Fried Modak Recipe for Ganeshotsav

Here’s a simple and fast fried Modak recipe especially for Ganeshotsav.You can use wheat flour/ maida (all-purpose / refined flour). There are three parts to the preparation of Modak:

1. FILLING
2. DOUGH 
3. FRYING

Quantity: Approximately 25-30 Modaks

Ingredients for FILLING:
4 cups grated fresh coconut
4 cups grated jaggery (gud)
1 tbsp freshly prepared cardamom powder
Some dry fruits

Preparation of FILLING:

Modak Filling

Heat some pure ghee. Ensure you maintain medium flame. Fry the dry fruits. Add grated fresh coconut and grated jaggery and keep mixing on heat. After jaggery melts and mixes properly with coconut, add cardamom powder and mix well.

DOUGH:
Knead the dough (wheat / refined flour) with some salt

FRYING:
First roll the dough into 2-3 inch diameter circles. Apply some oil on your palms if it's getting sticky.
Hold the rolled dough on left palm (for right handers) and place a spoonful of filling in the centre.

To give proper shape to the Modak, try to close the rolled dough on the tip (like closing petals of a flower) with your right hand and pinch the ends all around towards the tip of the Modak.

Deep fry Modaks on medium flame until they turn brown and crisp.

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Modak in Different Languages

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Hudson Canola Oil & Chatpate Corn Fritters

This is an unbiased product review for Hudson Canola Oil. I was sent a 1 litre sample bottle of Hudson Canola Oil for a review. To be frank, until I received a mail from the company's representative, I had not heard about Canola. So even before I agreed to review, I did my own research about the oil and its possible benefits.

I discovered that it is much healthier than olive oil (I personally do not like the taste that olive oil imparts). My only concern was its taste and I read that the taste was neutral, so I thought it was worth a try. I agreed to receive and review the oil. The beautiful and smartly designed bottle of the oil came along with an information pamphlet about canola oil and a recipe book (chef Komal Taneja's 16 recipes)!

Before I continue, let me tell you what exactly is canola oil. It is extruded from the seeds of the yellow Canola flower. The name is derived from a contraction of Canadian and ola (oil). It is known to have the lowest saturated fat amongst all oils, high monounsaturated fat, high Omega-3 and rich Vitamin-E content. You can read the entire list of health benefits here.

Usage facts about Canola Oil*:
Canada: Over 50% of the vegetable oil consumed
Japan: Over 50%
Mexico: 25%
US: Second most preferred oil
Australia: Second most preferred oil

Image Source: Wikipedia

Hudson Canola Oil is from the Prairie regions of Western Canada, this is where canola was discovered!

Taste: The taste is neutral, only when you are frying something in this oil, the aroma of the oil is slightly like that of mustard oil. But it does not lend the aroma to the preparations!

Oiliness: I prepared corn fritters and I can assure you that they weren't oily like hey generally are after frying. No oil residue on fingers... I was pleasantly surprised?!

Preparations: The good thing about this oil is that unlike other edible oils, it can be reused without any harmful effects. That really helps me as I hate discarding leftover oil and so if I deep fry something, I end up preparing fried items the next day as well. So I used Hudson Canola Oil over a month in everything from deep frying corn fritters, greasing for cake and stuffed idli preparations, kneading dough for chapatis, cooking Indian style vegetables, dosa and vegetable biryani (pictures below). Everything turned out great, consumed lesser oil and of course it is healthier.

Smoking Point: It is an amazing stable oil at higher temperatures. Perfect for deep frying!

Price: Ouch... now that is the only pinch. Rs 195 per litre (as on July 2013).

Oil in oil... I mean all in all, I found Hudson Canola Oil perfect for my cooking and I do recommend it strongly.

Chatpate Corn Fritters Recipe using canola oil

Ingredients:
2 cups of boiled corn (boil with some salt, 4 whistles in a pressure cooker are ideal).
1/2 cup of finely chopped onions
Red chilly powder (depending on the spiciness you prefer)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp chaat masala
Salt for taste

Preparation:
Drain all the water from the boiled corn and grind it coarsely.
Remove the ground corn and mix onions, chaat masala, turmeric powder, chilly powder and salt.
The consistency of this fritters mixture would be like the one you get for making besan pakode (so it is not free flowing bt a but thick.
Heat canola oil in a pan. When it is hot, deep fry the fritters.
Remove on a tissue paper / toilet roll.
Serve with green chutney, tamarind sauce or tomato sauce!

Tip:
It should not happen but if your mixture consistency is not thick, you can add some small bread pieces.

Another preparation I tried using Hudson Canola Oil for greasing: Stuffed Idlis

 

*Facts derived from Hudson website

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Ready-to-Tr'eat' sans preservatives

Husband: So what did you cook for dinner?
Wife: Nothing!
Husband: Great... that's why I love you so much!
And they ate Royally ever after!

There was a time when I used to often invite friends over and treat them with delicious home cooked delicacies. Samosas, Delhi waali Aloo Chaat, Paneer Makhanwaala, Amritsari Choley Bhature, Halwa... I had all the energy and since I was single then, mom and I cooked together. So that meant faster and lots of delicious food that was loved by all my friends. Accompanied with golden oldies and nostalgic chatter, every get-together at my home used to be blissful. Something that we still discuss when we meet now!

This post won the Runner-Up Prize

Now that I am married and it's just me and my husband staying together, one would assume that we have house parties every other weekend. How we loved to invite friends over when parents were not around! However, those who know me well, know why the get-togethers at my place have reduced drastically. Thank God all my friends understand that now I have very limited ability to be the perfect host I used to be. Cutting veggies, kneading dough, preparing exotic time-consuming recipes for four or more people and then serving endlessly is a distant dream with fibromyalgia. I don't remember the last time I cooked a full-course meal for guests at home!

Did I consider ready-to-eat meals? Oh yes! But there were several factors involved in not opting for ready-to-eat meals:

1. I discovered that they can be loaded with preservatives.
2. There is this weird tangy ginger-garlicky taste in most of the meals that I picked up from supermarkets.
3. What would people think if I invited them for dinner only to serve food straight out of fridge to pan to plates!

So I must confess that I did try a couple of Kitchens of India dishes earlier when I had no time to cook and they were the best among the rest, but haven't still brought ready-to-eat packs when I have guests at home.

And now that I am writing for this contest hosted by IndiBlogger and Kitchens of India, I thought of thoroughly going through their website first to be strictly unbiased. And I am glad I did, as now I am considering a gourmet party with friends using Kitchens of India products. After all, they take care of all my concerns:

1. Kitchens of India products do not have preservatives. So you may ask how the products stay fresh then. Well, they use a blend of natural and scientific techniques, the right amount of edible oils and iodized salt to ensure that what we eat is Safe and Superb. You can read the details about the technology and process here.
2. I don't find any weird tangy ginger-garlicky taste in their products. In fact, they taste the way chefs make it in leading hotels and restaurants!
3. I would happily use these delicacies when have guests at home. And after they enjoy the food and I talk about the no-preservatives and modern technology, they would be speechless (or rather doubtless) and all praises!

DID YOU KNOW?
The Kitchens of India recipes have been crafted by the Masterchefs of ITC Hotels!

So yes, I am thinking about hosting a fun-filled and non-exerting weekend gourmet party with friends. And the theme would be ROYAL GOURMET PARTY.

Royal Location: Our house where we can sit in the balcony watching the sunset and after a long night's party wake up to chirping birds and views of river and hills!

Royal Ambience and Style: So I will place some silk cushions on the sofa with the haathi-ghoda prints. The chandelier is already in place, so we would light up the room in golden instead of the tubelights / CFLs this once. And we would all wear traditional Indian attire - the kind of stuff we wear in weddings (silky salwaar kameez / sarees; men can wear kurta-pyjamas).

Royal Entertainment: Thankfully all of our friends have similar music tastes. So some ghazals, golden oldies and instrumental music would be played in the background. We can play some games like cards, it's always fun!

Royal Gourmet: Now that I am all set for Ready-to-Tr'eat' meals from Kitchens of India, I will choose the following based on the fact that we all are absolute foodies and some of us are vegetarians too:
Chicken Darbari
Murgh Methi
Mughlai Paneer
Mirch Ka Salan
Tamarind and Date Chutney
Apple and Cinnamon Conserve
Jodhpuri Moong Dal Halwa
Some fresh Chapatis and Jeera Rice and I am certain the party would be hit with the sumptuous cuisine!
Royal Surprise: Oh yes, initially I will not tell people that I have used Ready-to-Eat dishes from Kitchens of India. I will start a guessing game where people will have to guess all the ingredients of a dish (which they would initially think that I cooked). Only after a good amount of masti and leg-pulling will I disclose the secret of my kitchen.

Or should I just keep it as a Royal Secret?
Now if only someone created something like Ready-to-Reuse crockery and I can save on the post-dinner cleaning time as well!

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Cooking with Chronic Pain

I have always loved cooking. Trying out new recipes and being the perfect host at get-togethers is what I have always loved. But a few years ago, I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, a straightened spine and hypermobility of joints. That made cooking a tough task for me. It hurts to do so many things with different pain levels and pain areas everyday. Chopping veggies, kneading dough or even standing for 20 minutes while cooking often becomes a super painful task.

Hence, I have started this section "Cooking with Chronic Pain" where I intend to share my recipes and those I find online (with due credits of course). I hope it helps chronic pain people across the world cook with ease.

Do feel free to write to me at annucool15@gmail.com if you need to share your recipe / something you think will help.

Take care and Happy Cooking!

Here are some easy to cook recipes that might help you:

1. Refreshing Apple Cinnamon Milkshake (SHAKES)
2. Quick Breakfast - Bread Poha (BREAKFAST)
3. Poha Chivda Recipe With Makhane (BREAKFAST)
4. Quick Punjabi Kadhi recipe - Dahi Besan Kadhi (MAIN COURSE)

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Shopping and Chopping

While shopping for french beans, cluster beans, ladyfingers or similar long green veggies, pick the ones similar in size and shape.
That way you will be able to chop small bundles together easily and the final dish will look more presentable too!

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Summer and Refrigerator

Do not forget to adjust the regulator of your refrigerator during summer for more cooling so that the food doesn't get spoiled.
And after summer, do not forget to bring it back to a little lesser cooling. 

ALWAYS OPT FOR A REFRIGERATOR THAT HAS THE LEAST POWER CONSUMPTION.

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Mango: Raw to ripe in the kitchen!

 

Forgot to keep a raw mango in the refrigerator. A few days later, it had ripened!!!

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Chatpati Bhel Recipe

Chatpati Bhel

Bhel Recipe for two:
Take 2 cups of kurmure / murmure / puffed rice in a vessel. Add the following:
Finely chopped onion (1 medium).
Finely chopped tomato (1 medium).
Some fresh pomegranate seeds.
1 tbsp dhaniya-pudina chutney (coriander-mint chutney).
1 tbsp sweet imli chutney (tamarind chutney).
Chopped green chillies as per preference.
1/4 cup cubes of boiled potatoes.
1-2 tsp finely chopped raw mango.
1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander.
1 tsp lemon juice.
1/2 tsp chaat masala (if you want it to be very chatpata).
Red chilly powder, to taste.
Salt to taste.
Mix well, garnish with bareek sev and serve with a smile!

Tip: During summers, use refrigerated pomegranate, tomatoes and raw mango to make it a cool bhel!

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Cool Hot Mint Tea / Pudina Chai Recipe

Mint (Pudina in Hindi) serves as a cool blessing in summers, especially with the increasingly soaring temperatures every year. And for those of us who can't do without a cup of tea in the afternoon, mint sure is a boon.

I had mint tea for the first time at Samovar restaurant (Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai) thanks to my dear friend Varsha. And ever since I have become a fan of mint tea!

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Short Cut Pav Bhaji Recipe

Since my hubby dear Mrinal reaches home pretty late (being in advertising industry, it's pretty natural), I make it a point to cook the dinner post 10 pm. But at times, the laziness takes over and by the time its past nine pm, I do not feel like cooking a full course meal.

So this evening I bought some fresh pavs and decided to cook our favourite Pav Bhaji. However, Mrinal told me that he will not be able to reach home until midnight. So I kept postponing the cooking program and by 11 pm I was too bored to cook. Hence the shortcut pav bhaji recipe!

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