Indian Monsoon

Saffron 'Wildflower' Honey Banana Fatfree Chelsea Buns

2007-04-26T11:32:00.000-05:00

I now believe that baking is really like a chemistry lab experiment with all the precise measurements and procedures. And you learn from your mistakes specially when you are trying to manipulate the original recipe to suit your diet needs. In baking, its truly important that one understands the use, effects and measurement of each ingredient. This chelsea buns recipe is originally from the book ' Fat-Free Cooking' by 'Anne Sheasby'. She calls for margarine and eggs in her recipe which I have totally eliminated in mine. Substituted a few ingredients like sugar with 'wildflower' honey and pumpkin spice with saffron. So obviously I rechristened these buns as Saffron 'Wildflower' Honey Banana Fatfree Chelsea Buns. Well a long name but an extremely delectable guilt-free eat.

Saffron is the stigma of the saffron crocus flower and used as a spice in sweet and savory dishes. 'Wildflower' honey is the honey got from bees that pollinate on wildflowers. Now both these ingredients being flower extracts I thought I would enter these buns recipe for the SHF #30 Flower Power event.

Recipe (adapted from "Fat-Free Cooking" by "Anne Sheasby")

Makes 9 buns

Ingredients

for the buns

6 tbsp warm fat-free organic milk

1 tsp dry active yeast

pinch of demerara sugar

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp saffron (I used Kashmiri Saffron)

1/2 tsp salt

1 medium sized very ripe banana

1/4 cup wildflower honey

for the filling

1 medium sized very ripe banana

1/2 cup dried figs

1/4 cup dried apricots

1/4 cup seeded dates

2 tbsp demerara sugar (light brown sugar can be used too)

for the glaze

wildflower honey (as much as you want)

Procedure

Take the warm milk in a cup and sprinkle the yeast on it. Add a pinch of sugar and mix well to activate the yeast. Also add saffron strands to this warm mixture to bring out the flavour and color of saffron. Keep aside for 30 minutes and you will see frothy bubbles due to the yeast being active.

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Mash the banana in a separate container and add honey to it. Add this to the flour along with the yeast and milk mixture while kneading the flour to make a smooth dough. Knead well on a flat surface for 5 minutes to make a nice dough ball. Add flour to make the kneading easier. Transfer the dough ball to the bowl and cover with a damp kitchen towel and let it stand for 2 hours for the dough to rise. The ball will almost double in volume.

For the filling, mash the banana well and add all the chopped dry fruits along with the sugar. Mix well. Make this filling at the end of the 2 hour rising period of the dough ball. Or else the filling will become watery due to banana and sugar (Lesson # 1 that I learnt).

After the 2 hour rising time of the dough, knead it onto a flat floured surface. Roll out 12 x 9 inch rectangle. Spread the filling over the dough and roll it up along its length as shown. Tuck the seam neatly underneath.

Cut the roll into 9 buns (serrated knife makes it easier). Spray an 8-inch square pan, and arrange these buns to fit the pan as shown. Cover and let it rise for another 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 F and bake for 18-20 minutes. Watch for the buns tops turning brown earlier than 20 min as the recipe is fat-free. (Lesson #2 I learnt). Brush the hot buns with more honey to form a glaze. Use as much or little honey that you want. Cut and remove the buns from the baking pan immediately after glazing.

Eat as many as you want.

Holocaust at VT

2007-04-18T07:48:00.000-05:00

This post is dedicated to all those killed at Virginia Tech. Having been a student not long ago, I deeply feel the pain and loss of all the victims and their near and dear ones. Its eerie to imagine that the students went to class only to be shot dead. God bless them and their families.

Keerai(Spinach) Poritha Kozhambu

2007-04-15T13:43:00.000-05:00

This recipe is my mother's recipe and she usually makes it on weekends or for guests. Most weekends we used to have dosa for breakfast and she would have made this kozhambu for lunch. But we used to end up eating this with dosas. This kozhambu is usually eaten with rice.

Poritha Kozhambu is nothing but a kind of sambar made with fried ingredients (spices). Instead of spinach, drumsticks can be used to make this kozhambu.

Ingredients

1 lb Spinach, washed and finely chopped

1 tsp Cumin seeds (Jeera)

1/2 tsp Black Pepper

1/2 Urad Dal

1 Tblsp grated fresh Coconut

1 tsp rice

Pinch of Turmeric powder

1/2 tsp Sambar Powder (I use MTR Brand)

Asafoetida (few dashes)

Handful of Tuvar Dal

1 tsp Oil

1 tsp Mustard seeds

Procedure

Soak 1 tsp of rice in a small cup for about 45 minutes. Pressure the cook tuvar dal and mash it well. Cook the chopped spinach with 1.5 cups of water, salt, turmeric powder and the sambar powder. Redden the urad dal in little oil and grind it together with pepper, cumin seeds, coconut gratings and the soaked rice. Add little water to grind the above into a smooth paste. Add this paste to the cooked spinach mixture along with cooked, mashed tuvar dal. Check for salt and bring it to a boil. Heat rest of the oil and sputter the mustard seeds and add the asafoetida to the kuzhambu before serving.

This is my entry to two events- the first of the Veggie Cuisine's LakshmiK RCI's, Tamil Cuisine, and Mahanandi Indira's JFI-WBB: Green Leafy Vegetables.

Rajma Chawal

2007-04-15T13:05:00.000-05:00

Yeah that's the name of my post for the Rajma recipe my friend taught met. She insisted that Rajma is to be eaten with Chawal (rice) only and not with chapattis. I agree with her.

My friend is a Punjabi and this Rajma recipe is as authentic as it can be, ofcourse different households will have different versions of it. The recipe uses simple ingredients with no garam masala or any other type of spice powder and yet its so flavourful. Try it and you'll really enjoy the dish.

Ingredients

1 cup Red Kidney Beans

1 medium Red Onion

3 medium Tomatoes (or 2 large ones)

2 Tbsp Oil

2 cloves of Garlic

1.5 inches long Ginger

2 Green Chillies ( or Jalapenos to taste)

1 tsp Cumin seeds (Jeera)

Pinch of turmeric powder

Salt (to taste)

Procedure

Soak red kidney beans overnight. Change the water in the morning and pressure cook it adding some salt to the beans. Alternately, you can also use canned red kidney beans, just wash them before you use. Peel and cut the red onion into thin semi-circles. Put 1.5 tbsp of the oil into a pan and add the cut onions. Let them brown and try to separate them into rings using a spatula (spoon). Meanwhile grate the tomatoes. Mash the garlic, ginger and green chillies to a smooth paste. After the onions are browned, set them aside and in the same pan add the rest of the oil. To the oil add the cumin seeds and the ginger-garlic-green chillies paste. Stir and after a minute add the grated tomatoes and turmeric powder. Let the tomato mixture come to a boil to ensure that the tomatoes are cooked. Then add the pressure cooked beans and mash a few of the beans in the pan itself. Let the contents of the pan come to a boil, check for salt. Transfer the contents to vessel (which you can use in the pressure cooker) and sprinkle the browned onions to the beans. Pressure cook once again for 1 whistle. When cooled sprinkle chopped cilantro. Serve it with warm Basmati or Sona Masoori rice. Yummy. Too good.

Lemon Pepper Tomato Rasam

2007-04-12T12:14:00.000-05:00

Spring seems elusive in my neck of the woods though it is almost mid-April. The wintry weather we've been experiencing since a couple of weeks, brought along with it the cold and cough episodes. This lemon pepper rasam or soup, seemed to soothe my itchy sore throat. The spiciness of the pepper actually helps relieve congestion in the nose and throat.

Ingredients

1 medium Tomato
Juice of half a lemon/lime
1/2 tsp Black Pepper (or more if you like it spicier)
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds (Jeera)
1/4 tsp Rasam powder (I used MTR Rasam powder)
Pinch of turmeric powder
1/2 tsp oil
Handful Tuvar Dal
Pinch of Asafoetida
Few curry leaves
Salt (to taste)
Pinch of sugar

Procedure

Pressure cook the tuvar dal. In a vessel take about 2 cups of water and add the chopped tomatoes. Add rasam powder, salt, turmeric powder and let it simmer till the tomatoes are soft and cooked. Instead of rasam powder you can also use coriander, cumin and red chilly powder. The red chilly powder and the black pepper gives different zones and levels of spiciness for the throat. Meanwhile, heat the oil and add cumin seeds and black pepper. After they brown slightly set it aside to cool. Once cooled, powder them using a mortar pestle or rolling pin.

Mash the cooked tuvar dal to a pulp and add this to the rasam along with the powdered cumin-black pepper mixture. Also mash a few of the tomatoes and add it back to the rasam. Let the rasam come to a boil and taste for salt. Add the lemon/lime juice, curry leaves and in the end just add a pinch of sugar to balance all the flavours.

The rasam can be eaten with rice or just as a soup. I am contributing this recipe to "L of Indian Vegetables" event hosted by Nupur of One Hot Stove.

Mango Khat-Mitt

2007-04-05T15:14:00.000-05:00

Talking of hubbies and howling, moments that make you rage on hubbies. Seething that has no outlet and outbursts that can be useless. Talking of not knowing where to channel that energy or how to restore peace in oneself. Think of just one simple, finger licking tangy dish-Mango KatMit. I almost renamed it to Kuch Khatta Kuch Meeta. Suits excellently for such situations described above and I am talking from live experience today. This very morning, co incidentally, I happened to ask my mom about this recipe which is made when mangoes are available. Back in my childhood, I used to lick the bowl off with a comic by my side. I would do the same thing over again except today’s situation is different in that I was F-U-R-I-O-U-S with my DH. Knowing arguing would be pointless, I was thinking of ways to restore my joy and my peace. With delicious anticipation I set out to do this chat pataa snack which I duly made and licked the bowl clean again. And yes, the anger did subside…….. considerably.

Pregnant ladies who love tangy taste of mangoes as well as ladies who have a sweet/tangy/spicy tooth might find this a slice of heaven.

Here goes the less than 5 minute snack.
Ingredients:

1 raw mango diced into 1cm pieces.
Handful groundnuts(or less)
3 dry red chilly halves (as per taste)
Half a cup jaggery.
Salt to taste.
1 and half tbsp olive oil.

Procedure:
Heat oil and add red chillies and groundnuts.
Fry for a little while until groundnuts are a little browned.
Add the mango pieces and cook until mango is soft.
Add the jaggery (half a cup-less or more as per taste) and salt. Mix for a while until it thickens and switch off the flame.
Empty into a bowl and wait until it cools.

And then......
.
.
.
Lick it until the bowl is clean.HaHaHa!!!Revenge is very sweet!So to say.

Methi and Green Garbanzo Paratha

2007-04-05T12:52:00.000-05:00

In India the onset of southwest monsoon season is heralded by evening showers after gruelling summer day during the months of May-June. The fragrance when rain showers quench the thirst of the sun-parched earth is to be experienced to be believed. This is one of most cherished and missed memories of my days back home in India. Any guesses, why the blog is named "Indian Monsoon"?

Now what has the smell of wet earth got to do with methi leaves. Well, to me, the fragrance of these methi leaves is so similar to the fresh smell of the rain-drenched earth, mud and all its vegetation. This leafy green vegetable exudes its aroma from the minute you start chopping it. And its taste - wonderful so as to rival its fragrance. Methi leaves is one of my favourite leafy greens.

Indira of Mahanadi declared 'green leafy vegetables' for JFI for May and what better month when April 22 is Earth Day. Very aptly chosen ingredient, indeed. I was more than elated to find a bunch of methi leaves to cook with for this event. So this recipe is one of my contributions to the JFI-WBB: Green Leafy Vegetables event.

I normally make plain methi leaves paratha but this time I added green garbanzo beans to the dough. The green garbanzos is available in Trader Joe in the frozen section.

Ingredients

1 bunch Methi leaves- washed thoroughly and chopped
1/4 cup Green Garbanzo Beans (frozen ones)
1 cup Whole wheat flour (atta)
1 tsp Carom (ajwain or omam) seeds
Salt (to taste)
Red chilly flakes or powder (to taste)

Procedure
Pressure cook the green garbanzo beans with pinch of salt and very little water. You can also microwave these beans till they can be mashed between your fingers. After cooking the beans, mash them well and reserve the water that was used for cooking them. Meanwhile trim and wash the methi leaves. I use part of their stem too. A word about washing methi leaves- you have to immerse these trimmed leaves and stalks in a lot of water several times. Each time you change the water you will see the grit and clay, which was stuck to the greens, settling to the bottom of the bowl you are immersing these greens in. I repeat this process till I see no more sediment at the bottom of the bowl. Then chop the leaves and their stalks finely.

Take the whole wheat flour in a wide mouthed bowl (easy for kneading), add the red chilly flakes, carom seeds and salt. Mix them well with your fingers, then add the mashed green garbanzos and chopped methi greens. Start mixing the all the ingredients with your fingers and add the reserved water used for the beans. Knead the dough and add more water if necessary till you get a dough ball you can make chapattis out of. Keep the dough ball covered for about 10 minutes.

Heat a griddle (tava) and meanwhile roll out chapattis out of the dough. I didn't add any oil while rolling out. Use plain wheat flour to prevent the dough from sticking just like the way you would be rolling for chapattis. Put the rolled out paratha on the tava, after about 1-2 minutes turn. As soon as these parathas hit the hot tava, the fragrance of methi leaves just perfumes your senses. This side would have just started to cook and slightly brown. Smear this side with oil. You can use as little or as much oil as you prefer. I use the back of an oil dipped spoon for this. Again turn the paratha and repeat the oil smear on the other side. Once evenly browned remove the paratha and store in a hot case lined with kitchen towel or paper napkin till you finish cooking all the parathas.

We ate these parathas with a bowl of homemade curd (yogurt) and Indira's Lime Pickle which I had made a few weeks ago. An excellent meal with the goodness of the beans and of course the greens.

PESARATTU-UPMA.....

2007-04-04T12:49:00.000-05:00

...and might I add--->Easy to make!!!

Boy! I am just filled with bliss in my stomach after having pesarattu-upma with ginger chutney.Mmmmmmmmmmmm!!! This is the courtesy of my friend,Sirisha, who just makes these deliciously yummy dishes.My hearty thanks to Sirisha.

Well today I was planning kichidi and tomato chutney for lunch when all of a sudden I was inspired to do pesarratu upma for lunch.Generally,I hear pesarrattus and dosas are all breakfast categories but personally for me,I feel there should be no such set time to make these kind of absolutely tantalising food.My friend came to the rescue immedietly and we set about making pesarattus for lunch.Here I am giving the ingredients on a large scale(feeding 4 people minimum).My little 5 yr old ate the pesarattus with of course maple syrup.haha.
P.S:My photos do not give justice to the taste of the dish...I apologise if the pics are badly presented.

This is the batter:

This is the onion jeera mixture:

This is the pesarattu on the tava:

This is the finished yummy product:

Ingredients:
2 and half cups split pesar pappu(moong dal).Soak it for two hours(approx).Soaking in hot water hastens the process and reduces time.
1tbsp chopped ginger
2 green chillies
salt to taste.
2 finely chopped onions.
Jeera seeds

1.Grind the soaked dal along with green chillies and ginger.Grind to a fine paste.Add a little water and mix it well to loosen it a little bit.
2.Mix onions and jeera seeds nicely with hand and keep aside.
3.Spread one curry spoonful batter on the heated tava and spread it like dosa.After few seconds, sprinkle the onion jeera mixture over it.Let it stay for a few minutes.
4.Before turning the pesarrattu over, add a few drops of oil around it and then turn it.Let it cook for a while and then transfer it to the plate.

Serve with a little upma and/or ginger pickle.It definetly tasted great and I ate to my hearts content..hahaha.I never heard pesarattus or dosas being eaten along with upma but as per my friend, when I wrapped my pesarrattu peice with small amount of upma, it definetly soothed my chilly-seeking senses., and with ginger chutney its absolute heaven for the tongue.
My friend,Sapna,just inspired me to give me a new tag to this dish--NO HURRY,NO WORRY.

Spring cleaning and Green and Red Tomato Chutney

2007-03-23T13:03:00.000-05:00

Its been a few days of spring cleaning for me. I wait for this ritual after the winter lock-up that we go through for 4-5 months. Basically for spring cleaning, I clean the house room by room, from ceiling to floor and everything in between like windows, doors, vents etc. One such day I made an easy-on-me lunch with this green and red tomato chutney, dal and rice. This chutney can be eaten with rice or chapatis.

Ingredients

2 large green tomatoes chopped
2 large red tomotoes chopped
2 Tsp oil
1 Tsp mustard seeds
1/2 Tsp bengal gram
1/2 Tsp urad dal
1/4 Tsp methi seeds
Red chillies (to taste)
Few curry leaves
Pinch of asofeatida (hing)
Salt (to taste)

Procedure

Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard, urad dal, bengal gram, methi dana and red chillies. After the mustard sputters and the dals redden, add curry leaves and hing. Empty this seasoning mixture into a bowl and put a little oil in the same pan. Add the tomatoes and cook till they become mushy. Cool the cooked tomatoes and grind them. Water is not needed while grinding as the tomatoes will already be mushy. After the tomatoes are ground add the seasoning mixture and grind till they are coarsely ground. Add the salt and at this point you may want to taste to see if the chutney is tangy enough for you. The tanginess would depend on the tomatoes. If you want the chutney to have more tang add a small piece of tamarind grind it one last time. You can also use tamarind paste and add it to the tomato mixture while grinding.

This chutney can be made with all red or all green tomatoes. This is my contribution to Mahanadi Indira's JFI for Tomato hosted by RP of My Workshop.

Happy Ugadi and Cashew-Walnut Kathli

2007-03-22T11:24:00.000-05:00

We celebrated the Telugu New Year, Ugadi with a sweet treat called Cashew-Walnut Kathli. This is not the traditional sweet for Ugadi but I wanted to make something without much oil or ghee. Though the Kathli has fat due to the cashews and walnuts, this fat is the good for the body. The secret being portion control. One piece of the Kathli per day is healthy.

I thought this sweet must be loaded with ghee until I came across the recipe on Saffron Hut. I used walnuts in the original recipe as these are my favourite nuts and followed the exact recipe, instructions given on the Kaju/Cashew Kathli post of Saffron Hut. I used equal quantities of both cashews and walnuts. And the result is too good. And this sweet is a breeze to make. So if you like walnuts, you may want to use them when you make this sweet next time.

DRIED APRICOT DELIGHT(KHUBANI KA MEETA)

2007-03-21T08:34:00.000-05:00

Khubani ka meeta is a very famous, expensive, easy to make and nutritious dessert in south India.It is considered to be a lavish wedding feast if khubani ka meeta was one among the many dishes.
That being said, the nutritious side of dried apricots is that they are highly rich in Iron,dietary fiber and Calcium.I had a very interesting season with khubani ka meeta during my pregnancy.My mother,in her frantic efforts to pep up my iron levels in my pregnancy, prepared this everyday for me.I cant help but put a smile on my face.This dessert is just sensual,cant get enough of it.

Ingredients

1 packet of dried apricots(with seeds). (For first time trials, begin with a small packet of dried apricots available in most Indian grocery stores
2-3 tbsp of sugar (optional.
Ice cream or a little custard for garnishing.

Procedure

Soak the dried apricots (they should contain their seed in it) in water overnight. In the morning put the apricots with water in the pressure cooker and cook for 2-3 whistles.

After cooling down, the apricots become very soft.Strain the water and keep aside.Just crush the softened apricots with hand to a smooth pulp while removing the seeds.(Keep aside the seeds, do not throw them away.) Then add the water and mix into the pulp.
Remove the nuts from the seeds and add them into the pulp.

Add the sugar if needed otherwise sugarless dessert is the best. While serving, put some 3-4 tablespoons in a dish and top it off with a scoop of ice cream in the center.

Believe me it is a bowl-licking dish. Yum yum.

Italian Pepper, Indian Style

2007-03-20T11:08:00.000-05:00

I discovered these flourescent green Italian Peppers when I was a student in India. I didnt know their name then. My friend and I ate these peppers and Spring Onions as salad every evening with our dreary mess dinner.

The area we lived was rampant with malaria in those days. It was so bad that every month atleast one of our classmates had to be admitted to a nearby nursing home. Well atleast the nursing home benefitted due to the mosquitoes. Anyways, we sincerely believed that these peppers along with spring onions was our body's best defense against those mosquitoes. Weird, isnt it? Actually our logic was like this- the mess food never had any nutritive value and adding greens to our diet everyday would go towards building our body's immunity. Not a bad logic I think. Well, alteast we ate our vegetables. The peppers and onions salad really grew on us and it was definately the brightest and most colorful part of our meals. And we christened these peppers 'Salad Mirch'. We followed this regimen religiously every evening for 2 years. And both of us had just one bout of malaria in those 2 years. Pretty good actually compared to our friends who had several relapses.

I was delighted to find these peppers in the grocery stores in America. This time I was sure of its name- Italian or Cubanelle Peppers. Not only I eat it raw as a salad accompaniment to my meal but I also prepare this easy delicious curry. So here is the recipe.

Ingredients

3 good-sized Italian Peppers
1 heaping Tblsp of gram flour (besan)
1 heaping Tblsp of dry roasted coarsely ground peanuts
1 Tsp oil

1/2 Tsp mustard seeds

1/2 Tsp urad dal
Red chilly powder
1/4 Tsp Turmeric powder
Salt

Few Cilantro leaves

Procedure

Before I proceed, I have to emphasize the need to use non-stick pan to prepare this dish. I tried making it in a normal (not non-stick) pan and the result was a mushy mess with way too much oil.

For the peanut powder, dry roast a cup of peanuts until its browned on the skin. Use caution here as peanuts burn very easily. Cool and grind them into a coarse powder. Use whatever is necessary for this dish and reserve the rest for later.

Take the oil in the non-stick pan, sputter the mustard and redden the urad dal. Then add gram flour, peanut powder, turmeric powder and red chilly powder to it. In a few minutes this mixture will perfume your kitchen with its nutty roasted aroma. It takes only about 1-2 minutes. To this add the chopped peppers and salt to taste. Stir and close the pan with a lid. Every once a while stir and check if the peppers are cooked. Once cooked, open the lid and let the curry roast itself for a few minutes on medium flame/heat. The flour and nut powder will turn a beautiful brown color to coat the peppers. Take the pan off the heat and sprinkle chopped cilantro. This dish can be served with both rice and chapatis.

This is my contribution to the "I of Indian Vegetables" event hosted by Nupur of One Hot Stove. I happened to chance upon Nupur's blog when I was searching for caramel custard recipes on google. Before that I never knew the existence of food blogs. So I owe a great deal to One Hot Stove for showing me the world of food blogs. Thanks Nupur.

Salt Adai- Savoury Rice Cakes

2007-03-16T12:38:00.000-05:00

This is a recipe adapted from the famous cookbook ' Cook & See' Part 1(English version of 'Samaithu Paar') by S. Meenakshi Ammal. I have modified the original recipe to suit my dietary habits. The ingredients used are the same as specified in the book.

Ingredients

2 cups Rice flour

1/2 cup Black-eyes peas

5 cups of water

1 tsp Coconut gratings

2 tsp oil

2 tsp ginger peeled and finely cubed

2 green chillies cut into bits

1 tsp mustard

1 tsp urad dal

hing

handful of curry leaves

salt

Procedure

Dry roast the black-eyed peas till it exudes the smell of the beans. The beans dont need to get browned. Add about 1/4 cup of water to the roasted beans and cook them till done. I cooked them in the pressure cooker (one whistle). Take care that they dont become mushy.

Dry roast the rice flour till you can draw fine line with it. This is to ensure there is no moisture in the flour. The flour at this stage feels dry. Take some flour between your thumb and index finger and try to trace a line while spilling the flour from between your fingers, as if drawing rangoli (kolam in Tamil). When the flour is well-roasted you can draw a fine line pattern. The photograph below shows this.

Add the oil into a pan. Once hot, sputter the mustard and redden the urad dal. Then add the green chillies, ginger, curry leaves and hing. When the ginger softens (test with the spoon you will be using to stir the pan), add 4.5 to 5 cups of water and let it come to a boil. Then add enough salt to the water (water should taste salty) and stir in the roasted rice flour. Add more water to incorporate all the flour. Stirring the mixture is important to prevent lumps. Then add the cooked black-eyed peas and coconut gratings and keep stirring. You cannot walk away from this pan, you have to keep stirring. The mixture would turn into a single mass around the spoon within a few minutes. Let the mixture cool to handle. Then form round disks (cakes) about 1/2 inch thick, make a hole in the centre with your finger and steam it for about 10 minutes. I steamed them in an idli steamer. To check whether the cakes have steamed well, insert a clean spoon into a cake and it has out come out clean.

These cakes are usually served with home-made butter. But I would not load up on all that fat. I think they would go well with any chutney, pickle or sambar. As for me, I would like mine plain.

Tip: Use non-stick pan for roasting and preparation of the dish to ensure uniform distribution of heat while roasting and usage of less oil (fat).

This is our entry to the Monthly Cooking TIPology event hosted by Sushma of Recipe Source.

Source: Cook & See Part 1 (Samaithu Paar) by S. Meenakshi Ammal
Reference: Patti (my grandmother) - Dad's mother

Low-fat Carrot Halwa

2007-03-12T15:32:00.000-05:00

I have fond memories of Gajar Halwa which my mom used to make when I was a kid. Gajar is not the regular carrot we get to see these days. Gajar is reddish in color compared to carrots and ofcourse much more sweeter. I havent seen Gajar available here in the US.

Anyway, I now have to be content with using carrot for making this halwa. And it tastes pretty good too. Now for the recipe.

Ingredients

5 medium sized carrots

1/4 cup low-fat (1% milk fat) organic milk

3/4 cup sugar (adjust quantity to taste)

10 strands of saffron

1/2 tsp ghee (clarified butter)

Cashews

Raisins

Procedure

Wash, peel and grate the carrots. Add milk to the carrots and let it simmer. The carrots will leave lot of water. This simmering process takes a little time, maybe 45 minutes till all the moisture is absorbed by the carrots. Then add the sugar and adjust the quantity to the sweetness you want. Keep stirring the halwa till it starts leaving the sides of the pan. In the end add the saffron strands. In another pan heat the ghee and brown the cashews and plump up the raisins. Add this to the halwa. The halwa tastes extremely good for a low-fat recipe and the saffron adds a subtle aromatic taste in the background.

Source: Self

References: My Mom