Jalebi / Jhangri

While I may not be sweet-toothed, I am surrounded by many who are and times I too feel like treating my sweet taste budz. This diwali, I chose to make Jalebis - those yellow, thin, crispy ones. And then there are those Jangris - those orange, bit thicker, softer ones. 

Jalebis are made using all purpose flour, will have a slight tangy taste, and the flour is fermented overnight before preparation. Jangris are made using uradh dhal and fried gram dhal flour, and is neither tangy nor fermented.

Wonder why I started with mentioning both that's because my dish was a hybrid of both named as "JalJangebis" ;)

I used Uradh Dhal and rice flour - ideally output should have been jangri. But given the shape, color and crispiness it was like jalebis -- end of it all, this hybrid sweet "jaljangebis" was also a roaring success :)

Ingredients:

• Uradh dal - 2 cups
• Raw Rice - 1/4 cup
• Sugar - 500 gms (as per your taste you can add or reduce this)
• Oil - To Fry
• Lemon yellow - 1/2 tspn food color (this will give the light yellowish orangish shade) 
• Saffron - some use this 

Method

To make the flour:

1. Soak uradh dal and raw rice for an hour. Grind both separately to a smooth batter till they become frothy. Consistency should be that of dosa flour
2. Mix them and allow it to rest for 30 mts

To make the sugar syrup:

1. In a non stick pan, add sugar and 1-1.5 cups of water. Cook it on medium flame
2. Add 2 tspn of milk to remove any froth due to sugar (you can remove the froth as it floats up)
3. The sugar syrup starts condensing and should be One String. Switch off the flame.
4. Add a lemon wedge to retain the consistency of the sugar syrup and disable any crystalization later.
5. Sugar Syrup should be left on the gas to retain the heat 

To make the jaljangebis / jangris:

1. In a kadai, heat oil. You can test the readiness by dropping a small ball of the batter inside. It should pop up immediately.
2. Fill the jalebi maker with the batter. Alternatively, you can use a cloth or a milk cover with a small hole on one of its corner and make them.
3. Make the desired shape... jangris and jalebis differ in shape but whichever comes easier for you go for it
4. Allow it to fry to golden brown on both sides by turning them
5. Remove from fire ensuring no excess oil and dip it directly into the sugar syrup. Ensure sugar syrup is warm to hot when you dip it
6. Allow it to stay each side for 1.5 mts and remove it to a vessel (overall 3 mts).
7. As it cools down, you can pack it in air-tight container.

Rava kesari (Semolina Sweet)

While all known to me will vouch for my preference for spicy food (spice-toothed ;), times I do feel like having something sweet. O ya, not to forget all those sweet-toothed lovelies around me!

So, after a real long time, I started my experimentation with making a very simple sweet dish "Semolina / Rava Kesari".

Ingredients

• Semolina / Sooji / Rava : 2 cups
• Sugar                              : 1.25 - 1.5 cups 
• Ghee                               : 4-5 tbs (1 cup)
• Cashew                           : 10 pieces (broken)
• Raisins                            : 10 pieces
• Kesari Color (food color) : a few pinch (as dark as you prefer, this gives the orange tinge)
• Water                               : 3 cups (or more as required to boil semolina)
• Cardamom powder          : 2 pieces of cardamom powdered

Method:

1. Dry roast semolina / sooji in a kadai till it starts turning slightly brown. Remove to a steel plate or bowl 
2. To this, add a tbspn of ghee and roast the cashew nuts and raisins till golden brown. 
3. To this, add the dry roasted semolina. Add one or two tspn of ghee and roast this to golden brown
4. In parallel to steps 2 and 3, bring the water to boil in a separate container. To this, add the Kesari color powder. 
5. Add the hot water slowly to the semolina mix with continuous stirring to ensure no lumps are formed. Semolina should dissolve smoothly in the water and form a juicy mix
6. To this, add sugar and stir it well. 
7. Close the kadai and allow it to cook in a low flame (we could also switch off the fire and cook it for a few minutes. Then, light the stove and cook it on low flame)
8. Cook till semolina is well cooked and starts leaving the sides of the kadai 
9. Add cardamom powder, and top it with some ghee
10. Remove from fire and serve hot

Note: From my attempt, I realized a few things to improvise:

• Can use a little more water to make the kesari a bit juicy than dry
• Can powder the roasted semolina to give it a better texture
• Add more sugar if you are sweet-toothed
• Add more color to have a good orange tinge

Try having some hot kesari with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It tastes yummmm :)

Fig & Date Cake / Halwa

Dry fruits & Nuts prove to be a healthy and tasty ingredient for any many of your sweet dishes, baking, etc. I tried an interesting sweet dish suggested by great chefs like Tarladalal & Sanjeev Kapoor using Figs & Dates as the main ingredient. Turned out to be a healthy yet tasty sweet dish & the key being it doesn't require Sugar (unless you want to make it more sweety; even then you probably can try using jaggery rather than sugar)

Ingredients:

Figs : 12-15

Dates: 12-15 (seedless)

Almonds: 15

Cashew: 12

Pistachio: 12

Raisins: 5-10 (optional)

Desiccated Coconut: 2-3 tbspn (optional)

Ghee - 1/4 cup 

Method:

1. Soak figs & dates separately in a bowl of hot water for 10-15 mts
2. Drain and make a puree using very less water (Separately & ensure dates are de-seeded)
3. Chop almonds, cashews, raisins, and pistachios. You can chop them or coarse grind it in a mixer 
4. In a pan, add the ghee. To it add the fig and dates puree. Stir well and cook in medium heat till the moisture is gone (10 mts ~)
5. Then add the chopped ingredients. Continue to stir and cook for another ~ 10 mts. 
6. Add the desiccated coconut and stir. Cook for another couple of minutes. As the mixture starts leaving the sides of the pan, remove from fire.
7. In a tray or glass vessel grease some ghee. Remove the mixture from fire and pour it into the tray.
8. Spread evenly and allow it to cool (about an hour)
9. Cut it into desired pieces and serve 

Happy since it was approved by my 'Aman', a 7 yr old :)

Alternate Method:

1. Chop the dates & figs very finely (1 cup). In a pan, add a tbspn of butter / ghee. Then add 1 tbspn of condensed milk
2. To this, add the chopped ingredients and fry them for 2 mts
3. In another kadai, I fried the remaining dry fruits & nuts (cut into fine pieces), 2 tspn of desiccated coconut in a spoon of ghee
4. After 2 mts (Step 2), remove from fire. Add the fried ingredients. Add 1-2 spoon of powdered sugar (if rqd).
5. Allow it to cool a bit & make it to the desired shape. Easy to make them as ladoos.

Rava Laddu : Suji ka Ladoo

Its in the air! Yup, the onset of the Festive Season in India has begun... Along with celebrations, its time to treat your taste budz and tummy with very minimal or no restrictions whatsoever :) What better reason for me to try my hands at attempting some sweet dishes; and ofcourse, I was inspired by @ Riddhika Ram's 2 sweet dishes that I happened to taste recently. But as a novice, I would like to begin with the basics; some easy to make but commonly liked and available sweet dishes. Though I am not such a fan for sweet dishes, I do want to learn these to treat those sweet toothed people in my life!

Beginning with the most simple and easy to make Rava Laddu or Suji ka Laddu. Flat 15-20 mts and the dish is ready.

Ingredients:

• Rava / Suji / Semolina : 1 cup
• Sugar: 1 cup (3/4 cup, if lesser sweet)
• Ghee:  1/4 cup
• Cardomom powder : 1-2 pinch
• Cashew nuts : A handful (I would like to add other dry fruits like badam / dry grapes etc)

Method:

1. In a tava, add 1 tbspn of ghee. As it melts, make small pieces of the cashew nuts and roast them till golden brown
2. Keep the fried cashews aside. In the same left over ghee, if any, roast the Rava / Suji. You can also dry roast them. I prefer to roast them till golden brown (approx 10 mts on medium flame)
3. Allow the roasted rava / suji to cool for 5 mts
4. Make a powder of the Cardomoms 
5. In a mixer, add the cardomom (if not powdered smoothly), roasted suji, and sugar. Grind them just a little less fine (max coarse as possible so that it neither bites too much nor its too soft that it becomes sticky)
6. Add the powdered mix in a big bowl. 
7. Melt the remaining ghee.
8. Add the ghee slowly to the powdered mix. Make a mix and start making the ladus when the mix is hot. 
9. Yummy ladus are ready to be tasted

Tip:

• You can sprinkle a little warm milk if you are not able to make the ladus easily - this is something that I read but never tried

What went wrong:

• During my first attempt, I didn't roast the suji enough. So, it had the raw feel when the ladus were made
• I included Dried Grapes & Badam. While badam will go well, at times dried grapes may not synch in because it could be sour at times. Many may not like that flavor in rava ladu.