Dry nuts Modka/Karigadbu

Ganesha festival's must-have is modka and karigadbu. It was mom's suggestion to make it healthier by adding dry nuts to the fillings. 

Here's a quick recipe of it...

Dough:

Maida: 2 bowls

Few spoons of ghee

Salt to taste

A pinch of soda

Water

Filling:

Dry nuts of ur choice: almond, pista, walnut: half bowl (coarsely powdered)

A handful of Raisins

Kadlepappu: powdered 3 spoons

Dried coconut gratings: 1 bowl

Sugar: 1 bowl

Elachi: 2-4 for added flavor

Frying:

Sufficient oil for frying

• Mix the filling ingredients together and keep it aside as shown in below picture. 
• Mix the dough by adding water and bring it to a consistency little harder than poori. 
• Make small balls and flatten them using a rolling pin(almost the size of poori).
• Fill the flattened dough with dry-nuts-filling and seal them to desired shape.
• Deep fry until they turn golden brown.

They are now ready to be served.

Teacher's Day

Ritvi's first Teacher's Day this is! She started her school (child care actually) around 8 months back.

Her teacher has helped her all this while... teaching new stuffs - be it in language, music, crafts, manners... indeed just a few to name. She has helped rikki craft wonderful arts and sent us surprises often on special occasions like mom's/ dad's day.

Now it was my turn to present her wonderful teacher, something in return, as a token of appreciation.  So I decided to prepare a greeting card with rikki. I came up with this.

I didn't expect it to come out this well. It brought back my school days' memory and both of us had good time crafting it. Well Rikki did enjoy tearing and rolling the bits of paper and I did enjoy chiding her away everytime she tried to grab the completed flowers. Haha.

Challenge time for Mommy

Mummy - busy having dinner...
Daddy - absconding...
Baby - busy in her own world...

Dinner plate in one hand... countless thoughts running on my mind, I chew my food in a hurry. Rikki comes running towards me and pushes Jumbo* onto me. I hold him with my left hand. Then she pushes Jumbo's shoes toward me. I manage to grab it. She demands me to put on the shoes to jumbo. OK. I love challenges. No problem I say, and manage to tuck in Jumbo's foot into the tiny shoes with one hand.

Then, she gives me her comb. Then a small band. That's no big deal. I take it from her.

Now its something like this. One hand is messy with food. With the other hand, I manage to hold Jumbo, put on his shoes, also took the comb and the band.
OK. Its circus time now guys!

Next, Rikki asks me to tie her hair with the band. I manage to fool her and pretend to have tied.

Its not over yet.

She then raises both her hands and asks me to carry her.
She even threatens me with her screams.

Show some mercy girl. I have only two hands!!!

An attempt to catch her actions and expressions!

Moms should be blessed with ten hands. Two are just not sufficient.

On second thoughts, I think moms should be blessed with ten husbands, at least one will come running for help. When I said this to Adi, he did come running toward me... not for help or anything close to that. You can guess why! :) :) 

*Jumbo is her cute little big soft toy - an elephant! :)

Nutties n Fruities

I am back here after a real long time. And here is my first mobile article. Feels sooo good to blog sitting in a crowded train :) 

I have this wonderful healthy recipe for kids. I'm sure mums, dads n aunts will love too.

It was hubby's idea, mum's recipe, my effort and Rikki's treat. Preparing this mouth-watering snack was pretty simple and a quick one.  Try it out...

Ingredients:

• Dry nuts - cashew, almond, walnut, pistachio
• Dry fruits - raisins, dates, figs
• Ghee - 3 spoons
• Jaggery - approx lemon size

Procedure:

• Grind all nuts to a coarse powder
• Cut the fruits into small pieces
• Roast them all with ghee for a couple of minutes
• Heat the jaggery with little water to form a thick syrup
• Switch off the flame and add the powder to the syrup.
• Form small round balls when the contents are still hot/warm.

Additionally you can add some khus-khus or dry coconut for enhanced taste.

Our whole family loved this healthy snack. Go give yourself and your family a treat too.