Pineapple halwa

I have eaten pineapple halwa at hotels. I have liked it ...the aroma as also the flavour . I had seen it in some recipe blogs. I tried it & it turned out well. On Akshaytritiya, I decided to make it again.

I looked up the recipe on Veg recipes of India.  In another recipe ( I forgot the blog name )  of pinapple sheera, ghee used is 3 tbsps for making sheera using 1/ 2 cup rava. I decided to use this ratio of ghee to rava.

I got two packets of pineapple slices which is available on Mumbai streets now. Each packet costs 10 bucks & has 4-5 thin slices of pineapple .I used the pineapple slices of both the packets.

Ingredients : 8-10 slices of pineapple, 1/2 cup rava, 1/2 cup sugar, 3 .5 tbsps ghee, 1 cup water, kesar strands ( optional ) , 2-3 cardamoms ( powdered ) , assorted dry fruits thinly sliced ( optional ).

Method : Keep 1 cup of water needed, on slow gas for heating it up.

Cut the pineapple into bits. I pureed the slices. Some pieces ( the middle part ) remained like that only. Keep this mix of pureed & hard pineapple aside.

Meanwhile roast rawa in ghee in a kadhai. Roast it nicely. I had dry roasted rawa nicely earlier. So in ghee, I  roasted it for less than 2-3 minutes. Add the pureed pineapple & the hard pineapple pieces into the ghee roasted rawa in kadhai. Mix all nicely. Let it cook for 4-5 minutes. Keep a watch by constantly turning the contents of kadhai up & down with a large ladle so that nothing gets stuck to kadhai bottom. Add the heated  water to the kadahi. Mix all contents nicely.  After 2-3 minutes, stir up the contents & continue cooking for 2 -3 minutes. Uncover the lid. Add sugar.Mix all the contents nicely. Add kesar strands. Mix again. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes. Stir with the ladle.Add cardamom powder.Mix all contents nicely. Cook for 1-2 minutes. The sheera is ready. If water can still be seen in the kadahi , cook for 2-3 minutes more. Switch off gas.

Cut thin slices of assorted dry fruits & garnish sheera with the slices of dry fruits.I have garnished with thin slices of cashew nuts. Even almonds & pistas can be used as garnish. Some recipes raost dry fruits in ghee & add them to such halwas.

Igfelt that 1/4 cup ghee was a better ratio for making sheera from 1/2 cup sooji so that the sheera looks moist. Mine was some what dry.

Apple Halwa.

I had got leftover unsweetened apple sauce. This sauce was brought from store by my teen for making cakes eggless. I thought why not make a sweet dish using this apple sauce & yet, I wanted to avoid cakes , cookies etc.I googled & came across this apple halwa. I looked up one more recipe .My recipe is a combination of both these recipes & maybe a little bit of some tweaking of the recipes.

Ingredients : 1 cup unsweetened apple sauce ( apples can be used as well as in this recipe ) , 1 cup sugar, 1 tbsp ghee, 1 tsp ghee for greasing the plate, assorted dry fruits chopped, 1 tsp cardamom powder.

Method : Take a thick kadhai & add ghee. As it melts, add the unsweetened apple sauce. Keep gas on slow flame throughout the recipe . Keep frying the apple sauce till it tarts thickening as it loses moisture. Please check so that it does not get stuck to the bottom of the kadhai

Add sugar to the thickened apple sauce ghee mix in the kadhai. The sugar will start melting .Keep stirring so that all ingredients mix nicely.Add the chopped dry fruits into the mix. Mix all nicely.  Every now & then give a good stir to the contents.As the mix in the kadhai gets thickening again, be careful.It will soon start leaving the sides of the kadhai.  Let it be on the gas stove.

Grease a plate with ghee all over.

Put off the gas. Pour the thickened halwa into the grease plate. Spread it evenly with a bottom of the katori. Let it cool.Then cut into desired shapes & serve.

My halwa became too sweet Next time, I would be using less sugar ...maybe 3/4 cup  sugar for 1 cup apple sauce or maybe even half cup sugar would be apt.

Gajar Halwa in microwave

I have posted a gajar halwa recipe earlier.That was made in a kadhai.

Since I have a microwave convection oven ,I thought of trying to make carrot halwa in microwave.I googled & got this microwave recipe here.And it turned out amazing ! Saved me, a lot of time.

I keep removing malai from my milk every time it forms on the milk.I buy Amul Taaza Milky Milk (with 3 % fat minimum & S.N.F.8.5% minimum ).I collect malai & keep it in freezer.I generally collect malai for nearly a month.Then ,use it for almond halwa ,doodhi halwa or carrot halwa.Carrot halwa is made only during  winters.

Ingredients : 4 cups de peeled & grated carrots , 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp cardamom powder, 2 tbsp ghee, 1 cup de frozen malai ( remove from freezer & let it remain outside to attain room temperature...almost 3-4 hrs ),dry fruits to garnish ( optional ).

Method : Take a microwaveable dish.Add ghee & the grated carrots. Microwave on high for 3 minute.Let it stand in microwave for 2 minutes.Remove the dish & add sugar, malai & mix in nicely with garted carrot ghee mix.Microwave on high for 10 minutes.Let it stand for 5 minutes in microwave.Remove dish & add cardamom powder.Mix nicely.Microwave on high for 2 minutes.Let dish be in microwave for 5 minutes. Remove from microwave.Serve in katoris or bowls .Garnish with dry fruits like almonds, pistachios & cashewnuts.

My daughter hates desserts with nuts added.Hence the garnish.

Microwave gajar halwa is a hit ! Loved it ! And what a lovely colour !

Atte ka halwa

I have always loved wheat flour halwa.I had tasted it many times over in temples & in homes of friends .Recently ,a close friend staying in the same building as me made it .I was tempted to try it.And so I googled about the most easy way to make it.I came across Rak's kitchen liked the recipe stated there.I am cautious as I want to try a very small amount before I get it right.

Ingredients : 1/ 3 cup whole wheat flour, 2 tbsp ghee, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/3 cup water, optional :a pinch cardamom powder.

Method : Roast the wheat flour in ghee in a kadhai till it slightly changes colour. Add water & sugar & mix.Actually ,both sugar & water  will get  absorbed very quickly & the halwa might start sticking to the bottom of kadhai.Hence, keep gas flame on slow from the beginning.

Put off gas.Sprinkle the cardamom powder on top of halwa.Before serving halwa, mix so that cardamom powder mixes nicely with all the halwa.

Dry  fruits like almonds & cashews roasted in ghee can be used a s a garnish on the halwa.Since ,this was my first attempt,I did the most simple version.Next time around,I hope to make this dish more rich .And trust that my snap of the dish will be much better !

Mango rasgullas.

I have tried strawberry rasgullas as also orange rasgullas though have not yet posted the recipes.

Since mangoes are the flavour of the season ,i thought of trying mango rasgullas. I googled & came across two recipes.....one at Priya's Versatile recipes & another at boldsky.

I mixed up the two recipes.

Ingredients : 1/3 cup mango puree ( used Kesar mango puree ....home made from kesar mango ), 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 litre fat free milk ( Amul ), juice of 1/2 - 1 lemon, 1-2 strands kesar, ghee for greasing hands, 1/2-1 lemon
.
Method : Boil half a litre of milk.Add kesar strands.As soon as malai starts forming ,add lemon juice by the spoonful ..Keep mixing the lemon juice with milk with a spoon. The milk will start curdling. Keep adding lemon juice & mixing till milk is curdled completely.This stage is when clear greenish water can be seen separated from lumps of solid white milky mass.The milky mass is chenna.

Keep a big white thin cotton cloth over a strainer.Keep this on a big vessel so that the clear water gets collected in the vessel.Strain the curdled milk with chenna on to the cloth on the strainer. The chenna will get collected in the cloth. Add 1 tbsp mango puree to the chenna. Mix nicely. Now wash the chenna with water 3-4 times  to remove all traces of lemon juice. Tie the cloth into a tight knot .This will squeeze remaining water from the chenna. Keep a heavy bottomed pan on the knotted cloth .Keep aside for half an hour to 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, boil 1 cup water in a  pressure pan .Add sugar.After sugar has dissolved inwater, put off gas. Add remaining mango puree .Add 1 cup water. Keep aside.

After 45 minutes of keeping chenna, it will have lost most of the water. Start kneading the chenna. Knead it for a good ten minutes. It will get softer & softer just like chapatti dough. Grease hands & start making small balls of the soft kneaded chenna. Drop these balls in the sugar mango syrup. Pressure cook upto 1 whistle. Then slow down the gas. Let it be on slow flame for 5 minutes. Put off the gas after five minutes.

Let the cooker cool.Remove lid & lo ,the mango rasgullas in mango puree are ready !

Let them cool to room temperature.Refrigerate the rasgullas & enjoy cold mango rasgullas !

I used Kesar mangoes as they are more sweet than alphansos.The sweetness was just right or maybe less sweet. Next time around, would love to try this without adding any sugar & using just pulp with water .