Christmas is round the corner and its but natural for one to get into the mood of cookies and cakes, but since I don’t have a conventional oven to bake my goodies in, I have to search for other options and yet fulfill my desire of baking those perfect cookies for my little ones. I wanted to bake something nutritious and tasty at the same time. I had a big bottle of peanut butter waiting for me in the refrigerator, so I thought why not make good use of it. Since I am off eggs, here is a nutritious eggless cookie which doesn’t need baking, just blend the ingredients together, so you can involve your little ones in this project too.
Ingredients
Quick cooking oatmeal – 3 cups
Coconut or peanut butter - 1 cup
Cocoa – 1/2 cup
Sugar - 2 cups Milk – 3/4 cup
Butter - 1/4 lb/ 450 gms/ 1 stick
Method
In a bowl mix oatmeal and/or coconut and/or peanut butter. You can use both coconut and peanut butter or one of the two ingredients. If you are using both then use half cup coconut and half cup peanut butter. Now I had the chunky version of peanut butter at home, this actually enhanced the flavor of the cookies as it gave that nutty crunch to it. Once you mix these ingredients keep it aside.
Cut the butter into pieces.
In 2-quart casserole, combine sugar and cocoa. Stir in milk, then add butter, cut into pieces. Cook on high for 3 minutes, uncovered, or until boiling. Stir, then cook 3 minutes on high, stirring every minute. Add oatmeal and coconut (or peanut butter or enough of both to measure 1 cup). Cook on high for a minute. Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper to harden. If you 're in a hurry, they may need to be refrigerated to harden.
This song is from the Hindi movie Shirdi Ke Saibaba, a film based on the life of Saibaba, ‘Deepavali manaye suhani. reminds us of how Saibaba lighted lamps in a poor girl’s house with water for Deepawali, so that she can also light lamps and enjoy the festival.
Here is the video for all of you to enjoy;
Diwali as everyone knows is the Hindu Festival of Lights," where people light small lamps. Lighting the lamps signifies victory of good over the evil within an individual. In Hinduism, across many parts of India and Nepal, it is the homecoming of Lord Ram of Ayodhya, after 14-years of exile in the forest and his victory over the evil demon-king Ravan. In the legend, the people of Ayodhya (the capital of his kingdom) welcomed Ram by lighting rows (avali) of lamps (deepa), thus its name: Deepavali. Over time, this word transformed into Diwali in Hindi and Dipawali in Nepali, but still retained its original form in South and East Indian Languages.
(Some of theInfo courtesy – Wikipedia)
Diwali preparations started about a week before with all of us removing cobwebs, washing and wiping the whole house with soap, bleach and water and doing our annual spring cleaning, the old clothes we donated for charity. We also did some shopping for clothes, shoes etc.
Yo put up the serial lights outside the house and inside the mini temple in my house. We also hung 2 lanterns one bought by us from Chaing-Mai(Northern Thailand) and one brought by my parents from India as my little one had demanded from my parents for a lantern(kandeel)from India for Diwali.
This year I was blessed to have my parents with me for Diwali. The fun was doubled, "the more the merrier" I made Ribbon Pakoda, Chocolate malai barfi and plain non-spicy rice chaklis at home. We ordered a few sweets from outside as well, as, during this time the sweets available in the market are usually fresh.
I put color rangoli outside the house and my mom (amma) put maa-kolam (rangoli drawn with rice flour, refer to link on maa-kolam for my article on the same in my blog)
The Maa-kolam was put by amma in the morning and I had put the color rangoli on the eve of Deepavali day. Everyday we put a new rangoli & kolam for 5 days.
In Singapore all the ladies apply Mehendi(Henna Art) for Deepavali, so my little girl wanted mehendi on her hands as well, so I took upon myself the task of drawing mehendi for all at home. We bought some sparklers and some bite-sized bombs which are the only crackers that we can buy here. We bought sparklers with some variation this time. The sparklers spit fire out from inside.The crackers available in Singapore are very safe and boring, but something is better than nothing to reminisce us of our biggest festival. Every evening for about 6 days my daughter had fun bursting crackers though. My little one was also watching it with awe.
I kept all the new clothes on a tray in front of God on the eve of Diwali day.
On the Diwali day, We all got up early in the morning.I lighted small earthern lamps also known as Diyas all over the house.
Amma applied oil for me and I applied for all the others. Oil is usually applied on the head and the body and we must soak for a while and then we took bath with scented hot water, infused with rose water, fresh jasmine flowers and rose petals.
We applied “Utna”which is a scented herbal powder. Amma also had brought Moti sabun(Gulab and Sandal)…..Now my husband Yo always used to take bath on Diwali day with “Moti” soap while in Pune, so he feels very special about using Moti soap….luckily my parents were coming so I asked them to get the soap for him as a surprise. He says it’s a Diwali special soap, so be it, enjoy.
After bath, we all wore our new clothes dabbed with some kumkum on some inconspicuous side for everything to be auspicious. Had sweets, burst some crackers and then went to the temple.
We had a grand lunch and in the evenings all the Indians in our vicinity met at the play area and burst crackers. We exchanged sweets and savories with our neighbours and friends and this marked a joyous celebration for us.
WISH ONE AND ALL A HAPPY & PROSPEROUS DIWALI AND MAY THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS BRING UPON CHEER FOR ALL.
I would like to send this to Priti’s Festive Food Event – Diwali Celebrations
INSTANT CHOCOLATE- MALAI BARFI WITH A TWIST REVISITED
Since my first attempt last Diwali I have made these 3 times, this being my third attempt. It is such a hit in my house, that it gets difficult for me to save it for the guests. The best part is I can make it in a jiffy, It takes all of 15 minutes to make this exotic sweet. What can beat it!!!!!!!
Minimum ingredients, minimum time and minimum labor….only maximum love.
The guests are impressed, the hubby is impressed and my kid is drooling over it. The disappearing cakes are proof for it. So why not make it again, so I made it again with a twist. This time I added 6 squares of Cadbury’s dairy milk chocolate, this not only gave my chocolate layer a deep chocolate color but also gave the chocolate layer a more chocolatey taste….see how…..below
Ingredients:
Milk powder - 2 cups
Almond meal (Powdered almond (skinless))- 1 cup (You can get it in the “baking needs” section of most shops)
Thickened cream - 300 ml
Castor Sugar (powdered sugar) - 3/4 cup
Cocoa powder - 1 tbsp
6 squares of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate Method:
Cadbury’s dairy milk comes in a big block of small squares. Break exactly 6 squares and melt on high for a second. Keep aside
Mix all the ingredients except cocoa powder in a large microwavable bowl.
Mix well and place bowl in a microwave oven for 4 minutes on high cook.
Remove bowl and stir mixture. Place again for another 4 minutes.
Transfer half the mix in a greased plate.
Quickly blend in the cocoa and the melted cadbury’s dairy milk into the remaining mix and pour over the barfi in the plate and spread evenly. After that for half a minute keep in the microwave again so that it is set. Cool and cut into the shape of your desire.
Blanched nuts can be sprinkled on top along with silver varq (foil).
Your exotic Chocolate Malai Barfi is ready to serve.
WISH ONE AND ALL A HAPPY DEEPAWALI AND MAY THIS FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS BRING CHEER TO YOU’LL
Here is a recipe for Ribbon pakoda, a crispy savory which is always made in my house for Deepawali (Diwali). It is known as Ribbon pakoda, because it is in the shape of Ribbons. Diwali is an excuse to make it, so I made good use of this excuse and churned out 2 bucketfuls of this savory. This stays for a long time and I always enjoy this more with my evening cup of tea later on. As they say, the person who cooks looses his apetite, so, on the day that I make the ribbon pakoda, other than the cursory bite to taste salt, spice etc. I don’t actually sit and eat it with relish. I do that on the other days following Diwali. It feels good as if someone else has prepared it for you.
Ingredients
Chickpea/ Gram flour (Besan) - ½ cup
Rice flour -1 cup
Butter – ½ tbsp (Unsalted butter would be nice, zero cholesterol Margarine can also be used)
Asafetida – ½ tsp
Chilly powder – 3 tsps full
Cumin powder – 1-2 tsps (If freshly roasted and ground it would be nice)
Salt as per taste
Oil for deep frying
Method:
In a big bowl, add the flours, add butter/margarine, asafetida, chilly powder, cumin powder and salt and mix well. Always mix the flour with all the masalas first before adding water, this ensures that everything mixes well. Now add water and mix well till you have soft pliable dough like chappati. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Meanwhile in a wok, add oil, while the oil is getting heated, Take a Murukku press also known as “Naazhi” in Tamil, Choose the plate with a slit as shown in the picture.. Once you insert the plate, fill in the mixed dough and close the Naazhi. Squeeze into the hot oil into circles, as big as the pan can hold. After a while, turn to the other side, fry until golden brown. The oil stops frothing that indicates that it is done. Remove the circles and place on a kitchen towel to absorb the excess oil. When it is cool, you can store the ribbon pakodas in air-tight tins and enjoy this crispy savory with your evening tea or coffee.
I would like to send this recipe for Priyanka’s Festive Food Event –“Onam”. I would like to send one of the best and most liked desserts of Kerala “Pal Payasam”
PAL PAYASAM(MILK RICE PUDDING)
Kerala’s “most” famous sweet dish (dessert) can easily be the traditional Pal Payasam. If you go for a traditional Kerala-Iyer wedding, you won’t fail to notice that the Pal payasam is not only served at the beginning of the meal on the plantain leaf but also during the course of the meal in massive quantities. It is served in the beginning, as we believe that every meal must start with a sweet marking sweet beginnings, It will be served again during the course by friendly “massive serving” (they always serve a lot of payasam and keep coming back to serve you more) traditional waiters clad in their white veshtis(mundus) (The veshti is a long white/off-white(cream) cloth worn around the waist and reaching below the ankles, but in Kerala, it is usually folded half way up and tucked into the waist belt fold revealing the knees to aid in easy movements while serving) and Angavastrams(a white shawl on the shoulder) serving the Pal Payasam after the rasam course and before the yogurt course which usually marks the last course of the meal, normally the payasam is served. The waiters(or sometimes relatives) who wait upon the guests to ensure that everything is served liberally and the guests are happy and satisfied usually pour the payasam from huge ladles onto the banana leaf. The guests usually relish this delicacy by trying their best not to allow it to cascade out of the banana leaf, it would be a scoop (pushing it with your palm) and a lick action….first the payasam must be deftly scooped with the hand and then licked or slurped out of it….and I have seen people enjoying it so much, although I prefer mine in a kinnam (a small bowl) as I don’t like the sweet to mix with the salted remnants of the sambhar or rasam after which course the payasam is usually served. Nor do I like the sweet remnants of the payasam stuck to my elai (plantain leaf) which will spoil the taste of my thair chadam (curd rice / yogurt rice). But I know people who would swear by how it tastes when eaten right out of a banana leaf….so slurpy and so yummy, tickling and tantalizing your taste buds.
All payasams are generally made in the Urali (a traditionally used wide mouthed flat & thick bottomed pan) and they are stirred and stirred until they get a faint pink color.
PAL PAYASAM Ingredients:
Milk – 1 and ½ litre
Rice - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Cardamom Powder – a teaspoon Cashewnuts - 1 tbsp broken into slivers
Raisins – 1 tbsp
Ghee – 1 tbsp
Method:
Boil the one litre milk in a vessel and once boiled remove from fire.
Take the half litre milk in separate vessel. Add washed rice to the boiling milk and cook for 5 to 10 minutes stirring once in a while. If the rice gets cooked in the milk slowly, the payasam tastes better , you must cook the rice till it is soft and mashed well,
but if you want to quicken your cooking time,
Add your washed rice and half litre milk in the cooker and cook upto 2 whistles(or as per your normal rice cooking time). Once this rice is cooked.
Take an Urali, add the rest of the milk i.e the boiled one litre milk and the cooked rice and milk and keep stirring constantly.
Add sugar and stir till it is dissolved. Keep stirring on a low flame till the Payasam gets a faint pink colour. Once done, remove from fire.
In a small pan. take some ghee, fry the cashewnuts, raisins and cardamom powder and pour on top of the Payasam.
Your Pal Payasam is ready.
This is a Quick recipe, as using condensed milk reduces the cooking time of the Payasam.
Ingredients Milk -1 Litre (since we are using condensed milk, we can reduce the quantity of milk)
Condensed Milk ½ Cup Rice -1 Cup
Sugar - 1 Cup
Cardamom Powder – a teaspoon
Cashew nuts 1 tbsp broken into slivers
Raisins – 1 tbsp
Ghee – 1 tbsp
Method Cook rice in pressure cooker till 1 whistle. In an Urali, Take the milk, add the cooked rice and sugar and stir till the sugar is dissolved. Add the condensed milk. Keep stirring on a low flame till the Paysam gets a faint pink colour. Once done remove from fire.
In a small pan take some ghee, fry the cashewnuts, raisins and cardamom powder and pour on top of the Payasam. Your Pal Payasam is ready.
Tip : Since condensed Milk is already sweet, the sugar can be reduced to ½ a cup, as many people don’t like very sweet Payasam. Also after adding the condensed milk, if you feel more sweet is required u can always add sugar and stir till it dissolves. I always recommend the taste and cook method.
TAG
Priti of Indian Khanna has tagged me '7 Facts about me'. Thanks dear for tagging me. We come to know a lot about our fellow bloggers through these tags.
Here are the rules
(a) List these rules on your blog.
(b) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.
(c) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
I am a people’s person. I love to have a lot of people around me always.
I love my family.
I am traditional as well as modern. I love to wear a saree and adorn jewelry and at the same time love to wear western clothes.
I will rush to help people no matter what
I am addicted to 2 cups of tea a day and badly addicted to the internet.
I love reading romance, Enid Blyton fairy tales until now and comics(there’s a kid in me still).
I like listening to music whether it be Kenny G, The Cure or Fusion Bhajans or M.S. Subbulakshmi.
I would love pass along this tag to Usha, EC, Sireesha, Sagari, Raaji, Sowmya and Kitchen Flavours
Starting from today is Ganesh Chaturthi also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi in the south. Its the birthday of our darling God Ganapati. Elephants are one of the most loved animals in India and all over the world. And our Lord Ganesha is half elephant and half human, so you can imagine how loved he is. Kids love this God. Lord Ganesha loves Bananas, coconuts and sweets. I was surprised to see a very big idol of Lord Ganesha at the World Trade Centre in Bangkok in Thailand and he was worshipped by the Thais with equal fervor, so is the charm of our darling Lord Ganesha.
Story of Lord Ganesha
Lord Ganesha was created by Goddess Parvati. This is a very interesting story.
According to the legend, Lord Shiva, the Hindu God of resolution, was away at a war. His wife Parvati, wanted to bathe and having no-one to guard the door to her house, conceived of the idea of creating a son who could guard her. Parvati created Ganesha out of the sandalwood paste that she used for her bath and breathed life into the figure. She then set him to stand guard at her door and instructed him not to let anyone enter.
In the meantime, Lord Shiva returned from the battle but as Ganesha did not know him, he stopped Shiva from entering Parvati's chamber. Shiva, enraged by Ganesh’s impudence, drew his sword and cut off Ganesha's head. Pavarti emerged to find Ganesha decapitated and flew into a rage. She took on the form of the Goddess Kali and threatened destruction to the three worlds of Heaven, Earth and the subterranean earth.
Seeing her in this mood, the other Gods were afraid and Shiva, in an attempt to pacify Parvati, sent out his ganas, or hordes, to bring the head of the first living being with his head towards the north (the auspicious direction associated with wisdom). The first living thing they came across was an elephant. So they brought the head of this elephant and Shiva placed it on the trunk of Parvati's son and breathed life into him. Parvati was overjoyed and embraced her son, the elephant-headed boy whom Shiva named Ganesha, the lord of his ganas. (Info courtesy – Wikipedia)
Although Lord Ganesha has been worshipped from time immemorial it was Lok Manya Bal Gangadhar Tilak who was responsible for making Ganesh utsav into a public celebration in Maharashtra for the unity of the people.
Lord Ganesha loves sweets. In South India, the main sweet-dish during the festival is modakam which is Ganesha's favorite sweet. Modakam is a steam cooked dumpling made from rice flour, stuffed with coconut and jaggery. In Maharashtra also they make the modakam the same way and it is called “Ukdiche Modak”, it is either steam cooked or deep fried.
I made Puran Poli today. Puran Poli is one of the most liked dishes of Maharashtra. I find this one of the most tedious and laborious sweet to make. Puran Poli is Yo’s favorite sweet, Yo’s mami (Mother’s brother’s wife) dishes out one of the most fantastic Puran Poli’s in this world, the Puran poli literally melts in your mouth and so does Yo’s Kaku (Father’s brother’s wife). Puran poli is such an elaborate affair in Yo’s home that I probably got a phobia to try making it. I attempted it twice after my marriage and both times it failed, so I had totally given up on it. Yo told me, “Its such a waste of money, materials and efforts and don’t try it at home…..how typically male…..ha ha ha….This time I said I will patiently follow the recipe and see if it works…..and yipppeeeeeeeeeee it did….I was so proud that I asked Yogesh to call his home at Pune and tell my in-laws that finally I made the elusive Puran Polis.
Ingredients
Bengal gram (chana dal) - 2 cups,
Jaggery - 2 cups
Refined flour (Maida) -2 cups
Oil - 3 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 3/4 tsp
Salt – ½ tsp
Cardamom powder -1 tsp
Nutmeg powder 1/4th tsp
Dry ginger powder(soonth) -1/4th tsp
Ghee as required
Method
Grate the jaggery, keep aside. Soak the Bengal gram for about 2-3 hours. Then add water enough to immerse the dal completely and a bit on top. Cook chana dal in a pressure cooker for 5 whistles till it turns soft. Drain out excess water until the dal is absolutely dry. You can retain this water to make Katachi Amti (I will blog this recipe later). Mash the chana dal into a paste. In a wok, Add one tablespoon of ghee, then add the cardamom powder, nutmeg powder and dry ginger powder(soonth), Now add the grated jaggery, when the grated jaggery melts, add the chana dal paste and blend both well, and cook further. You will notice that the mix has become watery, which scared me out of my wits, thinking that this attempt is going to fail too. So I urgently called my mother-in-law in Pune and asked her what to do, she said don’t worry, it is like that, “ Don’t cook for too long in the wok, the chana dal paste will harden and you don’t want it to get hard. She said, immediately switch off the gas and wait for the mix to cool down, then put it in the mixie /blender and blend twice till you see it is completely mixed up, this mix, we must add in the wok and cook it on a low flame till it comes to a dough like consistency, which happens very soon, like in 2-3 minutes time. Once you see it has come to a dough like consistency put off the gas and Allow the mix to cool so you can make balls out of the mixture. Make 20 balls out of it and keep aside
Mix refined flour, turmeric powder, a pinch of salt, oil and water and knead the dough.
The dough will be very soft and sticky dough. Keep this aside for about half an hour till it sets. Then knead again, by punching it and folding it. You can remove all your frustrations on the dough…Imagine the joys of cooking….
Knead well and divide the dough into 20 equal portions.
With greased palms, take one portion of the dough and flatten it into a disc of the size of the palm. Place a ball of "chana jaggery" paste in the centre and fold the disc from all sides to cover the paste completely.
On a well-floured board, gently roll out each poli with the help of a rolling pin into a 6 inches disc. This can get tricky as the paste does try to slide out. Use a little flour if that happens.
Roast each poli on a hot, dry girdle.Add a teaspoon of ghee around the poli , once you see some spots on the backside flip over, you will see your Puran polis puff up. Once done, Remove on a plate. Serve hot with a dollop of ghee or a bowl of warm milk.
I would like to send this for Sangeeth’s Eat healthy- Calcium rich event, as everyone knows that Yogurt is an excellent source of calcium. In fact, yogurt does milk one better, because its “active cultures” help digest the naturally occurring sugar (lactose) in milk. Everyone knows that a child suffering from Diarrhea is asked to abstain from milk, but it is advisable to eat yogurt when u suffer from diarrhea.
COLD,CRISPY AND TANGY....AN ODE TO THE KING OF RAITAS –
BOONDI RAITA
I could easily make a statement that Boondi raita is one of the most popular raitas. The "King" of raitas. This savory raita, is cold, crispy and tangy and what can be better than that. For those who don’t know, Boondi is a crispy gram flour savory, similar to rice crispies. You can buy boondi from Indian stores and alternatively you can make it at home.
To make Boondi at home
Ingredients:
Gram Flour (besan) – 100 gms
Chilly powder – 1tsp
Salt as per taste
Oil to Fry
Method
Mix the above ingredients with water to a creamy pouring consistency. In a wok heat some oil. When the oil is hot, reduce the flame. Now take a draining spoon and hold with your left hand over the hot oil and with your right hand pour the batter over the spoon and ensure that you don’t drop in one place but move the spoon all round while dropping, you will see that small balls of batter are getting fried in the oil. Keep the flame low and keep frying until the balls are golden and crisp. Remove with a strainer and place on kitchen towel to remove excess oil. Your boondis are ready.
Ingredients
Yogurt – 2 cups
Boondi – 1 cup
Cumin powder – 1 tsp
Salt as per taste
Red chili powder – 1-2tsps
Chaat Masala – 1-2tsps
Finely Chopped coriander leaves
Method
Use thick cold yogurt. In a bowl add the yogurt and stir well till the mixture becomes smooth and fluffy. Add salt (be careful while adding salt as boondis also have salt), Cumin powder, 1tsp of red chilly powder and 1 tsp of chaat masala and mix well. The chaat masala adds the tanginess to the raita. Add ½ cup of boondi and mix gently. Keep refrigerated. When it is time to serve, you will notice that the Boondis have become soggy, this is how many people like it. But I like mine with some crunch to it, so before serving I add one tablespoon of crunchy boondi and garnish with some freshly chopped coriander leaves and sprinkled with some red chilly powder and chaat masala powder. Serve boondi raita chilled.
Tips:If you feel that the boondis are set with the yogurt when you pull out from the fridge, then u can add some more yogurt in and mix gently with a spatula, to loosen it up.
Some people like to add in the boondi at the time of serving. But I beg to differ, the boondis must be soggy(soaked in the yogurt), so when you put one spoon of this tasteful raita in your mouth not only do you get some of the soggy boondis but also the crispy ones. So I top up the raita with a spoonful of crispy boondis at the time of serving. Enjoy this raita as a side dish or meal accompaniment.
I would also like to send this for Sunita’s Think Spice….Think Cumin event as I have used Toasted Cumin powder in my recipe.
butter waiting for me in the refrigerator, so I thought why not make good use of it. Since I am off eggs, here is a nutritious eggless cookie which doesn’t need baking, just blend the ingredients together, so you can involve your little ones in this project too.
atmeal – 3 cups
