PUMPKIN HALWA

PUMPKIN HALWA

PUMPKIN PUMPKIN ORANGE AND FAT

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DONT U KNOW ITS HALOWEEN

SCARY FACES WILL BE SEEN

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GHOST COME ONE BY ONE BY ONE OOOOO

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TRICK OR TREAT, TRICK OR TREAT

GIMME SOMETHING GOOD TO EAT

Thats what my son's been singing every now and then from the last one month.

There was haloween party at my son's playschool and all families participating in it were given the task of carving a jack o lantern. The whole concept of haloween is new to me except that i had seen it in some english movies during my teens.I remember first time i came to know about it from my favorite movie Meet me in St.Louis.God knows how many times i have seen it back then.

I came home with a full 7 kilo Jack(pumpkin) to be made into Jack-o-lantern.My son was all excited about the whole carving and scooping.We had great time at the party too.And the best part was he won a prize for his costume.

And when it ended we were told to carry it back home.I had no idea what to do with it.I cut it and shared it with some of my friends.Then i began to make a series of dishes with it.Indira's blog MAHANANDI had the recipe for pumpkin halwa and it was a hit.We loved it.

Here's the recipe:

Pumpkin-grated-3 cups

Ghee or clarifies butter-2 tbsp

Almonds-soaked in warm water for 2 hours,peeled and powdered-1/2cup

sugar-1 1/2

whole milk-3 cups

cardamom powder-of 5 cardamom

cinnamon powder-1/4 tsp

saffron-a pinch

cashewnuts-of ur wish

Method

Grate the pumpkin.squeeze all the water and stuff it in a measuring cup.

The sugar quantity is 3/4th of it.A bit lesser than that was perfect for our sweet level.

Add sugar to the milk.And heat on medium flame,stirring slowly.

till it is reduced to half its quantity.Add kesar to it.

It was more of condensed milk than khoa and as i was a bit in hurry at that point the khoa was not much solidified,yet tasty.

Take a fry pan .Add ghee to it.fry the cashewnut pieces in it and remove.

In the same ghee Fry the grated pumpkin along with the water.let it cook in its water.when it loses all the water add the khoa stir it nicely.add fried cashenuts.

add cardamom,cinnamon powder.

remove it in a serving bowl.

garnish with your choice of nuts and raisins.

Its ready to be served.

NEVRI or KARJIKAAY

NEVRI or KARJIKAAY or KARANJI



My childhood memories are refreshed with this crunchy sweet stuffed delicacy.My grandparents would visit us in summer sometimes .And they would carry two big aluminium dabbas with them .one filled with nevri other with chakkuli or tinglod.I would wait for mamama(maternal grandmother in konkani) to open the dabbi and arrange them on plate.My granny would call it karanji and as it was a new name for me i would call it karinj ,even today when I made it, I called her and told i made karinj mamama.
Its made mainly during diwali and ganesh festival.As most of my friends here were making gujiya (as they call in hindi for nevri) for the holi festival i too got into the mood of making it.

To ask the ingredients i had called amma and noted it down.She told to give it to her grandson more. yes he had them and liked it because they had raisins.


INGREDIENTS

MAIDA--2 cup

SUGAR-1 cup

CASHEWNUT-10

FRIED GRAM-2tbsp

RAISINS-2tbsp

POPPYSEEDS-1 tbsp

COCONUT-2tbsp fresh or frozen.

OLIVE OIL-1tbsp for kneading

OIL -for frying

SALT -1/4 tsp

CARDAMOM-5 warmed in microwave


METHOD


For the outer cover.


Sieve maida ,add salt to it.Heat olive oil and add to it.Knead it with water into a stiff dough.Keep aside for half an hour with a wet cloth or wet kitchen paper.


For the stuffing


Powder grind the sugar with cardamomseeds.clean poppy seeds under running water in a tea sieve, and spread on a kitchen towel.


Dry roast cashewnuts, fried gram (hurigadle) and poppy seeds .the poppy starts real poppy at this point. close a lid.for a second.and switch off the flame.


roast coconut grated till pink and remove.


roast raisins with little olive oil or ghee for nice aroma.

grind the cashewnuts and fried gram .combine the powders,coconut,poppyseeds and raisins with sugar.
The stuffing is ready.


Make 1" balls out of the dough.Flatten each into thin circles.
place a teaspoon of the stuffing in the left half and wet the edges with water.wrap over the other end and close it to a semicircle.press the edges.
make a batch of 10 likewise.heat oil in a deep pan.and fry them both sides till light gold.finish the dough and stuffing in batches if doing alone.thats wat i did.

remove and drain on a papertowel to absorb the extra oil. when cooled store in airttight containers.munch them for a week or more if they are left.

COCONUT BURFI

Yes finally i made it.Burfis are something that i am not good at.I have been trying to make a perfect burfi from a long time ,and everytime i end up with pieces that are very tasty but cannot be passed as burfis.It takes place somewhere between duddali and burfi.Either too soft or hard and chewy ,u keep licking the stuff like candies...my son loves that way so that he can hold it for a long time..as sweet tooth runs in the family finishing it off has been no problem for me.Hubby says" no probs its sweet right!".

Hmm..Amma told me keep trying it and u will make it perfect one day...and so did my freinds here.They got used to this varieties i make called burfis...and one day i make it .yippeee..

Yummy and easy coconut burfis were a bit chewy as i had added milk and the constant stirring had made it like khowa.But they were

here is the recipe

coconut milk -200 ml

milk -200 ml

sugar-100 g

ghee-2 tbsp

cardamom powder

I used tinned coconut milk here ,could not make much difference with the original burfi.

Method

Arrange all the required ingredients near stove.Grease a deep dish plate with ghee .

Heat a kadai .add both the liquids .add sugar and keep stirring continuosly till the water evaporates and it forms into a lump in the center of the kadai.it took me about 20to 30 minutes on medium heat.take care not to char it .the mixture changes color from white to cream .

add ghee on top mix once and switch off.transfer it to the greased plate.flatten it with a rolling pin.cut once it comes to managable temperature.cool it .And its ready to be hogged.

My hubby and son loved it.I am gonna try again with other burfis and yes and post them too.

kharjoor laddu

Dont they look yummy.I had a pack of fresh dates ,in my fridge from a long time.The reason i got it was to keep my overactive son's energy levels satisfied.We used to eat a lot of kharjoor when kids.Mom would heat a whole big tablespoon of ghee in a pan and add karjoor to it,saute for about two to three minutes,and serve it.we would wait eagerly for the hot crispy dates.well the case here was a bit different.my son nibbled a bit and put his little tongue out .Pointing me to take out the not so good stuff out.so i finally thought of searching for recipes using fresh dates.I got one tried it and it was a big hit.

Ingredients:

Fresh dates-1 cup 0r 25 chopped.

sugar -1/2 cup

dry fruits i used- almonds,walnuts and cashewnuts.or any nuts of ur choice-all summing abt 1/4 cup all together.

poppy seeds-2 big spoons

rice puffs-1 cup

coconut powder-1 spoon ,just for rolling laddoos.

butter-50 g

cinnamon powder

cardamom powder

method

Arrange the required items near ur stove.Take a thick bottomed pan.Heat the butter .As the butter melts add chopped dates to it.let it cook for two minutes.now add sugarto it.when it starts to have bubbles stir it finely so the dates are turn into paste.add all the dry nuts.mix well.now add the poopy seeds.mix it again.switch off the stove and add the puffed rice ot it.mix it well.and when it cools a bit make small balls of it.roll them in dry coconut powder.And they ready to be eaten.U can store them for a week or so.

And this just went in my son's mouth without much effort.He asked them daily till they were no more left.