Hi all.... Hope you all had a wonderful Diwali Celebration. This time, its a Saturday so could celebrate with few gatherings. Made some Rasmalai and Mixture for Sweets and Snacks, decorated home with few lamps and colourful lights. No fire crackers though,.... follow state law!
Coming to the recipes,

Rasmalai

Ingredients:

• Ricotta Cheese - 1 lb (at room temperature)
• Whole milk - 7 or 8 cups
• Sugar - 1 1/2 to 2 cups
• MTR Badam Mix - 4 tbsp
• Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
• Saffron - a big pinch

How to make it:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ricotta cheese and 1/4 cup sugar in a bowl. Fill a non-stick muffin pan with the cheese mixture , about 1 tbsp each. Bake for about 1/2 hour or until set. Tooth pick inserted should come out clean. Be careful not to over heat (Turns brown when over heated). Take out the cakes by inverting the muffin pan onto a cookie sheet. Let it cool.
Meanwhile, In a deep pan, add the milk and bring it to a boil. Let it boil in low flame for about 15 minutes. Add the remaining sugar, MTR mix and Cardamom powder. Boil until the milk becomes little thick. Garnish with saffron. Let it cool.
Drop the cakes carefully into the milk. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Mixture

Ingredients:

• Besan flour - 2 cups
• Rice flour - 1 cup
• Rice flakes (Poha) - 3/4 cup
• Peanuts - 1/2 cup
• Cashews - 2 tbsp
• Red chilli powder - 1/2tsp + 1/2 tsp + 1/2 tsp
• Salt - as required
• Asafoetida powder - 1/2 tsp + 1/2 tsp + 1/2 tsp
• Butter - 1 tsp
• Curry leaves - few
• Oil - for frying

How to make it:

Boondhi:
Heat oil in a deep pan. Mix 1 cup besan flour, 1/2 cup rice flour, 1/2 tsp red chilli powder, salt, 1/2 tsp asafoetida with water. It should be in the consistency of a thick batter. Keeping the ladle with holes over the oil, pour little of the mixture and press with another ladle. This makes small round balls. Fry until it turns nice orange colour. Take onto a paper towel to absorb excess oil. Continue doing with the remaining batter.
Oma podi:
Mix 1 cup besan flour, 1/2 cup rice flour, 1/2 tsp red chilli powder, 1 tsp butter, 1/2 tsp asafoetida and salt with little water. Make a soft dough. Take a ball of the dough into a Muruku press with slotted holes as base. Press lightly over the hot oil. Fry until golden brown. Take onto a paper towel to absorb excess oil. Crush the oma podi into small pieces.
Fry peanuts, rice flakes and cashew nuts in oil separately. Fry few curry leaves.
In a small bowl, make a mixture of red chilli powder, salt and asafoetida. In a large bowl, mix everything together. Store in an air tight container.

Last week there was a parcel at my doorstep and.... wondering what it would be, i picked up the package and found that it was from Foodbuzz (as a part of the taste maker programme with Nature's Pride bread)

• Nature's Pride whole wheat bread - 8 slices
• Spinach - 1 cup chopped
• Onions - 1/2 cup finely chopped
• Jalapenos - 2 tsp, finely chopped
• Pepper - a dash
• Oregano - a dash
• Crushed red peppers - if preferred, to taste ( just in case if u want it little spicy)
• Mozzarella cheese - 4 oz shredded
• Corn flour - 1 tbsp, made into a paste with little water
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - for frying

How to make it:

In a bowl, add spinach, onions, jalapenos, pepper, oregano, crushed red peppers and salt. Mix well. Remove the ends of the bread slices (save it for making bread crumbs). Dip the bread in a bowl of water and squeeze the water by keeping the bread between your palms. Now you have it in the consistency of a dough. Keep some spinach and cheese mixture in the center and cover it with the bread and make into balls. Dip in corn flour and deep fry in oil until it turns light brown. Shallow frying or baking is also a good option.

Salsa

Ingredients:

Hello All.... I'm back! Blogging after almost 3 months. The summer vacation is over!!! Before we could realise its a peak of summer, the weather turned cold :-(
We went to India for our vacation and had a very good time there. Now, back to routines !

Will catch up with all your blogposts and delicious recipes soon.

Coming to the recipe, these are the neivedyams i made for Saraswathy pooja. (Sorry! for the delayed post)
Parupu payasam, Both sweet and spicy whole moong sundal and medhu vadas. I have already posted my medhu vada recipe here.

Parupu Payasam

Ingredients:

How to make it:

Cook moong and channa dal together until just done with water. Add the powdered brown sugar and mix it well. Let it boil until it becomes little thick. Add the cardamom powder and coconut milk powder. Add the cashews fried in little ghee and a pinch of camphor. Serve hot!

Sundal

Soak whole green moong dal overnight. Pressure cook until done.

Sweet sundal

Ingredients:

• Whole green moong dal - 1/2 cup
• Brown sugar - 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup
• Cardamom - 2 or 3 crushed
• Coconut - 2 tbsp, shredded
• Cashews - few, fried in ghee

How to make it:

Dissolve brown sugar in water and bring it to a boil. Add the cooked whole moong, coconut and cardamom and cook until it becomes thick. Garnish with cashews fried in ghee.

Spicy sundal

Ingredients:

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and when it splutters, add red chillies and urad dal. Add the moong, asafoetida, chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt. Add shredded coconut and garnish with curry leaves.