Mawa Rava Coconut Laddoo

I have always loved celebrating Diwali....the lights, bright colors, sweets and even the fireworks. I have never been interested in the religious aspects of any festival but I like celebrating them all and Diwali is one I really look forward to and I have such wonderful memories of time spent with family and friends on this auspicious day. 

I really wanted to do it all this year, but ended up falling sick and was down for most of the day. But I didn't want to miss out on all the fun and a few pills can do wonders. Was up by evening and quickly made these laddoos. We had a few friends over and even burnt a few sparklers, the kids absolutely loved it. Hope everyone had a wonderful Diwali!

Mawa Rava Coconut Laddoo

Ingredients:

1 cup rava

1/2 cup coconut

3/4 cup very fine sugar

2 cups mava

4 cardamom pods

2-3 tbs milk (if required)

2 tsp ghee

few cashews and raisins

Method:

Remove the cardamom seeds and crush them fine, discard the pods.

Heat the ghee and roast the cashew nuts and raisins until golden. Drain and keep aside. 

Add the rava to the same pan and roast on medium heat until aromatic and the rava just begins to change color. Remove from heat.

Roast the coconut in the same pan for a few minutes until it seems a little dry, but take care not to brown the coconut. 

Remove from heat and mix the rava, coconut, sugar and cardamom powder together in a bowl.

Heat the mava on low heat until soft and melted. Add to the rava mixture and mix well. Mix in the raisins and cashew nuts. Cool for a few minutes.

Form small laddoos adding milk only if necessary.

Store in the fridge in an airtight container for a few days. Let sit at room temperature for an hour before serving.

Cherupayar and Kachil Puzhukku (Mung and Yam Curry)

For as long as I remember, Cherupayar puzhukku and kanji has been the standard dinner on Saturdays at my mothers place. I think it was my mom's idea to take a break and avoid cooking anything elaborate at least for one  meal. It must have been so hectic to come back from work late in the evening and then cook a meal, check on our studies and take care of all the other chores. Of course my brother and I would protest every single time, we hated Kanji and wanted something "special".
I still try my best to avoid Kanji but I love this puzhukku and all its variations. I add any one or a combination of raw bananas, kachil (purple yam), chena (elephant foot yam) or chembu (taro) along with payar. Manoj eats it with rice or chappatis, but I like to have a bowlful of just the puzhukku with a big dollop of plain yogurt. Yumm!


Cherupayar and Kachil Puzhukku
Ingredients:
1 cup whole mung beans
250 gms kachil,chena, chembu or raw bananas or a combination of these
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup fresh coconut, grated
4 dry red chilies or to taste
1 1/2 tsps cumin seeds
1/4 tsp peppercorns
2 cloves of garlic
1 sprig curry leaves

Method:
Cook the mung and the kachil separately along with some salt and turmeric powder. You can cook them together in the pressure cooker but the kachil may take longer than the mung, so its best to cook them separately.
Grind the coconut, chilies, cumin seeds, peppercorns and garlic along with some water. The paste should be a little coarse. Add the paste and curry leaves to the cooked mung and kachil. Mix together. The mixture should not be very dry, so add water accordingly and check the seasonings. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve hot.

This goes to Priya's CWS - Mung Beans and The Kerala Kitchen, guest hosted by Fajeeda.

                       

Baked Mava Coconut Potli

     

Hope you all had a wonderful Diwali. I wanted to post this earlier, but got busy with other things and found no time to edit the pictures. Besides Diwali was a little different this year, we were unable to meet any friends or go to the temple. It was a hectic week for Manoj at work and I had a class that evening. Yesss....I have finally enrolled for the Wilton Cake Decorating Course (I've been soooo eager to go )!! I made Rava Laddoos to take along with me to class and everyone loved it. All the discussions that day were centered around Diwali, Indian food and our traditions. Everyone wanted to taste some Biryani and I've promised to make some for the last class. 

Well today is Halloween and Anushka will be a "Pink Leopard". I can't wait to take her for 'Trick or Treat' around the block. She is too young to understand any of it, but she sure will be excited seeing all the colorful candy!!

                             

Back to the recipe, I made these Mava Potli's on the morning of Diwali. It's adapted from a recipe from the Femina Book of Anytime Treats. The original recipe calls for steaming the potlis, but I baked them because I wanted them to be crisp on the outside. I used AP Flour, but I'm sure it will be great to substitute some of it with wheat flour. Make sure to roll the dough as thin as possible. They taste best when hot, just like samosas.

Baked Mava Coconut Potli

Ingredients:

For the shell:

250 gms all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

30 gms sugar

1 tbs ghee

For the filling:

150 gms mava (milk reduced to a granular consistency)

75 gms icing sugar

100 gms fresh coconut, grated fine

2 tbs cashew nuts, chopped fine

Method:

For the shell:

Mix all the ingredients for the shell. Add enough water to make a smooth dough. Knead well. Cover with a damp cloth and keep aside for about 30 mins.

For the filling:

Roast the coconut on medium flame till it dries out a little, do not brown it.

Add the ghee, mava and sugar to the pan. Keep stirring on low heat till the mixture comes together and leaves the sides of the pan. Remove from heat and stir in the chopped cashew nuts. Keep aside to cool.

Divide the dough and the filling into 16 portions. Roll into thin discs and keep a portion of the filling in the middle. Pull up the edges to form a dough and seal securely.

Bake at 350 F/ 180 C for about 20 - 25, turning once till browned.

Serve hot.

P.S.  I thought my potlis looked more like one-eyed monsters with their head blown out!! Perfect for Haloween too, don't you think :)

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Sending this to 

Only Sweets & Desserts guest hosted by Gayathri, event by Pari 
Anu's Diwali Event
Khushi's My Diwali My Way