JOIN USIt is that time of the year again. Yes, the time when we cheat on our diets, make several excuses not to hit the gym and enter the kitchen under any pretext to gorge on sweets. Diwali is incomplete without sinful indulgences. And what better way to ring in festival of prosperity than by making some classic mithais.
Vijayalakshmi Reddy gives us a few timeless recipes to satisfy our sweet cravings
BADUSHA (12 pieces)
Ingredients: Around 230 gm of maida; 75 gm of ghee; a pinch of cooking soda; 2 tbsps of curds; chilled water; 230 gm of sugar and 60 ml of water.
Method: Grease a plate with ghee and add the maida, soda, curds and cold water to it. Mix with your finger tips to make a dough. Divide this dough into 12 balls, and flatten each ball to make the centre thick and sides thin. Deep fry these till they turn golden in colour. Prepare a sugar syrup of one-thread consistency and keep it warm. Now dip each badusha in sugar syrup for two minutes and take it out.
KALAKHAND (12 pieces)
Ingredients: A litre of full cream milk; 200 gm of milk powder; 200 gm of sugar; a tsp of cardamom powder; almond slivers and silver vark for garnish.
Method: Blend the milk, milk powder, sugar and cardamom in a mixie. Cook the mixture in a thick-bottomed pan or an iron kadhai. Keep stirring it on a medium flame till it starts leaving the sides of the vessel. Pour this mixture onto a greased plate and spread evenly. Let it cool for a while, Garnish with almond slivers and vark. Cut into squares after four hours.
KAJU KATLI (12 pieces)
Ingredients: Around 100 gm of cashew nuts; 50 gm of sugarless khoya; 50 gm of sugar; ½ cup of water; 1½ tbsp of water, silver vark, 1 tsp of liquid glucose (optional).
Method: Powder the cashews in a mixie. Combine this with khoya and milk. Prepare a sugar syrup with 1 tbsp water, and add the cashew mixture. Add liquid glucose and mix these quickly. Pour the katli mixture onto a greased plate and smoothen it evenly with the back of a ladle. Let it cool and cut them into diamond-shaped pieces. Garnish with silver vark.
KALA JAMUN (15 pieces)
Ingredients: Around 250 gm of sugarless khoya; 5 tbsps of maida; a pinch of cooking soda; a pinch of orange food colouring; a few strands of saffron; a handful of raisins; a pinch or two of cardamom powder; 2 tbsps of paneer; 3 cups of sugar for the sugar syrup and desiccated coconut for garnish.
Method: Mix the dry ingredients (maida, khoya, paneer and cooking soda) in very little water to make a smooth but firm dough. Divide this into 15 balls. Place a raisin or two inside each ball. Heat oil in a kadhai and deep fry the jamuns till they turn dark and keep them aside. To make the sugar syrup, dissolve the sugar in water and cook till the liquid reaches a one-string consistency. Add the saffron and cardamom powder to the syrup. Dunk the fried jamuns in the sugar syrup for two hours. Take them out and drain well. Garnish with desiccated coconut.