CHENNA PODA (RICOTTA CHEESE CAKE FROM ORISSA)

The Bright Sun Has Lighted

The Sky The Flavors of Pongal / Lohri / Bhogali

Is In the Air Soak Yourself

In Hearty Music & Rejoice

HAPPY MAKAR SANKRANTI TO ALL....:)

It's the begining of a festive week for several communities in India and every Indian wants to celebrate this festival in very traditional way with lots of mouth melting sweets. 'Chenna Poda' (burnt cheese) is the quintessential cottage cheese dessert from the state of Orissa in Eastern India. It is made of well kneaded ricotta cheese or chenna, sugar, cashew nuts and raisins; baked for several hours in earthen fire untill it browns. The burnt smell is amazing and it is very delicious in taste. It must be cooled down for hours before serving. Lord Jagannath, the lord of this universe's favorite dessert is to be said Chenna Poda. So friends, don't waste your time, tryout and relish this mouth melting Oriya dessert.

INGREDIENTS:

2&1/2 Cups Fresh Warm Chenna  / Ricotta Cheese / Fresh Paneer (hung chenna)

1&1/4 Cups Granulated Sugar

2 tsp Clarified Butter (ghee)

½ tsp Cardamom Powder

2 tbsp Rice Flour

Some Cashewnuts (chopped)

Some Raisins

METHOD:

Mash the chenna nicely by using your palms, this process will make the chenna soft.

Add Sugar little by little and mix it thoroughly.

Put clarified butter (desi ghee), rice flour and cardamom powder and mix well again. Now chenna mixture is ready.

Preheat oven to 200’C. Place a baking paper in a baking pan, grease with clarified butter (ghee) and pour the whole mixture into the pan.

Top with cashew nuts and raisins. Press lightly by using your palms. Now it is ready to insert in oven.

Bake for 40 minutes. Cool down completely.

Cut into desired shape and serve. 

Sending to: Holiday Recipes ~ 3rd Blog Anniversary Event

LABONGO LATIKA - SOUTH VS NORTH CHALLENGE

First of all wishing all my co-blogger friends, readers, visitors A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR, 2014. South vs North challenge completed its one year and running gloriously, which is today known by each and every co blogger friend, is a concept and brain-child of our sweet friend Divya Pramil of You too can cook Indian Food. Truelly a great going event where she divided this Indian Cuisine in two geographical parts: Northern Cuisine and Southern Cuisine. Food-bloggers have been placed in this event on the basis from where they belong to. A member from North team and a member from South team respectively will challenge the opposite team members with an authentic recipe from their respective zone and opposite team have to publish the same on their space with a month. Wish to join in SNC, no further delay, just mail to divya.pramil@gmail.com

Feeling proud to be a challenger in this month. Thanks a ton Divya dear for giving me this opportunity. Welcoming South team dearies and here is my lovely challenge to them............"LABONGO LATIKA". This mithai or sweet is made by Bengali's on very special occasion of Durga Puja or Makar Sankranti.

In Bengali 'Labongo' means CLOVE, simply an aromatic Indian spice, which I love a lot. Today, I am here with a very famous and traditional Bengali sweet "Labongo Latika", sweetened khoya or mawa encased in a crisp pastry and sealed with a clove, frying and soaking in the thicken sugar syrup. In my childhood days I saw my Grand Ma made this fingerlicking good sweet and all of us enjoyed and relished it too much. Hope you will like this yummilicious Bengali sweet.

INGREDIENTS:

FOR OUTER CRUST:

2 Cups All Purpose Flour / Self Raising Flour (maida)
2 tbsp Sugar (preferably powdered)
1/4 tsp Salt
Pinch of Baking Powder
Pinch of Saffron, Soaked In 2 tbsp Warm Water
3 tbsp Clarified Butter (ghee)
Little Warm Water To Knead The Dough
1 Cup Refined Oil for Deep Frying
20 Cloves

FOR FILLING:

200 gm Mawa / Khoya
3-4 tbsp Sugar (according to taste)
1/8 tsp Nutmeg Powder
1/3 Cup Warm Water

FOR SUGAR SYRUP:

1 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Water
1 tsp Rose Essence / Rose Syrup

METHOD:

TO MAKE DOUGH:

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, 2 tbsp sugar, saffron water, clarified butter  and salt. Mix well. Add water little by little. Knead it to make a smooth dough. Cover with a wet cloth and rest for 20 minutes.

Divide the dough into 20 portions, by which make 20 equal flat balls and set those aside.

TO MAKE FILLING:

In a pan, crush mawa or khoya. Add ½ Cup warm water, nutmeg powder, Sugar in it. 

Heat the pan now and keep stirring continuously for about 6-7 minutes or till the mixture thicken. Switched off the flame now. 

Add raisins, mix nicely. Keep it aside and let it cool down a little.

TO MAKE SUGAR SYRUP:

Heat a sauce pan. Add 1 cup sugar and ½ cup water in it. Mix rose essence and let it boil. Two String consistency of syrup is required for this sweet.

HOW TO MAKE LABONGO LATIKA:

In the mean time, flat a ball by sprinkling little flour and make poori approx 4” diameter circle or oval. 

Take a spoonful filling and place at the center of the circle. Fold from two opposite sides. 

Lastly, with your wet fingertips, fold from the remaining opposite ends to make a pocket. Wrap the edges with little water and insert a clove to seal the pocket, so that the pocket won’t open easily.

Heat enough oil in a wok for frying labongo latika on medium low flame. Slowly add 4-5 pockets in it. Fry slowly till both sides turn into golden brown.  

Remove them from the oil and dip in thick sugar syrup for 4-5 minutes. Make sure that both sides of labongo latika are getting drenched in sugar syrup. Remove from syrup and arrange on serving plate. 

Always serve after a couple of hours at room temperature. You may store in an air-tight container and refrigerate for a week. Enjoy this lipsmacking good Bengali sweet!!!

Sending to:  Cook with Comfort ~Blog Anniversary Event, Holiday Recipes ~ 3rd Blog Anniversary Event

Hellow! My dearies from South Team, link your post with gorgeous clicks here...........

PAASI PARUPPU PAYASAM / PAYATHAM PARUPPU PAYASAM / MOONG DAL KHEER

May lord Krishna

Show you the way in your life

As he has shown the way to
Arjuna in kurukshetra
May lord Krishna bless you on your way.

HAPPY JANMASHTAMI TO ALL....

I am very happy to take part of this interesting SNC event. A great going event started and organished by our sweet friend Divya Pramil from YOU TOO CAN COOK - INDIAN FOOD RECIPES. This is a monthly event where two teams, Southern and Northern team have to challenge each other with their authentic and regional dishes.

This month North team got a challenge to prepare Paasi Paruppu Payasam / Moong Dal Kheer from Divya Pramil and South team is challenged with Kesar Pista Kulfi by Shruti.

'Paruppu Payasam' is an easy payasam of specially Tamil Nadu, which is made with moong dal or chana dal. Here I added raw rice to it, that is purely optional. It is a jaggery based sweet. Getting the right consistency is difficult part, as it should not be too thick nor too runny. Milk adds richness and enhances the taste. Thanks Divya for this delicious kheer, we relished your recipe dear.

INGREDIENTS (FOR 6 SERVINGS):

100 gm / 1 Cup Split Green Gram Lentil (yellow moong dal)

25 gm / ½ Cup Raw Rice (pacharisi)

250 gms  Jaggery / Achu Vellam

10-15 Cashew Nuts (slitted)

5-6 Almonds (chopped)

1 tbsp Raisins

4 Pods Cardamom

2 tbsp Grated Coconut

1 Cup Milk

2 tbsp Clarified Butter / Ghee

METHOD:

Wash moong dal and raw rice in water and set aside.

Grind grated coconut and cardamom pods. Keep it aside.

In a pressure cooker add moong dal and raw rice with 300 ml water. Pressure cook for 10 minutes on low heat. Open the lid after the pressure drops.  Mash well the cooked dal and rice.

Pour milk in it.

Mix well and place the pan on heat again. Cook for several minutes on low heat. This consistency is very perfect, so extra water in not necessary here. (But if you think your dal is thick even after adding milk, add little water in it)

Pour jiggery in it and stir nicely. Check the sweetness, add more jaggery if necessary. 

Add coconut – cardamom powder here, keep stirring for another 2 minutes on medium heat.

In another pan / tadka pan, add clarified butter (ghee). When it starts to melt, add cashew nuts, almonds and raisins. Fry for 2 minutes on minimam heat, don't fry on high heat, nuts will burn quickly.

Add nuts as well as clarified butter in payasam. Fold nicely and remove from heat. (when it will cool down, the payasam will be thicken. If so, add little more milk or water and re-heat a little and stir well)

Garnish with few nuts and raisins on the top. Serve as a mouth watery dessert. 

Sending to Divya's "SNC Challenge"

PAAL KOZHUKATTAI / KOLLUKATTAI (MODAKS IN CREAMY COCONUT SAUCE) - SNC CHALLENGE

South vs North Challenge is a brain-child of Divya Pramil of You too can cook Indian Food. This event started and organised by our lovely friend Divya Pramil. A great going event where recipe exchanges and two teams challenge each other with their authentic regional recipes. Each team gets the time of full month to prepare the recipe and publish on their spaces. Hats off to Divya for this great idea! Wish to join in SNC, no further delay, just mail to divya.pramil@gmail.com

 

This month Tamilarasi Sasikumar challenged Northern Team a yummy traditional dessert of Tamil Nadu, Paal Kozhukattai / Kollukattai and I have challenged Southern Team with a great Bengali delicacy, Green Peas Kachori with Spicy Dum Aloo.
For celebrating Valentine's Day, Pari of Foodelicious and CupoNation have organised a wonderful event as well as giveaway. Friends do participate by clicking Foodelicious's link above.

Paal kozhukattai is a traditional dish of Tamil Nadu. This is one of authentic chettinad recipes belonging to Karaikudi, which is a big hit in our family. Usually or traditionally thengai paal kozhukattai and sundal are made on Ganesha Chaturthi, offered to Lord Ganesha on that auspicious day. Actually, this is a festive food, which can be offered as neivedhyam to God. It is prepared in many ways, some use jaggery as a sweetner and some use sugar. Some use normal milk and some use coconut milk. The richness in the coconut milk with sugar, making the sauce so delicious, when small balls soaked in this sauce, truelly a delightful combination. I am very happy with this yummilicious dessert that I made, and everyone of my family liked as well as relished it too much. So, guess that's a bit of success for me.

INGREDIENTS:
3/4 Cup Raw Rice Flour
2/3 Cup Sugar
Coconut half Portion (grated)
3 Cardamoms
Salt to taste (I used 1/3 tsp)
Warm Water as required
Few Strands of Saffron (for garnishing & flavor)

METHOD:
Dry roast cardamoms.

Pound cardamoms coarsely in pestle and mortar. Set aside.

In a wide bowl, take raw rice flour, salt and use enough warm water to knead a smooth dough (like chapathi dough).

Keep covered with a wet cloth, until use to prevent it from drying. (Don't make rice flour dough hard, else it will hard to roll kozhukattai. If you made it sticky, can cover it with a cotton cloth to absorb the excess water from it)

Spread a cotton towel or a dhoti, grease hands with little ghee or oil, form small tiny balls or cylindrical shape (it is the traditional shape) from the smooth dough. Repeat the process to form all the balls and set aside on the cotton towel or dhoti. Allow the rice balls to dry in the room temperature and it will take 2 hours.

Now grind grated coconut with warm water.

Extract 1 cup thick coconut milk from it.

Grind again by adding more warm water to the coconut and extract 2 cups of diluted coconut milk from it. (You can use packed, dilute it for first process)

Now heat 2 cups of diluted or thin coconut milk in a heavy bottomed vessel and bring it to a boil. (Keep stirring, it may overflow now)

Add half of the rolled tiny rice balls and wait for 2 minutes until the milk boils again. Add the remaining balls now. Boil for 3-4 minutes on medium flame or until the balls float on the top. (It denotes they are cooked now)

Stir with a ladle occassionally, not frequently to avoid sticking.

Add sugar and mix nicely, until sugar gets dissolved. Allow it to boil for another 8-10 minutes to get a thick consistency, add cardamom powder now. Stir in between to avoid burning.

Now add the thick coconut milk in it and give a nice stir.

Immediately switch off the heat. Mix nicely. (Paal kozhukattai gets thickened after cooling)

Spinkle strands of saffron on the top to enhance the aroma and flavor of it. Serve hot or chilled as you wish. Enjoy this yummy delightful sweet.

TIPS: Some like to add jaggery in the place of sugar. Don't add jaggery directly to the milk when it is over the flame, it may curdle the milk. Strain jaggery syrup to remove impurities and then add to the coconut milk. 

Kozhukattais will not get fully cooked in coconut milk, so add atleast half coconut milk and half water atleast to make a diluted coconut milk first. Some even cooked kozhukattai in water, then add it to milky sauce to cook in better way. But I prefer to cook it in diluted coconut milk, as it is well blended with the sauce.

The kozhukattais or balls do taste little bland, but if you reduce the size and make tiny balls, it will help the balls to absorb more sugar inside and also will get cooked faster.

 

Instead of making balls, may add the dough in murukku press and press it to get nice small cylindrical shaped, but I prefer tiny balls, would look so cute for the pics... :)

I am very happy with this yummilicious dessert that I made, and everyone of my family liked as well as relished it too much. Thank you so much Tamilarasi Sasikumar to teach me this traditional and very delightful dessert recipe.

 

Thank you so much Divya Pramil to give me this great opportunity on SNC.

Linking to: Tamil's & Divya's space

Linking to: Cook Like a Celebrity Chef event by Food Corner

Linking to: Cooking For My Valentine @ Foodelicious