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!

HOMEMADE GULAB JAMUNS...from scratch!

If you noticed the title, I have mentioned that these Gulab Jamuns are made from scratch. It's just to avoid any confusions that I had when I was searching online for gulab jamun recipes. Many claimed it to be homemade (in the literal sense) and when I reached the recipe part,it asked for xyz brand of Gulab Jamun mix. I can get away with a readymade mix and I have done that many times before but knowing the person that I am, I have to make things at home, if it's possible :) I have searched high and low for a reliable source for it's recipe and have tried quite a few and I must say all of them were disasters. The main problems were a super sticky/stiff/dry dough or gulab jamuns not soaking the syrup.

Ateast once a week, there would be these experiments in our kitchen and when Jobin comes back home, instead of saying a 'Hello' it used to be 'This is the last time I'm ever going to try this!'. Everything went wrong but I never gave up. So after that, when he opened the main door,he would sniff, smile and say,'I thought last time was the last time!'.

So after many a 'last' time, I got hold of a proportion which worked like a charm for me! You will have to be careful about the consistency of the dough or else it will break while frying.If that happens, add a little more flour to the dough and fry another one.

HOMEMADE GULAB JAMUNS
My own recipe

Ingredients:
For the dumplings
1 1/4 c milk powder (Use Everyday- It's available at Indian grocery stores)
1/2 c all purpose flour/ maida
A good pinch of baking soda
3 tbsp cold butter
A few drops of cold milk (not more than 3 tbsp)

Method:Mix together milk together, flour and baking soda. Add the cold butter and rub it well into the flour.It will change the texture of the flour. Add milk little by little( you may or maynot need all of it) and form a smooth yet firm dough. Divide into 25 smooth small balls and deep fry in hot oil.Add the fried dumplings into hot syrup (recipe below) and leave aside for 30 mins.

The  oil should not be very hot or else the centre wouldn't be cooked completely. Add a ball of dough into the hot oil, it should settle at the bottom and rise slowly at the count of 10.That is the perfect temperature for frying the dumplings.

For the sugar syrup
1 1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 water
5 green cardamom pods, crushed

Method: Boil together for 5 mins and keep warm on low heat.
Serve warm or chilled.It's delicious when served with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream.

You can flavour the syrup with Rose water too.

The end result was melt-in-your-mouth Gulab Jamuns. The centres were perfectly cooked and the syrup was well absorbed making the dumplings pleasantly sweet. We really love these homemade Gulab Jamuns,especially Jobin! If at any point you feel that the dough is breaking during frying, add some more flour to the dough and knead it in. Your problem will be solved! :-)

BADUSHA...for the two of us :)

When I was young,that is when I was in school, I was a huge fan of Indian Sweets. Not the 'payasam' types but Kaju Burfi, Mysore Pak, Jalebi types. Luckily whenever I tried it at home, they were a big success. Oh, actually no! The first time I tried making Rasgulla, it was terrible...but later when I tried it , it came out spongy and juicy. One thing I learnt from that was, you need a real good recipe. What I know and have heard of is, there are millions of recipes floating around, but not all are good. Some are just OK but some are terrible that you might never even try thinking about it!

Somehow when I read through a recipe, I visualise it in my mind and give a quick check on the combination and proportion of ingredients just to make sure it's worth the time and effort in trying them.The other day we were at the Indian grocery store. I usually stop by the 'Sweets' section, drool looking at it and then walk away.I have this habit...I want to eat what I see  but I don't want to eat store made, instead I want to make it at home. So I showed the Badusha there and told Jobin how much I like it .'Even I like it', came the reply. So that's how I ended up making it at home and I'm so glad I did!

A lot of my readers ask me my 'secret' in getting consistent results everytime (Ahem!). My answer has always been ' I just attack a recipe & I don't think about the difficulty level. I just go with the flow and I somehow reach wherever I am supposed to reach'. So next time, don't think twice, just go for it and I am sure you will get it right! If you are making it for the first time, try to follow the recipe to the dot and then the next time on, you can add or substitute whatever you like/dislike. Atleast that way, if you have a failure you will know where you could have gone wrong because you got it right the first time.In baking, especially, you need to be careful about what you add and how much you add. Too little or too much can give you disasters. So if you are new to baking or you are baking your first cake, follow the recipe blindly.I really hope this helps! :)

I had bookmarked this particular recipe for a long time now and I think the perfect time to try it out was 2 days ago. It's been a year since we moved into our first home and I wanted to make something sweet because it was celebration time!! :)
Also, nominations are open for the Best Food Blog on Saveur.com, so if you think Ria's Collection's deserves it, please do nominate my blog under the 'Best Cooking Blog' catergory here. Thanks in advance!

BADUSHA
Recipe source: Raks Anand
Makes 8 nos.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c All purpose flour/Maida
1/4 c unsalted butter
2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp yogurt
2 pinches of baking soda
1/4 c (approx) water
Oil fr deep frying

For the syrup:
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c water
5 strands of saffron (optional)
1 tsp lemon juice

Method:
Melt the butter in microwave. Add oil, sugar,yogurt,baking soda and whisk well.
Add the flour and mix well to make it crumbly.Add water to mix and form a dough.
Knead it till it becomes smooth, appox 2-3 mins or till the dough releases oil
Divide them into small balls and shape them (I got 8). You can shape them the way I did or just poke a finger into the centre of the balls of dough so that it has a depression in the centre.Cover it with a towel.

Heat oil, add a pinch of dough to it and if it floats to the top immediately, you are good to go.Do not let the oil heat up any more but if you did so, just add some cold oil to it and it should be good.
Add in 3-4 badushas at a time and take the pan off the heat,let the badhusha's cook in the pre-heated oil for 5 mins.By this time, badusha's will float.
After 5 mins, keep the pan back on the flame on medium -low heat and cook till golden brown. It took me around 8-10 mins.

In the meantime, prepare the syrup by boiling together all the ingredients. As soon as you get it to a one-thread consistency (110 C), remove from flame and let it cool.
Once the badhusha's are fried, drain on kitchen towels and drop them into the sugar syrup immediately. Leave it for 1 mins. Remove and let it come to room temperature.
Store in airtight tin for upto 1 week. Do not store in refrigerator.

Verdict: These were excellent!! The recipe is almost fool proof and you can make it in no time! Everything comes together like a charm.A must try! It tastes the best on the 2nd day onwards (in my observation).

We loved it!

Plus, this month's Kerala Kicthen will be hosted by 'yours truly'. So please send in your entries with a picture to airmathew AT gmail DOT com by the 30th of April. Thank you!