Paneer Chocolate Peda by Usha Rani (Mahaslovelyhome)

Diwali is just around the corner, I didn't prepare many things this year, so I have blogger friends sharing on their Diwali sweets and bakes for the month of November. Blogging world have introduced so many good friends in my life, despite the distance of our location we are still keeping in touch and have a little chat every now and then. Today, I have someone who would like to share about herself and her world on blogging. let us see who is that okay;

HAPPY DIWALI READERS,FRIENDS,WELL WISHERS

Hi..I am Usha Rani..Who writes at Mahaslovelyhome..Well, I love eating and at the same time cooking too..More than following the same kind recipes, I  like to try new methods on my own Idea...This year I started working more on blog and at the same I am a busy wife and mother of two little boys..I believe in god and prays to lord shiva specially..MAHA Is an one other name of lord shiva and I choosed it for my kids..Without second thought I created blog name with MAHA..This is a small story behind my blog name..You can find all kind of baking recipes,rice varities and all categories recipes  of daily needed In Mahaslovelyhome. Recently, I started another blog where I share tips for food bloggers called as SOME THING HELPFUL...Your encouraging comments makes me to feel happy and gives more energy to cook and share my Ideas..Hope it continuous for ever..Thank you..

Arthy Suman is a simple,homely girl whom I visited through her blog..I appreciate her interest on cooking and "SUMANARTHYKITCHEN" is one of my most liking blog.I like her Non vegetarian recipes and some of innovative baking recipes too...Even I book marked few and sure will share the results...I also wonders by seeing her patience where she replies to each comment..Recently  In FB I saw her pic in Venisri wedding anniversary album.Love to see the food bloggers and how beautiful when they meets directly..Wish one day I will meet  at least few of our co-bloggers too..After seeing her status "ABOUT GUEST POSTS" in FB I send a message and she replied within seconds..Actually I planned to post this in my blog on DIWALI, but changed the Idea and writing as guest post in her blog. And Iam with double happy to share this recipe in co-blog on festival time.

Thank you so  much for accepting to write a guest post Arthy..I believe,you liked the post and try next If you are Interested..Hope you will..

Once again Personally, 

I WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY AND PEACEFUL DIWALI TO U N UR FAMILY..

ABOUT RECIPE: Ricotta cheese is always in my shopping list and I love to try gravies and sweets with R.C. well,All the co bloggers are busy in festival preparations and their posts tempting me much more and forced to try some thing..While searching fridge, noted this packet and coconut powder and with remaining ingredients created this peda..This is very easy to make and saves your time..You need just 5 INGS and that`s really quick to cook..Try this when you get some paneer in your kitchen and enjoy.

CATEGORY-SWEETS/RICOTTA CHEESE SWEETS/FESTIVAL RECIPES

PREPARATION TIME-10 MINUTES

COOKING TIME-15 MINUTES

WHAT YOU NEED

Ricotta cheese- 300 gms

Sugar-1/2 cup

Cardamom powder-1 tsp

Hershey`s cocoa powder- 2-3 tsps

Desiccated  coconut powder-1/4 cup

HOW TO COOK

Blend Paneer in  mixy jar..

Then heat pan with ghee and add paneer and sir continuously  for 5 minutes in medium flame...

Now add sugar and mix well..You can see some liquid type of consistency..

Keep flame in low and stir without stopping until it thickens..Add in cardamom powder too..

When the time paneer turns tight and hard it will separates from pan...It looks like a ball now and completely dry too..

Once you feel,it is done apply some ghee to plate and keep half of the the paneer dough..

To the remaining paneer add in cocoa and cook for 2 more minutes by mixing every second..Then turn off..

After 5-8 minutes apply some ghee to palms and start making pedas..Take goose berry size plain paneer mix into hands and take the same quantity of choco paneer  mix also..

Combine those and give a shape like PEDA.. (By pressing cookies cutters i got those designs on pedas)..

Yummy Paneer chocolate peda is ready..Serve warm or cold...

MAHAS NOTES

 I ground paneer  directly in the mixy jar..(forgotten removing water from the packet)

So,mine paneer mix is wet for and stirred long time..

If you use store bought ricotta cheese,then drain paneer from water and start grinding.

You can try this fresh home made paneer too..If it looks too thick you can add 1-2 tsps of milk..

Use good quality cocoa powder for best taste.

If you want burphi do like this,cook for few more minutes until it turns dry then spread a paneer layer on plate and on top spread another paneer choco layer and cut into desired shape..After some time separate the slices and serve

You can add some nuts on top for rich look..Try chocolate horlicks powder for a change/if available.

Now isn't that a wonderful sweet for this Diwali? Do try making this Paneer Chocolate Peda for your family and do tell us how it turned out for you !Thank you Usha for sharing such a delectable dish for us today. Happy Diwali to you and your beloved family.

Quick Thengapaal Appam/ Indian Pancake

Ingredients:

750g rice flour
1 tsp of yeast
A pinch of salt
A pinch of sugar
2 cups of water
1/2 cup of cooked white rice
1 cup of coconut milk
1/2 cup of grated coconut

Blend cooked rice, sugar, yeast and grated coconut with a little water then add rice flour and for a couple of minutes. Now pour this mixture into an airtight container with a pinch of salt and let it ferment for at least 7 to 8 hours or overnight (the consistency of mixture should be thick something like idli mixtures)

After the mixture sits to ferment, mix 1 cup of coconut milk to dilute the fermented mixture, it should be watery not thick to make sure you get crispy edges with spongy middle. Mix the coconut milk only when you are ready to make the appam.

You need appam pan, heat appam pan on low flame and pour a ladle of mixture and rotate the pan to get thin and crispy edges and the balance mixture will form spongy middle. Cover and cook until the edges turn golden brown and crispy. Now remove it to a plate and serve with freshly squeezed coconut milk (added with sugar).

Now our Thengapaal Appam is ready to be eaten, do try and let me know how it turned out for you!

Moong Dal Kozhukattai

Ingredients:
2 cups of raw rice (soaked and drained)
1/2 cup of whole moong dal
1/4 cup of shredded coconut
1/2 cup of sugar (reduce or add to your preference)
A pinch of salt

Dry blend the soaked raw rice and steam for 15 minutes, remove to a bowl and break all the lumps so that you will have lump free flour, let it cool down. Now dry roast whole moong dal until a nice aroma is released from the dal, let it cool down for a while then pulse it the blender once (we are looking for coarse grains not fine nor whole).

Boil the dal with salt and some water to soften it do not add so much of water as we will be using the water for the dough preparation later. Let the dal cool so that easier to work with it, slowly add the cooked dal to the rice flour we have prepared earlier, add sugar and coconut. Mix well and shape it into kozhukattai, steam for 10 minutes or until its completely cooked.

Let the kozhukattai cooled before serving, now our Mong Dal Kozhukattai is ready to be served. Do try and let me know how was it!

Coconut Candy

It's something special, but is it love? Its hard for some people to call it love because of pride and some, perhaps, even reject the feelings. What ever it is , love is in the air when he gives you butterflies in your tummy by just being in your thoughts or makes your heart thump as if you've just run a 100 m dash when he's near you. Some don't even feel love at first, until an argument or risk of break-up comes into picture and 'hate' soon blooms into romance. Others misunderstand friendship, lust or even infatuation as 'love' but love is so pure and honest and it doesn't need material assurance to ignite it. Don't rush into anything and take it slow and steady so that love will last till the end.

You must be thinking what am I blabbering here, hey but its Valentines Day and I'm so in love, no matter its V-Day or not. It has been 13 years, I have been swimming in the sea of love, for some one who have been very strict and fierce, love has changed me to who I am today. I thank God for sending me the guardian angel to care and love me my whole life, okay I better stop here. I can talk and talk and talk non-stop when it comes to love, let me bring you to the recipe today.

Today's special recipe is Coconut Candy, I have made this for the first time in my life for my beloved husband to celebrate V-Day. This candy is one of his favorite, but knowing me, I'm someone who don't fancy sweet stuffs and always very health conscious he never asked me to make for him. But it's not fair isn't it, once in a while its okay to have. Now let us see how to make this;

Ingredients:
2 2/3 cup of shredded coconut (only white part)
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of evaporated milk
1/2 cup of condensed milk
2 tbsp ghee/butter
2 tsp of rose extract
Few drops of red/pink food coloring
A pinch of salt

In a non-stick pan, melt ghee/butter and add coconut fry for a couple of minutes over medium flame, now add sugar, evaporated milk, condensed milk, rose extract, red coloring and salt. Stir everything continuously, do not leave the mixture without stirring constantly because it will be easily burnt. Stir until the mixture clumps together and almost dry.

Pour the mixture on a square cake mould and let it cool down, now cut into small squares and place it in the fridge overnight. The next day, remove from fridge and place the squares in air-tight containers in the fridge, it can be kept up to a month (if you don't finished it immediately :) ) Now our Coconut Candy is ready to be served.

Do try and let me know how it turned out!

Spinach Curry/ Kirai Curry

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of toor dal

14 cup of moong dal

A bunch of spinach (cleaned)

1/4 cup of coconut milk

1 brinjal (cut into small pieces)

1 tsp mustard seed

2 dried red chilli

5 bird eye chilli

1 onion (sliced)

3 garlic pods

Salt to taste

Oil for tempering

Wash and soak toor dal and moong dal for at least 30 minutes. Then pressure cook dal, garlic, bird eye chilli until soft.

Next add in spinach and let it soften, now add the sliced onion, brinjal, salt and mix well until cooked. Let all this boil until brinjal soften then add coconut milk let it simmer for a few minutes and turn off the flame.

Finally temper the curry with dried chilli and mustard seed and pour over the curry. Cover the pan and let the flavour trapped in the cooker until ready to eat.

Now our Spinach Curry is ready to be served. Do try and let me know how was it!

Chicken Kofta Kurma

Cooking is always have been a passion for me, especially when my husband loves my cooking and gets very happy when I take the effort to cook varieties of food for him to try. Being some one who always travel all around the globe, he have tasted lots of food and remembers it when I cook for him. Blogging have been an advantage for anyone who love to cook and try on new recipes, I get this recipes from my fellow blogger sisters who share the same passion.

Many of us definitely know Priya from Priya's Versatile Recipes where she have even done a guest post for me Vegan Christmas Fruit Cake. I have known Priya for few months now and I was digging some chicken recipes in her archive and found this recipe, as you all know I really admire her cooking and photography skills trying her recipe was exciting. I love Chicken Kofta Kurma as it was so creamy and thick not forgetting you would ask for more once you taste it.

Now let's look at how to cook this wonderful, lip-smacking dish;

Ingredients:

For Chicken Balls:
3 Chicken breast pieces (I used 250g of minced chicken)
1 Onion (big & chopped)
1tsp Garam masala powder
1 Green chilly (chopped)
1tbsp Corn flour
Salt

For Kurma:
1 onion (chopped)
2 tomatoes (chopped)
2 green chillies (slit opened)
1tbsp ginger garlic paste
1cup yogurt
5 cashewnuts
1tbsp coriander powder
1/2tsp red chilly powder
1tsp cumin powder
2 tbsp grated coconut
1 cinnamon stick

1 star anise
Chopped coriander leaves
Chopped mint leaves
Salt
Oil

In a bowl mix all the ingredients for chicken balls and make medium sized balls and keep aside.

Blend coconut, cashew nuts and yogurt to a fine paste without adding any water and keep aside.

Heat 3 tbsp of oil, fry cinnamon stick, star anise, onion, green chilli and tomato until aromatic. 

Then add ginger garlic paste and salt cook until all the ingredients are soft

Now add coriander powder, chilli powder and cumin powder and stir for a few seconds.Then add all the blended ingredients to the veggies and cook until the raw smell is gone approximately 5 minutes. 

Then add the prepared chicken balls to the gravy and cover to cook for another 5 minutes without stirring, this is to ensure that the chicken balls cook without breaking loose.

Once the chicken balls are cooked, simmer the gravy in low heat until it thickens and oil is 

separated from the gravy, this shows that the gravy is done and ready to be served

Now our Chicken Kofta Kurma is ready to be served, garnish with coriander and mint leaves

Do try and let me know how it turned out!

Less-sweet Dates Kesari

Ingredients:

1 cup of slightly roasted semolina
1/2 cup of coconut milk
2 tbsp of ghee
2 tbsp of chopped dates
2 tbsp of broken cashew nuts
1 tbsp of yellow raisins
2 drops of yellow coloring
1/2 cup of sugar
A pinch of salt
1 cup of water

Fry cashew nuts and raisins in ghee and keep aside.

In another pan, boil water once boiled add in coconut milk, yellow coloring, sugar, salt and mix well to dissolve the sugar. Do not boil once coconut milk is added, now slowly add in the roasted semolina mix well. 

Add in chopped dates, cashew nuts and raisins incorporate well with the semolina, add in 1 tbsp of ghee before serving the kesari to give a good shine.

Now our Less-sweet Dates Kesari is ready to be served, do try and let me know how was it!

Peppermint Chutney/ Pudina Chammanthi

This chammanthi is another favorite of mine, the taste of it I can't describe in words. I prefer to have this as a side for rice and dosa, the tangy, spicy and minty taste is just awesome. I learnt to make this from my mom and aunt, they usually grind this using ammi kallu (grinding stone). Now let's get to the recipe;

Ingredients:

2 cups of peppermint leaves

1 cup of grated coconut

A small piece of ginger

5 pcs of dried red chili

1 tbsp of tamarind paste

4 garlic pods
3 shallots
Salt to taste

Dry roast peppermint leaves, grated coconut, ginger, garlic, red chili and shallot until fragrant DO NOT BURN and let it cool for a while.

Then take all the above ingredients and grind using a ammi kallu or dry blend without adding any water, only if necessary just sprinkle some water while grinding. For step by step pictorial on chammanthi click here.

Now our Pudina Chammanthi is ready to be served. Do try and let me know how it turned out for you!

Mutton Pepper Fry

I cooked this dish so specially for Diwali for my mom as she don't eat chicken and loves mutton dishes a lot. I cooked this twice in a week during Diwali as the first time mom said she couldn't get enough of the dish as we served for visitors also. This dish is so spicy and delicious, the thick gravy best eaten as it is or with pepper rasam.

Now off to the recipe;

Ingredients:

1kg of boneless mutton

3 large onions (sliced)

1 tomato chopped small

2 sprigs of curry leaves

1 tsp of cumin seed

2 tbsp of ginger garlic paste

2 tbsp of meat curry masala

1 tbsp of coarse pepper powder

1 tbsp of chilli paste

1 tsp turmeric powder

2 tbsp of roasted coconut paste (kerisik)

1 cinnamon stick

3 star anise

3 cloves

1 tbsp of oil

Salt to taste

3 cups of water

A bunch of coriander leaves

I have used pressure cooker to cook mutton, clean mutton add turmeric powder, water and salt then pressure cook until 5 or 6 whistle depending on the tenderness needed. Once done drain the mutton and take out the excess fat on the meat, keep aside the mutton and save the water for later use.

In a pan, pour oil then add cinnamon stick, star anise, clove, curry leaves, cumin and fry for a minute. Then add ginger garlic paste, onion, tomato and let the tomato turn mushy. Now add mutton, meat curry masala, chilli paste, pepper powder and salt then pour 2 cups of water from boiling the mutton let all the ingredients incorporate well and the gravy reduces to half.

Once gravy reduced, add coconut paste and let gravy completely thicken. Adjust seasoning if needed and our Mutton Pepper Fry is ready to be served with a bunch of coriander leaves.

Do try and let me know how it turned out!

Chilli Coconut Chutney/ Chammanthi

I know that every family have their own style of making chammanthi/chutney, my family's favorite will be the thicker version that my mom and aunt grind using grinding stone. The taste of the chammanthi is so delicious, I can eat more than one dosa at a time. Okay without wasting any time let me bring you to the step by step pictorial on how to make Chilli Coconut Chammanthi;

Ingredients:

9 dried red chilli (depending on invididual preference)

1 cup of grated coconut

A small piece of ginger

4 garlic pods

3 pcs of shallots

Sugar to taste

Salt to taste

Dry roast dried chilli, ginger, garlic, shallots and let it cool for a while.

Firstly take grated coconut and grind coarsely

Now add all the dry roasted ingredients until fine

Now add sugar and salt

See perfectly ground chammanthi is ready

Collect the ground chammanthi to a ball

Now our Chilli Coconut Chammanthi is ready to be served, best eaten with hot idli and dosa

Do try and let me know how it turned out for you!

Prawn Masala (Less Spicy)

Prawn Masala is a very tempting dish, I would like to share my version of Prawn Masala which is thick and so delicious, not very spicy dish. Let us check how I made this;

Ingredients:

1 kg of large prawns (de-shelled and de-veined)
3 potatoes (diced)
1 large onion (sliced)
1 large tomato (diced)
1 tbsp kerisik (coconut paste)
1 tsp of turmeric powder
1 tbsp of ginger garlic paste
2 tbsp of fish curry masala
1 tsp of dried chilli paste
1 sprig of curry leaves
1 tsp of cumin seeds
1 tsp of fennel seed
1 cup of water
Salt to taste

Marinate prawn with turmeric powder and keep aside for later use.

In a pan, heat oil add cumin, fennel, curry leaves, ginger garlic paste and stir for a minute then add sliced onion, potato and tomato and  stir well, at this point add a pinch of salt.

Now add water and let the potato half cooked then add marinated prawns fry for a minute. Then add dried chilli paste, fish curry masala and kerisik, let the masala cook well and raw smell goes off. 

Let the gravy thicken and adjust seasoning, now our Prawn Masala is ready to be served.

Do try and let me know how it turned out!

Ennailappam/ Nei appam

This is a dish loved by all my family members and also people who visit us during this day. I would like to share our family recipe with you all today. Lets check out the recipe;

Ingredients:

3 cups uncooked rice (soaked 4 to 6 hours)

600g of palm sugar (mix with water and strain)

Half coconut flesh (cut small)

Enough water to mix the batter

Salt to taste

Drain the soaked rice and dry blend and strain to get fine flour, keep the coarse grains for use later. Mix the palm sugar that have been soaked and strained with the rice flour and 2 tbsp of coarse grains. Add salt to the above mixture with some water to get thick batter consistency. Keep this mixture overnight covered.

This is how the coconut flesh supposed to be cut

The next day add coconut flesh to the mixture and fry in deep hot oil to get appam like this.

Muruku

It has been 10 days since I have updated my blog, I have been extremely busy with work,business and Diwali preparations. Today I found a few minutes to write a post early in the morning, nothing much to say so let me bring you direct to the recipe; 

Ingredients:

6 cups of rice flour

3 cups of ulunthu flour (urad dal)

1/4 cup of white sesame seeds

1/4 cup of cumin seeds

1/4 cup of ajwain seeds

4 cups of coconut milk

1 tbsp of salt

2 tbsp of butter

Oil to fry

Dry roast rice flour and ulunthu flour and keep aside. Simmer coconut milk with salt, until warm do not boil it.

Mix butter to rice flour,ulunthu flour, butter and add 1 cup of coconut milk

Add sesame seeds, cumin seeds and ajwain seeds to flour

Now add the rest of the coconut milk and knead dough well and apply some oil to the dough

Press dough into a close coil like design and keep aside

Arrange all the pressed dough on a tray to fry

Heat oil and fry the coils in hot oil and fry until golden

Strain the muruku and keep aside to remove excess oil

Now our muruku is ready to be served

Do try and let me know how it turned out!

Im sending this recipe to Love2Cook's Event Deepavali Delights 2012