Sev Poori and Gulab Jamuns

On Friday evenings I really look forward to enjoying a nice meal and relaxing for the rest of the evening.  We had some boiled chick peas left over from yesterday so I decided to make some sev puri.
The complete recipe is here.  Its really very simple.  You take boiled chick peas, boiled potatoes, finely chopped onions, green chutney, tamarind chutney, sev mamra , yogurt and firm puris.

You top each puri with a bit from the ingredients shown above.

And enjoy the spicy, crunchy,  sweet and sour sev puri.

For afters we had warm gulab jamuns dipped in sugar syrup.  The quick easy step by step recipe for sev puri and gulab jamuns is in my blog.

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Adadiya - Indian sweet dish

Today is 11.11.11.which is considered a very auspicious day in some parts of the World.  It certainly has been a wonderful day for me when I achieved everything I had planned to do. 

I am sharing with you my recipe for Adadiya - an Indian sweet which is also considered to be a healthy dish to have during the winter months.   It is believed that eating one adadiya for breakfast during the winter months helps to keep you warm throughout the day. This is the first time I made them and they turned out so great that all my friends and family who got them as gifts have been raving about them. 

Ingredients for 30 small adadiyas.

Time 40 -60 minutes.  The dish needs to be cooked gently with lots of love and attention.
2 and one third cups(500 grams) of coarse black gram flour now being referred to as adad flour - hence the sweet is called adadiya!!
½ cup milk
2 cups ghee
½ cup of edible gum (Gund)
1½ cup of sugar which should be ground using a grinder (you can add an extra ½ cup if you like it very sweet)
½ cup of finely sliced almonds
½ cup of cashew nuts

Method

1 Teaspoon of a mixture ground Elaichi and nutmeg (some recipes also mention ginger powder but I didnot include it in my recipe).
1.  Take ¼ cup of ghee and ½ cup of milk and mix it with the adad flour and leave aside for 15 -20 minutes. (Some Gujaratis refer to this process as "Drabo devanu") 

2.  Heat ½  cup of ghee and when it's hot, add in a few bits of the edible gum to the ghee. As the ghee is hot, it will cook and pop the gum. Once cooked, lightly crush them using a pestle and mortar and leave aside.

3.  Mix the adad flour and sieve it using a large hole sieve.  

4.  Add all the remaining ghee into a wok and let it heat on a medium flame.

5.  Add in the adad flour and keep stirring.  The following pictures will show you how the colour of the flour goes from light to dark golden - almost brown,

6.  Once the mixture is golden -add in the edible gum.

7.  Now add the sliced almonds and the spice mixture of ginger and nutmeg. (Some Gujaratis also add a teaspoon of ginger powder) 

8.  Stir well and turn off the heat.

9.  Add in the ground sugar and mix.

10.  The adadiyas need to be formed when they mixture is warm and manageable.

11.  You can either make them small and bite-size - traditionally shaped like a mountain or spread them out on a greased dish, decorate them with cashews  and cut them in diamonds.  Both styles look nice and taste wonderful.

12.  Once cool, they can be stored in an air tight container for a couple of weeks. 

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Microwave Gor Papdi with Badam and a very Happy Holi to All (Indian Sweet Dish with Almonds)

This year, our  Holi celebrations are going to be done on a very low key by just going to the temple to pray, as we feel that we shouldn't be celebrating in a big way whilst our friends in Japan are going through a tough time.  Since childhood,  Japan has always held a special place in our  hearts.  My husband and I have had several holidays in Japan and have wonderful memories of our time there. Our prayers are with the people of Japan.

Making Gor Papdi in the microwave was very much an experiment but the results were amazingly good.  A fantastic sweet made in a matter of minutes.

Gor papdi is a very popular dish in most Gujarati households.  For some reason, it's always made and served as a snack during the winter months but I have never known it served as a sweet dish when you invite guests. To make it a bit richer, I decided to add some almonds to the recipe.  When my kids were young, I remember my parents always telling me to give almonds to them as it helps improve their brain power!! Not sure if it's true but I thought adding the almonds to gor papdi and giving it to my son during exam time may help him with his revision.

Ingredients:

2 cups of wheat flour (you can use chappati flour)
1.5 cup of ghee (clarified butter)
1 cup of Jaggery (Often referred to as Gor)
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons of dry ginger (oprional)
1 cup ground almonds ( I ground mine coarsly as we like the taste of almonds)

Method:

1.  Mix the wheat flour and one cup of ghee in a microwave proof dish

2.  Cook this for 2 minutes at a time for 4 times (total 8 minutes) .  After each 2 minutes, remove the dish and stir the mixture.

3.  The mixture will start to have a lovely scent and  go golden brown.  It should remain moist.  If it looks dry, please add a tablespoon of ghee before warming it again.

4.  After the 8 minutes, add the almonds, jaggery, ginger powder and sesame to the mixture, stir and add one tablespoon of ghee to the mixture.

5.  Cook this for 1 minute intervals, stir and cook 3 times.

6.   Grease a thali and spread the mixture.  Using a flat bottomed spoon, pat the mixture down.  Using a sharp knife, cut out the diamond shapes but allow the mixture to cool before removing the Gor papdi pieces.

7.  Remove the Gor Papdi and enjoy it.  Any left over slices can be stored in an airtight container.

Have a very Happy Holi.

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