Culinary Xpress

Eggless Thandai Cookies recipe- How to make Thandai Cookies for Holi

10:50 AM

Holi – the festival of colours, marks the beginning of spring season and is celebrated in different parts of India though the rituals and customs to celebrate this festival vary from one region to another, the spirit of festivity remains the same. Traditional food plays a major role in such festivities, but have you ever thought of making some fusion recipes for Holi using the traditional ingredients .

If not, then come with me and take a tour of some of the fusion recipes I have tried like Baked MawaGujiyas and Thandai Phirni earlier and for the 31^st Foodie Monday Bloghop theme of #Fusionthandairecipes , I thought of incorporating the famous thandai flavour in cookies, which everyone can have not only during Holi but also throughout the year. Learn how to make cookies at home , that to which Eggless Cookies recipe which are easy to learn and can be made in Microwave. These Recipes which are easy, simple and can be made with available ingredients at home.

Before I take you on a tour to the fusion cookies recipe , let me tell you my house was filled with the beautiful aroma from Thandai powder and the rose water which I have infused in the cookies . Thandai is a very popular drink that is consumed during Holi which is made by grinding almonds, rose petals, fennel seeds, melon seeds and black peppercorns and adding it to milk. You can use the thandai syrup which is available the market or you can make the Thandai Powder at home .

Baking is one such activity which is very relaxing in nature and the outcomes are amazing.

Recipe: Indian

Prep Time: 1 hour

cooking time:20 minutes

yields:15 cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup All Purpose Flour

1/4 Tsp Baking Soda

A pinch of salt

½ cup Powdered Sugar

100 Grams Butter

1 tablespoon Corn Flour

1/4 Cup Ground Thandai Masala *

2 Tbsp Rose Water

Pistachio slices for garnishing

*Thandai Masala

¼ Cup Almonds (lightly toasted)

1 tbsp Melon seeds (charmagaz)

12 – 14 Peppercorns

1 tbsp Poppy seeds / Poshto / Khus khus

1 tbsp Fennel seed /Saunf

½ tsp Green Cardamom / Elaichi

Let us learn How to make Eggless Thandai Cookies for Holi:

Lightly dry roast almonds, melon seeds, poppy seeds and fennel seeds. once cool, grind to a fine powder along with cardamom and peppercorn.

In a bowl sift together all purpose flour, cornflour, baking soda, salt, Thandai Masala.

Beat sugar and butter together with a hand blender on medium speed till creamy.

Add the flour mix into the sugar butter mixture. Now add rosewater to it.

Mix everything together to form a dough. Divide the dough into two parts. Wrap in cling film and keep in the refrigerator to chill for about an hour minimum.

After an hour take out the dough and with the help of little flour, roll into a round shape with thickness as per your choice.

Preheat the Microwave at 180 degrees C.

With the help of a cookie cutter, cut out the cookies and arrange them in a greased baking tray keeping at least 1/2 inch gap between cookies .

Sprinkle some pistachio slices on top of each Cookies.

Bake in the convention mode of the microwave oven for 15 minutes .

After 15 minutes, remove the cookies from the oven and place them on wire rack to cool.The cookies will firm up on cooling.

Once completely cool, store in an airtight container.

You can use these Thandai Cookies for a wonderful gifting ideas. Sending this Fusion Thandai cookies to the 31st Foodie Monday Bloghop theme of #Fusionthandairecipes .

You can also try these cookies & Biscuits Like:

CUMIN SHORTBREAD BISCUITS

EGGLESS PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

"CCChallenge"

KADHI PAKORA RECIPE

8:16 PM

Kadhi Pakora/ Pakode or kadhi chawal literally means “fritters with yoghurt”. The dish can be savoured both on special occasions or as part of the everyday meal. Kadhi is one such recipe that reminds us of homemade food. Served warm with fluffy steamed rice, papad and pickle I couldn’t think of a more satisfying meal. Rice is undoubtedly the perfect accompaniment for it. Simple to make, this yoghurt and gram flour based curry is full of flavour.

One of the reasons why I enjoy this Punjabi Kadhi Pakora recipe is because it has a real tangy taste to it that enhances the taste of the pakoras brilliantly.You can have the kadhi alone minus the pakoras but when the pakoras are added to the gravy , it enhances the flavour of the kadhi soaking all the spices.

Cuisine: Punjabi

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cooking time:20 minutes

Serves:4

Ingredients:

For the Pakoda:

1 cup besan
1 medium chopped onion
1 cup chopped baby spinach
2 chopped green chillies
1/2 tsp baking soda
salt

For the Kadhi:

400 grams sour curd
3-4 tbsp besan
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garlic paste
salt
1 tbsp coriander powder
3 cups water

Foe the 1 st tempering:

1/3rd tsp fenugreek seeds
2 to 3 whole dry red chillies
1 tsp fennel powder
a pinch of asfoiteda
2 tbsp mustard oil

For the 2nd tempering:

1 tbsp ghee
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder

Let's Learn How to make Kadhi Pakoa recipe:

In a bowl take sour curd and whisk it well till smooth. Add gram flour, red chilli powder, garlic paste,turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt to the whisked curd.Add 2 cups of water and stir and mix everything again to make a smooth mixture without lumps.
Take gram flour in a bowl and add green chillies, baking soda and salt as required.Add thinly sliced onions and chopped spinach.Mix everything well and keep aside covered for 30 minutes to allow the onions to release water in the mixture. Depending on the water content in the onions, accordingly add water as required to make a thick batter.
Heat oil in a pan or kadai. with a spoon or with your hands drop the pakora batter in the oil.when the pakoras are partly cooked, then turn over and fry the other side till the pakoras are crisp and golden.
Remove the fried pakoras and place them on a kitchen paper towel so that extra oil is absorbed. keep them aside.

In another pan or kadai, heat mustard oil. make sure to use a large bottomed pot so that while cooking, the kadhi does not spill. Add fenugreek seeds, a generous pinch of asafoetida/hing , whole red chillies and roasted fennel powder.
Allow the seeds to crackle and change their color. Fry on a low flame, so that these spices do not get burnt. Then add 1 cup water so that the temperature will come down and now add the curd mixture. Stir very well. This way the curd will not split .
Increase the flame to medium and bring the kadhi to a boil. Keep on stirring often so that the kadhi doesnot stuck to the bottom. Lower the flame and then simmer the kadhi for 8 to 10 minutes or till the kadhi thickens. f the kadhi becomes too thick, then add some hot water. Add the pakoras in the kadhi. Stir gently and let the pakoras be soaked in the kadhi for 8 to 10 minutes.
Before serving, make the 2^nd tempering .Heat the ghee in a small pan on medium heat. Once hot add cumin seeds and when it starts to sputter, turn off the heat and add red chili powder. pour this on the simmering kadhi. Stir it well.
Serve with plain steamed rice.

Sending this recipe to Cooking from cookbook challenge for the month of March.

Holi Recipes

BAKED MAWA GUJIYAS- HOW TO MAKE BAKED MAWA GUJIYA

8:44 PM

Any festival in India is incomplete without dessert. Holi is one such festival which is about a riot of colors and can hardly be complete without a hearty dose of mawa gujiyas – a recipe made with dough stuffed with a sweet filling mawa and deep-fried. Gujiya which is a fried crispy flaky pastry stuffed with sweet mawa filling is one of the staple dessert prepared especially on Holi festival. On this Holi, let us learn how to make gujiyas/mawa gujiyas at our home and serve it with thandai, which is a delicious beverage.

Gujiya, Karanji or Chandrakala is a very popular dessert which is prepared in most households during festive occasions like Holi, Diwali, Dushera etc. This sweet dish is a celebration of deliciousness in the festive season of Holi. Traditionally this Holi special gujiya is stuffed with Khoya/mawa, chopped almonds, walnuts, pistachios raisins, green cardamoms, and nutmeg to enhance the flavor . Gujiya is known as different names in different parts of the country like Kajikalayu in Andhra Pradesh, Nevries in Goa, Karachika in Tamil nadu, Ghughra in Gujarat, Karanji in Maharastra & Odisha, Chandrakala in northern part of India, They all are similar in making but have different ingredient in stuffing.

The outer layer is made from all purpose flour. While the stuffing is made from mawa, sugar and nuts. Gujiya is not an overly sweet dish. It has a crispy, flaky exterior with a cardamom flavored sweet filling. Today, am blogging Mawa Gujiya where khoya/mawa is used in place of sooji (semolina). There are many different variation is stuffing recipes like made with sooji or dried fruits and jaggery. The authentic gujiya has stuffing of sweet mawa or khoya. Hence it is known as Mawa gujiya as well.

Gujiyas have come a long way now, and along the way, new shapes and fillings have emerged. You can try the croissant shaped savoury ones, the rich shahi gujiyas, the sweet samosas, the fragrant clove flavoured laanglata, the saffron tinged kesari ones, the coin purse-like potli gujiya and the phool gujiya, that are garnished with petals from the Lotus.

But gujias can be calorie-rich due to the fact that it is fried and filled with mawa or khoya. If you are watching what you eat this Holi, and would like to cut back on the calories, you can try this Potli Gujiyas which is not fried but Baked. This will help you keep the weight off this dessert and will allow you to enjoy it, minus the guilt.

Cuisine: Indian

Cooking Time : 30min

Preparation Time : 20min

Servings : 4-5 (makes 15-20 gujiya)

Ingredients :

For Outer Layer

2 Cups All Purpose Flour
4 tbsp Ghee or Oil
1 tsp salt
water for kneading

For Filling

1 Cup Mawa/Khoya
1 Cup jaggery
1/2 tsp Cardamom Powder
1/4 Cup Grated Coconut
2 tbsp Raisins
1/4 cup powdered Cashewnuts
1/4 cup powdered almonds
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Let's learn how to make mawa gujiya:

For the pastry, sift the flour into a bowl and rub in the ghee with your fingertips till the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add one-fourth cup and one tablespoon of cold water and knead into a stiff dough. Cover with piece of damp muslin and set aside for fifteen minutes.

If using frozen mawa, microwave for 20-30 secs or let sit on the counter for 20-30 mins to thaw. Once thawed, gently crush with your fingers making sure to break all the lumps for a crumbled mawa. If using freshly home made mawa, make sure it is crumbly before use.

For the filling, heat a non-stick pan; add the khoya and sauté for three minutes or till the fat separates. Set aside to cool.Add the cashew nuts, almonds and raisins, grated coconut, jaggery and mix well.

Divide the dough into equal portions and shape into balls. Roll out each ball into a puri.

Place one portion of the stuffing in the middle , lightly moisten the edges, and bring all sides together to make a potli like design as shown in the picture above.

This is not tough at all. Here you have to pinch it upwards and bundle them.It doesn’t have to be perfect,just make sure it sticks well so that it doesnt open up during the baking process.

Preheat oven to 180 degree centigrade. Grease the baking tray or line a butter paper in a baking tray. Line the gujiyas in baking tray. Coat the gujia with ghee (clarified butter) and honey. Bake for 18-20 minutes. After 10 minutes, turn the sides and brush with ghee and bake till they are golden.

Holi Recipes

THANDAI PHIRNI

10:52 PM

Phirni is a easy traditional Indian rice pudding like dessert which is prepared with full cream milk, basmati rice and sugar as main ingredients. The cooked rice milk mixture is poured into small earthern clay pots garnished with mixed nuts and edible silver leaf. You will find this easy sweet dessert prepared in the homes of Hindus and Muslims to celebrate festivals like Eid, Holi and Diwali. Phirni has got it’s origins in the Middle East and has made its way to the Indian sub continent through the Mughals.

I shall never forget the first time I had made Phirni. I had never tasted anything quite so delicious, I remember thinking when shall be the next occasion where shall I be able to make this dish once again. The first time I made it I had set it in ceramic ware but later I learned that if Phirni is set in clay, it absorbs some of the fluid from the Phirni and helps it set, contributes a very special flavor of its own, and also helps keep the Phirni cool — important because this is one Indian dessert that should always be served chilled. You can make a lot of variation with this Phirni by adding almonds, saffron, rose, Pistachios, Mango, strawberry and even chocolates.

While Holi is all about colours, like every other festival the celebration is incomplete without some delicious sweet dishes that will keep your mood upbeat. Different delicacies are prepared in various parts of India to bring in the festival with great zeal and enthusiasm. On the onset of Holi, the festival colors, you can try this Thandai Phirni to serve your family and guests.

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Ingredients

1 liter full cream milk
1/4 cup rice
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cardamom powder
2 tablespoon Thandai Powder*
Pistachios, almonds, rose petals and few strands of saffron for garnishing

*Thandai Powder : 1/3 cup almond ,2 tbsp cashew nuts, 1 tsp fennel seeds , 1 tbsp poppy seeds , 1 tbsp melon seeds, 1 /2 tbsp black pepper, 4 to 5 green cardamom, . Dry roast everything , coo and make a fine powder of it.