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Paan Kaju Katli (Burfi)

Preparing sweets is an integral part in celebrating many Indian festivals. Diwali is around the corner and everyone will be looking for preparing a special sweet. Kaju Katli is one of the most popular sweets, and liked by everyone. This recipe is a slight twist to the original Kaju Katli recipe with a refreshing flavor of fresh paan leaves. The recipe is prepared using blended paan(betel) leaves, cashew powder, sugar and flavored with rose essence. Try this delicious sweet this Diwali and surprise your guests. 

 

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.
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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.

 

Strawberry Chum Chum

Chum chum is delicious Bengali sweet similar to Rasogulla which is prepared using home made paneer balls soaked in to sugar syrup. Chum chum is little different as it has mawa filling and then rolled into desiccated coconut. Chum chums is generally made in oval shape. This recipe attempts to give a fruit flavored taste to Chum Chum using strawberry. If you don’t like strawberry, you can use any other fruit or skip that too. The recipe uses homemade mawa for chum chum filling. You can buy ready made mava from the store although homemade is always fresh and tastes better.

Mango Angoori Rasmalai

Angoori Rasmalai is one of the most popular Bengali sweet dish which is very similar to Rasmalai and Rasogulla however the only difference is the size of the Rasmalai. Angoori Rasmalai is made exactly the same way as Rasogulla, rasmalai or Rajbhog. The tiny paneer ball soaked in milk syrup and flavored with cardamom powder and kewra & rose essence. This recipe is a slight twist to the original recipe as it uses mango puree to give a mango flavor to the Rasmalai. You can add your own fruit flavor to give it a different taste.  When served chilled, and soaked in these flavors, it tastes heavenly! It’s very tempting due to it’s smaller size and awesome taste.

Pista Sandesh

Wishing you all a very Happy Raksha Bandhan!!

Sandesh is a very famous Bengali delicacy dessert. It is a very soft dessert which melts in mouth while eating. On the occasion of Rakha Bandan, sharing this recipe for all sisters who would want to try it. The recipe is very easy to prepare and could be prepared on any occasion. It is prepared using home made paneer and filled with kesar mava and strawberry sauce. For presentation, I have used melted chocolate, whipping cream and some sugar candy and along with watermelon & blueberry. You can decorate it in your own way. Tradionally there is no filling in Sandesh however in this recipe the strawberry sauce and mava filling makes sandesh more rich and yummy.

 

Kesari & Beetroot Phirni

Phirni is a delicious dessert made in north India. It is made using coarse ground rice, sugar and milk and is flavored with cardamom, saffron and rose essence. Phirni is very similar to kheer but tastes different then kheer. This dessert made during festivals. This recipe makes two different flavors one with beetroot and another one with Kesar (saffron). Beetroot gives a nice color and unique taste to phirni and makes it more inviting.