EVENT: 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.…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Continue ReadingFESTIVAL: DIWALI RECIPE: FRUIT & NUT RICE KHEER What is Kheer? Kheer is a type of pudding from the Indian Sub Continent which is traditionally made from rice, milk, sugar and spices like cardamom, nutmeg, saffron and nuts. Adding spices depends from family to family or region to region. It is served for any festival, event, occasion, celebration. I’ve yet to come across anyone who doesn’t like kheer. Serve it hot or chilled. Depending on regions, kheer is known by different names payasa, payasam, phirni. How is Fruit & Nut Rice Kheer Different? Fruit and Nut Rice Kheer is not too different from the normal rice kheer. This kheer allows me to add loads of nuts and different fruits before serving it as a dessert.…
-
Continue ReadingEVENT: FOODIES_ REDOING OLD POSTS #10 What is the advantage of this theme? For the 10th week on Foodies_Redoing Old Posts, marble barfi got a new look.Old posts just get lost in the wide wide wide web unless they are very popular. Renu who blog’s at Cook with Renu has started a Facebook Group called Foodies_ Redoing Old Posts where every two weeks we can redo our old posts and share it on the group. What’s the advantage of doing this? Well, it gives us the opportunity to improve the write up, update photos and get comments. I’ve got so many old posts that need updating especially where the photos are concerned. This group definitely gives me the ‘push’ to prepare the dishes again for better…
-
Continue ReadingEVENT: FOODIES_ REDOING OLD POSTS #34 RECIPE: MEETHI SEV/SWEET VERMICELLI What is Meethi Sev/Sweet Vermicelli ? As the name indicates meethi sev/sweet vermicelli is vermicelli that is sweet. This is one of the easiest ever sweet dish or mithai (mishtaan) to prepare. Boil some vermicelli as per the instructions on the packet. Drain out the water. Mix powdered sugar and ghee (clarified butter) and hey presto its ready. One can add cardamom powder, chopped nuts for that extra flavour. What is Vermicelli? Vermicelli is a type of pasta which is much thinner than spaghetti. The word vermicelli comes from the Italian word for little worms. And worms are not used to make vermicelli. Incidentally, these days vermicelli also refers to the thin rice noodles that…
