Besan ke laddu

Ingredients

• 1½ cup besan (gram flour)
• 1/3 cup melted ghee
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp cardamom powder
• 1 tbsp raisins

Preparation

Besan ke laddu :

1. In a frying pan, dry roast the besan on medium to low heat for about 15 minutes or till it is golden brown in color. Stir it continuously so that the besan is not burned.
   
2. Keep on stirring the besan till a nice aroma comes out of it. Then add ghee and mix it well for another 8 minutes. Switch off the flame and add powdered sugar, cardamom powder, raisins and mix well.
   
3. Allow the mixture to cool at room temperature. If it's too runny in consistency then wrap the mixture in a plastic film and refrigerate it for 10 to 15 minutes.
   
4. Make medium equal sizes besan laddus and store them in an airtight box.
   

Gujiya Holi vali :)

Gujiya is a traditional North Indian sweet made specially on Holi.

Ingredients
For gujiya cover:

• 2 cup maida
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1/4 cup milk for kneading
• 1/2 tbsp water mix with 1tbsp maida for sealing
• Oil for frying

For filling:

• 100 gms khoya (Mawa)
• 1 tbsp crushed cashew nuts (kaju) and almonds
• 1 tbsp raisins (kishmish)
• 1 tbsp cardamom powder
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup freshly grated coconut

Preparation

Gujiya:

1. In a mixing bowl, sieve the maida, add oil and mix well (use your fingers otherwise it won' t mix properly)
2. Now add milk and knead into a soft and smooth dough. It should not be very stiff.
3. Cover with a damp cloth and keep aside for 20 to 30 minutes.
4. In a pan or kadhai, fry khoya on medium flame until its color changes to light brown.
5. Add cashew nuts, almonds, raisins, cardamom powder, powdered sugar and freshly grated coconut, mix well and keep aside to cool.
6. Again knead this dough for 5 minutes and make small balls out of it. Roll it out in a thin circle and place it on gujiya mould.
   
7. Add 1 tbsp of filling on one side of the mould, apply a little maida water on the edges (it will help in sealing) and close it.
8. Press the edges to seal gujiya very well and remove excess sides from mould and keep it with rest of dough.
   
9. Heat the oil in a kadhai and deep fry the gujiya on medium heat till it turns golden brown.
10. Allow it to cool completely and serve.

For all the jalebi fans :)

I love food and that is why I think I like cooking. I usually chill out in my kitchen with my favourite music; without it I can't cook. My hubby and I are very fond of jalebis. In India you will find jalebis in every sweet shop. It is very popular there but not as much in the States. As we are in U.S I thought to give it a try and finally I made it. :) It is made by deep frying maida flour batter in a spiral shape which are then soaked in sugar syrup.

Here I am going to share with you a jalebi recipe that can be made quickly without spending long hours on fermenting the maida batter.

Piping hot jalebis

Ingredients
For the batter:

• 1 cup maida/all-purpose flour 
• 2tbsp corn starch (for extra crunch) 
• A pinch of turmeric (haldi) powder or saffron (kesar) for colour. I did not have kesar so I used haldi. 
• 2tbsp curd 
• 1tbsp hot oil 
• 1tsp rapid rise yeast

For the sugar syrup:

• 2 cup sugar 
• 2 cup water
• 1tsp lemon juice (to prevent crystallization) 
• 1tsp saffron or saffron colour. 
• Rose water

     I did not have saffron and rose water so I used cardamom (ilaichi) powder.

Other ingredients 

• I used oil instead of ghee for deep-frying.

Preparation

Batter:

1. Combine 1tsp yeast with 1tsp sugar and 4tbsp of lukewarm water in a bowl. Ensure that the water is not too hot. Keep aside for 5 to 7 minutes and allow the yeast to rise.
2. Combine this yeast mixture with the plain flour, 2tbsp corn starch, pinch of turmeric, 2tbsp curd, 1tbsp hot oil,water in a bowl and mix well to make a thick and lump free batter. The batter should not have a runny consistency. Keep aside for 20 to 30 minutes.  

Sugar Syrup:

1. Add 1 cup sugar to 3/4 cup water, mix well and boil on a high flame for 5 to 7 minutes. Reduce the temperature and heat the syrup till it attains a one-thread consistency. Add a few drops of lemon juice to prevent crystallization. (you can add 1/2 cup of water if needed)
2.  Add the saffron strands (or cardamom powder, if saffron is unavailable) to 2tsp of sugar syrup in a bowl and then add to this mixture to the sugar syrup. Keep aside.

Jalebi:

1. Fill the batter in a ketchup dispensing bottle.
2.  Heat the ghee/oil in a broad non-stick pan and squeeze the bottle to form a spiral shaped jalebi, starting from the inside to the outside.
3.  Deep-fry the jalebis until they turn golden brown on both the sides.
4. Place the fried jalebis into the warm sugar syrup. Leave for a minute or until they soak the sugar syrup well and then remove from the sugar syrup. 
5. Serve immediately with curd.

   

   Make this someday and enjoy with your family