Jalebi's for August ICC

My 2nd experience in ICC.The challenge for August month was Jalebi's the main thing I liked about the recipe was it was simple and as my family love this sweet i wanted to try..and it came out well..though the shape was not professional we all loved the taste,guess will improve as i practise..i used a ziploc bag to pipe the batter in the hot oil,next time would try with a squeezy bottle.

Going to the recipe
Ingredients:
Maida-100gm
Cornflour-30gm
Lime-1tsp
Curd-1cup
Hot Oil-1 tblsp
Food color-a pinch

For the sugar syrup:
Water-1/2 cup
Sugar-1cup

Method:

Batter Preparation:
Measure the maida,cornflour,food colour,lime,curd,hot oil and beat the mixture so it is mixed well without any lumps.Keep this batter on the kitchen counter overnight to ferment.

Sugar Syrup:
Heat the measured sugar and water and mix till the sugar is melted and then bring to a boil till it reaches a single string consistency.

Boiling syrup

Warm Sugar Syrup

1.Now next day take the prepared batter and mix it well once again and spoon to a ziploc bag(I used this)/ a squeezy bottle.

2.Make a small as possible cut on one corner of the ziploc bag.
3.Heat oil in a kadai till it's hot and pipe the batter in 2/3 rounds directly onto the oil and fry till crisp and careful not to burn(as get's burnt easily) manage the heat accordingly.

Jalebi!! Excuse me for the shape..

4.Take the fried jalebi's and dip in the sugar syrup for a minute and drain and arrange on a dish.
5.Serve hot!Enjoy!

The entire batch!!!

Wheat Halwa / Tirunelveli Halwa / Godhumai Halwa for ICC July 2011

This is my first experience participating for the ICC,and this month's challenge is very interesting and am happy to start with a traditional sweet.which is a hit in every household.."Tirunelveli Halwa"..

Srivalli  is the person behind this wonderful event so we can recall these traditional recipes in our very own kitchen..This time they have given three recipes for reference:

1. Shalini's Wheat halwa
http://sanctifiedspaces.blogspot.com/2011/07/wheat-halwa.html

2.Sowmya's Wheat Halwa
http://www.creativesaga.com/2009/09/godhumai-halwa-popular-tirunelveli.html

3.Lataji's Wheat Halwa
http://lata-raja.blogspot.com/2009/11/tirunelveli-halwa.html

I've selected the 1st recipe from Shalini- Wheat halwa,because i just wanted to try with a smaller quantity and this had the measurements..

Now going to the recipe:

Ingredients:

Samba wheat grain- 1 cup

Sugar-2 1/4cup(this quantity was sufficient )

Elachi powder- 2tsp

Water-3/4cup (for syrup)

Water-To grind and extract wheat milk-4 cups

Red/yellow food colour-2pinches

Cashews-handful

Ghee-150gms

Wheat milk-you can see the thicker part getting settled down..
but i mixed this  before adding to the syrup

Sugar and water.

After removing impurities the sugar syrup is boiled to get one string consistency

Method:

1.Soak Wheat grain for 48 hours and wash and grind with 1cup of water .

2.Extract milk by adding 1tumbler of water to get thick extract and then another two cups to get thin extracts and discard the brown mass.

3.So mix all the extracted milk because you'll need it to delay the process of thickening as you stir it.

4.Take a heavy bottomed vessel with handle,I used my 5lt pressure pan for this purpose,heat the measured sugar with 3/4th cup water and stir till sugar dissolves..Now you need to remove the impurities from the sugar either by filtering it or add few tsp of milk to the syrup so when it boils the dirt will collect as scum on the top and you can remove it easily..

5.Now let the syrup boil and reach 1string consistency,it took some 20 minutes for me.

6.Then stir the wheat milk once before adding so all the thick and thin part get evenly mixed and then add it to the sugar syrup while you stir to avoid lumps.add the elachi powder and food colour.

7.Then keep stirring the mixture and as it thickens,keep the flame low.

8.Add a tsp of ghee in another kadai fry the cashews and add to the halwa.Then melt the rest of the ghee and keep it ready.

8.When the mixture starts to thicken start adding ghee,2tsp at a time and then keep stirring  adding ghee in  regular intrevals until the mixture forms a ball and leaves the sides of the vessel..this took around an hour for me and keep stirring to avoid the mixture from burning and the raw smell of the wheat milk is completely gone.

9.Then allow to cool and transfer to a clean,dry container..and serve hot/cold.

10.We thoroughly enjoyed this dish.....

wheat milk+ sugar syrup

starts to thicken

Add caption

on adding a few spoons of ghee

bubbling !!

almost done

U can see the halwa leaving the sides of the vessel.

Sapota (Chikoo) Kesari

This is my post for Day5 BM#7 "Combo Meals" Group2.
"Chikoo kesari and Urad dhal vada....a evening snack combo with hot coffee....." Medhu vada is common and the kesari recipe is as follows...

Chikoo kesari--this was new to us until we had it from the Sunday spl mini tiffen from sangeetha restaurant near our house..
My daughter never takes any fruits..but somehow liked this dish so wanted to give a try.....and it came out perfect and now i make this often so atleast she takes this fruit in this form...Going to the recipe.

Ingredients

Ingredients:

Chikoo- 2 fruits(peel and cut into medium pieces removing the seeds)
Roasted Rava- 1 cup(if not roasted roast the rava in a dry pan till you get a nice aroma)
water-2 cups
Sugar- 1 1/4 cup(can adjust acc to ur taste)
Cardamom powder- 1/2 tsp
Pacha Karpooram- a pinch (optional)(Edible Camphor)
Ghee-4 tblsp
Cashew- 6-7 pieces(broken to small bits)
Raisins- 6-7 pieces

Ground Chikoo pulp

Roasting cashews and raisins

Before adding raw-bringing the water and pulp mixture to a boil

Method:

1.Peel & deseed the fruit and grind to a smooth paste without adding any liquid.
2.Heat a kadai,take 1tsp of ghee and when hot fry the cashew and raisins and reserve
3.Add the ground fruit pulp in the same kadai and saute for 3-5 mins and then add the water measured and mix in the cardamom powder and edible camphor if using and bring to a boil.(No need to add colour because this kesari has a natural fruit colour and aroma...
4.Slowly add the roasted rava stirring vigourously to avoid any lumps
5.Then when the rava is fully cooked,add the measured sugar and mix evenly.
6.Then add the remaining ghee one spoon at a time and keep stirring,till u get a not thick consistency but the contents of the kadi starts leaving fat on the sides..this may take some 5 mins after the addition of sugar.
7.Then garnish with the fried cashew and raisins and Serve!

Hot! Yummy kesari is ready to be served!!

Crispy hot vada and hot kesari  SERVED with Filter Coffee....

Group 2  23-29th June

Combo Meals: Rujuta, Sushma
Cooking from Back Pack: Aarthi, Archana, CL, Pavani, PJ, Suma Gandlur, Kalyani, Grishma
Cooking From Cookbook: Nirmala, Srivalli, Kamalika

Crunchy snacks for Kids: Nirmala, Srivalli, Kamalika

Regional Special: Jayasree
No Butter Bakes for diet:Gayathri Kumar, Harini, Jane, Monika