Wheat Coconut balls

A healthy sweet- Unlike most sweets where maida or besan is used, here it is wheat flour. Also ghee used is very minimal. And sugar quantity is very less. Usually in sweets, the proportion of sugar is twice or equal to the the quantity of flour. So overall, it is a healthy sweet that can be quickly made with the ingredients which are readily available in the kitchen

You require

Wheat flour – 1 ½ cups
Sugar – 1 cup. You can take a heaped cup of sugar, if you will like it sweeter.
Milk – ½ cup
Grated coconut – 2 tbspn
Cardamom – ½ tspn
Ghee – 2 tbspn


Preparation

Take a heavy bottomed pan. Add ghee.

When it melts, add wheat flour.

Fry till it turns light brown . You can smell wheat then.

Add sugar. Mix well so that the flour and sugar gets mixed evenly. Sugar should not melt.Then the mixture will have a liquid consistency.

Add milk. Keep mixing so that no lumps are formed.

Add cardamom powder.

Mix evenly for another 3 minutes.

Transfer the contents to a plate greased with ghee.

Spread it and let it cool.

Make lemon sized balls.
Don’t wait it to really go cold. You should make balls when your hands can withstand the warmth of the mixture.
You should be fast in making balls. If it cools, you will find it difficult to make balls.

Microwave Tips

Some tips for microwave oven usage, for our daily chores in the kitchen.
I shall be updating this post as and when I come across new tips.

1)
To bake corn, keep the corn with the skin for 2 minutes (micro power high).
Tilt the corn so that the upper part moves down. Keep for another 2 minutes.
Remove the peel and brush butter and salt

2)
To melt jaggery – Keep the jaggery in a microwave safe glass bowl. Add 2 tablespoon water. Keep for 2 minutes. You can strain the melted jaggery to remove the dirt, which are usually found.

3)
Sometimes we need grated coconut to be fried brown to add in curries or for making chutney powders.
Keep 1 cup grated coconut in the oven for 3 minutes. You can mix once in between. Coconut will be fried.
You may not get the brown color.
For that, take one spoon oil in a pan. Add the oven fried coconut.
Fry for a minute. It will turn brown.
If you have to do the whole process on the stove, you will need lot more oil and time

Sambar Rice

A lunchbox recipe

Keep these ready :

Cooked rice – 2 cups
Tuvar dal – 1 cup
Tomatoes – 2 nos
Small onions – 10 nos
Drumstick – 1 no
Carrot – 1 no
Turmeric – a pinch
Chilly powder – 1 tspn
Coriander powder -2 tspn
Tamrind extract – 2 tbl spn

Seasoning
Mustard – 1 tspn
Methi seeds – ¼ tspn
Red chilly – 2 nos
Green chilly – 2 nos
Curry leaves – few

Prepration

Pressure cook tuvar dal with one tomato chopped into pieces.

Take a pan. Add oil and add the seasoning items.
Add onions. Saute till they become soft.
Add chopped tomato.
When it is cooked, add the vegetables. ( You can use bringal/ash gourd/pumpkin). You can use vegetables of your choice.
Add turmeric,chiily powder, coriander powder and salt.
Mix well.Add enough water to cook the vegetables.
Cover and cook for 10 mts.
If the vegetables are cooked well, add the cooked tuvar dal. Mash the dal before adding.
Add the tamarind extract. When it starts boiling remove from fire.
Add fresh coriander and curry leaves.
Take the rice in a bowl. Slightly mash it with the ladle. Mix sambar with the rice well.