My Hometown Sweet Lavang Lata

Ingredients: 2 cups Maida or Atta (level) 20 Cloves 2 tbs butter softened a pinch of Salt Oil or ghee - for frying Syrup: 1 cup Sugar(heaped) 1/2 cup Water 1/4 tbs Lemon juice Filling: 1 cup grated coconut 1/2 cup Powdered sugar 2 tbs chopped nuts Method: 1. Rub butter well on a plate and then mix with flour, salt gently 2. When it is mixed, sprinkle water and gradually knead into a stiff dough, cover with wet cloth and keep it for about 30 min. 3. Mix the ingredients under filling together in a bowl. 4. Make syrup with sugar and water of one string consistency than add lemon juice after removing from fire and keep it warm. 5. Prepare small balls from maida dough and roll out into very thin circles, keep 1 tbs of stuffing in the centre and fold both sides to the centre to cover filling, then fold other two sides to centre overlapping each other to form a square. Insert two clove on top, cover all lavang lata with a wet cloth. 6. Heat ghee or oil in a heavy bottom pan till it becomes moderately hot, reduce flame to low. 7. Deep fry few at a time till crisp on both sides, turning over gently and dip it in the syrup. Take it out from the syrup to a serving plate after about 15 min and enjoy. (Optionally you can flood color to make it more colorful)

Rice Kheer (Rice Puding)

Ingredient:
1/4th cup long grain rice
4-5 cups milk
1 small can evaporated milk (Optional)
A pinch of saffron threads, soaked in a little hot milk2-3 cardamom seeds (crushed)2-3 tbs cashews for garnishing
½ cup sugar or as you need

Method:
1.Wash the rice and keep it aside for about half an hour.
2.Heat the milk with one cup of water in a heavy bottom pan and let it boil.
3.Add rice to the milk and keep stirring in between for about 10 minutes.
4.Add cardamom, saffron milk, sugar, evaporated milk and stir it and let it cook for another 5 minutes and your rice kheer is ready to serve hot or chilled as you like.

Dudhi (Bottle guard) Halwa

Ingredients:
2 cup grated dudhi (without seeds)
1/2 cup khoya
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp ghee
4 green Cardamom powder
Cashew (garnish)

Method:
1. Heat the ghee in a frying pan and fry grated dudhi on medium flame, cover the lid and cook 5 minutes.
2. Now add sugar and stir it and add khoya (I prefer homemade khoya) and mix it, lower the heat and stir till almost it gets dry.
3. Add crushed cardamom and garnish with cashews and serve hot or at room temperature.

Funnel Cake

Ingredient:
1 Egg
2 tbs Powder sugar
2/3 cups of Milk
¼ tbs salt
1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
1 tbs Baking powder
1 freezer Ziploc bag in case if you don’t have funnel
Oil for deep frying

Method:
1)Take a bowl and beat the egg and milk.
2)Mix flour, baking powder, salt together.
3)Add the egg and milk mixture, slowly beating it until the mixture turns smooth.
4)Cut the corner of the Ziploc bag slightly so that you can use it as a funnel, in case if you don’t have a funnel. Pour the better in the funnel.5)Heat the oil in a frying pan and pour the batter into the hot oil, starting from the center and then towards the outer side. Fry until golden brown on both sides, and remove it from the oil and sprinkle some powder sugar over it and the funnel cake is ready to serve hot.

Carrot Halwa

Ingredients

1 tb carrot shredded
2 cups milk
2 cups sugar
5-6 tbs of ghee
Fried cashew to garnish
5-6 green cardamom

Method:
1) Take a heavy bottom steel deep frying pan and heat 3 tbs of ghee and fry the shredded carrot for about 3-4 minutes.
2) Add milk to it, mix it properly and cook till the milk evaporates (will take about 40 minutes). Keep stirring in between.
3)Add sugar, crushed cardamom and mix it properly and cook for about 5 more minutes. 4) Garnish with fried cashews and your gazar ke halwa or carrot halwa is ready.

Rabadi Rasmalai

Ingredient:
1 can Rasmalai (10 count)
¼ cup sugar
1 liter milk
A pinch of saffron

Method:
1) Open the can and squeeze out the excess syrup from each Rasmalai and keep it aside.
2) Soak the saffron with few tbs of milk in a bowl.
3) Take a wide (at least 10 to 12 inch) steel pan and boil the milk.
4) Add the sugar to the pot, let it boil and all the rasmalai pieces one by one.
5) Reduce the flame to low (so that the milk should reduce without getting boiled, also it will not stick to the bottom too much) and let the milk reduce to about 1 cup milk. It will take about 30 to 40 minutes, keep stirring in between so that the milk will not stick to the bottom.
6) Now switch of the gas and carefully transfer the Rabadi Rasmalai to a different pot.
7) Serve cold, you can garnish it with crushed pistachio.

Apple Halwa

Ingredient:
6 Apples
¼ cup of cashews
1 tbs butter
2/3 cup of sugar

Method:
1) Clean the apples and peel the skin and cut the apples into small pieces (removed the seeds while cutting).
2) Take a heavy bottom frying pan (I prefer steel pan) and take the butter and heat it and fry the cashew pieces till golden brown and keep it aside.
3) Take the apple pieces on the same frying pan and sugar and cook till the apple pieces gets soft keep stirring. It will take about 5-7 minutes.
4) Add the cashew and your apple halwa is ready to serve.

Reeya Fruit Cake

This is nt my recipe, it's my friend Reeya's recipe. She got the cake during Christmas and it so yummy that I just had to ask for the recipe. First time I made it and it came out very nice. Don't go by the picture quality, just try it yourself...

Ingredients :
Brown Sugar 1 cup (if you are adding caramel syrup, Take ¾ cup )
Butter 1 stick
All purpose flour 1 cup
Eggs 2
Baking powder ½ tbs
Powdered spice ½ tbs cinnamon powder
Vanilla essence 1 teaspoon
Caramel syrup or Molasses 1/4 cup
Dry Fruits / nuts 1 cup (soaked in hot water for a day)
Take each of equal amount from Raisins, Cranberry, Dates chopped into small pieces
Nuts: cashew nuts, Hazelnut, walnuts chopped into small pieces
Milk 1/4 cup (optional)

Method:
Sift flour, baking powder and the mixed spices 3 times.
Mix the dry fruits and nuts in the flour.
Cream sugar and butter till fluffy with a hand mixer.
Separate egg white and yolk
Beat the egg yolk with the sugar and butter mix and add the milk.
While you do this beat the egg white with a teaspoon of sugar until stiff peaks are formed.
Now add vanilla, flour, caramel syrup and gently fold in the mixture.
Finally add egg white and gently fold in the mixture.
Bake the cake in 350 degree oven for about 35 minutes.

** Insert a skewer in the middle of the cake, if it comes out clean your cake is done. Pour the mixer only up to ¾ of the container. Baking time can vary according to your oven and the type of pan used.

Caramel syrup :
Caution !!! Be very careful while making caramel syrup use a tall heavy bottom pan. Careful while adding hot water. It will sputter all over. Cover the pan with a lid closer to your side. Add water away from you.
Melt 1/2 cup sugar in a heavy bottom pan until dark brown. Remove from heat and add 1/4 cup hot water to the syrup. You can add a little butter or lime juice while melting sugar to avoid caramelizing of the sugar. Cool the syrup.

**Note: This is my friend Reeya's recipe, I liked it so much that I asked her te recipe and I have modified little bit. I hope you will also like it.