We didn’t realize when Navaratri went by. We didn’t celebrate it at all. Like always, though I had grand plans, I didn’t do anything for the festival. So I decided to cook a marathon for one of my favorite festivals – Diwali/Deepavali which is just round the corner. Instead of waiting till the big day, I thought of bringing the mood in both at home and this blog. So I started today.
It didn’t take much time to decide which sweet I wanted to make today. I love Rasgullas or Rosogullas , but I have never prepared them at home. I always thought they were very difficult to make. I am not saying this is the authentic version, but I can say they were very good. I din’t have rose water mentioned in many recipes, so I used cardamom powder.
I took help from this and this . Then I realized, I had only brown cane sugar. Still I went ahead and tried. They came out very good but they were brown because of brown sugar. So I decided to make one more batch with white sugar. I could not believe the quality of the Rasgullas, they were simply awesome. I wish I had tried these before, I didn’t know they were so easy to make.
Ingredients: For chenna/paneer 6 cups milk (I used whole milk) 1-2 tbl spns lemon juice
For syrup: 1 cup sugar 2 and 1/2 cups water 1/4 tea spn cardamom powder
Method: Heat milk in a heavy bottomed pan. When it is hot, add the lemon juice. Mix with a spoon and cook for a few minutes till the milk separates.
Sieve it through a clean cloth.
Tie the towel in a pouch and squeeze it to remove any extra water.
Hang the towel for about 30mins allowing all the water to fall down. Now the paneer/chenna is ready.
Take it on a plate and knead it very well to remove any chunks. This is very important to get good quality rasgullas . Now make small balls (of peda size), remember, when they are cooked, they increase in volume, so don’t make them too big. It is quite difficult to make these as they break very easily. So apply a bit of pressure to hold them together. Try to give them as smooth surface as possible.
In a big vessel, heat sugar and water. When the sugar is dissolved and syrup comes to boil, slowly add the balls. Remember they increase in size by 2-3 times. So make sure to use big enough vessel to hold them easily. Now, bring down the heat to medium and close the lid (I made up this step. I didn’t want to cook them in cooker as mentioned in some of the links I saw, I felt by this way, I could take them off heat once they are cooked). Let it cook for about 25mins or until they are cooked. They are cooked when they have considerably increased in size. Take one rasgulla out and slightly apply pressure, if it comes back to original shape, it is cooked. Add the cardamom powder and take off the heat. Serve them chilled.
Makes about 14 rasgullas Preparation time : 60mins
It was some 10 years old story. I had been to my friend’s house for studying something. It was tea time and my friend’s grandmother, Mrs Diwan, served a laddoo . She asked me to taste it and guess what it was made of. I kept guessing, but every time I was wrong. The laddoos were just out of this world.
I don’t remember exactly how she made them, but I had a general idea. Yesterday I had 4-5 chapathis remaining from previous day. Since I am in festival mood, I thought of making these again. They came out great, we both enjoyed them a lot.
Preferably use 1 day old chapathis .
Ingredients: 4-5 chapathis 1/3 cup jaggery 2 tea spns ghee 1 tbl spn each of raisins and cashews 2-3 tbl spn milk 1/2 tea spn cardamom powder
Method: Tear the chapathis into pieces. Roast them on a large pan or spread on a cookie sheet and bake on a low temperature till they crisp up (do not burn them). I baked them at 250F for about 10mins and switched off oven and left them in the oven to get crispy in the warm oven. After sometime when I checked, they were totally crisped and became like papads . Now grind them to a smooth powder (do not add water). Heat ghee in a pan. Add cashews, raisins. Fry for few minutes and then add the powder and jaggery (preferably powdered or cut into tiny pieces). Keep mixing it for about 10mins on a medium/low flame. (Taste it at this stage, if you like more sweet, add little more jaggery). Take off heat. Add cardamom powder. Now sprinkle milk one table spoon at a time till the mixture can be handled easily and laddoos can be made easily. Make laddoos and serve.
Makes about 8 laddoos Preparation time : 20mins (not including chapathi crisping time)
