HOMEMADE BOONDI LADOOS

There was a time when I didn't know how to track the no. of visitors on my blog and there was a time I used to look forward to see that number increase.It gave me such joy that 1000's find my little bloggie useful in many ways! Most of you guys come here for recipes, some to ask me about crochet and other needlework and some of you just to read my 'stories' and take a peek at the photographs of what I post  randomly.

If you ask me what these 'stories' are, I wouldn't have known you read them as 'stories' until you all wrote to me. Funnily enough, I still don't consider them to be like that because I just write the association I have with that dish, from my real life :-)

When I got lazy in between, you all asked me to get back to this blog and start blogging again. I did and now I'm reaping the joys of it when this little space of mine has 10,00,000 hits as of today! It is a big achievement for me as I never even dreamt of this day when I started this space.

Now getting back to the ladoos, these are mine and Jobin's favourites! I've made them succesfully before, photographed them but it never made to my blog...I still wonder why! Maybe these ladoos had another destiny...to be here, on this special day :-) I dedicate these little yellow balls of pure joy to ALL OF YOU, dear readers! I wish I could share these with you in person...maybe someday it might happen! :-)

HOMEMADE BOONDI LADOOS
Recipe source: Manjula aunty

Ingredients:
1c besan/chickpea flour
1/2 c plus 1 tbsp water
11/2 c sugar
1 c water
Seeds from 6 green cardamom pods,crushed
8 pcs of cashewnuts,broken
Oil for frying

Method:Make a batter using besan and 1/2 c plus 1 tbsp water. Pass it through a perforated/slotted spoon and see if you can get them to fall back into the bowl. If it doesn't, add a little more water to the batter and mix well.Bring the 1 1/2 c of sugar and 1 c water to a rolling boil and boil till it reaches 220F on a candy thermometer. Keep it off the flame. Meanwhile,heat 2 inches of oil on medium high and drop some chickepea batter into it and if it sizzles up right away, you are good to proceed. Hold the perforated spoon 2 inches above the oil and pour the batter through it.The batter will fall as round balls into the oil, which is what we want. Fry them till they stop sizzling and golden brown in colour.Repeat and make sure your wipe your perforated spoon in between all the batches.Add these fried boondi's to the sugar syrup and let them soak for 10 mins. Transfer the soaked boondi's to a plate to cool a little until they are still warm to touch. Form balls/ladoos by squeezing them in between your palms, it might test your patience but it's worth every squeeze!

After my Piano lessons last night, we went shopping to the Malayali store here and found some sweets stacked up in the cooler. I gazed at them for a while and in the meantime Jobin pinpointed his favourites and even I pinpointed mine and finally we both pinpointed at the Boondi ladoos together! I asked him if he wanted me to pick up a box and he said, 'No, I want the ones you make, I like them the best!'. Now, no matter what, I had to get that request fulfilled! :-)

Now,with my feet up on our Lazyboy, watching the snow fall and with the warm ladoos sitting next to me,I'm waiting for him to get back from work and start digging into these along with him. These laddoos doesn't stay long in our house, they are so yummy!

JALEBI for the Festival of Lights - Diwali

I
f you are a follower of my blog, you would have noticed that I usually do not celebrate a lot of festivals here. It's not because I am partial towards any,it's just that I am not sure whether I'd be able to follow it every year. But Christmas is celebrated big and wide here :-) And I am so waiting for this year's X'mas, as it is our first X'mas together, my first white X'mas and also my first X'mas outside India and my family being SO far away.

I had been planning to try out Jalebi for sometime now and it just happened to be today and so I thought I'd rather kill 2 birds with one stone :-) This is not the first time I am making Jalebi's. When I was in India, I had tried it out once and it did come out pretty nice.So this time around I thought I'd use a different recipe so that I can compare the results between the previous recipe. I would say, this recipe had a better outcome. Or maybe I have become a better cook now :-)

Anyhow, this recipe is a keeper and you all should try this sometime. You may have to be a bit patient, though. I tried squiggling with the batter and the batter wouldn't come out. It let out air into hot oil and I was seriously loosing my patience.My friend, Reeta, who was with me when I tried it out last afternoon , suggested that I keep the squeeze bottle nozzle - side down so that the batter will flow down...and it did! :-) Then we both had a great time making Jalebi's :-) Oh by the way, try to have it as hot as possible, there's nothing like it!

JALEBI
Recipe source: Hetal & Anuja
Please note that I made only half the quantity and it yielded me about 20-22 jalebi's.

Ingredients:
All purpose flour/Maida- 2 c
Cardamom powder-1/8 tsp
Yeast-1 tsp
Warm water-1/4 c
Cornflour/Cornstarch-2 tsp
Oil-1 tsp
Yoghurt-1 tbsp
Warm water- 3/4 c

For the syrup:
Sugar-1 1/4 c
Water-1cup
Lime juice-1 tsp
Red food colour- a pinch
Cardamom powder-1/4 tsp

Method:

• Dissolve the yeast in 1/4 c warm water and keep it aside for 10 mins until frothy.
• Mix rest of the ingredients together and add in the yeast mixture.
• Place this bowl in another bowl filled with some warm water. Cover the bowl with the mix with a lid.
• Leave this in a warm place and let the mix rise for 45 mins.
• Once it's risen, stir with a spoon , just to mix everything together.
• Pour into a mustard/sauce bottle and keep aside.

During the last 5 mins of the dough rising, make the syrup for the jalebi and also heat the oil for frying.

For the syrup:

• Heat everything together on high for 2 mins. Reduce the flame to a simmer.

Making the Jalebi:

• When the oil is hot, squeeze out some batter from the bottle and move your hand in a circular motion till you form one jalebi. You might have to go round and round 5-6 times. Make sure you don't leave any loose ends because the jalebi will be open, otherwise.
• Fry till golden on one side, the flip it over. When the bubbles subside, they are done.
• Transfer the hot jalebi's into the simmering sugar syrup. 
• Do not leave it for more than 30 seconds in it.Turn them and make sure the sugar syrup is coated on either side.
• Transfer them to a plate and serve them hot!

Verdict:
It was perfectly sweet, juicy and crunchy.We really enjoyed this treat! I don't think it can get any simpler or easier to make at home. If you are having guests coming for lunch or dinner, you can surely make this ahead and serve it to them. Jalebi's have a very high 'oomph' factor attached to it :-)

So here I am, wishing all my readers a very happy & safe Diwali! ~*Enjoy your day*~