Coconut and Carrot ~ Layered or Sandwich Burfi

A delicious and colorful twist to regular Kobbari Mithai /Coconut Burfi ...

You Need :

Keep Ready :  A greased tray for pouring burfi.

For Coconut Burfi:

Shredded fresh coconut - 2 cups
Sugar - 1.5 cups
Cardamom - 1 pod (Powder the seeds and keep it ready)

For Carrot Burfi: (alternative : use beetroot)
Grated Carrot - 2 cups
Sugar- 1.5 cups

Method for making both the burfis are same.

1. Measure 1.5 cups of sugar and take it in a thick bottomed pan
2. Add water just to immerse the sugar, say about half a cup
3. On a medium heat, dissolve the sugar and bring it to boil
4. When the sugar syrup reaches soft ball stage add in shredded coconut and keep stirring.
5.  At first you can see the mixture getting little diluted because of the moisture content of coconut, but soon it starts thickening
6. At a stage where you see the mixture starts thickening and leaves the sides of the container, quickly add in a big generous pinch of cardamom powder and transfer it to a greased tray.
7. If you over cook, the mixture becomes hard and brittle.

Note : 1. I made coconut burfi twice to sandwich the burfis. Together, I made thrice. 1st round-coconut burfi, 2nd round carrot burfi poured it over previously spread coconut burfi; 3rd round - Coconut burfi again to finish off the sandwich. You may want to find a easier way to do it.

Sincere thanks to Mahanandi blog for Coconut Burfi tips.

Verdict : Burfi tasted yumm and it had a colorful appeal too..

Badusha

I made them for Deepavali last year. Recipe is from Rak's Kitchen.  Jayashree from Samayal Arai Cooking is Divine is running a blogger marathon, details can be found here. Badusha Recipe from Rak's Kitchen can be found here .

This was my firtst time making of Badusha and for a first timer badushas were a treat! Raks has a video tutuorial to show how badushas are folded. She has a tempting picture too at her site. There was no modification in the recipe, I just followed word to word.

Ingredients:

Maida : 1.5 cups

Butter+Oil-1/4 cup+1/8cup

sugar - 1/2 tsp

curd/yogurt-1&1/2tsp

Cooking Soda(Sodabicarb)- 2 pinches

Water - 1/4 cup (approx)

Oil for deep frying

Syrup:

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Water- little, just to melt the sugar

Cardamom Powder - a generous pinch

lemon juice- 1 tsp

Saffron- few strands (optional)

Clove - 2-3 (optional, I used clove instead of cardamom as I like the flavor of clove)

A tip : If you make the dough hard, badusha does not soak up enough sugar syrup

If you make thick syrup, again badusha cannot absorb sugar syrup

Ideally, badusha batter must be very very soft!!! I had a thick syrup and little thick batter when I made and ended up having less sweet badushas.

Method:

1.Melt butter. Add oil, sugar, curd, soda bi carbonate to it and whisk well. Add flour little at a time and mix. Finally when you are done adding all flour, the resulting mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add, little water at a time to make a very soft dough.

2. Meanwhile you can place oil in a pan for deep frying.

3. Pinch a lemon sized dough and flatten it. Start pinching the edge and folding it inwards. Finish the whole round and keep it aside.

4.If you feel this is diffcult to make, just make a hole in the center of the flat round you made to give a doughnut like appearance. It can fry faster and easy to make also.

5. Fry them till they are brown colored. Fry on medium heat for good results

6. Dip in the sugar syrup and leave it for 5-10 mins before you drain it.

For Sugar Syrup:

I suggest you to make more syrup as badushas take up sugar syrup unlike gulab jamoons where you can still see sugar syrup left in the bowl.

Dissolve sugar and water over medium heat. When sugar syrup starts getting 1 strip consistency, swtich off the stove and add cloves, saffron and finally add lemon juice.

I enjoyed making Badushas for Deepavali. Thank you Raks for the tasty Badusha recipe and thank you Jayashree for hosting a lovely event.

Carrot Saaru - Readers Recipe ~ No dal saaru

I got this recipe some time back from Manasi, my blog reader. I gave it a try one day and it was instant hit at home. The recipe does not demand for "pricey dal" to make it tasty. Carrots and few spices with coconut and voila! you have finger licking saaru. You can drink it as a soup if you want to, but it tastes yumm with rice. Give it a try..
Thanks you Mansi for sharing this recipe with me :)

Photo : From me.. :-D

Recipe from Mansi :

Ingredients:

Carrot -2nos
Coconut - 3 tbsp
Tamarind paste- 1 tbsp
Jaggery

For Masala
Jeera - 1/4 tbsp
Coriander seeds - 1/2 tbsp
Dried red chillies - 3nos
Asafetida - pinch
Fenugreek seeds - Less than 1/4 tsp

Method:
1. Cook the carrots until they are soft and allow it to cool.
2. Add 1 tbsp of oil and fry the dried red chillies, jeera, coriander seeds and fenugreek seeds for a couple of minutes.(masala)
3. Grind the carrots, masala mixture and the coconut into a fine paste.
4. Add 4 cups of water, tamarind paste , jaggery and salt to the above mixture and allow it to boil.
5. For seasoning - add 5-6 cloves of garlic, mustard seeds and red chillies.
6. Add above seasoning to carrot saru.

Baby Corn and Mushroom Curry

This is a tasty combination. Mushroom is a rich source of B Vitamins. You can read more about the goodness of mushrooms here : Fresh Mushrooms

Ingredients:

Mushroom : 12 numbers (I used button mushrooms)

Baby Corn: 8 (chopped into small pieces)

Tomatoes: 2 large (chopped into small pieces)

Onion: 1 large (chopped into small pieces)

Garlic: 1 clove  (chopped into small pieces)

Tomato sauce : 1/2 tbsp

Kitchen King, Turmeric, coriander powder, jeera powder, Red Chilli Powder, jeera, hing

Oil: Olive Oil

Method:

In a separate bowl cook mushrooms with little water and keep it aside. Cut baby corn into half or quarter them if they are long. 

Heat oil in a pan, add chopped onion followed by ginger garlic paste. When the raw smell of ginger garlic paste has subsided add in tomato and stir. Let tomatoes becomes soft and you can now switch off the stove. Blend this mixture and keep aside. Heat oil in the same pan, add jeera, hing, turmeric mix well give a sec for hing to be fragrant. Add in coriander powder, jeera powder, redchilli powder, Kitchen King and salt. Throw in baby corn pieces and sautee till it is little crisp. Make sure you cook this on low flame or else the powders will burn. Pour in tomato paste you have blended, add 1/2 tbsp tomato sauce and mix well. When the mixture starts to give away oil from the sides, add cooked mushroom pieces and stirr well and cook for 5 more mins before you switch off. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with rotis/chapathis or phulkas.