Karanji(Karjikai)

Ingredients

• 1 cup Wheat Flour
• 3 tbsp Ghee
• 1 pinch Salt
• ½ litre Oil (for frying)
• 1 cup Grated Coconut
• 3¼ cups Sugar
• 1½ cups Milk
• Few Almonds
• Few Raisins
• 1/2 tsp Cardamom Powder
• 1 tbsp Poppy seeds

Method

Basic
In a bowl mix salt, flour and ghee. Rub in well. Gradually add water and knead to form firm dough. Cover with wet cloth and set aside.

For Stuffing
Cook the coconut (use fresh or dried), sugar, milk, chopped almonds and raisins, cardamom powder, and poppy seeds (optional) till the milk evaporate.

The Rest

• Divide the dough into 20-25 sections, roll them out into flat round pancakes. Place a spoon of stuffing at the centre and fold the pancake in half.
• Use a cutter to create the fluted crescent border and cut off excess dough. You can seal the edges by applying a little milk and pressing down hard.
• After all the karanjis are stuffed, fry them in very hot oil for 2-3 minutes or till golden brown, remove onto paper towels and allow to cool.

Besan Ke Ladoo

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Gram Flour (besan)
• 1 1/2 cup Sugar (grinded)
• 1 cup Ghee
• 1 tsp Almonds (chopped)
• 1 tsp Pistachios (chopped)
• 1 tsp Cashew Nuts (chopped)

Method:

• Mix gram flour and ghee over a low heat in a kadhai and constantly keep stirring to avoid lumps.
• When it releases an appetizing smell remove it from the heat and allow cooling.
• Add sugar and nuts to the gram flour and mix thoroughly.
• Now form ping-pong size balls of the mixture.
• Ladoos are ready to be served.

Rawa Ladoo

Ingredients

• 100 gm Semolina (Suji/Rava)
• 250 ml Milk, toned
• 10 g Ghee
• ½ cup Sugar, powdered
• 1 pinch Cardamom

Method

• Roast semolina in a non-stick pan on low heat till it slightly turns brown.
• Add ghee and milk.
• Stir till mixture becomes sticky.
• Add powdered cardamom and mix.
• Remove the pan from heat and add the sugar and mix.
• Form the dough in to small balls.
• Serve when dry.

Motichoor Ke Laddu

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups Gram Flour (not superfine variety)
• 500 ml Milk
• 1/2 tsp Cardamom Powder
• 3 cups Ghee
• A fine-holed Shallow Strainer Spoon

For Syrup

• 2 1/2 cups Sugar
• 3 1/2 cups Water
• 2 tbsp. Milk
• 3 cups Ghee

Method

For Syrup

• Put sugar and water in a vessel and boil.
• When sugar dissolves, add milk.
• Boil for 5 minutes till scum forms on top.
• Strain and return to fire.
• Add color and boil till sticky but no thread has formed.
• Add cardamom powder and mix. Keep aside.

For Boondi

• Mix flour and milk to a smooth batter
• Mix all the ingredients mentioned under stuffing except milk
• Heat ghee in a heavy frying pan
• Hold strainer on top with one hand
• With the other pour some batter all over the holes
• Tap gently till all batter has fallen into hot ghee
• Stir with another strainer and remove when light golden
• Keep aside. Repeat for remaining batter

Final Steps

• Immerse boondi in syrup.
• Drain any excess syrup.
• Spread in a large plate. Sprinkle little hot water over it.
• Cover and keep for 5 minutes.
• Shape in laddoos with moist palms.
• Cool and keep open to dry, before storing in containers.

Moong Dal Halwa

Ingredients

• 1½ cup Moong Dal, soaked
• 3/4 cup Mawa, well crumpled
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1½ liter Milk
• 1/2 tsp Saffron, soaked in a little milk
• 5 Cardamoms, powdered
• 6 tbsp Ghee

Method

• Grind the Moong dal coarsely. Heat the ghee and fry the dal till golden.
• Add milk and cook till the milk has been absorbed. Add mawa and cook on a low fire, stirring continuously till the dal and the mawa are well blended. Remove from the heat and keep aside.
• Make sugar syrup of one thread and add saffron and cardamom powder to it. Add the fried dal to the syrup and stir quickly till it mixes well. If you want you can add thin silvers of blanched almonds.

Modak Karnataka Special

Ingredients:
2/3 cup Maida
A pinch of Salt
Water

1/2 cup grated dry Cocunut
1 tbsp KhusKhus
1 tbsp Baarik Rawa
1.5 tbsp Ghee
3-4 tbsp powdered Sugar
Chopped Nuts(kishmish, charoli, cashews, almonds)

Ghee/Oil to fry


Method:

* Add salt and water to Maida and make a dough. Set dough aside for 2-3 hrs

* Slightly roast cocunut, KhusKhus and Rawa separately

*Coarsely grind the cocunut with hands on in a mixie.

*Mix the remaining ingredients(except oil) to make the filling.

*Divide dough into 11 equal sized balls

*Roll each ball in circular shape to size of puri.. Place it on the palm and add 1-2 tsp of filling to it.. Then get the sides of the puri together at the center, bind them together to cover the filling.

*Prepare the remaining modaks in similar Way.
Once all modaks are done, heat ghee/oil and fry these modaks on medium heat till they turn golden brown.

* Modaks are ready for Naivedya for Ganesh, as a Prasad.


*

This is one of my favorite sweet.
This is called Holige or Obbattu in Kannada.

Ingredients:
Chana dal 1 cup
Jaggery 1 cup
Cardamom 1 tea spn
Maida/Plain flour 1 and 1/2 cups
Turmeric a pinch
Wheat sooji(rava) (optional) 2 tea spns
Oil 1 tea spn
Salt a pinch
Method:
Cook Chana dal in pressure cooker. Drain all the water.
Cook dal mixed with jaggery for 10min. Grind without using water. Add cardamom and mix well with hand to get a smooth mixture. It is called Hoorana.
Mix flour/maida with sooji, turmeric, salt. Add water,oil and make a dough. Cover and keep aside for 1hr.
Take a ball of dough and spread with hand. Keep a ball of chana mixture and cover with the dough and seal the ends. Apply oil to a plastic paper, keep the ready ball on it and roll it like chapathi . Fry on hot tava till it gets golden brown color.
Serve hot/cold with ghee.


Tips for good Holige: 1.Use milk instead of water for making the maida dough to make pooran polis very soft.

2. Use Toor dal along with chana dal to make them more thin and soft.

3. If the chana dal mixture becomes too dry and cannot be made into balls, add some avalakki(thin poha) or 1 spn rice flour to it.

4. Use rava and flour in 1:1 proportion to make the outer wrap very soft.

Kobbari Kadubu(Coconut Sweet)

Ingredients:

• Rice Flour – 2 cups
• Oil – 1 teaspoon
• Water 2 cups
• Salt – a pinch
• For the Coconut Filling or the Pooranam:
• Freshly grated coconut – 1 cup
• Grated Jaggery – 1 cup
• Ghee – 1 tablespoon
• Cardamom Powder – a pinch

Method:

Heat the water in a deep vessel (kadai) with salt and oil. As the water starts to boil, reduce the flame and put in the rice flour. Close the Kadai with a lid with a little gap for the water to evaporate.

Leave the rice flour and water mixture to cook for about 10 minutes in low flame. After that turn off the stove and stir the dough quickly but firmly so that it doesn’t form lumps.Allow the dough to cool a bit until it becomes lukewarm.

Knead it well till it becomes smooth. Use water to assist in the kneading if necessary. Also use a drop or two of oil while kneading at the end so that the dough doesn’t stick.

Roll the dough into small balls (lemon-sized). Using the fingers, start to flatten the dough; first the edges and gradually shape it like a cup. Apply pressure uniformly.

Keep a fingerful of the filling and fold it to stick the edges well. Press the edges so that it forms a wave-like design.

Arrange many such Kozhakattais on greased idly plates. Steam this for about 10 minutes.

The Kadubus are ready to be savored.

How to make the Coconut Pooranam / Filling:

Grate a medium sized coconut using a standard grater. Run this in a mixer so that large pieces are grated finely. Mix this with grated jaggery and heat it in a pan. Keep stirring till the jaggery dissolves completely. The mixture should now acquire the color of the jaggery and the texture should now have a layer of liquid (from the jaggery). When the mixture becomes thick, add cardamom powder. Remove the pan from the fire and allow it to cool before using it in the Kozhukattai

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