Zarda Pulao ( Sweet Rice)

Zarda Pulao, also known as Zafrani Pulao, is a Sweet Rice dish. It is a festive delicacy of North India. Zafrani Pulao basically belongs to the Nawabi delicacies of India; it is prepared on the occasion of marriages and regional festivals.

My mom used to make it on Basant Panchami may be because of its zafrani color.
Try this sweet rice preparation enriched with high calories ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Basmati Rice
• 1 cup sugar (can be adjusted according to own taste)
• 3 Green Cardamoms (Crushed)
• 3 Clove
• 3 tbsp Ghee
• Few Raisins
• 1 tsp chironji
• Cashew Nuts
• Few strands of saffron soaked in warm water
• Pinch of Saffron food color
• 2 tbsp Rose Water
• 1 ½ cups of warm water

Method:

• Wash the rice with soft hand twice or thrice until the water runs clear and then, soak for 15 minutes.
• Melt ghee in a cooking pan and add cloves and cardamoms, fry for a minute until fragrant.
• Add rice and continue frying until all the grains are well coated with ghee.
• Pour warm water and milk over the rice and cook on low heat till it is almost done.
• Now add sugar, saffron food color, soaked saffron, nuts, raisins, rose water and cook for another 5 minutes until the rice is completely cooked.
• Fluff it up with a fork and serve.

Note: You can add crushed khoya to make it rich. Some of houses also use canned pineapple, which is diced and added to the pulao during the last minute of the cooking of rice.

Makhanay Ki Kheer (Puffed Lotus Seeds Pudding)

Makhana kheer is usually made during 'Mahashivratri' and 'Krishna Janamashtami'.

Lotus seeds are boiled, on low heat with milk and lots of nuts are added.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups white Makhana (puffed Lotus Seeds)
• 1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
• 5 cups full cream milk
• ½ cup sugar ( or as desired)
• 1 can condensed milk
• ½ cup chopped nuts (pistachios, almonds, cashew nuts)
• 1 tbsp chironji
• 1 tsp crushed green cardamom seeds
• 1 tbsp rose water or drops of kewara essence
• Pinch of saffron

Method:

• Heat ghee in frying pan and roast makhana over a low heat for a few minutes until they are light pink in color. Remove from heat and keep aside to cool. Crush them coarsely when cool.
• Boil milk in another vessel. Add crushed makhana and stir well.
  Leave to simmer for about 20-30 minutes, until milk reduces to half and of a creamy consistency.
• During this period, stir from time to time so that milk does not stick to the bottom of pan.
  Stir in condensed milk, almonds, and pistachios, saffron and crushed cardamoms.
• Add sugar if desired. Simmer for 5 minutes more. Adjust the consistency of kheer according to your liking. If kheer is too thick, add some warm milk at this stage. Remove from fire.
• Garnish with nuts and sprinkle some crushed cardamom.
• Serve the makhana kheer hot or cold, as desired.

Do You Know:

Makhana or fox nut or gorgon nut or Euryale ferox, is an annual plant, grown throughout the ponds and low-lying lakes of China, Japan and India as well as parts of Eastern Russia.

The seeds of the plant are starchy, white, small and round, with a brown outer covering. In India, particularly in the northern and western parts of the country, Makhana seeds are often roasted or fried, which causes them to pop like popcorn. They can be consumed either raw or after being stir-baked, often with a sprinkling of oil and spices.

In India Makhana has been widely used in traditional oriental medicine to cure a variety of diseases including kidney problems, chronic diarrhea, excessive leucorrhea and hypo function of the spleen. Recent studies show its antioxidant activities.

Suji Halwa ( Semolina Pudding)

Semolina is fried in ghee and sugar is added along with nuts. It is always prepared on 'Ashtami' during Navratri Festival Days.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup suji (semolina)
• ½ cup ghee
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 ½ cups warm water
• 1 tsp cardamom powder
• ¼ cup fried or roasted chopped almonds, cashew nuts ,pistachio and chironji

Method:

• Heat ghee in a wok on medium heat, add suji and fry till it becomes light brown.
• Add warm water and sugar together. Stir continuously. When it thickens remove from heat.
• Mix in cardamom powder and nuts.
• Serve hot.

Note: Milk can also be added in place of water to give it a rich taste.

Do You Know?

The word halva is used to describe many distinct types of sweet confection, across the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, and the Balkans.
Halva based on semolina is popular in India, Iran, Turkey, Somalia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Halva may also be made from a variety of other ingredients, including sunflower seeds, various nuts, beans, lentils, and vegetables—such as carrots, pumpkins, yams, and squashes.

Seviyan Kheer (Vermicelli pudding)

This creamy seviyan (vermicelli) pudding is flavored with cardamom, rose water and nuts. It's a great dessert for anytime of the year.
In south and east India, versions of it are made for certain festivals, like my mom used to make it on 'Raksha Bandhan' day.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fine roasted seviyan (vermicelli) broken into 2-3 cm pieces
• 2 pint full cream hot milk
• 1 pint sweetened condensed milk
• ¼ cup unsalted roasted almonds chopped coarsely
• ¼ cup pistachios chopped coarsely
• 1 tsp chironji
• 1 tsp cardamom powder
• 1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
• 1 tbsp rose water
• Sugar according to taste if required

Method:

• Heat the ghee in a heavy bottomed non-stick pan over medium heat and add seviyan; fry till golden brown.
• Pour the full cream milk, condensed milk, almonds, pistachio and stirring constantly bring to boil. Cook for about 3-4 minutes; stir constantly to avoid lump formation.
• Cool to room temperature, add rose water and cardamom powder.
• Garnish with nuts and serve chilled or hot as you like.

Do You Know:

Rose water is the leftover liquid or hydrosol remaining when rose petals and water are distilled together for the purpose of making rose oil.

Rose water is popular due to its distinct flavor. This is the reason why rose water is used in cuisines of West Asia, South Asia and Middle Eastern areas. Recipes from the 8th century have also included the rose water as an important ingredient.

Many sweets are often flavored with rose water. In India, this is used as an ingredient in Gulab Jamun, which is a very popular sweet. Areas of Malaysia and Singapore use rose water as an ingredient in a sweet drink, which is known as Bandung.

Puran Poli

It is a ‘stuffed roti-like dessert’ prepared in Gujarat,Maharashtra & South India. Traditionally, it is made from jaggery (molasses or gur), yellow bengal gram (chana dal), grated coconut, ghee and plain all purpose flour.

Ingredients:
250 gms split Bengal Gram (chana dal)
250 gms Jaggery ( both jaggery and chana dal should be in equal quantities)
2 cups All Purpose Flour or maida
1 cup water
2 cup ghee (clarified butter)
1 tsp cardamom powder
100 gms freshly grated coconut

Method:
Make a dough of All Purpose Flour/ Maida with water and ½ cup ghee. The dough should be supple and the batter should not stick to your palms. Cover & keep aside for 1 hour.
Pressure cook chana dal till it is thoroughly cooked.
Mash jaggery and mix it with freshly grated coconut.
Take a deep vessel, preferably non stick. Add 2 tbsp of ghee. Heat it, add chana dal and jaggery coconut mixture . Keep stirring till the mixture thickens and consistency is enough to be made in to small balls. Powdered cardamom and some saffron (soaked for a few minutes in milk) are added to this mixture to impart further fragrance and flavor.
To make sure you have heated the mixture enough, try the spoon test. Try to place a steel spoon in the middle of the mixture, if it stands, you can remove mixture from stove, else keep stirring the mixture until it thickens further (takes about 25 minutes). Now stuffing is ready.
Take a small amount of all purpose flour dough and roll it in to the shape of a small disc. A small amount of stuffing is placed at the center of this disc, wrap the ends of the dough around the stuffing to make a ball. This ball is then rolled carefully using a rolling pin into a large, thin circular pancake shape. The procedure is same like that of any stuffed paratha. If you feel that the dough is sticking to the rolling pin, then sprinkle some more all-purpose flour/maida and continue rolling.
Heat a griddle over a medium flame, grease it. Shallow fry puran poli using a little oil on both sides .
In a traditional way puran poli are rolled on plantain leaf before transferring onto a heated griddle.
Serve hot with ghee.

Besan Laddu ( Gram Flour Laddu)

This is a common Indian dessert made of besan and ground sugar in the form of balls.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups gram flour (Besan)
• 2 cups Ghee (Clarified butter)
• 2 1/2 cups powdered Sugar ( modify according to taste)
• 1 tsp green cardamom powder
• Small pieces of Almonds and Cashew nuts (optional)

Method:

• Warm the ghee in a heavy bottom deep Skillet.
• Add Gram Flour to it. Mix well.
• Roast the mixture on medium heat. Keep stirring the mixture till the color changes. Gram flour is ready for use when it turns dark yellow or brown in color and a pleasant toasted aroma fills the area. You have to be very careful while roasting gram flour, it should not stick to the bottom of the skillet at any time.
• When ghee starts to separate, turn off the flame. Wait for 10-15 minutes.
• Add the sugar to this mixture when it is still more then warm.
• Mix well sugar and besan by rubbing between both the palms. The mixture should become smooth and even.
• Add cardamom powder and dry fruits at this stage.
• Form round balls by pressing firmly and store in air tight containers.

Note:

• Amount of sugar can be modified according to your taste.
• If you are making laddus to be eaten fresh then reduce the quantity of ghee and add little milk in place of it.