Urad daal kachori

There are two kinds of urad daal kachoris. In both kinds, the first step is to soak urad daal over night and the second step is to grind it. However, from here on the procedure differs. In the one with stuffed ural daal kachori, the grinded daal is fried in ghee and masalas and stuffing is made. In the non-stuffed version, the one I am giving the recipe, the daal is actually kneaded with the wheat flour with some masalas. Little suji is also added to make the kachori crisp. Both taste great and are good combination with raita or some light sabji.
Here is my recipe:
1 cup urad daal soaked overnight and grinded
2 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup suji
2 tbsp yogurt plain
salt to taste
black pepper powder crushed (1 tsp or as per taste)
1 tsp jeera (cumin seeds crushed in mortar and pastal)
kasoori methi crushed 1 tbsp
1 tbsp oil
oil for frying

Mix salt, pepper, kasoori methi and suji in the wheat flour and add 1 tbsp oil. Rub this mixture. Now add the grinded daal. Mix it well. Now slowly add the yogurt and and make the dough. Adjust the quantity of yogurt to get the dough of desired consistency. It should be softer than the poori dough but harder than the roti dough. Now make table-tennis ball size roughs and roll into 2.5-3 inches kachoris. Heat oil in a pan and fry them one by one. Serve hot.

Moong daal halwa

This is no water halwa which makes is halwa with long shelf life. I made it because I wanted to keep some sweet in my office and this one lasted for about a week at room temperature. I was eating one spoon halwa everyday but on 7th day I could not control myself and finished it all. Well, it could have lasted more, had I not eaten all of it on the 7th day! Again the ratio here is 1:2:1 and you could adjust sugar as per your taste. However, this halwa takes little bit planning in advance as you need to soak moong daal for 4-5 hours.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup ghee
2/3rd cup moong daal halwa soaked for 5-6 hours
1/3rd cup sugar

Grind the soaked halwa with as little water as you can manage. Heat ghee in a pan and put grinded daal paste. Keep stirring until all the water is dried up, and moong daal is nicely fried and strats giving the great aroma. At this point add the sugar and immediately switch off the stove. Cover the pan with a lid and let sugar seep in the halwa. This will also make it little crumbly. Serve hot or at room temperature. It does not taste good when chilled.

Besan ka halwa

Warning!! If you are calorie conscious and feel guilty for any extra calorie after the 1200 count, then this halwa is not for you. But if you are calorie conscious but once in a while sit relaxed, close your eyes and let your body enjoy some divine taste, then go for this one!!! Besan halwa is extremely easy to make. I follow the simple 1:2:1:1 rule, i.e. 1 portion clarified ghee, 2 portion besan, 1 portion water and 1 portion sugar. You could certainly adjust the sugar as per your taste. This proportion was perfect for my DH but I like my halwa to be little sweeter (typical north Indian!), I added couple of spoons of extra sugar. I don't like to use any cardamom or nuts because I love the besan aroma. The pistachio here is put just to make the picture more attractive.
As I said ingredients:
1/3rd cup ghee
2/3rd cup besan
1/3rd cup water
1/3rd cup sugar

Heat ghee in a pan/wok. Add besan and keep stirring continuously. When the divine fried besan aroma starts coming and the besan changes its color, add the water. In couple of minutes add sugar and keep stirring until you reach the desired consistency. Eat small portion and hide the rest because you won't be able to control yourself ;)