Sweet coconut milk

Krishna Janmashtami brings fond memories from the past. One of them is this sweet coconut milk which was a part of our janmashtami celebrations. Team it up with Neer dosa or any other dosa/ idli/ steamed rice balls / string hoppers and you will know what bliss means !!

 This recipe requires no cooking ( happy ?? :) ) . Here goes the "no cook " sweet coconut milk recipe which is simple to make but is great on the palate. You are going to love this, trust me !!

Ingredients :

You can skip the jaggery and cardamom to make plain coconut milk used in preparing various delicacies. The method to be followed is the same.

Grated coconut - 1 cup
Scraped jaggery - 1/4 cup ( you can increase the quantity if you like it sweeter )
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp ( if using whole cardamoms, use 3-4 and grind along with the coconut )

Method :

1. Grind grated coconut to a fine paste by adding water ( approx. 3/4 cup or a little more if required ).
2.  Take a strainer and place a bowl beneath it . Pass the ground coconut through the strainer . Thick coconut milk ( 1st milk ) will get collected in the bowl.
3.  Do not discard the coconut remnants in the strainer. Grind them once again with water ( approx 3/4 cup ) and repeat step 2. This coconut milk ( 2nd milk ) will be thinner than the first. You can repeat the procedure of grinding and straining once again if you wish to.  Give a quick stir so that the thick and thin coconut milk gets mixed well.
4.  Add cardamom powder and scraped jaggery to the coconut milk and mix well. Continue stirring till all the jaggery gets dissolved. Serve immediately or refrigerate, if using later since it might go bad pretty soon because of uncooked coconut.
5.  Serve with neer dosa or any dosa / idli/ string hoppers

Sending this to "Walking through memory lane " hosted by Avika flagged off by Gayathri 

Chana chaat

Chaat has always been my favorite…a sense of guilt lingering for days after notwithstanding !! But this is one such chaat which is healthy as well ( I wish there were healthier versions of chocolates too ).

This tasty and easy chana chat can be stirred up in a jiffy…quite apt for an evening snack or as a side dish / salad.

So ,with a bit of preplanning (or otherwise, if you have leftover boiled chana ), this chana chaat is truly a winner when it comes to tasty and quick recipe, which will disappear as quickly as it was made !!  Try it…here's the recipe :

Ingredients :

Kabuli chana                                  1 1/2 cups 

Tomato                                          1 medium, chopped finely

Onion                                            1 medium, chopped finely

Green chillies                                  2, chopped finely

Red chilli powder                           1/2  tsp

Chaat masala powder

 / jeera powder                              1/2  tsp

Salt                                                to taste

Lemon  wedges                               few

Coriander leaves                            for garnishing (I didn't use any since I ran out of it )

Method :

1.   Soak kabuli chana overnight or for at least 6 - 8 hrs. Drain the water and keep aside. Cook in a pressure cooker for a whistle.

2.  Take the kabuli chana in a mixing bowl. Then add the tomato, onion, green chillies, red chill powder, chaat masala and salt and mix well.

3.  Squeeze in lemon and mix in again..Finally, garnish with coriander leaves and serve with lemon wedges.