Semolina Pudding Using STAR Ghee|Product Review

Alka Keswani — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 21:07:36 +0000

Ghee, the clarified butter, a controversial ingredient in Indian kitchens, is often criticized by weight watchers and figure conscious people due to the calories it impart. But it’s hard to ignore the medicinal and healing qualities of pure ghee. The debate could go on, discussing the pros and cons of using Ghee, but then, I prefer using white butter and ghee for slathering the parathas, for my kid, as children would gain health benefits too, along with calories. Cow ghee is hands down winner when compared to buffalo ghee, in terms of texture, colour, fat content, and healing properties. So while Buffalo milk is pale in colour, Cow ghee is sunny yellow and is low in fat as compared to ghee made from Buffalo milk. Its not without the reason, that desi ghee was, and is still used in many Ayurvedic medicines and for treatments of various ailments. Ghee is known to be a vitalizing food, that not only aids in digestion, but nourishes body organs, bones, etc and hence increases strength and reverts the age related setbacks. Its hard to judge the authenticity of the store brought ghee, considering that its so easy to adulterate the ghee by mixing it with partially hydrogenated oil (Vanaspati), refined oil, animal fat and even cotton seed oil. Hence I generally rely on home made ghee . But when I opened the pack of STAR Cow ghee, I was happy to find sunshine yellow colored, slightly grainy texture of wonderfully smelling ghee. Now that it passed visual tests, it was time to test it on taste factor. The first dish that crossed my mind, was of course a halwa, the sooji halwa to be precise, since Indian halwa is best known for the use of ghee in its preparation. Hence, Sooji Jo seero (as it is called in Sindhi) it had to be ! STAR Cow Ghee, transferred to a jar Here is some basic information about this product, as shared by the Star Bazaar! • Made from 100% fresh cow’s milk. • Rich source of vitamin A & β-Carotene. • Granular texture with authentic taste & aroma • Hygienically manufactured in modern dairy plant. • STAR Cow Ghee is a superior quality product at an affordable price. • Available in 500ml and 1 litre packets respectively. Print Semolina Pudding Using Star Ghee|Product Review Rating 4.0 from 1 reviews Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 25 mins Serves: 5 Semolina Pudding or Sooji halwa, infused with saffron, with ghee roasted nuts! Ingredients Semolina 1 cup Sugar 1 cup or more Ghee ½ cup Green Cardamon 4 Water 2 cups (more or less) Few strands of saffron soaked in ¼ cup of milk Dry fruits/nuts, like almonds, cashews, raisins, unsalted pistachios (Optional) Method In a saucepan, pour 2 cups of water and add 1 cup or more of sugar, 4-5 green cardamons and let the sugar dissolve completely. Put off the gas but make sure that the syrup is warm when you add it to the roasted semolina. In a thick bottomed pan, pour ghee and add nuts (if using) and roast till nice golden.You can chop in small pieces or just cut in halves, all the nuts, except the raisins (of course). Add semolina and roast it in ghee till it gives out a nice aroma. Take care as not to burn the semolina or the halwa will turn out to be bitter. Carefully add the warm syrup and keep stirring continuously to avoid any lumps. The mixture at this stage tends to splatter, so be careful. Add saffron infused milk and mix well. Let the halwa cook at low flame till the semolina appears to be smooth and the traces of ghee starts leaving the mixture. You can serve it hot, warm or cold, as a dessert or as a side dish along with Pooris, malpuas or boiled green grams, or black peas (Kohar or Kala Vatana) 3.2.1753 My Review: I was pleased with the heavenly aroma that STAR Cow ghee imparted to the pudding. The Halwa had authentic flavors and the richness, that only a good ghee can impart. The colour and texture of ghee looked perfect and I was happy with the way my kitchen was filled with sweet aroma of ghee while I roasted nuts and semolina in STAR Cow Ghee! I hope they live up to their claims and that more and more people are able to derive benefits from pure cow ghee.

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Seero Malpuro|Two Malpua recipes| Low fat Recipe.

Alka Keswani — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 12:58:41 +0000

Now that we are done with Holi, the festival of colors for Indians, its time to share with you, this year’s Holi Special Sweet, Seero Malpuro or Malpua served with Sooji Halwa. Making a sweet dish is always a challenging job for me, because I am paranoid about adding the heaps of sugar as suggested in any recipe of ‘sweets’. I, almost always, halve the quantity of sugar while following a recipe, fearing that the sweet dish might turn out ‘too sweet (Duh !!) This backfires many times, especially while making some traditional sweets where the texture of sweet depends upon the consistency of sugar syrup or amount of sugar added. This is the reason, I dislike making sweets, and my teeny weeny sweet cravings, if any, are easily calmed down by a bite of semi-dark chocolate or by some raisins or dried apricots. But Indian festivals fail to make a mark, if not celebrated with some sweets. So while Gujiyas and Ghear (large jalebies), shakarpada etc are generally made on the occassion of Holi, I attempted to make Malpua , known as Malpura in Sindhi. Traditionally, Malpua is a sweet made from All purpose flour mixed with reduced milk (Milk of very thick consistency), and mawa/khoya. The batter is then fried as pancakes in batches, dunked in sugar syrup and served with either Rabri or curd/yogurt. Some prefer it with milk, while Sindhis generally serve it with ‘ Sooji jo seero‘ or semolina halwa, which is again made from semolina, milk, sugar syrup etc. Though it makes a yummy combination and any lover of sweet will drool over it, I dread making it, considering the amount of sugar that goes in, to cook this double whammy. But festivals being time to indulge, I took a plunge this time. I was up for the disaster, but somehow all was well in the end.Read further to unfold the whole drama that almost ruined my Holi, or else simply scroll down, for the recipes of the mighty Malpura (Malpua) and skip the later part. First let me share the traditional recipe, followed by some notes and tips to make a healthier, low fat version. Traditional Recipe of Malpua :(Note:There are many *traditional *ways to make this !) (Makes approx. 15-18 pancakes depending upon the size) Print Seero Malpuro|Two Malpua recipes| Low fat Recipe. Malpura is a sweet , shallow fried Indian style pancake, dunked in sugar syrup and generally relished with curd (yogurt) or Sooji halwa. Ingredients Maida or All purpose flour 250 gms Baking powder, just a pinch Milk around 650 ml (Boil around 500 ml of milk till reduced to almost half, set aside remaining 250 ml to adjust the consistency of batter) Khoya/mawa 40-50 gms Oil for shallow frying ( Prefer Ghee, for an authentic flavor) Fennel seeds 1 tsp or more Black pepper corns 4-5 Maida or All purpose flour 250 gms Baking powder, just a pinch Milk around 650 ml (Boil around 500 ml of milk till reduced to almost half, set aside remaining 250 ml to adjust the consistency of batter) Khoya/mawa 40-50 gms Oil for shallow frying ( Prefer Ghee, for an authentic flavor) Fennel seeds 1 tsp or more Black pepper corns 4-5 Sugar 500 gm Water 1 and half cup or more (we need syrup of one string consistency) Green cardamom 2-3 Saffron strands few (optional) Unsalted pistachios to garnish Method Sieve the maida with baking powder. Be very very cautious about adding just a pinch of baking powder. Anything more than that will burst your Malpuras while frying. Trust me, I went through this :-(. Boil approximately 500 ml of milk and simmer till reduced to half of its quantity.Gently mix khoya /mawa to this to make the mixture more creamy and thick. If mawa is unsweetened then add around 2 spoons of sugar to the mixture. Now take a deep mixing bowl, add maida and baking powder mixture, fennel seeds, pepper corns, and mix the warm or cooled (never hot) milk -mawa mixture and mix well to form a lump free batter. The batter should be of thick pouring consistency , so if needed keep on adding the reserved 150 ml of milk, adding very little at a time. The amount of milk required to achieve the perfect consistency varies from 75 ml to 200 ml, depending upon how thick your milk-mawa mixture is.So trust your instincts. In the meantime make sugar syrup by boiling sugar, cardamom and water .If adding saffron, soak it in warm milk for sometime and then add in sugar syrup anytime in between. Now in a flat bottomed fry pan or kadai, heat ghee/ oil or mixture of ghee and oil to shallow fry Malpuras. Carefully spread a ladle full of batter in ghee to make a small pancake. Fry on medium to low flame.Turn it gently and fry on other side till it is crisp brown from sides. Remove from oil and soak in sugar syrup (warm) for about 2 minutes or so and then drain on a colander . Repeat the procedure for the remaining batter. Depending upon the size of pan, you can fry 2 -3 pancakes in one single batch. Garnish with sliced unsalted pistachios and serve with either Rabri or curd or like seen in picture, with Sooji Halwa. Now let me share with you all some problems faced by me while making malpuas and some tips to make healthy ones. In hurry, I added hot, reduced milk to the flour, that left me with a lumpy batter. I tried to whisk a lot, to smooth-en the batter, but the stubborn lumps refused to disappear. I made the next blunder mistake... I tried to blend the batter, simply being forgetful about the presence of fennel seeds and pepper corns. The blended mixture was pasty, sticky (due to the hot milk), and bit bitter due to grounded pepper. Then despite of being careful, I added a tad bit more of baking powder. As a result the pancakes just kinda disintegrated into small pieces in hot oil. Darn, I never thought I could be that stupid in kitchen 🙁 Well, not willing to give up, I prepared a fresh batter, this time with mixture of wheat flour and Maida (simply because of lack of sufficient maida). I applied the process of mixing a cake batter while mixing the malpua batter. So I mixed flour and a pinch of baking powder and sieved it in a huge mixing bowl. I made a well in the center of flour and added some of the milk (yes, plain milk..not condense or reduced). Slowly, with a fork spoon, I mixed some batter in the milk that was in the ' well'. Slowly and gradually, kept pulling in some flour in the 'well' and adding some milk, mixing,incorporating more flour, adding milk, mixing...so on and so forth, till whole of the flour turned into a smooth batter. There wasn't a single lump..I swear !!!!. Then added fennel seeds and pepper corns. Remember to always shallow fry malpuras in a flat bottomed pan or kadai. Though shallow fried, these tend to absorb lots of oil, hence I first drained these on a kitchen towel and then added in the warm syrup. For trial, I tried to cook these as normal pancakes, with just few drops of oil on a nonstick pan and the results were not bad. Since cooked in less oil and that too on a nonstick pan, the malpuras were not as crispy and heavenly as the fried ones, but taste wise it was not bad at all. So now I know, that even though there was no reduced milk and khoya/mawa in the malpuras, but still these tasted good enough to be labelled as a festival food. These malpuras were served with sooji halwa.You can find its recipe here 2.2.1

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Semolina Pudding Using STAR Ghee|Product Review

Seero Malpuro|Two Malpua recipes| Low fat Recipe.