Besan Ka Halwa

Besan Ka Hawla

By Sandhya Khattri

April 10, 2013

Besan Ka Halwa is a delicious sweet made with gramflour, wheatflour, ghee, sugar and almonds. In sindhi families it is usually prepared in breakfast but you can have it any time. Ingredients  required for the recipe and detailed instructions are shown below.

Prep Time: 1 minute             Cook time: 15 minutes                   Serves: 4

Ingredients

Besan or gram flour-1cup
desi ghee-3/4 cup
wheat flour-2 tablespoons
Green Cardamom-4 crushed
sugar-3/4 cup
Water-3 cups
Almonds- 8-10 sliced for garnishing

Instructions:

• Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed kadhai or pan
• Add green cardamoms fry them till floats on top.
• Add wheat and besan mixture to it mix well
• On a medium to low heat stirring continously roast besan and wheat flour till golden brown in color, this will take approx 10-12 minutes, if you are habitual of making besan ladoos then the complete process will be easy for you, being a sindhi I am habitual of properly roasting beasan as we frequently make sindhi karhi at home.
• When mixture is golden brown in color add sugar to it mix well, slowly add 3 cups of water, stirr continously else lumps will be formed.
• On a high flame stirr continously till water is soaked up .
• simmer the heat cover the lid and cook for another 3-4 minutes till oil seprates from it, alternatively you can place your pan on hot tawa on low flame, it prevents it from direct heat and burning.
• Garnish halwa with  sliced almonds serve hot.

Notes:
Proper roasting of besan is necessary for good taste of halwa, don't try to
make it in hurry.
Adding wheat flour changes a taste of halwa from normal besan sweets like
ladoos and burfis
After adding water it becomes difficult to stir but you have to continously stir
the mixture else lumps will be formed.

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Palak Pakora | Spinach Fritters

Palak Pakora|spinach Fritters

Sandhya Khattri
April 5 2013
Palak Pakora is an easy snack recipe, I
usually serve this with evening tea, it is tasty and healthy as well, doesn't
requires extra preparations, hence prepared very quickly. Ingredients required
and detailed instructions are as below

Pictorial Instructions for preparing Palak Pakora:

RecipeType: Snacks

Author:Sandhya Khattri
Serves:4
PreparationTime: 5 Minutes.
cooking Time: 10 Minutes
Total Time: 15Minutes.
Ingredients:
Palak or Spinach : 1 cup cleaned, finely chopped and washed
Besan -1/2 cup
Ajwain- ¼ teaspoon
Salt- to taste
Refined oil- 1tablespoon
Oil extra- for frying
Garlic- 4-5 pods crushed
Green Chillies-2Nos. finely chopped
Rice flour-1tablespoon if unavailable substitute it with 1 teaspoon cornflour
Method :
Take chopped palak in a bowl, add crushed garlic, salt, ajwain, green chillies, rice
flour and besan in a bowl, mix all the ingredients properly, gradually start adding water to the mixture, as washed palak has a lot of moisture in it, the consistency of batter should be thick, mix continuously for one to 2 minutes as batter turns to fluffy and soft.
Heat oil in a kadhai or pan to smoking point, reduce the flame, take one tablespoon of oil from it
and add this oil to the batter, mix well.
With the help of spoon drop small sized pakoras in oil, fry them on medium heat from both sides till golden brown and crisp.
Remove them from pan and place them on tissue paper.
Serve hot with the sauce or chutney of your choice.
This recipe is my entry to Sumees' culinary bites event

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PAKODI RAITA

Pakodi raita is also known as dahi phulki, a delicious accompainment with meal for summer. In this recipe I am using Amul buttermilk instead of curd, makes this recipe light. you can also replace amul buttermilk with curd according to your choice.
Ingredients:
Besan : 1 cup
Amul butter milk : 500ml pack
water : required for mixing with besan
salt : as per taste
oil : for frying
roasted cumin powder: 2 teaspoon

red chillipowder: 1 teaspoon
garlic: 6-8 pods(crushed)

Method: Mix besan, salt and water, the mixture should not be of pouring consistency(it should be thick)
beat the mixture thoroughly, till it is light and fluffy.(to check that it is ready take a drop in glass of water if it floats than it is ready for perfect pakodi.)
heat oil in a shallow pan and deep fry small pakodis till light color,(as we fry pakodis for kadhi) drain on absorbent paper.
In a serving bowl pour amul buttermilk, add salt and crushed garlic, mix pakodis, sprinkle chilli and cumin powder, serve chilled as an accompainment with main dish.

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