Malai Laddoo/ Cottage Cheese Sweet - Think Pink

Before few days I got an invite from Arva of I live in a frying pan to join the Fooderati Arabia group...can't tell you how excited I was. I immediately accepted the invite and was happy to be a part of the group consisting of talented bloggers from UAE...these guys have wonderful blogs and I was amazed at how active they were in the group. They meet regularly, organize many monthly events, outings and they are a great support group. 

Through this group I came to know about Breast Cancer Awareness event. October is Breast Cancer awareness month and I am contributing by making a pink post. For people residing in Dubai~ our two fellow FIA members Rajani And Lin are donating 10% of their sales to the Safe & Sound- Breast Cancer Awareness Programme. Visit them at their FB page to know more.

Do support the breast cancer campaign by liking Safe & Sound.

Ingredients: 

Cottage Cheese( Paneer)- 250 grams

Condensed Milk- 3/4 Cup

Cardamom Powder- A pinch

Beetroot Purée- 1 tsp ( or few drops of red food colour)

Clarified Butter( ghee)- 2 tsp

Procedure:

• Grate and mash the cottage cheese.
• In a non stick pan add in the clarified butter along with cottage cheese and condensed milk and cook on low heat.
• When the mixture starts thickening and leaving the sides of pan add in the cardamom powder and turn of the heat.
• Transfer the mixture in a plate and divide it in two parts.
• In one part add in the beetroot purée/ food colour and mix it nicely. The mixture will turn pink in colour.
• Once the mixture cools take out a portion out of  the white part and roll it in a small marble size round and keep aside. 
• Then take the pink colour dough and take out a big portion out of it. Roll it in a little big round and then with thumb make an impression in the centre, keep the white coloured small marble inside it and then seal all the sides and make a round ball.
• Repeat the process with other balls as well.
• I made some with white centre and some with pink centre.

This is how the laddoos looked from inside.

These are best when served fresh but  can also be kept in refrigerator for 2 days.

Do check out what our other FIA members have posted for this event-

The Pink Ribbon - According To Dina
Pink Ribbon Salad- Life in the food lane
Strawberry & Fig Tartlet- Eaternal Zest
Raspberry Melting Moments/ Orange Blossom Fig Torte- La Me`re Culinaire
Super Foods And Cancer- Irina Savva
Chicken Curry Spring Rolls- Ginger & Scotch
Going Pink- Devina Divecha

Mysore Pak/ Gram Flour Fudge

Mysore Pak aka Gram Flour Fudge is a sinfully rich sweet with only three ingredients...a bite of it will make you crave for more and more...and if eaten without moderation it is sure to make us pull out fat pants from the closet. I was wondering about its name origin...and there came Wikipedia at my rescue. Mysore pak seems to be originated in the kitchen of royal palace of Mysore and hence got it's name.

Mysore Pak is of two kinds...one is a bit hard with crumbly texture and the other has soft and smooth texture and just melts in the mouth. Our family is fond of the softer one so I made this. I saw this recipe in Sharmi's space and immediately bookmarked it. Thanks for this wonderful recipe Sharmi...it's just so perfect.

Ingredients: ( Recipe Source- Sharmispassions)

Besan/ Gram Flour- 1 Cup

Ghee/ Clarified Butter- 1 Cup ( 3/4 Cup in flour and 1/4 Cup while stirring)

Sugar- 1 Cup

Water- 1/4 Cup

Procedure:

• Roast the gram flour in a non stick pan with 1 tsp of ghee. Roast in low heat by continuous stirring till the raw smell of flour disappears. 
• Sieve the flour so that there are no lumps.
• In a bowl put the flour and add the 3/4 Cup of ghee. Mix well without any lumps. Keep the paste aside for 15 minutes.
• Grease a plate with ghee and keep aside.
• Meanwhile mix together sugar and water in a non stick pan and keep on medium heat with occasional stirring till single thread consistency is achieved. 
• Keep the remaining 1/4 Cup of ghee to heat in low flame. 
• Now reduce the gas flame to low and add the flour paste slowly by slowly in the sugar syrup while continuously stirring it with another hand.
• Now start adding to it the hot 1/4th Cup of ghee slowly by slowly in intervals. Keep stirring.
• Slowly the mixture will start leaving the sides and it will start coming together without sticking to the pan.
• At this stage pour the mixture in the greased plate. It will spread itself smoothly.
• When little cool cut it into desired shapes.

Garlic And Sesame Sticks

Though garlic is known for its medicinal benefits but it's a big no no at my mother's and MIL's place. During festivals and good days it is completely banned in their kitchen. But me and my DH have always been garlic lovers. Till I moved to Dubai I was unaware of garlic bread but once I tasted it there was no going back. I like to add garlic to most of my gravy dishes.

My DH eats raw garlic to control cholesterol and I always stock big mouthwash bottle for him :) 

Long back I saw this recipe in RC's blog and since have made it quite often. These are so addictive that I was left with only few of these to photograph.

Ingredients:

Oats- 1/2 Cup

All Purpose Flour- 1 Cup

Butter- 4tbsps

Sesame Seeds- 1/4 Cup

Garlic Powder- 2 tsp

Chilli Flakes- 1 tsp

Baking Powder- 1/2 tsp

Sugar- 1 tsp

Salt- To taste

Water- To Knead

Procedure:

• Coarsely grind oats and mix it with all the dry ingredients together in a big bowl.
• Melt the butter and add it in the flour mix. The flour mix will attain bread crumbs like texture.
• Add water little by little and knead the flour to form a stiff dough.
• Cover the dough with a plastic wrap and keep aside for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile preheat the oven at 190 degrees C.
• Take large portion of the dough and roll it ( the dough will not be sticky and will easily roll without use of any flour) in a square shape. 
• Using a knife cut 1 inch wide and 4-5 inches long strips out of it. Arrange the strips on a greased baking sheet.
• Repeat the process with remaining dough.
• Bake for 15 minutes and then turn them over and bake for another 15 minutes. Keep an eye during the last minutes. 

Allow them to cool and while these are hot resist yourself hard to stop from eating these crunchy munchy sticks.

Oats And Carrot Kheer

Happy Dussehra....celebrate the festival with this heart friendly but at the same time delicious kheer. My family enjoyed this kheer a lot and it's not very time consuming to make. 

I have used only saffron and cardamom for the flavouring. Nuts can be added to make the kheer more rich and flavourful.

Ingredients:

Milk- 3 Cups ( I have used half cream milk)

Carrot- 1 medium (grated)

Oats- 2 tbsp

Sugar- 4 tbsp( or more)

Saffron- A pinch soaked in a tbsp of warm milk

Cardamom Powder- A pinch

Procedure:

• Dry roast the oats for 2-3 minutes. Keep aside.
• Boil the milk in a pan and add the grated carrots.
• Once the carrots get cooked add in the oats.
• Continue boiling and keep stirring in between.
• The oats will cook in around 5 minutes. 
• Once the oats have cooked add in the sugar and soaked saffron. Boil for another 5 minutes and add in the cardamom powder.
• Remove from heat and serve hot.

Sending this kheer to Diwali Special-Sweets & Savouries, Serve it- Festival Potluck, Diwali Sweet Recipes- Festival recipes-Indian sweet recipes, Diwali- Festival of Lights, My Diwali My Way

Also sending this to Pari's Only-Sweets and Dessert event hosted by Gayathri.

Moong Daal Khichdi With Okra Raita

Sometimes simple and comfort food is what we crave for and what can be more simpler than a khichdi (rice with lentils), and when served with okra raita it makes a complete satisfying meal. 

Ingredients: For the khichdi

Rice- 1 Cup

Yellow moong daal- 1/2 Cup

Tomato- 2 ( ground)

Salt- To taste

Turmeric Powder- 1/4 tsp

Whole Black Pepper- 1tsp

Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp

Ghee- 1 tbsp

Procedure:

• Wash and soak rice and daal together for an hour.
• Dry roast black pepper and cumin till aromatic and coarsely grind them.
• Heat a pressure cooker and add the ghee. Once hot add in the ground spices, tomato and stir.
• Add in the soaked and drained rice and daal and mix well.
• Pour in 4 cups of water and add salt and turmeric powder.
• Put in the lid of the pressure cooker and keep for cooking till 4-5 whistles comes.
• Serve it hot with a big dollop of ghee and the raita.

Ingredients:

Curd- 2 Cups ( Well beaten)

Salt- To taste

Roasted Cumin Powder- 1/2 Tsp

Red Chilli Powder- To Taste

Black Salt- A Pinch

Okra/ Lady's Finger- 6-7

Oil - To fry the okras

Procedure:

• Cut the okras in approximately half inch wide rounds and fry in hot oil till they become soft but they should not loose their colour. Drain and keep them aside.
• In the beaten curd add all the spices, salt then mix well and keep it chilled in the fridge.
• Add in the fried okras just before serving, else they may become very soggy.

Sending this to CWS- Rice event originally started by Priya and hosted this month at Reva's space.