Mohanthal, a traditional Gujarathi sweet made from the besan / chickpeas flour. It's one of my favorite sweets made with besan. The flavor and the taste of Mohanthal is simply amazing. Trust me, it's so addictive and you can't stop it with just one piece of  Mohanthal. 

As a South Indian, i was never aware of this for a very long time, a couple of years ago only i came to know about this sweet. By looking at the ingredients and the process of making this sweet itself, i knew that would be delicious. 

As of now, i have made this sweet a lot of times on various occasions and it's always a big hit.  Since this was a new sweet to me initially, i have browsed through a lot of recipes and tried different ratios of ingredients every time when i make and eventually found the recipe that i like the most.

As of now, i have made this sweet a lot of times on various occasions and it's always a big hit.  Since this was a new sweet to me initially, i have browsed through a lot of recipes and tried different ratios of ingredients every time when i make and eventually found the recipe that i like the most.

Many recipes call for khoya/mawa for making mohanthal but in today's recipe that i'm sharing, i haven't used khoya but still the mohanthal has melt in your mouth texture. 

Roasting the besan/kadalai maavu

Roasting the besan properly is the key to make delicious mohanthal. Since my kitchen has yellow light, i have taken the picture of the besan in daylight for three main stages that you can see  in the pic below.

Make sure to keep the flame in low-medium and roast the besan well. It shouldn't be burned at any stage and at the same time it should be dark brown after roasting in the ghee. Then once you add the milk to the besan-ghee mixture, it instantly turns reddish brown in color (last pic in the collage below) and that's the time to remove from the heat. 

Sugar Syrup Consistency 

Once the besan is roasted well, half the work is already done. Next is the sugar syrup. Make sure to boil the sugar syrup till it reaches one string consistency. That's the key to setting the mohanthal. 

If the sugar syrup passes the one string consistency, then the mohanthal would be hard. Or if the sugar syrup doesn't reach the one string consistency, then the mohanthal wouldn't set and be like halwa. 

Take the sugar syrup with the spoon and add a few drops in a small bowl. After a few secs, it should be bearable hot, at that time, take the sugar syrup between your thumb and index finger, pull the fingers gently, a single thread should form. That's the correct stage for sugar syrup.

Beginners Tips 

• Don't leave the besan unattended while roasting. It easily gets burned at the bottom.
• If it's not set after a few hours, then place it on the refrigerator and it will set immediately.

Happy Deepavali to all ! Have a fun-filled day with your loved ones. Will see you all again in another post soon. 

Mohanthal | Gujarathi Mohanthal Recipe

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 30 mins | Serves : 6 
Recipe Category: Sweet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Mohanthal, Mohanthal without Khoya , Mohanthal without mawa , Mohanthal sweet,Gujarathi Mohanthal Mohanthal, a traditional Gujarathi sweet made from the besan / chickpeas flour. It's one of my favorite sweets made with besan.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Kadalai Maavu / Besan - 1 cup

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Ghee - 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp

Milk - 1/4 cup + 1.5 tbsp

Water - 1/4 cup

Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp

Almonds(silvered) - a few (optional)

Procedure

First take the besan in a bowl, add 1 tbsp of ghee and 1.5 tbsp of milk into it. 

Mix it well with your hands and then sieve the mixture through the siever.

The besan looks like a fine beach sand, that's the perfect texture for mohanthal. Next heat a thick bottomed kadai, add the remaining 1/2 cup ghee.

When the ghee starts to warm up, add the besan mixture and mix it well. 

Roast the besan in the ghee till it turns into dark brown.It takes around 15-18 mins in the low medium flame. Stir the mixture continuously to avoid burning at the bottom. Initially the mixture would be thick, roasting continuously would make the mixture lighter and a little bit thinner.

Once the mixture is dark brown, add the remaining 1/4 cup of cup and mix it well. The mixture instantly turns into reddish brown. 

Colors of besan at each stages. Since my kitchen has yellow light, I have captured the  three stages of besan color alone in day light for easy understanding 

Once the mixture turns reddish brown, remove the besan mixture from the heat and keep it aside. Next let's make sugar syrup, add the sugar and water in a sauce pan and bring into boil.

 Keep the flame in medium and boil the syrup till it reaches one string consistency. Next add the sugar syrup and cardamom powder into the besan mixture and mix it well.

 Once it all comes together as a homogenous mixture. Put it in the flame and cook it for around 3-4 mins or until it leaves the sides of the pan.

Then transfer the mixture into the ghee applied pan(i used parchment paper also for safety) . Garnish the top with the almonds and let it cool completely. Once it completely cools down, cut into desired shape.

Delicious Mohanthal is ready to serve.

Related:How to make Milk Cake 

Notes

• You can garnish with any types of nuts or edible silver paper or leave it as it is also.
• I have used full fat milk and highly recommend to use that for rich taste.

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How to make Indian Masala Chai | Ginger Cardamom Tea

Indian Masala Chai is a sweetened tea beverage made by boiling the tea, milk and some Indian spices together.  If you have followed me on IG and had a chance to see my daily stories, you might already know my love for a good cup of chai.

Nowadays, I think that the Indian chai doesn't need any introduction, right? The most famous coffee house, Starbucks has already started to sell the Indian masala chai in their cafe. But the commonly used term "chai tea" to mention "Indian chai" is a bit confusing for me when I heard it for the first time. Actually the Hindi language word for tea is 'chai', so the word "chai tea" sounds repeating to me. Anyone with me or am i the only one who thinks that the term "chai tea" is weird ?

Ok, let's leave the name conundrum! First let me answer the common myths about Indian Chai. Typically in our homes, we don't add a lot of spices in our tea on a daily basis. The most common flavor is either ginger or cardamom or both.

Besides, we don't prepare masala chai powder in bulk for household purposes. So the masala chai that are available in North American restaurants or cafes is not how we prepare at home. Indian household chai recipe is a simple straightforward milk tea with one or two spices. That's it ! 

Let's see some FAQs about Indian Chai before moving to the recipe

What's the proportion of milk and water in the chai?

There are  no hard and fast rules here. You can add more or less milk as per your liking. I prefer my chai with 1:1 ratio of milk and water.

What % of milk is good for chai ?

Ideally full fat milk tastes great. But for daily intake, i prefer to make the chai with 2% milk. But you can use whatever you like!

What's the best tea powder for Indian Chai?

In India, I prefer to use red roses. Here in Canada, I like red label brands or any tea powder from Indian brands.

Why is my chai pale in color instead of dark color?

The color of the chai solely depends on the tea powder. If the given quantity of tea powder doesn't give the dark color, you can add a bit more but keep in mind, more tea powder makes the chai bitter.

Is it ok to make chai without sugar?

Yes, absolutely fine. Or you can use any sweetener or sugar alternative also.

How to make Indian Masala Chai

Preparation Time : 2 mins | Cooking Time : 5 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Masala chai, Ginger Tea, Ginger Cardamom Tea, Ginger Cardamom Chai,Indian Masala Tea, Chai Tea, Chai Latte Indian Masala Chai is a sweetened tea beverage made by boiling the tea, milk and some Indian spices together.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Milk - 1 cup

Water - 1 cup

Tea powder - 4 tsp

Sugar - 3 tsp

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Green Cardamom - 2 

Procedure

First, in a sauce pan, add the water & tea powder. Next peel the ginger and crush both ginger and cardamom roughly(bring out the flavor well) and then add into the sauce pan. 

Bring into boil, then add the milk. 

Next add the sugar and again bring into boil and let it simmer for 2 mins. Then strain the tea and it's ready to serve.

Flavorful Indian Masala Chai is ready. Serve it with your favorite biscuits or crackers. 

Notes:

• Add more or less of sugar as per your liking 
• Instead of white sugar, you can use the brown sugar also.

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Kadai Chicken | Chicken Capsicum Masala | Chicken Curry

Kadai Chicken, a delicious & spicy chicken curry with wonderful flavor. Kadai chicken is one of the popular chicken recipe in any Indian restaurant. 

Kadai is actually a indian cooking utensil with two handle on the sides and in tamil we call kadai as "Vanali(வாணலி )" or "thalikura sati(தாளிக்கிற சட்டி ) ", back in days, almost all cooking were made in kadai and i don't know why some dishes alone got the name "Kadai" as their prefix. Whoever named the dish might be simply out of ideas and name it from the utensil it was made.

But it's a genius thing to do because it gives  authentic & rustic feel to the dish and typically every restaurant serve this dish in a small kadai itself to justify its name :-). I still remember the first time that i ordered this dish at restaurant for its name only. Such a catchy name, is it?? If you know any other reason why it's called as kadai chicken, do let me know in the comments.
Ok, enough with the analysis of the name, now coming to the recipe, it's my attempt to recreate the restaurant style kadai chicken that i had from various restaurant. When i search online for kadai chicken recipe, the result quite varies from gravy type chicken to dry roast type chicken under the name "Kadai Chicken". So i come up with my own recipe with what i remember from eating out,the recipe that i'm sharing today is semi gravy type and it tastes best with roti,chapati or any indian flat bread and pulao. 

It's not a ideal chicken curry for plain rice, for steamed rice, you can try this and this chicken curries. As far i remember, in most of the places, kadai chicken has bell pepper in it, so i have added in this recipe. It gives nice flavor to the curry and also combination is good. Now let's check out on how to make restaurant style kadai chicken.

I don't have the small kadai to serve this dish to justify its name, so simply serve it in bowl 😊. That's the typical problem of moving frequently, most of my serving utensils were lost. Some are broken/damaged in the shipping, some are left back in India because of luggage issue and remaining some, honestly i don't have any idea now 😂 . 

Kadai Chicken | Chicken Capsicum Masala

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
chicken,kadai,indian,chicken with bellpepper,kadai chicken,spicy chicken Kadai Chicken, a delicious & spicy chicken curry with wonderful flavor. Kadai chicken is one of the popular chicken recipe in any Indian restaurant.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Chicken - 1 lb
Onion(big size) - 1
Tomato - 1
Capsicum -1/2
Green Chili - 1 
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chili powder - 3/4 to 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Kasthuri Methi(dried) - 1/2 tsp 
Salt - to taste
Cinnamon - 1/2 inch piece
Cloves - 3
Cardamom - 2
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few
Oil - 1&1/2 tbsp
To powder 
Cinnamon - 1/2 inch piece
Cloves - 2 
Cardamon - 2 (seeds only)

Procedure

Clean the chicken and keep it ready. Next cut 3/4 of the onion into small pieces and the remaining onion & capsicum into small squares. Cut the tomato roughly into small pieces and slit the chili. Heat the pressure with oil and then add the cinnamon, cloves and cardamon into it. Let it fry in oil for 30 secs.

Add the finely chopped onions, curry leaves & green chili. Saute it for 2 mins, then add the ginger garlic paste, give a good mix and then add the chicken pieces.

Give a good mix and puree the tomato and add into the chicken.

Add spices(turmeric, red chili,coriander and garam masala powder) and salt. Mix it all well and pressure cook for 2 whistle.

In the meantime, add the ingredients listed under "To Powder" into the hand motor & pestle and ground into fine powder. Once the pressure is automatically released from the pressure cooker, open the lid.

Transfer the chicken into bigger pot and keep it on flame and let it reduce until the preferred consistency. Once it about to reach required consistency, add the grounded powder and pepper powder & mix it well.

Finally in an another pan, saute the capsicum and the onions(small square shape)with pinch of salt till they are tender and add into the chicken along with crushed methi leaves. Let it in the flame for 2 mins and switch off the flame.

Tasty Kadai Chicken is ready. Serve it roti/chapati and/or pulao/. We had with chapathi, ghee rice and onion raita

Related : How to make Butter Chicken Masala

Notes:

• Freshly grounded spice powder gives nice aroma to the curry. But if you don't have hand motor & pestle, skip it and add extra 1/2 tsp of garam masala powder.
• Adding capsicum & onions at the last gives nice texture to the curry.
• If you're using boneless chicken, no need to pressure cook the curry. It will get done in the open pot itself.
• Adjust the spice according to your taste. The given quantity is for mild spice.
  

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Moru Curry | Moru Kachiyathu | Pulissery | Onam Sadya Recipe

Mor Curry, a tasty and traditional curry made from butter milk and seasoned with indian spices. Mor Curry is also known as Mor Kachiyathu or Pulissery in Kerala, India. It's such a simple curry to make in no time, but you have to be careful otherwise it will be curdled easily.

 I had my share of experience in curdling the buttermilk in making this curry😜, so you're a beginner or first time trying to make this recipe, make sure to read the notes section also before trying.If you're looking for other curd/buttermilk based curry here they are 
Mathanga Pulissery
Pineapple Pulissery
And also for whole Onam Sadya recipe collection, check here. Now let's check out the recipe for Mor curry.

Moru Curry | Moru Kachiyathu | Pulissery

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 10 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Curd - 1 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt -to taste
To Temper
Pearl Onion -2 
Ginger - 1/2 inch
Green chili - 1 
Coconut Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp
Fenugreek seed - 1/8 tsp
Red chili - 1 

Mor Curry,Moru Kachiyathu, Pulissery,Onam Sadya Recipe Mor Curry, a tasty and traditional curry made from butter milk and seasoned with indian spices.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Procedure

First take the curd in a bowl, add water and whisk into smooth buttermilk without any lumps.

Cut the onion, ginger and green chili into small pieces. Heat the pan with coconut oil, add the ingredients listed under ""To Temper" and saute it in low flame.

Once the onions became slightly brown, keep the flame in low and add the curd mixture and turmeric powder.

Next add the salt and mix it a good mix. Keep the flame in medium and let it warm it up & switch off the flame.No need to bring to boil.

Tasty & simple Moru Curry is ready. Serve it with rice and your favorite accompaniment. We had with cherupayar thoran, inji puli and parippu curry.

Related : How to make chakka prathaman / jackfruit payasam

Notes:

• Sour curd tastes good for this curry.
• Instead of curd, you can use butter milk without adding any additional water. 
• Make sure that the curd is at room temperature and tempering at low flame when you pour the butter milk into the seasoning.Otherwise the curd would be curdled.
• Don't bring into boil, switch off the flame when you see the steam coming from the curd. If you're using induction stove top, immediately remove from the stove top, because the residual heat from the induction top make it curdle.
  

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Rava Coconut Ladoo | Rava Ladoo | Ladoo Recipe

Rava Coconut Ladoo, a delicious and easy to make ladoos with semolina and coconut. Rava ladoo is one of ST's favorite sweets and the only sweet he asks me to make often. So far,apart from the regular rava ladoo, I have tried quite few variations like making them using condensed milk and  sugar syrup without ghee. Each one has its unique taste & texture.

And this rava coconut ladoo is my recent favorite in this rava ladoo series. In general, I love anything with coconut in it and coconut gives nice aroma and taste to this ladoo. If you like me who loves coconut, give this method a try next time when you make rava ladoo.

While making this ladoo, make sure to roast both rava and coconut until they are aromatic, that makes a lot of difference in both taste and texture wise. So far I have made this ladoo for a handful of times and in every time, the amount of ghee needed varies slightly plus or minus 2 tsp of ghee. 

Therefore add ghee little by little and stop when it starts holding shape, even if it doesn't hold shape after using all the ghee, you can add more ghee or simply use a couple of tsp of warm milk or water. Milk actually reduces the shelf life of the ladoo, so if you're making this ladoo in large quantities, I would recommend sprinkling a couple of tsp of warm water to hold the shape. It doesn't affect the taste at all. Now let's check out how to make this delicious rava coconut ladoos.

Rava Coconut Ladoo Recipe

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 8 
Recipe Category: Sweet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Rava Ladoo, Rava Coconut Ladoo, Easy Ladoo Recipe, Indian Sweet, Diwali Sweet,Semolina Ladoo,Semolina Sweet Rava Coconut Ladoo, a delicious and easy to make ladoos with semolina and coconut.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Rava/Sooji - 1/2 cup
Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp
Sugar - 1/3 cup
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Ghee - 2 to 3 tbsp 
Cashew - 5

Procedure

Heat a tsp of ghee in a frying pan, add rava and start roasting the rava.

Roast until the rava is aromatic, remove from the heat and transfer to the plate, in the same plate, add the grated coconut.

Roast till it slightly started to changes to its color, remove from the heat and transfer to the plate. Now add the remaining ghee in the pan and heat it.

Broke the cashews into pieces and add into it. Roast until it becomes golden. Switch off the flame. In a mixie jar, add the sugar and powder it.

Next add the rava and coconut into it and pulse it couple of time until it all mix together.

Transfer into the bowl, add the cardamon powder and the ghee along with roasted cashews.

Mix it all together and start making ladoos. 

Yummy Rava Coconut Ladoos are ready. For more yummy sweet recipes, check out here.

Related : How to make Boondi Ladoo 

Related : How to make  Sugar Free Dates Nuts Ladoo 

Notes:

• No need to powder the rava, just give a couple of pulses until it all mix together.
• The ghee should be hot, so that it holds the ladoo in shape well.
• If the ladoo shape doesn't hold well, you can add a couple of tsp of boiled milk/warm water.
  

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