Rava Laddoo~Indian Cooking Challenge!

When Srivalli announced the Indian Cooking Challenge I loved the theme of the event so much that I was all geared up just by reading through the details. The aim of the event is to bring into limelight all the traditional recipes which are almost forgotten by the new generation. How I miss those authentic dishes which I used to have on special occasions in my home town. Since the preparation of few of those dishes are time consuming, in this fast paced life, we resort to either buying them from the stores or conveniently burying those at the back of our minds! Through this event Srivalli hopes to recreate all those treasured dishes and rekindle our memories.

According to the rules of the event, the members vote for a dish from the given list each month. The recipe of the dish will be given to the members who are expected to make it and post it in their blog by the deadline specified. Before starting the challenge, Srivalli chose a trial recipe for this month which was Rava Laddoo. This is a traditional Indian sweet which is very easy to prepare and can be made in a short span of time with less effort. It is usually served during festivals and special occasions. Lets all enjoy Rava Laddoo :)

Ingredients:

Rava / Semolina - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 cup

Ghee - 25 gms

Milk - 25 ml

Cardamom powder - a pinch

Cashew nuts - 10 whole nuts

Raisins - 10 nos

Grated fresh coconut - 25 gms

Method:

• Heat 2 tsp of ghee in a pan.
• When the ghee is hot enough, keep the heat at low-medium and roast cashew nuts and raisins till raisins puff up and cashews have turned golden brown. Drain and remove from heat.Keep aside.
• Roast the grated coconut in the remaining ghee till you get the aroma of roasted coconut.Remove from heat. Keep aside.
• Add the remaining ghee and roast Rava for few minutes till you get the aroma and the colour slightly changes. Keep stirring always while roasting to prevent the rava from getting burnt. Remove from heat.
• In a bowl, add the roasted Rava, Nuts, Raisins, Coconut and Cardamom powder. Then add sugar. Mix well.
• Slowly add the warm milk into the bowl. Check if you are able to make into balls. When you find that milk added is enough to get your laddoos, transfer it back to the pan and cook in low heat for few minutes with continuous stirring.
• Remove from heat and mix well.
• Dip your hands in cold water, place some of the mixture in your palm and form tight round balls by pressing between your palms with your fingers. If the mixture is too hot then leave it for about 2 minutes.

Rava Laddoo goes to Indian Cooking Challenge hosted by Srivalli.

Pooja.

Other Desserts:

Honey Mango Pudding

Phew! Finally its summer time! The winter was very long and spring was no better. The temperature never climbed up even during spring and how I hated wearing winter jackets during May-June! Whenever the temperature rose, we immediately planned on something and by the time it was decided and we got dressed up, we were welcomed by a grayish cloudy sky that finally poured down wetting all our plans for the day. It seemed to me that my wait would never end until few days ago when the sun peeped out from the cloud cover and finally it felt so comforting to walk around in the brilliant sunshine enjoying the slight warm breeze...

Summer..and I'm reminded of mangoes. Brings back nostalgic memories of my childhood days at home picking and eating mangoes fresh from our backyard. Raw and ripe mangoes never failed to impress me and I was too happy to indulge even on raw mangoes with a dash of salt and chilly powder. The pantry would be stacked with different varieties of mangoes and then it would be a mini feast with pickles, mango curries, milkshakes, puddings, ice cream...Also during this season whenever I visit a friend's or relative's place there would be another welcomed treat with mangoes!

I was too happy to see few varieties of mangoes at my local grocery store and couldn't control my excitement on seeing my favourite Alphonso mangoes! I had bought few mangoes before and we felt it tasted bland-neither sweet nor sour and on seeing the ripe Alphonso, we didn't feel like having the other ones; when I decided to make a pudding out of it. It was a very long time since I had mango pudding or made one at home and since I had all ingredients in my pantry I decided to give it a shot. I always enjoy the puddings made at home since everything can be adjusted according to your taste and this one-Honey Mango Pudding is no exception. The combo of milk, condensed milk, honey, fresh mango puree imparts a creamy texture and a wonderful flavour that you may have it as such without any topping. A light dessert to go with any meal.And tastes so rich that you cannot stop yourself with a single scoop :)

Ingredients:

Whole milk - 2 cups

Condensed milk- 1/2 of 400g can

Honey - 2 tbsp

Mangoes - 2 medium sized

Gelatin - 3 tsp

Water for dissolving gelatin - 1/4 cup

Method:

• In a sauce pan add condensed milk to milk and stir well until well incorporated.
• Dissolve gelatin in water and stir well. Keep aside.
• Double boiling technique is used for preparation. For this place a large pan with enough water on the stove top and place the small sauce pan with the mixture on this. Now heat at medium flame with continuous stirring, otherwise the condensed milk being heavier than milk may sink to the bottom and get burnt.
• Continue cooking with continuous stirring till the water starts boiling in the pan below.
• When steam starts coming out from the small saucepan(do not allow this mixture to boil) immediately turn off heat, add dissolved gelatin, stir well to remove any lumps and when the gelatin has completely dissolved, remove the sauce pan.
• Allow it to cool.
• Meanwhile chop mangoes and blend them well in a blender.
• Add the cooled mixture to the blender and again blend until well mixed. If you have a small blender you may have to do in batches.
• Pour it into pudding moulds and refrigerate for couple of hours until well set. This pudding melts if kept outside and hence should be taken out of the refrigerator only during serving time.
• If you wish you may unmould the pudding from the moulds and serve with a dollop of whipped cream, fruits or any other topping of your choice.
• Enjoy honey flavoured creamy pudding!

This goes to:

Mango Mela event hosted by Srivalli of Cooking 4 all Seasons.

Original Recipes event hosted by Lore.

Pooja.

Other Desserts:

Vanilla Butter Cake

This was the first cake that my mom made years back when she learnt baking. As kids my brother and I were awed seeing numerous steps for preparation of batter, the weighing and measurement of ingredients, the mixing of batter and the final baking process in the oven. During the initial period she didn't have a cake mixer and the mixing of cake seemed like a daunting task and sometimes too tired after the daily preparation of meals she used to delegate the task to my father and me! Then it was playtime for us in taking turns to mix the batter, where the fun part of the whole series of events was getting the mixing bowl after the batter was transferred to the baking pan! A fight ensues with my brother as to who gets the biggest share of the left over batter in the bowl.

This cake was also my first step into the world of baking. With cake mixer having made life easier this cake is very easy to prepare. Soft and moist this can be had as such without any frosting.

It was the annual 'Wash n Wax' event at the Black Hawk Flying club this week and my husband wanted to contribute a dessert to the food part of the event but wanted something which was simple but well suited for the occasion and one that involved less hassles. This made me put on my thinking cap but didn't take me long to come out with the solution-Vanilla Butter cake with simple whipped cream frosting.

This cake tastes best when not refrigerated and hence always remember to do the frosting part just before the serving time so that you needn't refrigerate the cake.

Ingredients:

For cake:

Cake flour- 2 cups

Granulated sugar- 2 cups(Refer note below)

Butter - 1 cup(2 sticks)

Eggs - 4 separated

Milk- 1/2 cup

Baking powder- 1/2 tsp

Baking soda- 1/4 tsp

Vanilla extract- 1 tsp

For frosting:

2 cups heavy cream

3/4 cup powdered sugar

Vanilla extract - 1.5 tsp

Water- 3/4 cup

Granulated sugar- 3/4 cup

For decoration:

Maraschino cherries- 6 oz

Note: Since the sugar used here in US is comparatively less sweet for the same amount in India I have doubled the amount of sugar in the recipe.

Method:

For cake:

• Preheat oven to 300 F(150 C).
  
• Grease two 9" round baking pans.
  
• Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda four times. Keep aside.
  
• Beat egg whites at high speed until it forms stiff peaks. This may take about 4-5 minutes. Always keep in mind that the vessel for placing the whites and the mixer for beating must be completely dry. Traces of moisture would prevent the whites from expanding to its full volume. Keep aside.
  
• Cream butter with sugar well until it turns smooth.
  
• Add egg yolks one by one beating well after each addition until well blended.
  
• Add the dry ingredients along with milk and vanilla extract. Mix well until properly blended.
  
• Add the egg whites and mix well.
  
• Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for about 55 minutes-1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Note that the baking time depends on the type of oven and the pans used.
  
• Unmould the cakes after they have cooled completely.
  

For frosting:

• Dissolve granulated sugar in water over low-medium heat until it has dissolved completely. Keep aside.
  
• With a mixer at high speed beat cream with powdered sugar and vanilla extract until it forms peaks.
  

Assembling the cake:

• Keep the first cake layer on a cake stand and moisten it with sugar solution.
  
• Apply a portion of the frosting and top it with the other cake layer.
  
• Moisten the top of this cake layer too with sugar solution.
  
• Frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting.
  
• Decorate with cherries.
  
• Serve immediately. Refrigerating this cake would make it hard.
  
• Enjoy and have a great weekend :)

This goes to Mithai Mela event hosted by Srivalli of Cooking 4 all Seasons.

Pooja.

Other desserts:

Honey Cashewnut Brownies

Brownies serve as a perfect tea-time snack and goes well with tea/coffee. Brownie may also be served as dessert along with ice cream or whipped cream. The combo of hot freshly baked brownies with ice cream is heavenly! I love dark chocolates and hence any type of dessert made with one, makes me drool! Though I try hard to control my cravings the moment I see dark chocolate everything else goes out of my mind.

So is the love for cashews too especially roasted and salted ones..yummy! I love munching on it at any time of the day and needs no time to finish even a box of cashews. Hence cashews would always be on top of the list for grocery shopping every weekend. Apart from munching on cashews as a whole I do like anything made with cashews. I even try to incorporate it in dishes, as a whole or as coarse paste. Though health conscious I can never resist the combo of dark chocolate and cashews. So here I am with Honey Cashew nut Brownies :)

I wasn't a fan of honey during my childhood days. Though my grandma used to advice me on having honey due to its nutritional value I could never develop a liking for it. My husband loves honey and tries to incorporate it wherever possible even in recipes that didn't call for it! He even makes me have it and slowly I developed a passion for it too. Recently I came upon this article on the nutritional value of honey that proves why its good for both young and old which made me realize the truth behind my grandma's words!

I adopted the recipe from The Golden book of Chocolate but changed the original one to suit our taste and here is my version of Honey Cashew nut Brownies.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour(150 g)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

6 oz(180 g) dark chocolate coarsely chopped

1/2 cup(125 g) butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup(125 ml) honey

2 large eggs

1 cup finely chopped cashew nuts

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 F(180 C).
  
• Grease a 9" square baking pan.
  
• Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sift four times.
  
• Melt the chocolate and butter over a double boiler and allow it to cool for about 5 minutes.
  
• Add sugar and honey to this and beat well.
  
• Add the eggs one at a time beating well until blended after each addition.
  
• Now add the sifted flour mixture and cashew nuts and mix well.
  
• Transfer the batter to the prepared baking pan and level the top surface.
  
• Bake for about 50-55 minutes or until dry on top and firm to touch.
  
• Allow it to cool before cutting.
  

This goes to:

Lets Go Nuts about Cashew nuts event hosted by Poornima of Tasty Treats and started by Aquadaze of Served with love.

Mithai Mela event hosted by Srivalli of Cooking 4 All Seasons.

Pooja.

Other Desserts: