Besan ladoo recipe/ besan ke laddu recipe:

besan laddu

               BESAN KE LADDU is delicious, creamy and melt-in-mouth dessert ball often made during festivals and special occasions in all over India. There are many different varieties of laddu made in India; BESAN KE LADDU is the most popular among them.

             BESAN LADDU is made from besan or gram flour roasted with ghee or clarified butter in a kadhai flavoured with powder sugar and cardamom powder and shaped tight into a round ball. Again, it is decorated with almond and pistachios.

              This soft and creamy besan laddu is healthy and rich in nutritions. it is very handy to make as it needs less ingredients. People make this laddu in various ways. I have shared my version of recipe, which is very easy and delicious.

Ingredients for besan ke laddu:

1. Besan or gram flour – 2 cups

2. Ghee or clarified butter – ½ cup

3. Powder sugar – 1 cup

4. Cardamom powder – ½ tsp

5. Chopped cashew, almond and pistachio – ½ cup

How to make besan laddu:

·        Take ghee in a pan and heat it.

·        Add besan and mix very well.

·        Roast on low flame until the beasan is well combine with ghee.

·        Keep roasting on low flame. If the mixture turns dry, add one tbsp of more ghee.

·        After 10 to 12 minutes, it will become light and slight liquid form.

·        Continue roasting on low flame. After 20 minutes, the besan starts releasing ghee.

·        Keep on roasting until the besan turns golden brown.

·        Add chopped nuts and continue to roast.

·        For making the besan granulated sprinkle water one or two tbsp in it and mix. Repeat the process three times, so that the besan will become granulated and ready to give a good result.

·        This roasting process may takes 30 minutes or more. Donot overcook the besan.

·        Transfer the mixture to a plate and allow it to cool.

·        Take one cup of sugar and 3 to 4 cardamom in a blender jar and make a powder out of it.

·        Once besan is cool, add powder sugar in it and mix well. Make sure everything is well combined.

·        Now grease your palm with little ghee and take a small portion of besan mixture with your palm. Make a tight ball of desired size out of it.

·        Make all laddu in this process and decorate the laddus with chopped nuts.

Poda pitha/raja special poda pitha/ black gram and rice cake:

poda pitha

        PODA PITHA OR BLACK GRAM AND RICE CAKE is an authentic odia recipe which is made with rice, lentils, grated coconut and jaggery or sugar. This recipe is generally made at the time of Raja festival that is a three days-long festival celebrated in Odisha. Various pithas are made during this festival among them poda pitha is the main. 

                   PODA PITHA is a slow cooked pitha. It is made by slowly baking fermented rice and black gram with sugar and coconut. There are many versions of poda pitha like, lau poda pitha, kheera poda pitha, chaula poda pitha or rice poda pitha, janta poda pitha. Preaparation style also varies. It can be made in cooker or inside kadai or we can bake it in oven.

                  PODA PITHA is a lightly sweetend pitha so, it goes well with ghuguni (yellow matar curry), potato curry with gravy or any curry with gravy. It is also served with mutton or chicken curry. Its crust is slightly brunt and hard, while the inside is soft and white.

Ingredients for making poda pitha:

·        Black gram or urad dal( biri) – 1 cup

·        Rice – 2 cups

·        Grated coconut – 1 cup

·        Thinly sliced coconut – ¼ cup

·        Cashew – 2 tbsp

·        Raisin- 4 tbsp

·        Crumbled Paneer – 1 cup

·        Sugar- 1 ½ cups

·        Ghee- 2 tbsp

·        Salt- ½ tsp

·        Grated ginger – ½ tsp

Preparations for poda pitha:

1. Wash and soak rice and urad dal separately for 5 to 6 hours or overnight.

2. Grind rice and urad dal into fine paste.

3. Mix very well and keep the batter for 5 to 6 hour for fermentation.

4. After 5 hours, give the batter a good mix and keep aside.

5. For making stuffing in a pan, take grated coconut and sugar. Then add paneer, one tbsp raisin and one tbsp cashew in it. Fry the mixture until it becomes dry completely.

6. Heat ghee in a pan and fry rest of the cashew and thinly sliced coconut. When it becomes golden brown, transfer it to a plate and keep aside.

How to make poda pitha:

1. Grease a baking dish in which you will bake the poda pitha. ( you can make this poda pitha in pressure cooker or kadai or pan. But here, I have baked it in oven.)

2. Add sugar, a pinch of salt, grated coconut, grated ginger and raisin in fermented batter and mix well.

3. Now spread half of the batter in greased baking tray and spread the paneer –coconut stuffing on it.

4. Spread another half over the stuffing. 

6. Bake the pitha in preheat oven at 180 degree for 20 to 25 minutes.

6. Before de-mould it let it cool completely.

7. Cut it into pieces and enjoy it.

Chole bhature recipe / chana bhatura recipe

                              

                  CHOLE BHATURE OR CHANA BHATURA RECIPE is a popular North Indian recipe. It is a combination of chana masala or chole and bhatura. Chole is a spicy curry made with white chickpeas and bhature is fried leavened flat bread made with maida or refined flour.

                 CHOLE BHATURE is often eaten as a breakfast dish.it can also be a street food or a complete meal and may be accompanied with onions, pickled carrots, green chutney or achaar. Sometime it also accompanied with lassi.

Ingredients for chole bhature recipe:

For chole recipe:

1. Kabuli chana or chickpea – 1 cup

2. Onion paste – 2 tbsp

3. Ginger – garlic paste – 1 tbsp

4. Tomatoes – 3

5. Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

6. Red chili powder – 2 tsp + 1 tsp

7. Coriander powder – 2 tsp

8. Cumin powder – 1 tsp

9.  Amchur powder – 1 tsp

10.  Kasoori methi – 1 tbsp

11.  Chole masala – 2 tbsp

12.  Salt

13.  Oil

14.  Green chilies- 4 to 5

15.  Ginger – 2 inches ( cut into long and thin strip)

16.  Bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves and black pepper.

For bhature recipe:

.

1. Maida or refined flour – 2 cups

2. Suji or samolina – 2 tbsp

3. Oil or ghee – 2 tbsp

4. Salt

5. Sugar – 1 tbsp

6. Curd – 2 tbsp

7. Baking powder – ½ tsp

8. Baking soda – ¼ tsp

9. Oil for deep frying

How to make chole :

1. Wash and soak chickpeas for 6 to 8 hours or overnight. In a pressure cooker, add soaked chole or chickpeas with 3 cups water.

2.  Add salt, bay leaves and cinnamon in it. Cover the lid of the pressure cooker and let it cook for 10 whistles or until the chana is, tender and cooked well. ( it  is important to cook the chole till its soft and has melted in mouth texture)

3.  Heat 3 to 4 tbsp oil in a pan or kadai and add cumin seeds, bay leaves, cloves and black pepper in it. Saute for a while.

4. Add onion paste and ginger- garlic paste. Saute for 2 minutes or until the raw smell goes away.

5. Now add all dry masalas like, coriander powder, cumin powder, red chili powder, turmeric powder and amchur powder and mix well.

6. Fry all masalas for 1 to 2 minutes.

7. Add tomato purees, salt and chole masala. Fry the masala very nicely until it cooked properly and the oil separated from masalas.

8. Add boiled chana or chickpeas. Mix well.

9. Add 2 cups of chai ka pani or water boil with one tsp of tealeaves. It will give good colour to our chole. (you can add normal water also)

10.       Cover the lid and let it simmer for 10 to 12 minutes.

11.       After 10 minutes remove the lid and check the consistency of gravy. Add kasoori methi and mix well.

12.       FOR TEMPERING:

1. Heat one tsp oil in a tadka pan.

2. Add cumin seeds, slit green chilies, ginger strips and saute.

3. Switch off the flame and add 1 tsp red chili powder.

4. Add the tempering on the chole.

13.       Now the chole is ready to serve.

How to make bhature:

1. Sieve maida, baking powder, baking soda in a large container. Add suji, salt, sugar, curd and oil in the maida mixture.

2. Add water in intervals and knead to a soft and smooth dough.

3.  Cover the dough and keep it minimum one hour for resting.

4. After one hour knead the dough and make small ball out of that.

5. Apply oil and roll it into round or oval shape.

6. Drop bhatura in hot oil it will start puffing with in a minute.

7. Flip it and fry the other side.

8. When it becomes light golden remove the bhatur Serve hot with chole.