7 Must- Try Yummy Holi Recipes.

Holi is celebrated to mark the end of winter and the beginning of spring. The festival of colours - Holi, is synonymous with the traditional sweets and savouries prepared to celebrate the festival. We feature here recipes which have used traditional ingredients to create an unusual fare.

Ingredients

Ghee - 1 tsp
Full cream milk - 1 and ½ litres.
Long grain basmati rice - 3 tbsp.
Saffron - 15-20 strands ( Soaked in 2 tbsp milk ).
*Thandai masala powder - 3 tbsp.
Sugar - ¼ cup.
Almond & pistachio slivers, silver foil and dried rose petals for garnishing.

Method

Wash the rice and soak in enough water for 30 minutes.

Drain the water and grind in a blender to make a coarse paste.

Heat ghee in heavy bottom pan. Add milk.
Once the milk comes to a boil, simmer the heat.
Add ground rice, thandai masala powder and saffron soaked in milk and cook on low heat till the milk is reduced to half and the phirni has thickened.
Keep in mind that phirni will thicken some more once cooled.
Transfer the phirni in terracotta pots and chill in refrigerator.
Garnish with almond and pistachio slivers, silver foil and dried rose petals.
Serve chilled.

*Recipe for the Thandai Masala Powder below:

http://www.whiskaffair.com/2016/03/thandai-masala-powder.html

Recipe and Image Courtesy - Whisk Affair by Neha Mathur.

Ingredients

For the Pastry :

⅓ cup plain flour (maida).
½ tsp melted ghee.
a pinch of carom seeds (ajwain) and salt to taste.

For the stuffing :

Mutton mince (keema) - 250 grams.
Green peas - ½ cup (i used frozen peas).
Onions finely chopped - 2 medium.
Ginger - 1 inch, finely grated.
Garlic 6 cloves, finely chopped.
Green chillies - 2, finely chopped.
Salt to taste.
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon.
Turmeric powder - ¼ teaspoon.
Garam masala powder - ½ teaspoon.
Oil - 2 tablespoons.
Ghee - 2 tbsp.
Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp.
Fennel seeds - 1 tbsp.
Sesame seeds - ½ tbsp.
Coriander leaf - 2 tbsp.
Mint leaf - 2 tbsp.
Whole Spices:
Clove - 3.
Cardamom - 2.
Cinnamon - 1 inch.
Bayleaf - 1.
Nutmeg - ½ tbsp.
Black Pepper - 6.

Instructions

For the Pastry :

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and knead into a stiff dough using enough water. Cover the dough with a dish or a wet muslin cloth and keep aside for 10 to 15 minutes.

For the Stuffing:

Heat oil in a pan, add the whole spices, let them fry till fragrant, then add the cumin, fennel and sesame seeds, fry for 30 secs, add onions and sauté on medium heat for two to three minutes or till light pink. Add green peas. Add chopped ginger and garlic and green chillies and continue to sauté for half a minute. Add mutton mince and salt and sauté for two minutes. Add red chilli powder,salt and turmeric powder. Sprinkle a little water and cover and cook on low heat till the mince is cooked and the mixture is completely dry. Add garam masala powder and remove from heat.
When cool enough to handle, add coriander and mint leaves and mix well.
Then warm the ghee or clarified butter and pour it over the mince. Using your fingers rub the ghee well into the mince.

Making Samosa :

Knead the dough well till smooth and elastic and divide the dough into 2 equal portions.
Roll out a portion of the dough into 6" x3" diameter circle.
Cut the oval horizontally into 2 equal portions using a knife.
Take a portion and join the edges to make a cone.
Stuff the cone with a portion of the stuffing and apply little water on the edges to seal it.
Repeat with the remaining dough and stuffing to make 4 more samosas.
Heat the oil in a kadhai and deep-fry the samosas on a medium flame till they turn golden brown in colour from both the sides. Drain on absorbent paper.
Notes
You can keep the dough and the filling ready before hand and simply roll it out and fry when needed.
Alternately, you can keep the stuffed samosa in the fridge till you need them for frying.

Recipe and Image Courtesy - La Petit Chef by Swayampurna Mishra Singh.

Ingredients:

Milk - 1 ½ litres.
Water - ½ litres.
Sugar - ½ cup.
Almonds - ½ cup.
Poppy seeds / khus khus - ¼ cup.
Melon seeds / magaz - ½ cup.
Fennel seeds / saunf - 1 tsp.
Black peppercorns / kali mirch - ¾ tsp.
Green cardamom / choti elaichi - 4 to 5 nos.
Saffron strands / kesar - few (to garnish).
Rose water / kewra essence - 1 tsp.

Method

Soak almonds, poppy seeds and melon seeds in water in separate cups for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Boil milk with water adding sugar adjusted according to the taste though the quantity is been given.

Once the milk is boiled, cool it and then keep it in the fridge until chilled.

Now blend the soaked ingredients like almonds, poppy reds and melon seeds long with pepper, cardamom and fennel seeds into a fine paste adding little water.

Take an empty jar and place the muslin cloth over it. Now add the blended paste and pour the chill milk over so that the milk is passed through all the different flavors thoroughly.

The milk to pass through the flavors just collect the corners of the muslin cloths and squeeze it so that the flavored Thandai is passed through muslin cloth easily.

Now refrigerate the Thandai and while serving just pour them in the glass and garnish them with saffron strands.

Recipe and Image Courtesy : Sus Recipes.

Ingredients

Thandai Mix

¼ cup almonds (lightly toasted).
1 tbsp Melon seeds (charmagaz).
12 – 14 peppercorns.
1 tbsp poppy seeds (white) / poshto / khus khus.
1 tbsp fennel seed powder.
½ tsp cardamom powder.

For Cookies

120 grams butter.
½ cup + 2 tbsp caster sugar.
1¼ cups maida.
¼ cup + 2 tbsp Aata / wholewheat flour.
¼ tsp baking powder.
A pinch of baking soda / soda bi-carb.
¼ tsp saffron.
1½ tbsp warm milk (to soak the saffron strands)
½ cup Thandai mix.
¼ cup finely chopped almonds (optional).

Method

For the Thandai mix, in a spice blender powder the ingredients. Store in a small jar or bottle.

Crush the saffron and soak it in warm milk for at least an hour to enhance its flavor.

Whisk together the maida, corn flour, whole meal, baking powder and baking soda for half minute. Mix in the thandai mix and whisk for another half a minute. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Mix in the saffron milk and then the flour mix. Bring together the butter and flour mix till there are no dry bits. Do not over work with the dough. (You do not need to knead the dough.)

Roll the dough into a log that is 7 to 7½ inch long. Tightly wrap the rolled dough in a cling film to retain its shape. Store in refrigerator for at least 2 hours (to obtain a hard dough so that it can be easily sliced).

Preheat the oven at 170 degrees C for five minutes.

Unwrap the cling film and slice the cookie dough log in half inch thick slices and arrange them on a baking sheet at least half a centimetre gap. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 10 – 12 minutes or till the edges begin to turn golden brown.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before carefully transferring them on to the wire rack. Cool completely before storing them in an air tight jar.

Yield : 2 dozen approximately.

Recipe and Image Courtesy : Easy Food Smith by Taruna Deepak.

Ingredients

Cheesecake Base

1.5 cups Digestive Biscuit crumbs.

2 tbsps Sugar.
5 tbsps Butter melted,cooled.

For Cheesecake filling

1 cup Fresh cottage cheese(paneer) (water drained completely).
½ cup thick Yoghurt.
1 cup Whipping cream.
¾ cup Sugar .
Pinch of 1 tsp Saffron soaked in warm milk.

1 tbsps Gelatin (bloomed in 1 tbsp boiling water).

1 tbsp Rose water 2 drops Or rose essence.

For Thandai

Mix: 40 Almonds ,10 Cashews, 2 tbsps Melon seeds, 1 tbsp Poppy seed, 2 tsps Fennel (saunf), 4 Cardamom, 1 tsp White/black peppercorn Pistachio,rose petal for garnishing.

Method

Soak almond in water at least 3-4 hours in a bowl. In a separate bowl soak cashew,melon seed and poppy seeds for 3-4 hours. Peel the almonds. Grind together almonds, cashew, melon, poppy seeds, fennel seeds, cardamom and peppercorn with little water and make a fine paste. This paste can be made a day or two ahead and kept refrigerated.

In a bowl mix together the biscuit crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press onto the bottom and up the sides of a well greased 8-9 inch tart pan with removable bottom. (A spring form pan can also be used). Place in the refrigerator to set while you make the filling. If you want you can bake the base for 10 minutes at 180 degree, it is optional.

In a blender blend cheese, yoghurt, cream, saffron infused milk, sugar, gelatin mixture and rosewater until everything is well incorporated. Add 1/3 cup of above thandai mixture and give one more whisk. Pour the mixture into the biscuit base, smooth the top. Cover and refrigerate at least 5 hours or overnight.

Images and Recipe Courtesy : The Flavours of Kitchen by Subhasmita Panigrahi.

For the Gujiya Dough (For 6 Gujiyas)

Maida/All purpose Flour: 1cup

Clarified Butter /Desi Ghee: 2tbsp.

Salt: Pinch

Sugar: 3 tbsp.

Water to knead a soft dough.

For the Filling (for 12 Gujiyas)

Coconut (Desiccated/ Dry grated): ¼th cup

Khoya /Mawa: 1 cup

Sugar / Sugar free Natura :¼th cup +3 tbsp.

Milk : 2-3tbsp ( just to bind the filling together and keeping the mawa soft post roasting)

Raisins : 2 tbsp.

Pista/Pistachio : 2 tbsp.

Cashew: 1 tbsp.

Green Cardamom /Illaichi: 6-7

Saffron Strands: ½ tsp.

Dried Apricots: 3-4

Almonds: 2tbsp.

Ghee to roast the Mawa: 2tbsp.

Oil to Fry

To seal the Gujiya: 1 tbsp maida mixed with a little water

Jaggery Glaze:

¼th cup Jaggery grated

3 tbsp. water

(Just heat these two on simmer till the jaggery is melted and cool)

Method

For the Dough:

In a food processor / a bowl take the flour ,salt, sugar and ghee and mix well till it gets a crumbly texture and the ghee is mixed in the flour well. Now add little water at once and knead a soft dough. Keep this dough in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. After 30 min knead the dough again lightly with your hands before use.

Soak the saffron strands in 2 tbsp. Milk. We will need this when we roast the Mawa/Khoya.

For the Filling:

In a pan dry roast the almonds and cashews. Roast on simmer and roast till they get a golden color. Keep aside to cool.

Now, in the pan add 2 tbsp. ghee and roast the Mawa. Roast on simmer .Once the mawa gets a light golden color add the grated / desiccated coconut. Roast for another 5 minutes and add the saffron Milk. Mix and let the milk be soaked and the mixture look a bit together .This may take just a few minutes. Put it off heat and transfer this mix to another dish to cool.

In a mixer, add almonds, cashew, green cardamom, raisins, apricots, pistachio and grind on pulse .Don’t make it too fine.

Add this mix to the Mawa and coconut Mixture and mix well. We are ready to make Gujiyas now.

Roll the Gujiya dough and make 6 equal small balles.Roll one ball at once into a circle, insert into the Gujiyas mould. Add 1tbsp of filling, seal the Gujiyas with Maida water paste and close the mould to fix. Make all Gujiyas and keep covered.

Heat oil in kadai, once the oil is little warm reduce the flame and start frying Gujiyas. Remember the oil should not be very hot, otherwise the cover will remain a bit undercooked and the shell will not come out very crisp.

Enjoy your Holi with these scrumptious Gujiyas!

Images and Recipe Courtesy : RecipesAndYou by Aditi Bahl.

Ingredients

Yellow Moong Dal 2 cups

Ghee 1.25 cups

Sugar 1.5 cups

Kesar/Saffron Strands 1tbsp

Milk ½ cup

Water 3 cups

Unsweetend khoya 1 cup

Raisin 1/3 cup

Almond flakes 1/3 cup

Pista 2 tbsps

Sliced Cashew 8-10

Method

Wash throughly and soak the yellow moong in ample amount of water for 6 hours or overnight. After the soaking time has passed, drain the water completely and grind to a coarse paste. The consistency of this is important here. We do not want it to be too grainy and at the same time it should be very pasty and fine. Keep aside the ground batter In a heavy bottom pan, heat the ghee till medium hot. To this add the ground moong dal and stir continously. This is probably the most important step in the making of the moong dal halwa, so do not get discouraged by the stirring involved. It will pay off in the end. While stirring the first milestone is one the ghee starts floating above the moong dal and technically one could stop at this point but I like my moong dal well roasted and browned both for the color and for the nutty taste. So continue stirring till the moong dal is browned.

While the moong dal is roasting, boil water and sugar together to make a one string syrup. To test how many strings the syrup is, boil together sugar & water and dip a wooden spatula in it. Bring it out and let it cool for 5 secs and then take a little of sryup between your fingers. Stretch your thumb and finger apart and the number of strings that the solution forms is the string consistency of the syrup.

Soak saffron strands (kesar) in warm milk and keep aside.

Once the moong dal is roasted, add the sugar syrup and the milk kesar mixture to it and cook till it is dropping consistency.

Add the khoya to the above and stir well, cook it it is almost melted.

Now add all the nuts and raisins to the moong dal halwa.

Mix and serve warm.

Images and Recipe Courtesy : Sinamon Tales by Monika Manchanda.