Nei Urundai - Moong Dal Laddoo

Wishing you all a wonderful New Year ! I know that I'm 20 days late,but better late than never:P This is a quickie post from Chennai,I would rather call it Madras.For those of us who love the city and its spirit it will always be Madras :)Little girl and I are happily lazing around here for a month now,filling our tummies with all kinds of good food.This is one place where I never log into the Internet, but I still don't feel cut off from the world.So off to one of the simplest yet tastiest sweets :)

You"ll Need:
Yellow Moong Dal - 1.5 cups
Powdered Sugar - 1 - 1.5 cups
Ghee - 1/4 cup
Cashew nuts (broken) - 2 tbsp
Whole Milk - 2 - 3 tbsp

Method:
-Dry roast the Moong dal on a low flame until it gives out a nice aroma.
-Grind it to a fine powder in a mixer. Sieve it to get a fine powder.
-Mix the moong dal powder and powdered sugar well.
-To a pan add the ghee and when it heats up add the cashew nuts and saute until it slightly changes in colour.
-Add the ghee and cashew mixture to the powder and when it's still warm shape them into small laddoos. If it's difficult to make ladoos or if the ladoos don't hold their shape sprinkle the milk little by little until you are able to make smooth ladoos.
-Store in air tight containers. Done !
Note:
-For a soft and smooth ladoo,grind the moong dal in a rice mill.

Thanks for stopping by ! Have a nice day !

Carrot Halwa

This is one dessert that i prepare often.The reason I like it so much is that I can cheat myself when preparing this.I safely ignore the sugar,ghee and cream and keep telling myself that a major part of this dessert is carrot and it's extremely healthy:).It's good for the eyes & skin,full of vitamin A, this and that :) All that apart,this is really a delectable dessert.The only hard work involved is grating the carrot. I've adapted this recipe from vahchef with some changes.I like the way he adds chenna at the end,it really makes it even tastier.I usually replace the chenna with riccotta or cottage cheese,guess you can also use pureed paneer instead of chenna.

Ingredients:
Grated carrot - 4 cups
Cream - 1 cup & Boiled skimmed Milk - 2 cups
or
Boiled Whole Milk - 3 cups
Raisins - 3 tbsp
Cashew nuts - 1 tbsp
Almond slivered - 2 tbsp
Chenna/Paneer/ricotta - 1 cup
Ghee - 4-5 tbsp
Granulated Sugar - 1 cup
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp

 Method:
-In a a wide mouthed non-stick or thick bottomed pan add the ghee,when it heats up add the raisins, cashew nuts and Almonds.Saute until the nuts are slightly browned and the raisins puff up.
-Add the grated carrot and saute for 3 - 4 minutes until it's all coated with ghee.
-Add the cream & milk mixture and mix well.Reduce the flame to medium and let it cook until all the milk evaporates.Keep stirring in between else it tends to stick to the bottom of the vessel.
-Now add the sugar & mix it well.Let it cook until the mixture gets dry.Keep stirring it often.
-Once the mixture appears dry keep stirring it until it turns a bright shiny reddish color  This can take around 10 -12 minutes.The mixture will start leaving the sides of the vessel and will clump into a ball.

-Now add the Chenna/Paneer/ricotta and sprinkle the cardamom powder.Stir until the Paneer is well mixed around 5 minutes.Done !

Note:
To make chenna, boil 4 cups of milk .When it boils take it off the stove and add  about 1/4 cup of lemon juice to it slowly ,stirring all the time.You'll be able to see the milk solids(curd) separating from a slightly pale greenish liquid (whey).Suspend a muslin cloth over a colander and pour the contents into it.Now take the muslin cloth along with the curd and squeeze it well to remove all the water in it(After squeezing it ,you can also suspend the muslin cloth (along with the curd)somewhere for an hour so that any left over water will also drain)When you feel it's dry knead it into a nice dough.

Sending this to MJDelights & Walk through Memory lane and Gayathri's page