Rava Laddu / Sooji Laddu / Sweet Semolina Balls

Event: Blogging Marathon #42
Theme: Festival Special ~ Sri Krishnashtami

Rava laddu is a sweet dish that is usually featured in an offering platter to Lord Krishna on Janmasthami day. It is simple and quick to prepare when compared to other traditional dishes that are a part of the neivedyam that day. These yummy laddus are very easy to prepare and hard to mess up even by novices. My mother prepares these laddus with coconut while my husband's family follow the below recipe.

 

Ingredients: (yield a dozen laddus.)

1 cup rava / semolina

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup ghee or 2 tbsp ghee + 2 tbsp milk

2 tbsp cashews, chopped roughly

2 tbsp raisins

1/4 tsp cardamom powder

Method:
* Add rava to a pan and toast it on low flame. Keep continuously stirring, until it starts to change color, about 5 - 7 minutes. Take care not to burn it. Transfer the toasted rava to a wide plate and keep it aside. Let cool
* Heat about 2 tbsp ghee in a small pan. Add cashews and raisins to the pan and toast until cashews turn golden brown and the raisins turn plump.

* Finely grind the sugar and keep it aside.
* Grind the toasted rava as well.
* Now transfer the rava, powdered sugar, cardamom powder, toasted cashew - raisin mixture along with the ghee used to toast them to a wide plate or a mixing bowl. Next add the remaining ghee (or milk) and mix well.
* Fist about a lime sized portion from the mixture and shape into a ball. Repeat the process with the remaining mixture to from laddus. 
* Store the laddus in an airtight container. 
  
Notes:
* If not preparing for a festive platter, toasted semolina (without any ghee) and sugar can be powdered ahead and stored in a container. Just add toasted dry fruits and prepare laddus on a short notice.
* To make these laddus guilt free, half the quantity of ghee can be replaced by milk as mentioned in the ingredients' list above. However the shelf life of the laddus decrease because of the milk used. If not planning to eat the laddus immediately, they can be refrigerated.
* Usually shaping laddus should not be a problem with the above measurements. If at all the mixture is too dry to shape, add a little more ghee / milk to the mixture, mix and try to make laddus. 
* For a yummy variation, add about a cup of fresh, shredded coconut to the toasted rava and sugar. There is no need to powder rava or sugar in this recipe and use only a tbsp of ghee to toast cashews - raisins. The coconut is enough for binding and so, the remaining 3 tbsp of ghee or milk is not needed. However note that the shelf life of the laddus reduce because of the coconut used. Check here for the recipe.

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Manugu Poolu / Manuboolu

Event: Blogging Marathon #42
Theme: Festival Special ~ Sri Krishnashtami

Krishnasthami / Janmashtami / Gokulashtami is the day which commemorates the birth of Lord Krishna and is celebrated in India on the eight day of krishna paksha of shravana month (August - September). There are regional variations of this celebration across the country, as is the usual case with all the Indian festivals. In the Southern parts, people who observe this festival usually fast for the day. An odd number of sweet and savory dishes are freshly prepared in the evening and are offered as an offering, the naivedyam to the Lord before breaking the fast. 
Some savory, fried items like chaklis, nippattu, kodbale and paalakayalu are usually prepared on the day. Usually thentharlu/thenkuzhal  are the mandatory ones prepared in my in laws home on the occasion. However these manugu poolu are the only chaklis my mother ever prepares in her kitchen and follows her mother's version. These spicy, delicious chakli are the most we ate growing up and so I am quite partial towards them. My mother would prepare loads of these chaklis and store them in large containers for us, to snack on in the evenings. They are just crunchy and yummy.

Rice flour and roasted chickpeas powder are used in 4:1 ratio for this chakli. My mother usually gets her rice and roasted chickpeas ground in the local flour mill as she prepares them in large quantity. I use the store bought rice flour and it works fine.

Ingredients:
4 cups rice flour (Store bought flour will do.)
1 cup finely ground roasted chickpeas (Chutney dal)
Salt to taste
Red chili powder to taste
Few pinches of asafoetida powder
Oil to fry (I used canola oil.)
(I added about 2 tbsp each of white sesame seeds and cumin seeds as well this time but are not generally used in this chakli.)
 
Making chaklis:
* Heat oil in a kadai on medium flame.
* Combine the flours, salt, chili powder, asafoetida and 1 - 2 tbsp of hot oil in a mixing bowl. Then add water slowly to the flour mixture to form soft (not watery) dough that can be passed through the chakli press.
* Now to test whether the oil is hot enough to fry, slowly slide a pinch of dough into the oil. If it sizzles and comes to surface, then the oil is ready. If not, heat the oil a little longer.
* Take a small portion of the dough and fill in the chakli press. Using your hands, press the mould over the hot oil making circling motion so that coils of dough from the mold dropping into the oil make a circle shape. (Disc with multiple stars is used to make this chakli but I used a single, star shaped disc here.) Or you can first press the chakli on an oiled plastic sheet or a flat spoon and flip it into the oil.
Usually we make chaklis, the frying pan size instead of small ones. When they cool down, we break them into small bits and store them.
* Flipping now and then, fry them on low flame until they turn golden brown. Don't let the chaklis turn dark brown. And also don't be in a hurry and fry on high flame. They brown faster without turning crunchy.
* Remove them with a slotted spoon and drain them on paper towels. Repeat the process with the remaining dough.
* Let them cool and store them in an airtight container. They will stay fresh without going stale for at least a couple of weeks and don't need refrigeration. They can be left on the kitchen counter.

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