Raksha Bandhan Special Sweet Recipes
Among many auspicious days in India, the festival that celebrates the love and bonding between brothers and sisters - Raksha Bandhan or Rakhi Purnima is one such occasion which is celebrated with a lot of zest and spirit.
With Rakhi just around the corner, it's that time of the year yet again, when siblings are on the hunt for the perfect gift, food and ideal rakhi. But looking at the rising coronavirus cases across the world; it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the situation is not going to be the same for some time, which means no stepping out for the Raksha Bandhan celebration this year.
However, since any festival is incomplete without delicious food, especially sweets, here are some Rakhi recipes that you can easily make at home for your siblings and give them while tying rakhi on their wrists. Moreover, a personal touch to gifts, food, celebrations, is always appreciated!
- Pineapple Halwa
To prepare pineapple halwa, in a pan heat some ghee. Once the ghee is hot enough, add cashews in it and roast until golden brown. Now add raisins to it and roast for a few seconds. Now keep the roasted cashew and raisins aside.
Next, add 1 cup semolina to the pan and roast it on medium flame, until it starts giving a nice aroma.
Now in another pan pour 1 cup of water and 1 cup of milk, put it on medium heat, and bring it to boil. Now add the semolina while stirring continuously. Once the water and milk is absorbed, add canned crushed pineapple, a dash of pineapple essence, cardamom powder, sugar and mix.
Simmer on medium-low flame for 2 minutes and add food color to it. Now add a spoonful of ghee again and mix the roasted cashews and raisins and switch off the flame. Garnish it with saffron, and the pineapple halwa is ready to be served!
2. Dry Fruit Ladoo
Dry Fruit ladoo is not just tempting but they are nutritious too, and can be very easily prepared.
All you need to do is chop the seedless dates, anjeer and keep them aside separately. Then chop almonds, cashew nuts, pistachios and keep them aside. Make powder of cardamoms, and a very small piece of nutmeg.
Now put the chopped dates and dried figs in a mixer grinder and make a coarse paste of it.
Melt ghee in a pan, add the chopped cashew nuts, almonds, pistachios, raisins and roast them for 2-3 minutes. Later, add the dates and anjeer mixture, cardamom and nutmeg powder, poppy seeds and mix well.
Turn off the flame and let the mixture cool down for a few minutes. Divide the mixture into equal parts and bind to form ladoos by applying a little ghee to your palm each time. You may serve the dry fruits ladoos immediately or store it in an airtight container and refrigerate. Dry fruits ladoos do stay good for a few days
3. Cornflour Halwa or Bombay Karachi Halwa
To prepare the cornflour halwa or the Bombay Karachi Halwa, in a bowl take corn flour, add 1/2 cup water and mix without lumps and keep aside.
In a pan, mix sugar with remaining 1/2 cup water and cook till the syrup becomes sticky to touch. (The string consistency isn't required here.)
Now after giving the corn flour solution another mix (as the flour will settle at the bottom) add it to the sugar syrup. Then boil it over high flame and keep stirring. Initially, it will resemble milk but upon further boiling, it will turn glassy and then transparent.
Then cook it over medium flame, add 2 tsp ghee and stir well. Now add cardamom essence or powder, food color, almonds, pistachio and mix well.
Add 2 more tsp of ghee and mix well. Cook till it all comes together in a mass and begins to pull away from the sides and the ghee separates.(Place a drop of halwa on a plate and when you can make a ball from it, that’s the right consistency.)
Transfer the corn flour halwa into a greased plate or tray for it to set. Garnish it with almonds, pistachio and cut them into desired shape and it’s ready to be served!
4. Coconut Ladoo with Condensed Milk
To prepare the coconut ladoo, pour condensed milk in a pan and add desiccated coconut to it. Mix both of them together and cook in low flame. Continue to cook till the mixture turns into a mass. But make sure not to overcook it, as the mixture should remain moist, also over cooking the mixture will make it hard.
After turning off the flame, mix cardamom powder to the mixture. When the mixture is still warm, shape them into balls to make ladoos. For garnishing, roll them in coconut.
5. Bread Rasmalai
To prepare the bread rasmalai firstly, in large nonstick pan boil milk - stir occasionally to make sure the milk doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Add 1 cup of condensed milk to it and stir well and get the milk to boil. Once a layer of cream is formed over the milk, reduce the flame to medium and keep stirring from the bottom of the pan so that the milk doesn't burn. Further, get the milk to boil again, till the milk reduces to one-third. Add cardamom powder and saffron milk to it and give a good mix and get the milk again to boil. Allow it to cool at room temperature and chill for 2 hours.
Now cut the bread into round pieces with the help of cookie cutter or glass and dip both sides of the bread into the prepared rabdi and place it into a plate. Pour 2-3 tbsp of rabdi on the plate. Garnish it with chopped dry fruits and serve the bread rasmalai either chilled or hot.
