Tilache Ladoo

A Makar Sankranti special and popular Maharashtrian recipe Tilache Ladoo also known as Tilgul.    For this you have to use the chikki jaggery.  For jaggery in Marathi we say Gul and sesame seeds Til.  These are crisp and delicious, you will not be able to stop eating at one, that's for sure.......  so here I say  "Til gul ghya ani god god bola ".

Ingredients
250 Grams Jaggery  - Chikki Jaggery
250 Grams  Sesame Seeds (Til)
1 Tablespoon Desi Ghee
4 Tablespoons  Groundnuts - roasted , skinned and crushed
8 - 10 Cashew nuts - chopped
15  Raisins
1/2 Cup  Dry Coconut -  grated and roasted 
1 Teaspoon  Cardamom powder

Method

Take a bowl, add til (sesame seeds), crushed groundnut, chopped cashews, raisins & grated coconut. Mix all the ingredients, keep aside.

Heat a kadai, add jaggery and ghee let it melt completely.   Keep stirring the mixture till the jaggery  melts completely.  Will start to  change colour, ( to check whether it's ready take a bowl of water, add  a drop of jaggery, if it forms a ball ) remove it from the flame.  Add elaichi powder and mix well.  Add the til mixture and mix well. Apply some ghee  to your hand and immediatley start making ladoos.  Serve these to your family and friends......  "Til gul ghya ani god god bola "

Labels : Festival Sweets, Ladoo, Sesame seeds, Jaggery, Maharashtra

Yeasted Jowar Naan #BreadBakers

Making this month's bread with ancient grains was really tough, since  the choice here is limited. What I could think of making is bread from Jowar / Sorghum. Again when I was surfing, came across recipes of sorghum bread using xanthan gum which is not available here. Searched for subsitutes found that Guar Gum could be used which is available here but could not find it in the market.  

Decided to try an yeasted  sorghum naan, which turned out good, but can be eaten when fresh just out of the oven, since this has no gluten it tends to crumble and dry out. It had an excellent taste but has to eaten with a gravy dish. Used boiled potato to try and bring some binding / gluten which did help in making this easy to form the naans.

I made this for our Sunday Lunch with Dal Sultani , we just enjoyed this combo. We loved this healthy bread, which I, again say can be eaten when fresh only, since one remained, checked in the evening it turned dry and crumbled. Bake the naan as per your need. If the dough is extra,  refrigerate it and use it when required.

I wish to thank Robin, for this great theme and hosting this event, in this challenge learned a lot about ancient grains.

Ingredients

2 Cups Jowar / Sorghum flour - Freshly ground
1/2 Cup Oats flour
1 Medium size potato- scrubbed n cut into half
2 Teaspoons Yeast
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Warm Water
1/2 Cup Water + 1/4 teaspoon salt to boil the potato

1 Tablespoon Black Sesame Seeds

Method

Boil the potato in the pressure cooker for 3 whistles.  Cool,  skin and grate the potato and mix it with the water that it was boiled in.  Keep aside.

Seive the flours. Add the yeast sugar and salt. Mix well,  add the potato starch and  water, a little at a time, knead to a soft dough.  Grease a bowl keep aside it to double in size.

When the dough doubles, punch the dough. Divide the dough into four parts. Place a greased parchment sheet on a baking tray make teardrop shaped naan (1/2 inch thick). Lightly moisten the naan with wet hands, then sprinkle black sesame seeds.

Keep it covered for 15 to 20 minutes to rise again.  Then bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 200 degrees. 

The bottom side when baked..

Take this hot naan dip each piece into bowl of Dal Sultani..... Enjoy .

Labels : Jowar, Naan, Bread Bakers, Breads

This month's BreadBakers' theme is Ancient Grains, hosted by Robin at A Shaggy Dough Story. Ancient grains are generally accepted to mean grains that have remained largely unchanged/un-hybridized over the last several hundred years, which means NO MODERN WHEAT. Here's what our creative bakers came up with.

• Ancient 4 Grain Breakfast Bread from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Ancient Grain Carrot Bread from The Schizo Chef
• Barley Flour Donut Muffins from I Camp in my Kitchen
• Blueberry Peach Quinoa Oatmeal Muffins from Magnolia Days
• Buckwheat Savoury Pancakes from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Dimbleby's Breastfeeding Bread from Food Lust People Love
• Eggless Sorghum and Pearl Millet Banana Muffins (Eggless Jowar and Bajra Banana Muffins) from G'Gina's Kitchenette
• Foxtail Millet Bagels from Cooking Club
• Garlic Cheesy Einkorn Crackers from The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Injera Bread from Spiceroots
• Little Millet Banana Bread from Sara's Tasty Buds
• Millet Idli from Gayathri's Cook Spot
• Quinoa Banana Bread from Wholistic Woman
• Seeded Spelt Boules from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Spelt and Buckwheat Soda Bread from A Shaggy Dough Story
• Spelt and Einkorn Sourdough with Caramelized Onions from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Spelt Bread from Hostess at Heart
• Spelt Sweet Potato Paratha from Cook's Hideout
• Teff Crepes with Spinach and Mushrooms from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Yeasted Jowar Naan from Sneha's Recipe

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page.
We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.

Rose Cookies with Eggs

Rose cookies is prepared in my house for Christmas . These are called by different names like Achu Murukku, Achappam in the South of India. These are deep fried cookies which are easy to make, yet delicious. To make these you require a mold, which is heated in oil and then dipped into the batter , there various shapes and sizes of mold in every household. I have made a flower mold. 

According to wiki these Rose cookies  are typical Anglo Indian cookie, why they are called so, I do not know. What I remember from my childhood days that my mother use to make these for Christmas. When I started working, have seen my non - christian friends from the South of India also make eggless rose cookies for Diwali.   Making these are time consuming but worth the effort.  It gives me great happiness when all are done to perfection.  My friends and relatives just wait for these cookies of mine.

Sending these to Mena's Cooking Club, this month theme is Cookies.

Ingredients

2 Cups All Purpose Flour 

3/4 Cup Rice Flour 
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar 

1 Cup Thick Coconut Milk - I used homemade
A pinch of Salt
1 Tablespoon  Black Sesame Seeds - optional

Water or Milk as required to make batter
Oil for Deep frying

Method

Sieve the rice and all purpose flour together thrice.

Beat the eggs  in a bowl,  add the flour,  sugar, salt, seeds and keep mixing using the coconut milk little at a time to make a smooth batter ( lump free).  Add  more water and make a thick and smooth batter ( lump free),  keep aside to rest for 15 minutes.  Just before making the cookies add more water to  make  a batter like for pancakes.   

To make the Rose Cookies

Take a wok or kadai pour enough oil  for deep frying,  place on heat and now place the mold into the oil.  Keep it immersed in oil till the  mold is very hot, remove from the oil and lightly dip 3/4th way only into the batter ( the batter should thick enough to coat the mold) -  then  dip it back into the oil - wait for a minute and start shaking the mold, the Cookie will leave the mold - fry the cookie on both sides till golden  remove and place on a absorbent paper to drain  excess oil.   Again place the mold in oil till hot then into the batter, continue making the cookies with the remaining batter in the same sequence.

Let  these cookies cooled completely , place in air tight containers. These remain good for  month, since we make them for Christmas , half go distribution and  remaining we have for tea.  These make a good snack and are crisp. 

Labels : Rose Cookies, Festival Sweets, Mena Cooking Club

An InLinkz Link-up

Dal Sultani - Mughlai Cuisine

This yummy dal is a Mughlai cuisine of Uttar Pradesh. Its rich and creamy .  Goes well with both rice/pulao or chapattis.

Ingredients

1 Cup Moong Dal - washed and soaked for an hour
2 Cups Water
1 Tablespoon Red Chilly Powder
1 Teaspoon Salt 

For the Gravy

200 Grams Yogurt
200 ML Milk
100 ML Fresh Cream
6 Cloves  - coarsely ground
6 Small Cardamoms  - coarsely ground
1/2 Teaspoon Saffron Strands - mix in a Tablespoon water

For Tempering:

1/2 Cup  Butter or Ghee - I used  half of each
1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds
8 Cloves Garlic  - chopped
For garnishing coriander leaves  - finely chopped
A Piece of Coal for dungar

Method

Soak lentil for half an hour, add in it water, salt, chily powder and boil the dal till its cooked. 

In a bowl mix,  yogurt,  milk and  malai,  beat  well , add the cardamon and cloves powder mix well.  

When lentils  is cooked, add in creamy mixture, stir the dal well, cook on slow flame for 10 minutes  stirring it so that it does not burn at  the bottom.  Switch off flame,  add the saffron water give it quick stir.

Prepare the tempering

Heat ghee and butter in a pan add the cumin, chopped garlic when the garlic starts to brown take off flame and pour on dal . Cover with a lid. Lastly place the lighted coal in piece of foil or a small bowl pour ghee over it and keep it over the dal covered for 5 minutes. Open garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot. We had this thick, rich, creamy and yummy dal with Yeasted Jowar Naan. 

My Notes:

This dal is not spicy so do add more chilly powder, this will ruin the taste and color of the dal.

Do skip giving dungar to the dal, as this enhances the flavor.

You can use split pigeons peas / tur dal too instead of moong dal

Labels : Dal, Moong dal, Lentils, Mughlai Cuisine, Uttar Pradesh

Ribbon Pakoda / Ola Pakoda

This is another addictive savory snack. Ribbon Pakoda is a snack that I enjoyed in my young age and still love eating it. When my daughter was schooling this was a regular snack that was in her tiffin. This is also called Ola Pakoda in Tamil. During festival eating to many sweets one gets tried,  you want something spicy and this snack balances that sweetness. Try this addictive and super easy snack.

Ingredients

2 Cups Chickpea flour / Besan
1 Cup Rice flour
A pinch Asafoetida
1 Teaspoon Red chilly powder - adjust to taste
1 Tablespoon White butter
1 Teaspoon Salt or to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method

Sieve the rice flour and besan thrice. 

In a bowl mix all the above ingredients together, add water little at a time and knead it into the  soft dough. 

Make the dough a little soft so that the it can be squeezed easily from the murukku maker.  This is plate that is used to make the ribbon / ola pakoda.

Heat oil in a kadai.  

Grease the inside of murukku press with oil.  Make a ball and put in the murukku press and press it directly in the oil. When  they turn light golden brown, flip the side and cook till light golden.  Remove pakoda and place it on a tissue paper to drain the excess oil. 

Let it cool completely and then store it in an airtight container.  Repeat the same for the remaining dough too. You can keep this for a month and enjoy this as a tea time or tiffin snack.

Labels : Savory Snacks, Festival Sweets, Chickpea flour, South Indian, Tamil Nadu