GOND LADDOOS: POWERHOUSE OF NUTRIENTS

In our childhood, Mom gave a Gond laddoo with a glass of warm milk for breakfast all through winters. I often asked: how come you give these tasty laddoos only in winters but never in the summer.  Mother always replied: these keep you warm in the winters and make your very smart in studies.

That struck in my mind. So other day I made these Gond (edible gum) and almond, walnuts, cashews and melon seeds laddoos but I wanted to find out the benefits in detail. What amazed me that something so tasty could be such a powerhouse of nutrients.

Gond or edible gum is the sap of the thorny shrub Tragacanth.  This gum is odourless, tasteless and water soluble mixture  and it is obtained from the sap of the plant and then dried.  This has medicinal properties and often used in ailments like  cough, cold and diarrhoea.  This has long been used as a binding and thickening agent by the food and pharmaceutical industry.   It is rich in calcium and protein and is excellent for people with lung related issues, weakness and fatigue. It also helps lactating mothers.

Other than Gond or edible gum, these laddoos have almonds, walnuts, cashews and melon seeds.  All these nuts contain lot of vitamins, minerals and anti oxidants. 

Almonds contain healthy fat, protein, fibre, magnesium and vitamin E.  Almonds help with lowering blood sugar level and managing your weight.

Cashews provide us with vitamins like E, K and B6 along with copper, magnesium, zinc, iron and selenium.  Eating cashews in moderation can do wonders to your health.

Walnuts are rich in Omega3 and helps in fighting heart disease.  Walnuts contain vitamin E, folate and anti oxidants.  They have neuroprotective compounds so they support the brain health.

Melon seeds provide us with Vitamins B1,B3, B6 and folate as well as vitamin K, potassium, magnesium, copper and fibre.

Now you can imagine if all the above mentioned ingredients are  put in a laddoo with wheat flour and ghee(clarifying butter), why won’t they become a powerhouse of nutrients and minerals, which we don’t get in our day to day dishes. These laddoos should not be taken more than one per day, although their taste tempts you to go for second or third helpings. They strengthen and nourish the bone tissues and wholesome nourishment for winters.

  

Here is my simple recipe of Gond Laddoos:

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup wheat flour, 1 cup walnuts, 1 cup almonds, 1/2 cup cashews, 1/4cup melon seeds, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup ghee(clarifying butter), 1/3 cup gond(edible gum), 1/4 tsp cardamom powder(optional)

Method:

Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a pan, when ghee gets heated, lower the flame to sim. Fry Gond. It will pop like pop corns. Gond should always be fried on low flame otherwise it won’t cook from inside which can make stomach upset. Once all Gond is cooked, take it out in a plate. When it cools off, either crush it with pastel or grind it in a mixer.

In another pan on a low flame roast wheat flour without adding anything to it. It will take 7 to 8 minutes for it to roast well. Take it out and keep aside.

Now grind almonds in a mixer. You may leave them a bit coarse. Take these out. In the same grinder pulse walnuts, cashews and melon seeds. If you pulse it more than half a minute they will become powdery. Not that there is any harm in making it powdery. Mix all the ground nuts together.

Now in the first pan, pour rest of the ghee, heat it on medium flame. Add roasted wheat flour. Stir it for 2 minutes, add brown sugar and mix it well. Cook for two more minutes on low flame.  Now add ground nuts and crushed or ground Gond to it. Turn off the stove.  You may add cardamom powder to it. 

Let it cool off a bit, take a tbsp of mix at a time in your palm and make round ball. Make round balls of the whole mix and put them in an airtight container. Their shelf life is 2 to 4 weeks.

Note: some people like to fry nuts and then ground them. This enhances the taste but reduces the nutrient value of the nuts. 

NO BAKE ORANGE PIE

Other day I got some oranges from the market. I generally like semi sweet and sour oranges. But this batch of oranges was way too tart, more than my teeth could handle. So I decided to turn these tart oranges into a dessert.

This dessert does not need any baking so it can be made very fast.  This is not made with any whipping cream, instead I have used hung yogurt or Greek yogurt, so you can enjoy this dessert without any guilt of adding calories.

This recipe is very simple.  You can make hung yogurt, ahead of time, by putting 1 litre of plain yogurt through a fine strainer for five six hours. Make sure you put it in the refrigerator during the straining process otherwise yogurt can turn a bit sour.

Ingredients for the pie crust : 

24 semi sweet Marie biscuits, 1 table spoon of extra virgin olive oil

Method for pie crust:

Powder the Marie biscuits in a grinder. Pour this powder on the base of the pie pan, drizzle the olive oil on it and press it with a spatula or your fingers. When it covers the pie pan, put it in the freezer for ten minutes. Your pie crust is ready.

Ingredients for the filling:

2 cups hung yogurt,  6 tsp honey( you may add or dercrease quantity of honey as per your taste), 1/4 cup orange juice, 1 tbsp white sugar,  orange pieces, 1/4 tsp of orange rind.

Method:

Take out the seeds from the orange pieces. In a pan put white sugar with one tsp of water. Add orange pieces. After boiling for five  seven minutes oranges will turn into sugary candy. Take them out and place them on a piece of parchment paper to cool off.

In the meanwhile, whip together hung yogurt, orange juice, orange rind and honey till mixture becomes smooth and well blended. Pour it in already prepared pie pan and freeze for a couple of hours or till it is set.

Before serving decorate with orange candied pieces. Enjoy this guilt free dessert.

POTATOES WITH GARLIC AND CHIVES: a new twist

POTATOES WITH GARLIC AND CHIVES: a new twist

Potato is one vegetable which is eaten the world over.  It is everyone’s favourite. There is an old saying once there was a fight between a potato and Okra (lady finger).  Okra was so proud of her slim body she made fun of potato teasing him of being overweight Humpty Dumpty. Other vegetables didn’t like this so they extended their friendship to potato. Since then potato can be cooked along with any other vegetable, like onion potato,  spinach potato, squash potato, cauliflower potato, and many other combinations but okra stays alone.

Potatoes can be cooked in varied ways but here I am going for potatoes with garlic and chives. I am sure you have seen many recipes of potato and chives. Most people make it with red small potatoes, at times they are made with yellow/ cream potatoes too. Sometimes potatoes are mashed or even smashed a little. But I didn’t adopt any of these traditional methods. I gave a new twist to the age old recipe.

Ingredients:

4  medium potatoes, 1 big clove of garlic, 1 tbsp of dry chives or fresh chives,

1/2 tsp of lemon pepper, 1 1/2 tsp of bread crumbs, salt to taste, 1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil.

Method:

Boil potatoes. Once cool peel off the skin. Cut them into cubes.

Heat a bit one tsp of olive oil in a pan, add chopped garlic. 

 Now add potato cubes, salt, chives and lemon pepper.

Toss them for a minute and turn off the stove.

Now transfer these potatoes on a baking dish.

Sprinkle bread crumbs and left over olive oil on it.

Bake in 200 C(350F)  pre heated oven for 25 minutes.

Potatoes will be crispy and yummy. 

Enjoy as a snack or a side dish.

QUESADILLA: all time Favourite Mexican dish

Quesadilla means a tortilla(chapati like bread) filled with cheese and mixture of cooked meats or vegetables, then folded and fried on the griddle.  Basically it is a turnover flat bread.

Quesadilla was developed when Spanish settlers came to Mexico in the 16th century.   Cheese was brought to America by the Spanish and other Europeans along with dairy products. Mexico had the tortillas. Some guys in Northern Mexico(parts of what is now Southwestern US) invented flour tortillas and started making quesadillas which started to gain popularity in the rest of US.

A quesadilla is a tortilla made with white flour or corn, filled with cheese and then folded into half or semi circle. It can have other ingredients but it should always have melting cheese inside.  Melting cheese works to glue two halves together.

Quesadillas have a universal appeal among the children. The combo of white or wheat flour tortilla and melted cheese is quite easy for kids to get attracted. The best part is, this dish is a win win situation even for mothers with kids who do not like to eat vegetables. Cooked vegetables or chicken can be stuffed along with melting cheese to provide nutrients of all food groups to your little ones.

I made my own wheat flour tortilla or chapati. Stuffed it with boiled potato, carrot and peas combo by adding some spices.   Placed cheese slice on the vegetables and folded into a semi circle. Then pan fried it by adding a half teaspoon of oil till it turned golden brown. Once cool a bit, cut into slices with pizza cutter or sharp knife.

Ingredients:

Wheat flour dough to make 4 chapatis.  2 medium size potatoes, 1 big carrot, 1/4 cup fresh or frozen peas, 1/2 tsp chaat masala, salt to taste, 1/2 tsp coriander powder, 1/2 tsp dry mango powder, 4 cheese slices, 1 tbsp of cooking oil or butter.

Method:

Take a small piece of dough, roll into a thin chapati, roast it on the griddle and put it aside. This is your wheat tortilla.

Boil potatoes, peel off and mash them. Then peel off carrot, cut into small slices and boil them along with peas. Drain the water. Now mix mashed potatoes, carrot and peas with spices. Let it sit for a few minutes. Divide into four parts. Take one part, spread inside a cooked chapati. Place a cheese slice by dividing into two parts. Fold it into a semi circle. Heat a non stick pan. Put 1/2 tsp of oil on the pan. Place the filled tortilla on it. Fry till golden brown. Flip the side and cook till golden brown .  Do the same with other three tortillas. Your quesadillas are ready. Cut into small slices and enjoy.

JODHPURI MIRCHI VADA

Jodhpur, known as Blue City of Rajasthan, is rich in cultural heritage.  The graceful palaces,  monuments and temples strewn throughout the city bring alive the historic grandeur of this city.  This city offers multiple shopping options but to the connoisseur of good food this city is a heaven.

One afternoon we had just a gourmet samosa and a glass of sweet lassi(butter milk) and that was a filling lunch. I have eaten samosas from the different parts of the world but Jodhpuri samosa was par excellence. One night we had a Rajasthani thali for dinner. There were at least twenty dishes in my thali(plate) and it was hard to tell which dish was better than the other.  

One dish which left my taste buds tingling for more was a Jodhpuri Mirchi Vada.  I am not too crazy about peppers or Pakoras (dumplings made of chickpea flour) but this Mirchi Vada was a combination of both, yet its heavenly taste is etched in my memory.

I knew I had to recreate that dish in my own home. So this afternoon I exactly did that.

My husband who often judges my dishes rather critically, said : Your Mirchi Vada is even better than the one we ate at Jodhpur.  That compliment has inspired me to share the recipe on my blog.

So let us create the magic of gourmet Mirchi Vada Jodhpuri style.

Ingredients:

10 or 12 banana peppers,  2 cups besan (chickpea flour), 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1/8 tsp hing(asafoetida), 1 tsp dry mint leaves powder, salt to taste and water as needed,  a pinch of baking soda.  Oil for deep frying.

For Stuffing:

3 medium potatoes, 1/8 tsp hing, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds,  1 tsp cooking oil, salt to taste and mix of spices and 1/2 tsp of amchoor powder(dry mango powder)

Mix of Spices: 

Dry roast and ground the following spices to be added to the stuffing.

1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp fennel, 1 tbsp coriander seeds and two whole red peppers

Method:

Wash and dry peppers and slit them vertically. Take out the seeds and put them aside.

Make batter with besan, turmeric, hing, salt and mint leaves. Add water but make sure batter is not too thick or not too thin. Mix well and leave it covered for 15 minutes.

In the meanwhile, prepare the stuffing for the peppers.  Boil, peel and mash potatoes.  In a pan, heat oil, add cumin seeds and hing. Once crackling of cumin stops, add mashed potatoes, ground spices and salt. Mix them well. Sauté on medium heat. Once it is well blended, turn off the flame and add amchoor powder. Mix it. Let it cool off.

Stuff this mixture into the already slit peppers. 

Wisk the batter one more time and add a pinch of baking soda. Mix well. Heat the oil for deep frying. Now dip every pepper into this batter and put in the very hot oil for deep frying till they turn golden brown.  Take them out on a paper towel so that excess oil drains out. 

Enjoy hot with green chutney or ketchup.

MOTICHOOR LADDU

When I was young I was not crazy about laddus but Motichoor laddu was still a favourite.  Motichoor laddu is made from fine besan(chickpea flour) boondi which is cooked in oil or ghee.  It is served on Diwali or any other happy occasion.  Originally the laddu was popular only in North India but now it is cooked throughout South Asia.  

I was always happy buying laddu from the market till my grandson's love for laddu  inspired me to make this shiny orange round balls at home.  This kid, barely seven year old then, growing up in US was sitting in a family religious ceremony and gazing at the face of the priest who was reciting Sanskrit  shlokas.  His being so engrossed in the ceremony made me ask my nephew(his dad) if the kid understood everything priest was reciting. I could not control my laughter when my nephew said he is not concerned about the ceremony, his eyes are on the laddu  he will get as soon as the ceremony ends. 

The word Motichoor literally means crushed pearls. Originally associated with states like Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, these laddus can be stored even in the warm weather as they don't go bad without the refrigerator.  It is hard to say when it originated, but legends suggest that originally laddus  were invented for medicinal purpose by Sushruta, father of Indian medicine and surgery. Sesame seed laddu with a combination of jaggery and peanuts was given by Sushruta in the 4th  century B.C. as an antibiotic to treat his surgical patients.  If we go further down the history, sculptures and paintings of Hindu God Ganesha always shows a laddu in his one hand.

No matter when it evolved into its present form, laddu is associated with all things festive, marriages and births.

So let us make these laddus as festival season is fast approaching.

 Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup besan(chickpea flour), 1/4 cup sooji(semolina), 2 cups sugar, 1 cup water, 1/2 tsp orange edible colour,  1/4 tsp cardamom seed powder, 1 tbsp magaz (melon seeds), ghee or oil for deep frying.  ( if you fry laddu in ghee they taste better), some almonds or pistachio for decoration.

Method: 

Make a smooth flowing batter with besan and sooji. Whisk it so there are no lumps. Leave it aside for ten minutes. Sooji tends to thicken the batter so you may add some more water so that it remains a flowing batter. Add 1/4 tsp of orange colour to it.

Heat ghee in a pan. It should be very hot but when you are ready to fry, reduce the flame to medium.

Take a fine perforated ladle but you need another normal ladle for taking out the fried boondi. Now take a large spoon and pour the batter through the fine perforated ladle into the hot ghee. Shake the fine ladle a bit so all the batter falls into the ghee. Now take normal ladle and take out the boondi in 45 seconds to one minute on a paper towel so that excess ghee drains out.

This is a very important step because if boondi is fried little longer, it will become too crispy and then laddu won't come out soft.

Once you finish making the boondi with the whole batter, make sugar syrup. Add two cups of sugar into one cup of water. Boil it till sugar dissolves completely. Add 1/4 tsp of food colour after turning the flame off.

Dry roast magaz and keep them aside.  Cut some almonds or pistachio into small pieces.

Once the ghee from the boondi drains out, mix this boondi in the sugar syrup and cook it on the medium to high flame so that all water evaporates. Keep stirring and crushing the boondi in the sugar syrup. Mix magaz and cardamom powder in the dry and semi cool sugary boondi.

Apply some oil or water on your palms and take a tbsp of mixture at a time and shape into a round ball.

Once all laddus set into shape in the plate decorate with almond or pistachio slices.

Enjoy with family and friends.

CARAMEL CUSTARD PUDDING WITHOUT EGGS

Other day I went to my friend's home and got introduced to 'ready to make' packet of caramel custard pudding.  In fact, she gave me one packet to try at home.   My pudding was made in a jiffy and turned out to be delicious.   I must confess I had not tasted caramel custard before. I had this weird impression that caramel custard smells like raw eggs. Not really a baseless bias as strict culinary definition of custard is eggs and milk mixed and baked or stirred over low to medium heat until thickened.

The ancient Romans understood the binding capacity of eggs; they were the first to cook them with milk and honey into various custard like dishes.  When the Arabs brought cane sugar to southern Italy, France and Spain, they also brought their love of dessert custard.  Over the years, custard was used in pies, pastries and  sauces in Britain and other European countries and even countries and cultures influenced by them.

In the 19th century America availability of arrowroot, topioca and potato flour were used to give a pleasant smooth look to puddings.  The introduction of cornstarch in 1842 in New Jersey, USA, changed the custard pudding scenario for the better.  In 1844 in England, a pharmacist named Alfred Bird devised custard powder, a flavoured starch mix, for his wife who was fond of custard but was allergic to eggs.  Thus took the birth of modern day custard.  Even to this day Bird custard is a well recognised name brand.

 Indeed, I cooked the caramel custard pudding from the packet but I am one of those cooks who is never satisfied unless I try a dish from scratch.  Somehow I wanted to make this dessert without eggs.  So I started to make the same pudding with yogurt, milk and condensed milk and result was pretty good. I gave myself 98 percent marks when my self appointed food critique husband said this caramel pudding is even better than the boxed pudding you made other day. 

Here is the recipe for CARAMEL CUSTARD PUDDING.

Ingredients:

1 cup cold milk, 1 cup plain yogurt, 1 cup condensed milk, 3 tsp custard powder, 10 -15 drops of vanilla essence, 1 cup of white sugar.

Method:

Take one cup of white sugar in a non stick pan. On medium heat cook this sugar by adding just two drops of water. When sugar melts and turns light brown, pour it in a pie mould.   Mix custard powder into 1/4 cup of cold milk.  Mix rest of the cold milk, yogurt, condensed milk, vanilla essence.   Now this mixture and custard and milk mixture should be well blended together.  Pour this in the same mould over the carmelized sugar.  Steam this pudding for 15 minutes.  Steam will harden it. After steaming, let it cool off for five ten minutes and put it in the refrigerator. Enjoy this yummy dessert.