One Day At A Time!

Rava Naralache Ladoo are sweet balls made of semolina and coconut. Though coconut is added, these are also known as Rava Ladu . Generally, these ladoos are made in a sugar syrup. But I have used sweetened condensed milk instead, which I find easier as compared to sugar syrup. The only drawback is that condensed milk ladoos need to be refrigerated. Ingredients: Semolina/Rava/Sooji - 1 cup Desiccated (Dry) Coconut - 1 cup + 1/2 cup Sweetened Condensed Milk - 400 gms (14 oz) Walnuts/Akrot and Pistachios - 1/4 cup Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 2 pods (seeds only) Saffron/Kesar - few strands How to make Condensed Milk Rava Naralache Ladu: Heat a heavy bottom pan and add semolina. Once the pan heats up well, lower the heat. Roast the semolina at low flame until it turns aromatic and turns slightly golden brown. Turn off the heat and add 1 cup desiccated coconut. Mix well.  Crush the cardamom seeds to a fine powder in a mortar pestle. Roast the walnuts and...

Chikki is a nut bar which is made of either peanuts, cashewnuts, sesame (til) seeds or mixed dry nuts.  I prepared Gulachi (Jaggery) Chikki adding peanuts.  This Chikki can be made using sugar too.  You can use a mix of any of your favourite nuts like walnuts, almonds, pecans etc. Ingredients: Roasted Peanuts/Groundnuts/Shenga - 1 cup Grated Jaggery/Gud/Gul - 1 cup Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 2 pods Saffron/Kesar - a pinch (optional) Ghee/Clarified Butter How to prepare Chikki: 1. I used the store bought Unsalted Roasted Skinless Peanuts.  Crush the peanuts in a mortar pestle just enough to break each peanut into 2 or 4 pieces.  You can use coarse peanut powder as well. 2. Crush the cardamom seeds to a fine powder.  Grease a plate with few drops of clarified butter and set it aside. 3. Heat a thick bottom vessel.  Add 1/4 cup water and grated jaggery.  Keep stirring to avoid burning.  Let the jag...

Puranpoli in Marathi, Ubbatti in Konkani, Holige in Kannada is a traditional sweet made especially during the festival of colors - Holi. In other words, Puranpoli is  a sweet paratha stuffed with lentils.

Every recipe brings back some good old memories. As a child, I used to assist my Mom in her kitchen. Mom used to assign some recipes to me.. Lemonade, Chai, Shikran, Aamras and all the easy stuff. Being Moms's sous chef was total fun with a sense of accomplishment. Here is the easy Aamras Puri which kids love and is perfect for entertaining guests too. Ingredients: Mangoes/Aam - 4 medium Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 1 pod Wheat Flour - 4 cups Brown Sugar or Sugar - 1 tsp Salt Oil How to make Aamras Puri: Wash and peel the mangoes. Dice the mango flesh and discard the mango seed. Blend the mango flesh with about 1/2 tsp brown sugar to a smooth puree. You can add a little milk too.  Crush the cardamom seeds in a mortar pestle to a fine powder. Pour the mango puree in a bowl and sprinkle cardamom powder on top. Making Puris : In a mixing bowl, add wheat flour, 1/2 tsp brown sugar and little salt. Add water and knead to form a firm dough, not as soft as chapati ...

Nevri in Konkani is a coconut stuffed sweet snack.  Also known as Karanji in Marathi. Ingredients: All Purpose Flour/Maida - 1 cup Semolina/Rava/Sooji - 1/4 cup Grated Coconut - 1 1/2 cups Sugar - about 1/2 cup Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 4 pods (seeds only) Salt Oil How to make Nevri or Karanji: In a mixing bowl, add all purpose flour, semolina and salt. Mix and make a well in the centre. Add 1 tbsp oil and mix again. Now add water and knead well to form a firm dough. Add little more oil and knead again to slightly soften the dough. Keep the dough covered for an hour or so. Grind the grated coconut using little water so that the coconut turns to a coarse powder, about a minute. Heat about 1 tbsp ghee/clarified butter or oil and add the ground coconut.  Saute for few minutes at low flame. Now add sugar and continue cooking till the coconut stuffing turns to a dry powder. Turn off the heat and add cardamom powder. You can a...

HAPPY MAKAR SANKRANTI!  HAPPY PONGAL!  A Sankranti special sweet rice with lentils. Ingredients: Mung Dal/Split Green Gram - 1/2 cup Raw Rice - 1 cup Grated Coconut (fresh or frozen) - about 3/4 cup Jaggery or Brown Sugar - about 1/2 cup Cashews - 10 Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 5 pods Ghee/Clarified Butter Method: 1. Heat about 2 tbsp ghee in a heavy bottom pan.  Add mung dal (or whole mung bean with skin) and roast at low flame.  Saute till mung dal turns aromatic, about 5 minutes.  Save it for later. 2. Heat about 2 tbsp ghee in the same pan and add rice.  (I used Basmati, you can use your favourite variety of rice.)  Saute till rice turns fragrant, about 5 minutes. 3. In the same vessel, to the roasted rice, add roasted mung dal and 4 - 5 cups water.  Cook till both rice and mung dal turn soft.  Add more water if required. 4. When both rice and dal get cooked, add coconut, b...

A popular Bollywood dessert, Gajar ka Halva.

This is a recipe shared by my aunt, Mrs. Seema Shahapurkar.  I liked the twist of using boiled potato in Nariyal Burfi.  Hope you all like it too. Ingredients: Grated Coconut - 4 cups Grated Boiled Potato - 1 cup Sugar - about 1 cup Cardamom/Elaichi pods - 5 Ghee/Clarified Butter - about 2 tbsp Method: 1. Mix the grated (fresh or frozen) coconut and grated boiled potato.  Blend/Grind in a mixer so that coconut and potato get mixed well.  Add water while grinding if required.  2. Grind the cardamom to a fine powder. 3. Heat about 2 tbsp ghee in a kadhai or a heavy bottom pan.  Add the coconut potato mixture, sugar and ground cardamom.  Saute at low flame till the sugar dissolves.  Taste for sweetness and add more sugar if required.  Continue cooking till moisture is lost and a lump starts forming, about 25 minutes.  Cooking time will increase if water is added while grinding. 4. Grease a tray/plate with ghee.  Po...

Around midweek ...Wednesdays, Thursdays, one thought crosses my mind.... What special shall I cook for this weekend?  Sometimes, I go through my blog's older posts just to see what is my blog missing.  Its a win win.  We get to try new delicacies to satiate our taste buds and my blog gets a new post.  Turns out today is the turn for Shahi Tukda which is also called as Double ka Meetha .  Recently, I found out another name for this dessert - Bread Rasmalai where the bread slices are round in shape.

Chaimui is a Konkani dessert made from curdled milk.  In summer, milk gets spoilt easily.  You can make this dessert with such curdled milk.  If you dont like using spoilt milk, you can use lemon juice and a dessert like Kalakand is ready.  Cooking time is 5 - 10 minutes, much lesser than Kalakand. My Dear Aai's easy recipe -:) Ingredients: Milk - 500 ml Lemon juice - 1 tsp Sugar - about 2 tsp Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 1 pod Pistachios or any nuts - 4 (optional) Method: 1. Heat milk in a heavy bottomed vessel.  After milk starts boiling, turn off the gas and add lemon juice.  Milk will start curdling.  (In case of spoilt milk, follow the method from step 2 as lemon juice is not required to curdle milk.) 2. Once the chenna settles, sieve/strain through a strainer.  Use a spoon to press out excess water.  Discard the liquid. 3. Add the chenna in a heavy bottomed vessel and cook for 2 minutes.  Add sugar, grou...

Some homemade Indian sweets are absolutely delectable... like this Sheera .  Bollywood Moms have made it famous as Sooji ka Halwa . In Southern India, sheera is known as Rava   Kesari . It is made for Prasad as well.  At our place,   Sheera is my Dad's signature dish with a lot of ghee.   My Dad makes Sheera adding fruits like pineapples, bananas and sometimes mango. For now, lets eat Ananas Sheera . Ingredients: Canned Pineapple Chunks - 227 gm (about 1 cup) Rava/Sooji/Semolina - 1 cup Ghee/Clarified Butter - 5 tbsp Sugar - about 1/4 cup Water - 3 cups Cashews/Kaju or any other dry fruits - 1/4 cup Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 2 pods Saffron/Kesar - few strands How to cook Pineapple Sheera: Crush cardamom seeds and saffron in a mortar pestle to a fine powder. Finely chop the pineapple chunks. Roughly chop cashews. Add 1 tbsp ghee in a pan and fry cashews until slightly brown. Keep it aside. In the same pan, add the remaining 4 tbsp ghee. Add...

Kalakand is a popular Indian sweet made of paneer/cottage cheese and condensed/evaporated milk.

Easy and quick snack made of parched rice or Poha and requires no cooking at all. This Konkani recipe of Godda Phovu  is made of thin Poha also known as flattened rice or beaten rice or parched rice. Konkani phovu recipes are both sweet and savory. Savory Poha recipes are similar to Maharashtrian Dadpe Pohe . Today I am sharing a simple sweet recipe which needs only 5 ingredients. And with thawed frozen coconut, I need less than 15 minutes for this sweet treat. This recipe can also be made by preparing a sugar syrup, but I always go with the easiest one.

HAPPY GUDI PADWA!  HAPPY UGADI!   May this New Year fulfill all your wishes.  Here is a traditional Konkani Kheer Madgane.   Generally this is made soaking rice.  I used rice flour instead.  Traditionally, coconut milk is used for this payasam.  But dairy milk makes it equally yummy. Ingredients: Chana Dal/Split Bengal Gram - 1 1/2 tbsp Coconut Slices - about 1 tbsp Rice Flour - 1 tbsp heaped Milk - 3 cups  Cashews/Kaju - 5 Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 2 pods (seeds only) Jaggery or Brown Sugar - 3 tbsp Method: 1. In a thick bottomed vessel add 1 cup water, chana dal and coconut slices.   Cook till chana dal turns soft.  Add more water if required. 2. Meanwhile, mix rice flour with 1/2 cup milk in a bowl.  Mix well to avoid lumps. 3. After chana dal gets cooked, add milk.  To this add the rice flour mixed with milk.  Keep stirring. 4. Add jaggery, ground cardamom, cashew pie...

I am a great fan of both Bottle Gourd and Ash Gourd desserts.  Luckily, I found Bottle Gourd at the Indian Store.  Here is the recipe for Dudhi Halwa.  For garnishing, you can even use pistachios or green grapes. Ingredients: Grated Bottle Gourd/Dudhi - about 2 cups  Ghee/Clarified butter - 1 tbsp Milk - about 1 cup Cardamom - 2 pods Cashews - 4 Almonds - 4 Sugar - 6 tsp Method: 1. Soak almonds in water  for about 15 min so that the skin comes off easily. 2. Peel the bottle gourd skin, remove the seeds and grate it.  While grating, bottle gourd leaves some water.  3. In a kadhai/ wok add grated bottle gourd with its water and about 1 tbsp ghee.  Mix well and cook it covered.   4. When bottle gourd gets cooked or turns transparent, add milk and ground cardamom. 5. When milk starts boiling, add cashew and almond pieces.  Keep stirring. 6. Add sugar when milk is reduced in quantit...

Shikran in Marathi, Ashale in Konkani is a very quick dessert. Shikran with Poli/Chapati also tastes good. Ingredients: Banana/Kele - 1 Milk - 1 cup Sugar - 2 tsp Cardamom/Elaichi - 1 How to make Kele Shikran: Boil milk and let it cool. Add sugar and stir till it dissolves. Now a dd thin slices of banana. Stir again.  Sprinkle ground cardamom and serve. Add few saffron/kesar strands if you like.

For me, Sabudana or Sago is synonymous to Upvaas/Vrat or fasting.  My Mom used to cook a sago delicacy every Monday for her fasts.  And we too enjoyed those treats equally...  Sabudana Khichdi ,  Sabudane Wade . Today, I made Sago Kheer or Payasam in my US kitchen for the first time. I am not sure if Tapioca and Sago are one and the same.

I am reminiscing the day when I entered my Mangalore kitchen for the first time. I wanted to cook something special for my husband and in-laws. With a little nervousness I served Basundi as a dessert and it was a hit. Every time I prepare this sweet I am reminded of that day and I keep thinking how could I forget Puri with Basundi. This is my story about Basundi and hope you create a cherishable memory for yourself with this recipe. Ingredients: Whole Milk - 4 cups Sugar - 1 tbsp Saffron/Kesar - few strands Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 2 pods Almonds/Badam - 2 Pistachios - 2 Charoli/Chironji - 1 tsp How to prepare Basundi: Crush cardamom seeds and saffron in a mortar pestle to a fine powder. Chop the nuts of your choice and whole charoli. Boil milk in a thick bottom vessel, keep stirring.  The thicker the milk, the quicker it will reduce. I prefer whole milk or full fat milk. As such, Basundi is quite easy to make and nothing is tricky here. But to av...

For me, Vermicelli or Semiya Kheer is the easiest Indian dessert. A delicious, yummy one to end a meal.  Also known as Shavige Payasam . Ingredients: Vermicelli/Shavige/Semiya/Shevai - 1 cup Milk - about 4 cups Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 2 pods (seeds only) Almonds/Badam - 4 Cashews - 4 Pistachios - 4 Walnuts/Akrot - 1 Sugar or Brown Sugar or Jaggery - 3 tbsp Ghee/Clarified Butter - 2 tsp How to make Vermicelli Kheer: Roast the nuts in a pan or a microwave for few minutes so that the skin comes off easily. Chop the nuts of your choice into small pieces. You can add dry grapes/raisins as well. Heat ghee is a thick bottom vessel. Add vermicelli and roast at low flame till vermicelli changes color and turns crisp. Add more ghee if you like. After vermicelli turns golden brown, add milk to vermicelli. When milk starts boiling add chopped nuts and keep stirring to avoid burning. Continue cooking and stirring til...