Giggles N Smiles

Its always amazing to wake up to a cup of aromatic steaming coffee, and a plate of hot idlis, sambar and chutney... But to know you've to make it for yourself if you need to eat it.. and that requires you to wake up to an empty kitchen in the morning... aaahh the terrors of adult life. Getting back to the topic, the best idlis I've had, are the ones my mother in law makes. In my husbands place, breakfast means idly. And a long queue of side dishes/ chutneys. Everyone at home has their idlis steaming hot, except for me and my then 2 yr old (duh... i know) So here I'm, on a cold morning, munching on my cold granola, and dreaming of hot idlis. Let me share the magic batter recipe. I have used both a mixer grinder and a wet grinder for grinding the batter, and I personally prefer the wet grinder, as I make it in large batches to last an entire week. When we use the mixie to grind the batter, there are some small tweaks and tips to follow, to get the same fluffy ba...

RAVA JAMUN | SEMOLINA JAMUN | SOOJI JAMUN. Here i share the recipe for Rava jamun, a distant cousin of our very favorite gulab jamun. Its very easy to make, needs few ingredients, and is always a hit in parties. Sooji, Semolina or Rava as it is commonly called, swells up a bit when cooked. So I would personally make it in small batches, lest my greedy tummy gobbles it all up ... anyways, back to our jamun Ingredients that you'll need: For the jamun: Rava - half a cup Full fat milk - 1. 5 cups Condensed milk - 2 tbsp Salt - a pinch Ghee - 2 tbsp For the sugar syrup: Sugar - 1 cup Water - 1. 5 cups Lemon juice - 1 tsp Cardamom pdr - 0.5 tsp Rose water - 1 tsp A couple of strands of saffron or orange food colour (optional) Method: For sugar syrup, add sugar and water to a saucepan. Cook it down on medium flame till it becomes slightly stringy. It should take about 15 min. Add the remaining ingredients and switch off flame. Meanwhile, Melt one tb...