Welcome aboard!

Indian cuisine is a riot of colours, flavours, and spices. Every state has its own unique culture- ingrained taste bud. And, to many of us staying within familiar tastes is a sacrosanct act. Of course an occasional trip to a speciality restaurant that serves another fare is ok. But, as a matter of routine ...at home...NO!

One of the benefits of being born to parents who dared an interstate marriage (am talking about India of the 70's) was being able to widen a regional taste bud to accept, experiment and, relish eclectic cuisines :-)

I love food! Be it traditional or fusion, cooking is all about turning out fare that is tasty and healthy.I welcome all lovers of good food to come on aboard and share your kitchen adventures.

If you like what you see, do leave a comment. If you don't, please leave a suggestion to help me make this better.

You can also request for any recipe you want. Just leave a note in a comment box.

Happy cooking!

Dershana

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Quick coconut laddu and rava kesari for Deepavali with baby

Helloooooooooooooooooooooooo! Back again after seven months!! Wish you all a very happy and delightful Deepavali.

I have my little girl with me now to celebrate deepavali with. She leaves me with very little time to cook or blog, but decided I just need to make a quickie something for her first deepavali. The easiest thing was to make the coconut laddu recipe that I had collected from a Nestle 'Milkmaid' condensed milk wrapper all the way back when I was at college. It takes just 10 minutes and minimal cooking to conjure them up.
In her fifth month, she is now ready to start with semi solid food, and so I also wanted to make something of which she could also take a teeny little bite. so decided on a quick fix rava kesari.

Coconut Laddu



Dessicated coconut - 150 gms (you could choose to use fresh grated coconut and toast it to perfection)
Sweetened condensed milk - 50 gms
Cardamom (elaichi)- 4 Nos

Powder the cardamom. In a thick bottomed vessel pour in the condensed milk and add the coconut. Turn down the flame to very low and stir the two together till they form a soft, pliant dough. Add the cardamom and keep stirring till a wonderful aroma emanates (all of 5-6 mts). While still warm shape lemon sized balls out of the mixture.
In another plate spread out some more dessicated coconut and roll the balls to give them a beautiful coating. Ready to eat!


Quick Rava Kesari



Roasted rava (semolina?cream of wheat) - 1 cup
Demerara sugar (you can use plain sugar) - 1/2 cup
Water - 3 cups
Ghee (clarified butter) - 1/4 cup
Raisins and nuts - a handful

Pour the ghee into a thick bottome dvessel along with all the other ingredients escept water. Let roast on low flame till the sugar starts to melt and the nuts start to roast (you will know by the smell). Add the water. Increase the flame to medium and keep stirring till the rava cooks into a gooey mixture of jam like consistency (about 7-8 minutes). Ready to go!

Take another look at the coconut laddu



Sending these over to Festive Food : Diwali Dhamaka hosted by Purva's Dawat. The event is on at http://purvasdaawat.blogspot.com/2009/10/diwali-dhamaka-announcement.html
 
Blog Blog