Dates and Nut Roll

Are you looking for a sugarfree sweet this diwali?.Then this would be the perfect choice.Recently i purchased chef Sanjeev kapoor's book and found this interesting sweet,and started to give my try.This is an easy and interesting sweet to make.The good thing about this is we are not adding sugar ,which the date and fig's will give you a sugary taste.Also loaded with all nuts its a healthy one to make.You could use your choice of nuts like cashews,raisins,and even pumpkin seeds,but ensure that you are adding more dates compare to nuts.Dates is the binding agent here.Lets look into the recipe

Ingredients

Dates - 2 Cup (chopped)
Figs - 1 Cup (chopped)
Almond - 1/2 Cup (chopped)
Walnut - 1/2 Cup (chopped)
Pista - 1/2 Cup (chopped)
Edible Gum - 1.5 Tbsp
Poppy Seeds - 3 Tbsp
Ghee - 2 Tbsp

Method

• In a pan add a tsp of ghee and fry the edible gum.Fry them until they are puffed,as shown in the picture and keep aside to powder them in a mixer .to a fine powder and keep aside.

 

• Chop the dates,figs and the other nuts.Now in a mixer powder the edible gum and keep separately. 

• In the same mixer coarsely grind the dates and figs separately(If you have food processor chop dates and figs using them) and keep aside. In the same kadai which was used to fry the gum add the remaining ghee and heat.

• Add the chopped nuts,then the dates and figs .Add the powdered gum and mix them under heat for a minute

• Transfer the mixture to a wide plate and allow to cool.Knead the mixture with your hands and form a ball.And gently make the ball to a roll of 2.5" width.Place a foil below the roll to cover.

• Wrap the roll covering the sides.Once wrapped, with the help of both hands mildly roll the date roll in a table and make them even allover.Place them in refrigerator and wait for an hour.After an hour take the roll out of your refrigerator ,keep a knife ,poppy seeds and a box ready.

• Remove and unwrap the foil carefully bring out the roll.With the help of a knife cut the roll of 1/2" thickness each.(After cutting the date roll i shaped them again to a perfect round shape)Dip the roll in the poppy seeds and cover allover the edge's and place them in a box.

Its ready to serve.

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Sweet Aloo Mixture

I have tasted this sweet aloo mixture in Adyar Ananda Bhavan ,and tried to recreate this mixture which came out to be a success in my first attempt.Its simple to make provided you have a readymade aloo mash to lighten the process.I had a huge stock of aloo mash at my home and gave it a try using them.It was good and less messy when compared to the fresh preparation,where it needs potatoes to be boiled and finely mashed.If you find the aloo mash in stores you could give a try using my method.I found this mixture to be heavy and filling one,as it contains aloo starch and nuts.But for a special occasion it gives a rich appeal.

Ingredients

Aloo Mash (Readymade) - 1 Cup
Rice Flour - 1/2 Cup
Sugar(powdered) - 1/4 Cup (Can increase/decrease according to your taste bud)
Nuts and raisins- less than 1/4 Cup (I used badam,cashew and raisins)
Water - as needed
Salt - a pinch
Ghee- 1 tsp
Oil - for frying

Method:

• In a vessel add the aloo mash and add some water,leave it for a minute and work on the aloo mash to form a dough.Then add rice flour,salt and make a soft dough out of it,sprinkle water if needed while forming the dough.Do not add water all at once. Meanwhile heat oil in a frying pan.Using the dough press take a small amount of dough and fry them.

• Fry the aloo sev in a medium flame.Turn the sides and fry them.Once done remove it from the oil and place them in a tissue paper to drain out the excess oil.Repeat this for the remaining dough.

• In a mixer grind the sugar to a fine powder and keep aside.In a kadai add oil or ghee roast the cashews.

• In the same kadai roast the badam and raisins and keep it along with cashews.In a separate vessel add the fried aloo sev ,roasted nuts mix well.

• Add the powdered sugar and mix well.

• Transfer to an airtight container.

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Thinai Vennai Murukku / Foxtail Millet Butter Murukku

Are you looking for something healthy and a traditional recipe ? If yes,then you are on the right track.Yes today my post is going to be a simple twist in the regular murukku.In the regular murukku flour we add rice flour,here iam going to replace the rice flour with homemade thinai/foxtail millet flour.Eventhough there is not going to be a much variation in taste compared to the regular rice flour one's,but you will get a satisfaction of consuming something even more healthier ,since foxtail millet is said to be a good source of protein,minerals an iron.Also it has a good quantity of betacarotene compared to rice and wheat.So why not give a try with a healthy millet?

This murukku came out so crispier and tastier.The flour is yellowish by nature so by default this murukku came out in golden color.

Ingredients

Thinai Flour - 1 Cup  (Click Here for Homemade flour version )
Urad dal - 3 Tbsp
Jeera Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Hing - a pinch
Butter - 1Tbsp (softened)
Salt - as needed
Water - as needed
Oil - for frying

Method

• In a vessel add the thinai and urad flour,salt ,hing ,softened butter and jeera seeds.Mix well with your fingers so that the butter is incorporated well with the flour.

• Add water little by little to make a dough.The dough should be soft and loose.Meanwhile heat oil in a frying pan.Take out a small portion of the dough and fill it in the murukku press.

• For convenience you can make murukku's on back of a ladle .If you can manage the heat you can simply shape out the murukku's directly in frying oil.Flip the sides of the murukkus to get fried in the other side too.Take out once fried or golden in color.Keep the flame in medium only.Do not keep it either in low or high flame.

• Store the murukku's in airtight container once it's cooled down.Its shelf life time is upto 3 weeks.

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How to Make your own Thinai and Rice Murukku Maavu / Flour

During diwali almost most of them would make murukku/chakli at home.Some people would make this snack using the store brought flour,as making your own flour at home would be little bit time consuming.But anyways homemade's are best at anytime.Until my last preparation of murukku was with the store brought flour,but i got excited to make my own flour when my mom visited my place and she said about the thinai murukku which would taste better.Since i couldn't find any foxtail millet/thinai flour around my place.I have to get in to the process of preparing it myself.It is so easy to enroll yourself ,and the tedious thing for me was to get it ground in flour mill.But once the four is ready and you taste the snack you can figure out the mean difference between the store bought and healthy hygienic home made one's.

Its not only you could make this only for murukku ,you could also make idiyappam and puttu out of this flour,i have tried with the rice flour puttu and idiyappam which came out to be good.And thinai puttu also was excellent.Just take your time to make this homemade flour and enjoy your festive snacks.

I have given both the rice and thinai/foxtail millet flour making below.

Ingredients

• Thinai / Foxtail Millet - 7 Cup (you can take as much as you have)

OR

• Idli Rice - 1 Cup
• Raw Rice - 4 Cup (You can add omit Idli rice if only using for snack making-For multpurpose use like Idiyappam/Puttu and snack you can add Idli Rice)

• Urad dal - 5 Cup (Apart from snack making i use this urad  flour for making urad ladoos. )

Method:

Method for making Thinai and Rice Flour:

• In a wide vessel add the thinai and wash it until the dirt is removed and soak it in enough maount of water for atleast 2 hours.To check for the millet is soaked enough,you can take some soaked millet and munch it, if you are able to chew the millet easily its done.,else allow to soak for another 1/2 hour.Then drain the water completely.

For Thinai

For Rice

• In a wide plate or tambalam spread a clean white cloth and spread the millet evenly across the plate and place it under sun for drying.If yu donot have a wide plate dont worry ,Take a mat and place the white cloth above the mat and spread the soaked and drained millet and dry it under sun.With the help of your fingers make lines around the millet ,to help the millets dry faster.

For Thinai

For Rice

Keep checking the millets/rice at some intervals.If you take a handful of millets/rice it should be completely dried ,thats the phase where you have to proceed for the next process in making the flour.Collect the dried millets and process them in the flour mill and get it fine powdered.Once the flour is ready ,spread the flour in a wide plate and allow it to cool .If you omit this step then the flour would tend to form lumps.Allow it to cool inside the room for atleast 1hour and then store the cooled flour in an airtight container.

Thinai and Rice flour after ground:

Method for making the urad flour:

Take the requird amount of urad dal and dry roast it.No need to roast it until golden brown.Switch of the flame once you get the aroma of urad dal.Allow it to cool and grind them in flour mil.Once the flour is done ,as said for the millet/rice flour above,spread the ground flour inside the room and store it after cooled down.

Urad Flour after ground:

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