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Badushah (Balushahi)

As we all know, Indian sweets are one of the most important delicacies to celebrate any occasion. Badushai a.k.a Balushahi is one of the traditional Indian sweets that is famous across India, specifically in Southern India. This sweet is made on festivals such as Diwali and Holi. It is made from stiff dough, all purpose flour, yogurt(curd), and butter which is deep fried in oil and then soaked in sugar syrup. It is more or less similar to doughnuts however more crispy, puffy and flaky in texture. Though this sweet dish takes time to prepare, it’s worth the taste and satisfaction. It comes out best when prepared at low heat so that it cooks well.  

Methi Papdi

Papdi is a crunchy salty Indian cracker which goes well as a tea time snack. It is also used to prepare mouthwatering papdi chaat. It is served to guests during festivals like Diwali or Holi and once prepared can be stored for 2 weeks in air tight containers. The main ingredients for this recipe are all purpose flour, wheat flour, and methi (fenugreek).You can either deep fry the papdi or bake it, I have tried both and both come out very crispy. You can either use roasted methi or fresh fine chopped one. Enjoy this snack with your family and friends. 


Mutter Corn Potli

Mutter Corn Potli is a recipe which goes very well as tea time snacks or as appetizer at parties. There are variety of snacks dishes in India and many of them are the ones which are prepared fresh and served hot. Mutter Corn Potli is very similar to popular snack Samosa however with little cute shape and a slightly different filling. Potli in Hindi is referred to a small jewelry bag. The crust for this recipe is prepared using all purpose flour and filled with sauteed peas & corn with tangy spices mix. The Mutter Corn Potli tastes awesome with date & tamarind chutney. You can adjust the spicy level to your taste. Serve it with tea, coffee or even drinks.mutter-corn-potli_19

Strawberry Modak

Wishing you all a very happy Ganesh Chaturthi!!

Ukadiche Modak is a very famous Maharashtra sweet dumpling which is offered to Lord Ganesha during Ganesh Chaturthi festival celebration. Modak is made using rice flour shell which is filled with a sweet mixture of grated coconut, jaggery, poppy seeds and flavored with green cardamon and nutmeg powder. The Ukadiche modak is steam cooked. As such there are varieties of modak’s recipes like mava modak, puran modak, kesari modak and dry fruit modak. I have also published couple of modak recipes Ukadiche Modak and Indian blackberry Modak. This recipe is a another variation of modak recipe which has a filling based on strawberry. Straberry gives a unique fruit flavor as well as sweet and sour taste to the modak. Rest of the filling ingredients are same like coconut, mava and jaggery. Preparing modak first time or first few time could be a daunting task as it requires patience and some practice to get the right texture and shape. There are some modak mold available and you can try that. Strawberries

 

Green Chana Poori

Poori is a deep fried Indian bread which is famous all over India. There are many kind of pooris like a palak & beetroot poori, plain poori, bhatura, stuffed chana daal poori and so on. Delicious green chana poori is made using wheat flour, fresh green chana and palak(spinach) puree and deep fried in oil. Pooris are all time favorite of my kids and they love to eat as lunch in school so I make them very often. During the season when Green Chana is available I make pooris using it. You can find green chana in Indian store or use frozen green chana if not fresh one is not available. There are many recipes which can be prepared using fresh green chana like paratha, kabab, spiced daal, curry or so on. In this recipe I have added spinach to give a nice green color. You can skip spinach if you don’t like and make it only with chana. Green chana poori goes very well with any Indian curry, pickle or dry sabji.

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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.

 

Strawberry Chum Chum

Chum chum is delicious Bengali sweet similar to Rasogulla which is prepared using home made paneer balls soaked in to sugar syrup. Chum chum is little different as it has mawa filling and then rolled into desiccated coconut. Chum chums is generally made in oval shape. This recipe attempts to give a fruit flavored taste to Chum Chum using strawberry. If you don’t like strawberry, you can use any other fruit or skip that too. The recipe uses homemade mawa for chum chum filling. You can buy ready made mava from the store although homemade is always fresh and tastes better.

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.