MAA LADDU

Ilove Besan Laddu's and it's all because of my best friend Vasu. Her mom would send large boxes of homemade Besan Laddu's all the way from Allahabad and by the time the courier reached Bangalore, it would have all melted into one big slab! Her sister's MIL would patiently reshape them and send them to Vasu's hostel. Then we would just devour them endlessly and it never showed on our waistline! How I wish my metabolism was still like those days! I remember pestering Vasu for her mom's recipe and like a lot of Mother's, Aunty didn't have a proportion as such. Then I chanced upon this recipe and have been making them for 13 years now! They are super good!

Having said all of that, this is not a Besan Laddu recipe post. What you see here are Maa Laddu's. A lot of people are confused about their difference. Besan Laddu is made using raw besan /chickpea flour, which gets roasted for a good while till the raw taste vanishes. Then all the good stuff like sugar and ghee goes in and there's quite a bit of stirring involved. Whereas, these Maa Laddu's are made with roasted bengal gram. The kind you snack on. It was a staple at Govind Ettan's shop right across our school in Kannur. It even leaves an after taste,which I kind of love!

Jobin's sister made these for me once when we were visiting her in Gwalior and she also sends it across whenever she can. The whole process is very quick and the end result is very tasty, almost like my favourite Besan Laddu's. Last evening, as I was grocery shopping at our Indian store nearby, I saw a few packets of roasted bengal gram and quickly grabbed a couple. I knew I would be in trouble if I left them as is because we love snacking on it and it would never make it into being the delicious laddu that I have been craving for! This is a very quick and easy sweet that you can make in no time at all! 

MAA LADDU    

Makes 30 

Ingredients:

4 1/4 cups (400 grams) powdered roasted bengal gram

1/2 cup ground almonds  (optional)

3 cups powdered sugar (or as needed)

Approximately 1 cup melted ghee

Method:

Powder 400 grams of roasted bengal gram using a mixie and then sieve it into a large bowl. It should measure between 4 cups to 41/4 cups. Add ground almonds and powdered sugar to it and stir to mix.

Pour in the melted ghee a little at a time and mix well with your hands. Stop adding ghee when you can form balls with the mixture. It will feel somewhat like damp sand, not a wet mixture at all.

Form laddu's and store them in airtight container.

Enjoy!

 

This is a very forgiving recipe. There's absolutely nothing to go wrong here. The amount of sugar I've mentioned here is what I thought was right for us. Taste the mixture and add more if you want. Otherwise,start with a lesser amount of sugar and adjust as needed. Jobin's sister mentioned that she adds almond flour when she makes them for us. So I added some today. This can be omitted or substituted with cashewnuts or even walnuts as well. It adds more nutrition. You can add cardamom too, if you want to. I omitted it because I wanted it to taste of pure ghee! As always, I used homemade ghee. It's far superior in taste and aroma when compared to storebought.

I know it's been extremely quiet here for the last one year. Life has been so busy on the personal front and we travelled a LOT in 2021. In November, I launched Malabar Bakehouse, my own company and it has literally taken over my life now! I've been doing a lot of bake sales lately so that kind of keeps me on my toes along with all the other local orders that I have been getting. It's good to be busy for sure but sometimes, it does a bit too busy! :)

FIVE WAYS

This is a super special post for me as I am sharing with the World my hard work for the last two years. My cookbook, Five Ways is now available for purchase on Amazon*  (Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates) & Pustak Mandi. I had shared the news on my social media yesterday as soon as the book was released and the response I received has been overwhelming, to say the least! Five Ways topped the charts and have become #1 Best Seller on Amazon India* in under 12 hours! It is such a lovely feeling to see that you all have been encouraged to buy my cookbook and even share it among your friends and families. I truly appreciate your help in giving me this ray of sunshine in 2020.

The book was due to be released originally on November 29,2020. It had to be postponed at the last minute because of the protests in Delhi. The borders were closed and my books were still at the printers in Haryana which needed to be at the publisher's warehouse in UP for the release. The printers somehow managed to do it and we could meet the release date of December 4,2020 that we had aimed for later. I must say I am on cloud 9 right now and this feeling is super new to me. 

I am the first Author in my family. It all had to be done from scratch. It's been a learning curve and I truly hope you enjoy the fruit of my hard work. I will be receiving my set of copies in a couple of days time and until then, the butterflies will soar in my stomach! We, as a family are so thrilled to have experienced this wonderful journey, and I only pleased to share that journey with you all.

Here are the purchase links:

Amazon India  Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates

Pustak Mandi

If you buy my cookbook, please leave a review on the seller's page once you go through it. I will be looking forward to reading it all!

Thanks,

Ria

COOKBOOK!

Hello everyone! I am waaaayyy beyond thrilled to finally let you all know that I have been working on my very FIRST COOKBOOK for the last two years. Yes, in between all the get-togethers, potlucks, birthday parties, tea parties, sleepovers, stitching, gardening, travelling and all that I have been sharing with you... I've been writing a cookbook! It's been a wonderful, yet crazy journey that kept me awake on many nights, kept me stuck in thoughts, kept me wondering if I can ever nail that recipe right, etc. It also gave us many delicious meals to enjoy and also very many, many dishes to wash.

The work is all done and submitted. Now, it's just a matter of a few weeks before I can share more details with you! I still cannot believe that I just shared the good news with you guys on the 12th anniversary of my food blog! Yes, today marks 12 years since I started Ria's Collection. Time flew by, right? 

SEMOLINA BREAD LOAF

Iabsolutely love baking bread at home. More than quality control, it gives me so much joy to transform simple things like flour, water, yeast and salt into a soft dough which bakes up into this boxy heavenly cloud! If you have never baked bread before, I urge you to give it a try. You will be hooked for sure! It is pretty dangerous to be a bread baker who loves to bake (& eat!) bread because you will forever have a fresh stock at home and then it just find it's way into your belly, one slice at a time.

When I came across this recipe, I wanted to try it to see if there was any difference between this bread and the one that I had been baking for years. My regular, go-to white bread is made fully out of all-purpose flour. But when I sliced into the freshly baked Semolina Bread Loaf, there was barely any difference in taste or texture. I wouldn't have known that it wasn't made out of all-purpose flour if I didn't bake it myself. It was that good! The crumb was exceptional as you can see in the photograph above. I loved every bite of it!

If you are a newbie at bread baking, I have a few pointers for you to bake a successful loaf of bread. Yeast is a living organism, so when you add water, it should be just warm and never boiling hot. If you were to check the temperature, it should range somewhere between 100F -110 F. It should feel nice and cozy, like a warm bath water.  If the water is too hot, you will kill the yeast and you will have to start over. Dead yeast will not leaven your bread, it will be rock-like when baked. Also, baking is a science. So please be exact when you measure the required ingredients. Please don't eyeball anything, you will most likely be disappointed in the end.

SEMOLINA BREAD LOAF
Makes one 9 X 5 inch loaf

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon instant yeast

2 tablespoons white sugar

315 ml milk & water 

500 grams fine semolina / rava / suji

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons milk powder

1 tablespoon oil

Method: Oil a 9 X 5 inch loaf tin and set it aside.

In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients except the oil and stir to form a soft shaggy mass. Cover and let it rest for 20-25 minutes. 

Add 1 tablespoon oil and knead the dough until you achieve the windowpane test. It will take about 15-20 minutes by hand and about 5-6 minutes in a stand mixer. If the dough is too sticky to work with, add another tablespoon oil while mixing. The final dough should be smooth and soft and shouldn't break when stretched (windowpane).

Let the dough rest in a large, covered and slightly oiled container until doubled in size. Knock back the dough and roll it out into a large rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Roll it up and place it into a prepared loaf tin. Cover and let it rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Brush the top with ghee and bake at 200 C / 400 F for 30-35 minutes or until golden on top and sounds hollow when tapped.

If you'd like, brush some more ghee over the baked loaf. Transfer the hot loaf onto a cooling rack to cool completely. 

Enjoy!

* If your semolina is coarse, grind it for a few seconds in the mixie to make it fine.

Like I mentioned earlier, I couldn't notice any difference between a semolina bread loaf and the regular white bread. This recipe makes a very soft, delicious bread. You can use this bread for every recipe that calls for white bread. They make terrific sandwiches, french toasts, bread puddings, bread crumbs etc. I hope you try baking it at home and if you do, let me know your experience!

CROISSANTS

There was a time in my life when I didn't know what a Croissant was. Then there was a time in my life where I made Croissants for weeks together! I was a student at Le Cordon Blue at that time and Chef Paul taught us how to make the very best Croissants. We baked so many over the course of 6 weeks and even had an exam on it. It was so much fun learning how a small change in the process can change the outcome dramatically. I enjoy working with yeast because it's pure magic that's happening right in front of your eyes. 

Making Croissants can come across as something that's hard to achieve at home, especially for a first-timer. In my opinion, it's not difficult if you pay close attention to details. And when I say that, I really mean it. There are no two ways about it. Every step matters if you want to have a consistent product each time, like how it's mentioned in the recipe. It's not a recipe where you can add or take away things during the process. When you read through the recipe, it might sound super length-y. It's actually the most easiest process but attention to detail, like how I mentioned before, if the key.

So you begin the process two days prior to the actual baking and eating day. On day one, you make the dough and butter block. On day two, you bring the two together and do all the folding. On day three, you bake and eat it! The active time in making Croissants is very little. You just do a little each day and the dough is resting in the fridge for the most part of it. One of the important steps is to make sure that the dough and butter block that you make on day one, is of the same consistency / feel  when you are about to do the folding on day two. Butter should feel as pliable as the dough, thaw if need be.Why is it important? It's because if the butter block is hard and the dough is soft, it will break up while you fold. You don't want to take any chances of the having a butter leakage at any point. If you do, stop what you are doing and let the dough chill for a 10-15 minutes. You might get tested for patience, if you are doing this on a hot, humid day.

Try to get the best possible butter that you can lay your hands on. The more fat content it has, the better is is! I used a block of unsalted butter from Hope Creamery, Minnesota. I love their butter! Croissants are best eaten warm but there's not harm in freezing fresh ones and warming it up in a toasty oven later. It will still be good. This recipe is from Weekend Bakery, a blog I came across on Pinterest a few months ago. I pinned it to try later and here I am! It will look lengthy but I promise you, it's not that long when you do it. Just be sure that you follow the instructions. , including the measurements!

CROISSANTS

Makes 15

Ingredients:

500 grams all-purpose flour

140 milliliters water

140 milliliters milk (cold milk is ok)

55 grams sugar

40 grams unsalted butter

11 grams instant yeast

12 grams salt

280 grams unsalted butter, cold

1 egg yolk + 1 teaspoon water, for egg wash

Method:

Day 1 : Making the dough

Mix all the ingredients together from flour through salt on low to medium speed for 3 minutes until it all comes together to form a dough with a low stage of gluten development. You are not looking for windowpane here, the dough will fight back when you roll. Shape the dough into a disc, wrap and chill in the fridge overnight.

Day 2: Laminating the dough

Cut the cold butter into 1.25 cm thick slabs. Arrange the pieces on parchment paper to form a 15 x 15 cm square. Place another piece of parchment paper over it and pound the butter gently using a rolling pin to flatten it to a 19 x 19 cm square. Trim the sides to straighten it and place the trimmings on top of the square and flatten it again to form a 17 x 17 square. Wrap and chill until needed.

Roll out the chilled dough on a lightly floured surface to 26 x 26 cms square with straight sides and even thickness. Take the butter out of the fridge. Place the dough square with one side facing towards you. Place the butter block over it at a 45 degree angle so that a point of the butter is facing towards you.Fold a flap of the square dough over the butter, so that the point of the dough reaches the centre of the butter. Repeat with other three sides. The edges of the dough flap should slightly overlap to enclose the butter fully. With the palm of your hands, lightly press the edges to seal the seams.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out from the center to form a rectangle of 20 x 60 cms. Aim at lengthening the dough and not widening it, keeping the sides straight. Fold the dough letter style, folding the top 1/3 portion towards the center and folding the lower 1/3 rd portion over it. Cover and let it chill for 30 minutes. Repeat the process two more time, rolling out the dough to 20 x 60 cms each time. After each turn, turn the dough 90 degrees before you roll again. After the 3rd turn, cover and chill the dough in the fridge till Day 3.

If the rolling gets tough at any point, let the dough relax in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.

Day 3: Dividing the dough

Take the chilled dough from the fridge and roll it out to 20 x 110 cms on a lightly floured surface. Do not stretch the dough, just roll it gently. If it fights back, fold it letter style, cover and chill for 20 minutes. It took three rounds for me to roll it out that long.

Once the dough is fully rolled out, gently lift from the sides to let it shrink naturally. Your strip of dough should be long enough to let you trim the sides and still be 100 cms long.

Shaping the dough

Take a tape measure and mark 12.5 cms intervals at the top of the dough ( 7 marks in total). At the bottom, make a mark at 6.25 cms. Then continue to mark at 12.5 cms intervals (8 marks in total). Top and bottom lines will not match and will form the base of the triangles. Make diagonal cuts using a pizza wheel from the top mark to the bottom mark. Continue this for the length of the dough. Change the direction and cut the opposite way for the length of the dough. You will have 15 triangles and a few odd shapes of dough.

Using your pizza wheel, gently make a 1.5 cms notch in the centre of the short side of the triangle. Now, gently elongate the triangle to 25 cms. You can use a rolling pin for the same.

After you cut the notch in the short end of the triangle,try and roll the two wings by moving the hands to the center, creating the desired shape with a thinner, longer point. Try and roll the dough very tight in the beginning and use just enough pressure to make the dough stick together (don't squish it!)

Proofing & baking

Place the shaped croissants on a baking sheet with enough space between them . Whisk together the egg yolk and water and brush a thin coat over the croissants. Let them proof in a draft-free space with an ideal temperature of 24 C -26 C. It will take about 2 hours. You should be able to tell if they are ready by carefully shaking the baking tin and see if the croissants slightly wiggle. You should be able to see the layers of the dough from the side.

Preheat the oven to 200 C / 390 F convection or 220 C/ 430 F convectional oven.

Right before baking, give the croissants a second thin coating of egg wash. Bake them for 18-20. It's best eaten warm. You can reheat frozen ones at 180 C/ 350F for 8 minutes straight from the freezer.

Enjoy!

I rolled the dough scraps with chocolate and baked them along with Croissants.

Try making Croissants on a relatively cooler day, it save you some trouble!

Did I scare you with the lengthy instructions? If I did, please take a deep breath and read it again. Write it down on a piece of paper, it can help. The first time can be intimidating with all those measurements thrown in. I promise you, it's not all that scary!

If I didn't scare you, what are you waiting for? Get baking! When I was working at Hyatt Regency, Minneapolis as a Pastry Assistant, we would fill our Croissants with Nutella just before serving. Just poke a hole in the bottom of the Croissant and fill Nutella with the help of a piping bag. Dust some icing sugar over the top and enjoy it with some hot coffee!

You can find the step-by-step instructions with photographs on my Instagram profile.

HOMEMADE PERFECT PAPPADAM

This is definitely not my family recipe. None of us make it at home. I mean, why take the extra effort in making it when you can buy some in less than half the time,right? I must admit that it's hard to find good Pappadam these days, even in Kannur. Nalla pole pollunna pappadam is a rare sight. They always reminds me of the sadya we ate during the Kerala State Youth Festivals when I was in school. Somehow, eating pappadam with rice on a hot, humid day brings in a lot of memories for me. Today was one such day here in Minneapolis. 

I don't like the Pappadam we get to buy here in stores. They just don't puff up, even the ones that's sold by the name Kerala Pappadam. They are like Pappadam polathe Poori, crisp flat discs with some bubbles here and there. I agree, it tastes the same, but to me a Pappadam should puff up dramatically, just like a Poori. Thin, a bit salty and crisp, shatteringly so. Our little ones and Jobin goes ga-ga over them,so I was on the lookout for a good recipe for a while now until I stumbled upon Jinesh's page. This is the very first time that I am making Pappadam and they couldn't be more perfect!

It is a breeze to make Pappadam at home. You will need some muscles to pound the dough to make it pliable. That's the only place where you might be wondering if it's really worth all the trouble. I would suggest that you hold on to that doubt and wait until you fry your first handrolled, homemade Pappadam. That feeling when you see them puff up, one after another is beyond comparison. I was literally jumping up and down and by the time I fried the second one, Jobin's Mummy was right next to me. That excitement was contagious to say the least! 

HOMEMADE PERFECT PAPPADAM

Makes 28-30 pieces

Ingredients:

1 cup whole skinned Urad dal 

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Approximately 1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon water

2 teaspoons oil*

All-purpose flour, for dusting

Method:

Powder the urad dal very fine and sieve it into a large bowl. Add the salt, baking soda, water and 1 teaspoon oil. Mix to form a stiff, slightly sticky paste. Add one more teaspoon oil and mix well. By now, the dough would have come together and the sides of the bowl will be almost clean. This shouldn't take more than a minute.

Transfer the stiff dough onto a clean counter top and pound it down with a pestle, folding the dough and flattening it as you go for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, the stiff dough would have become pliable and soft, almost like a chapathi dough. Roll it out into a long log and divide them into 1 inch portions.

On a floured surface, roll out each portion into thin discs, just like storebought ones. Lay them flat on a baking tin, without overlapping and dry them under the sun for 10-15 minutes, flipping once in between. Store them in airtight containers and fry as needed in hot oil.

* The original recipe called for sesame oil, I used vegetable oil.

You can cut them into perfect rounds using a cookie cutter, if you wish to. I did that and fried up the scraps as well. I didn't bother rolling out the scraps.I flipped the pappadam half way through the drying process because I felt the underside was slightly wet. It should still be soft and pliable after sun drying. Do not make it stick like.

I am assuming that these will stay good for week in a covered container if stored in the fridge. I didn't get the chance to try that out.

If you were to ask me if it's a time consuming process, I will have to agree to that. It took me close to a hour from start to finish. It will also depend on how fast you are at rolling them out because the time taken to make the dough would remain the same for all. Will I make it again? 100% yes! Next time, I will try if my Kitchen Aid can help. If it does, I am sure it will cut down on the pounding time. 

Try this with your kids but do keep an eye on them because you don't want the to pound their own tiny fingers! 

Now that Onam is around the corner, I couldn't think of  a better recipe to share with you all! I hope you give it a try because it is so worth it! I must warn you that the fruit of your hard work will vanish in mere minutes once they are fried!!