Karanji/Kajjikayalu/Karchikai/Sweet Somas

Today is the 4th week of blogging marathon#23 and I will be blogging under the traditional dishes.
Karanji is a sweet which is popular in Maharastra whereas it is named as sweet somas or karchikai in TamilNadu and Kajjikayalu in Andhra.The shape of making the sweet is same and varoius kinds of stuffing is used in each part of the state.
Coming to today's recipe,it  is a simple and easy to make stuffing with the basic ingredients and the stuffing can be made in advance.
This sweet is one of my child hood favorite and my paternal grandmother is an expert in making this sweet.Whenever she used to visit us she brought this sweet and used a special gadget called somas karandi(spoon) to trim the edges.As I don't have that one, used the pizza cutter to trim the edge and pressed with the fork to get the decorative edge.Here is the recipe................

Ingredients
For the outer covering

Ingredient	Quantity
All purpose flour/Maida	1cup
Semolina/rava	11/2tbs
Ghee	2tbs
Salt	1/8tsp
Oil	for frying

For the Stuffing

Ingredient	Quantity
Roasted gram dhal/pottukadalai	3/4cup
Coconut(grated)	1/2cup
Sugar	1cup
Cardamom/ellakai	3nos.
Roasted semolina	1tbs(optional)
Finely powdered cashews	1tbs(optional)

Method

             Mix the semolina,maida and ghee together,add water little by little and make a firm dough.Keep it aside for 2 hours.

Powder the roasted gram dhal and sugar+cardamom separately and put it in a bowl.Now heat a pan, dry roast the coconut till aromas comes and  golden.Add it to the gram dhal and sugar mixture,mix it well.The stuffing is ready.

Divide the dough into a gooseberry size balls and roll into a thin poori.Keep 2tsp of stuffing in it and apply water on the edges.Fold and seal the edges.

Now trim the edge with the pizza cutter or somas spoon and with the fork gently press and decorate the edge,keep it on plate covered with a cloth to prevent drying.Continue for rest of the dough.
Fry 3-4 pieces in the oil for one batch in a medium heat till it becomes crisp and golden color.Remove it and drain it on a paper towel.

E

After cooling store it in an air tight container.

Enjoy.....................................

• Somas stay fresh and crisp for a week if it is stored in an air tight container.
• Fry it in a medium flame to get a crispy and golden colored somas.
• Adding the roasted rava and ground cashews is purely optional but gives a rich taste. 
• While pressing with the fork make sure on to press on the top layer otherwise the stuffing will come out.

Check out my fellow bloggers participating in Blogging Marathon#23.
Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com

Suji Cookies

Suji cookies are mouth melting cookies which is very popular in Malaysia.I have bookmarked these cookies from Uma's Kitchen Experiments which she adapted from Fun wid Food.

I bookmarked this long time back and didn't get a chance to make these yummy cookies.Last week when I got a mail from Hubby dear's office for a baking competition,without any second thought I baked these delicious cookies.It came out very nice and mouth melting with the flavor of ghee.Now on to the recipe..................

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
All Purpose Flour/maida	1cup
Ghee/clarified butter/nei	1/2cup
Icing sugar	1/2cup
Roasted ground almond	1/2cup
Baking powder	1/2tsp
Baking soda	1/2tsp
Salt	1/8tsp
Vanilla Extract	1/2tsp
Food Color(pink,yellow,blue)	few drops
Caster sugar	for coating the cookies

Method

                           Mix all purpose flour,salt,baking soda and powder,sift it.To this add the icing sugar.
Then add the almond powder,ghee and vanilla extract.

Mix it well and make a dough.Divide the dough into 3 equal portions and to each portion add each of the color,mix it.Take a small dough in each colored dough.

Roll it smoothly between the palms and flatten it to a disc.Arrange the flatten discs on a greased baking tray with 2 inches apart.Bake it in 325F for 15-17 minutes(mine took 15 minutes).

Once the cookies cool completely,coat it with the caster sugar and arrange it on a plate.

Suji cookies are ready.

Enjoy..............................................

• The cookies enlarge while baking so make sure to get a small gooseberry sized dough from each color.
• Measure the butter after melting and almonds needs to be roasted and ground,I kept in the microwave for 3 minutes.
• While coating in the caster sugar the cookies should be cooled down completely.

Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com

Microwave Eggless Carrot Cup Cake

For the 3rd day of Sangeetha's blog immediately bookmarked it.Since it is an egg less I tried it the next week and it came out very delicious and perfect.This cake has become favorite for my son.
One day when he asked for this cake I had only 2tbs of all purpose flour only so instead of making it in a mug I made it in a small ramekin bowl.The output was a cute and small sized cake which is perfect for single serving,since then I started making it in the ramekin bowl.Here is the recipe.......

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
All purpose flour/maida	6tbs
Sugar	3tbs
Carrot(grated)	3tbs
Olive oil	2tbs
Buttermilk	6tbs(chilled)
Baking soda	1/4tsp
Salt	a pinch
Vanilla	1/8tsp
Cinnamon powder	a pinch
Cashews or walnuts	1tsp(finely chopped)

Method

•  Mix the flour,salt,baking powder,cinnamon powder and set it aside.
• In a bowl take chilled buttermilk,sugar,vanilla and grated carrot,mix it with a spoon.
• Add the dry ingredients to this and mix it well,pour it in greased ramekin bowls.Sprinkle the chopped nuts and microwave each bowl in a microwave high for 2-21/2 minutes.
• Carrot cup cake is ready.

• Drizzle it with chocolate syrup or vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy......................................................................................

• The above measurements is for 2 servings with the ramekin bowl and one serving for the coffee mug.

Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com

Carrot Chutney

Whenever I feel bored with coconut chutney,garlic chutney or kara chutney with idly or my next option would be either carrot chutney or coriander chutney.
Carrot chutney goes very well with idly,dosai even with Adai.This chutney can be made in two versions,one with the coconut and the other with shallots and tomato.
Today I am sharing the recipe with the coconut,here goes the recipe.............  

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Carrot(grated)	1cup
Coconut	1/4cup
Shallots	4nos.
Green chilly	7-8nos.
Urad dhal	1tbs
Tamarind	1 inch piece
Salt	to taste
Oil	2tsp

For tempering

Ingredient	Quantity
Mustard seeds	1/2tsp
Urad dhal	1tsp
Asafoetida/perungayam	a pinch
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Oil	1tsp

Method 

• Heat the pan with 1/2 tsp of oil,fry the urad dhal and remove it.In the same pan add the remaining oil and fry the green chillies,then goes in shallots and grated carrot.Saute it till the raw smell goes away and finally add the coconut and fry it for a minute.Switch off the flame and leave it to cool down.Once its get cooled down grind it along with tamarind and salt.
• For the tempering heat a pan with the oil and splutter the mustard seeds and urad dhal.Then add the asafoetida and curry leaves,add the tempering to the chutney and mix it well.
• Quick Carrot chutney is ready.
• Serve with idly or dosa.

Enjoy...............................................................

• The amount of green chillies can be increased if the carrot is slightly sweet.
• Instead of shallots 1/2 onion can be used.

Check out my fellow bloggers participating in Blogging Marathon#23.

Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com

Carrot Halwa/Gajar Ka Halwa

Today's recipe is an exotic and colorful halwa made with carrots for the blogging marathon #23 and the theme I chose is carrot in different ways.
When  I selected theme wanted to make carrot cake but due to so many personal works couldn't do the baking.So ended up in making carrot halwa.Now on to the recipe...........

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Carrot(grated)	31/2-4cups
Milk	21/2cups
Sugar	3/4-1cup
Ghee	3tbs
Cashews/mudiriparuppu	10nos.
Almonds/badam	6nos.
Cardamom powder/ellakai podi	1/2tsp

Method 

                      Grate the carrot in a grater,in a pan heat 1/2tsp of ghee and roast the cashews and almond and keep it aside.In the same pan add 1tbs of ghee and saute the carrot till tender. Now add the milk.

Now add the milk,cook it in a medium flame and stir it continuously till the milk gets evaporated.

Once the mixture becomes thick add the sugar and mix it well.Add the ghee and cook it till it leaves the sides of the pan.

Finally add the cardamom powder and fried cashews,almonds.mix it well.

Carrot Halwa is ready.

 Enjoy....................................

• Saffron can be added for extra flavor.
• Instead of regular milk evaporated milk can be used and unsweetened can be added for rich taste.
• Tastes better when it is warm and enjoy it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Check out my fellow bloggers participating in Blogging Marathon#23.
Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com