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Wishing you all a very happy Holi Am here with a Holi (virtual) treat - Dry fruits ladoo!! A healthy and tasty recipe that everyone would love.

Antine unde | Dinkache Ladoo | Gond ke laddu

Ingredients:
Dry dates (Khajur): 100 gms
Cashew: 100 gms
Raisin: 100 gms
Almond: 100 gms
Edible gum: 50 gms
Dessicated coconut (Copra): 50 gms (grated)
Poppy seeds (Khus khus): 50 gms
Jaggery: 250 gms
Ghee: 250 gms

Preparation Method:

• Heat ghee and fry dry dates, almonds, raisins, cashews, copra and poppy seeds.
• Make sure that they are not over fried!
• Allow the mixture to cool and then coarsely powder it.
• Mix jaggery in water (1 tbsp is enough) and allow it to boil.
• Keep boiling till we get one string consistency.
• Remove it from the stove top.
• Now add dates/nut mixture with jaggery syrup and start making ladoos.

Dinkache ladoo is usually given to nursing mothers. The dry fruits and nuts provide the nutrients and strength to the new mother.

Anu's Kitchen antine undi, antinunde, Dry fruits laddu, edible gum ladoo, ghum che laado, Ghum ke ladoo, Gond ladoo, |

Maida chips is one of my favourite snack. I remember my Aaji preparing this chips as afternoon snack for us. Jiffy recipe thats too easy to prepare! We can add sugar instead of chilli powder to make sweet chips. Enjoy this spicy maida chips

Maida Chips

Ingredients:
Maida: 3 cups
Chilli powder: 2 tsps
Asafetida: a pinch
Salt: to taste
Cooking oil: to fry

Preparation Method:

• Mix maida, salt, asafetida and chilli powder.
• Add water and make a dough out of it.
• Make balls out of the dough and roll it (as we do for chappathis).
• Cut the dough in to small pieces using a knife.
• Fry them in oil.
• Tasty chips is ready!

Anu's Kitchen maida chips recipe, maidha chips, spicy chips recipe

Spring is near… this is my mantra now. Yes the thought about spring is itself very refreshing. Thankfully winter this year in Chicago isn’t too bad. The storm that was torturing the folks in east has finally abated! When ever it snows, I remember the famous Christmas song… “Let it snow..”

Oh the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we’ve no place to go,
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Being indoors increases our appetite for crunchy snacks.. Hot tea with something spicy… tastes heaven! Here is a spicy crispy crunchy snack tats healthy too

Avalakki Hurigalu | Chinch Pohe

Ingredients:

Thick Poha (Flattened rice / Beaten rice): 250 gms
Verkadalai (Peanut): 50 gms
Pottu kadalai (Fried gram): 50 gms
Copra (Dessicated coconut): 50 gms [Cut into small pieces]
Tamarind: Lemon size ball
Salt: to taste
Cooking oil: to do seasoning
Curry leaves: few
Asafetida (Hing): a pinch

Preparation Method:

• Dry fry verkadalai and remove the rind.
• Soak tamarind in water for about 30 mins
• Extract tamarind juice from the pulp and mix it with poha.
• Add chilli powder, salt and turmeric powder to it and mix thoroughly.
• Heat cooking oil and do seasoning using mustard seeds, curry leaves and hing.
• Add the tamarind poha mixture to it and fry well.
• Remove from the stove top.
• Now add copra, verkadalai and pottu kadalai and mix well.
• Serve with hot chai

Anu's Kitchen aval mixture, avalakki hurigalu, avalakki recipe, chinch poha, chinche pohe

Ever thought of preparing kheer without using stove? Here is such recipe using khus khus (Gasagasa). This is my mom’s special dessert. Simple yet delicious

Khus Khus Kheer | Gasagasa Payasam

Ingredients:
Khus Khus: 4 tbsp
Badam (Almonds): few (fistful)
Kaju (Cashew): few (fistful)
Copra (Dessicated coconut): 1 cup
Elachi (Cardamom) powder: 1/2 tsp
Kalkandu (rock candy or rock sugar): 5-6 (Big ones)
Boiled milk: 1/2 litre

Preparation Method:

• Soak khus khus, badam and kaju overnight in water.
• Add copra and grind them to a fine paste.
• Coarsely powder kalkandu.
• Add powdered kalkandu and elachi to the khus khus paste.
• Allow boiled milk to cool and add it to the khus khus paste.
• Khus khus kheer is ready! Serve chill.

Health benefits of poppy seeds:

Poppy seeds protects heart against cardiovascular diseases. Poppy seed oil prevents breast cancer. Poppy seeds with sugar can be taken to cure insomnia.

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Hope everyone enjoyed the Makarasankaranthi/Pongal

Dear son Aanand is growing pretty well. Can’t believe he is 3 months old now! Time just flies away. The other day we were chatting with Panaji (great grandmom) via webchat. She mentioned that as the babies reach their milestones, its a customary that we prepare few dishes so to mark their achievement, enjoy and feel proud about it. It seems somas is prepared when the babies turn to their sides. Why somas? God only knows Probably it resembles a child lying on his sides… (he he pardon my vague idea…) Aanand accomplished this milestonse long back, within couple of weeks since he was born. Here I share the somas recipe and my happiness as a proud mother with you all.

Somas recipe | Kajjikayalu

Ingredients:

Maida: 3 cups
Rava (Sooji): 1 cup
Pottu Kadalai (Roasted bengal gram) powder: 1 cup
Desiccated coconut (Copra) : 1 /2 cup
Sugar: 1 cup
Cardamom powder (Elachi) : 1 tsp
Cooking oil : To fry the somases
Somas presser (Shown in the figure) : one (This is optional)

Preparation Method:

• Puran preparation for somas:
  • Grate the copra.
  • Mix pottu kadalai powder, sugar, grated copra and elachi powder. keep it aside
• Roast rava and powder it.
• Mix the powdered rava with maida.
• Add water and prepare a dough (Just like we do for making puris).
• Make small balls out of the dough and roll it (small ones as puris).
• Place the flattened dough on the somas presser.
• Keep the puran and close it.
• Remove extra dough protruding from the sides of the somas presser.
• Now remove the somas from the presser and deep fry it.
• Delicious somas is ready to relish.

If you do not have a somas presser, follow these steps:

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