Diwali Delicacy- Shakarpara

Next Diwali delicacy which was made at home was Shakarpara- One of the famous crispy sweet Gujarati snack which can be munched on and on.

Enjoy this sugar treats this diwali...

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Making time: 30 minutes

What goes in it:

White refined flour (Maida) - ¼ kg

Milk, lukewarm- 1 cup

Sugar, fine powdered- 1 cup

Clarified butter (Ghee) - 1 cup

Additionally you will need,

Oil- to fry

Patterned spoon- to cut into squares

How did we make it:

Start by making dough. Take maida in a large wide bowl.

Use the milk which has been boiled already. If it is not warm, heat it a little. Add powdered sugar to it. Stir it till sugar dissolves in milk.

Add this sweetened milk and ghee to maida. Knead the dough properly till you get elastic like pliable dough.

Make big balls out of the dough.

Roll the dough to a big chapatti (sheet) with the help rolling pin. Make sure you don’t make it too thin. It should be slight thick. 

Now using the patterned spoon make diagonal cuts on the sheet giving it a shape of diamond/square.

Heat oil in kadai to fry shakarpara. Put this squared dough shakarpara in kadai to fry on medium flame. Fry till both the sides turn golden brown.

Transfer it on an absorbent paper and let it cool.

Serve this crispy sweet snack. It has to be stored in air tight container and can be stocked up for two weeks.

Diwali Delicacy- Ghughra/ Karanji

Diwali time... Time to burst crackers, buy new clothes, cleaning of house and last but not the least kitchen smells of wonderful traditional sweets or snacks/farsan...

I know I am kind of late in uploading recipes. Better late than Never!!! Here I start with few of the sweets and snacks which we prepared at home for this diwali.

To start with- Ghughra or Karanji. It’s a famous Gujarati sweet. I and Mom got up early yesterday and started with preparing ghughra. It is sweet and delicious.

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Making time: 40 minutes

Makes- approx 40-50 nos

What goes in to make dough:

White refined flour (Maida)- ½ kg

Clarified butter (Melted ghee)- 2 tbl spn

Salt- a little

Water- 1 glass

What goes in to make stuffing:

Semolina (Rava) - ¼ kg

Clarified butter (Ghee) - ½ cup

Dessicated coconut (Niariyel khamman) - 100 gm (you will get this in any local kirana store)

Pistachio (Pista), powdered - 25 gm

Almond (Badam), powdered- 25 gm

Cashew (Kajju), powdered- 50 gm

Raisins (Kismis) - ½ cup

Sugar, fine powdered- 100 gm

Also we need,

Clarified Butter (Ghee) - to fry

Mould- Semi circle Ghughra mould 

How did we make it:

First of all, grind sugar in a mixture grinder into fine powder. Then in the grinder grind badam, pista and cashew into coarse powder separately.

Then in a large cooking pan, roast rawa with ghee stirring it continuously till rawa turn a little pinkish. This will take about 5 minutes. Keep it aside and let it cool so that we can prepare the stuffing.

By the time rawa cools, Mom prepared the dough. Take a wide plate and put maida in it. 

Add little salt to add taste and little ghee to get smooth pliability of dough. Keep on adding water little by little till you get soft and pliable dough. Make small balls out of the dough. Keep them aside.

It’s time now to make the stuffing. To the rawa add powdered sugar, pista, almond and cashew powder, coconut powder and kismis. Mix them all well.

Roll out small puris out of the dough with the help of rolling pin. 

Once you roll the puri, put it on mould. Fill the stuffing to it and close the mould. Press it on the sides. Open it and you will get nice semi-circled ghugra.

Incase you don’t have a mould you can do it with your hands also. As you roll the puri, stuff the mixture and close it into a semi circle shape. Then keep on twisting the edges of the ghugra so that when you fry them, stuffing does not pop out.

As I made enough ghugra’s, Mom prepared for frying. 

Take a frying pan, pour ghee to it and heat it. Fry ghugra in the pan putting 4-5 of them at a time. Cook till both the sides turn golden brown. Take it out on an absorbent paper.

Transfer it to a container. And here the yummy Gujarati Diwali delicacy is ready...

Veg Pasta (Red Sauce)

I had learnt this simple pasta recipe during my post graduation days from my friend Rashmi. Since then I have always cooked it. This red gravy pasta is delicious plus cheese, pepper/oregano and coriander leaves will give tempting flavour to the pasta. Additionally it is quick to cook.

Preparation time: 15 minutes (to cut vegetables and grate cheese while you boil pasta)

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Serves: 3 people

What goes in it:

Pasta, boiled- ¾ of 200 gm packet (I used Blue Bird shell macroni)

Onion, finely chopped- 2 medium sized

Capsicum, finely chopped- 1 medium sized

Tomato, finely chopped- 2 meduim sized

Cheese, grated- 2 cup

Butter- 3 tbl spn

Pasta sauce- 3 tbl spn (I used Funfoods Pizza & Pasta Sauce)

Salt- as per your taste

Pepper- ½ tbl spn

Oregano- ½ tbl spn

Coriander leaves, chopped- 1 cup

How did I make it:

First of all I boiled pasta in water putting 1-2 drops of oil to it. Oil adds nice texture to pasta. This will take about 10 minutes. Drain off the water using a strainer. Keep it aside.

While the pasta is getting boiled, cut vegetables into tiny squares. Also shred cheese.

Take a frying pan and heat butter in it. As butter melts, add little shredded cheese. Next put onion and sauté it till they turn pinkish brown. 

Then add capsicum and tomato. Sauté it properly for about 5 minutes till they are partially cooked.

Put pasta sauce to it. Sprinkle salt, pepper and oregano to the gravy. Also pour ½ glass of water to make gravy little loose. Cook it by stirring it for about 3-4 minutes.

Finally add boiled pasta to it and mix it well with the gravy.

Serve pasta in a plate and top it off with grated cheese and coriander leaves while it is hot.

Enjoy yummy cheesy red gravy pasta... J

Veg Schezwan Rice

No one is very fond of chinese cuisines at home except for my younger sister. But Schezwan fried rice and Veg chinese fried rice is fondly eaten by all at home.

I learnt Schezwan fried rice from one of my cousin and regularly cook it on Sundays. There is not much effort needed for cooking it. Colour and smell just tempts you to grab a spoonful of rice as soon as it is cooked.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Serves: 4 people

What goes in for rice:

Rice- 3 cups

Carrots, boiled and chopped- ½ carrot

French beans, boiled and chopped- 8-10 nos

Peas, boiled- ½ cup

What goes in for schezwan sauce:

Kashmiri chillies, soaked and grinded- 6-8 nos

Green garlic pods, finely chopped- ¾ cup

Ginger, grinded- 1 ½ tbl spn

Spring onions, chopped- 1 cup

Capsicum, chopped- ½ of medium sized

Cabbage, chopped- ¼ of medium sized

Tomato ketchup- 3-4 tbl spn

Soya Sauce- 1 tbl spn

Cornflour- 1 tbl spn

Water- 1 cup (for every 1 tbl spn of cornflour use 1 cup of water)

Pepper- ½ tbl spn

Salt- as per your taste

Oil- 4-5 tbl spn

How did I make it:

I started with soaking of kashmiri chillies in water. Remove the seeds from the chillies as it is not good for health to swallow those spicy seeds. This might burn your hand a little but be careful not to touch inside of chilli and then it will be easily done.

Soak kashmiri chilli in water 1 hour before making the schezwan sauce.

Cut carrots and french beans into an inch long piece. Peel off peas. Wash them all properly.

Wash and boil rice in water adding salt and little oil/ghee to add nice shine to you rice. Also put carrot, french beans and peas along with rice. Boiling will take about 10 minutes. 

Drain off the water and let it cool.

Slice off capsicum and cabbage into thin horizontal slices. Cut the green of spring onions into rounds trimming off the rugged ends at the top.  Also finely chop green garlic.

Almost after an hour or so drain off the water from soaked kashmiri chillies and grind them in a mixture grinder. Also grind ginger if not available.

Next was making of schezwan sauce. Take a big kadai. Put oil in it and heat it. Put more amount of oil than your regular tempering.  As it heats up, put generous amount of finely chopped garlic. I used green garlic pods or lilu lasan. It will give a nice fresh taste to your schezwan sauce. Put ginger paste and sauté till garlic turns golden brown. This will take about a minute.

Now add spring onions, capsicum, cabbage and grinded kashmiri chilli. Mix them all well. Cook the covered for about 5 minutes.

Next put tomato ketchup, salt, pepper, soya sauce and corn flour water. For corn flour, in a cup put 1 tablespoon of corn flour and 1 cup of water. Stir it well so as to avoid lumps.

Mix them all well and cook for about 5 minutes till you get spicy peppery smell. Adjust salt and spice as per your taste.

Finally add bold rice and vegetables to it. Season generously so that rice gets coated with sauce properly.

Take it off the stove and serve it.

Cheesy Corn Stuffed Jacket Potatoes

My sister and I were browsing internet for some yummy to try something new. There we came across this stuffed potato recipe. As I went through the ingredient list, I was sure this is going to be a delicious recipe as I had already tried stuffed potato- Mexican style which was delicious.

This is a very good appetizer and when served hot this cheesy corn potato will leave a yummy tempting taste to your family members/ guests.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves: 12 potatoes

What goes in it:

Potato, boiled- 6 medium sized

Capsicum, finely chopped- 1 small sized

Sweet corn, boiled- 1 nos

Garlic, finely chopped- 1 tbl spn

Celery (Ajwain)- ½ tbl spn

Pepper- ½ tbl spn

Salt- to taste

Oil- 1 tbl spn

Butter- 2 tbl spn

Cheese, grated- ½ cup

Coriander, chopped- ½ cup

How did I make it:

Wash and peel the skin of potatoes. Cut them into halves lengthwise so that you can make proper scooped potatoes.

[Foodies Note:  Take medium sized round potatoes so that it can be scooped meticulously. I used small sized potato but medium sized potatoes will be more comfortable to stuff with.]

Pressure cook potato and sweet corn for 4-5 whistles.  After it is boiled drain off the water and keep them aside.

While potatoes and corn in being boiled, chop coriander leaves, capsicum (into tiny squares) and shred cheese.

In a small kadai take little oil and sauté garlic till it turns brown. Put in ajwain and sauté for about 1 minute.  Add chopped capsicum to it and cook for 3-5 minutes. Add boiled corn to it and mix them all well. 

Sprinkle salt, pepper and coriander leaves to it. Cook for about 2 minutes by stirring continuously. Remove from fire.

[Foodies Note: Add little salt as you are going to use cheese and butter which have salty taste.]

With the help of spoon scoop the boiled potato at the center meticulously.

Keep it aside and start preparing for roasting potatoes. Take a pan and switch on the stove. Apply butter to halved potatoes. And roast both the sides of potato on it on low flame till they become golden brown.

Roasting botton side of potato

Roasting top side of potato

This is how top side will look after you roast it and take off the stove

Stuff the scooped potatoes with the prepared filling. Top is off with the grated cheese.

Bake the stuffed potatoes in the pan on low flame. Close the lid. Bake till you can see tempting melted cheese. This will take about 5 minutes.

Serve hot this corn stuffed potatoes.