Karanji

One more Typical Maharashtrian sweet. Specially prepard during Diwali or Navratri. It is just like Gujiya or Ghugra of Gujrat. In Maharashtra we make stuffing of either fresh or dry coconut. Traditionally it's a fried dish. But soon I will post the baked version of it.

Ingredients

For cover 
Maida (All purpose flour) - 1 cup
Fine Rava - 1/4 cup
Hot oil (Mohan) - 2 tablespoon
Milk - 1/2 cup
Water - 1/4 cup (or as required)
Salt - a pinch

For stuffing
For Fresh coconut stuffing same as Fried modak stuffing.

For Dry coconut stuffing
Shraded dry coconut or Desiccated coconut - 1/2 cup
Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup
Poppy seeds - 1 teaspoon
Cardamom powder - 1 teaspoon
Roasted & chopped nuts - 2 teaspoons
Raisins - 2 teaspoons
Ghee/ oil for deep fry.

Procedure

For cover
Mix all ingredients of cover and knead a hard dough of it. Keep aside for 30 minutes. Then knead, till the dough is soft & smooth. (this is a very skillful job).

For stuffing
take all ingredients of stuffing in a bowl and mix well.

For Karanji
Make small lemon size ball of dough. Roll it as puri. Place 1,1/2 teaspoon of stuffing at the center of the Puri. Apply little milk on the edges with finger tip. Now fold the puri and close the edges so that it will get half circle shape. Tightly seal the edges.(otherwise karanji will break while frying) And cut the rough edges with pizza cutter or special cutter of Karanji. Make all karanjis with same procedure. Cover it with damp cloth. Deep fry it on a low flame till it becomes slightly brown. Cool it and store it in airtight container. Dry coconut Karanji, you can store till 8-10 days. But fresh coconut karanis have to finish within 2-3 days.

This is for my event Only "Festive Food" brainchild of Pari.

ONLY "AWARDS".....

As all of you know currently "ONLY FESTIVE" event is going on my blog. And yesterday day was ONLY AWARDS day for me. Two very good friends of mine, Akila of Akila's Kitchen & Harini of Tamalapaku has sent a lovely Award for me. Thanks a lot both of you. I think it's a precious Festival gift for me :-)

 After celebration some Rules …..

  

1. Accept the award. Post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.

  

2. Pay it forward to 15 other bloggers.  Please don't leave it general and just invite all your blogger friends to collect the Award.  It's always nice to be nominated so please do the favour and nominate 15 bloggers to share the Award with.

3. Contact those blog owners and let them know they’ve been chosen.

I am very much confused to select only 15 among so many blogs….

Blogs , I have selected are having awesome collection of recipes you must give a look ………

1. Lakshmi of Taste of Mysore
2. Chaitrali of I am not a chef
3. Sanyukta Gour of Creative Sanyukta
4. PJ of Seduce Your Tastebuds
5. Meera of Enjoy Indian Food
6. Nivedita of Nivedita's Kitchen
7. Pratibha's The chef and her kitchen
8. Umm Mymoonah of Taste of pearl city
9. Aipi of US MASALA
10. Ambika of Ambikas Kitchen
11. Lataji of Flavours and tastes
12. Tanmaya of Chamchameet
13. Jagruti of Joy of Cooking
14. Anjali of Annaparabramha
15. Sheetal of My cooking Experiment

Chakli

We are great fan of chakli………….. I think one who eats chakli first time becomes fan of it. I think in all parts of India, everybody makes these chakli with different name. But Maharashtrian's special is 'Bhajni chi chakli'. Bhajni is roasted grains and dal's flour. Like Bhajniche Thalipith. On 'Nark Chaturdashi' day of Diwali, when we wake up very early in the morning, we make fresh hot hot chaklis for breakfast along with chivda and ladoo. Fresh hot chaklis are must on that day. So instead of wasting time in Description we will directly move to recipe.

Ingredients

For Bhajni

Rice - 4 cups

Chana Dal - 2 cups

Urad Dal - 1 cup

Poha - 1/2 cup

Toor Dal - 1/2 cup

Coriander seeds - 1/2 cup

Cumin seeds - 1/4 cup


For Chakli

Bhajni - 2 cups

Water - 2 cups

Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon

Asafetida - 1/2 teaspoon

Turmeric powder- 1/2 teaspoon

Ajwain - 1/2 teaspoon

Sesame seeds - 1 teaspoon

Hot oil - 2 tablespoon

Salt as per taste.

Oil for deep fry.


Procedure

For Bhajni
Roast each ingredient one by one on low flame till it changes it's colour slightly. Do not use oil while roasting. Cool it and mix it. Grind together all the roasted ingredients in flour mill. This flour is called as bhajani. You can store it in airtight container for 5-6 months.

For Chakli
Boil water in a vessel. Add Hot oil (In Marathi it's called 'Mohan'), Red chilli powder, Asafetida, Turmeric powder and salt. In another bowl mix bhajni flour, sesame seeds and Ajwain. Now add this flour in water. Switch off the flame and cover it with the lid for 5 minutes. Then Knead the flour to make a soft dough. You can use little oil for kneading. Now Take a ball of dough and put it in the chakli mold. Press it and simultaneously move it in circular motion to make chaklis of desired size. Mean while heat oil in the kadai. Slowly put one chakli in kadai and deep fry it on medium flame. When it stops bubbling and colour change to slightly brownish take it from the kadai and drain it on kitchen towel. Let it get cool and store it in a airtight container. Me and my husband likes to eat chakli with curd and My father loves to eat it with butter.

This is for my event Only "Festive Food" brainchild of Pari.

& for Akila's event Dish Name Starts With C

Punjabi Kadhi- Indian Cooking Challenge

After almost two months of gap, I am attending Indian Cooking challenge. I enjoy doing these challenges. But this time it was quit easy but tasty. This month Srivalli's challenge for Indian cooking challenge is 'Punjabi Kadhi'. I just loved it. She suggested a recipe of Simran of Bombay Foodie. I followed the same measurement and method. But instead of deep frying pakoras, I used the 'Appe patra' or Paniyaram Pan for it. It require much less oil than deep frying. :-).

Ingredients
For Kadhi

Curd - 1 cup
Besan - 1/4 cup
Water - 3 cups
Garam masala - 1/4 teaspoon
Sugar - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt as per taste

For tempering
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp
Ajwain/ Carom Seeds- 1 tsp
Methi / Fenugreek seeds- 1 tsp
Chopped Green chili - 1
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon


For Pakora
Besan - 1/2 cup
Onions - 1 medium
Red Chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Ajwain/ Carom Seeds- 1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Water
Oil for Deep frying


Procedure

For kadhi
Mix curd, water and Besan. Beat it properly so that no lumps will form. Add garam masala, sugar ,salt and mix well. Heat oil in kadai add cumin seeds, Mustard seeds, Ajwain, chopped green chili, turmeric powder and Methi seeds. Pour the dahi-besan batter on it. Boil for 10-15 minutes on low flame. Keep stirring occasionally. It should be thick than Maharashtrian or Gujrathi kadhi.

For Pakoras
Slice onions lenghtwise. In a bowl, take the besan, onion, add salt, red chili powder, ajwain. Make a batter with water to get a semi thick consistency. Make the batter a little thicker than normal  if you are using appe patra/ Paniyaram pan. Heat appe patra/ Paniyaram pan, add little oil in each round. Heat the oil. Pour a spoonful batter in each round. Fry till it becomes brown and crispy. Drain and keep aside.
While serving Add pakoras in kadhi and mix well. Have it with Hot steamed rice or roti. I love to have it as it is.

Moong Dal Kheer / Pesara pappu Payasam

I learnt this awesome kheer (Payasam) from one of my Tamilian friend. Once we had 'Lalita Sahastranaam' chanting at her place and she served this payasam as 'Prasad'. Though I am not sweet lover, I liked that taste of Jaggery in it. I ask the recipe and tried as one of the Prasad for Navratri Festival. And main thing in this kheer is no sugar, no deep frying and no ghee. I avoid use of fresh coconut which she suggested :-)

 

Ingredients

Moong Dal - 1 cup
Jaggery - 1 cup
Water - 3 cups
Milk - 1 cup
Cardamom Power - 1 teaspoon
Roasted cashew for Garnishing - 7-8
Grated Fresh coconut - 2-3 teaspoon (optional)


Procedure
Dry roast cashew in Microwave for 40 seconds. Dry roast moong dal till it slightly change to brown on low flame. Let it get cool. Now cook moong dal in 3 cups of water. It should not get overcooked. Dal should be in its shape. Now on other side in another vessel add 1 cup of water and jaggery and cook until jaggery completely dissolve in water. I have taken 1 cup jaggery, if you want sweeter taste you can add 1/4 cup more. Then add grated Fresh coconut and milk. On medium flame cook this for another 5 minutes. After this add cooked dal and mix well. Let it cook for one more minute. Add cardamom powder and mix well. Turn off the flame. Decorate it with cashews. Superb delicious and low fat Kheer/ Paysam is ready.



This is for my event Only "Festive Food" brainchild of Pari.
 

 
And to Suma's 'CFK- Festive Foods' initiated by Sharmi

And Umm  Mymoonah 's Celebrate Sweets- Kheer event initiated by Nivedita

Kappa Matar Pattice/ Tapioca Green Pease Pattice

My first introduction to Tapioca that is Kappa was made by my Malayali friend 'GEO'. She gave me Boiled Kappa with some tamarind chutney. It was so yummy. I wanted to try out something from Tapioca but I was very sure that my husband will not like that simple boiled tapioca. I made some green Pease stuffed pattice (you can call it as tikki too.) from it. And no wonder he and his friends like it a lot. Now this will be my one of the fresh snack item on Diwali.

Ingredients
Boiled Tapioca - 500 grams.
Green Pease - 1 cup
Green chilli+ ginger + Garlic + cumin paste - 4 teaspoon
Coriander leaves - 2-3 teaspoon
Corn Starch - 4-5 tablespoon
lemon juice - 2 teaspoon
Sugar - 1 teaspoon
Oil - 1 teaspoon
Oil for shallow fry.
Salt to taste


Procedure
Remove the outer cover of tapioca and grate it in a bowl. Add 2 teaspoon of green paste, chopped coriander and salt. Knead it. Coarsely grind green Pease in a mixer. For the stuffing heat 1 teaspoon oil and green paste and saute it. Then add crushed green Pease, salt, sugar and lemon juice and mix well. Cook it for 2-3 minutes. Let it get cool properly. Now put some oil to your palm because tapioca is very sticky. Make a small ball of tapioca mixture. Spread it in your palm like puri. Place little portion of matar stuffing in a centre, gather in the edges and roll into a ball. Press it to a tikki shape. Similarly make remaining patties. Sprinkle some corn starch over the patties so that the shape is retained. Gently keep them into the hot oil frying pan and shallow-fry on medium heat till crisp and lightly browned from both sides. Serve hot with green chutney or tomato ketchup.




This is for my event Only "Festive Food" brainchild of Pari.

And to Suma's 'CFK- Festive Foods' initiated by Sharmi

Anda Bread Thalipith

I have bookmarked this recipe long back. But Shravan mas then Ganesha festival was there. So no eggs allowed at home. Now this is a relax period Navratri is yet to start. I tried this recipe from Satya's blog Super Yummy Recipes . It turned out so tasty and crispy. It is actually nice substitute for regular bread omelet breakfast.

Ingredients


Whole wheat bread - 4-5
Eggs - 2
Finely chopped onion - 1
Chopped green chilies - 1
Chopped coriander - 2 tablespoons
Black pepper powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Butter - 1/2 teaspoon butter for each thalipith
Salt to taste


Procedure
Make 3-4 pieces of each bread. Grind it in mixer. On the other side beat eggs in a bowl. Add all other ingredients except butter and powdered bread. Mix well. Now add powdered bread and make a semisolid dough. Make 2-3 equal balls of dough. Spread 1/2 teaspoon butter on the surface of flat frying pan. Keep one of the dough ball in the centre of the pan. Using your palm and fingers flatten the dough into a round even roti. (apply some water to your palm before it.) Make 2-3 holes with the your finger. Cover the lid and cook for 2 min. Turn the side and roast other side. Serve the crispy thalipith with tomato ketchup.

Panchamrut/ Kayras

Panchamrut or Kayras is a typical variety of side dish in Maharashtrian and North karnataka family. On any festival day it was a compulsory with chutney in early days. It tastes awesome because of it's khatta mitha taste. I even like to eat kayras with dosa.

Ingredients

Tamarind - 1 cup
Jaggery - 1 cup
Peanut - 1/4 cup
Danyacha Kut (roasted peanut powder) - 1/4 cup
sliced dry coconut - 1/4 cup
Sesame seeds - 1/4 cup
Goda Masala/ Masala pudi - 2 tablespoon
Salt to taste.

For tempering
Oil - 2 teaspoon
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Cumin seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
Curry leaves - 7-8
Chopped Green chilies - 5-6
Asafetida - 1/4 teaspoon


ProcedureSoak tamarind in water for 1 hour. Squeeze and take out the pulp. Roast sesame, thin coconut slices and peanuts one by one without oil till they slightly turn to brown. Heat a kadai and make tempering with given ingredients. Now add sesame seeds and peanuts saute it. Then add tamarind pulp, jaggery, goda masala/ masala pudi, salt and mix well. If require you can add little water into it. Boil for 5-6 minutes. Now add peanut powder and sliced coconut. And again boil for 1 minute. It's consistency should not be very thick or very watery. Cool it and serve either with roti or with any variety of Dosa. You can store it in a fridge for 10 days. Just try it… it is too good.


This goes to Jagruti's CMT-Chutney Event