नारळी भात/ Narali Bhat/ Sweet Coconut Rice

YouTube video Link 

Today is Narali Pornima. A festival where the fishermen worship Sea. Usually celebrated in Maharashtra-Goa region of India. To know more about this festival click here. We also celebrate Raksha Bandhan on the same pornima i.e. Full moon day. Raksha Bandhan is nothing but a day when a brother takes an oath to protect his sister for life, and sister ties a Rakhee (a decorated thread) on his right wrist and feeds him sweets.

This rice is made on this day all across Maharashtra. It has great flavor of coconut, jaggery and a few spices. Very easy to make.

Ingredients:

1. Basmati Rice: 2 Cups
2. Gul/ Jaggery: 3 ½ Cups 
3. Khavlela Naral/ Shredded Coconut (Fresh or frozen): 1 ½ Cups 
4. Desi ghee/ Clarified butter: 5-6 Tbsp. 
5. Lavang/ Cloves: 10-12
   
6. Dalchini/ cinnamon stick: 2-3 (small) 
7. Veldoda/ Whole Green cardamom: 7-8 
8. Slivered almonds: A fistful 
9. Golden Raisins:  A fistful
10. Cashews: A fistful 
11. Hot Water: 3 Cups 
12. Saffron strands soaked in warm milk (2 Tbsp.)  
13. Salt: A pinch
14. Lemon juice: 1 Tsp.

Method:

1. Wash the rice till the water is clear and keep it aside for an hour or so. Do not soak it in the water after washing it. 
2. After an hour put the rice in a pan and add hot water to it. 
3. Add a pinch of salt and lemon juice to it. Lemon juice will help the rice grain to separate and will keep the white color intact. 
4. Cook the rice either in rice cooker or on the stove top. Do not pressure cook it otherwise it will be mushy. 
5. After the rice is cooked, immediately pour it on a flat surface like a big plate, tray or simply lay silver foil on your counter top and spread the rice on it to cool down. 
   
6. Take a big wok and add ghee to it. 
7. Put cloves, cinnamon sticks to the tempering. 
   
8. Put cashews and roast a bit. (Optional step)
   
9. Now put the jaggery and coconut to the tempering. 
   
   
   
   
10. Stir it well. At this time the jaggery will start to melt, so keep the flame on low to avoid burning or caramelizing the jaggery. 
11. Put all the remaining dry fruits now. This step is completely optional. Nuts taste good but they aren’t the necessary item in this dish. 
    
12. Once the all the ingredients are mixed properly and you see a little bubbles of the jaggery, add the rice to it. 
    
13. Please be very gentle while handling the rice. We want the grains to be intact so be very careful while mixing it with the jaggery mixture. 
14. Now add saffron milk to it and put a lid. 
    
    
    
    
15. Put the gas on the lowest possible setting for 5-7 minutes. Please be careful not to burn the rice. 
    
16. Once it is done, take a bowl and serve it hot. 
17. Honestly in my opinion this rice tastes better the next day but obviously you can serve it right after making it.
    

Hope you like this super easy and super quick recipe of नारळी भात /Narali Bhat/ sweet coconut rice.

P.S.: In many regions it is made with sugar instead of jaggery. So add 3 ½ cups of Sugar instead of jaggery and follow all the steps in the same way.

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Sooji halwa/ Rava Sheera in an Instant Pot

Sooji Halwa/ Sheera

Both my kids love Sooji Halawa or Sheera, that’s what we call it in Marathi. Very healthy recipe but not for a person who is watching his or her calories. I usually make it in my regular wok. However, recently our kitchen welcomed a new gadget called Instant Pot and trust me along with the counter space, this gadget has bagged my heart too J Too filmy right? But just the same way it actually works too.

So here we go. Here is the authentic Maharashtrian recipe with touch of a modern and time saving gadget.

Ingredients:

1. Sooji/ Rava: 2 Cups
2. Sugar: 1 ¾ Cups
3. Desi Ghee: ½ Cup
4. Slivered Almonds (Optional): ¼ Cup
5. Golden Raisins (Optional): ¼ Cup
6. Saffron strands: One pinch 
7. Milk: 2-3 Tbspn. 
8. Velachi pud/ Cardamom powder: ½ Tspn. 
9. Boiling Hot Water: 2 Cups

Method:

1. Put Insta Pot on "Saute" mode.
2. Put Desi ghee in it.
3. Once a little warm add sooji to it.
4. Keep stirring continuously for 3-4 minutes.
5. Now add golden raisins to it and continue to stir till your sooji changes the color form pale white to light brown.
   
6. Add cardamom powder and slivered almonds to the sooji and stir again.
7. While the sooji is getting prepared for the halawa, put a pan on gas.
8. Put water, milk, sugar and saffron strands in it. Let it come to a rolling boil. Make sure that the sugar is dissolved completely and then switch off the gas.
9. Once sooji changes the color, add this water-sugar mixture to it.
   
10. Stir continuously to avoid the lumps.
    
11. Now click “Keep warm/ Cancel” button on your Insta pot.
12. Immediately press “Manual” and set it on 3 minutes, seal the vent.
    
13. Once it is done. Let it release the pressure naturally and voila your sooji halawa is ready. 
14. For any reason you feel it is not done (since the quality, texture of the sooji could differ), put it back on “Manual” for 2 more minutes and do the “Quick Release” and it should be done. 
    

This way it has worked for me, hope it works for you too.

Hope you like this super easy and super quick recipe of Sooji Halawa/ Sheera. Make it and just surprise your family just the way I surprised them.

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Gathi for Gudhi Padva/ Sugar Candy

Last year I made these “Gathi” for the first time for my daughter’s first Gudhi Padva (Hindu New Year) celebration. Gudhi Padva, is the Sanskrit name for Chaitra Shukla Pratipada. It is celebrated on the first day of the Chaitra month (first month of Hindu calendar) to mark the beginning of the New Year according to the lunisolar Hindu calendar. To know more about Gudhi Padwa please click here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gudi_Padwa

We Maharashtrians have a ritual where we give these sweet Gathi to the kids in our house also we put the garland made by these sweet candies on our Gudhi. We hoist the Gudhi in our balcony, deck or someplace where it faces the sun.

So here is the most awaited recipe of these Gathi. I made it 1^st time by following a recipe of Mayura Kulkarni but later made a few changes, and additions to it. However, a sincere thanks to her as I would have never thought of making it at home for my baby. It has immense importance in our tradition and she played an important role in giving me this recipe. Here you go!!!!

Ingredients:

1. Sugar: 4 Tspn.
2. Water: 1 ½ Tspn. 
3. Red Food color: One drop 

Tools: 

1. Baking Mat or parchment paper
2. Cooking twine or thick thread
3. A small wok or pan or kadhai 
4. Spoon

Method:

1. First things first. Lay a foot of cooking twine on a baking mat.
   
2. Take a small bowl and mix sugar and water in it till the sugar dissolves completely.
   
   This mixture should be little thick in consistency so you will have adjust the sugar and quantity in such a way that the water is just enough to dissolve the sugar. It should not be runny at all. 
3. Put the mixture in a small pan and put it on low heat. 
4. Keep stirring continuously. 
   
5. At this time you can put a drop of food color of your choice. You also can separate the mixture in two different pans and put color of your choice in one of them and keep one clear white (as battasa). I used red color here. However if you plan to make two colored garland, please make one batch at a time. 
   
6. Keep stirring till the bubbles start to immerse. At this time if you feel the water is little less then add it literally drop by drop. As mentioned earlier you don’t want a runny mixture. In short you need two strings consistency of sugar syrup. (2 तारी पाक )
7. Just continue to stir until the sugar just begins to caramelize but we definitely don’t want it to get caramelized completely.  
   
8. As the bubbles rise, start collecting those bubbles in a spoon very carefully and lay it on the thread. I found it easier to collect the bubbles by tilting the pan and by lowering the heat while you collect the bubbles for the droplets. Here you have to be a little quick as the sugar has started to caramelize and before it is caramelized completely we have to collect all the bubbles for our drops of Gathi. If you are making a double colored garland (which I did not do, I made two separate garlands with two different colors) keep enough space for other colored mixture. It spreads a little so keep space accordingly.
   
9. It cools and solidifies pretty quickly. 
10. Give 30-45minutes for the garland to settle down completely. 
    
11. Now it is ready to go either on your Gudhi and/or in your kid’s tummy. 
    
12. I could make two garlands out of this measurement.

मंद वारा वसंताची चाहूल घेऊन आला..पालवी मधल्या प्रत्येक पानात नवंपण देऊन गेला..त्याने नवीन वर्षाची सुरुवात ही अशीच केली..नाविन्याच्या आनंदासाठी तो मंगल गुढी घेऊन आला..अशा या आनंदमयी गुढीपाडव्याच्या व नवीन वर्षाच्या हार्दिक शुभेच्छा

Hope you like this super easy and super quick recipe of Gathi. Make it and just surprise your family just the way I surprised them J

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Ukadiche Modak /उकडीचे मोदक/ Steamed sweet Rice flour dumplings

https://youtu.be/a8k7Y_TP0LU

 

Growing up in Maharashtra I have always indulged in different varieties of Maharastrian delicacies. And obviously one of them is Ukadiche Modak or rice flour dumplings with sweet coconut filling in it. These are usually made during the holly festival of Ganapati. It is presented to Ganapati Bappa as his Prasad. It is said that he loves Modak the most.  During the Ganesh worship ceremony, known in India as Ganesha Chaturthi the puja always concludes with an offering of twenty-one modaks to the deity and as prasad. 

This particular variety of modak is steamed and eaten with Tup or Desi Ghee which makes it healthier.

I could go on and on talking about this awesome sweet, instead you may find more details about it here.

Let’s make these Modaks for our Ganapati Bappa.

Ingredients:

You will be able to make around 14-16 modaks with this measurement. 

1. Khovalela Naral/ Grated coconut: 2 Cups (fresh or frozen) 
2. Gul/ Jaggery: 1-1½ Cup (depends on jaggery’s sweetness and your family’s taste buds) 
3. Tandul Pithi/ Rice Flour: 2 Cups (very very smooth) 
4. Pani/ Water: 2-2½ Cups 
5. Ghee/ Clarified butter: 1 Tbsp. / 2 Tbsp. 
6. Mith/ Salt: A pinch 
7. Velachi Pud/ Cardamom Powder: 1Tsp.

Method:

For Filling:

1. Take one coconut. 
2. Grate the coconut and use 2 Cups from it.
3. Alternatively take 2 cups of frozen grated coconut in a microwave safe bowl. (Thaw the coconut before measuring it.) 
4. Add 1 Cup of jaggery to the coconut. Stir it. 
5. Put it in microwave for 30 Sec. 
6. Take it out, give it a good mix and put it back in microwave for about 2min. 
7. Take it out after a minute, add cardamom powder and stir it. At this point you may add chopped nuts of your choice to this mixture. 
8. Take it out with the help of oven mitten. Usually at this time the stuffing is ready. If you feel the jaggery is not melted completely then just put it back just for 10-12 sec. If you keep it longer then the stuffing will be hard. (I have done that and had to rescue it. I have added the tips to rescue the filling at the end) 

For Outer Cover:

1. Take 2 cups of water in a pan and put it on the stove on medium-high heat.
2. Once you see the water bubbles, add a pinch of salt and a tbsp. of ghee in it. 
3. Measure the rice flour properly in a bowl. The rice flour has be very soft and smooth on touch. If it is little thick then please sieve it. 
4. Once the water is boiling put the heat to low and put entire bowl of flour in the water. 
5. Start stirring it immediately and vigorously with the help of a nice firm spatula. 
6. Please make sure it’s not lumpy anymore. 
7. Put a tight lead. 
8. The steam trapped inside the pan will do the magic now. Take is off the gas after 2 minutes. 
9. Switch off the gas. 

Modak Making:

1. Take out the warm dough on a plain surface. 
2. Start kneading the dough once it is bearable to hands. But it should not be cold otherwise we will not be able to shape them. 
3. Put a little oil or ghee on your palms and start kneading. 
4. Cover the dough with warm damp cloth.  
5. Make medium sized ball and start making modaks. 
6. Take the rice flour ball and roll a small puri of it (about 2-3inches). 
7. Take the coconut filling and put 1 Tbsp of it in the middle of this puri. 
8. Take this puri in one hand and start pinching it with another hand. It will look like a bulb of a lotus flower. 
9. Now start taking all the pinched petals together and stick them together making a peak out of it. 
10. It will look like a small onion. 
11. I have a Modak mold bought from Tulashi Baug, Pune so I used mold to make these modaks (grease the mold before filling it with little ghee). It is very special for me since it has been gifted to me by a dear friend. 
12. Take a rice cooker (with steamer) or idali steamer to steam these modaks or dumplings. 
13. I have a rice cooker-steamer in which I put one damp handkerchief and put 7 modaks at a time on the steam mode for about 7-8 minutes. If you are using idali cooker or pressure cooker for steaming the modak, then please keep it for 12-14min or as per instructions on your cooker. 

    

    Another form of mold

    
    
14. Once done, take them out and pour desi ghee on it and relish them as a nice, healthy sweet.

    

    गणपती बाप्पा मोरया !!!

Tip:

1. If for any reason your filling or सारण becomes hard, put it in a pan and add little ghee to it. keep stirring till it is soft again. It may change it's color to little brownish but that is completely alright. 
2. The rice flour should be really smooth. If it's too coarse then the outer cover will break while molding the modaks. 
3. Do not let the dough cool down for the same above mentioned reason. 

Please try this super easy recipe of Ukadiche Modak and please your Bappa (We call Lord Ganesha- Bappa). If you like this recipe, give a thumps up and please share it with others. Happy Cooking!!!!

Please leave your comments and suggestions about this recipe. We welcome your feedback.

बोला गणपती बाप्पा मोरया, मंगल मूर्ती मोरया !!!!!!!

Other recipe you can try during the festival:
Paan Ladoo
Paan Shots
Narali Bhat  

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Rava Ladu/ Coconut-Rava/Suzi/Semolina Ladu

 Rava Ladu/ Coconut-Rava Laddu/Suzi/Semolina Laddu

Rava ladu is a well known delicacy or sweet of Maharashtra, India. It is usually made during Diwali festival as part of Diwali faral. Diwali Faral is nothing but few snacks that are made and distributed among friends and families. They are made for the winter season.

Ingredients:

1. Rava (Suzi/ Semolina): 2 Cups
2. Grated Coconut (Fresh or Frozen): 1 Cup 
3. Desi Ghee/ Tup (Clarified butter): ¾ Cup
4. Sugar: 1 ¾ Cup (Adjust sugar according to your taste) 
5. Water: ¾ Cup
6. Velachi pud/powder (Cardamom powder): 1 Tsp (grind coarsely) 
7. Badam (Almonds): 5-6 peeled & sliced
8. Bedane/ kishmish (Golden Raisins): 15-20

Procedure:

Take a non-stick pan and add ghee to it. Once the ghee is melted add rava to it and keep stirring until golden in color (your kitchen will have beautiful aroma of this rava-ghee mixture, that's the indication of well cooked rava). Now add grated coconut to this rava and keep stirring on a medium heat. Stirring is a very important step while making these ladu because we don’t want to burn the mixture at any time. Rava, coconut and other ingredients in this recipe really can get burnt quickly, so be very careful. Now keep this mixture aside.

Take another non-stick pan. Add water and sugar to make sugar syrup. We need to boil this syrup just for 2-3 minutes, once it starts boiling and becomes transparent, immediately turn off the heat. This is also called as “Ek-tari pak” in Maraathi language.

Now add velachi pood, badam, bedane and rava mixture to this sugar syrup. Rava and coconut mixture will absorb the sugar syrup in some time. Approximately after every 30-45 min keep stirring this mixture. After 2-3 hours these ladus will be ready to roll in a balls. Now make medium sized balls, you may need to put a little ghee on your palms while rolling the balls. Garnish each ball with bedana or a raisin. Voila…Your yummy Rava ladus are ready to dig in.

This mixture will make approximately 12-13 medium sized ladus. Keep it in an airtight container in refrigerate since it has coconut in it.

Don’t forget to enjoy these yummilicious sweet J Happy Cooking!!!!!! 

Please leave your comments and suggestions about this recipe. We welcome your feedback J

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