Janmashtami Sweets

Last week was Janmashtami - celebration of birth of Lord Krishna. I wanted to celebrate it but did not have enough time to do elaborate cooking. I needed to make 5 sweets. Finally I made these 5 sweets which were very easy to cook and tasted great. I made Nariyal Katli, Potato halwa, Suji kheer, Panjeeri and Charnamrat. Here is my quick recipe of each of these (I am sure you can make much elaborated version of each of these, but with small baby at home this is so great!):

Charnamrat:  In a glass put 2-3 tbsps plain yogurt and fill the glass upto 3/4th level with milk. Add 1-2 spoons of gangajal, a drop of rose water and few pistachios cut in pieces. Add 2-3 leaves of basil.

Aloo Halwa: Boil 2-3 potatoes and mash them well. In a pan take 2 tbsp clarified butter and heat it. Fry the mashed potatoes well. When they are golden red, add few cut cashews and sugar to desired taste.

Panjeeri: In a pan on medium flame, heat 2-3 tbsps clarified butter (be generous in using clarified butter). Take 1/2 cup wheat flour and roast them well in that ghee. When golden brown take away from pan. In a separate pan roast some chopped coconuts and raisins. Finally mix these dry fruits and desired sugar in the roasted wheat flour and panjeeri is ready.

Suji Kheer: Take a tbsp clarified ghee. Add 3-4 tbsp suji (semolina). Roast it well and then add 3 cups of Milk and let it boil on sim for 20-30 minutes. When desired consistency is reached add 3-4 tbsp sugar and dry fruits of your choice. Roast the dry fruits before adding in the kheer. It gives great flavour.

Nariyal katli: In a pan take 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water. Keep stirring it at medium-high flame. Take a bowl filled with room temperature water with you. Every few minutes drop little sugar syrup in this water. If it spreads in the water, the syrup is too thin. After a while the syrup drop will maintain its shape and thats when your syrup is ready. Immediately put chopped coconuts in this and stir vigorously. Set it on a plate and let it cool. You can put any dry fruit available to you. The best one along with coconut are makhanas (lotus seeds) and kharbooja seeds.

All these dishes can be modified to your own taste. And if you have time you can make these in a more elaborated way. I had just one hour to make all so I did this quick job. And you have to go generous in using clarified butter. But thats okay once in a while. It boosts your metabolism to have high fat foods once in a while. Really.