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An Indian Sweet without Sugar(khaskhas jo seero)

Alka Keswani — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:42:03 +0000

Khas khas or poppy seeds are usually used in Indian cuisine in making gravies and because of its highly nutritive nature it is also used in breads, cakes, cookies, pastries, curries, sweets and confectionery. Poppy seeds are like tiny hard grains. The Western type is slate blue; the Indian type, off-white. Both are kidney-shaped. They are similar in flavour and texture and their uses are interchangeable. The seeds mature in a capsule left after the flower fades. They are widely available in a dried form.It gives out a mild sweetish aroma when roasted or baked And its flavour is Mild until heated, then it becomes nutty, with sweet-spicy under-tones.Source(epicentre) This Indian sweet/dessert/pudding called Khas khas jo seero is made by my Ma-in-law on every Rakshabandhan (An Indian festival ,when sisters tie a sacred thread on wrists of their brother/s as the symbol of bonding between the siblings) Generally the trend is that Mithai or anything sweet is made for brothers on that day.Hence Ma makes this every year and not only her brothers but all the kids in family and elders too, wait for this occasion just to relish this sweet made by her. The most awesome thing about this sweet is that it can be made without using any sugar and still taste as sweet as sweets are supposed to be.Kidding???NAAAAAAH Actually the milk and khaskhas when cooked together imparts natural sweet taste to the seera and moreover chuhara and raisins serve as perfect sweet bites. So you wont miss the presence of any artificial sugar (no need to add sugar substitutes )Yes if you want it more sweet, you always have an option to add sugar. This is for you Asha Chand Ji, in response to your sugar- free- sweets- suggestion This recipe is of Ma and the above pic is of seera made by her.Hope you all will drool and enjoy! Print An Indian Sweet without Sugar(khaskhas jo seero) Rating 5.0 from 1 reviews Poppy seeds or Khas khas halwa enriched with dry fruits and nuts.A traditional winter sweet ! Ingredients Khas khas (poppy seeds)150 gm Milk 800 -850 ml (less or more will just affect the final richness of the sweet so go ahead and experiment) Vegetable oil 3-4 tablespoons Green cardamon (choti elaichi) 6-7 Mixed Dry fruits like Chuhara (dried dates), almonds, khishmish (raisins) and unsalted pistachios, all chopped into thick slices (except khishmish). Use as much quantity as you want, but at least 100 gm each Sugar (optional), around 200 gm or as much preferred. Method Soak khas khas in water for 5-6 hours. Later rinse it few times (you can use tea strainer) and let all the water drain out completely,through the strainer. Now grind this khas khas with some vegetable oil.Water or milk if added while grinding, could create lots of spluttering while cooking.So its better to use oil. Grind it till a coarse mixture is obtained. Now in a heavy bottom pan or kadai, add 2-3 tablespoons of oil.Let it heat properly, then carefully add the khaskhas paste. Beware of spluttering (you can immediately close the pan with a lid). Add elaichi now. Now roast the mixture on high flame, stirring continuously till a nice aroma of khas khas fills your kitchen.The paste should look pinkish in colour and the raw smell of khas khas should be gone.Don't over roast it, as that would give a bitter taste to the final halwa. Then carefully add about a cup of boiled milk,bit by bit and mix carefully.Add all the dry fruits now. Lower the flame, keep on adding some milk (about half cup) in intervals and let it be absorbed by the khaskhas,till khaskhas is cooked.You might need about 800 ml to 850 ml of milk to achieve this target 🙂 The final seera could be of semisolid consistency,or as shown in picture--- a dry form, which could be obtained by cooking seera till oil separates out Garnish with some cashews /almonds/pistachios and serve with love. Notes Some people find it hard to bhuno the poppy seeds, and to judge what is the correct time to stop cooking khuskhus, so many times either they overcook or under cook it. So the simpler method could be, to boil the milk first, add the chuhara, let the dried dates cook for sometime and then add the khaskhas ( No need to grinding then). Cook on low heat till the milk is almost absorbed.Add rest of dry fruits, stir well, add oil/ghee, sugar and give it a nice mix. Cook on lowest flame till sugar gets absorbed and the oil starts separating out.Though the procedure is time consuming, but not much of technicality involved here. Taste wise both taste equally good. 2.2.1

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Two Awards….Toh kuch meetha ho jaaye !!

Alka Keswani — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:15:00 +0000

Well June started with rains of monsoon in my real world and rains of awards in blogo-world! Now my July also had started on good note,with Two awards……Good going Alka…Let me pat my back..he he he;-) On some serious note, I am grateful to Medha of Cook with love for passing on these wonderful awards to me, I am sure whoever gets an award will be able to imagine how elated one feels after receiving them! And Medha, let me take your kind permission to pass on these awards to deserving bloggers in my next post and also I will “Un tag “myself in my next post ! So kindly allow me to hold on these awards with lots of care and love until then So let’s celebrate this occasion with something sweet.People who had followed my blog from start would have noted the step motherly treatment given to sweets and desserts by me.I swear I don’t do that purposely, it’s just that Idon’t have a sweet tooth and I can’t gobble down anything sweet. I even prefer my Cuppa of Tea without sugar and if with sugar, then it has to be with either spicy biscuits or Khari, pakora or samosas. I feel astounded when I spot somebody eating a piece of Mithai (sweet) or ladoos and by just looking at them eating sweet make me crave for having something spicy and hot ASAP…..lolz !! But I promise now that I will occasionally come up with some sweet dishes too and this one is just the beginning…… Lapsi or dalia or burglar wheat or broken wheat or Bhaat as we call in sindhi….different regions know this wonderful grain by different name.This cracked wheat is really nutritious as it is unrefined wheat, high in fibre and manganese (with reference to Tarla Dalal) Bhaat jho seero or Lapsi halwa, is a simple preparation but generally loads of oil is used to make this.My version is bit different, as I had used minimum of oil,which had made this halwa crumbly and not soft and mushy as it should be.Just play with the amount of oil and sugar and you will get many variants of this dish This Bhaat jho seero goes for Nupur of onehotstove who is hostingMBP-Less is more which meansthat you have to browse through your favorite blogs and your bookmarked recipes and choose those that have FIVE ingredients or FEWER to make for this event. So here I go with Bhaat jho seero, a recipe inspired from The cooker Print Two Awards....Toh kuch meetha ho jaaye !! Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 25 mins Serves: 2-3 Broken wheat halwa, a delicious sweet made from lapsi. Ingredients Broken wheat or bhaat 1 cup Oil 2-3 spoons Sugar ½ cup or more(depends on how much sweet you like it to be) Green cardamons 4-5 Water about 3 cups (I actually needed to add some more water to cook it completely) Method Take the oil in a thick bottomed pan and heat it Now add lapsi and green cardamons, roast these properly on medium flame, tossing it regularly so that it doesn't burn Roast it till lapsi changes its colour and a pleasant aroma starts filling your kitchen Now carefully add the water (beware of spluttering) and mix properly Let it cook on low flame and keep stirring at regular intervals Add sugar when lapsi is almost cooked and mix it properly Let it cook till all the water is evaporated and lapsi is cooked properly It could be served, hot, warm or cold and could be garnished with almonds or nuts of your choice 2.2.1

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Gaajar ka halwa

Alka Keswani — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 03:31:05 +0000

Gajrun Jo Seero or Gaajar ka halwa is arguably the most loved Indian dessert, with mind boggling flavors of red juicy Delhi carrots, reduced milk, green cardamom and sugar. Some prefer to just boil carrots and milk and reduce the mixture, while some prefer to first bhuno the carrots in some ghee or vegetable oil to get more pronounced flavors and dark orange to reddish tinge.A wonderful winter treat,tastes good whether hot or cold! Print Gaajar ka halwa|Gajrun Jo Seero Rating 5.0 from 1 reviews Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 40 mins Total time: 1 hour Serves: 4 The most famous Indian winter dessert, carrot halwa is favorite of one and all. Ingredients Red juicy Carrots 500 gm. Sugar 250-300 gm Milk 2 cups Green cardamom (Choti elaichi) 2 Khus khus 2 tsp Ghee or vegetable oil 2 tbsp Cashew nuts 10-12 Raisins 10-15 Almonds 5-6 Method Wash, peel the carrots and grate them Soak khuskhus in water, for few hours, then rinse 3 or 4 times with water with help of tea strainer In a thick bottomed kadai, pour two tablespoon of ghee or oil, add khuskhus and saute it for few seconds on medium flame, taking care not to burn the khuskhus Add grated carrots and elaichi and saute again for few min, stirring continuously so that carrots don't turn brown Add two cups of milk and let it boil on low flame till the mixture is almost dry Add sugar and mix it properly and continue to cook it till all the milk is evaporated Let the halwa cool down a bit, then add chopped almonds, cashews and few raisins and serve it with love 2.2.1

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