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.

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.

Aamrakhand..Mango Shrikhand

Belated Gudi Padwa and Ugadi wishes to everyone! We have always had Shrikhand Puri for lunch on Gudi Padwa, it's my moms ritual and one we absolutely loved. She would bring a big tub of Kesar Shrikhand from Saroj, the very popular sweet shop in Chembur. I will never forget its rich luscious taste and sneaking into the kitchen every chance I got and gulping big spoonfuls of it. I have not come across any other brand that I really like, so for the last few years that I've been away from home I've always made some shrikhand for Gudi Padwa. This year I made aamrakhand or mango shrikhand and it made a perfect dessert for the special day.

I used canned mango puree but you can also use fresh mangoes. This recipe is just a basic guideline, all the ingredients can be adjusted according to your taste. Use really thick yogurt, I used greek yogurt that I hung for a few hours to drain any whey. Adding too much puree though will affect the consistency of the shrikhand. I have added a lot of puree here since I wanted the mango to really stand out. So it was not as firm as shrikhand should be, but it was very 'mango-ey' and thats exactly what I was looking for. Finally adjust the sugar according to the sweetness of the mango and your needs. A delicious dessert ready in a few easy steps!

Aamrakhand

Ingredients:
2 cups hung yogurt
1 1/2 cups mango pulp
1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cardamom powder  

Method:

Now this is really simple. Just whisk all the ingredients together until smooth and well combined. Refrigerate for a couple of hours for the flavors to mingle. Serve with puris or chapatis or as dessert.

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 :)

 -

Sending this to 

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

Gajar/ Carrot Burfi

I'm sure everyone is busy preparing for Diwali. I soo miss India during this time. Cleaning our homes, making all kinds of sweets and distributing them to friends, getting all dressed up and the sound of fireworks throughout the day. This weekend was all about getting our home ready, putting up the lights and making some sweets.

Our Diwali celebrations began yesterday at our local library. The family story time session was focused on Diwali which included a short video showing the celebrations in India and a story that was narrated in Hindi. We were all given a sticker in the shape of a footprint, 'Goddess Lakshmi's footprint', and there were all kinds of stuff to decorate it. It was fun and another chance to dress up my doll :)

Manoj has been asking me to make gajar ka halwa for a while now. When I showed him how simple the recipe actually was he offered to make it himself. That's not an offer I receive very often, so of course I accepted. We just decided to make it into a Burfi so we could control the portions we ate, much better than having bowlfuls of halwa.

This recipe is almost the same as halwa, just added more milk and cooked it for a while longer to help it set.

Gajar/ Carrot Burfi
Ingredients:
2 tbs ghee
3 cups of grated carrot
3 cups whole milk
1/3 cup to 1/2 cup sugar, depending on taste
1/4 cup almonds, finely chopped
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
any nuts, raisins for garnish

Method:

Heat 1 tbs ghee in a heavy bottom or nonstick pan and saute the carrots till it changes color and looses some moisture. Add the milk and cook over medium heat, till the milk is completely absorbed.

Add the sugar and cook till the mixture is thick and comes together in the middle of the pan. Add the remaining ghee, cardamom powder and chopped almonds and mix well.

Remove from heat and spread onto a greased dish. Cut into pieces when cold and store in the refrigerator.

Sending this to
Only Sweets & Desserts guest hosted by Gayathri, event by Pari 
Denny and Krithi's Serve It - Festival Potluck
Anu's Diwali Event
Khushi's My Diwali My Way