Ghevar With Raspberry Rabri

Ghevar is a very popular Rajasthani dessert which is prepared during festivals like Teej, Rakshabandhan or any other special occasion. Traditionally, this awesome dessert goes really well with milk rabri. In this recipe, I have used rabri with raspberry and mango yogurt which gives it a sweet and sour taste and neutralizes its sweetness. At first it is a little complicated recipe to prepare however once you get a hang of it, it comes out really well and the effort is worth it. Ghevar is made using all purpose flour batter and deep fried in oil or ghee. Ghevar has a light, lacy and crispy texture. The two very important aspects of making Ghever are batter consistency and oil/ghee temperature. The right batter brings out the lacy texture and oil/ghee temperature helps it to rise and give the right shape and texture. Once ready, it is soaked in sugar syrup before serving. The ghevar can be stored in air tight containers for up to 2 weeks, and just before serving, soak in warm sugar syrup and garnish with raspberry rabdi and mango yogurt. I am so excited to share this recipe as it is my first time making it, and took me couple attempts to get it right.

Tulsi Ginger Lemongrass Tea

Tea is a very common hot beverage in India which is made using milk, sugar, water and dried tea leaves. Many people feel relaxed and fresh after drinking this beverage. It is also one of the commonly served beverage to guests along with salty snacks. There are varieties for tea available like green tea, herbal team, lemon tea and so on. This tea recipe is a simple recipe with added benefits of Tulsi leaves, Ginger and Lemongrass. Tulsi leave is an Indian herb also known as Indian Holy basil and it’s plant is worshiped in India. All the three ingredients are anti-bacterial and have lots of health benefits. This tea also helps when one has cough, cold and throat pains in winter and helps in fighting infections.

Wheat Berries & Stir Fry Veggies

Wheat berries is a whole grain which is good source of protein and fiber. You can prepare various recipes using wheat berries like cereal, salad or soup. You could also grind it to make flour and prepare flour based recipes. Wheat berries could take little long to cook so cooking in pressure cooker is advisable however you can cook it in a open pan too at low to medium heat. Wheat berries can be served with red beans curry, chicken curry or any other curry. For this recipe I have used stir fired vegetable along with wheat berries which make is simple, healthy and a light meal. You could always change the mix of veggies as per your choice and adding a tandoori masala to fried veggies give a zesty flavor.

Beet Greens Rice Roll

Leafy vegetables like spinach, mustard, kale or beet root are very healthy and everyone should add them as part of their meal plan on daily basis. This recipe is inspired from Japanese Sushi although completely vegetarian and a different texture. The recipe is very easy to prepare basically just saute beet greens with garlic and roll it into brown rice. When served with red beans sauce it tastes amazing. I have used brown rice however you can use any other rice whichever you like. The rolls can also be served with fried yellow daal and it tastes awesome with that too. The green beets can also be just eaten with Rice, Paratha or Roti. Add this recipe as part of you lunch or dinner and enjoy!

Lavang Lata ( Latika)

Lavang Lata, a sweet for which we were crazy in our childhood. Every time we went to market for some shopping, the desire to eat this sweet used to make us pester our parents until they actualy bought it. It’s a Bengali sweet however pretty famous in Eastern UP and Bihar too. This sweet is made during festivals like Durga puja, Dipawali or Holi as well as readily available in sweet shops but homemade tastes always better. Lavang Lata is crispy on outer surface and little juicy inside. The outer layer is made using all purpose flour and it is filled with mix of milk mava and nuts. The outer layer is sealed using lavang (clove) which gives a exotic aroma to it. When served warm it tastes awesome. The richness of mava, nuts and ghee give a delicious taste. Indulge at your on risk or ensure you do some good exercise after enjoying it.

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.

Sambar Polenta (Cornmeal)

Polenta aka cornmeal is granules of corn available in grocery stores all around. The Polenta is cooked in many ways like it can be baked, grilled or fried. This recipe is prepared using boiled Polenta which is typically simmered in water with salt and ghee or butter. Polenta takes a little long time to cook and creamy texture.You could each boiled Polenta as is or It can be served many different ways. For this recipe we would prepare a sambar to serve with Polenta. Sambar is a south Indian soup which is prepared using mix of vegetables of your choice, toor daal and special sambar masala. In this recipe, I have also added green pigeon peas along with toor dal to get twist in sambar taste. There are varieties of sambar recipes available and you can use anyone if you like or you can use your own sambar recipe. Polenta used to be one of common meal item when I was young and my grand mother use to make it and serve with toor dal and spicy curry. In northern India is it referred as “Makki ka bath”. I literally love Polenta and every time I make it, it bring memories from childhood. Polenta with sambar was an awesome combination and very delicious, you could also try it with rasam.

Tricolor Parfait

Wishing all my Indian friends a very Happy Republic Day!!

This Tricolor Parfait recipe is inspired by the beautiful colors of the Indian Flag. This day brings a lovely childhood memory when it was celebrated in schools with flag hosting, various cultural functions and at the end of celebration sweet especially Motichoor Ladoos were distributed to every one. The recipe is prepared using mainly three ingredients using lauki (bottle gourd), sweet yogurt and sweet fine boondi. The green cardamon, rose and kewra essence gives an amazing taste to the recipe. The three layers arranged in a fancy glass container make this recipe very soothing to the eyes and appealing. Some of the process are lengthy like getting hung curd so plan ahead for those. I have separately posted the recipe for Motichoor Ladoo which is required for this recipe. However I have mentioned the ingredient for boondi here for easy reference.