Strawberry Rose Modak, made with semolina,sugar, strawberries, rose syrup is easy to make and a delectable sweet offering to Lord Ganesha during the Ganesh Chaturthi Festival. Basically, traditional kesari is made from semolina, sugar and saffron. Here, I’ve made strawberry kesari using fresh strawberries, rose syrup and a few nuts. As this was for Ganesh Chaturthi, I used the modak mould to shape this delicious kesari into modaks. However, you can offer and serve Strawberry Rose Kesari warm in bowls without shaping it. What is a Modak? Modak is a traditional Maharashtrian sweet. The dumplings are made from rice flour and stuffed with coconut, jaggery, spices and sometimes nuts. As with other dishes, modak has over time taken on new avatars. In fact, the…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SUNDAY FUNDAY THEME: LET’S CELEBRATE NATIONAL ICE CREAM DAY RECIPE: BADAM KESAR PISTA KULFI Badam Kesar Pista Kulfi is a creamy, delicious frozen treat flavored with almonds, saffron, pistachio and cardamom. Easy to make, it never fails to impress my family and friends. Homemade kulfi is the best as it has no artificial flavorings or colors. Trust me, all the patience of boiling down the milk to half its quantity is well worth. Here’s a tip: use a wide pan like a wok or kadai to make the process faster. What is a Kulfi? Kulfi or Qulfi is a traditional ice cream from the Indian Sub Continent. Slightly more dense than the usual ice cream we know. But it is creamy and with…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: A- Z RECIPE CHALLENGE THEME : AN INGREDIENT BEGINNING WITH THE LETTER Z RECIPE: ZUCCHINI HALWA – VEGAN Zucchini Halwa is dairy free, melt in the mouth, flavorful, aromatic halwa cooked in the Indian style. If you are a fan of doodhi ka halwa or bottle gourd halwa then you’ll surely love this one. My blog follower requested I make an Indian sweet but vegan. Lots of Indian sweets are made from dairy milk, or will have ghee (clarified butter). Recently, for my online shopping Iist I wrote 1 zucchini and I got 1 kg! That is a lot of zucchini. Used it to make zucchini paneer appe (recipe to follow soon), used some for handvo, added to my baked pasta. That is when…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SHHH COOKING SECRETLY THEME: ODIA PITHA RECIPE: CHANDRAKANTI PITHA Chandrakanti Pitha is a delicious dessert which is traditionally made in the Ganjam district of Odisha. Made from soaked moong dal and rice batter, the outer part is crispy and the inside soft and not too sweet.It tastes like moong halwa but with a crispy coating. One has the option to cut the cooked and set batter into any shape one desires. I stuck to the traditional square pieces. Alternately one can shape them into balls before deep frying. A bit about Pitha Pitha is not restricted to the state of Odisha only. One can find different kind of pitha in Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Assam. Pitha is a type of food which can…
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Continue ReadingChocolate 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 Apple Kheer is creamy, different from rice pudding, easy to make and delectable. Perfect for any festival or prepare it to enjoy a healthier dessert. Best served chilled. 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…
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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…
