Food blogger Siddhi Panchal shares her Diwali recipes. You can share yours too!
Photograph: Courtesy Siddhi Panchal
Palak Mathri
Ingredients:
- 1 cup wheat flour
- 1 cup spinach, finely chopped
- ½ cup coriander, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp green chilli paste
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- Salt to taste
Method:
- Place a pressure cooker on a flame and add around ½ cup water. Position a stand in the cooker and over it, place a colander.
- Take a cloth, add flour in the middle and make a potli. Twist it and close it tightly. Then place it in the colander. Close the lid of pressure cooker.
- Let it cook for three whistles and then switch off the flame. Let the cooker cool down.
- Open the lid and take out the potli. Place it on a large plate and break it into pieces so that the flour cools down fast.
- Once the flour cools, strain it onto a plate to avoid chunks.
- Now to the filtered flour add spinach, coriander, green chili paste, sesame seeds and finally salt to taste. Pour oil and mix all the ingredients well.
- Now add water as required and make a soft dough. Cover it with a lid and set it aside for 5-10 minutes.
- Remove the lid and knead the dough once again. Roll out a medium-size ball from the dough and make it flat using your palm. Dust it in dry flour. With the help of a rolling pin, roll it into a thick flatbread. Cut it into the desired shape.
- Poke using a knife or a fork to make its texture crispier. If you like them to be fluffy, avoid making holes.
- Heat the oil in a deep bottom pan. Once the oil is hot enough slowly add mathri to it and fry until it is golden hue and texture appears to be crispy.
- Place the fried mathri on kitchen towel-lined on a plate. Repeat the same process for remaining dough. When the palak mathri is at room temperature store it in an airtight container.
Nutty Coconut Halwa
Ingredients:
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup sugar
-
¼ cup ghee
- 1 cup coarsely ground mix dry fruits (cashew, almond, pistachio, walnuts and hazelnuts)
- ½ cup grated fresh coconut
- 1/3 cup finely chopped cashews and almonds
- 1/8 cup raisins
Method:
- Heat a shallow bottom pan (preferably a non-stick) and add ghee.
- Once the oil is hot, add coarsely ground mixed dry fruits and stir it continuously to avoid it sticking to the pan. Let it roast for about 3-4 minutes.
- Add freshly grated coconut and cook it for a minute. Mix the ingredients well and cook for about two minutes.
- Add diced almond and cashew nuts along with raisins and give it a nice mix for a minute.
- On a high flame, add milk and let it boil. Stir continuously.
- When ghee starts to separate from mixture add sugar. Let the mixture cook on full flame because we want the moisture from sugar to evaporate as well.
- Once the sugar is completely dissolved and the ghee separates from the mixture, switch off the flame.
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Write in to us at getahead@rediff.co.in (subject: Diwali Recipes) with your NAME, HOMETOWN and any interesting details about the origin of the recipe, along with a photograph of the recipe if possible.
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