks

The Times of India

Yummy til gajaks

Ingredients

1 cup sesame seeds 2 tbsp clarified butter 3/4 cup jaggery 1/2 Tsp Cardamom powder 1/2 cup Water

How to make it

- Roast sesame seeds on a pan on very low heat. - Stir the sesame seeds constantly to avoid it from getting burnt. - Take it off from heat. Cool and pound the seeds. - Now make a thick syrup of jaggery by boiling it with 1/2 cup water over very low flame. - Take the pounded roasted sesame and add it to the syrup. Mix well. - Now, spread a thin layer of oil on a rolling board. - Spread the jaggery-sesame mixture over oil film into 1 cm thickness. - Cool the mixture and cut it into squarish pieces. - The til gajak is ready. - Remember to keep the gajak in an airtight container.

Recipe: Balushahi

The Times of India

Balushahi

Balushahi

Ingredients

6 cups Maida 8 cups Sugar 3 cups Water 1 tsp Soda (bicarbonate) 1/2 cup Pistachios Ghee for frying 2/3 cup Ghee (for adding in maida to make dough)

Method

- Mix maida, soda, and 2/3 cup ghee to make a stiff dough - Roll out small balls from this dough - Heat ghee and fry these balls till it turns brown - Prepare sugar syrup of two thread consistency - Dip fried balls in sugar syrup - Garnish with pistachio

Makar Sankranti recipe: Til ladoos

The Times of India

Makar Sankranti

Recipe for til ladoos

Ingredients

1 small bowl of coarsely ground peanuts 1 cup jaggery 1 cup til (sesame seeds) 1 cup grated coconut Finely chopped cashews and almonds Cardamom powder for taste, some raisins and clarified butter (ghee)

Method

Roast the sesame seeds. Once they turn golden brown, transfer them into a bowl. Roast the grated coconut and transfer into the same bowl. To this, add coarsely ground peanuts. Add finely chopped cashews, almonds and raisins. Put some cardamom powder, according to your taste. Mix everything well. Finally, melt the jaggery with 1 tsp of ghee and add to this mixture. Mix well to make your ladoos.

Diwali treats: Gujiya, Besan laddoo & more

The Times of India

Deepavali treats (Thinkstock)

Besan ka laddoo

Ingredients

½ cup ghee 2 cups of besan 1 cup powdered sugar 1/4 cup chopped almonds & raisins 1/2 tsp powdered cardamom

Method

1) Keep the kadhai on low heat. 2) Mix the besan and ghee in the kadhai and stir constantly to avoid lumps. 3) Once slightly brown, allow to cool. 4) Add cardamom and sugar and mix thoroughly. 5) Make small balls of the mixture and serve.

Gujiya

Ingredients

Ghee or oil to fry For the cover 500 gms maida 6 tbsp oil / ghee For the filling 500-600 gms khoya 1/2 tsp green cardamom powder 25 gms chopped almonds 25 gms raisins 25 gms dried coconut (grated) 350 gms powdered sugar to taste

Method

1) Mix maida with the 6 tablespoons of oil to make a soft but tight dough. Cover with damp cloth. 2) Take khoya in a frying pan and roast it till light brown in colour. Let it cool and add dry fruits, coconut, sugar and cardamom powder. Fry for two minutes and remove from the heat. Allow it to cool. 3) Divide the dough into small balls and roll each ball into a small flat round. 4) Take the khoya mixture and put it in the rounds and seal them using some extra dough. Make sure the filling doesn't ooze out. 5) Heat ghee in a kadhai and deep fry the gujiyas on a medium flame. Fry till golden brown in colour; then drain and remove. Store in an airtight container.

Badam ka halwa

Ingredients

1 cup of wheat flour 1½ cup of blanched almonds 1 tsp cardamom powder ¼ tsp crushed kesar 1 tbsp of warm milk 8 to 10 blanched almonds finely chopped in to slivers 1¼ cup of ghee 3 cup of water 1 cup of sugar

Method

1) Take the kesar and dissolve in warm milk. Keep it aside. 2) Dry and powder the blanched almonds. Keep aside 10 almonds for garnishing. 3) Melt ghee in a pan and add some flour to it. Stir and fry mixture for a couple of minutes. Then add almond powder to the mixture and stir again. Fry the mixture till it becomes golden brown and you can smell the aroma.

4) Stir the mixture continuously. Add some water and again stir. Add some sugar too. When the ghee froths, add cardamom and kesar to the mixture and stir. 5) Serve with garnishing of chopped almonds.

Healthy gulab jamun recipe

The Times of India

Healthy gulab jamun

Ingredients

1 no lemon slice 1 L water 50 g chenna (milk solids left after removing the whey by way of curdling milk) 150 g mava 30 g maida (flour) 10 g corn flour 1 tsp green cardamom powder ¼ tsp baking powder 500 g sugar canola oil for frying

Method

Mix sugar, lemon slice and water and keep on fire to boil. Remove any scum. Reduce to 3/4th. Remove half of syrup, keep aside and boil the rest until it reaches 2-string consistency. Remove from fire and keep warm.

Take clean marble or wide paraat; mix chenna and khoya together and mash with base of palm to ensure there are no grains. Mix in maida, cardamom powder, corn flour and baking powder. Make into tight round balls of approximately 30 g each. Heat canola oil to medium-hot and gently slide gulab jamuns in oil.

Make sure you don't put any spoon now as there are chances it may break; wait till the gulab jamun starts to float. Gently increase flame and cook until golden brown. Remove and drop gently into light sugar syrup. Keep there for 10-12 minutes. Transfer the same into sugar syrup with 2-string consistency. Let rest for half an hour. Before serving, gently heat with syrup. Yield: 4 servings. Serving size: 2 nos, 30 g each. Note: When shaping into balls, make sure there are no cracks or the gulab jamun will split on frying.

Nutritional Analysis per Serving

Carbohydrates - 58g Protein - 7g Fat - 25g Saturated fat - 9g Cholesterol - 64mg Fiber - 0 g Sodium - 102mg Calories – 485

Laddoo, rava

Sweet recipe: Rava laddoo in minutes

The Times of India

Rava laddoo

Ingredients

Rava or sooji ( semolina): 200 gms Coconut: 1 Sugar: 200 gms Ghee: 200 gms Nutmeg: half a pinch Cardamom ground: a pinch Dry fruits: kismis, sliced badam and kaju -as per your liking

Method

Grate one whole coconut and add sugar to it. Keep this mixture aside in a bowl. Roast the rava in a non-stick pan till it attains a light brown colour. Take the pan off the stove. Add ghee to it. Pour the grated coconut with sugar on the layer of rava and ghee. Mix the ingredients well. Add nutmeg and cardamom to it and mix well. Start making laddoos by taking the laddoo mixture in your palm. You can decide on the size of the laddoo on how big or how small you want them to be. Embed the dry fruits as you make each laddoo in your palm.

Malpua

Delicious Malpua recipe

The Times of India

Malpua

Ingredients

For rabri

1 litre milk

1 cup sugar

For the syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup waterSaffron strands

1/2 tsp cardamom powder

For the malpua

500 gms all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

400 gms sweetened condensed milk

Slivered almonds and pistachios to garnish Ghee

How to make malpua

- Mix the milk and 1 cup of sugar in a thick-bottomed pan

- Cook to reduce it to a fourth of its original volume while stirring frequently

- Remove it from the fire; allow cooling and then chilling in the refrigerator - Mix equal quantity of sugar and water in a pan

- Boil it until a single-thread consistency is obtained

- Add cardamom powder, saffron threads, mix well - Keep it aside to use later

- In a large mixing bowl, blend the condensed milk, flour and baking powder together to form a smooth batter

- Meanwhile heat enough ghee in a deep frying pan to cook the malpuas

- Pour the batter into the oil to form circles about 4" in diameter - Cook till golden brown

- Remove from the oil and put directly into the sugar syrup

- Remove after 2-3 minutes and drain on a wire rack

- Now to serve, place 2 malpuas in a plate, spoon rabri over them and garnish with slivered nuts

melissa.dcosta@timesgroup.com