Rava Nariyal Ladoos

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I’d like to begin this post by wishing everyone a Belated Happy Diwali. I hope it is a good year filled with fun times ahead.

With Diwali nearing, every Indian household kitchen buzzes with energy. Homes are cleaned, utensils are scrubbed and cleaned, dryfruits are stocked up and savories and sweets are made days before the festivities begin.

My childhood memories include having Mathri, Shakkarpaare, Namakpaare, Pooris, Chakli, Gujiya, Besan Badam Barfi, Kaju Katli and Sooji Ladoos being made painstakingly by my grandma and Mom. I was assigned the task of crushing dry fruits, cutting the shapes for these goodies.

I loved how after sweating for hours on end while making these sweets and savories, it was relished with gusto by the ladies over a cup of masala chai. Ahh Bliss!!

I usually try and make these while going back home for Diwali. Last year I managed to make Mathri, Besan Badam Barfi and Ladoos. Being jobless helps at times. This year though I was just able to make some ladoos. Here’s sharing the recipe for them. Excuse the images taken by my humble iPhone4S camera 4.30 in the morning before my flight.

                                                                                        Rava Nariyal Ladoo

Ingredients

2 cups semolina
1 and half cup powdered sugar
1 cup dried coconut powder
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup pistachios
1/4 cup cashew kernels
50 ml condensed milk
1 tsp cardamom powder
1/4 cup raisins
200 ml clarified butter

Dry Roast semolina on medium heat until it acquires a pale golden color.Ensure that it does not stick to the pan or get burnt.

Allow it cool down and powder the semolina slightly. In a saucepan, add around 3/4th of the clarified butter on low heat and add the powdered semolina and cook for 15-20 minutes until it is a beautiful golden color.

Add cardamom powder and powdered sugar and mix well for another 2-3 minutes. Keep stirring the mixture continuously, if you feel that you need to add more clarified butter add another 2tsp. Up next add the dried coconut powder and crushed dry fruits.

In a different pan, heat 1tsp of clarified butter and add raisins to it. Cook it for 1 minute and it will bloom and this step enhances the flavor of raisins in the ladoos. Add the raisins to the mixture. Blend all the indregeints well and take it off heat. Allow it to cool for a couple of mins.

This recipe should give you close to 36 ladoos.

Now grease your palms with little clarified butter and start making ladoos. You will be required to apply pressure and lightly roll the mixture. Heap dessicated coconut powder in a plate and roll the ladoos lightly. You can place the ladoos at room temperature in cute looking paper cups. Garnish them with nuts. I have garnished them with pistachios since the green looks lovely against the pale white/ off white of the ladoos.

If the mixture does not stick well, heat around half a cup of full fat milk and add the same to the mixture and blend well. You can avoid adding milk as it decreases the shelf life of the ladoos. The ladoos stay well for a week’s time if kept in an airtight container.

If milk is not added then usually the ladoos last for around 15 days unless they get polished off the plates earlier!!

Starting a Food Diary – Ramblings

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Food for me is not rocket science. It should be comforting and simple. I do not believe in using a zillion gadgets and techniques to create a tasty dish. What’s important is that you should be generous with drizzling love and care while making the dish. The warmth in your heart should translate in the dish you are making.

Simple, easy to make recipes appeal to me. I love cooking traditional recipes, which represent a particular region. I love to stay true to the original recipe as far as possible. I do not come with the best dish and have faced many kitchen disasters but I try and learn from my mistakes and make sure never ever repeat them.

A typical Taurean by nature I value nostalgia and associate certain foods with my memories. Like the maggi with veggies and filter coffee while having important exams, Pasta in creamy velvety white sauce on my first date with orange juice, Masala chai with onion fritters during Mumbai monsoons, Gobhi Paratha with luscious cucumber raita and a dollop of butter on weekend breakfast with family and the list goes on.

I am very liberal with the spices and seasoning dishes. I do not always go by standard measurements, I like to touch and feel the spices and go for my instinct. I am a very intuitive cook. If I am not in a good mood, cooking lifts up my spirits and gives me back the zing.

I find drawing up menus and grocery list fulfilling. I am happiest while grocery shopping and thinking of the endless magic simple ingredients like garlic or dried basil can do to a dish.

Making the most out of the best you have in hand and not look for a zillion things and use different gadgets is my philosophy towards cooking. I always wanted to better my skills in cooking but never really got time to venture into it being a corporate banking slave. Still I used to whip up cakes and brownies in a jiffy and cook quick dinners for my roommates most of the nights.

I moved to Dubai, cultural melting pot simmering with world cuisines, refined palette and saw myself exposed to an altogether different food scene which I was missing back home. Being jobless in the desert land after getting ‘just married’, gave me the perfect opportunity to cook the tried and tested recipes. Once I ran out of recipes I starting looking for them online. I usually try them giving them my twist.

I have a doting husband who is very honest with his take on what I cook. He being a foodie helps me as well, because I learn with my experiments every time he gives me a feedback. Not to mention our outings to restaurants and cafes as often as possible, and cooking the things I sampled there. That’s a high, one experiences after recreating what you’ve had.

I have been thinking of starting a food blog ever since I came here in Dubai but something or the other cropped demanding my undue attention. So I took to checking the food blogs here in UAE for inspiration.

I did manage to get inspired with the beautifully put together food diaries. It was so colorful, painstainkly taken pics mesmerizing you. They present the dishes so beautifully I would want to keep looking at them for hours on end. The props used, the focus on having them photographed under perfect lights and brightness. I am just an amateur trying to put together what I know to cook and have a collection of the recipes I would like to try.

The lights I use are not perfect and the pictures are taken as soon as I prepare them. We have a Canon 1000D DSLR and I also love using my husband’s Samsung Galaxy Note to click these. We are not a patient lot when food arrives hence click a few shots and go by the Indian way “Toot Pado”. We end up acknowledging each other just when the dish is about to get finished.

I hope to have this blog witness all my foodie fantasies. I aim to post stories from the simmering pots and pans of my vegetarian kitchen and my experiences while eating out. Here’s to a new beginning.
A prayer in my heart, a song on my lips and a spatula in my hand. I love my life!!