Easy Mava Peda

Diwali is just around the corner and this year it's extra special. I am at home for Diwali after seven years and am really looking forward to all the celebrations. It is going to be Anushka's first Diwali in India and I want her to experience everything we did as kids.

I am going to take her shopping for lamps and lanterns this weekend and she is so looking forward to all the fireworks. I promised to get her sparklers and I was surprised as to how well she remembers them from last year.

What I look forward to the most are the many varieties of homemade snacks and sweets to munch on throughout the day. Amma and I plan to make all our favorites like Rava Laddoo, Besan Laddoo, Ribbon Pakoda and Murrukku next week. While going through my old recipe books I found this page that I had torn out of an old Femina magazine with a recipe for a Burfi. The instructions seemed a little weird, so I used the ingredients and came up with this peda instead.

I love milk based sweets and these mildly sweetened, cardamom spiced pedas were just perfect. Nothing makes me happier now than Anushka asking for seconds and this time she did, again and again.

Here are some more popular Diwali Sweets and Snacks...
Rava Laddoo
Mawa Rava Coconut Laddoo
Besan Laddoo
Kaju Katli/ Cashewnut Fudge
Shankarpali
Ribbon Pakoda
Murrukku

Easy Mava Peda

Ingredients:

150 gms fresh paneer, rinsed well and drained (made from 1lt full cream milk)

100 gms fresh mawa (made from 500mls full cream milk

1/4 tsp cardamom powder

5 tbs sugar

a little ghee

finely chopped nuts for garnish (I used pistachios)

Method:

Knead the paneer for a minutes until soft. Add the sugar and cardamom powder and knead for a couple of minutes until well combined.

Transfer the mixture into a heavy bottom pan and cook on low heat for a few minutes until the sugar dissolves and the raw smell of paneer is gone. Stir in the mava until well combined. Cook on low heat stirring continuously for a few minutes until the mixture comes together. Ensure that the mixture does not burn or become dry.

When still warm, grease your hands with a little ghee. Take small portions and shape as desired. Garnish with chopped nuts.

Store in an air-tight box in the fridge for upto 4 days. It tastes best when kept out for about 15 minutes before eating.

Healthy Cardamom Tea Cake

It has been a month since we moved back to India. There are hundreds of things I will miss about our life back in the US, but it's wonderful to be home and meet up with family and friends. Most of all I love to see Anushka playing with and getting pampered by her grandparents. We are undecided as to where we will be settling and I've been shuttling between by in-laws and parents homes and living out of suitcases and it still feels like a vacation.

As far as blogging goes though, I'm in a rut and it took a lot of self-motivation to write up this post. I miss my boards and all the props that I had to leave behind and of course the huge oven in our apartment. Although I haven't cooked anything new in a while I have been baking quiet a lot and am finally getting used to the old O.T.G at my mom's place.

This cake, adapted from Cook Republic is the first one I baked since coming here. I love the simple ingredients and the one bowl mixing method. The batter was ready in no time and while the cake bakes, the house smells heavenly because of the cardamom. It was impossible to wait until the cake cooled and we sliced it minutes after it was out of the oven. It had just the right amount of sweetness, great texture and amazing flavor, we loved it.

Healthy Cardamom Teacake

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
a pinch of salt
1 cup castor sugar
3 eggs, well beaten
1 cup rice bran oil
1/2 cup milk
icing sugar, for dusting (optional)

Method:
Preheat oven to 350F / 180C. Liberally grease an 8" round pan and dust with flour.
Sift together flours, cardamom, cinnamom and salt.
Stir in sugar. Whisk together the eggs, oil and milk until combined. Spoon mixture into prepared pan.
Bake for 40-50 minutes until golden and cooked through.
Turn out onto a wire rack to cool, dust with icing sugar, if using and serve.

Eggless Mava Cupcakes

The weather has been really pleasant until now and though summer is already long gone, I was really not ready to accept it. I'm afraid of winter!! Seriously, I used to even have a tough time dealing with Mumbai winter, and everyone knows it doesn't really get cold there. So you can imagine what I will go through the next few months. I'm just glad I'm not at some place where it snows :)

Last week, Manoj called me in the afternoon, to tell me that two of his colleagues would be coming home with him that evening. I had some savory snacks but it was the day after Diwali, and I wanted to serve them something sweet. I had a little bit of mava left over after making the potlis the day before and wanted to use it up.

Googled for recipes using mava and saw Aparna's Mava Cake. It was perfect for what I had in mind, no complicated ingredients!! So I put Anushka on her high chair, gave her some fruit to eat and got around baking. Thankfully she was ready for a nap when they were done, so I could take pictures :).

I tweaked the recipe a little. I had only half the required mava, so I halved the recipe, cut out the egg and made them into mini cupcakes. They were delicious, soft and the cardamom flavor was just incredible. Smelled and tasted kind of like the Elaichi Amul Srikhand we get in India and I used to love that as a kid. I got 14 mini cupcakes and they were all gone by the end of the day!

Eggless Mava Cupcakes 

                                                                                                                                                                                                
Yield : 12-14 regular cupcakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup mava (I had made the mava the day before, so it was very firm. I just heated it in the microwave for a few seconds till it was soft.)

60gms butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp powdered cardamom

1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup yogurt

cashew nut halves to sprinkle on top

                    

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.

Sieve the flour, baking powder and cardamom powder.

Cream the butter, mava and sugar till light and fluffy. Add the yogurt and beat until well incorporated. 

Mix in the flour, alternating with milk, in two additions. Spoon into the prepared pan and place the cashew nut halves on top. 

Bake for about 18-20 mins or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Take care not to overbake or the cupcakes will be dry.  Cool on a wire rack and enjoy.

Sending this to
Vardhini's Bake Fest
Helen's Cake of the Week