Boondi Ladoo Recipe

Ingredients

• Besan flour (kadala mavu) : 1 cup
• Water : 1/2 to 3/4 cup (adjust to get a flowing batter)
• Orange food color : a small pinch
• Cardamom : 2 powdered
• Cashews & Raisins : just for garnishing
• Ghee : to deep fry

For sugar syrup

• Sugar : 1 1/4 cups
• Water : 3/4 cup

Method

1. Sieve besan flour and add water little by little to form a thick paste. Then add more water to form a flowing batter. Add orange color and mix well.
2. We need 2 ladles, one for making boondis and another one for draining them from oil. We need to be very careful about batter consistency, if batter consistency is not perfect the balls will not be round and it will have tails. To check if the batter is in correct consistency, first take a spoon and dip the backside of the spoon into batter and hold it over the heated oil. If it drops as perfect rounds then the batter is perfect. Otherwise dilute the batter and check again.
3. Pour one ladle of batter over the ladle with the hole for making boondi. It will drip down by itself, you can even spread it using the ladle in circular motion. It should not be crispy, we must take it in the just cooked stage. Drain it using the second ladle and remove to a paper towel.
4. Repeat to finish the entire batter.
5. At the same time take sugar with water in a wide pan and heat it up. Boil until one string consistency. Check for one string consistency by taking a drop between your thumb and index finger, you can see a single string forming between your fingers. Take care while doing this, wet your hands before checking. Otherwise hot sugar syrup will burn your hands. You can check the cosistency by adding drops of sugar syrup in a bowl of water. If it is in right consistency sugar syrup will form a soft ball in the water. Now off the flame and set aside.
6. Add cardamom powder into the sugar syrup and add boondis into it. Mix it well and wait for sometime to make ladoos.
7. When its still warm enough to handle with your hands shape them into ladoos. 
8. You can garnish this laddos with fried cashews and raisins. Enjoy!!

Mushroom Pulao

 

Belated Eid wishes to all. I was hoping to post this on the Eid day, but things did not work the way it was supposed to be. The guests who were expected to come on the Eid day came yesterday only. So we celebrated Eid with a simple "Nawabi Biriyani" accompanied with "Pineapple Payasam". Yesterday was the real feast. I served a five-course meal for them. There was mushroom pulao,  bhatura, naan, chicken mughalai, mutton roganjosh etc.,. etc.,. for the main course. I am posting mushroom pulao recipe this time, other recipes will be published soon.
Off to the recipe...

Ingredients

Mushroom : 15 (1 packet)
Basmati Rice : 2 cups
Cardamom : 3
Onion : 2 sliced
Mint Leaves : 1/4 cup
Coriander leaves : 1/4 cup
Green Chilly : 2
Sugar : a pinch
Butter : 4 tbsp
Salt : to taste
Lemon juice : 1 tsp

Method

• In a pressure cooker heat 2 tbsp of butter, then add cardamom. Add cleaned basmati rice into this, saute for few minutes till all the moisture in the rice leaves out. Add water.
• Add salt and few drops of lemon juice. Cook the rice till one whistle. Wait till all the steam goes out.
• Thinly slice the mushrooms and onions after washing it nicely.
• In a pan, add 1 tbsp of butter and add the onions. Add little salt and saute them till they turn pink. Add the thinly sliced mushrooms. Mushrooms tend to cook and oozes out water too.
• When done add this to the rice.
• Make a fine paste of coriander leaves, mint leaves and green chillies.
• In another pan, add little butter and add this paste and add a pinch of sugar. Sugar is added to retain the color. Saute for a while and add this to the rice.
• Mix this gently and evenly.
• Mushroom pulao is ready to serve.