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.

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

         

          

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