Another of the Diwali khaan :). My mom prepares chiroti and T loves eating them, it being his favorite. I am not sure what this is called in other languages. We call this sweet Chiroti at home and I will keep it that way!

Ingredients:
2 heaped cups maida (all purpose flour)
pinch of salt
powder sugar mixed with cardamom powder
oil for frying

Method:
Knead the maida along with the salt and a tsp of oil into a dough. Keep aside for about an hour. Make 6-8 portions of this dough.

Roll each portion into a thin sheet. Spread one of this, apply some oil and sprinkle some dry flour.

Now, place another one on top. Follow the same procedure. Here I have 3 of these together. You can add more if you want more layers in the chiroti.

Roll these into a tight roll. Cut into 1/2″ pieces with a knife.

Roll each of these portions into 1mm thickness.

Heat oil in deep frying pan. Once hot, add chirotis to the oil and fry till golden on both sides. Do this on a medium-low flame. Take them off on a paper towel to remove excess oil. Sprinkle the powdered sugar with cardamom on both sides as per your taste. Some people immerse this in sugar syrup instead of sprinkling the powdered sugar. That will make the chirotis really sweet and soft too. I prefer the crispy ones :)

Store in air tight container and enjoy!!

Basundi serves as a dessert. Very simple to make with very few ingredients.

The other day while I was boiling milk, the flame was low and I forgot to take a look. The milk kept boiling and got reduced to about half. I did not feel like wasting it and then the thought of Basundi struck. Though it is not one of my favorites solely because whenever I have had this outside, I have found it too sweet to suit my taste buds. This time I enjoyed it, maybe because I adjusted the sugar to our liking :D

You can also add condensed milk for faster results. Use full fat milk for a bit creamier version. For the calorie conscious, low fat milk works as fine.

Ingredients:
1 litre milk (full fat milk gives better result)
¾ cup sugar
½ cup finely chopped dry fruits (cashewnuts, almonds, pistachios)
½ tsp cardamom powder
3-4 saffron strands (optional)

Method:
Take milk in a thick bottomed vessel and bring it to boil. Once the milk starts boiling, reduce the flame to low and let it simmer. The quantity of milk should get reduced by half.

At this point add the sugar, cardamom powder, saffron and let it simmer for another 8-10 minutes. You can also add the dry fruits at this point or use it as garnish if you like it crunchy. Also, adjust the sugar at this point to your taste. The amount of sugar needed depends on your taste and also milk used. Turn off the flame.

Basundi is ready to serve. Can be served hot or cold!

Ingredients:

For the filling:
2½ cups grated coconut
2 cups Jaggery
3 cardomoms powdered
1 tsp ghee

For the dough:
3 cups flour(maida)
Salt to taste
Water
2 tsp oil

Oil for deep frying

Method:
Mix the coconut and jaggery in a kadhai. Place it on low flame. The jaggery will now begin to liquify. Keep stirring so that the mixture does not get burnt. Once the mixture comes to boil, add the cardomom powder. Keep stirring till the mixture leaves the sides of the vessel and is 75% solid. Note, you may feel that the mixture is not completely solid, but remember that once it cools down, it will tend to become tough.

Now, mix the maida, 2tsp oil, water and make a dough. The consistency of the dough should be the same as that of a chapati dough, neither too soft, nor too hard.

Once both the dough and the filling are ready, you are ready to go. It’s a custom to offer 21 modaks to the Lord. So make 21 parts of the dough as well as the filling. Make sure that the filling does not have coconut pieces with sharp edges, else modaks tend to open up in the oil.

Roll out each part of the dough into small rounds, size of puris. Place the filling in the center and pull the dough from all sides to cover it and make a modak. Do the same with the remaining dough and filling. You can keep the ready modaks covered in a damp cloth to prevent them from drying or developing hard edges.

Heat the oil for deep frying in a kadhai. Once the oil is hot(need not be smoking hot), lower the flame. Place 5-6 modaks in the kadhai and deep fry. Turn the modaks and fry tilll they turn golden brown.

The modaks are ready!! They can be stored in an air tight container for a week or so.