Welcome aboard!

Indian cuisine is a riot of colours, flavours, and spices. Every state has its own unique culture- ingrained taste bud. And, to many of us staying within familiar tastes is a sacrosanct act. Of course an occasional trip to a speciality restaurant that serves another fare is ok. But, as a matter of routine ...at home...NO!

One of the benefits of being born to parents who dared an interstate marriage (am talking about India of the 70's) was being able to widen a regional taste bud to accept, experiment and, relish eclectic cuisines :-)

I love food! Be it traditional or fusion, cooking is all about turning out fare that is tasty and healthy.I welcome all lovers of good food to come on aboard and share your kitchen adventures.

If you like what you see, do leave a comment. If you don't, please leave a suggestion to help me make this better.

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Happy cooking!

Dershana

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Quick coconut laddu and rava kesari for Deepavali with baby

Helloooooooooooooooooooooooo! Back again after seven months!! Wish you all a very happy and delightful Deepavali.

I have my little girl with me now to celebrate deepavali with. She leaves me with very little time to cook or blog, but decided I just need to make a quickie something for her first deepavali. The easiest thing was to make the coconut laddu recipe that I had collected from a Nestle 'Milkmaid' condensed milk wrapper all the way back when I was at college. It takes just 10 minutes and minimal cooking to conjure them up.
In her fifth month, she is now ready to start with semi solid food, and so I also wanted to make something of which she could also take a teeny little bite. so decided on a quick fix rava kesari.

Coconut Laddu



Dessicated coconut - 150 gms (you could choose to use fresh grated coconut and toast it to perfection)
Sweetened condensed milk - 50 gms
Cardamom (elaichi)- 4 Nos

Powder the cardamom. In a thick bottomed vessel pour in the condensed milk and add the coconut. Turn down the flame to very low and stir the two together till they form a soft, pliant dough. Add the cardamom and keep stirring till a wonderful aroma emanates (all of 5-6 mts). While still warm shape lemon sized balls out of the mixture.
In another plate spread out some more dessicated coconut and roll the balls to give them a beautiful coating. Ready to eat!


Quick Rava Kesari



Roasted rava (semolina?cream of wheat) - 1 cup
Demerara sugar (you can use plain sugar) - 1/2 cup
Water - 3 cups
Ghee (clarified butter) - 1/4 cup
Raisins and nuts - a handful

Pour the ghee into a thick bottome dvessel along with all the other ingredients escept water. Let roast on low flame till the sugar starts to melt and the nuts start to roast (you will know by the smell). Add the water. Increase the flame to medium and keep stirring till the rava cooks into a gooey mixture of jam like consistency (about 7-8 minutes). Ready to go!

Take another look at the coconut laddu



Sending these over to Festive Food : Diwali Dhamaka hosted by Purva's Dawat. The event is on at http://purvasdaawat.blogspot.com/2009/10/diwali-dhamaka-announcement.html

19 comments:

Yasmeen said...

Great to see you back Dershana.The little dumpling must be such a hand full.kisses to her.
Festive laddus..have a joyful diwali.hugs :D

Sanghi said...

Wow.. Super ladoo dershana.. Love your blog..! I'm following you! Do check mine..! HAppy Diwali..!

Cham said...

Welcome back Dershana! Congrats and Hugs to the little angel :) Hope u re doing fine too.
Ladoos and kesari are delicious treats.
Happy Diwali to u and ur family!

Unknown said...

happy Diwali..Ladoos looks yummy..

Tina said...

Ohhh sooo nice clicks and yummy yummy sweets dear..Happy Diwali.

ST said...

Great to see you back Dershana..Congrats and kissess to ur little cuttie pie ...Ladoo and kesari looks adorable...

Happy Diwali to u and ur Family...

Cynthia said...

Happy Diwali!

AnuSriram said...

Ladoo looks yummy! Nice click too.. Hope your little one enjoyed her first Diwali :)

Prarthna said...

welcome back to the blogging world, and congrats on your little girl , hope she liked the kesari :-)

my kitchen said...

Yummy dishes,i love ur version of poha dosai,Do visit my blog when u find time

Jaishree Iyer said...

Great to see you back Dershana!Hope u & baby are doing fine.Ladoo and kesari looks yummy.. My sweet kisses to little angel:)

Valarmathi Sanjeev said...

Ladoo and kesari looks delicious and yummy.

Shobana senthilkumar said...

Hi,
fisrt time here....yeah...its so tough with the Lo' to make sweets...coconut laddu is tempting me...feel like having one:)

Parita said...

Laddoos look perfect!

Sushma Mallya said...

Yummy laddos...looks lovely & perfect

Uj said...

hey dear..nice display pic..So good to see you back.. hope your angel loved kesari :)how are things otherwise?

Prajusha said...

both kesari and laddoo looks yummy.
thanks
prajusha
www.icookipost.com

Dori said...

Perfect, made with condensed milk... always makes things easier :)

unopolo101 said...

hi, im from the philippines and i would like to try your recipe. i dont know if we have cardamom here. what can i substitute to that? oatmeal? what do you suggest? thanks

 
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