SHAHI TUKDA

INGREDIENTS:

Bread -1 packet
Milk - 1.5 liters
Sugar - 1cup + 6 tbsp
Oil - for deep frying
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Chopped Almonds(blanched and deskinned) and Cashews - For garnishing
Cardamom Powder
Saffron - a pinch
Water - 1 cup

PREPARATION:

1.Preparing the Bread:

             Take the bread pieces out of the packet and air dry it at least for a day. If there is moisture in the bread  it will absorb lots of oil while frying. So its better if the bread is dry.

            Cut the corners of the bread and cut it into squares.

            Take Oil in a pan for deep frying the bread. Add two tbsp of ghee in the oil. Deep fry the bread pieces until golden brown and keep it aside and allow the oil to drain properly. After frying all the bread pieces fry the almonds and cashews in the same oil. 

2. Preparing the Rabdi:

        Take the milk in a sauce pan and boil it mixing in between until the milk reduces to one third of its volume. Soak the saffron in a tbsp of hot milk. Add the saffron milk, cardamom powder and 6 tbsp of sugar in the reduced milk and boil until the sugar melts. Switch off the flame and allow the milk to cool. 

3. Preparing the Sugar Syrup:

      Take a cup of sugar and a cup of water in a pan and boil it until the sugar melts properly and comes to a rolling boil. There is no need to cook for long to any syrup consistency. Switch off the flame. Start assembling while the sugar syrup is hot so that the bread will absorb the syrup properly.

4. Assembling :

   Take a deep rectangular pan. Take a slice of fried bread and dip it in the sugar syrup and arrange it in the pan. After making a layer of bread pour the rabdi on top it with a spoon. Make another layer of bread and then rabdi. Finish it off by garnishing with fried almonds and cashews. 

    Chill overnight and serve. 

TIPS:

• Drying the bread is very important. Otherwise the bread will become oily.
• The bread can be fried in ghee but it will make the dish very heavy.
• The rabdi should be sweetened mildly as we are soaking the bread pieces in sugar syrup also. 
• The sugar syrup should be hot while assembling and the rabdi should be warm. So that the bread will soak all the milk. 

YELLOW RICE

Yellow Rice is a very common and regularly made dish in our household next to white rice. This rice pairs really well with lots of non veg gravies like fish curry, pepper chicken, egg curry and also pairs nicely with lots of veg gravies. This rice tastes divine as it is with just a simple coconut chutney. I will try to post the gravies that pairs very well with the rice in the future.

Ingredients:
Rice - 2 cups (parboiled rice or basmati rice)
Moong Dal - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1 (sliced)
Garlic - 8 cloves (sliced)
Green Chilly - 2
Coriander Leaves - chopped
Mint Leaves - chopped
Cinnamon - 2 one inch pieces
Cardamom - 4
Cloves - 4
Fenugreek Seeds - 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Castor Oil - 1 tbsp
Peanut Oil - 60 ml
Water - 4 cups
Salt to taste

Preparation:

• Soak the rice for at least half an hour and if using Basmati rice soak in hot water. 
• Heat the peanut oil in a pressure cooker. Once the oil is hot add the cinnamon, cloves and cardamom.
• Reduce the flame and add the fenugreek seeds and moong dal and fry just for a minute. Do not brown the dal.
• Add the garlic and onion and saute until the onion becomes translucent. Add the turmeric powder and salt. 
• Add the coriander leaves, mint leaves and green chillies.
• Now add the measured water and let it boil.
• Add castor oil and once the water comes to a boil add the drained rice and allow it to boil until the rice absorbs most of the water.
• Now close the cooker and put the whistle. Cook in high flame for one whistle and then simmer it for ten mins. After ten mins switch off the flame and allow it to rest for another ten mins.
• Open the lid and mix the rice gently.

Tips and Tricks:

1. Be careful not to brown the dal. Then the rice will not be tasty. Fry the dal just for a minute in very low flame and add the garlic quickly.
2. Instead of water coconut milk can be added for extra rich taste.

RAVA LADOO

This recipe I learned from my mom. Usually Rava Ladoo is made with milk. But my mom’s recipe uses only ghee for binding. So the ladoo will not get spoiled easily. 

Ingredients:

White Rava (sooji) - 2 cups
Sugar - 1 cup or as needed
Ghee - 1/2 cup
Cardamom Powder - 2tsp
Cashew Nut - 1/4 cup (broken into pieces)
Whole Cashews - for garnishing

Preparation:

• Take a tsp of ghee from the given measurement and roast the rava in medium flame until it becomes aromatic and light golden in color . 
• Cool down the rava and grind it into a fine powder and keep it aside . 
• Grind the sugar also to a fine powder . 
• Pour the ghee in a pan and add the cashews given for garnish and roast it until golden brown . Take the cashews out and keep it aside . 
• Add the broken cashews in the ghee and roast until golden brown. 
• keep the flame in low and add the rava powder, sugar and cardamom powder . Switch off the flame and mix well.
• At this point taste to see if the sugar is enough and add accordingly.
• Make the ladoos as soon as possible while the mixture is still hot. Garnish with halved cashews.

Tips and Tricks:

1. Roasting the rava until golden in medium flame is really important else the rava will remain raw.
2. Garnishing with cashews is not really necessary as we are adding lots of cashews already in the ladoo. Feel free to skip that step
3. The ladoo should be made quickly while it is hot. Otherwise the ghee and sugar will harden and the ladoo will not hold its shape. So the trick is to keep the rava mixture on the stove itself and make the ladoos to retain the heat as much as possible. If it becomes cold at the end then switch on the flame again for sixty seconds. The mixture will melt a little and it will become easy to make the ladoos
4. For two cups of rava one cup of sugar is enough for us. But the amount of sugar can be increased for more sweetness.