Kaccha Chivda

Recipe: 

Ingredients:

Nylon Poha (Preferrable)/ Thin Poha - 1.25 lb
Oil - 6 tsp
Peanut - 0.5 cup
Green Chilly - 2 (slit and chopped big)
Curry Leaves - 2 sprigs (chopped)
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 3 tsp
Salt - as per taste
Sugar - 1 tsp
Putani (Roasted Chana Dal) - 0.5 small cup*

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a pan.
2. Add the peanuts and let it fry a bit.
3. Add the green chillies and curry leaves and switch off the gas and keep it aside.
4. Add the turmeric powder to the above mix.
5. Next take jira, salt and sugar in a mixer and grind it to a powder. Keep it aside.
6. Next take putani in a mixer and grind it to a fine powder.
7. Mix the jira powder and putani powder together.
8. In a separate pan, take poha and fry it for a few seconds.
9. Once done, put the poha and the ground powder mix to the peanut mix and put it back on stove.
10. Carefully mix it so that the flavors spread evenly and also do it gently so that the poha does not break.

Kaccha Chivda is ready. Once it cools down, you can store it in the jars and they last for weeks.

*small cup = idli vati

Rava Laddoo

Rava Laddoo is a popular Indian dessert made during festivals in India especially during Diwali. These sweet  balls is made from Rava (Sooji/Semolina) and is mixed with nuts which gives it a crunchy goodness. Thanks to my mom-in-law for this sweet and delicious dish.

Recipe:
Ingredients:

Rava (a.k.a Semolina/Sooji) - 2 cup
Sugar - 1.5 cup
Ghee - 8 tsp
Coconut - 1 cup
Cardamom - 6
Cashew - 1/2 cup
Raisins - 25 (1 per laddoo as a topping)
Milk - 1/2 cup

This gives 25 laddoos.


Preparation:

1. Dry roast the coconut to remove the moisture.
2. Heat Ghee in a pan and add rava and cashews. Let it fry well. Keep stirring continuously so that it doesn't burn.
3. Add the dry roasted coconut and mix well.
4. Meanwhile, peel the cardamom and make a powder of sugar and the cardamom. Add the powder to the coconut, rava mixture above.
5. This powder is dry upto this stage and you cannot make balls. So we add the milk after which we should be able to easily make those balls. So add milk and mix well.
6. Make balls and while making the balls add a raising to each ball.

Rava Laddoos are ready!

Pita Laddu (Pus Pus Laddu)/ Gava pita Laddu/ Wheat flour Laddu/ Atta Laddu

Among the culinary delights that I relished during my childhood days, the pus-pus laddu or atta laddu holds a special place in my heart. My visit to my native town would be incomplete without having this sweet. The reason for the name pus-pus laddu is because these laddus are so soft that you need to hold a hand near your mouth to catch the crumbled pieces while taking a bite - yes, they are that soft and yet they beautifully retain their shape until you take a bite! I happened to learn this recipe recently from my mom-in-law and here is the recipe to this mouth watering dessert that will surely melt your hearts.

Recipe:
Ingredients:

Wheat Flour (Atta) - 4 cups
Sugar - 3 cups
Ghee - 1.5 cups
Cardamom - 10

This gives about 30 laddus.

Preparation:

1. Fry wheat flour in a pan. Stir continuously on medium flame. The wheat flour should fry well. Once it turns brownish color, switch off the flame and keep it aside.
2. Grind sugar and cardamom (remove skin) in a mixer (Split and grind so it doesn't get stuck in the mixer).
3. Once the wheat flour cools down, mix the sugar cardamom powder to it. 
4. Then put ghee and mix well. Finally make balls with the mix.

Wheat flour Laddu is ready to be served.

*Small red vatis were used as measuring cups.

Besan Laddoo

Besan Laddoo is a popular Indian dessert made during festivals in India especially during Diwali. Laddoo's are round shaped desserts that have a lot of variations and different flavors based on the ingredients used to prepare them. Besan laddoo is made from gram flour and is mixed with nuts which gives it a crunchy goodness. Thanks to my mom-in-law for this sweet and delectable dish.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Gram Flour (Besan) - 4 cup 

Sugar - 3 cup

Ghee - 1.5 cup

Rava - 1/4 cup

Cardamom - 2 (powdered)

Cashew/Almond pieces

This gives 36 laddoos.

Preparation:

1. In a pan, add 4 tsp of ghee. 

2. Fry besan and rava in the ghee.

3. Once it is frying, add the remaining ghee. Let it fry well until it becomes brownish in color. Then, keep it aside.

4. Once it cools down, add sugar and cardamom powder.

5. Mix the above really well by pressing the flour. You can partition the mixture and mix some at a time to ensure the whole mixture gels up together really well. This mixture needs to be very soft, hence this mixing step is really important.

6. Make round balls and add a cashew/almond piece in each ball to give it a surprise crunch.

You can also garnish it with some almond and cashew pieces on the top.

Notes:

- I had used a big coffee cup for measurements.

- I can't stress enough on how putting a lot of strength and pressure during mixing is an important step to getting soft laddoos. Hope you keep this in mind while preparing.