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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.

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.

 

Rava Halva (Kesari)

Rava Halva (kesari) is a popular delicious Indian sweet made from semolina (rava or sooji) during the festive season or special occasions. Rava Halwa usually served as ‘prasad’ (offering to the GOD). During Navratri festival Halva along with chana fry (sundal) and poori is offered to Goddess Durga and then distributed to the kanya ( young girls). In Northern part of India, it is called as sooji ka halva and In southern India it is called as Rava Kesari. The method of cooking is same for both the recipes. This recipe uses milk however you can use water instead of milk for the halva. Rava Halva can be served as dessert and tastes awesome with mango or red chili pickle. This is super easy recipe with amazing taste.

Indian Blackberry Ukadiche Modak

Ukadiche modak is a delicious traditional Maharashtrian delicacy which is made during Ganesh puja to worship Lord Ganesha. Modaks are made with steamed rice flour shells filled with filling made from freshly grated coconut, jaggery, nuts, flavored with cardamom powder and nutmeg. For this recipe adding Indian blackberry a.k.a. jamun puree to rice flour gave a beautiful color to the traditional modaks. The most important aspect of making modaks is getting the perfect shape which is done by making rice flour petals and requires some practice before you can get perfection. There are modak mould available in market and that makes it easier to get the right shape for modak. For traditional ukadiche modak recipe here.

Tricolor Burfi

Happy Independence Day to all of you!! Burfi is an Indian sweet dish prepared using condensed milk. There are varieties of burfi recipes however this one I made as Independence day special in three colors representing Indian flag. The three layers are prepared separately and then overlapped to make it tricolor. The burfi had a unique taste as it had three different flavors.

Roasted Methi (Fenugreek) Leaves

Methi (Fenugreek) leaves have good health benefits. The fresh leaves are used for variety of recipes like dry side dish, paratha, paneer dishes, sambhar and non-veg dishes as well.  The fenugreek leaves are aromatic has cooling effect. The methi leaves provide a unique flavor to the recipe. Fresh methi leaves are slightly bitter and can be stored only for a short duration. This recipe helps in reducing the bitterness and also can be stored longer than fresh leave and retaining the same flavor.

Wheat Methi Garlic Naan ( Without Yeast)_2

Tilkut

”Happy Makara Sankranti” !!
Tilkut (sesame seeds bar) is a winter snack and is made during the festival of Makara Sankranti. People celebrate this festival in different ways in different parts of the country. In Bihar people celebrate it by taking early shower and performing puja. They eat chuda (Poha) with Dahi(Curd) with jaggrey or sugar and Tilkut laddos along with that. Tilkut is very easy to make and tastes awesome.