Sohan Burfi

Hope you all had a nice Deepavali/Diwali weekend.

For the last couple of years, during deepavali festival I am trying out new snacks and sweets, which I haven't made before. So this year for this special day, I had made one of my Aunt's (Chickamma's) delicious sweet recipe by the name Sohan Burfi (Good-tasting fudge).

Like many of you, this was a new kind of sweet to me as well. I have tasted this sweet dish few times, only at my aunt's place. And she is the only one who makes this in our family. This burfi has a very nice crumbs like texture to it, with wheat flour and besan roasted and mixed with hot home made ghee, and gets some crunchy peanuts in between. Once you taste this , I bet you'll be wanting more.

So got the recipe from her, and excited to share this new and very delicious recipe with you all.

Ingredients for Making Sohan Burfi.

1. Wheat flour(godi hittu) - 1 cup (i have used whole wheat flour)
2. Crushed Jaggery (bella)- 1 cup (brown sugar can be substituted)
3. Ghee (tuppa) - 1 cup
4. Peanuts/ groundnuts (kadalekayi) - 1/4 cup
5. Besan flour (kadale hittu) - 1/4 cup .

Procedure for making burfi (fudge) is very simple. Take few steps for roasting the flour and can be done with in half an hour.

1. First roast peanuts till light golden color, let it cool. Then crush coarsely and keep aside.
2. In the same pan, roast wheat flour on medium-hight heat till you smell nice aroma. Takes about 5-7 min to get nicely roasted. Then take out and let it cool.
3. Next add besan and roast for few Min's, till the raw smell is goes and gets a nice aroma.
4. Crush jaggery and keep aside as well. Once all the above ingredients have cooled mix them all along with jaggery and keep ready.
5. Take a plate, grease well with little ghee or oil .
6. In a heavy bottomed pan, heat ghee on medium-high heat. When ghee is hot and starts to smoke ( its important to add the mixture when ghee starts to smoke). Everything mixes with ghee and comes together, stir for 1 -2 mins. Make sure not to burn.
7. Now pour the hot mixture to the greased plate, smear evenly. Let it cool a bit, make desired shape with the help of knife.
8. Let it cool completely before cutting out a piece. Enjoy !

* The pieces should be hold its shape, but will be crumbly when you bite into it.

*If any one knows this sweet by any other name, please let me know.

Happy Deepavali

Wishing you all a very Happy Deepavali.

Peppers and Tofu in Peanut-Sesame sauce

Hello all, I have been missing in action for almost 5 months now. I had been to India on vacation, enjoyed the rainy season over there, got to eat spiciy snacks and good meals during those days. Along with that also enjoyed some street chaats and visited few, new restaurants while I was in my hometown Mysore.

During all this, blogging took a back seat, its been almost 15 days since we got back from our vacation, and I am back to my daily routine. I have been cooking the basic recipes like rice, curry and rotis.
A few days ago, I tried a new type of curry with the combination of green chilli peppers and tofu, along with roasted peanut and some spices. End result was very delicious and it tastes great with chapthis , rotis as well as rice.

So here is the recipe for it.


Ingredients :

• Green chilli peppers (long, mild ones)- 4
• Onion - 1 medium size
• Tomato - 1
• Tofu (firm kind) - cubed about 1/2 cup
• Tomato paste or tamarind paste - 1 tsp>

For Tempering: Oil- 1tbsp , Mustard seeds-1tsp.
Roast and Grind :

• Peanuts-Groundnuts - 1/4 cup
• Corrinder seeds - 1tbsp
• Sesame seeds - 1tbsp
• Black pepper corns - 1tsp
• Fennel seeds - 1tsp
• Red chillies - 2 (more for more spice level)

1. Wash and chop onion, tomatoes and green chilli peppers to big bite size pieces.
2. Heat apan, add the above mentioned ingredients for roasting. Roast on low flame for few minutes, untill everthing smells good and peanuts turns ligt brown. Let it cool. Then grind it to bit course powder (or else use tamarind paste or water and use that to while grinding to make as smooth paste).
3. Heat oil in a pan, when hot enough add mustard seeds, when they start to pop add cut veggies and saute/fry till onion is soft and pepper changes colour to drak green.
4. Now add ground mixture, add more water to make the curry to medium consitsancy. Add tomato paste now along with water if using. Add salt ,mix well, let it cook for 10 mins.

5. Cut Tofu(paneer can also be used) to bite size peices. Now add them with the veggies and peanut mixture. Add more water if required. Mix gently.
6. Switch off from the heat and let it sit for 10 mins or so before serving. So that, tofu will absorb the flavours from spices.

Serve warm with chapathis or rice. Spicy and healthy curry, Enjoy !