Chana Dal Halwa

Cooking Time : 30 mins

Today , I am posting my second Challenge for the well known event organized by Divya from youtoocancookindianfood - SNC Challange. This time Swasthi from South team challenged north team with Hyderabadi Dum Biriyani. Krithi from North team challenged South team with Channa Dal Halwa..

As I am from South team, I have completed my challenge by trying Chana Dal Halwa. I had this Halwa once long time back and now I got a chance to prepare it. I don't know that it is a Mughal Cuisine till I read Krithi post. Thanks Krithi for sharing such a delicious Halwa. It has such a good taste when Refrigerated. My family enjoyed it. Coming to the Recipe..

INGREDIENTS:

Chana Dal	1 cup
Sugar	1/2 cup - Adjust according to taste
Milk	2 cups
Cardamom Powder	2 pinch
Almonds	8 - Chopped Lengthwise
Ghee	3/4 cup

STEPS:

1. Wash and soak chana dal in water for 4 hrs. Pressure cook with 2 cups of water till the chana dal is cooked. Allow the cooker to cool. Drain the excess water and mash the dal well to a thick paste using spatula.
2. In a wide Pan, heat ghee and add the mashed Chana Dal and cook it in medium flame. Keep stirring continuously till the raw smell goes. This will take atleast 15 mins. 
3. After sometime, you will be able to see the Ghee separating from the Dal. At this stage, add 1/2 cup of milk and cook in high flame till the milk get absorbed. Repeat the same step for the remaining milk. 
4. Add Sugar, Cardamom Powder, Half of the almonds and stir for another 5 mins. 
5. Remove from the flame and transfer it to the plate and allow it to cool. Once it cools, cut into desired shape. It can stored in air tight containers or can be refrigerated. 

                                 

Tips:

• While mashing the Dal, Don't add extra water. 
• Don't add all the milk at one time. 
• Keep stirring the pan continuously else the bottom will get burn.

Rajastani Mini Ghevar Topped with Kesar Rabdi

This is the first time I am going to participate in SNC Challenge, a very successful event organised by Divya from youtoocancookindianfood blog. Manjula from Desi Fiesta Challenged South team with a traditional Rajastan Recipe - Ghevar topped with Kesar Rabdi. Ramya from LemonKurry challenged North team with VadaCurry. As I am from South team, I have to make Ghevar.

I have never heard of this traditional recipe so far. When I went through Manju's Recipe, I felt that it is a big procedure to complete this successfully. But Surprisingly, It turned out great for me. The main thing we need to take care while preparing this is the Maida batter consistency and the oil should be hot enough to prepare ghevar. I really loved the sweet and even my lil one tasted it and loved it so much. Definitely I will try this again. I had some leftover Kesar Rabdi and I used that for topping my fruit salad and fruit salad tasted great. Thanks Manju for sharing this Recipe. Coming to the recipe...

                                       
To Prepare Batter & Frying :

Maida	1 1/2 cup
Milk	1/4 cup (At Room Temp)
Ghee	2 tbsp
Water	As Required to make a thin batter
Cardamom Powder	a pinch (Optional)
Ghee/Refined Oil	As Required to Fry

For Syrup :

Sugar	2 cup
Water	1 cup
Saffron Strands	a pinch

To Prepare Kesar Rabdi :

Whole Milk	3 cup
Sweet Condensed Milk	1 Tin
Almonds,Pistachios	Crushed - As Required
Saffron Strands	a Pinch
Cardamom Powder	a pinch (Optional)

To Garnish :

Almonds,Pistachios	Crushed - As Required
Saffron Strands	a Pinch

STEPS:

To Prepare Batter:

1. Mix Milk and Ghee together for 2-3 mins.
2. Add Maida to it and Mix well.
3. Add Water little by little to the above mixture till the batter comes to thin consistency. 

To Make Ghevar:

1. Heat enough Oil in a deep bottomed flat vessel. Once it is hot, take the batter in a laddle and pour it in the middle of the vessel from 1 foot height. Make sure that the Oil is hot else the batter would stick to the bottom of the vessel. You can increase the height as much as you can to get good texture. Ghee also can be used in this step for frying purpose.
2. Once you pour the batter, you can see bubbles from the oil. if you see more bubbling, stop for few seconds and continue again because the oil may spill out.
3. Repeat the above till you get the required size of the Ghevar. It actually depends upon the size of the Vessel.
4. When frying ghevar, Make a circle at the centre of the Ghevar with the Skewer once the batter is settled. 
5. Allow the Ghevar to fry till golden Brown.
6. Take the Ghevar out carefully and place it in a paper towel to remove excess oil.

To Make Sugar Syrup:

1. Take 1 1/2 cup sugar and add 1 cup of water to it and bring it to boil. heat it till you get one string consistency.

To Make Kesar Rabdi :

1. Boil the milk in low flame till the Milk is reduced to half the quantity. Add Cardamom powder, Saffron Strands, Crushed Pistachios to it and mix well.
2. Add Condensed milk to the above and bring it to boil. Keep on stirring.
3. Allow the milk to turn thick and remove from the flame and allow to cool.

To Serve:

1. Add the sugar syrup to the Ghevar. Don't keep Ghevar in syrup for long time as it will become so wet.
2. To remove excess syrup, keep the Ghevar tilted in the plate.
3. Top up with Kesar Rabdi and nuts and now Ghevar topped with Kesar Rabdi is ready to eat. Serve immediately.