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Amla (Gooseberry) Candy

Amla (Gooseberry) is a fruit which is rich source of vitamin C. It has many health benefits related to hair, eyes, diabetes and heart related disease. Generally this fruit is available during Winter in India.  You can get it from Indian stores fresh or frozen. Obviously fresh ones would taste much better than frozen. There are various recipes which you can make from Amla like pickle, khati meethi chatney, murrabba, jam or candy. This recipe is to prepare khathi meethi Amla candy which you can just eat like that as part of you daily routine. The recipe is prepared by grating the Amla and cooking on a low flame either with sugar or honey with certain spices. Amla candy can to stored in refrigerator for long term use.

Amla Candy_

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.

 

Non-Fried Veg Tofu Manchurian Dry

Vegetable Tofu Manchurian is an Indo-Chinese dish. It is a very flavorful, tangy and sweet & sour dish which everyone loves. Generally Manchurian balls are deep fried however this recipe tries a roasted Manchurian ball which gives exactly the same flavor and texture. The grated vegetables, bell peppers and tofu tiny balls, flavored with ginger-garlic and coated with varieties of sauce makes it delightful recipe. I have used Appam pan to roast the vegetable tofu balls however if you don’t have Appam pan you can either use any pan to roast for even bake it in oven. Similar to other Manchurian recipe this can either dry Manchurian or with gravy. Gravy Manchurian goes very well with Chinese fried rice or just plain rice. The dry one is perfect appetizer for your party or gathering. Also see other Manchurian recipe Gobhi Manchurian and Mix Vegetable Manchurian.

Baked Bhakarwadi

Bhakarwadi is a tea time snacks item which is traditionally a spicy Maharashtrian snacks prepared using hot spices and deep fried in oil. In this recipe instead of deep frying, I have baked it in oven however both of them tastes similar. The fillings for the Bhakarwadi can be customized to your taste. Generally it has sweet and sour taste and nice aroma of spices. The outer crust is made either from all purpose flour or a mixture of  besan and regular wheat flour. If you don’t like the baked one, you can just deep fry instead of baking. Bhakarwadi can be store in a air-tight container for weeks and goes well with cup of tea.

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.

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.

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.

Veg Pizza Pav (Dinner Roll)

Pav is an Indian bread which is used in making many street foods such as dabeli, pav bhaji, vada pav and many more. Making pav is easy and made with all purpose flour (maida) or refined wheat flour. Other ingredients include salt, milk, yeast and butter. Making pav is simple & easy however it is very important to prepare a right dough mix, dough rising and baking time. You could easily find pav (dinner roll) in supermarkets however making fresh pav at home always tastes awesome. This recipe is made with all purpose flour but you can make it using wheat flour as well. Veggie pizza pav sound interesting, isn’t? The same pav stuffed with veggies flavored with pizza seasoning. This is perfect for lunchboxes or after school snacks for kids. Pav is all time kids favorite and pizza pav would be a delicious twist to original pav. If you don’t want to make pizza pav, you could just make simple pav.