Coconut & Pistachio Laddu

Ingredients:
Coconut (grated) - 1 cup
Pistachio - 1 cup
Sweetened condensed milk - 1 can (400gm)
Cardamom powder - 2 pinches
Green food colour - few drops

Method:
Powder the pistachios and keep aside.
Bring the condensed milk to a boil.
Mix the grated coconut, pistachio powder, cardamom powder and food colour in the condensed milk.
When it leaves the sides of the pan, remove from heat.
Make equally-sized balls when warm.
Enjoy!

Note:
To avoid stickiness while preparing balls, apply ghee on the palms.

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Cholar Dal

Ingredients:
To pressure cook:
Chana dal/cholar dal - 1 cup
Green cardamom - 1
Cloves - 1
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp.
Salt - a little

To temper and cook with dal:
Oil - 1 tbsp.
Ghee - 1/2 tsp.
Bay leaf - 1
Green cardamom - 3
Cloves - 3
Cinnamon stick - 1 (desi)
Red chillies - 2
Green chillies - 3(slit till half vertically:))
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp.
Asafoetida/Hing - 2 pinch
Golden raisins - a fistful
Coconut (small pieces or flakes) - 1/4 cup
Salt (to taste)
Turmeric powder - 2 pinches
Ginger (grated) - 1 1/2 tsp.
Sugar - 1/2 tsp.

Method:
Soak chana dal in hot water for 30 minutes. Discard the water.
Pressure cook the dal with 2 cups of water and other ingredients given under "To pressure cook" upto to 3 whistles.
Heat oil and add cloves, bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom and cumin and allow it to sizzle.
Now add the red chillies, green chillies and coconut pieces and saute till the coconut turns into light golden color in low flame.
Add the asafoetida and raisins and saute till the raisins puff up. Remove from heat and pour over dal.
Place the cooker on heat with tempered dal. Mix the grated ginger, salt and turmeric powder.
Simmer for a few minutes and bring it to a boil.
(I added 1/2 cup of water).
Finally add sugar and ghee.
Enjoy with luchis (loochis)/puris or with white rice.
Adapted from Bong Mom's CookBook

Note:
Coconut pieces can be fried separately and added at the final stage.
The dal should be soft but not too mashed.


Sent off to "Flavours of Bengal" hosted by Priya and started by Nayna.

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Litchi Payesh/Payasam/Kheer

Ingredients:
Full cream milk - 1 Litre
Litchis - 20 to 22
Sugar - 4 to 5 tbsp. (or as per taste)
Cardamom/elaichi powder - 1/2 tsp.

For sugar syrup:
Sugar - 2 tbsp.
Water - 1 cup

To garnish:
Chopped pistachios or any nuts

Method:
Heat the milk in a heavy-bottomed pan and reduce the amount to half (stir continuously so as to avoid burning).
When reduced to half, add sugar (to taste) and cardamom powder and stir.
Remove from heat and cool.
Meanwhile peel the litchis and remove the seeds.
Heat 1 cup of water and add 2 tbsp. of sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Bring it to a boil.
Boil for 5 to 6 minutes. Now add the litchis and cook for 4 minutes on low flame.
Remove from heat. Drain out the litchis from the sugar syrup and drop them in the milk.
Mix. Keep in fridge and serve chilled. Before serving, garnish with nuts and serve.
R.C.

Note:
If the layer cream on the top of the milk appears, remove them while cooling.
Sent off to "Flavours of Bengal" hosted by Priya and started by Nayna.

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Sun-Dried Tomatoes & Mint Pesto Pasta

Ingredients:
For pesto:
Sun-dried tomatoes (in oil) - 8 pieces
Mint leaves - 2 cups
Walnut - 1/3 cup (or pine nuts)
Garlic - 10 small pods
Parmesan cheese - 2 tbsp.
Red chilli flakes - 2 tsp.
EVOO - 1/4 cup
Apple cider - 1.5 tbsp.
Salt (to taste)

Penne pasta - 2.25 cups
Cottage cheese - 1 cup (cubed)
Capsisum - 1/2 (diced)
Olive oil - 2 tsp.

Method:
Roast the walnuts lightly and keep aside.
Chop the sun-dried tomatoes.
Add all ingredients in a blender except oil. At regular intervals, add oil. Blend it into a thick paste.
Cook the pasta as per given instructions in the packet.
Heat the oil and saute the capsicum for 2 minutes.
Switch off the heat. Add the cooked pasta and pesto and mix well.
Finally toss in the cottage cheese.
Enjoy!

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Spiced Buttermilk

The Blogger system gave me nightmares in the last few days. They took the site down for maintenance, but did not return the system up.I couldn't log into my Blogger account for a few days. When it got restored, I've lost a few of my contents which made me upset. I just hope that such problems wouldn't occur in the future. Now onto the post about "buttermilk".

In old times, in a large earthen pot, yogurt was churned with a woodern churner. Yogurt is diluted to some degree using water. During churning, the butter will get deposited on to the wooden churner. The butter (fat) is removed and collected on another container. The remaining liquid portion of yogurt will become buttermilk (although the name is quite contradictory to this process).

The butter milk is turned into a fresh drink by adding fresh green peppers, ginger, curry leaves, coriander leaves, etc. and consumed in large amounts especially summers. Usually travellers and guests are served this drink during festivals (like panguni uththiram). Along the side of roads that lead to the temple, there will be tents (mor pandhals) with huge containers having buttermilk. Adding some spices and herbs give it an extra kick to its taste, according to some households.

Sometimes, I remove the butter with the help of a hand mixer and consume it. In NCR, packets like Amul Chach (छाछ meaning buttermilk in Hindi) and Amul Masti Spiced Buttermilk are available in grocery stores. Although I prefer home-made versions.

In this drink, I added minced mint, roasted and powdered cumin, chaat masala, black salt, salt, grated ginger and Kashmiri red chilli powder.

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Whole Black Gram Spinach Fritters

Ingredients:
Whole black gram (with skin) - 1.5 cups
Onion - 1 (chopped)
Ginger - 3/4 inch (chopped)
Green chillies - 2 (long)
Spinach - few (chopped)
Coriander leaves - few (chopped)
Pepper (crushed after measurement) - 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. (optional)
Salt (to taste)
Oil (to deep fry)

Method:
Wash and soak black grams for 6-8 hours or overnight.
Discard the water. Grind them into a smooth paste.
While grinding, add a little water (used wet grinder).
Grind the ginger and green chillies into a paste (without adding water).
Mix all ingredients to the batter except oil. Heat the oil in a deep and wide kadai.
Moisten both palms. Take a lime-sized ball from the batter.
Flatten them into patties and make a hole in the centre.
Gently and carefully slide the vadai into the oil.
Continue the process making a batch of 8-9.
Fry till they are golden brown.
Remove and place on an absorbent paper.
Enjoy with coconut chutney.

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