Karanji recipe, How to make sweet coconut Gujiya

Karanji is a sweet snack often made for festive occasions like Diwali and Ganesh Chaturthi. Diwali is one of India’s premier festivals and is a time for family and celebration.

Shakkarpara / Shakkarpare / Shankarpali recipe

I love Shakkarpara! It is a terrific tea time (or any other time) snack. There are some snacks that go really well along with tea; like mathri, namak pare and shakkarpare. 

Besan ladoo recipe/ Diwali sweet recipes

Besan ladoos are known as magad ke ladoo in Hindi. You must have eaten the Besan ke ladoo made by grandmother and mom since your childhood.

English Biscuits- How to make eggless biscuits

This is the best biscuit recipe without eggs. You will not realize that it has no eggs in it. Trust me you will fall in love with these biscuits.

Sabudana Kheer Recipe, How to make Sabudana Kheer for fasting

It is probably the most common type of sweets and delicious food served on fasting days. However, one does not need to be on fast to enjoy it!!! As the name suggests this traditional Indian sweet is made from tapioca/sago pearls.

This sabudana kheer recipe is one of the easiest Indian dessert recipes and can be prepared in less than 20 minutes.

Gajar Halwa recipe, How to make Traditional Carrot Halwa

Gajar Halwa or Carrot halwa is one of the most popular and delicious halwas.

I made Gajar halwa this new year; but somehow was not able to post the recipe. Today, I thought of putting it on blog.

Fruit custard recipe

Fruit custard is a simple tasty and relatively healthy dessert. ‘Fruit custard’ or ‘fruit salad with custard’ is a delicious dessert with creamy texture of the custard and crunch of the fruits in between.

Peanut Burfi recipe/ Groundnut or Mungfali Burfi recipe

Few dishes seem long forgotten during our fast paced lifestyle. I still try my best to incorporate them and keep the cultures alive, being far away from motherland. As we get ready for the festive time, sharing here a simple fasting dessert, ‘Peanut Burfi’ or ‘Mungfali burfi’.

Shakarkand / Sweet potato Halwa Recipe

Shakarkand or sweet potato is widely used during fasting/vrat/upwas. During fasting days, there are certain limitations for food consumption. Cereals and pulses and many other ingredients are not consumed on that day. For details please go through the vrat/fasting rules.

Coconut and Rava Laddu

It is a traditional Indian sweet suitable for all occasions and festivals. This is the recipe which does not take a lot of time to make. I have used fresh coconut in this recipe. In Maharashtra it is known as 'rava naralache ladu'.

Rabdi Aam recipe, Mangoes with rabdi

Mango mango mango…

Summer season is best known for mangoes. This summer season, I was in India and my mom made this delicious rabdi aam with Alphonso mangoes…yumm!!

Rabdi is totally Indian..it’s nothing but evaporated milk..anyone from north India would be familiar with it.

Churma Recipe, How to make churma ladoo

Step by step recipe to prepare churma or choorma. This is a traditional rajasthani sweet recipe made by my grandmother; which we all love since years. It forms a great accompaniment to the trio dish DAL, BAATI, CHURMA. It has a rich and flavorful sweet made of whole wheat flour.

How to make Ghee from butter at home

Clarified butter is known as Ghee in Hindi and several other names around the world, is used in many ways in India – in cooking, for serving, dipping into or brushing on food, for religious purpose, and also as skin softener for dry skin during winter.

Ghee made from grass-fed butter is packed with vitamin A, D, E and K leading to some interesting health benefits. A staple in traditional cooking and Ayurvedic medicine, ghee is made through a simple process of boiling butter and then pouring off the butter fat, leaving behind the proteins and the milk solids. The clear liquid we get is known as clarified butter.

In my kitchen, wherever required I replace rancid highly processed vegetable oils with grass fed ghee. May be following our traditional system of cooking is much for our benefit, which even research have proved. If I get a chance to visit India I would love to share the method to making ghee the traditional way and not from the store bought butter, which is far better in taste and health benefits. 

Homemade ghee (clarified butter) from butter:

Prep time	Cook time	Total
0 min	15-20 min	20 min

How to make ghee at home using unsalted butter

AUTHOR: Monali

RECIPE TYPE: Cooking tips

CUISINE: Indian

SERVES: approx. 1 lit ghee

INGREDIENTS (measuring cup used, 1 cup=237 ml)

• 2 lb. unsalted butter
• A tiny pinch of salt (optional) 

DIRECTION

1. On medium heat, place unsalted butter in a pan. Let it melt and stir it once in a while. At this point it will be light yellow in color.
   
2. In 10 minutes the melted butter will form a thin foamy layer on top of light yellow liquid on the bottom.
   
3. In a while, the light yellow liquid gets translucent and you start to see some more thick milk solids at the bottom of pan. Stir once in a while.
   
4. When you see the liquid bubbling and when it starts to look transparent almost light golden yellow in color with white foam on top, the solids slowly starts to form. Continue stirring.
   
5. When you see the dark golden yellow colored clear liquid easily, the clarified butter (ghee) is ready and it is time to remove the pan from the heat.
   
6. If you heat the pan any longer your ghee will start to scorch, turn darker in color, and taste bad. turn off the heat and strain the clarified butter (ghee) through a mesh or tea strainer in a dry and clean (or sterilized) glass jar.
   
7. When ghee reaches room temperature, add just a tiny pinch of salt in the bottle of ghee and stir it around with a spoon. 
   
8. This helps to get the texture that you see in the ready made ghee. This golden yellow liquid will become grainy in a couple of hours.
   

IMP- Do NOT add salt if you want to use ghee for fasting or festival food.

Fresh homemade ghee/clarified butter is ready for use. It can be stored for several months at room temperature.

What to do with leftover milk solids in the strainer?

Well, you can add the milk solids into the dough while you knead wheat flour for making roti or eat it! …yes it kinda tastes like khoya. If you keep it out for too long, it will start to taste sour.

NOTES

• I used 2 lb. unsalted butter and it yielded 4½ cups of ghee. You can use half or double or triple amount of unsalted butter and follow the same procedure.
• The texture, color or taste of ghee depends on the source of milk from which the butter was made and the extent of boiling and simmering.
• Clarified butter has a higher smoke point than regular butter and is therefore preferred in cooking some recipes.  
• Clarified butter also has a much longer shelf life than fresh butter.

Lauki Halwa Recipe, how to make Dudhi/Bottle Gourd Halwa

Lauki is called with different names according to places - like doodhi/dhudhi, bottle gourd, sorkai etc. Lauki ka halwa or dhudhi halwa is an Indian dessert made from bottle gourd. Simplest of all, this dessert can be prepared in a short time. So use seasonal veggies for your advantage.

Banana Sheera or Banana Halwa, How to make Suji Halwa for Prasad

Banana sheera is a sweet dish that is made usually at most puja functions, especially Satyanarayan puja.

Whole Wheat Banana Cake Recipe

This is a recipe of light, soft and moist banana cake without eggs. No special ingredient required. A quick eggless cake recipe made with whole wheat flour and bananas.

My little one was asking me to bake a cake for her and I was out of the ingredients; then I saw bananas laying on the counter and thought of using it up. I quickly made the batter using the bananas and the whole wheat flour along with the goodness of almonds.

Atte ka halwa, How to make halwa with whole wheat flour

We make atte ka halwa for any occasion, it could be a festival or celebration or any day. But especially for Navratri Ashtami Prasad, this halwa is a must in our family. It can be made instantly whenever you feel like eating something sweet at home. It is delicious and equally nutritious.

Rice Kheer Recipe, How to make Rice Kheer or Chawal ki Kheer

Rice kheer is usually made during any festival or celebration. It can also be served as a dessert after meals. Rice kheer is one of the most popular kheer recipe made in north India along with seviyan kheer and phirni.

Caramelized Sweet Potato

After a hot and spicy post it’s time for something sweet; and not just regular dessert, but something that can be consumed even when fasting. Normally sweet potato which is also known as sakarkand or ratala is associated with fasting food. What many people don’t know is that, this sweet potato can also be used to make an extremely simple dessert.

Aloo Halwa Recipe for Vrat, How to make Potato Halwa for Fasting

Potatoes are the most commonly used ingredient in fasting food. You would have made potato wedges for fasting, but have you tried potato halwa. The aloo halwa is usually had during fasting. This halwa is delicious as well as can be made in no time. It is really a simple recipe.