Tikhat Nevryo (Spicy Karanji)

I forgot to mention the interesting things which happened on my recent trip to Goa.
First, during the security check of my flight to Goa, I saw Rahul Dravid!!!!! Only that it was during the security check and I could not meet him But I saw him
My journey from Goa Airport to home was in our new Silver Swift ( a real devil!). And on my return flight, I saw Roshni Chopra ( Pia from Kasam Se!).
Well my trip was star filled

Now to my favorite nevri! A spicy twist to the common sweet nevri
This was prepared by mom with me just helping in between. The hands in action are of my mom

Adapted from Ishtann
(Makes around 30-40 nevryos! hence vary as per requirement!)

Ingredients:
6 cups grated coconut (dried)/ 1 Packet of dessicated coconut (approx 400gm)
2 cups fine rava
2 cups groundnut powder
6 cups sugar
3 cups wheat flour
2 tbl spn chilli powder
1 tea spn turmeric powder
1/2 cup sesame seeds (til)
a pich of hing (powder)
2 cups maida
1-2 tea spn ghee
oil for deep frying
salt to taste

Method:
Dry the grated coconut in the sun. It will get cripsy. Crush with you hand till fine. Clean using a seive (if it doesn’t appear clean!)
For groundnuts, take approximately 2-2 1/2 cups of groundnut and dry roast on a tava. Remove the skin and grind to a coarse powder in a mixer.
Roast the sesame seeds till they crackle.

Roast the rava using a little ghee till it turns reddish and keep aside.
Roast the dried coconut in ghee till it turns reddish and keep aside.

Add the groundnuts to the rava. Now add the roasted coconut and sugar. Mix well.
Add the roasted sesame seeds. Add chilli powder, turmeric powder and hing. Add salt and mix well.
Adjust the salt and chilli powder to taste.

To 2 cups of maida, add 3 cups of wheat flour and mix with a laddle full of oil/ghee.
Add salt to taste and knead with little water to form a chapati like dough. Set aside for 1/2 hour and knead once again.

Form into small balls. Roll using the poll-paat like a thin puri.

Place a little filling of the coconut on one side of the circle or in the center. Using a little water dampen the circumference of the puri. Fold into a semicircle.

Press the edges to seal and cut semi-circle using a chinnkatne.

Repeat till you have 8-10 nevryos.

Heat oil in a kadai and deep fry the nevryos till golden brown.
Remove on tissue paper.

Cool the nevryo and preserve in a airtight container.

Serves as a anytime spicy snack

 

BhauBij, 2 gifts and a cake

Bhaubij (known as Bhai duj in North India) is a celebration of the Brother-Sister relation and is celebrated 2 days after Diwali.

BhauBij this year was on Sunday and luckily my brother was with me after many many years!

We usually do a ovalni (a special puja) in the evening on that day. The thali used for ovalni usually consists of a diva, gandh (kumkum with little water) for tika, 2 rounds of wheat dough, any gold item, nane (currency coin). Ovalni means to do puja of the person with the thali just setup, after which the brother gives the sister a gift.

I got 2 gifts from my bro after the ovalni - a futura cooking pan and a borosil baking bowl with lid

Without wasting more time, I prepared the Healthy, Eggless and Microwave Cake I had set my eyes on!

All Credit goes to Mansi for this wonderful recipe

My only changes were :
1. I skipped adding milk powder, cookies and chocolate as I didn’t have them
2. I used 3-4 teaspns of Drinking chocolate powder instead of cocoa.
3. I added more milk, so that the cake batter forms ribbon when dropped using a spoon.
4. Instead of adding powdered sugar, I added normal sugar.
5. Kept the batter for around 15-20mins after mixing all ingredients so that the lumps are easily removed and the sugar mixes properly.

Even after so many changes, the cake turned out Awesome My brother just loved it!

I complete 50 posts on this blog with this one and what a coincidence to describe about Bhaubij

 

Shankarpalyo

Shankarpalyo is a sweet usually prepared during Diwali in Goa. It forms one of the long list of sweet & spicy food that are on the menu those days.
Shankarpalyo is one of my favs.

Here’s how my mom prepares it…

Ingredients:
4 cups wheat flour/maida
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup home made ghee
salt to taste
oil for deep frying

Method:
Melt the ghee and add to milk. Add sugar to the milk and keep on low flame till the sugar melts.
Take the flour in a big thali and add the salt. Mix well. Knead using the warm milk-sugar-ghee mix to a soft round (like chapati batter). Adjust the maida and milk as needed to form this batter. It should not be sticky. Set aside this round for an hour.

Take a large ball and roll like a thick chapati on the polpaat. Using a chinnkatne (used for nevryo also) cut into diamonds.
( We didn’t find the chinnkatne and used a pizza cutter instead ) Chinnkatne is a spoon with a pizza cutter like edge.

Heat oil in a kadai. Test by adding a small bit of the dough. If it rises to the top as soon as you drop it, the oil is ready.
Fry the diamonds in the oil till light brown. Remove on tissue paper.

Cool and store in an airtight container.

Bet, you can’t eat just one

 

Diwali - I

Diwali the festival of lights is celebrated by having color around you through food or through any decoration. Some snaps from our Diwali Celebration!
(Recipes coming soon… been busy at home and office!)

Panti at the entrance

Pantyo on the side wall

Our Kandil

Diwali in Forum Mall

Food:
Tikhat Nevryo (spicy nevryo)

Dudhatle Fov (Dudh Pohe)

Chanyachi Usal

Amadyachi Karam

Rossatle Fov ( Pohe in coconut milk)

Kelyacho Halvo ( Banana Halwa)

Pithyache Ladoo

Shankarpalyo

Post updated with links of published recipes.

 

Diwali Special - Pithyache Ladoo

Pithyache means ‘made of flour’. Basically wheat flour is referred to as ‘Pith’ (pronounced as : pe-ee-th)

This is my fav ladoo.. only the ones which my mom or my grandma would make. All other variety does not entice me!

These ladoos come with a note “Handle with Care”

Ingredients:
4 cups Wheat flour
2 cups Sugar
2 cups homemade pure ghee/ Gharave Tup
1 tbl spn elaichi powder

Method:
Grind the sugar into a fine powder. Grind the elaichi also into a fine powder. Make sure no lumps are present.

If using home made wheat flour, sieve the flour and use only the fine wheat flour. Use only homemade Pure Ghee as this will bring in a nice aroma.

Heat a pan and add the ghee into it. Keep on low heat all through.Wait till the ghee melts. Now add the wheat flour and fry in the ghee. Keep moving a wooden ladle through this mix, till the wheat flour turns slightly brownish and will have a nice aroma.

Remove from heat and move into a large plate. Now add the Sugar and mix well using the ladle. Add the elaichi and mix well.

The mix has to be warm for making the ladoos. hence mixing of sugar and elaichi has to be fast.

Take a small amount of the mix in your palm and press using the other hand. Keep rotating the mix and pressing, to form a round ball. This round ladoo will be made of powder and will break easily, hence exercise caution.
Carefully keep the ladoo in another plate. Repeat procedure to form more ladoos.

Serving Instruction : The best part is the way the ladoo is served.
I will try to take snaps today of this if my mom hasn’t finished with the wrapping!

Buy coloured paper (thin), atleast 3-4 varieties. (The one we would use for making Kandils’, this is called as Foli in Goa.)

Cut into squares such that you can cover the ladoo in it properly. The below description will help.

Place a ladoo in the center of the paper, and fold the paper around it and join the paper at the top. This will look like a modak cover. Now twist the paper at the top, so that the ladoo is secured inside!

Now repeat the wrapping of other ladoos using remaining colors!

Imagine the colors on your plate when you serve! ( Till i have a snap :D)

The paper is wrapped as the ladoo are very fragile and break when you try to eat them.

This is my entry for Jihva Special Edition for Diwali hosted by Vee.

Wishing you a Very Happy Deepavali!