Jihva-Post Diwali Round up

Hi all,

Hope you all had a great time at diwali!!. I come again bearing treats made around the blogging world for diwali.

29 more entries to the Diwali round up!!!. So, including the 30 entries already posted, makes a total of 60 entries to the Special Edition Jihva Cooking Spree…

So, without much ado, I present the Post-Diwali Round up.

Treat Name : Boondi Ladoo Participant : @’s Yum Yum Mum Mum	Treat Name : Malpua Participant : Mystic’s Chatpat Food
Treat Name : Moong Dal Ladoos Participant : Ashwini’s Food for Thought	Treat Name : Murukku Participant : Priya’s Kitchen
Treat Name : Shahi Tukre Participant : Archana’s Spicyana	Treat Name : Boondi Ladoos Participant : Lakshmiammal’s Cook Food…Serve Love
Treat Name : Rice Ladooari Participant : Sheela’s Pinch of Spice	Treat Name : Ladoos/Paltherattipal/Pakodam Participant Name : Jayashree’s My Experiments with Food
Treat Name : Paparia Participant :Anita’s A Mad Tea Party	Treat Name : ShankarPara Participant :Anita’s A Mad Tea Party
Treat Name : Pesaru Garelu/Moong Dal vada Participant : Pavani’s A Cook’s Hideout	Treat Name : Deepavali Marundu Participant : Hema’s Vegetarian Concoctions
Treat Name : Boondi Ladoo Participant : Maheshwari’s Beyond the Usual	Treat Name : Murukku Participant : luv2cook’s Cooking Medley
Treat Name : Sago Payasam Participant : VKN’s My Dhaba	Treat Name : Rasmalai Participant : Giniann’s Salt and Pepper
Treat Name : Sevian Kheer Participant : Alison’s Full Tummy	Treat Name : Poori Wale Aloo Participant : Alison’s Full Tummy
Treat Name : Masaledaar Kala Chana Participant : Alison’s Full Tummy	Treat Name : Badushah Participant : JJ’s Just For Fun
Treat Name : Rice Kheer Participant : Praveena’s The Clothed Cook	Treat Name : Chakli Participant : Soumya (Independent Participant)
Treat Name : Mysore Pak Participant : Soumya (Independent Participant)	Treat Name : Ribbon Pakoda Participant : Soumya (Independent Participant)
Treat Name : Chivda Participant : Priya’s Sugar and Spice	Treat Name : Shankarpali Participant : Vaishali’s Happy Burp
Treat Name : Kheera Kesari Participant : Meena’s Cooking Pleasures	Treat Name : Various Participant : Manasi’s Cook @ Heart
Treat Name : Karanji Participant : Sharmila P(Independent Participant)	Treat Name : Chocolate covered Dry Fruit Chikki Participant : Lavanya’s Hyderabadi Kitchen

Don’t miss the entries by our two Independent Participants that I have already posted!!! (just before I posted the round up)

Thats it, folks!! That ends my round as the host of jihva. I, now, pass the baton to Kay of Towards a Better Tomorrow, who is making a come back hosting the jihva. Welcome Back, Kay!!!

Diwali Treats..by Soumya Somashekar

Presenting, a whole lot of treats from Soumya Somashekar. And all of them cooked with a new born by her side!!..Gosh, the love for food!!!

CHAKALI

I make chakali flour in advance & sometime i ask my mother to make it in India & send me.
The ratio is 2:1 Rice:Udad dal. My mother soaks them seperately & dries them in shade for 2
to 3 days. Then she roast them & give for grinding in the Mill. It gives a great aroma. I store it in Freezer for a year sometimes & whenever needed take some flour out & make yummy chakalies. You guys can use the rice flour & Udad dal flour you get in the Indial Grocery Store. I have tried it too which comes out really good, But as you know mom-made things tastes yummmmy.

The other ingds are
Hing,
Salt to taste,
Butter for Mohan,
Til(Sesame seeds),
Oil for frying.

Mix salt & hing in a little water.
Mix flour & til together in a bowl then heat butter in kadai & pour it on the chakali flour.
Let it cool & mix the Hing & salt water & make a batter of chappati consistancy.
Now put the batter in the chakali mould & squeeze to make a round shape chakalies on a plastic sheet.
Deep fry in hot oil. Keep the oil on a medium flame. Turn the on the other side & let it cook. Remove on to dry paper towel,
cool it & store in a air tight container.
This chakali is just salted but if anyone wants can add little Red chilli powder & DhaniaJeera powder. It tastes really good.

RIBBON PAKODA

Besan- 2 cups
Rice flour- 1/4 cup

Add other spices according to your taste
Red chilli powder,
DhaniaJeera powder,
hing,
Salt little Ome pudi.
Oil for frying & for Mohan.

Mix all ingds other than oil in a bowl add little by little water & make a batter of chapati’s consistency.
Now put the batter in the mold with Tape/ ribbon pakoda disc & squeez directly in the hot oil. Keep the gas on medium flame… Fry on both sides & drain on a tissue
paper.Cool & store in a airtight container.

MYSORE PAK

Besan- 1 cup
Sugar- 2 cups
Ghee – 3 cups
Some cardmom powder

Instead of using 3 cups of Ghee u can use 2 cups of ghee & 1 cup of cooking oil (not olive oil).
Take sugar in a thick bottom Kadai add little water very little just to wet the sugar. On another stove keep a vessel with ghee to heat it it should be hot enough but don’t burn it.
Now simultaneously keep stirring the sugar syrup it should be thick. Now the sugar syrup will start frothing and start to come off from the sides of the kadai. Slowly pour the ghee into the kadai, while stirring continuously. Add some more ghee & immediately add the besan & stirr
continously, u should do it really fast otherwise the besan will form lumps. Again slowly pour the ghee into the kadai, while stirring continuously.Add more & more ghee till the mixture starts leaving the ghee out, & no more ghee is left in the other vessel. Once it will no more absorb
the ghee, within few minutes, the entire mixture will harden a bit and become thick. Take it off the stove and pour it onto a flat greased plate/vessel (u have to pour it in such a way that the
mixture willfall in the Plate in a layered form the way it was in the kadai)and let it cool for about 15-20 minutes. While it is still hot, draw the lines with a sharp life to make small rectangular shape(b’cas it will be layered in three colours from bottom to top & looks
good if its in rectangular shape). After it is cool, you can take out the pieces and store them in an air-tight container.

Karanji…By Sharmila P

Presenting, Sharmila, whose entry karanji comes complete with step-by-step pictures!!!

Hi folks,

I stumbled upon this great blogging world since a friend of mine, SaffronHut, started her blog. Since then I have been hooked. I read the blogs whenever I can find the time, in between work and kids and other things. I don’t have a blog, well at least not a food blog. I do have a blog for posting pictures and write-ups to my family. Also, with all the Diwali things and usual humdrum of life, I just read about this jihva. Since Vee is doing a post-Diwali round up I thought I’d send my entry even though it is a little late.

For Diwali, traditionally in Mumbai, India we make karangis (which we call Shingdi), nankatai, chivda, chakli and mathlele besan laadoo which is made from powdered dalia. Our (Maharashtrian Pathare Prabhu) karangi’s are a little different from the traditional Marathi Karangi’s. There are 2 kinds of fillings – 1 is made of coconut and sugar, and the other is made of dudhi halwa. And not just that but the karangis are not fried in oil but baked. My mom makes really yummy ones the traditional way where the cover is made out of wheat dough. She makes the dough into large chapati like flat rounds, then applies a thin layer of ghee to it, then another layer of a wheat chapati followed by some more ghee and a 3rd layer. That gives it the crisp flakiness when the karangis are baked in the oven.

Over the years, I have made karangis and nankatai every year for Diwali, though I have changed the recipe to suit our fast paced lives here in the US. So instead of making the cover the way my mom does, I use Pillsbury pie crust. Also, with coconut being notorious for cholesterol, I only make the dudhi halva filling.

Recipe makes 30

1 packet Pillsbury pie crush dough

Dudhi halva

2 medium sized dudhi (opo squash). After grating should be about 3.5 cups or so.

1/2 stick of butter

1.5 cups of sugar.

1 small container of non-fat ricotta cheese.

1 tsp cardamom powder

Skin the dudhis and de-seed them. Grate them in a food processor. Put a little ghee in the bottom of a pressure pan or thick bottomed pan and let it melt. Add the grated dudhis. Toss it around in the ghee. Close the pressure pan and let it cook. (No whistle). Once the dudhi looks like it is cooked, keep the pan open and let the water dry up on high heat. Then add the sugar and some cardamom powder. If you used unsalter butter, add a 1/2 tsp of salt. Mix well and let the sugar melt and get syrupy. Meanwhile put the ricotta cheese in a microwavable bowl. Spread it out so that it is in a thin layer. Microwave on high for 4-5 min. It starts to get a little crumbly. Break the crumbs up and mix it up and repeat till the mixture is dry but not brown. Add that (as the mawa) to the squash mixture and mix well. Once all the water from the sugar syrup gets evaporated, you will have your dudhi halva ready to go. It needs to be a little more on the sweet side to balance off the salty pie crust dough.

I usually make this the night before and then make the Karangi’s in the morning.

To make the karangi’s, unroll the Pillsbury pie crust and re-roll it much tighter than it was.

Now cut the roll into 2cm pieces. 1 roll makes about 15.

Take each piece and place it such that the rolled side is still on the sides. Press it a little bit and roll it out into a small oval puri shaped flat.

Put a spoonful of the halva on 1 side near the center.

Fold over the other end to make a D shaped karangi.

Flute the ends of the karangi to seal them or trim with a pie cutter.

Make all 15 and then bake them in a pre-heated over 375 F middle rack till they are slightly brown (takes about 20-25 minutes per batch).