Chakli or Crispy Savoury Spirals

Ingredients:

1. Maida, All purpose flour – 6 cups
2. Split blackgram dal, Udid dal – 1 cup
3. Butter - 2 tsps
4. Sesame seeds – 2-3 Teaspoons
5. Salt to taste 

Instructions:

• Dry roast black gram dal on a medium flame in a broad based bowl till you get a pleasant aroma stirring occasionally.
• Sieve maida in the siever. Tie it in a white thin cloth and steam it in the pressure cooker for exactly 20 minutes. 
• On cooling just press the lumps with your hands powder it and sieve it. Mix roasted black gram dal powder from step 1 to maida and sieve it together around 2-3 times so that it gets mixed up evenly.
• Add salt, butter, sesame seeds and mix well. Slowly add water and bring it to the consistency of chapati dough.
• Insert dough into the chakli mould such that it fits tight in the mould. Set your mould and roll out chakli of required size in circular form on a thick plastic sheet.
• Place a skillet with 4-5 cups of cooking oil in it on a medium flame. When heated fry the above chaklies to light brown on both the sides.
• Store it in airtight containers and will remain afresh for more than a month if fresh cooking oil is used.

Mando, Mande, Mandige, Deep Fried Sweet

 Deep fired puris rolled in a sweet dry powder, Mando is a popular festival sweet prepared during Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali etc.  It is a typically Konkani festival sweet.

Ingredients:

1 cup maida or all purpose flour

2 tea spoon ghee
½ cup powdered sugar
1 table spoon sesame seeds (white til )
½ tea spoon cardamom powder
Oil for deep frying
Salt a pinch.

Instructions:

1. Make a stiff dough with flour, ghee , salt and water.
2. Take small balls of dough and roll it into medium sized chapatis (roll them into as thin as possible).
3. Wash sesame in water and drain. Roast them on a pan till sesame seeds pops up, do not burn them.
4. Mix sugar and cardamom with sesame and keep it aside.
5. Heat oil and deep fry the discs one by one. They should still remain white colored when fried. So don’t fry for long time. Just leave them in hot oil and immediately remove to enable folding later on. Small bubbles appear on the surface indicating they are cooked. If kept for a longer time, they become stiff and cannot be folded.
6. Spread the sugar mixture. It should be done when the fried discs are still hot, otherwise the sugar will not stick to them. Fold it into a triangle as shown above  spreading the sugar mixture on all the folds.
7. Store them in airtight container. They remain good for at least 15 days, if stored properly.

Nevri, Karanji, Karajikayi, Sweet Turn Overs

Nevri a popular Konkani festival sweet prepared specially during Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali, and other festivals.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour/Maida - 1 cup
Semolina/Rava/Sooji - 1/4 cup
Grated Coconut - 1 1/2 cups
Sugar - about 1/2 cup
Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 4 pods (seeds only)
Salt
Oil

Instructions:

1. In a mixing bowl, add all purpose flour, semolina and salt. Mix and make a well in the center. Add 1 tbsp oil and mix again. Now add water and knead well to form a firm dough. Add little more oil and knead again to slightly soften the dough. Keep the dough covered for an hour or so.
2.  Grind the grated coconut using little water so that the coconut turns to a coarse powder, about a minute.
3. Heat about 1 tbsp ghee/clarified butter or oil and add the ground coconut. Saute for few minutes at low flame. Now add sugar and continue cooking till the coconut stuffing turns to a dry powder. Turn off the heat and add cardamom powder. You can add powdered dry nuts (almonds, pistachios, cashews) and/or roasted sesame/til seeds as well to this stuffing. Let the stuffing cool. 
4. Divide the dough into equal sized small balls. Roll a ball into a very thin puri dusting some flour. Place 1 - 2 tsp coconut stuffing in the center. Apply little water or milk around the circular edge to ease the sealing of Karanji. Fold the puri half way to form a semicircle. Press the edges to seal it completely. I used a Shankarpali/Karanji cutter for a better shape. You can use a knife or pizza cutter as well.
5. Deep fry the stuffed Nevri/Karanji in enough oil to check. The outer dough layer must turn crisp. If not, roll it more thinner. Repeat the same for the leftover dough.
6. Crunchy and Sweet Nevri is ready.

Churmundo, Wheat Flour Ladoos

This easy sweet ladoos are prepared during festivals like  Ganesh Chaturthi for Naivedya or Diwali.

Ingredients:

Atta/wheat flour – 1 cup
Chick Pea Flour - 1/2 cup
Sugar – 1 cup (adjust according to sweetness)
Cardamom – 2-3 seeds[Crushed]
Ghee or clafirfied butter  – 1/2cup
Cashew nuts, raisins – a handful

Instructions: 

Powder the sugar along with the cardamom.
In a thick bottom kadai, add ghee.
Add the atta and mix well-the mixture will start bubbling, keep stirring.
Roast the atta and chick pea flour for 20-25 minutes on low flame stirring continuously.
Switch off the flame allow it to cool a bit(you can say it should be warm, this is because when we add sugar powder it should not melt)and add the powdered sugar.
Add raisins and roasted cashew nuts add it to the mix and make laddoos while the mix is still warm.