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Sending this picture of the Rava Ladoos for CLICK - Stacks

Rava Urundai /Ladoos - Indian Cooking Challenge

Making these rava urundai's took me down the memory lane to the diwali days when we were kids.My mom used to make these every year during diwali, but the method used was totally different from this recipe.As Srivalli said its the other method by grinding the rava and sugar together. My mom grinds the rava in the mill few ays before diwali, and on the night before diwali she makes everything ready for us kids to make the balls.Its very difficult to make the balls with powder mixed with hot ghee.But we used to have fun while doing it.

After marriage I tried making rava urundai for a diwali get together and it turned out a disaster, more like 'kesari balls', you know what I mean :).

So making this sweet was really a challenge to me eventhough the recipe sounds so simple.

But it turned out great and I liked it.I omitted raisins and added some almond flakes along with less cashews. you may be wondering about the colour, but I dindt add any colours.

The semolina that I get in the local retail retail store over here is yellow in colour.

I made 12 medium sized urundai/ladoos out of this recipe

Recipe and method as given by Srivalli for ICC

Makes - 10 Laddoos of normal size

Rava / Semolina - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 cup

Ghee - 25 gms

Milk - 25 ml

Cardamom powder - a pinch

Cashew nuts - 10 whole nuts

Raisins - 10 nos

Grated fresh coconut - 25 gms

Method to prepare:

Heat 2 tsp of ghee in a kadai. Once the ghee is hot enough, simmer the flame and roast cashew nuts and raisins. Once the raisins balloon up, remove.

Then roast the grated coconut. Remove once done. Keep all these aside.Add the remaining ghee and roast the Rava till its well roasted and aroma starts coming out.

In a bowl, take all the roasted Rava, Nuts, Coconut and add the Cardamom powder.

Then add the sugar. Mix well.Then slowly add the warm milk into the bowl.

Check if you are able to gather as balls. When you find that milk added is enough to get you laddos, transfer it back to the kadai and cook in sim for 2 mins.

Mix well and then cover it and let it rest for 2 mins. Then immediately make balls or laddoos.

Notes:While roasting the Rava, make sure you have the flames in sim, else there is a chance of the rava getting over roasted.Its enough to add only the required amount of milk to get you form balls.

Depending on the rava and the sugar at times we may not use all the 25 gmsSince we add milk, its best to consume within 5 days of making them.

If you store them in fridge, you can have them for a week.The other version followed isThe rava after being roasted can be powdered using a blender. Add sugar to this and make a powder. Add a little ghee to this mixture and make small balls out of this.

Expecting more such recipes in the upcoming "Indian Cooking Challenge"

Tried and Tasted - Rajasthani Kadhi.

This months 'Tried and Tasted' is hosted at KitsChow and the blog she has selected is Meena's "Hooked on Heat". I have been following Meena's blog for a long and long time now .Its very hard to come out of her blog one you start browsing through her recipes.The amazing pictures and the simple recipe along with her long stories keep us hooked on. Hers was one of the blogs that inspired me start with my own and I came to know about the concept of food events through her event " From My Rasoi" .

That was my first participation in a food event .

Though I have tried many dishes from her blog, I made this 'Rajathani Kadhi' especially for this event for the second time.The recipe is very simple and yet very different from the traditional South Indian mor kuzhambhu and the North Indian Kadhi.

Changes I made :

I used 2 red chillies for tempering, and since I ran out of coriander seeds I used 1 tsp of coriander powder.

I hope you all try this out and enjoy.

Strawberry Cake and Muffins

It was raining strawberries at home last week. My toddler just started eating strawberries and he likes it a lot even if its soar.Just the fact that my son has started a liking towards these pinkish beauties made my husband go for loads of them.Yes, he brought home a whole bag of it.

The best part of it is that he didnt know that strawberries doesnt have a longer life even if its refrigerated. So two days later I started browsing for some recipes to use the left over fruit, and came across two wonderful recipes.

The first one was Aparna's Strawberry muffin.

The recipe was so simple I immediatly baked them. As she mentioned in her post I added some sugar to the berries before mixing as mine was very sour.But the muffin tasted really good with no trace of the sourness.

The next one was a Strawberry spring cake from Asha's Foodie's hope.

This recipe was already book marked by me when she posted it last month, waiting for some neglected strawberries, and so baked that wonderful soft cake the next day.

Over all the recipes were so good and welcomed by all , that I baked them twice.

Iam posting the recipes here for keepsake:

Strawberry Muffins:

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar*

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup chopped (not too fine) Strawberries

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup oil

1 egg (or flax seed substitute**)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Put the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl and whisk lightly to mix well.

Add the strawberries to the flour mixture and mix to ensure they are well coated with flour.

In another bowl, lightly beat the egg/ flax seed substitute, vanilla extract, milk and oil together. Add this to the strawberry-flour mixture and gently mix together, in a folding motion, about 4 or 5 times. Do not over stir, or the texture of your muffins will suffer.

The batter will be lumpy and slightly floury.

Grease the muffin tins/ cups and divide the batter equally between them, so that each one is about 2/3rds full.

Bake at 180C for about 25 minutes till the muffins are done and lightly golden brown on top.

Cool for 10 minutes, unmould them and cool completely on a rack. This recipe makes 8 muffins.

Note : I used whole wheat flour completly for this recipe, and somehow my batter become a little thin , but my muffins came out just fine.

Strawberry cake

:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup ( 1 stick) softened butter,

2 eggs,

1 cup regular white sugar,

1 tsp vanilla essence,

1 3/4 cups plain flour,

1/8 tsp salt,

2 tsp baking powder,

2/3 cup fresh red ripened Strawberries pureed.

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F/190C.

Spray cake pan with no-stick oil or butter well and keep aside.

In a mixer bowl, beat the sugar and butter first until fluffy.

Add in the eggs,mix. Then add in the vanilla.

Sift flour and baking powder, add to the creamed butter mixture and mix again gently on low speed until everything comes together.

Now, stir in the strawberry puree, beat until batter is well mixed and evenly pink.

Pour into the prepared pan, tap on the kitchen counter to top get the bubbles out.

Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven or until golden and skewer comes out clean form the center.

Take it out of the oven, let it sit for 5mins. Invert gently on the cooling rack.

When cool, sprinkle powdered sugar on top to serve or you can use Vanilla icing.

I served it with whipped cream.It was delicious.

Hence ended my starwberry saga for this season and No more for this year ! :)

Sending these Muffins and Cake to 'The Strawberry Feast' hosted by Happy Cook at 'My Kitchen Treasures'

Baked Salmon Cubes

I try to make salmon atleast once a week.Usually I whip up a quick curry to go with rice, but this weekend I wanted to have something very spicy for my brinjal and mango sambhar.Since my DH gives a big no to Fish fry, I baked the marinated fish pieces coated with tblsp of olive oil in the Oven .The taste was amazing and I did not miss my Pan fried fish at all. This is a must try recipe for those who love fish.

Ingredients:
2 Salmon Fillets cubbed.
1 tsp chilli power

2 garlic cloves chopped finely
1 tblsp Olive oil
1 tblsp lemon juice
1 tsp fennel seeds/powder (optional)

salt as required
Method:
Mix all the above ingredients and marinate for an hour(atleast a minium of 15 mins)
Preheat the oven at 250C

Place the Fish cubes in a tray lined with slightly greased foil.
Bake for 10 mins, and then turn the pieces and bake for another 10 mins .After this turn the fish pieces again, set the oven in the broiler mode and broil for 5-8 mins or until the colour turns to red.Depending on the oven the timings may vary. Just keep an eye on it so that the fish doesnt get burnt.
Make sure that its not broiled for a longer time as the fish will become dry and rubbery.