This year it was about easy sweet treats ..it was over whelming starting Navrathri. It had been pretty hectic during the weeks before Diwali. Even we had to plan our India trip soon after so Diwali sweets were kept simple.
These were taken from my old recipe book. This year the sweets I made were from Mallika Badrinath's recipes. I am not sure who passed it on to me...but my note says that Date Walnut circles is from her! The Kaju pistha rolls are also from her recipes collection from the good old days she used to show recipes on Jaya TV ...this I should have wrote from one of her TV Shows that was telecasted for Diwali recipes..Those days (15 years ago or so) we did not have internet to look into for recipes...I use to carefully note interesting recipes showed during these cooking shows! These days it is so easy you get everything at the click of the mouse!
Date Walnut Circles
Now to the recipe ...
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Dates finely chopped
1 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Roasted Walnuts
1/2 Cup Milk
1 1/2 Tsp Butter Unsalted
Method:
1. Take a heavy bottom vessel. Mix milk and sugar and bring it to a boil. The sugar pagu should be like soft ball consistency.
2. Add Walnuts, butter and Dates to that syrup. Keep mixing it
3. Remove it from the stove when the mixture starts leaving the sides of the pan
4. Take a parchment paper and spread some ghee to it
5. Take the mixture and make it like roti using a rolling pin
6. Roll it like a mat (you will get a log like shape)
7. Keep this in an air tight container in the refrigerator
8. After it is chilled for few hours (6 hrs or so). Cut it into circles. Enjoy!
Kaju Pistha Rolls
Ingredients:
250 gms Cashew
3/4th Cup Sugar
50 gms Pista (unsalted roasted) and powdered
1 TBSPN Powdered Sugar
Method:
1. Take a pan and roast the cashew (dry without using oil) over a low flame. Try not to brown them. They should retain the original color or you alternatively roast them in the oven 300 deg F for 15 minutes.
Also roast the pista and grind into coarse powder. Add 1 TBSPN of sugar. Mix it and keep it aside.
2. Grind them in the mixer at the lowest speed. Make sure you mix them inbetween grinding.
3. Take little hot water in a heavy bottom vessel and add the sugar. Make sugar syrup to one string consistency.
4. Take it off the stove. Slowly start adding the cashew powder to the sugar syrup. It will come similar to that of roti dough.
5. Take a wax paper. Try rolling it like a chappati when it is still warm.
6. Place the pista on the edge of the cashew dough rolled like chappati.
7. Roll it once over the powdered pista (it will look like a log). Cut it close to the log.
8. Then cut this log into cylindrical pieces as shown in the picture.
Follow the same procedure to the rest of the dough.
