Seven Cup Besan Burfi

Hello Everyone! Its been a while since I blogged. I've missed all the interactions with you but guess what - I'm  here now and hoping to show up on a regular basis as before. 

Hope you all had a fun and festive Diwali season and also Halloween if you're in the US. Have you eaten all of that candy already? 

What better way to start off from a hiatus with nothing but a wonderful sweet. This is a sweet that I did prepare for Diwali this year but could not get to posting it earlier. This is a really easy and basic recipe and I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with this. I've modified the quantities here just so I could make a lot of the burfi to share with friends for Diwali.

Here's the basic recipe.

I doubled the quantities to make a lot of burfis - so the pictures you see here are for double the quantity.

Besan - 1 cup
Sugar - 2 cup
Coconut - 1 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Ghee - 2 cup

Sieve the besan and dry roast it in a wide pan till the raw smell goes away.

Add the sugar to the besan and mix well.

Slowly add the milk and keep stirring so that no lumps are formed.

Mix well and keep stirring. Make sure the pan is in medium heat and not too low or too high. Have high heat would just burn the bottom and that won't make pretty or tasty burfis.

As you keep stirring, keep adding a few spoons of ghee at at time and mixing well so that the ghee incorporates well with the mix.

When the mixture starts to bubble and thicken up, add the grated coconut to the mix and stir well. Remember to keep adding that ghee a little at at time.

Can you see the whole mix starting to thicken up here?

And now, its pretty thick and almost ready to be taken off the heat. Make sure you have a well greased plate or a baking pan lined with parchment paper where you can transfer this hot mix into for it to set.

When the mix is thick and start to leaves the sides of the pan, switch off the heat and pour immediately to a well greased plate or a parchment lined baking pan as below. The mixture cools down pretty quick and starts to turn hard.

When the mix has cooled down a little bit, using a knife, gently cut across into the mix making little squares. And you're done!

All you have to do now is to pick a few pieces, eat it and make sure they all taste great! And I tell you from experience, yes, they do taste great!

Was that not an easy burfi to make? And don't they look pretty too?

So eat some, share some and don't worry if they are all done soon, you can just make them quick enough again!

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Sweet Somasi

Wishing all my Tamil and Kerala readers a Happy New Year and Vishu. May this year bring you all that you want and a little more. My new year celebration yesterday was very simple - actually I just made a whole big tray of Pongal and went to the temple here for the puja and aarti. So many people had bought so much food and it was a complete feast with chakkara pongal, ven pongal, kesari, puliyodharai and so many other delicacies.

On  my personal front, life has been crazy hectic for the past few weeks. I've taken up a new job and my schedule and routine is gone for a toss and everything is changing fast around me. But, I know I have to move quickly with all the change and get accustomed to my new routine and plan all my things so that at the end of it, its all harmonious. Well, that's my plan anyways. We'll see what happens.

This recipe has been sitting as a draft for a long time and I thought today would be a perfect day to post this. What day is not perfect actually to talk about Sweet Somasis. My forever memory of somasis are during Diwali season. My mom would never make these but my neighbors did every year and we always got our share to eat year after year. And this had become a sweet I would look forward to every Diwali. Even when I was almost suffocated with all the sugar, I would still pick these up and eat.

This was my version of the somasi filling - a coconut and nut based filling. This can also be made with many different fillings - people stuff them with a coconut and jaggery filling, a coconut-kalkand-nuts filling, a coconut -rava-sugar-nuts filling and many other varieties.

Let's get started with making the filling. Take about 2 cups of assorted nuts - I used Pistachios, almonds, cashews, pecans and walnuts. Add all the nuts to a food processor and pulse for a few times until you get a coarse powder of the nuts.

Like this. A few big pieces are fine too - as that will be the pieces you actually bite into.

Also, pulse about 1/2 cup of raisins or even chop them up fine and add to the powdered nuts. So, you can see here that I have a little more than 2 cups of all the nuts and raisins.

And for the coconut, I decided to use the sweetened coconut flakes. These work really good for the sweet stuffing and you don't have to add any extra sugar. If you are using regular coconut, just scrap the coconut into thin shreds and cook with sugar. For 1 cup of coconut, add about 1/2 cup of sugar. Add both together in a pan and cook for a few mins, the sugar will melt and carmelize the coconuts. Remove and them mix with the nuts.

Since I was already using the sweetened coconut, I added 1 pack of the coconut flakes to a pan. Set the heat on low-medium.

Add all the powdered nuts with the raisins in here and mix well with the coconut. The sugar in the coconut would slightly melt and bring together everything to a slightly sticky mass.

Now, there in a couple of mins, the stuffing is ready! Set aside and let this cool down.

Now for the outer cover, here is the ingredient list.

2 cups Maida
1 cup Rava
1/2 cup melted butter
Pinch of salt
Water - few drops as required

Add the maida, rava and salt to a electric mixing bowl or a regular mixing bowl. Using Kitchenaid for this if you have one, is the perfect way to go as the dough hook makes a soft and pliable dough very easily.

Add the melted butter to the flour mix.

Using a dough hook, process the dough adding water a little at at time. Add as little as required to make a tight dough but still making sure that all the flour is incorporated completely in the bowl.

You see the dough coming together. This dough will be very soft and pliable. If you are mixing with hand, just make sure you knead well for about 5-7 mins or until you get a soft, pliable dough.

Move the dough to a mixing bowl and let it sit for about 20 mins.

Then make small balls out of the dough - make sure they are all approximately equal sized.

Roll out each ball similar to a roti to make a thin cover.

Using something that is of a perfect round shape, I used just a regular dabba cover with sharp edges. Place on the rolled out layer and press to get a perfect round shaped cover.

Remove all excess dough from the sides.

And there, you have a perfect little round cover that is ready to be filled.

Take a small ball of filling - roll it up into a tight ball using greased hands.

Place the filling in the center of the cover.

Fold one half over the other to form a semi circle. Using a fork, press down and seal the edges.

You can use a pizza cutter to make sure that the edges are smooth and not jagged. Cut off a little excess and make sure that the entire semi circle has an even edge.

Now these are ready to be cooked. Traditionally these are deep fried in oil. Which even in the modern day, tastes the best! But, this time I fried half the batch and baked the other half. Because I was sharing with some friends who were off the deep fried stuff.

See how even the edges look because you used that pizza cutter? Just say yes, even if  you don't think so. Please.

If you are baking these, pre heat the oven to 375F and bake for about 15 mins or until the top turns golden. Brush all the somasis with warm oil before you move them to the oven.

Once they look done, brush again with a little oil or butter on top.

And this batch is done. Ready for you to grab one. Go ahead - no one is watching.

And these are the somasis that were deep fried. Trust me, I know its not as healthy as the baked ones - but these taste the best. Way better than the baked ones. The baked ones were good - but too crisp on the outside - these had that perfect crispy and chewy texture on the outside. So, if you can afford the deep fried indulgence, go ahead, say a prayer and just do it.

Sorry I don't have great pictures this time - which was why this was in the draft mode for a long time. But, hey, its a good recipe and I don't want the lack of great pretty pictures to stop me from sharing this with you.

Enjoy. Peace Out.

Celebrate Pongal with Poli

Happy Pongal / Makara Sankaranti to all my readers and friends.

While Diwali is celebrated on hyperactive mode, Pongal is a more modest and humble festival but the joy and positivity it brings along is no less than any other festival. This is the time you would want to spend in a village in the southern part of India to understand how important this festival actually is. Everything is washed sparkling clean, even houses or huts. All the homes adorn huge beautiful kolams in the front yard. Everyone is dressed up in new clothes. The loud speakers are blaring away the latest super hit songs and no one seems to mind the noise pollution - it helps them get in the spirit. There are huge tall stacks of Sugarcane everywhere and the young men are often found walking around biting into the sugarcane as they check out the young girls in the village. And someone soon gets into trouble too!

In the middle of the village a community Pongal is set up where all the women folk gather together and keep ponga-panai (pots) and pray. This festival is a way they offer their thanks to the Sun God, Surya (not the hot actor but the truly hot Sun). They thank the God for the good harvest that he provided and they dedicate the very first crop to him as a token of thanks. The pot is well decorated with things like turmeric, sugarcane, bananas, fresh flowers and everything that signifies prosperity. The women folk boil rice with milk and jaggery in the pot early in the morning as the sun rises. And when the milk boils and spills over, a big Pongalo Pongal is chanted loudly.

The day before Pongal is called Bhogi wherein all the old and unnecessary material things are discarded of and everyone gets ready to prepare for the next big day for Pongal. The day after Pongal is the Maatu (Cow) Pongal where the cows that are so much a part of a harvest as they carry around the harvester and help the farmers to harvest the crop, are celebrated.  All the cows are given a luxury bath of their lives and get their horns painted in vibrant colors and get little pieces of decorative clothing on them and are just taken around for a walk in the neighborhood to show off its costume. This is the day the farmer thanks his cow for all the hard work it puts for him throughout the year. We also celebrate Kannu Pongal which is a day where the sisters pray for the welfare of their brothers and also pray that all the members of the family stay together with happiness always.

I do miss all of these wonderful things sitting here in the US, but we all have imagination and memories and of course the internet to take us back to these places. And one way to connect back to our roots is to of course prepare the specialty food that is done during the festival. And so, here we are, at Poli. This is usually made for the Bhogi festival and is also one of my favorites. When I just eat it hot with a dollop of ghee, I get automatically transported back home and can almost hear the latest song on the loud speakers!

These were my two wonderful references to make Poli. One from Shanthi Maami and the other from Lata Raja - I used the measurements from Lataji's post and the method from Shanthi maami's. And it was both right on. Thank you Shanti Maami and Lataji for your wonderful posts on Poli.

Take about 3 cups of all purpose flour.
Add 1/4 tsp of salt
Add a pinch of turmeric powder
Add about 1/3 cup of oil, I used regular vegetable oil.
Add 3/4 cup of water

I added all of the above to my electric mixer with the hook attachment to make the dough.

Turn the hook on and add few drops of water if you think the dough is too dry.

Once the dough is ready, just place it in a well oiled bowl and cover and keep aside for about an hour.

Soak 2 cups of channa daal in warm water for about an hour.

You will also need -
2 1/4 cups of powdered jaggery.
1 1/2 cups of coconut (Lata calls for 2 but I was almost out of coconut and was saving a little for something else - so I added only about 1 1/2)
Cardamom - about 1/4 tsp

If you have jaggery in big cubes, like I did, you can quickly chop them up in the food processor. Set aside when ready.

Strain all the water from the soaked channa daal. Add the daal to the food processor to make it into an almost powder form.

Next, just add the coconut on top the powdered daal and give this a few more spins. Until they are both well incorporated.

Next, add the 2 1/4 cups of powdered jaggery to this and process it all together. I did this for a little long time and the jaggery actually melted and it became kind of watery. So, if you are following this method - just pulse for a few times until they mix up together.

Then move the mixture to a pan and heat up in medium heat. The jaggery will initially melt and your heart might go pitter patter - but hang in there and keep stirring for about 15 mins - this will start to thicken up and take a kind of a ball consistency. At that point, when its dry and starting to form a big ball, switch off the stove and move this to a wide plate.

See how that thickened up. Let this cool down for about 20 mins - that will make it a little more dry and easy to make into small balls.

Using a little flour on your hands, just take a spoonful of the mixture and make into small balls. So, with this quantity, you get about 28 poornams.

Now, take a little of the dough and roll out into a small disc. Add the filling in the middle.

Fold over on all sides.

Flatten a little.

You can either press them down using your hands or roll them with a rolling pin. Mine were actually easy to just roll out and was not sticking. You can dab a little oil on the sides while rolling out if it feels sticky.

Once they are ready, heat this up on a tawa in medium heat and flip on both sides to cook it evenly. You can add ghee while cooking it. But, I just cooked is dry and add ghee to it on top before serving.

If you really want to enjoy the polis, eat them hot with melted ghee on top. And that's when you will smell the mann vasanai (smell of warm and moist mud on the ground) of your home town. I did. You will too.

I have plenty of polis at home now to get me through this weekend. Oh wait, I was dieting. Oh well, there's always monday.

Happy Pongal to all of you. Time to thank the heavens for all you have even if you are not a farmer. 

Enjoy. Peace Out.