Monday, July 30, 2012

Sweet Dhokla

Friday is a day of Goddess Lakshmi and for me every Friday is a very very important day as I perform "Sri Vaibhava Lakshmi pooja"on that day. This pooja is so powerful and I know it doesn't need a Intro.
For the pooja I offer a sweet made of Besan as Prasadam..So here comes my challenge every week in search of a sweet dish made of Besan..
This Friday I was going thru blogs and saw Dhokla in a blog suddenly my tube light has lighten with "Sweet Dhokla". It came out very well and I hope that even the Goddess will bless me for my new invention.
I made few changes for the dish like added little rice flour, used Yeast for baking powder and Suger in place of lime..
Here it is...

Ingredients
1/4 Cup Rice flour
3/4 Cup Besan Flour
1/2 Tbs Yeast
1 Cup Sugar ( Adjust according to your taste)
Seasoning
2 Tbs Butter
1 Tbs Mustard
1 Tbs Jeera
Cilantro for Seasoning

How to make it ???
1.Take yeast, 1 Spoon sugar and add little warm water to it.Mix them well and keep it aside for few mins.
2.Mix Besan and Rice flour to a paste by using the above yeast mix. Close the above mixture with a wet towel and allow it to rise for 1hr.
3. Grease a microwavable box with butter and pour the Besan mixture to it.Microwave it for 4 Min ( It may take less than that too).Use a tooth pick to check whether it is fully cooked or not. Cool the Besan cake for few minutes.
4. Take sugar and mix it with 1 cup of water. Microwave a bowl with butter and seasoning. Allow the Mustard to splutter and add sugar syrup to it. Microwave sugar syrup for few mins.
5. Now take the Besan cake and cut it to pieces. Add the sugar syrup to the cake and garnish it with cilantro.


Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Junnu


After a long break in blogging I'm back with my guest post series "Something Sweet". For my second guest post I have invited "Smitha Joga of Smitha's Spicy Flavors" to share a sweet recipe with all of us. I'm so happy that she accepted my invite even with her busy schedule & had sent me a delicious sweet which is my all time favorite. 

In Smitha's Words: 
This is my first guest post. Sreevalli of Ammaji's recipes was so kind to ask me to do a guest post long back. But due to my computer problems I didn't get a chance to get to it till now! Thanks Sreevalli for asking me to do it! :)
I chose this simple sweet recipe for this special post called "Junnu". I am sure whoever has tasted this in the past would really like to revive this memory yet again.


The first milk of cattle after delivering a calf is called 'Junnu paalu' in our language, 'paalu' standing for milk.
This is steam cooked with some jaggery and black pepper to make is awesome pudding known as 'Junnu'.
Because of the thickness and creaminess of this milk, it forms a delicate pudding with a creamy texture without the addition of any other ingredients.
Well this was in the times when the 'first milk' was readily available like in the villages or even in the city, when your milkman would bring 'Junnu paalu' and offer it to you for a nominal price.
I have probably eaten the actual Junnu only once or twice in my lifetime, but the delicate taste has forever made a mark in my brain!
Now during present times, its very rare that we can get 'Junnu Paalu'. So I tried to make this delicacy using the ingredients readily available to us and I think it came out perfect, absolutely just like the actual 'Junnu'.
But I had to use eggs and so its not eggless like the actual and real 'Junnu'. Maybe some day that also will be possible. :)
Its a very simple recipe which churns out this amazing and delicious Milk Pudding. The combination of jaggery and pepper in  the real junnu is perfectly compensated by the sweetness is condensed milk and black pepper. The eggs bring out the right texture in the pudding, very close to the real one.



Ingredients:
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk (14 oz)
2 cups milk
2 eggs
pinch of black pepper
1/4 tsp Cardamom powder

Method:
Whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl along with eggs
Grease a steel bowl ever so lightly with oil.
Steam cook it in a pressure cooker for about 30 minutes. 
Remove and cool before flipping over onto a plate. 
Flip it twice to bring it right side up.
Serve warm or cold.
Enjoy!!!



I once again want to thank Smitha with those beautiful flowers for sharing this yummy sweet with all of us.. :)