Besan Ke Ladoo Recipe

Ingredients:
11/2 cup gram flour (besan)
1tbsp semolina/suji/rava
1 cup sugar (add more sugar as per your taste) 
1/2 cup ghee (clarified butter)
1/4tsp cardamom powder (optional)
dry fruits of your choice (I have used chopped cashews and almonds lightly roasted in ghee)
Method:
Take ghee in a kadhai. Put the gas on low heat. Once the ghee starts to melt add the besan and suji. Sieve the besan beforehand to avoid any lumps.
Cook the besan and suji on low heat till the raw flavours are gone and it is well cooked. Once the besan is cooked you will get a nice aroma. Keep stirring to ensure it gets cooked evenly without any burn. Time can vary depending on the heat of the gas. It took me around 20mins as I was cooking on very low heat.
After the besan is cooked remove it from heat. Let it cool little bit. Cool enough to use your hands to mix the sugar.

Add sugar, cardamom powder and chopped dry fruits. Mix all the ingredients well using your hand. The sugar I get over here is very fine so it was easy for me to mix. If the sugar you are using is coarse then you can powder the sugar before adding it to the besan.
Once the mixture cools down completely, form ping-pong size balls.
Besan ke ladoo are ready to serve. 
This recipe will make 15-17 besan ke ladoo.

Baingan Ka Bharta (Roasted Eggplant Recipe)

Baingan Ka Bharta has two versions. The recipe below is the Punjabi version. I will post the other version later. 
Ingredients:
500 gms brinjal/eggplant (large)
1 green chilies,chopped
4-5 medium size tomatoes,puree
2 medium size onion,chopped or sliced
1 inch ginger, minced
6-7 garlic cloves,minced
1/4 cup green peas 
1tsp red chili powder
1tsp coriander powder
Salt to taste
3-4tbsp oil
Chopped coriander leaves for garnishing
Method:
Wash the brinjal and pat dry. Roast the brinjal on medium flame on a gas cooktop till the skin has charred completely. You can even roast the brinjal in a grill or oven.
Cool and then peel the skin of the brinjal. Also remove the top part of the brinjal.
Mash the brinjal. Add salt to taste and mix well.
Heat oil in a pan. Add the minced garlic. Saute till it is golden brown.
Add the onions and saute till they are golden brown.
Add the green chilies and ginger. Saute till the raw flavours of ginger are gone.
Add the tomato puree. Let it cook on medium heat till the oil separates. Add red chili powder,peas and coriander powder. Cook for another 2-3minutes.
Now add the mashed brinjal. Mix all the masla with the brinjal.
Lower the heat, cover and cook for 10-15minutes or till the oil separates and brinjal is well cooked.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
Serve Baingan ka bharta with roti or chapatti.

Palak Lasooni Daal (Spinach Lentil)

Palak Lasooni Daal

Ingredients:
3/4cup moong daal (Yellow moong daal/Split green gram)
11/2cup roughly chopped palak (spinach)
1 medium size onion, finely chopped
2 small size tomatoes, chopped
9 cloves of garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, minced
2 green chilies, paste
1/4tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1/4tsp turmeric powder
3tsp oil/ghee
Salt to taste
Method:
Wash spinach thoroughly in running water until clean.
Blanch in salted boiling water for two minutes. Refresh in chilled water. Squeeze and remove excess water.
Dry roast the moong daal in a pan on medium heat. Remove from heat once the lentil starts getting golden brown. Let the lentil cool and then soak the same in water for half an hour.
Wash the lentil and transfer it in a pressure cooker. Add salt and turmeric. Add around 3cups of water and pressure cook until 4-5 whistles. You might see some water oozing out when the whistle  blows.
Once the cooker cools give a nice stir to the daal so that it gets mashed.
Heat oil in a pan on medium heat. I prefer using ghee (clarified butter) for tempering to add that extra flavour.
Add the cumin seeds. Once the cumin seeds start crackling, add the onions. Saute the onions till they are translucent.
Add the ginger-garlic-chili paste. Saute till the raw flavours are gone.
Add the tomatoes and fry till they are soft and tender. Try and mash the tomatoes with the back of a spoon once they are soft. Add red chili powder if you want. I have added green chilies so I have skipped red chili powder.
Add around 2cups of water and bring it to a boil. Add water as per your requirement depending on the consistency you want. I am going to serve this with rice so I have added more water.
Pour this in the boiled daal. Stir to mix all the ingredients well.
Cover and cook on low heat for 20-25minutes.
Add the palak. Cook on high for 2-3 mins.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. 
Palak lasooni daal is ready to serve. 
Tip!!
For tempering you can also use shahi jeera or black cumin. This gives a different flavour. 

Instant Khatta Dhokla Recipe

I don't have a steamer so I have used a microwave for this recipe. If you have a steamer then you can use the same recipe. In a steamer it may take around 15-20 minutes to cook the Dhokla.
Ingredients:
1/2cup rice flour
1/4cup chickpea flour (Besan)
3/4cup rava/semolina/suji
1/4cup yogurt(make sure it is sour)
1/4tsp citric acid (Use this just in case the yogurt is not very sour)
Salt and sugar to taste
Ginger paste,as per taste (I have used almost 2tsp ginger paste)
Green chili paste,as per taste (I have used 1tsp chili paste)
1tsp eno (fruit salt)
1tsp sesame seeds
2-3tbsp oil
1/2tsp kashmeri red chili powder
Tempering Ingredients:
1/2tsp mustard seeds
2tbsp oil
A pinch of asafoetida
Method:
In a bowl mix the rice flour,chickpea flour and the rava together. Make sure you sieve the chickpea flour before adding it to the bowl.
Add salt,sugar,ginger-chili paste,yogurt,and oil. Mix all the ingredients well.
Add little water at a time to make a batter. The consistency of the batter is shown in the video below.

Take a flat bottom microwave dish and grease it well. 
Now add the fruit salt/eno to this batter and mix well.Pour the batter instantly in the dish,sprinkle red chili powder and sesame seeds. Let the dhokla cook on 60% power for 7-10 minutes in the microwave. The time can vary for different microwaves so keep a close eye. A toothpick inserted at the center of the dish should come clean once the Dhokla is cooked.
For the tempering heat oil in a tadka pan, add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds start to splutter add the asafoetida. Pour this evenly on the Dhokla.
You can garnish with coriander leaves before serving.
Instant Khatta Dhokla is ready.

Nariyal Ke Laddu (Coconut sweet made with jaggery)

Nariyal Ke Laddu made with a different variety of jaggery.

I have always loved eating nariyal ke laddu. I was born and brought up in Kolkata and this is a common Bengali sweet. Bengali's prepare this sweet dish at the time of Lakshmi Puja or Lakkhi Puja as they say in Bengali. This laddu is distributed as Prasad. My Bengali neighbour would always send this to my house as Prasad and I would be the first one to eat it. I never thought of preparing this sweet dish in Kolkata as grating the coconut is not my cup of tea. However, here in Dubai the Supermarkets sell fresh grated coconut so now I can make as many Nariyal ke Laddu's and eat:) This Ganesh Chaturthi prepare the Nariyal Ke Laddu and impress your family
Ingredients:

1 grated coconut
1/2 cup milk
Pinch of cardamom powder (Optional)
200gms jaggery, best if you can get date jaggery (Gur) 
Method:
Pour the milk in a thick bottom pan. Add the jaggery to this and cook on slow heat until the jaggery melts and mixes well with the milk. Try and find good quality Jaggery. 
Now add the grated coconut. Cook on slow heat and stir occasionally. 
Add a pinch of fresh cardamom powder.
When the mixture is thick and sticky(shown in the picture below) remove the pan from heat and let it cool completely. Do not over cook or else the mixture will dry. Just in case you have over cooked then add little milk and cook to get the right consistency.

Now take small quantity of the mixture to form small round balls. 
Nariyal Ke Laddu is ready to serve. 
This recipe serves around 14 small Laddu's. 
I just wanted to mention that it is a high calorie recipe so count the numbers when you are eating 

Nariyal Ke Laddu made with a different variety of jaggery.