When i saw these at Malar's place sometime back, I remembered my childhood days when my mom used to make these kind of ladoos. Those were the days..... we used to run if mom gives these kind of stuffs for us to eat, along with a big lecture to make us believe it is healthy (Just like what i'm doing with my kid now!! :D). Now, i would say this is one kind of the yummiest!

Here is the recipe...

Mom's recipe - Mix together Health mix, powdered jaggery, shredded coconut and cardamom powder together. Sprinkle water or milk and make balls out of it.

My version is here--

Ingredients:

How to make it:
Mix all the ingredients together. Sprinkle little water or milk and make equally sized balls out of it.

Sri Rama Navami is a Hindu festival celebrating the Birth of Lord Rama. On this day, Kalyanotsavam is performed at temples and the deities are taken to a procession on streets. At some places it is more elaborate with Bhajans, Kirtans, Puja and Aarthi followed by the distribution of Prasad. On this day, Followers of Lord Rama fast or restrict themselves to a specific diet. The special neivedyam for the day is Panakam and Neermor (Butter milk).
Source: Wiki

This time for Sri Rama Navami, I made some Mango rice along with some Panakam and Neer mor for Neivedyam.

Mango Rice

Ingredients:

• Mango - 1, medium size
• Rice - 1 cup
• Green chillies - 4 or 5
• Curry leaves - few
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Urad dal - 1 tsp
• Channa dal - 1 tsp
• Salt - as required
• Oil - 1 tbsp

How to make it:
Cook rice with just enough water. Peel the skin of an unripe mango and shred. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and when it splutters, add urad dal and channa dal. Add the curry leaves and green chillies. Fry for a while and then add the shredded mango, turmeric powder and salt. Saute for a while and then add the cooked rice. Mix well.

Panakam

Ingredients:

• Water - 2 cups
• Jaggery - 1/2 cup
• Cardamom - 2 crushed

How to make it:
Dissolve Jaggery in little water and dilute as required. Add crushed cardamom and mix well. Let it stand for sometime until the cardamom looses the flavour in water.

Neer mor (Butter milk)

Ingredients:

• Thick home made yogurt - 1 cup
• Ginger - 1 tsp, shredded
• Cilantro - few, chopped
• Hing - a pinch
• Green chillies - 1 or 2, chopped finely (if preferred)
• Salt - as required

How to make it:
Beat the yogurt until there are no lumps. Add enough water to dilute. Add ginger, green chillies, hing, cilantro and little salt. Mix well.

Being a favorite for many (including me), who can say 'NO' to a plate of samosa with some tomato ketchup on the size? Will you??

For the Dough

Ingredients:

How to make it:

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add water and knead into a soft dough, for about 5 minutes. Apply some oil and let it stand covered for sometime.

For the Filling

Ingredients:

How to make it:

Heat oil in a pan, add cumin, onion, green chillies and fry until onion turns light brown. Add the cooked peas and fry for a while. Add red chilli powder, corriander powder and garam masala. Add potatoes and salt. Mash potatoes slightly (not all of them). Add some chopped cilantro. Mix well.

To make samosas

Make evenly sized balls out of the dough. Roll flat into a round shape. Cut into semi-circle with a Knife. Take one semi circle at a time. Apply water along the cut edge and fold into a cone. Hold it between your thumb and index finger just like holding an ice-cream cone. Add the potato filling inside the cone. Fold and seal the ends by applying little water. Deep fry in oil until golden brown. Serve hot with tomato ketchup!

Tip:
For crispier samosas, keep the un-fried, filled samosas in refrigerator for at least an hour or two.

Idiyappam (String hoppers) is one of the easiest dish to make. Nowadays, we get idiyappam flour in most of the stores, that can be used instantly. Even the regular rice flour will do good, if you know the tactics of how to make the dough, without any lumps. It needs an extra effort than the one prepared with idiyappam flour.
To make Idiyappam flour, soak raw rice in water for about 3 hours. Drain the water and dry the rice in a cloth. Grind into a fine powder and sieve. Let it dry in sunlight for a day. Yes! it is a long process... But, if made in large quantities, the flour can be stored for a long time and it comes handy to make idiyappams anytime. Never i tried making the flour though! This was prepared at home, back in India and i always bring some whenever i make a trip to India. To know more about Idiyappams and how to make it, Visit here.

Ingredients:

How to make it:
Dry roast the flour on a medium flame in an un-oiled pan until it is warm. Add little salt. Be careful not to turn it brown. Add Boiling water about 2 cups first (keep stirring continuously), and then the remaining water until it forms a dough. Add a tbsp of oil to get a ball of well cooked unsticky dough. Switch off the flame. When it is still warm, take a ball of the dough in idiyappam maker and press onto a greased idli plate and steam cook for about 7-10 minutes.


Plantain- Tapioca Stew

Ingredients:

How to make it:
Wash tapioca in running hot water to remove the wax coating. Pressure cook potatoes, plantain and tapioca with the skin. Once done, remove the skin and cube them. Heat oil in a pan, add fennel, cumin, bay leaf, cloves and cardamom. When it sizzles, add onions, green chillies, curry leaves and ginger-garlic paste. Fry until the raw smell goes off. Add tomatoes and fry for a while. Add the cubed veggies, salt, turmeric powder and red chilli powder and cook for a minute. Add coconut milk and cook covered until all flavours mix well. Add little water if required. Add cashew paste. (Use rice flour to thicken the gravy if it is watery). Cook until the stew thickens. Add yogurt and mix well. Garnish with cilantro. Serve hot with Idiyappams.

The stew recipe here is my own Idea, so I'm sending this to Srilekha for her Submit your recipes! page.

Gujarati Cuisine is primarily Vegetarian. A typical thali consists of Roti/ poori, Dhal, Kadhi, Shaak (vegetables), Farsan (Appetizers), Mithai (sweets), Home made pickles and Chaas (Butter milk). Most of the preparation consists of a small amount of sugar/ jaggery added as an ingredient, which makes the dish kind of sweet to taste. Though not much elaborate, i made this Gujarati thali last week for an occasion at home. It is always wonderful to learn other cuisines and try different kinds of food. Got these recipe ideas from a Gujarati friend of mine and also from here, modified to my taste!! :) The amount of ingredients given below serves 2-3 people.

Besan Ladoo

Ingredients:

How to make it:

Dry roast besan and rava on low heat for few minutes. Add ghee and mix well until the besan absorbs all ghee, for about 5 minutes. Switch off the flame. Add cardamom powder, cloves and almonds. When the besan is still warm, add the sugar and mix well. Make evenly sized balls. Decorate with roasted cashews. Stiffens as it cools. Makes about 12 balls.

Ingredients:

How to make it:

Heat oil in a pan, add cloves, cardamom, fennel and cumin. When it sizzles, add ginger and onions and fry until onion turns translucent. Add all the powders mentioned in the ingredients, except salt. Fry for a while. Add tomatoes, tindora, hyacinth beans and salt. The water from tomatoes must be sufficient to cook the veggies. Cook covered on low-medium heat until done. Sprinkle 1 tsp of besan and mix well. Garnish with cilantro.

Peas-potato baaji

Ingredients:

How to make it:

Heat oil + ghee in a pan. Add cloves, cardamom, fennel and cinnamon. When it sizzles, add green chillies and onions and fry until onion turns light brown. Add tomatoes and cook until tomatoes become soft. Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder and corriander powder. Add boiled and cubed potatoes, cooked peas and fry for a while. Add 1 1/2 cups water and salt. Cook covered for about 5 minutes. Add besan mixed with little water to thicken the gravy. Cook until thick. Garnish with cilantro.

Dhal

Ingredients:

How to make it:

Pressure cook toor dal with enough water. Mash the dal well. Heat oil + ghee in a pan, add bay leaf, cloves, cumin and cinnamon. When it sizzles add tomatoes and hing. Cook until tomatoes becomes soft. Add ginger-chilli paste and saute for a while. Add Peanuts, cooked toor dal, salt, jaggery and turmeric powder. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Garnish with curry leaves and cilantro. Add a squeeze of lemon.

Ingredients:

How to make it:

Beat the yogurt well. Add cucumber, salt and cilantro. Mix well.

Chaas

Ingredients:

How to make it:

Beat the yogurt well. Dilute with 1 to 1 1/2 cups water.Add finely chopped cilantro, green chillies and ginger. Add salt and hing. Mix well. Serve chilled.

Poori

Ingredients:

Knead the dough by adding salt and water. Add 1 tsp of oil while kneading to get a soft dough. Make balls out of the dough. Roll each ball into small round shape and fry in oil until it puffs up and becomes light brown.

Rice

Cook rice with cloves and cardamom for a wonderful aroma....

Fried chillies

Ingredients:

How to make it:

Mix besan, salt and hing. Add wet green chillies and mix well so that the chillies are nicely coated with flour. Deep fry in oil.