Chocolate Sesame Fudge Delectable, chocolatey and soft, Chocolate Sesame Fudge is a vegan take on the famous chocolate barfi or fudge. I replaced the ghee with olive oil. Also I have used homemade sesame seed paste. Not too sweet, Chocolate Sesame Fudge is different kind of sweet to enjoy during the Makar Sankranti festival. Don’t worry, the ‘must have’ sesame seeds and jaggery are included in the fudge. Happy Uttarayan/ Makar Sankranti/ Pongal Come fly a kite And watch it sail Across the sky, Waving its tail. By Jean Warren What is Uttarayan or Makar Sankranti Once again it Uttarayan or Makar Sankranti. Uttarayan is the Gujarati name for the festival celebrated all over…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: A- Z RECIPE CHALLENGE THEME : AN INGREDIENT BEGINNING WITH THE LETTER S RECIPE: CHIKOO KULFI/ SAPODILLA KULFI What is Chikoo Kulfi/ Sapodilla Kulfi? Chikoo Kulfi/ Sapodilla Kulfi is a delicious creamy fruity frozen dessert, easy to make and not too sweet. Perfect summer time treat. First, lets clear what is chikoo? Chikoo is the Hindi name for sapodilla (pronounced as sapo-diya) or sapota. It is a sweet fruit that is brown in colour and grows on an evergreen tree. This fruit is native to Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America. In India it grows abundantly in the state of Karnataka. Whenever I’m in Bangalore and its chikoo season, I have one every single day. I simply love chikoo. I know many don’t like…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SHHH COOKING SECRETLY THEME: DIWALI SWEETS AND SAVOURIES RECIPE: KESAR RASGULLA What is Kesar Rasgulla? Kesar Rasgulla is a saffron flavored traditional sweet dish that is famous in the Indian Subcontinent. Kesar means saffron in Hindi. And Rasgulla is a sweet dumpling made from cottage cheese, paneer or chenna. The balls are rolled and then allowed o cook in a sugar syrup. The sugar syrup is usually flavored with cardamom and sometimes other ingredients like rose essence, rose petals, saffron, mint, chilli, etc are added. This adds a different flavour to the rasgulla. As a matter of fact, one is rasgulla and plural is rasgullas. Translated into simple language ras is juice and gulla is a ball. So actually rasgulla means a juicy ball.…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: FOODIEMONDAY/BLOGHOP THEME: #266 EXOTIC SAFFRON RECIPE: SAFFRON TAPIOCA PUDDING What is Saffron Tapioca Pudding? Saffron Tapioca Pudding is a sweet dish prepared by cooking soaked tapioca pearls or sabudana in milk till it becomes thick. The pudding can be enjoyed hot or cold. Once the tapioca pearls are soaked well enough making this pudding is very easy. I generally soak them for 4 – 6 hours in plain water. Adding saffron is optional but I’m a huge fan of saffron so look for any opportunity to use it whenever I can. What is Tapioca Pearls? Known as tapioca pearls as they look like little tiny pearls or sabudana. Dana in Hindi means small round beads or grains. They also go by the name of…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: FOODIEMONDAY/BLOGHOP THEME: #261 MILKY WAY RECIPE: APPLE KHEER This Week’s Theme on FoodieMonday/Bloghop Group: This week, the group has to use milk or its products like yogurt, paneer, milk powder, evaporated milk, condensed milk. If possible the main ingredient has to be milk or its products. This interesting theme, suggested by Swati who blogs Food Trails, offers so many options. With the Ganesh Chaturthi over the weekend, I thought of making an easy and not too sweet apple kheer. Frankly, I’ve ordered too many apples this week so thought of using up some to prepare Apple Kheer. Next on the list to make was Swati’s Mango Falooda but I’ll have to wait for our next mango season to begin which will be in 2-3…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: FOODIEMONDAY/BLOGHOP THEME: #260 MEETHE PAL RECIPE : CHOCOLATE MODAK This Week’s Theme on FoodieMonday/Bloghop Group: This week, the group has to prepare any sweet dish of their choice, be it an Indian Sweet or any dessert. My choice is Chocolate Modak. Sujata who blogs at Batter Up With Sujata suggested this week’s theme. Sujata’s blog is a mixture of Bengali dishes and bakes. When I’m able to source banana leaf or arbi leaves, I really want to try her Chhanar Paturi recipe. Its steamed paneer with mustard. Why I made Chocolate Modak? While I’m always pulled to making desserts, at the same time wanted to make some quick and different kind of modak as Ganesh Chaturthi is just round the corner. I know of…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: FOODIEMONDAY/BLOGHOP THEME: #218 DIWALI DHAMAKA RECIPE: MAGAS/ CHICKPEA FLOUR FUDGE What is Magas/ Chickpea Flour Fudge? Magas/ Chickpea Flour Fudge is a famous sweet dish or mithai in the Gujarati Cuisine. Its a popular sweet fudge that is enjoyed by both adults and children. Some kids refer to it as ‘bavo’. Any Patel wedding you attend, or go to their homes during Diwali you will definitely find Magas. During weddings, huge quantities are made by the bride’s family and sent to the groom’s family and also shared with all those who attend the wedding. Made from chickpea flour, ghee, sugar and cardamom, its not a difficult mithai or sweet to make at all. After roasting the flour in ghee, sugar is added and then…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: DESI BLOGGERS CONNECT THEME: DIWALI DHAMAKA The Group Desi Bloggers Connect: My contribution for this theme is Coconut Laddoos/ Coconut Fudge Balls. Bloggers Connect is a Facebook Group where members support each other by sharing and commenting on each others post. I’ve met many food bloggers though this group. For this Diwali Festival, the admins decided that we should prepare a sweet and savory or either dish to share for the theme. My Story: When I volunteered to take part in this event, I had jotted down a few options. One was a recipe that my mother in law use to make often during Diwali. However, its a bit time consuming and it will have to wait for another time. After I got back from…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: FOODIEMONDAY/BLOGHOP THEME: #161 GANESH CHATURTHI RECIPES FoodieMonday/Bloghop group decided to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi with recipes. Recipes we would make to offer Lord Ganesha. Undoubtedly its the best time to make the famous Ukadiche Modaks or steamed Modaks. Steam or fry them. I steamed these traditional Maharashtrian mithai. Ganapati Bappa Moriya, Mangal Murti Moriya All those celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi chant the above and get ready for the Ganesh Chaturthi, Vinayak Chaturthi or Vinayak Chavithi festival. To find out what the chanting actually means watch this video. In fact, the festival marks the birthday of Lord Ganesha, the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. The Story: The story goes that when Lord Shiva was away, Goddess Parvati created Ganesha from sandalwood paste to guard the…
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Continue ReadingWhat is Puran Poli/ Ghari Rotli? Puran Poli/ Ghari Rotli is an Indian Flatbread filled with sweetened cooked lentils and spices. It is usually prepared during festivals and special occasions. Lentils are cooked till soft and then spices and sugar or jaggery are added. This mixture is filled into a wheat or plain flour dough, rolled and roasted. Famous in many parts of India during festivals, weddings, celebrations, etc, the flatbread varies a bit from state to state. Gujarat: We generally use wheat flour dough. The stuffing is made from tuvar dal (split pigeon pea). We usually add sugar or jaggery and cook it with cooked Tuvar dal till it becomes like a thick paste. Spices like cardamom, nutmeg, saffron, fennel seeds are added. Known…
