TilGul Poli / Gul Poli / Sweet Jaggery Flat Bread

 

Mission Gul Poli Accomplished!!! 

Traditional recipes can be intimidating. I had never tried making Gul Poli. The trips to India in December would always treat us with mom-made delicious Gul Poli as well as some packed for the journey back ...and so we never made it after coming back here in January. But this year is different. No travel to India and no mom-made Gul poli :(

So to statisfy the cravings and to take us back home to enjoy the super delicious Gul poli, decided to give it a try! Phone calls with mom and few friends provided some great tips and tricks to accomplish this mission succesfully 😊 To make things tad bit simpler, I used the Udipi Jaggery Powder instead of grating the Gul (Jaggery) to make the Poli. The Poli's came out great in terms of taste, texture and color. I could have rolled them out a bit thinner, but that was just me being novice. 

Recipe (This makes about 12 Gul Polis)

Dough:

3 Cups Whole wheat flour

1/4 cup Besan roasted till brown in 1 tsp ghee

3 tsp hot oil

Warm water

Sweet Filling:

2 Cups Udipi Jaggery Powder

1/2 cup Sesame seeds (white Til ) roasted till golden brown

1/2 cup Besan roasted till brown in 2 tsp ghee

2 tsp Cardamom powder

1/2 tsp Nutmeg powder

Method

Dough:

1) Roast the besan in ghee till golden brown. Let it cool. Mix the whole wheat flour, roasted besan and massage with hands till all besans crumbs are broken. Add hot oil. Mix. Add little warm water at a time and knead into a dough. Dough should be stiffer than chapati dough. Keep the dough covered with wet cloth for 1hr. After 1 hr, knead the dough again with oiled hands and make large marble sized 24 balls. Keep the dough balls covered with wet cloth till ready to use.

Sweet Filling:

1) Roast the besan in ghee till golden brown. Let it cool.

2) Powder the roasted sesame seeds. Add the roasted besan and Jaggery powder to the mixer and blend till well combined and the mixture starts to come together. Add the cardamom and nutmeg powder and mix.

3) With oiled hands divide and press the mixture into 12 equal sized balls. The oil in the sesame seeds and roasted besan should help with the binding.

4) Roll out 2 of the dough balls into small pooris. Sprinkle some flour on the roling board to avoid sticking. Place the sweet filling mixture ball in the center and gently press to break it and spread it to cover almost the entire poori, leaving little space on the sides.

5) Place the second poori on top to make a sandwich and gently press the poori with palm of your hands to make the jaggery mixture and dough stick together. Do not seal the sides.

6) Gently roll out the two pooris stuffed with the sweet filling into a poli with a rolling pin. Sprinkle some flour as necessary to avoid sticking. Remove the excess dough on the sides with a dough cutter. (Like the one used for Shankarpalis)

7) Warm a non-stick pan on low flame ( On  Scale of 1-10, 10 being the hottest, I kept the flame on 3 to roast the Gul Polis. Roast with little oil/ghee on both sides till golden brown. The Polis will be soft when you roast them due to the jaggery melting, but will become the correct texture on cooling.

8) Serve the Gul Polis warm/ room temperature with Ghee and Saffron milk.

TilGul Ghya Goad Bola!

Dark Chocolate and Almond Scones

 Holiday Baking is in full swing!! Every break/vacation,  I promise myself to create a new recipe and upload it on the blog site. This winter break it had to be something sweet, chocolatey, and baked for the Christmas holidays! 

So here are the dark chocolate and almond scones that we enjoyed baking together as a family today. They are perfect textured (the little ones did a great job of massaging the butter onto the flour to get the perfect crumbly 'scone' texture 😍) are mildly sweet, and have slight nuttiness from the almonds. 

Ingredients:

2 and 1/2 cups All-purpose Flour

3/4 cups Granulated sugar

1/2 cup thinly sliced almonds

1/2 cup dark chocolate Hershey's cocoa powder

1/2 cup heavy cream/ whole milk

2 and 1/2 tsp Baking powder

6 Tbsp Unsalted butter (very cold)

1 egg

1/4 tsp salt

2-4 (70% chocolate) squares for the top drizzle

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 375F.
2) In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, salt, cocoa powder, baking powder.
3) In a small cup, beat 1 egg. Keep aside 1 tsp ( for egg wash later). To the rest of the egg, add heavy cream/milk. Mix together.
4) Cut the cold butter into small pieces and combine with flour- sugar mixture. Use fingers to blend the butter into the flour. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. ( Little pieces of butter should be still seen in the mixture). Add the sliced almonds.
5) Add the egg-cream mixture to the flour. Stir until combined. Do not over mix.

6) Knead the dough lightly on a floured surface. Make 3-4 large balls. Roll out each ball of dough or pat the dough into a circle. About 1 and 1/2 inches thick. Cut into 6 or 8 wedges like pizza.

7) Place the scones on a lightly greased baking sheet. Keep them apart. They will spread a little while baking.

8) Mix together 1 tsp egg and 1 tsp milk. Beat together. Brush onto the scones to get a 'shiny' appearance on baking.

9) Bake at 375F for 15 mins or until lightly browned.

10) Let them cool completely before taking them out from the baking sheet. 

11) Melt the chocolate squares and drizzle the melted chocolate onto the completely cooled scones. Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy the sweet crumbly Scones flavored with dark chocolate and textured with almonds😋 Happy Holidays!!!

"Mango-Saffron-Pistachio" Biscottis

Biscottis are one of my favorite baked goods! I love the crunchy texture that comes because of baking twice (Biscotti means twice baked cookies! ) with mild sweetness and the versatility to bake them with different flavors of choice. Here are a few of my favorites- (https://my-kitchens-aroma.blogspot.com/search/label/Biscotti)
Today I baked this new flavor combo which reminds me very much of the summers in India! The sweet warm fragrance of Mangoes is all over and everyone is trying out their favorite summertime mango recipes during the summer months.
The Italian biscotti got a very summery and warm makeover today with warm-aromatic flavors of Mango and Saffron and crunch from Pistachios. I love the flavor, color, aroma and everything about these biscottis😍 My new favorite!

Recipe:
2.5 cups All purpose flour (Plus little extra)
1/2 cup Mango Puree (I used Desai Bandhu Ratnagiri Alphonso canned puree)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (add extra for sweeter taste)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
5 tbsp Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
1/4 cup chopped roasted pistachios (plus some extra for top garnish)
1 Egg
2 tsp milk with 1/2 tsp saffron strands
2 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt

** Note: Baking sheet thickness and oven temperatures vary slightly from oven to oven. So always keep an eye on the baked goods and adjust the time as needed

1) Preheat oven to 350 F. Apply butter to baking sheet.
2) Cream together butter, salt, egg, sugar. Add mango puree and saffron in milk and mix.

3) Add flour, baking powder and chopped pistachios. Mix and knead gently into soft dough. Add little extra flour if needed. The dough will be slightly sticky. With oiled hands, form into logs and flatten them on to the baking sheet. Garnish with chopped pistachios and press on the dough.

4) Bake at 350 F for 20-25 mins. Keep an eye on the biscotti logs and don't let them brown too much on the bottom.

5) Take out from the oven and let cool for 5 mins. Slice the biscottis with a sharp serrated knife.

*** Now turn oven temperature down to 300 F for the next baking step

6) Arrange the cut biscottis on buttered baking tray and put back in the oven at 300 F for 20-25 mins till crunchy. (Again don't let them brown!)

Let them cool completely. They will crisp up more as they cool.
** If you prefers crunchier Biscottis ...Keep them at 300F for 6-8 mins more. Or Leave them in the oven for few mins after you TURN OFF the oven. They will crisp up on the residual heat of the oven.

Enjoy with your tea/coffee or as dessert! 😋

Almond Nankatai

The world is going through one of the worst crisis of our times. The COVID-19 has taken toll in everyones lives in one way or the another. Everyone is at home trying to stay safe and keeping their loved ones safe. However, one positive way to look at it is- We all now have ample family time to do that craft with the family that we wanted to do, to play games with the kids, to create that art project, to pursue that hobby that we look forward to, to develop a new skill that otherwise got pushed to the back in our busy lifestyles.

For me, amongst the most satisfying and gratifying thing is that, I am able to help the community through the COVID-19 efforts through my work place and through some personal efforts along with my husband to show a small gesture of gratitude to the healthcare workers, who are the real heroes and fighting on the frontlines. Another bright side is that I am able to pick up on my cooking and blogging hobby again which had become a rare opportunity amidst the busy lifestyle! So expect new stream of posts over the next few days:)

I baked these Almond Nankatai yesterday. These delicious nankatai cookies have a distinctive almond flavor and are packed with protein due to the almonds (There is more almond powder in the recipe than the flour!) 😋

• Recipe: (Makes about 25-30 cookies) 

1 and 1/4 cup Almond powder
1 cup Powdered sugar
3/4 cup All purpose flour
1 stick unsalted butter (room temperature)
1/4 cup milk (may need little less)
1 tsp Vanilla essence
1 tsp Baking powder 

Preheat oven to 250F. Apply little butter to baking sheets. 

1) Mix / fold the butter till smooth. Add powdered sugar and mix well by folding.
2) Add vanilla essence, powdered almonds, Flour, Baking powder and mix. Add milk little by little to the batter. Batter will be slightly sticky but not too loose. (Don’t use all milk if not needed! )
3) Place small dollops of batter on baking sheet. Flatten with buttered hands. Put some almond slices on top.
4) Bake at 250F for 30-45 mins till golden brown.
Don’t let the cookies burn! They remain light on top and golden brown on the bottom.

** Oven and baking sheets can vary. So baking time may have to be adjusted slightly accordingly. 

5) Remove when golden brown and let them cool completely before storing in airtight container. Enjoy with the little ones/ loved ones :)

*****More Nankatai Recipes: 

http://my-kitchens-aroma.blogspot.com/search/label/Nankatai…

"Rasmalai Cake" - An Indian version of the Mexican 'Tres Leches' cake

The newest trend in the world of cakes are the fusion cakes, where they combine best flavors from two or more cuisines to create one of a kind masterpiece. The one I tasted recently was the 'Gulab Jamun Cheese cake' at an popular Indian restaurant in Nashville,TN at the famous Chefs restaurant- Chauhan Ale and Masala house.Another beautiful cake was baked by a contestant at the cooking competition here for the Ganesh festival.The cake was called 'Gajar Halwa' cake- White moist cake with layers of gajar halwa and whipped cream made it delectable! She won the first prize:)

A friend had send a picture of the new popular cake in Pune- "The Rasmalai cake". Since then, I wanted to try my take on this cake and  we had the perfect occasion on this weekend that deserved a special cake! A 70th birthday party!

Here is my version of the Rasmalai Cake which is a spin on the Mexican 'Tres Leches' cake.

Ingredients:

Step 1: Plain Sponge Cake 

*You can prepare the base Sponge cake from scratch with this recipe. Instead of vanilla, add 1/2 tsp cardamom powder 

https://my-kitchens-aroma.blogspot.com/2009/10/pat-cake-car-vanilla-cake.html?m=1

OR For Easy version- Use Cake Mix 

1 eggless cake baked in a glass tray (I used Pillsbury white cake mix to bake the cake. Prepared the cake as per instructions, but substituted eggs with ¼ cup Greek yogurt)

Step 2: For Malai/ basundi 3 milk soak

1.5 cups evaporated milk

0.5 cups condensed milk

0.5 cup whole milk

0.5 tsp cardamom powder

¼ tsp nutmeg powder

(For more sweeter taste add more sugar/condensed milk. But remember the cake itself will be sweet too!)

Step 3: Saffron whipped cream:

1.5 cups heavy whipping cream

4 tsp powdered sugar

1 tsp saffron

Garnishing

8 Rasagullas (I used store bought)

Few drops of yellow coloring (optional)

Chopped pistachios and almonds for garnish

Saffron for garnish

Method:

1) Prepare cake as per box instructions. Use Greek yogurt to substitute the eggs. Let the cake cool completely.

2) Prepare the malai/basundi by boiling the evaporated milk, condensed milk and whole milk along with cardamom and nutmeg powder. Let it cool completely.

3) Pour the Basundi over the cooled cake.Let it soak overnight in the refrigerator.

4) Whip the cold heavy whipping cream with a electric mixer with the powdered sugar and 4 tsp milk with saffron strands.If the color is not yellow enough, add few drops of yellow food color. Beat till stiff peaks appear

5) Pipe the saffron whipped cream on the milk soaked cake in desired patterns. Garnish with half sliced rasagullas, chopped nuts and saffron.

6) Chill in the refrigerator for few hours. Serve chilled.

Enjoy the delectable moist cake with luscious whipped cream and warm and delicate Indian flavors of cardamon, nutmeg and saffron!

Oatmeal-Chocolate-Almond Cookies

At home, anything made with 'Oats' is frowned upon by everyone except me ;0
But to my surprise.... these cookies are a WINNER ! They have been liking it and munching on them with a smile on their faces. Being made with oatmeal and whole wheat flour.....a sure score for me!

When I looked up few recipes of oatmeal cookies, I was under the impression that Oats cookies are usually on the softer side of the texture. But these ones turned out Crunnnchy!! How can anyone not like this Chocolaty-Nutty-Crunchy yumminess!!

I combined a bunch of recipes to get this recipe:

Ingredients:

(Makes about 35-40 cookies)

3.5 cups quick oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose four
1 and 3/4th cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup slivered / chopped almonds
2 whole eggs
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp salt

1 tsp  baking powder 
1/2 tsp baking soda

Method:

1) Pre heat oven to 350 F. Slightly butter 2 large cookie baking sheets.
2) With electric mixer or hand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.Add the eggs, vanilla and beat/cream some more.
3) Sift the flour,salt, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder.Add to the creamed mixture and mix. Add the oatmeal and mix till combined.
4) Scoop the cookie batter onto baking sheets or form into flat rounds with hand and place onto cookie sheet. Press chopped/ slivered almonds on top.

5) Bake at 350 F for 12-14 mins until crisp. Remove from oven and let it cool on baking sheets.

Enjoy the crispy crunchy wholesome cookie!