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Shubh Deepavali everyone! Hope all is well in your world. For us, Fall break ended and kiddo went back to school. While my kiddo is at school, I made her favorite Indian Mithai - Kaju Katli with a twist. This version is easier, since no sugar syrup or stove top cooking is required. All you need is a microwave and a blender. Ingredients: Phool Makhana / Fox nuts - 3 cups Cashews / Kaju - 1/2 cup (raw or roasted) Milk Powder - 1/2 cup Sugar - 1/4 cup Green Cardamom / Elaichi - 4 pods (seeds only) Saffron / Kesar - few strands Whole Milk - about 1/2 cup How to make Easy Fox-nut Milk Powder Kaju Katli: Boil milk in a microwave safe cup. Let it cool. Soak saffron strands in 1/4 cup milk and set it aside. In a microwave safe bowl or plate, add fox nuts. Microwave for a minute and stir with a spoon. Microwave for another minute. Crush one fox-nut and check if its turned crisp. For me, 2 minutes was enough. Microwave for more if required. Let the fox nuts cool down completely. In a blender, ...

Hey everyone! Long time no see! Hope all is well in your world. I am back with a healthier Indian Mithai recipe. It is gluten free and protein rich. Vegans can use Coconut Oil instead of Clarified Butter. I made this for my picky 11 year old. My kiddo eats pretty healthy, but feeding vegan protein rich beans and lentils is a work in progress. Today's sweet treat is made with Chickpea Flour and Jaggery . Jaggery also called as Good in Hindi and Gool in Marathi is a less processed form of sugar. It is darker in color like molasses . Hope you enjoy making this delicacy for your loved ones. Ingredients: Ladu Besan/ Chickpea Flour - 2 cups Ghee/Clarified Butter - 3 - 4 tbsp Jaggery Powder - 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp Saffron/Kesar strands - a pinch Cinnamon/Dalchini Powder - 1/4 tsp Nuts for garnish if you like How to make Homemade Besan Gud ke Ladoo: In a heavy bottom pan, add ghee and besan. Roast it at low or medium flame until you get a roasted aroma. Ladu Besan is a coarse form of chick...

Hey everyone! Hope you all are doing well. We are blessed with Goldilocks weather in Texas these days, especially in the mornings. I love my early morning walks on such days. Lets talk about a Sugar free Homemade Nutritious Protein Bar recipe. In January of 2023, I had blogged about Dates Syrup Laddoo . Today, I'll share an easier version of this treat using a food processor. Even Vegans can enjoy these. Ingredients: Dry desiccated Coconut - 1 cup Roasted Mixed Nuts - 1 cup  Date Syrup - about 1/2 cup Grated Nutmeg/Jaiphal - 1/8 tsp How to make Homemade Vegan Sugar Free Protein Bars: Dry roast coconut at very low flame for about a minute or until coconut slightly changes in color. Let it cool. Meanwhile, in a food processor, add roasted Mixed Nuts of your choice. Blend them in the food processor as fine or coarse you would like the nuts to be. Next, add grated nutmeg and roasted coconut. Pulse it again to mix all the ingredients well. Lastly, add Date Syrup and blend until all th...

Hey everyone! How is your summer going? Our summer break is ending soon. I am online shopping for some last minute back to school essentials. On the other hand, Hindu holy month of Shravan has begun. One of the new things I tried this season is Eggless Fruit Custard . A homemade cooling dessert for summer days. Ingredients: Eggless Custard Powder - 4 tbsp Whole Full Fat Milk - 1 litre Sugar - 2 tbsp Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 4 pods Saffron/Kesar - few strands Apple - 1 Banana - 1 Chopped Nuts - 1 tbsp How to make Fruit Custard: Heat a big thick bottom pot. Add milk, whole cardamom pods and bring it to a boil.  Pour 3 - 4 tbsp of lukewarm milk in a small bowl. Add custard powder and mix well. Make sure there are no lumps. Add saffron strands too. You can add more or less custard powder if you like. I used Eggless Pistachio Custard Powder available at a local Indian grocery store. When milk starts boiling, using a slotted spoon take out the cardamom pods. Discard the cardamom po...

Hey everyone! Hope 2023 is treating you well! I am back after a long time. With a sugar free Dinkache Ladoo recipe.  You might also know this delicacy as  Gond ke Ladoo or Antina Unde or  Kardantu . Usually, jaggery is used as a sweetener for these laddoos. I have found a healthier substitute for my family -  Organic Date Syrup . Date syrup didn't work for our waffles or pancakes, but turned out excellent for this homemade nutrition bar. Ingredients: Date Syrup - 1 cup Roasted Mixed Nuts - 1 1/2 cup Dry Coconut Powder - 1 cup Golden Raisins or Dry Cranberries - 1/4 cup Edible Gum - 1/4 cup Sesame Seeds/Til - 1 tbsp Poppy Seeds/Khuskhus - 1 tbsp Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 5 pods Vanilla Extract - 2 tsp (optional) Ghee/Clarified Butter - about 3 tbsp How to make Homemade Sugar free Dates Nuts Ladoo: Crush cardamom seeds in a mortar pestle to a fine powder. You can add saffron/kesar and/or nutmeg/jaiphal as well. Finely chop roasted nuts of your choice using a kni...

Hello world! Hope you are having an amazing day! Our week long Thanksgiving break just flew by. We got to catch up with some of our friends, after ages. For one of the potluck parties, I made this quick Microwave version of North Indian Rabdi . All my friends loved it. Do try this in your kitchen and let me know! Ingredients: Full Fat Ricotta Cheese - 2 lb Whole Milk - 1/2 cup Dark Brown Sugar - about 1/4 cup Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 4 pods (seeds only) Saffron/Kesar- few strands How to cook Ricotta Cheese Rabdi in a microwave: Crush green cardamom seeds in a mortar pestle. Set it aside. In a big microwave safe bowl, add milk and ricotta cheese. Stir well. Microwave this milk ricotta mix for 5 minutes.  Stop the microwave after every minute and stir. Cover the bowl with paper towel to avoid splattering in the microwave. If not a microwave, you can cook this in a heavy bottom pan as well. When you get the desired consistency, add sugar, crushed cardamom and saffron. Microwave for ...

  Weekends call for something special. How about an effortless Microwave Chocolate Mug Cake with Peanut Butter Cups? A sweet treat ready in less than a minute. Today's pastry chef is my 7 year old. My kiddo enthusiastically prepped and microwaved this tiny double chocolate cake. I played the sous chef, providing all the ingredients.... clicking pictures. We both had fun baking together. Hope you all love my mini chef's baking venture.  Ingredients: All Purpose Flour/Maida - 2 tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder - 2 tbsp Light Brown Sugar or Sugar - 2 tbsp Whole Milk - 4 tbsp Oil or melted butter - 1 tbsp Green Cardamom Pods/Elaichi - 2 (seeds only) Baking Powder - 1/4 tsp Salt - 1/8 tsp Peanut Butter Cups or any other chocolate topping How to make a Microwave Chocolate Mug Cake with Peanut Butter Cups? Crush the cardamom seeds in a mortar pestle. Instead of cardamom, use any flavor of your choice - cinnamon powder, vanilla extract, almond extract and so on. In a dry microwave saf...

These days I rarely make sweets. Or I must say, both cooking and blogging have taken a back seat in my life. Everything revolves around my playful toddler. Its fun to be a kid again. Schedules and plans no longer work for me. It has turned out good for me. Now, I just go with the flow. Gudi Padwa is right around the corner. And festivals are a good excuse for some sweet indulgence. How about a healthy Oats dessert! Ingredients: Instant Oats - 1 cup Unsweetened Desiccated (Dry) Coconut - 1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar - 3/4 cup Pistachios/Pista - about 2 tbsp Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 4 pods Ghee/Clarified Butter - 1 tbsp Whole Milk - 1/4 cup How to make Oats Coconut Ladoo: Crush cardamon seeds in a mortar pestle to a fine powder. Set it aside. Roughly chop pistachios. You can use any other nuts of your choice or any dry fruits like cherries or cranberries to add some color to the ladoo. Heat a heavy bottom pan and dry roast oats for a couple minutes. Make sure the oats are heated...

Wish you all a very Happy Diwali! Hope you all are having a good time.  This year's festival of lights is special for us, its our baby's first Diwali.  I could not spend much time cooking Diwali sweets or snacks, but I managed to make a few. One of them is Atte ka Laddoo , which we Konkanis call as Churmundo or Gava Pita Ladoo . Ingredients: Wheat Flour/Atta - 1 cup Powdered Sugar - 1/2 cup Ghee/Clarified Butter - 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 2 pods Whole Cashews/Kaju - 4 (optional) How to make Wheat Flour or Atta Ladoo: Crush cardamom seeds in a mortar pestle to a fine powder. Heat 1/4 cup ghee in a kadhai or a pan. Fry cashew halves until slightly brown. Set it aside. If not cashews, you can use golden raisins or any other dry fruits of your choice. In the same pan, add wheat flour. Stir well and roast the wheat flour until it turns aromatic and color slightly darkens. This is the key step in making Atte ka Ladoo. You don't want that raw smell of ...

In Indian cuisine, Khoya and Paneer are the most commonly used cheeses. Khoya, also called as Mawa is used for making Mithai (desserts). Frankly, I haven't cooked with khoya yet. But, Paneer (Indian Cottage Cheese) is something I am quite familiar with. Like any other cheese, Paneer is made by curdling milk. It is used for both sweet and savory dishes. Well, I make Paneer at home. But, on busy days, I prefer store bought Italian Ricotta Cheese as an alternative for Indian Mithai. Trust me, Ricotta cheese works perfectly fine for sweets. Here are all the Indian recipes with Ricotta Cheese as the star ingredient. I loved making Ricotta Cheese Koftas too. Ricotta Cheese Gulab Jamun Ricotta Cheese Pedha Ricotta Cheese Rasmalai (Baked) Microwave Mango Kalakand Microwave Ricotta Cheese Kalakand Oven Baked Ricotta Kalakand Microwave Badam (Almond) Burfi Microwave Ricotta Cheese Sandesh/Sondesh Ricotta Cheese Malai Kofta Curry

Happy Krishna Jayanti to all! Hope you all are celebrating with your loved ones. For this year, I made a 5 minutes Condensed Milk Coconut Ladoo . Yes, cooking time for this dessert is just 5 minutes in a microwave. Ingredients: Sweetened Condensed Milk - 14 oz (396 gm) Desiccated (Dry) Coconut - 1 1/2 cups + 1/4 cup Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 4 pods Ghee/Clarified Butter - 2 tsp Roasted Cashews - about 12 How to cook Condensed Milk Coconut Ladoo in a microwave: Crush the cardamom seeds in a mortar pestle to a fine powder. Wipe a microwave safe bowl dry. Grease the bowl with 1 tsp ghee. Add condensed milk and 1 1/2 cups desiccated coconut. Mix well. Microwave this milk and coconut mix for 3 minutes. Stop the microwave after every minute and stir. This will avoid burning. Next, add cardamom powder to the bowl and mix again. Microwave for 1 more minute.  Take a small portion of the cooked ladoo mixture and check if you can make a small round ball of it. If so, your ladoo mix...

In summer, I don't feel like spending too much time cooking. All I need are some no fuss, no cook recipes. Today's dessert is a traditional Marathi Mango yogurt delight, well known as Aamrakhand or Mango Shrikhand. My Mom used to make Aamras Puri , Aamrakhand and many other mango delicacies for us every summer. This year I made it for my little girl.

Cranberry Shira Sheera or Sooji ka Halwa or Kesari is a rich, decadent dessert traditionally made using Ghee (Clarified Butter) and with lots of dry fruits - golden raisins, cashews, almonds.  Some like to cook this sweet with milk - Milk Kesari.   Let me tell you how I make this delicacy - with store bought unsalted butter, crunchy cashews and slightly tart cranberries. Ingredients: Semolina/Rava/Sooji - 1 cup Unsalted Butter - 1/4 pound (1/2 cup) Sugar - about 1/3 cup Dry Cranberries - about 1/2 cup Cashews - about 1/4 cup Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 4 pods Nutmeg/Jaiphal - 1/8 tsp Saffron/Kesar - few strands How to make Sheera using Butter: Crush cardamom seeds and saffron in a mortar pestle to a fine powder. Roughly chop cashews and cranberries. Heat 3 cups of water in a pot.  Wait until water starts boiling.   Heat 1 tbsp butter in a kadhai or a pan.  Fry cashews in butter until cashews turn golden brown.  Keep them aside.  Now...

Puranpoli Sweets are always welcome at our place. And Puranpoli is one of our favorites. So far, you have read about Chana Dal Puranpoli and  Narala Ubbati (Coconut Puranpoli) . Let me introduce you to a third kind.. moong dal stuffed sweet flatbread - Moong Dal Ubbati or Puranpoli. Dough: Whole Wheat Flour/Atta - 1 1/2 cups Whole Milk - 3/4 cup Olive Oil - 2 tbsp Turmeric/Haldi - 1/4 tsp Mung Dal Stuffing: Mung Dal - 1 cup Light Brown Sugar - 1 cup Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 2 pods Saffron/Kesar - few strands How to cook Moong Dal Holige: Make Dough: In a mixing bowl, add whole wheat flour, turmeric and oil or ghee/clarified butter. Mix well. Now add milk, little at a time, and knead well to form a soft dough. Cover the bowl with plastic food wrap and let it rest for about 30 minutes. Using all purpose flour/maida will make the puranpolis more soft. Both milk and oil will help in softening the puranpolis. Food Mill for Puranpoli Make Moong Dal Stuffing: Soak moong ...

I am sure you all are busy preparing Diwali special sweets and snacks for your loved ones. This festive season, I tried a new Bengali sweet - Kesar Sandesh also known as Sondesh . Generally, Sandesh is made of fresh Paneer .  As you know me, I look for ways to cut down cooking time. So, here is my easy microwave recipe of Bengali Sondesh using store bought Ricotta Cheese. Ingredients: Ricotta Cheese - 15 oz (425 gm) Sugar - 3 tbsp Green Cardamom / Elaichi - 3 pods Saffron / Kesar - few strands Milk - 1 tbsp Ghee / Clarified Butter - 1 tsp Pistachios or any other nuts - 5 How to cook Easy Ricotta Cheese Kesar Sandesh in a microwave: Crush cardamom seeds in a mortar pestle to a fine powder. Finely chop nuts of your choice. Microwave milk in a small bowl for 20 seconds. Add saffron to the warm milk and set it aside for 5 minutes. Grease a dry microwave safe bowl with ghee. Add ricotta cheese and saffron milk to the bowl. Mix it well.  Microwave...

Cold weather has arrived with the beautiful fall colors in my part of the world. Every season demands special delicacies. For this winter, I made Dry Fruits Ladoo with edible gum.  Call it Antina Unde or Kardantu  (in Kannada) or Dinkache Laadu  (in Marathi) or Gond ke Ladoo (in Hindi), this sweet is like a homemade nutrition bar made of a healthy sweetener - jaggery. Ingredients: Jaggery / Gul / Gud (grated) - 1 1/2 cups Desiccated (Dry) Coconut (grated) - 3/4 cup Edible Gum / Antu / Dink / Gond - 1/4 cup Whole Almonds / Badam - 1/4 cup Whole Cashews / Kaju - 1/4 cup Dry Dates / Khajur / Kharik - 1/4 cup Dry Cranberries - 1/4 cup Poppy Seeds / Khuskhus - 1 1/2 tbsp Ghee / Clarified Butter - 5 tbsp Green Cardamom / Elaichi - 4 pods Nutmeg / Jaiphal (grated) - 1/8 tsp How to make Dinkache Ladoo or Kardantu: Crush cardamom seeds in a mortar pestle to a fine powder. Finely chop almonds, cashews, dates and cranberries, using a knife or a food processor...

Back home, for every festival, my Mom used to make a traditional sweet like Sheera, Kheer, Aamras and my Dad used to get a store bought mithai like this Chocolate Barfi. Double treat for us! It was our tradition. This year I decided to make it at home for Gudi Padwa. Happy Gudi Padwa / Ugadi everyone! Ingredients: Sweetened Condensed Milk - 396 gm (14 oz) Milk Powder - 1 1/2 cups Ghee/Clarified Butter - 2 1/2 tbsp Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 2 pods Saffron/Kesar - few strands Milk Chocolate Bar - 150 gm How to make Indian Chocolate Barfi / Burfi: Crush cardamom seeds and saffron in a mortar pestle to a fine powder.  Grease a flat plate/tray with 1/2 tbsp ghee. Add 2 tbsp ghee to a dry microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds so that it melts. To the melted ghee, add milk powder and condensed milk. Mix well with a spoon. Microwave for 3 minutes. Stop the microwave after every minute and mix. Now add ground cardamom and saffron and ...

There is something so comforting about desserts.. that sweet goodness. And nothing beats chocolate. We love white chocolate. What better occasion to make Chocolaty Nutty Fudgy Bars than Feb 14!  Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  Ever since I picked a bag of dry cranberries, this fudge was on my mind. And to make my day easier, I tried a microwave version of White Chocolate Fudge or Barfi . Ingredients: White Chocolate Chips - 1 cup Sweetened Condensed Milk - 1/2 cup Dry Cranberries - 1/4 cup Cashews/Kaju - 1/8 cup Unsalted Butter - 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp How to cook Chocolate Fudge/Barfi in a microwave: Roughly chop cranberries and cashews. I have used raw cashews. You could use roasted nuts as well. Pick your favorite dry fruits and nuts - golden raisins, cherries, dry mango, almonds/badam, pistachios/pista, walnuts/akrot, pecans. In a dry microwave safe bowl add butter. Microwave for 30 seconds so that butter melts. Add half of the melted butter to ...

Puranpoli or Holige , a lentil flatbread is an Indian traditional sweet made on the festive occasion of Holi. We Konkanis call it as Ubbati. My Mom used to make another version of this sweet delicacy, a coconut stuffed one, called as Narla Ubbati. I made a couple changes to my Mom's recipe, to save some time and to make it healthier. Here is a Whole Wheat version of Coconut Puranpoli . Dough: Whole Wheat Flour - 1 1/2 cups Milk - 3/4 cup Olive Oil - 1/4 cup Turmeric/Haldi - 1/4 tsp Coconut Stuffing: Shredded Coconut (fresh or frozen) - 1 1/2 cups Grated Jaggery/Gud/Gul  - 1/2 cup (tightly packed) Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 2 pods How to cook Coconut Stuffed Sweet Flatbread: Make Dough: In a mixing bowl, add whole wheat flour, turmeric and oil. Mix well. Now add milk, little at a time, and knead well to form a soft dough. Cover the bowl with plastic food wrap and let it rest for about 30 minutes. Using all purpose flour/maida will make the puranpolis more soft. ...