I dont have any memories of eating this manoharam, a delicious sweet balls prepared with crispy and broken murukkus bits, eventhough this manoharam is quite famous in TamilNadu, anyhow this month's Indian Cooking Challenge was very much interesting for me to try out this sweet balls..This sweet balls turned out awesome and i prepared approximately 15 medium sized balls..I tried out the first version, which goes for crispy murukkus and the second one goes for boondhis, making murukkus sounds quite easy when compared to making manoharams with boondhis for me, so i went happily for the murukku version..Thanks a ton to Srivalli for choosing this authentic dish and i really enjoyed making and having them..



2cups Raw rice
1cup Yellow Moongdal
2tbsp Ghee
Salt
Oil
1cup Jaggery
1/4cup Water

Wash and soak the rice for 15mins, drain and spread over a clean towel to absorb the moisture, grind the rice to a very fine powder and grind the moongdal as fine powder too, sieve both flours separately..now take two cups of rice flour and a cup of moong dal flour, mix well with salt, add the ghee and knead as dough with enough water..Heat enough oil for deep frying, put the ball of dough inside the murukku press with three holes disc, squeeze out the murukkus in the oil and fry them until they turns crispy..break the crispy murukkus as small bits and keep aside

Remove the murukkus and drain the excess of oil with a paper towel..Now heat the jaggery in a pan with quarter cup of water, strain the dissolved jaggery syrup..Bring the jaggery syrup to boil to a thick syrup for making balls (check the syrup in coldwater and roll the syrup with your fingers to form a ball), put off the stove immediately..Add quickly the broken murukkus, stir until the syrup coats evenly the pieces..Grease ur palm lightly and roll the mixture into medium sized balls..

Enjoy this sweet balls anytime..

Our this month's Indian Cooking Challenge is the famous Kara Sev, its has been ages i had these crispies coz i dont have the laddle specially used for making this savoury snacks...Through this challenge, i was able to make some by using pastry bag with round nozzle, yea am managing myself with the kitchen gadgets i have rite now along with me..This challenge went completely really very prefect and easy coz this kara sev is one of the Indian snacks which is quite easy to prepare and this sev get ready in very less time and will definitely get vanished also with less time too...Already i have prepared twice these crispies at home and each time they get vanished quickly...I absolutely want to buy the special laddle for making this kara sev during my next trip to India, coz this sev are really worth to try...This challenge went for two types of making these crispies, i choosed the first method since its sounds exact as my mom do when i was kid..

Pani puris, i cant forget these tiny puris with potato/peas filling served with tamarind chutney and spicy water, had them long back when i was doing my college in India, my most favourite street food i never ever say 'NO'..Our this month Indian Cooking Challenge was this pani puri and i was very excited to try out these delicious street food at home, that too making out pani puris from the scratch, i always have a thought to make them from the scratch, its was realized through ICC..I never prepared these cute and tiny puris at home coz my better half never knew these chaat foods as he was brought up with chocolates and pastas..I never choosed and asked my hubby to have these street foods whenever we go to India or here in Indian restaurants, i know he will definitely say no and i dont want to compel him...Its quite a great opportunity for me to prepare and having this pani puris at home, also i can ask my hubby to taste and see..To be honest, for my surprise he enjoyed a lot and even before taking some clicks almost all the puris i have prepared vanished with potato filling along with tamarind chutney and spicy water, everyone at home enjoyed it a lot..While making out these tiny puris, i have to change the ingredients given by Srivalli for the puris, coz the baking soda she mentioned for making puris didnt turned them prefectly, so i went for semolina , maida,oil and salt with baking powder, this proportion for puri turned them out puffy and crispy else i followed exactly the same way as the recipe given by Srivalli..



For Puris:
1/2cup Semolina
3tbsp Maida

Ras Malai, my most favourite desserts which i can eat anytime..When Srivalli announced this month"s Indian Cooking Challenge, i opened my mail very eagerly wat she choosed for this month, when i saw its was ras malai i was really excited to prepare my favourite milk sweet...I prepared ras malai yesterday evening, and served everyone at home after our dinner, my whole bowl of ras malai vanished within few minutes, everyone at home literally relished the bowl i served the rasmalai, they turned out prefect and very truly enjoyed each and every spoon of this droolworthy rasmalai...I didnt have any difficulties to prepare this rasmalai as i followed each and every steps given by Srivalli..




3litres Milk
3tbsp Vinegar
5cups Water
16Tbsp Sugar ( 8 for sugar syrup& 8 for milk syrup)
8nos Saffron strands
1/4cup Pista (chopped)
1tsp Maida flour
2nos Cardamom (crushed)

Boil two Litres of milk and let it cool. Refrigerate the milk for 12 hours. The next day or after 12 hours, remove the thick layer of skin formed over the milk. Now boil the milk, when the milk boils, add vinegar. wait for a minute or two, the paneer will start floating on top and the whey water will stay on the bottom of the vessel. Line a muslin or a cotton cloth over a bowl, filter the paneer and pour 2 cups of water on it, to remove the sourness of vinegar and then tie it well and let it hang on for one hour, till the whey water drops out completely..

Remove the paneer, knead for 5 minutes, add the maida flour to the paneer and make small balls..In a pressure cooker, add the three cups of water and 8tbsp sugar, bring it boil, add the paneer balls one by one and close the lid..cook in simmer for 15 minutes, tha balls will become double in size..Press gently to avoid the excess sugar syrup..

While preparing the sugar syrup, start making the milk syrup by boiling the milk to get reduced to half of the quantity.. add the sugar, saffron strands and crushed cardamom to the milk, mix everything well, and put the paneer balls to the milk syrup..Cool it completely and serve chilled topped with pistas..

Sago Murukku, the name itself tempted me a lot..Last month coz of my poor net connection i couldnt participate our every month's challenge, but this month i was quite ready to prepare this Indian Cooking Challenge without any fail, when Srivalli announced this month's challenge as Sago Murukku, i was quite anxious that how am gonna prepare this crispy snacks as i never ever tried murukku with sago, its was quite a thrilling experience to learn and experiment this crispy snacks since the name sago murukku was quite not familiar for me..But for my surprise i got a medium box of crispy and super delicious murukkus which we didnt stopped munching last weekend..Finally i have prepared this sago murukku yesterday and enjoyed twice already.. This murukku is really very easy for me to prepare anytime as this murukku needs just the soaking sago otherwise its really very easy..I have soaked a small packet of tiny sagos which i got from chinese store and prepared this murukku again yesterday, i have doubled the quantity given by Srivalli and we enjoyed again along with a cup of coffee, even my hubby went to his work with a box of this murukku to munch during his break, Yeah we loved it that much....


2cups Rice flour
1/2cup Gram flour
1/2cup Fried gram flour/pottukadala maavu
1/2cup Sago
1/2cup Buttermilk
3/4tsp Chilly powder
Salt
Oil for frying

Soak the sago in buttermilk for atleast 3hours (soaking time depends upon the size of the sago)sago should be soaked well else they might burst while frying the murukku..Mix all the flours together and heat a 50grms of oil and add the heated oil along with salt and chilly powder to the flours..then add slowly the soaked sago along with the buttermilk and slowly knead them to a soft and stiff dough..

Heat oil for deepfrying ..Drop sufficient dough in a murukku press with any nozzle and squeeze out the dough directly to the hot oil..Fry until they turns golden brown..strain the excess of oil with tissure paper and conserve them in an air-tightened box...

Enjoy with a cup of masala tea..

Chegodilu or Chekodi is one of the savoury snack items which is quite famous in Andhra..Its quite a long i tried this crispy snacks and i have completely forgotten..But fortunately Srivalli choosed these crispies for this month challenge, i was really happy when she asked us to check out ICC blog for this month challenge, coz every month we are trying different Indian dishes which were quite challenging and really interesting..I wasnt wrong, yea she choosed this savoury snacks for this month challenge and i have tried both versions she have posted under this challenge, i have already prepared three times and every time this chegodilu vanish within a day, a prefect evening snack tastes incredibly crispy with a cup of coffee...I enjoyed making out and my lil ones enjoyed having this ring murukku..Anyhow i liked the version where the recipe goes for all purpose flour and rice flour and we loved it..Do u need anything more than these crispies to enjoy this cold weather with ur cup of coffee...


1/4cup All purpose flour/ Maida
2Tbsp Ghee
1/4tsp Ajwain
1/4tspRed chilli powder
Pinch of Turmeric
Salt
Oil for deep frying

Boil a cup water in a bowl, add salt to it.When the water starts boiling, remove from stove and add ajwain, red chilli powder, turmeric and flours. Stir with a ladle to make sure it is mixed well. Pour ghee on it and cover.Once it cools, knead it to form smooth dough.

Pinch out small balls of dough and roll them like threads between your palm, bring the ends together to form into small rings..

Fry them in hot oil til they turn golden in colour. Enjoy with hot coffee..

Kachori, a fantastic snack which stayed a quite long in my to do list..When Srivalli announced kachoris for this month Indian Cooking Challenge, i was really excited to tried out these deepfried beauties..My choice went for onion filling eventhough Srivalli have given us three different filling to try out, coz my little family love anything with onions and this filling with onions sounds really easy, yummy and delicious for me and i immediately planned for this delicious onion filling, i was not wrong once i fried the kachoris my little ones picked each and every time.. Yea they loved it...We had a superb evening sunday snacks with these pyaz ki kachori...Thanks again to Srivalli and Medha for choosing this fantastic kachoris for this month's challenge..We really enjoyed making this delicious kachoris gals....


For Dough:
2cups All purpose flour
1/4cup Ghee
Salt

Mix the flour and salt, gradually add the ghee and turn the the flour as bread crumbs like texture, slowly add the water and make a soft dough, knead well..cover and keep aside for atleast half an hour..

For Onion Filling:
2cups Onions (finely chopped)
1tsp Nigella seeds
2tsp Fennel seeds
2nos Bay leaves
1no Green chillies (chopped finely)
2tbsp Besan flour
2tsp Coriander powder
1tsp Chilly powder
1tsp Garam masala
2tbsp Chopped coriander
2tsbsp Oil
Salt


Heat the oil in a pan. Add the nigella seeds, fennel seeds, bay leaves, green chillies and onions and sauté till the onions turn light brown in colour.Add the gram flour, coriander powder, chilli powder, garam masala and salt and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes.Add the chopped coriander and mix well. Remove the bay leaves and discard. Allow the mixture to cool completely.

Divide into 12 equal portions and keep aside.


To make Kachoris:

Make a small ball from the dough...flatten the ball using your fingers having the center thick and sides little thin.
Place about 2 tsps of the onion filling in the center of the rolled dough.Cover the filling with the dough by slowly stretching it over the filling. Seal the ends and remove excess dough. Repeat with all the balls and keep aside for 5 -7 mins.

Then using your palm, flatten the balls by lightly pressing it..Keep aside covered. Repeat with the remaining dough...Meanwhile heat some oil for deep frying. The oil should not become smoking hot...fry the kachoris in batches of 3-4 gently into the oil. It should rise up slowly. If you don't want to use lot of oil, use just enough for two or three at a time and fry them.After it rises up (about 2 minutes), turn it over.Cook for about 6 to 10 minutes till the side down gets a golden brown color.

Turn and cook the other side for another 6 minutes or till its golden brown in color.Remove when done, cool and store in airtight container.

Serve with tamarind chutney or coriander chutney...

Our this month's challenge goes for the famous North Indian Moong dal halwa... when Srivalli announced this month Indian Cooking Challenge, i was quite happy to know about that she choosed the famous moongdal halwa as i was planning since quite a long about making out these delicious moong dal halwa when i tasted them at my friend's place before few months back, i still remember that glossy moong dal halwa which tasted fantastic with loads of ghee and nuts...Thanks to Srivalli for choosing this delicious halwa and i was quite eager to make out this authentic recipe which is quite worth to try out...The only thing i really went for searching is my H's hands to keep on stirring this droolworthy halwa since it needs some strong helpers to stir out else this moongdal halwa is quite easier and tastier than wat we expect..This halwa tastes incredible when they were served warm and i relished each and every spoon...Thanks to Simran & Lata for giving us the exact notes on this recipe and helping us to come up without any doubts..Srivalli has given as usual two versions to try out this halwa, i went for the second recipe which needs the dal, milk, sugar and ghee while the first recipe goes for khoya..


1cup Split Yellow Moong dal
1cup Sugar
3/4cupGhee
1/2cup Milk
Few Cashew nuts fried in ghee

Soak the moong dal overnight..next morning, grind to a paste..Heat a heavy kadai and heat the1/2cup of ghee, once the ghee gets melted, add the dal paste and stir continously without allowing any lumps to form (here we need some helpers to stir, fortunately my H helped me here)..This part is really tricky as the dal cooks really fast..Keep the heat in low flame and keep on stirring until the dal becomes thick..

Add the rest of the ghee and cook the dal until the ghee starts oozing out, meanwhile mix the sugar with milk in a pan to boil and add slowly this to the cooking dal...Keep the flame in simmer and break the lumps while adding the sugar-milk mix...Cook again until the halwa get off from the kadai..

Garnish with nuts..

Our this month's challenga of Indian Cooking Challenge is Authentic Punjabi Kadi pakoras, this dish is quite famous in Punjab.. This punjabi kadi pakoras goes for fried onions dumplings soaked in yougrt based gravy which tastes marvellous when served along with rice or rotis..Srivalli choosed this recipe from Simran of Bombay Foodie, needless to say this goes for easy ingredients also easy cooking process and the result was a droolworthy thick kadi which tastes truly excellent..Thanks to Srivalli for choosing this effortless Punjabi kadi pakoras for this month's challenge and we enjoyed them with hot steaming rice..This punjabi kadi should be thick if its thin gravy then it will be the Gujarati version of kadi..



For Pakoras:
3/4cup Gram flour
1tsp Chilly powder
1no Onion (big & chopped lengthwise)
Oil for deepfrying

For Kadi:
2cups Yogurt
1/2cup Besan/Gram flour
4cups Water
1tsp Mustard seeds
1tsp Cumin seeds
1tsp Ajwain seeds
1tsp Fenugreek seeds
1no Onion (large & chopped finely)
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
1/2tsp Red chilly powder
3/4tsp Garam masala
1/2tsp Dry mango powder
Salt

Make a thick batter with gram flour, salt, chilly powder with enough water,meanwhile heat the oil for deepfrying,once the oil is hot, dip the sliced onions in the batter and drop gently to the oil, fry until they turns crispy,keep aside..

Make a thin batter with yogurt, besan and water, keep aside..heat enough oil, let splutters the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, ajwain seeds and fenu greek seeds, add immediately the chopped onions and sauté until they turns slightly brown, pour in the yogurt-besan batter along with turmeric powder, salt and chilly powder..bring to boil and put immediately in simmer cook for half an hour by stirring them occasionally..when the gravy turns thick add the pakoras , garam masala and dry mango powder to the gravy, give a stir and put off the stove..

Enjoy with rice or rotis..