Tag Archives: vegetarian desserts

Baked thekua: Whole wheat flour and coconut cookies

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Sun is the most powerful cosmic body. We would be nowhere without  the sun. Our ancestors realized this  pretty early on. Sun centric events are an important celebrations in our society. Chhat Pooja is one such tradition. This four day event honours the Sun.  As with any festivities, food is an integral part of this festival too.

Thekuas are little cookies made from all purpose flour and sugar or jaggery. I have a couple Thekua recipes in my blog, it can be found here and here. This one is baked instead of fried, bringing the calories down slightly. These store well in air tight containers.

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Let me know what you think if you try them.

Recipe: made 15 pieces

( Adapted from Cupcakeree”s food blog with some changes. )

Ingredients

Whole wheat flour                        1 cup

Dessicated coconut                      1/4 cup

Cornflour                                    1 tsp

Baking powder                           1/2 tsp

Fennel seeds                             1/2 Tbsp coarsely ground

Cardamom powder                    1/2 tsp

Jaggery                                    1/2 cup

Warm water                               3 Tbsps

Ghee                                         31/2 Tbsps and more for brushing

Method.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix the flour, cornflour, baking powder, ground fennel seeds, cardamom powder and ghee in a bowl. Use both the palms to rub the flour in between. In a separate bowl take the warm water, add the jaggery powder. Wait till it dissolves. Pour this into the flour mixture. Mix everything together, to make a dough. Do not knead. Cover and rest in the fridge for half hour.

Tear a table spoon amount of the dough, flatten it into a disc, imprint a design of your choice if you want. Bake for 15-18 minutes. Take them out of the oven on a wire rack, brush them with melted ghee. Store when completely cooled.

Enjoy!

 

Besan Burfi: Chickpea flour fudge: GF

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IMG_2122I am a big fan of Besan aka chick pea flour. The fact that it has a protein component, always gives me a reason to justify a second helping of sweet! Being gluten free comes handy when you are cooking for a group. Besan is one of those ingredients that can be used to make appetizer, main course, desserts, savoury snacks, you name it!

IMG_2125The Hindu month of “Shravan’ is said to be auspicious. After the scorching heat of the previous months, “Shravan” ushers the monsoon. The parched earth  turns green again, the fertile earth holds new life in her womb. People observe fast, especially on mondays. Fasting always comes with feasting. And why not?

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This recipe takes no time to be ready. Do give it a try and let me know how it goes friends.

Recipe; Makes 20-25 pieces depending on the size.

Ingredients,

Besan                           2 cups

Ghee                            3/4 cup

Sugar                           3/4 cup

Water                           1/2 cup

Cardamom powder      1/2 tsp

Almond and pistachio sliver to garnish

Method,

Take a heavy bottomed pan on medium heat. Add ghee and besan, roast it by stirring continuously till a slight change in colour, nutty aroma and the ghee gets released from the besan, about 18 minutes. The timing may be influenced by the humidity, type of flour, the heat element of the gas. I would recommend focussing on the appearance of the besan. Put the gas off, Take the pan away from the gas. Keep stirring for a few more minutes, the hot pan can still burn the besan.

In a separate pan take the water and sugar on medium heat. let the sugar melt first and then thicken, for about 12-15 minutes. Add the cardamom powder. When a spoonful of this syrup is let to drop, it does not drop freely. A drop of it when collected in a bowl, and carefully felt between the thumb and fore finger, feels sticky and draws like a thread. Put the gas off.

Very carefully add the besan mixture in instalments to the syrup. Put the gas on low for another minute to let everything come together.

Take a greased metal plate. Pour this mixture on the plate. Garnish with slivered nuts.

Let it sit for about 10 minutes. Make cuts , whatever size you prefer. Let it sit for another hour and then separate the slices.