Gulab Jamun for Indian cooking October Challenge

We are so used to the ready made Gulab Jamun mix,the thought about making this from scratch never occurred to me.Thanks Srivalli for this one…this was indeed a wonderful challenge and i enjoyed making them.I made them twice,played a li’l with the shapes.A must try sweet!!!!

Gulab(less) Jamun from The Yum Blog

Makes: around 25 jamuns

Ingredients

Khova – 11/2 cups/ 1 recipe
Maida – 1 cup
Sugar – 3 cups (if you want excess syrup i.e floating jamuns increase by a cup)
Water – 1 cup (increase if you’re increasing sugar)
Cooking Soda – 3 pinches
Cardamom – 4 pods
Saffron leaves – a few
Oil – 1 cup (for deep frying)

Method

1. Combine sugar and water in a flat bottomed broad pan and simmer on a low heat until sugar dissolves. Add cardamom powder and saffron leaves and remove from fire.
2. Knead khova, maida and soda and quickly shape into balls.
3. Heat oil on a medium flame. Fry the jamuns till golden brown over a low to medium flame, keeping oil temperature uniform. Oil should not smoke.
4. Drain the jamuns and soak in the warm sugar syrup.

Serve the jamuns after half an hour.

Verdict: They are delicious,very soft and easy to make.

Muruku for Indian Cooking September Challenge

I think all these event’s actually force me to blog:).August Challenge was Dhokla,though I’ve made it “n” number of times something or the other was always wrong.I was thoroughly impressed with the recipe provided by Srivalli.I actually missed the event but tried the recipe later and it was jes PERFECT! I guess it was the best Dhokla I had ever made.The key to any food is the perfect recipe.Similarly the Muruku’s recipe was wonderful.I made some Muruku’s couple of days back with my own recipe,it was so hard eventually ended up being a disaster.Made them again using Srivalli‘s method and they were just perfect.Thanks to her for super recipes:).So here it comes,crispy Murukus for Indian Cooking September challenge.

Preparation Time : 20 – 30 mins
Cooking Time : 20 – 30 mins
Makes : app 250 kg of Muruku
Cuisine: Andhra & Tamil Nadu

Utensils needed:
Muruku /Chakli Press.
Kadai

Ingredients Needed:

Raw Rice – 4 cups
Urad Dal – 1 cup
Water – app 1/2 cup or more

For Seasoning

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Sesame seeds- 1 tsp
Asafetida/ Hing – 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Butter – 75 gms

Method to prepare:

Wash and drain the rice. Shade dry the Rice for 1/2 hr. Dry roast the Urad dal to light brown. Allow it to cool.
If you are using more quantity, you can get it ground in rice mil, else use your mixie to grind both Rice and Urad dal.

First grind rice into a fine flour, keep it aside. then grind the urad dal to fine powder.

In a wide vessel, take both the flours along with salt. Mix well. Add cumin, Sesame seeds to the flour, mix well.

Whether you use Asafetida powder or the solid ones, you got to mix it in water, make sure it is dissolved before adding to the flour. If its not dissolved properly, when deep frying the muruku, there are chances for the hing to burst our due to air bubbles.

Mix in the hing to the flour and finally add the butter. Gather everything well and you will get more of a crumbling mixture. Now slowly add water and knead a dough which is little more softer than the puri dough.

Heat a kadai with oil enough to deep fry. Once the oil is hot enough, simmer to low flame.

Take the Muruku Aachu, wash and wipe it clean. Then divide the dough into equal balls. Fill the Muruku maker with the dough. You can either press it directly over the flames or press over a paper and gently slide it down the hot oil. But since the quantity mentioned here is less, you can press it directly over the kadai.

Cook over medium flame, using a slotted spoon, turn it over to other side to ensure both sides turn golden colour. You will know by seeing the colour that its cooked. Remove to a kitchen paper and store it in a air tight container.

Verdict – I don’t have words to say…its brilliant!