Kesar Mawa Peda

"Happy Raksha Bandhan" to you all. Pedas are the most famous sweet in India. Pedas are distributed when announcing marriage, birth of a child, a new home, a new car and all other happy occasions plus at festivals like Diwali. Mawa/Khoya, cardamon, Kesar(Saffron) are the traditional ingredients for the peda. The pedas at sweet shops in India take long time to make since the milk is boiled for hours to prepare Mawa/Khoya, the main ingredient. This is a super quick recipe with Khoya readily available in Indian stores and the use of Microwave makes it even faster.

For the holy festival of Rakhi, here's peda recipe. Enjoy this day :))


Ingredients:-

• 1 cup Mawa, grated
  
• 2 tbsp Condensed Milk or to taste
  
• 1/4 tsp Freshly Powdered Cardamom
  
• 5-6 Saffron stigmas, soak in 1 tbsp milk
  
• Almonds, Slivered
  

Method:-

1. Mash Khoya with your palms in Microwave-safe bowl

2. Add Safforn and milk, cardamom powder, and condensed milk. Mix well.

3. Microwave for 2 minutes, stirring well after every minute.

4. Let it cool little bit and make peda in your desired shape and put them on parchment paper.

5. Put slivered almonds on top of pedas.

6. Serve at room temperature.

Enjoy...

Tip :- Use melon baller, smallest ice-cream scoop or measurement spoon to shape pedas to avoid greasing the palms with butter or ghee.

I am sending this peda to two events "Celebrate Sweets ~ Pedha " with Jagruti



and

“KIDS DELIGHT” with Pari Vasisht

Kabab Curry (Thai Style)

Kababs and any currys separately are crowd pleasure and always hit at parties; but together they make one wonderful dish. If you are a vegetarian like me, it is almost impossible to find vegetarian kabab curry; so I usually make kabab curry at home with tomato based gravy. I wanted something different this time and thought of marriage of Thai and Indian flavors. Spicy kabas with coconut based curry makes this dish thai, delicious, and different.

Ingredients:-

--For Kabab

• 1/4 cup Whole Moong, mashed (Soak in the water for an hour and pressure cook it)
  
• 1 Big Potato, boiled and mashed
  
• 1 cup Cabbage, finely chopped
  
• 1/2 cup Mix Vegetables, boiled (Peas, corn, carrot)
  
• 8-9 Garlic Cloves, minced
  
• 1 tbsp Ginger, grated
  
• 3-4 Green Chilli, finely chopped
  
• 1 tsp Garam Masala
  
• 1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
  
• 1 tsp Amchur Powder (Dry Mango Powder)
  
• 1 tsp Cumin Powder
  
• 2 tbsp Fresh Cilantro, chopped
  
• 1/2 cup Bread Crumbs
  
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil + Extra for shallow frying
  
• Salt to taste
  

--For Curry

• 8-9 Cashew +1 tsp Magajtari/Magtari Seeds, (Soak in water for 1 hour and paste it)
  
• 1 Large White Onion, grated
  
• 1 Garlic Clove, minced
  
• 1/4 tsp Ginger Grated
  
• 14 oz Coconut Milk
  
• 3 tbsp Tofu, mashed
  
• 1/3 cup Water
  
• 1 Small Thai Green Chilli, chopped
  
• 1 Pinch, Cayenne Pepper
  
• 1 Pinch Sea Salt
  
• 2 Pinch Sugar
  
• 1-2 Thai Basil, finely chopped
  
• Regular Salt to taste
  

--For Serving

• Kasuri Methi
  
• Boiled Yellow Corn, and Greean Peas
  

Method:-

--For Kabab

1. Heat oil in pan, saute onion, ginger, garlic, green chilli, and cabbage for 8-10 minutes.

2. Combine this sauted onion and cabbage with other ingredients in food processor. Pulse the food processor first for 3-4 times and then process on lowest speed for 20-30 seconds till everything mixed well.

3. Shape the mixture in quarter-size oval shape about half-inch thick and .

4. Heat oil on flat griddle, cook kababs until they get golden crust all over or cook each side for 2-3 minutes.

--For Curry

1. Heat oil in sauce pan, saute onion, garlic, ginger, green chilli, and sea salt until they are soft.

2. Add cashew paste, mashed tofu, cayenne pepper, salt, coconut milk, thai basil, sugar and little water.

3. Simmer this curry on medium low heat for 10-15 minutes. WIth hand blender pulse this curry for 3-4 time.

4. Turn off the heat and pour curry in the serving bowl.

5. Add koftas in curry, some yellow corn , pinch of kasuri methi, and green peas on top. Serve Hot.

Enjoy...

Tip: The use of cashew & majagtari seeds paste with mashed tofu make this curry extra thick so I added little water to reduce consistency, but the taste is almost the same and one can do away with water in case you like extra thick curry.

This is my entry to Show me your curry hosted by Divya of Dil se.




also sending this entry to Visual Treat Event hosted by Sanyukta.

Pani-Puri Rice

Were your surprised reading the name of the recipe??? DH was very much so.

The idea for this experiment came from Pani-Puri flavored noodles. I bought pani-puri flavored noodles from Indian grocery store, and tried those but they didn't have Pani Puri taste at all. After a while when I had some leftovers from overnight pani-puri feast, including pani, potato filling, and some chutney and I thought if Nissin can sell pani-puri flavored noodles when noodles hardly carry any panipuri flavor, rice would actually soak it better. Hence, I cooked the rice in panipuri pani and fresh masalas. The rice soak up all the masalas and taste was just AMAZING!!! Tangy, spicy, minty in same bite. I thought when you refer to something as panipuri flavored, it should actually have all these tastes. All three combined make authentic panipuri taste.

After cooking(boiling) the rice in pani puri's pani, I warmed up the other leftovers in rice and served it. Basically, you can use all leftovers like white peas ragda, boiled potatos, black chana, mint chutney, and pomegranate.

Me and DH love to eat this rice with little sip of pani puri's pani.

-- For Fresh Pani Puri Masala

Ingredients:-

• 2 cups Fresh Mint Leaves
  
• 1/2 cup Fresh Cilantro
  
• 5-6 Green Chilles or to taste
  
• 1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
  
• 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
  
• 1-1/2 tsp Fennel Seeds
  
• 1 tbsp Amchur
  
• 1-1/2 tsp Black Salt
  
• 1-1/2 tsp Cumin Powder
  
• Piece of Ginger
  
• Juice of 1 Big Lemon
  
• Salt to taste
  

Method:-

1. Blend all ingredients in the blender and make puree.

2. Pour this puree in deep vesel and add 7-8 cups of water.

3. Add piece jaggery and bring it up to the boil. Taste and adjust seasoning.

4. Cool down the pani and stain well. Serve Chilled.




--For Pani Puri Rice

Ingredients:-

• 1 cup Basmati Rice
  
• 2 cups Pani Puri's Pani
  
• 2-3 tbsp Fresh Pani Puri Masala
  
• 1 Small Green Chilli, chopped
  
• 1/4 tsp Cumin Seeds
  
• 1 tbsp Oil
  
• 3-4 Mint Leaves, chopped
  
• 1 Pinch Roasted Cumin Powder
  
• Salt to taste
  

-- For Serving Ingredients

• Mint Chutney
  
• Pani of Pani Puri
  
• 1/2 cup Potato-Chana filling
  
• Pomagranate Seeds
  
• Pani Puri Masala, store bought
  

Method:-

1. Heat oil in sauce pan, add cumin seeds and green chilli.

2. When they turn liitle brown, add pani of pani puri, little salt, cumin powder, mint leaves, fresh pani puri masala, and rice. Bring it to boil, turn down the heat on medium low, cover with lid, and cook until rice is done. (Absolutely no picking when rice is cooking. It'll cook perfectly fluffly in 20- 25 minutes.)

3. Take some rice in bowl, and mix some warm potato-chana filling, mint chutney, pomegranate. Sprinkle little pani puri masala on top.

4. Serve with Pani Puri ka pani to sip with it.

Enjoy...

Tip: For best pani-puri flavor, make pani with your homemade masala rather than store-bought.