Hi everybody,
I am here with a new recipe after long time. Life has made me busy with the arrival of our second baby. Taking care of two naughty kids is not an easy task. But I'm not exhausted, I'm enjoying this phase of life with them :)
Well, this is the recipe of Chakli which my Mom prepared during her stay with us. My daughter is a big fan of Chakli and this was made on her demand. Try this melt in mouth Chakli and I'm sure you will love it!


Preparation time: 2 hours
Soaking time: 2 - 3 hours
Difficulty level: Difficult
Yield: 60 Chaklis (depending on the size)

Ingredients:

  • Rice - 1 big cup full (1 cup = 175 gms)
  • Roasted rice flour - 3 1/2 cup (approx)
  • Till seeds - 4 tsp
  • Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
  • Carom seeds - 2 tbsp
  • Butter - lemon size
  • Salt to taste
  • Oil for deep frying
  • Water for grinding


Method:

  • Wash the rice 2 times and soak it in water for 2-3 hours. 
  • Drain the soaked rice and grind it along with till seeds, cumin seeds and carom seeds into fine paste. Add water as required. Consistency should be like the Dosa batter.
  • Add 2 1/2 tsp salt and 2 cups of water to the prepared batter and mix well. 
  • Transfer the batter to a thick bottomed vessel and keep stirring on medium flame for few minutes. Add lemon size butter while heating up the batter.
  • When the batter thickens, add around 3 1/2 cups (or as needed) of roasted rice flour and mix it when its still hot.
  • Knead the dough well and prepare a soft, non sticky dough ball. Keep the dough covered with a wet cloth and take out small portions as needed.
  • Fill the dough in a Chakli press and make them into spirals. 
  • Deep fry in hot oil and crispy Chaklis are ready to eat!
Strawberry is one of my kiddo's favourite fruits. She demands for it everytime when we go for buying  fruits. Strawberries are tend to spoil very quickly, even when we refrigerate them. So whenever we buy 2-3 boxes of strawberries, I will end up preparing some milkshake, jam or ice-cream. Home made ones are free from artificial colors, flavours and preservatives and delicious too! 
Here is my simple recipe of Strawberry Ice-cream..


Preparation time: 25 minutes
Refrigeration time: 5 - 6 hours
Serves - 7 to 8

Ingredients:
  • Strawberries - 250 gm
  • Thick cream - 250 gm
  • Sugar - 2 tbsp or to taste

Method:
  • Wash and clean the strawberries, remove the stems. Chop them into small / medium chunks.
  • Combine them with thick cream and sugar and blend smoothly using a mixer or blender. 
  • Transfer the blended mixture to an airtight container and refrigerate for 2 - 3 hours or till it becomes hard.
  • Take out the ice-cream mixture and blend it for 4 - 5 minutes or till smooth and keep it back into the freezer. Repeat this step 2 - 3 times to get a smooth textured ice-cream.
  • Scoop the ice-cream and serve it!


Tips:
  • If you want some strawberry chunks in the ice-cream, add 4 - 5 tsp of finely chopped strawberries after blending the mixture for the final time. Mix it well and refrigerate.
Bottle Gourd is one of those vegetables which are available throughout the year. Here in Australia, it is commonly available not only in Indian grocery stores, but also in most of the Asian grocery stores. Bottle gourd is a good of vitamins and minerals and hence, regular consumption of this veggie is good for our health.
In our home, we would prefer typical Indian style food most of the time. We buy bottle gourd more frequently to prepare different Indian dishes. I have shared the recipe of Bottle Gourd Palya / Spiced Bottle Gourd long back. Here is one more delicacy made with Bottle Gourd. Do try this Bottle Gourd Payasa when you buy bottle gourd next time and let me hear your feedback! 😊


Time required: 35 - 40 minutes
Serves - 3
Difficulty level: Medium

Ingredients:

  • Sugar - 3/4 cup (1 cup = 
  • Bottle gourd peeled, seeded and chopped into small or medium pieces - 2 cups
  • Semolina (medium) - 1/3 cup
  • Jaggery - 2 tbsp (see Tips)
  • Salt - big pinch 
  • Ghee / clarified butter - 1 tsp
  • Milk - 2 1/2 cup
  • Water - 2 1/2 cup
  • Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
  • Saffron strands - 8 to 10 (optional)


Method:

  • Heat the water in a pan. Once it becomes nicely hot, add a teaspoon of ghee and chopped bottle gourd. Continue cooking till bottle gourd pieces become soft.
  • In the meanwhile, wash the semolina by adding some water and drain it off.
  • Add this semolina to the cooked mixture and mix it continuously for 2 - 3 minutes to avoid lumps.
  • Add sugar, salt, jaggery (optional), milk and saffron strands. Allow the Payasa to boil for 8 - 10 minutes. 
  • Add cardamom powder before switching off the flame.
  • Serve this delicious Payasa hot or cold. This Payasa goes well with Poori, if you are a sweet lover.



Tips:




  • If you don't like jaggery, you can replace it with sugar. If you like to use jaggery, use more jaggery and reduce the quantity of sugar accordingly. If using more jaggery, no need to add saffron as the flavour will be dominated by jaggery. 
Christmas is already round the corner. Joy of the festival is visible everywhere in the form of lights, decorations and of course, shopping! We just roamed everywhere and did enough shopping. Actually speaking, we won't celebrate Christmas in our home. But we are very much fond of Christmas Fruit Cake / Plum Cake. So, all the preparations are done to prepare the Fruit Cake!
Candied Peel is one of the key ingredients for Christmas Fruit Cake. Peel of citrus fruits such as orange, lemon are taken out in order to make the candied peel. Fruit peel will be chopped, boiled, drained and then cooked in sugar syrup to make it delicious. Candied peel and candied fruits are easily available in the market especially during the Christmas time, but I always prefer making them at home. 
Here is the easy recipe of making Candied orange peel. Thanks to Suma of Cakes And More for this wonderful recipe! 


Preparation time: 1 1/4 hour
Cooling time: 1 hour
Yield: 30 - 32 pieces of peel
Difficulty level: Medium

Ingredients:
  • 2 medium sized navel oranges
  • Sugar - 1/2 cup
  • Water - 1/2 cup + more water to cook the peel


Method:
  • Cut the oranges into 4 equal halves and take out the peel carefully.
  • Slit the peels into equal size pieces to ensure even cooking.
  • Take about 2 cups of water in a vessel and bring to boil. Add the orange peel and cook it for 4 - 5 minutes. Now, drain all the water from the peel and run the peels through cold water.
  • In order to remove the bitterness from the orange peel, I have repeated the above step two times.
  • Combine 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of water in a vessel and heat it on the stovetop. Once the sugar is dissolved, add the orange peels and simmer the flame.
  • Cook the peels for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or till the all sugar syrup is absorbed.
  • Switch off the flame and leave the orange peels on a wire rack for an hour for cooling.
  • Thats it, homemade orange peels are ready to use!



Tips:
  • You can prepare Candied lemon peel using the above method.  
Dry Fruits Ladoo is a very common sweet which is found in most of the sweet stalls in Karnataka. These ladoos are made of all healthy ingredients like almonds, cashews, poppy seeds, raisins, dates, etc. and taste divine! These yummy ladoos are good for people of all ages.
At home, we all love munching dry fruits and nuts. But what happens normally is, one day we tend to eat more of them and the next day, we forget to eat them. If Dry Fruit Ladoos are there at home, we won't forget to eat them daily! Thats the reason I keep making these ladoos at home regularly. 
Here is my version of Dry Fruit Ladoo..


Preparation time: 40 minutes
Yield: 30 ladoos (depending on the size)
Difficulty level: Medium

Ingredients:
  • Dates (De-seeded and roughly chopped) - 2 cups (1 cup=
  • Chopped almonds - 1/2 cup
  • Broken cashews - 1/2 cup
  • Raisins - 1/2 cup
  • Shredded coconut - 1/2 cup
  • Poppy seeds - 1/4 cup
  • Ghee / Clarified butter - 4 tbsp



Method:
  • Heat a heavy bottom pan. Toast the chopped almonds, broken cashews and poppy seeds separately. 
  • Then, Melt the ghee in the same pan. Add the chopped dates and raisins. Keep mixing the mixture for 4 - 5 minutes or till it becomes like a dough.
  • Add the rest of the ingredients to the dates mixture and mix them well.
  • Make equal sized balls from the mixture and store them in an airtight container. 

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