Dry Kale Channa with Sweet Potatoes – Navratri Special

Dry Kale Channa is one of my favorite prasad during Navratri. It is made with black chickpea (kale channa) with few spices. I made kale channa with sweet potatoes which makes this dish healthy and tasty. It goes well with hot pooris and halwa.

Kale Channa With Sweet Potatoes

Dry Kale Channa with Sweet Potatoes – Navratri Special

Ingredients:
Kale Channa – 2 cups
Sweet Potatoes – 1 cup ( 2 medium sizes)
Mustard Oil – 2 tbsp

Spices:
Cumin – 1 tbsp
Red chili powder – 1 tbsp
Black pepper powder – 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
Amchur powder – 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

Whole Garam Masalas:
Cinnamon stick – 1 inch
Clove – 3
Black cardamom – 1
Black pepper – 3

Few Chopped Fresh Coriander leaves

Dry Kale Channa With Sweet Potatoes

Method:

1. Clean, wash and soak kale chana overnight.
2.  Next morning, drain water and pressure cook soaked kale channa with salt, whole garam masalas with 2 cups of water on medium-high heat for 4-6 whistles.
3. Once steam is out, take some boiled channa in a spoon and press them between fingers, if they mash up easily – they are cooked. Keep them aside.
4. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into cubes. Boil 1 cup of water in a pan and add sweet potato cubes and cook for 8 minutes on high flame. After 8 minutes strain sweet potato and keep them aside. (Do not overcook the potatoes)
5. Now heat mustard oil in a kadai. When the oil is hot, lower the flame.
6. Add cumin and allow to crackle then add boiled sweet potatoes. Fry them until little golden brown.
7. Then add all spices and saute for a minute on low flame.
8. Now add boiled kale channa (discard the whole garam spices) with 1/2 cup of water (same water in which kale channa is boiled).
9. Cook on high flame for 4-8 minutes stirring continuously. When all water dries up switch off the flame.
10. Garnish with Fresh coriander leaves and serve hot.

 

Navaratri Parsad

Milk Rava Halwa – Navrate Special

Navaratri, also spelled Navratri or Navarathri, is a nine nights Hindu festival, celebrated in the autumn every year. Thus, this is a nine-day or nine-night Hindu festival which is celebrated in the honor of the divine goddess Devi Durga. This Navaratri celebration happens two times a year. It’s because there are two Navaratris in a year. First, is Chaitra Navaratri which is celebrated in March or April and the second is Sharad Navaratri which is celebrated in October.

Yummy Halwa

To celebrate Ashtami or Navami that is the eighth/ninth day of Navratri, Sooji or Rava halwa is prepared along with Kala Chana (Black chickpeas) and puri as prasad.

Navratri Parsad

I already shared Atta Sooji Halwa, Sooji Gur Ka Halwa, but this Milk Rava Halwa is totally different. In this Rava or Sooji is soaked in a milk for 30 minutes and then it is sauteed in ghee. This halwa is rich in taste, almost like a milkcake. Do try this Halwa…

Milk Rava Halwa

Milk Rava Halwa – Navratri Special

Ingredients:
Rava – 1 cup
Sugar – 1 cup
Ghee – 1/2 cup
Milk – 1 cup
Water – 3 cups
Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
Mix chopped dry fruits – 1/4 cup
A pinch of Salt

Method:

1. In a bowl mix milk and Rava. Keep it aside or 30 minutes.
2. Take water, sugar, and cardamom powder in a saucepan. Boil until sugar dissolves completely.
3. Add ghee in a deep non-stick kadai and allow it to melt completely on medium-low flame.
4. Now switch off the flame. Add milk soaked Rava and mix well with melted ghee.
5. Turn on the flame and roast Rava on medium-low heat until brown color.
6. Now add prepared sugar syrup into roasted Rava and keep stirring till all the water gets absorbed.
7. Turn off the heat. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and dry fruits. Serve hot.

Rava Halwa

Tips:

1. Use heavy-based non-stick pan.
2. Don’t add soaked rava into hot ghee. Otherwise, rava turned into stones.

 

Custard Rice Kheer With Leftover Rice | Dessert Recipe | Leftover Ka Makeover

Custard Rice kheer is made of rice, milk, sugar, and vanilla custard powder. Vanilla custard powder gives a unique flavor to the kheer. In this recipe, I have used leftover rice. You can also make this kheer with freshly cooked rice.

Custard Kheer

Custard Rice Kheer With Leftover Rice | Dessert Recipe

Ingredients:
Cooked Rice – 1 cup
Milk – 2 cups + 1/4 cup
Vanilla Custard Powder – 3 tbsp
Sugar – 1/4 cup
Chopped Mix Dry Fruits– 1/4 cup
Green cardamom powder – 1 tsp

Method:

1. Mix custard powder with 1/4 cup cold milk and keep it aside.
2. Now boil 2 cups of milk in a deep saucepan and when it comes to boil.
3. Add custard milk mixture and stir continuously. Cook on medium flame for 10 minutes.
4. After 10 minutes add sugar and cook until sugar melts.
5. Now milk will become little thick then add cooked rice and mix them well.
6. Cook for 5 minutes on medium-low flame. Finally, add cardamom powder and mix it well.
7. Transfer kheer into a bowl and garnished with chopped mix dry fruits. Allow it to cool down to room temperature and then keep it in the refrigerator. Serve chilled.

Best Use Of Leftover Rice

Tips:

1. You can add dry fruits of your choice.
2. Adjust sugar according to your taste.
3. You can serve kheer with fresh fruits.

Dessert Recipe

Lapsi ( Broken Wheat Dates Jaggery Pudding) – No Sugar Dessert

Lapsi is a fabulous tasty dish made from broken wheat also known popularly as “dalia”. Lapsi is one of the favorite sweet dishes among the Gujaratis. It is specially made on festivals or auspicious occasions.

Lapsi

Roasting the broken wheat in ghee gives the Lapsi a rich brown color, intense aroma and nice flavor. It is an easy, quick and healthy dessert that has a healthy combination of broken wheat, jaggery, and dates.

Dates & Jaggery

Broken wheat is a good source of the daily requirement of fiber and manganese in your food. As it is high in protein and low in fat and calories, it offers you nutrients without adding pounds to your body.

Broken Wheat

Lapsi ( Broken Wheat Dates Jaggery Pudding)

Ingredients :
Broken Wheat -1 cup
Chopped Dates – 1/2 cup
Water  – 3 & 1/2 cups
Jaggery – 3/4 cup
Cardamom powder – 1/2 tsp
Ghee – 1/4 cup + 1 tsp
Fennel seeds – 1 tbsp
Chopped nuts – 1/4 cup
A pinch of Salt

Method:

1. Heat 1 cup of water and jaggery in a saucepan. Boil for 5 minutes and strain to remove any residue. Keep it aside.
2. Heat one tablespoon of ghee in a pressure cooker over medium heat. Add chopped nuts and roast until the color changes to light golden. Turn off the heat and keep the roasted nuts aside.
3. Heat the ghee in a pressure cooker, add the broken wheat and saute on a medium flame for 5 to 7 minutes or till it turns light pink in color.
4. Now add remaining 2 & 1/2 cups of water with strained jaggery water and chopped dates. Pressure cook on a high flame for 4 whistles.
5. Allow the steam to escape before opening the lid.
6. Now add the chopped dry fruits, salt, cardamom powder, fennel and pour remaining 1 tbsp of ghee over halwa. Serve hot.

Wholesome Dessert

Tips:

• Amount of water will depend on the variety of broken wheat.
• White sugar or brown sugar can be used instead of jaggery.

Lapsi

Whole Wheat Tutti Frutti Cake – Holi Special

Happy Holi To All

In our country food is the soul of all festivals. Holi Festival, in particular, has more cultural significance than religious and this festival of colors is known for traditional recipes, tasty snacks, and yummy sweets.

Colorful Tutti Frutti Cake

I have already posted Gujiya, Non-Fried Bread Pakoras, Masala Kaju Namkeen, Marble Rava Dhokla which you can prepare on the eve of Holi. But My Holi is incomplete without a Cake. So, here is Whole Wheat Tutti Frutti Cake made with the wholesome goodness of whole wheat, milk and lots of colorful tutti frutti.

Tutti Frutti

Whole Wheat Tutti Frutti Cake – Pressure Cooker Cake

Ingredients :
Whole Wheat Flour – 1 & 1/2 cups
Sugar – 1 cup
Milk – 1 cup
Baking powder – 2 tsp
Tutti Frutti – 1/2 cup + + 1 tbsp of whole wheat flour
Refined Oil – 1/4 cup
A pinch of Salt

WholeWheat Tutti Frutti Cake

Method :

1. Dry Ingredients – Sieve whole wheat flour, baking powder, and salt. Toss tutti frutti with 2 tbsp of whole wheat flour. Mix them with whole wheat flour and baking powder mixture. Keep it aside.
2. Wet Ingredients – In a grinder mix sugar, oil, and milk until smooth mixture.
3. Mix both dry and wet mixtures together.
4. Put batter into a greased pan and sprinkle some tutti frutti on cake batter. Press lightly with help of a spatula. Now tab the cake pan on a countertop to release any large air bubbles.
5. Put cake pan into the preheated pressure cooker and bake it for 1 hour.

Holi Special  cake

Tips:

1. Adjust sugar according to your taste.
2. Baking time may vary.
3. If cake batter looks dry, add 2- 4 tbsp of milk.
4. If baking in Oven: Bake in the preheated oven at 180 deg Celsius or around 360 Fahrenheit for about 1 hour. The baking time may vary. So keep checking the cake after 40 to 45 minutes.

No Oven Cake

Pressure Cooker Method:
Grease the baking tin with oil and dust it by sprinkling whole wheat flour over greased surface evenly. Pour the mixture into the greased baking tin.

Important Notes:

• Use the baking tin of 6 inches in diameter, so that it can easily get into the pressure cooker.
• Use a 5-liter pressure cooker. It should be big enough to hold the baking pan.
• Baking Tin should be made of Aluminium.
• If baking tin comes into direct contact with the base of the pressure cooker, it can burn ( overbake ) the cake. So use pressure cooker container which has big holes in it or any aluminum small stand.
• No gasket and whistle are needed. Remove them before baking.
• Don’t add water to the pressure cooker.

How to Bake In A Pressure Cooker?

1. Heat the pressure cooker on high heat for 2 minutes. Use sea salt or sand as a layer inside a cooker. Put a steel stand on a layer of salt or sand.
2. Now put the cake tin containing the cake batter ( Do not put water inside the pressure cooker).
3. Close the pressure cooker lid and do not put the whistle on the lid. Remove the gasket (rubber ring) from the lid.
4. Lower the flame after 2 minutes. Let it bake for 50 -60 minutes on low flame. After 60 minutes check cake with a knife, if the mixture does not stick, it means the cake is done.
5. If batter still sticks to knife then again bake for another 10 minutes. Do not open the lid immediately.
6. Eggless Pressure Cooker Cake is ready.

Pressure Cooker Cake

Gujiya – Holi Special Sweet

Indian Festival is simply incomplete without sweets delicacies and one such traditional sweet is Gujiya. Gujiya is a sweet dumpling made with Maida flour and stuffed with Mawa dry fruits filling. The filling is extremely easy to make with Homemade Mawa combined with coconut, rava, and lots of fruits.

Gujiya – Holi Special

This Holi Festival –  Try Gujiya with No Sugar Gujiya filling, I already uploaded a recipe on my blog. To make Gujiya crispy, add ghee with powdered sugar in the flour and fry on the medium-low heat. Adding sugar helps in turning the Gujiya into a nice golden color. Also, it enhances the taste. I have learned this recipe from my sister in law, Anita Karki.

No Sugar Gujiya

Gujiya – Holi Special Sweet

Ingredients :
For Dough:
Maida – 2 cups
Lukewarm Water – 1/4 tsp + 4 tbsp
Ghee – 5 tbsp
Powdered Sugar – 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

For Stuffing:
No Sugar Mawa & Dry Fruits Filling for Gujiyas – 1 & 1/2 cups
Milk – 1/4 cup

For Sealing Gujiya:
Maida – 3 tbsp
Water – 4 tbsp

Oil for frying

Method:

1. Heat a non-stick saucepan and add prepared Gujiya filling with 1/4 cup of milk. Mix until everything is well blended. The mixture should be moist and if the mixture looks dry add few tbsp of more milk. Take out the prepared mixture in a bowl and keep aside.
2. Mix maida, ghee in a mixing bowl. Rub well till all maida is coated with ghee. Add a little water at a time and form a stiff dough. It needs to be stiffer than Chapati dough. Rub a little Oil/Ghee on the dough ball, cover and allow to rest for an hour.
3. For Sealing: Mix maida with water and make a smooth paste.

Sweet Dumpling

For Making Gujiya:

• Again knead a dough for a minute.
• Divide dough into small balls.
• Apply a little oil on the rolling surface and then take one ball. Roll it into round shape. It should not be too thin or too thick. Cover the other dough balls to prevent from drying.
• Place rolled round shape dough on Gujiya mold and put 2 tbsp of prepared stuffing and seal with little Maida Water mixture. Press the mold tightly. Remove the excess dough.
• Make all of them and keep them covered with a kitchen towel to prevent it from drying out.
• Now put oil in a deep pan and fry these Gujiyas on the medium-low flame until they are roasted from both the sides.
• Allow to cool down and store in an airtight container.

Gujiya Molds

Tips:

1. For perfect Gujiya dough, flour and ghee proportion should be right that is called “Moyan”. To check, if you try making a ball in your hand, it binds.
2. Oil should be the right temperature. Check by dropping a small piece of dough, if it comes on top steadily that means its ready.
3. Don’t overstuff Gujiyas otherwise, it will break up while frying.
4. Stick the edges well with Maida Water mixture.
5. If Gujiyas splatter or breaks while frying. Keep them aside and fry in the end after frying all Gujiyas. Seal them with extra dough before frying.
6. Make Gujiya dough in a Food Processor as it kneads it to perfection.

No Sugar Gujiya Filling

Non- Fried Bread Pakora – Holi Special

Bread pakora or Bread Bhaji is an Indian fried snack. A common street food, it is made from bread slices, gram flour, and spices among other ingredients. Bread Pakora is prepared by dipping triangular bread slices in a spicy gram flour batter and frying them. It also includes stuff like mashed potatoes. green chutney, a slice of paneer.

Non-Fried Bread Pakora

I made little bit changes to make bread pakora healthier. I replaced potato with sweet potato, add oats flour with gram flour and its roasted on tawa with little oil. Its perfect savory snack in this Holi.

Savory Holi Recipe

Non- Fried Bread Pakora

For Stuffing:
Thin slices of Paneer – 6
Boiled and Cubed Sweet Potatoes – 2 medium size
Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder – 1/2 tsp
Chaat masala – 1/2 tsp
Finely chopped onion – 1
Finely chopped green chili – 1
Oil – 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Green Raw Mango Coriander Chutney – 1/2 cup

For Pakora Batter:
Gram flour or besan – 3/4 cup
Water – 1/2 cup
Carom seeds – 1/2 tsp
Oats flour – 1/4 cup
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste

For Pakora:
Roasted Sesame and Flaxseeds – 1/4 cup each
Brown Bread – 8

Oil for roasting

Method:

For Stuffing:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. Allow it to crackle.
2. Add chopped onions and saute them until translucent.
3. Lower the flame and add red chili powder, chaat masala, chopped green chili. Mix them well.
4. Add boiled and cubed sweet potato. Cook on medium-high flame for 5 minutes.
5. Switch off the flame and mash it with a potato masher.
6. Stuffing is ready.

For Pakora Batter:

Mix all ingredients mentioned under pakora batter and make a smooth batter. The batter should be of dropping consistency.

Making Bread Pakora:

1. Take on a slice of the bread. Spread prepared sweet potato mixture and place a slice of paneer on the mixture.
2. Now spread green chutney on the other slice of bread and place on sweet potato mixture slice.
3. Press both the slices and so that it holds together.
4. Dip prepared stuffed bread in the batter and coat from both the sides.
5. Heat a non-stick tawa with a little oil and place batter-coated bread pakora carefully on it.
6. Sprinkle some sesame and flaxseeds on it. Press lightly with the help of a spatula.
7. Shallow fry on medium to low heat until golden color.
8. Put little oil on bread pakora and flip pakora with a flat spatula.
9. When bread pakora is roasted from both the sides. Pick bread pakora (vertically) with the help of tong and roasted from other four sides as well.
10. Take it out in a paper towel. Cut it from the center in a triangular shape. Serve with your favorite chutney.