Nankhatai with Gur Shakkar | Indian Bakery Biscuits

Today I am sharing another recipe for Nankhatai! This one is really melts in the mouth and has a distinctive flavor as I have use Gur Shakkar to sweeten it. Gur Shakkar is a great way to sweeten traditional Indian sweets. I use it in baking especially bakes that are classically Indian. Learn more about Gur Shakkar here.

Sweet and Savory Recipes for Holi

Holi is around the corner and I am neck deep in recipes that I want to make for this festival. While there are so many traditional Holi recipes of my childhood, there are also tweaks to these traditions that come from years of living in places where key ingredients are difficult to find. I am sure any one living away from home would identify with that reality. Substituting ingredients for traditional recipes can result in some surprisingly great results. So much so that often times I have completely switched over to the new ingredients as that agree more with the climate, our dietary habits, as well as our palettes!!

Mango Kalakand

With festive season in full swing, its time to begin preparing sweets. The first sweet I made this season is Mango Kalakand. If you love Kalakand, this is your treat. And if you love mangoes, what better way to extend the mango season in to late autumn and indeed even winter.

Meethi Mathri | Sweet Mathri Recipe

The day after I made my second batch of Mathris, I decided I must make some Meethi Mathris (Sweet Mathris) too this year! Deep fried dough soaked in fragrant sugar syrup. Whats not to like? These Mathris turned out to be perfectly crunchy, sweet, and delicious. We enjoyed them with steaming hot cups of tea!!

Mathri | Classic Mathri Recipe | Crispy Deep Fried Dough

Nothing says celebration in the North of India like Mathris. A staple of weddings, get-togethers, and festivals alike Mathris are a treat! In India, making Mathri was a bi-annual affair. Come Diwali or Holi, mounds of salty dough made with maida and ghee would be shaped into discs and deep fried to a crisp. For the kids, it meant enjoying hot crispy Mathris straight out of the fryer and then the cooled down flaky ones which would be stored in air sealed glass containers for days to come.

Edamame Ghugra | Oven Baked Low Fat Recipe

Ghugra is a classic tea time snack in India. Savory Ghugras are typically made with green peas or green beans and deep fried. Sweet versions, know in the North as Gujiya are stuffed with Khoya (milk solids), coconut, cardamon, nuts, and dried fruits. They are especially popular during Holi or the Festival of Colors celebrated every year in Spring.

Seven Cup Cake | Seven Cup Barfi

Seven Cup Cake or Seven Cup Barfi is nothing more than a variation to the regular Basan Barfi. It is a deliciously rich melt in the mouth sweet that is perfect for any festive occasion. Seven Cup Cake was my choice of sweet last Diwali. I was craving Besan Barfi and Mysore Pak, but eventually settled upon this barfi. Apart from being incredibly easy to make, this sweet will keep very well if refrigerated for several weeks.

Masala Moongphali | Batter Fried Peanuts

Who does not like deep fried peanuts? Add a coating of savory, spicy batter to the recipe and they make for the tastiest snack time treat you can ask for! I love to make these during the holidays, when winter sets in, its snowy, rainy, and cold. This holiday season try these Batter Fried Peanuts alongside your favorite honey roasted almonds or maple roasted pecans. Enjoy them with family and friends when you get together to watch Frosty or play you favorite board game:)

Kodubale | Kodbale | Crunchy Rings

 

Kodubale is another one of our favourite namkeens or crispy snacks. These highly addictive snacks are something I make occasionally at my home. They never survive beyond a day as they are so tasty that we are always looking for excuses to munch on them! Last month they were the favoured namkeen for Diwali. Though I made so many different Diwali snacks and sweets, these were the first to disappear, with demands being made for a second round!!

Poori Recipe | Puri Recipe | Indian Fry Bread

No festive meal in India is complete without Pooris. Poori or Puri is the much loved Indian Fry Bread. Made with atta or Indian Chappati flour, it is savored with festival favorites like Chole, Aloo Rassa, Raita, Rasedaar Gobhi, Paneer and the like. As a breakfast favorite, in the North of the country it is often eaten with sweet treats like Kheer, Amras, and Halwa.

Badam Nariyal aur Rava ki Barfi | Melt in the Mouth Almond Coconut Fudge

Barfi is the one classic Indian Sweet that graces festivals, birthdays, and all joyous occasions. Its also a wonderful tea time treat and a dessert that can be enjoyed on any day. I had planned to originally prepare this Barfi for the Navratris, but ended up making Badam aur Nariyal ki Barfi | Almond and Coconut Fudge!! This morning, as I was sifting through various ingredients in my pantry, I found two packs of dry coconut - one dessicated and the other shredded. I tend to use the shredded coconut to make chutneys and the dessicated is saved for cakes and cookies.

Almond, Dates, and Oats Laddoo | Healthy Festival Sweets

Navratri is here and its time to get cooking!! I have a long list of delicious treats that I want to make and this list only gets longer each year:) Hey, what's a festival without delicious sweets and savories to tickle the taste buds. If you are looking for Fasting Recipes | Vrat ka Khana, you are at the right spot too as I have a great archive of some delicious Fasting Foods.

Badam aur Nariyal ki Barfi | Almond and Coconut Fudge

I made Almond and Coconut Fudge | Badam aur Nariyal ki Barfi for Ganesh Chaturthi this year . This is a very simple and quick recipe to prepare. Needless to say it tastes really yummy too. This barfi tastes best when you let it sit overnight. Though it might be difficult to do that once you have tasted it!!

Pithi | Peethi | Pitha | Lentil Filled Rice Flour Dumplings #Bihari Kitchen #Vegan

Its been ages since I made any steamed food. After our move, I had parked our steamer away in the back of my pantry. But with the coming of the festival season, we are all craving snacks! This year I decided to begin with making steamed snacks. I began with some Dhokla and the next on my list to make was Pithi | Peethi | Lentil Filled Rice Dumplings.

Til ke Laddu | Sesame Seeds Laddoo

Its Ganesh Chaturthi and I have been cooking up some yummy celebratory dishes. This year I made Til ke Laddu | Sesame Seeds Laddoo for the first day of Ganesh Chaturthi. Followed it up with Mumra Chikki, Amimi Kozukottai, and today I have made Dal Pitha. However, I have been slow to post all the yummy dishes that I have been cooking up for this festival season. In fact its been many days since I wrote a post at all. Last month was quite busy and while I made some great dishes and took the photos, I just could not find the time time to sit and get the writing done.

Vegan Mango Cake | Vegan Baking

Cake baking has been a passion of mine. I began experimenting with baking when I was not quite in high school and have never looked back since. As I always followed the recipes from my grandmother's very English book and magazines, all my baking was with eggs. I never even dreamed that one could bake without eggs - they play the role of both providing moisture to the dough and act as a raising agent. Of course, there are some recipes that cannot be attempted without eggs or even egg whites. But there are many many recipes that can be attempted eggless - or so I discovered many years when I decided to take my experiments to a different level.

Puran Poli | Flatbread with Cardamom Infused Sweet Lentil Filling

The first time I heard of Puran Poli was as a kid visiting a friend's home in Bombay! It was coming up to Holi and we had just popped in after an afternoon of skating. The home was replete with the aroma of ghee and cardamom and there was much bustle in the kitchen. On the dining table were large plates piled high with what looked liked parathas. But these parathas were sweetly fragrant, incredibly soft, and oozing with butter fat!!

Zeera aur Ajwain ki Mathri | Baked Mathri Recipe

With Holi just round the corner, I have been mulling over what treats to make! Holi in these parts is celebrated with a puja and sharing sweets. Holi colours are rarely available and some states like the one we live in have banned them for environmental and toxicity reasons. In the first few years we were here, I found that no Desi grocer carried these colours. However, in the last couple of years, some companies have started selling organic, environmentally friendly and non-toxic versions of the Holi colours. They may not have the brightness of the colours we grew up with but they serve the purpose!! Water colours and a wet Holi are out of the question with snow still on the ground and temperatures barely out of freezing.

Kesari Peda | Creamy Saffron Milk Fudge

It was Basant Panchami on the 4th of February this year!! Hard to believe with spring nowhere on the horizon this year. It seems that we are in a never ending cold spell. And this was confirmed by the local groundhog who announced bright and early on Sunday morning that we are to expect two more weeks of the chilly winter. Yet despite the frigid temperatures, I heard the sweet sound of a bird on the tree outside the bedroom window on the very same morning!! Yes, the cardinal is back. Every year we are treated to its sweet music around this time of the year. And this year is no different, there she was sitting on the frozen branch of a frozen tree, announcing her arrival. Oh, joy!!

Jowar Chivda Ver 2 | Puffed Millet Snack with Fried Garlic and Pepitas

Jowar Chivda is one of my go to snacks. Easy to prepare, its absolutely yummy and healthy to boot. I generally make lots of namkeen (snack mixes) during the festival period, but Chivda is one snack that I tend to make year round. I make so many variations of this snack that it is a shame I have not blogged more recipes of the same. This morning I made a fresh batch and I am so glad that I managed to squeeze some time out to photograph the result and share it with you.