Malai Peda

Ganesh Chaturthi Sweet ~ Malai Peda

I wish all my readers, visitors and friends a very Happy Ganesh Chaturthi. And thought this is the right time to post a Peda recipe for "Lord Ganapati Bappa". This is simple yet another easy to make recipe from Ricotta cheese.

Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 45 mins
Makes: 10-15 people
Ingredients:

15oz Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese
1 cup Heavy Cream
1/2 tsp Cardamom Powder
3-4 Strands Saffron
1/2 cup Sugar
Method:

• Heat the ricotta cheese in a wide mouthed pan on medium heat for 6-7 mins. Stir constantly. The cheese would first loosen up and then the liquid starts evaporating.
  

• At this point you have to add the cream, saffron (crushed between your fingers/palm) and cardamom/elaichi powder and keep stirring all together till all the liquid dries up.

• Once the cheese gets its texture, its time to add the sugar. Now cook it on high flame till the mixture forms a ball. Keep in mind to stir through out this procedure, you will need strong arms to do this. JB (my DH) helps me out in the kitchen for this.
  

• Turn the heat off and let it cool a little bit. Don't wait for too long or else you will end up with hard lump of ball to work with.
  

• Shape them into modak or peda, which ever works best for you. If you have a modal shape mould that will save you some time or to shape into modaks, take 1 tbsp of mixture and make a smooth ball. Now, using the all your fingers pull a little bit of a mixture ,elongating it. Press the other side of the ball on the counter or the plate. To shape into pedas, take a tsp of the mixture, shape into a ball and flatten it a little between your palms.

• Its really simple and very much resemble like store bought.

Have fun and enjoy this festival with loads of sweets and blessings from God Ganesha.

Happy Ugadi

I wish all my visitors, readers and foodies a Happy Ugadi and Gudi Padwa.

Ugadi (Telugu: ఉగాది, Kannada: ಯುಗಾದಿ from yuga+aadi, yuga is era, aadi means start. The start of an era) is the new year's day for the people of the Deccan region of India. While the people of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka use the term Ugadi for this festival, the people of Maharashtra term the same festival, observed on the same day, Gudi Padwa. (source: wikipedia)

Ugadi to the Telugu speaking people marks a beginning of a new year in which nature is in full bloom, symbolizing regeneration and celebrating the season’s freshness. But the most unique and significant tradition of Ugadi is beginning the new year with savoring a unique flavored pachadi (chutney) that epitomizes the spirit of Ugadi called "Ugadi Pachadi",with sweet,sour,pungent, salty, hot and bitter tastes (shadruchulu or six tastes). This chutney or sauce is a symbolic reminder of the myriad facets of life in a sense prepares us for the year ahead.

Ugadi Pachadi

Ugadi Pachadi is made in different ways in different homes and does not taste same. Every house has its own unique taste. I made Ugadi Pachadi by mixing:
1 raw mango chopped
1 t methi seeds powder(substituting Margosa Flowers-neem flowers)
a pinch of red chilli powder
2 T jaggery/bellam
2-3 T tamarind paste
a pinch of salt

Ugadi Pachadi, Payasam and Mamidikaya Pulihora

Recipe for Mamidikaya Pulihora you can check my Mamikaya Annam

Its been a long long time I was away from blogging and I have a good reason to be away! Will let you know this Summer ;)

Padma

Festival Food ~ Chivda

festival food ~ Chivda

Its been a long time I was away from blogging. There were few things to attend first and blogging took a back seat. Diwali is here so I took this opportunity to write a post related to Festival Food. Festivals are always celebrated with much zeal, pomp and show in Bombay. During Diwali when you step into that multi-storied apartments you can smell, shankarpala, karanji, chakali, ladoo etc etc from everyone's kitchen.

'Faraal' ~ Festival food as is called in Marathi is made with so much of love and passion and distributed to our friends and relatives on the day after Diwali. All the three of us used to help my mother in the preps of these fabulous Faraal and some times used to eat the raw dough made for Shankarpala.

Chivda is a traditional Maharashtrian snack made for Diwali and is called by many different names across India. Chivda is a combination of toasted rice flakes, roasted peanuts, cashews, dalia and any of your favourite ingredients. In general it is a mixture of so many different flavours and definitely reflects the diversity of cultures in India, now here is the recipe. Chivda tastes good if you make it with thin poha.

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Chivda
Recipe Source: My Mother
Cuisine: Maharashtrian Cuisine ~ Indian
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Makes: 20-25 people

Ingredients:
10 Cups thin rice flakes, thin poha/atukullu
¾ cup peanuts/chanakayalu
¾ cup dalia/ chutney dal/putnalu
¾ cup cashewnuts/kaju/jeedipappu
½ cup raisins/khishmish
¼ cup curry leaves/kadipatta/karvepaku
¼ dried coconut flakes/ sukha khobra/endu kobbari
3 tbsp toasted fennel seeds/badi sop
1 tsp red chilli powder/karam
2 tsp turmeric/haldi/pasupu
4-5 tsps sugar
2 tsps salt as per your taste
5 tbsp cooking oil

Method:

• Sift thin poha in batches to remove any powdered flakes, otherwise it may result in powdered Chivda. It is always good to sift them through bigger filter to get rid of small powered poha flakes.
• I fry them batch wise in a large kadai. Heat 2 tbsp of cooking oil, add 1 tsp of turmeric and immediately add 5 cups of rice flakes/poha. Start stirring so that all the poha flakes are evenly covered with oil and turmeric. Fry them on medium flame and make sure not to burn poha by constantly stirring and folding the poha flakes.
  
• Remove once they are done and repeat the same steps for the second batch. Place them in a big mixing bowl or on a large sheet of paper.
• Now fry individually in a teaspoon of oil roast cashew nuts, peanuts, dalia and curry leaves. Pour them over the fried poha flakes.
• Dry toast coconut flakes and fennel seeds and add it to fried poha flakes.
• Lastly add raisins/ kishmish, red chilli powder, salt and sugar and mix them properly with the other ingredients and fried poha flakes, check for salt and sugar. Take special care not to break the poha, when you mix it. You have to handle them delicately.
• Box it in an air-tight container and Chivda is ready to serve/ share.

I cannot end this post without mentioning about the recent loss of our dearest family member, my brother-in-law on 7th Oct 2008. This dedication goes to him as he loves Chivda so much.

"There will always be the presence of his absence and it can never be filled" May his soul rest in peace, Amen!