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Pomegranate Quinoa Dhokla

Dhokla is a savory steamed tangy, spicy and sweet Gujarati snack which is famous all over India.  Dhokla is all time our favorite Snack. There are many dhokla recipe, like a, Khaman Dhokla, Rava Dhokla, Veg Sandwich Dhokla, Green Moong Daal Dhokla, Spinach Dhokla and so on.This dhokla recipe is little different with a slight twist to traditional one. Pomegranate Quinoa Dhokla prepared using Quinoa, fresh pomegranate juice with some spices which makes it more healthy with unique taste and beautiful color. Pomegranate juice gives a tangy-sweet taste to the dhokla. Delicious Dhokla can be served with meal or as an evening snack.

Motichoor Ladoo

Motichoor ladoo is a delicious mouthwatering sweet which is famous in Northern part of India. Ladoo is commonly offered to GOD during worship as well as served on festival or occasions. These ladoos are all time favorite of my kids favorite. The ladoos are made from batter made of besan flour and deep fried in oil/ghee, then simmered in sugar syrup to thicken for final preparation. The laddos are flavored with rose essences and cardamon powder. The most important part of the recipe is the batter consistency and temperature of oil/ghee. Batter consistency should be medium thin so that it easily pass through Jhara. The process is little complex as you need to tap Jhara over the heated oil/ghee pot at a consistent speed to get the boondi shape. To make fine boondi you need Jhara with fine holes.

Motichoor laddo and boondi ladoo are little different with each other as boondis for motichoor is much finer than boondis of boondi ladoo. Preparing these ladoos is a bit time consuming and involved process and requires little practice and patience to get it perfect. I was able to get it right in my second attempt. I prepared these for Diwali and it came out perfect.

 

Baked Bhakarwadi

Bhakarwadi is a tea time snacks item which is traditionally a spicy Maharashtrian snacks prepared using hot spices and deep fried in oil. In this recipe instead of deep frying, I have baked it in oven however both of them tastes similar. The fillings for the Bhakarwadi can be customized to your taste. Generally it has sweet and sour taste and nice aroma of spices. The outer crust is made either from all purpose flour or a mixture of  besan and regular wheat flour. If you don’t like the baked one, you can just deep fry instead of baking. Bhakarwadi can be store in a air-tight container for weeks and goes well with cup of tea.

Mix Veg Pakora

Pakoras are mouthwatering snacks and everyone loves it. Pakora recipe is very simple recipe. Mix of veggies coated with besan (gram flour) & spices batter and deep fried. Specially on a rainy day it goes very well with a cup of masala tea. There are varieties of pakora recipe like Poi Leaves Pakora, Spinach Pakora, bread pakora, onion pakora, paneer pakora, chili pakora and so on.  The process of making all of them are similar however with little tweak depending on main ingredient. This recipe uses mix of vegetables like Lauki (bottle gourd), Baingan (brinjal), Zucchini, Potato, Bhindi (okra) for pakora. You can add any of your favorite vegetables. Pakora can be prepared on any occasion or just as a tea time snack. Adding rice flour makes pakora more crispy. The spicy pakora when served with tamarind & mint-coriander chutney tastes awesome.

Besan Laddoo

Besan laddoo is one of the most popular delicious Indian sweet across all over India. Besan (gram flour) laddoo made with ingredients like roasted besan, ghee or butter, sugar and flavored with green cardamom powder and pistachios. Besan laddoo is all time favorite of my kids. The aroma of roasted besan is awesome. Normally, the sweets like laddoos are made on special occasions like Diwali, Ganesh chaturthi and other festivals, however you can make any time. The recipe for besan laddoo is very simple and easy. The most important part of recipe is right level of roasting, consistency and texture of the mix. The texture of the besan ladoo is soft however you could still feel the granularity of roasted besan. You could share laddos as gift pack to family & friends and it could last for about a month.

Punjabi Pakora Kadhi

Kadhi is one of the easiest recipe which is made using gram flour (besan), yogurt( curd) and spices tadka. Normally, we make kadhi with bari. The bari made with besan and deep fried. Punjabi kadhi is made replacing bari with fried onion pakoras.  There are variety of kadhi recipe in different part of India. Punjabi pakora kadhi is one of them. For a nice aroma and taste added roasted methi leaves in this recipe. Roasted methi recipe can be found here. This mouthwatering kadhi goes well with steamed rice and roti.

Green Moong Daal Dhokla

Dhokla is a yummy savory  famous Gujarati snacks. Traditionaly, it is made with gram flour (besan) and you can play with the ingredients by adding oats, quinoa or semolina to give a little twist to the taste and flavor. This recipe is about making Dhokla using green moong daal with spinach and quinoa. Quinoa & spinach gives a unique taste to the Dhokla along with providing a natural green color to it. To make it spongy you would need fruit salt  (ENO) or baking soda. You would also need Dhokla stand and steamer to prepare this recipe.

Kalakhattha Mango Stuffed Khandvi

Khandvi is a Gujarati snacks which is made with gram flour(besan). I have shared another version of Khandvi earlier and you can find it here. Making khandvi is easy however it’s very important to get the right consistency of batter. Kalakhattha khandvi uses ingredients like Indian blackberry (Jamun), beetroot and some spices and stuffed with khatta meetha raw mango chutney or chundo. Jamun and beetroot gives a nice color and different taste then normal khandvi. The khatta meetha and tikha taste of this recipe gives a nice twist to khandvi. All colors are natural color in the recipe.