Figs & Coconut Halwa

Ganesha's grace abounds. My site is back up and running with a new look, thanks to Elizabeth Hillstrom, a bright young student who has made this happen for me. It is a simple and easy to navigate layout and I love the look of it :) - I am also operating from priyasnowserving.net, should you prefer a WP format - And if you like the work of this young girl, and the recipes you see showcased, don't hesitate to like us on Facebook :)

Ganesha is remembered every single day in my house, in the most delightful way for me – In that I get to be him every day, sometimes once often twice a day – My soon to be 4 yr old loves the Ganesha stories she has heard and watched from Karadi Tales. She is always Parvati and I get to be Ganesha, who guards zealously her gates as she takes the most leisurely bath in the world, using up all the water of the ganges J - And Hubby dear gets to be Shiva who confronts Ganesha before lopping off his head – the whole scene is enacted each day with no variations allowed, unless the variation has the little one bursting into giggles. My Shiva does a stellar job of showing rage – his whole face vibrating, jaws jiggling (lol) Lots of fun, but I think we are ready to move on to a new act. But not before we celebrate the joyous day when we offer our salutations to our potbellied, elephant faced, single tusked lord of wisdom who removes obstacles – In fact it is the remorse of Shiva for having lopped Ganesha’s head off that makes him bestow upon his son the boon that he would be revered first before Shiva himself. Ganesha loves food, especially sweet dumplings aka Kozhakattais/modhakams or so the story goes. Gourmets like us love to make this an excuse to prepare modakams rice flour shells stuffed often with jaggery and coconut, or jaggery and lentils.

For this occasion, I chose to add a slight twist to the tradition, while still upholding it, by adding freshly picked figs.  This enhanced if anything the already delicious dish by giving it a fantastic flavor. It turned out like a most delectable halwa that could be devoured just like that – Which is why I called it a Halwa. Halwa is best defined as a sweet sticky dessert often made with flour and nuts and fruits. This dish has the nut and the fruit.

I am happy to that a post of offering to Ganesha is my first one for the Avant Garde Cookies group that I am now a part of.

Here is my offering to Ganesha recipe and all.

Ingredients

For the Stuffing

• 16 Ripe or almost ripe Figs
• 1 cup of grated Coconut
• 1 cup of jaggery
• 1 tsp of powdered cardamom
• 2 tsp of water

For the dumpling shell

• 2 cups of rice flour
• 1 cup of water
• A pinch of salt
• 1tsp of sesame oil

Jaggery

Cardamom

Fresh Grated Coconut

Fresh Picked Figs

Method

Stuffing

1. Powder your jaggery – they usually come in blocks and can be found at the Indian store
2. In a saucepan, add 2 tsp of water and the jaggery
3. Let it become syrupy
4. Add the powdered cardamom
5. Follow it with the coconut and let it cook in the jaggery until the water from the jaggery is completely gone and the mix is thick and stuffable
6. Remove from flame and allow it to cool

Shell

1. In the meantime, sift the rice flour
2. Roast it for literally a minute in a wide pan
3. Now add the water and salt and what I do is spin it once in the blender so that it is a pasty fluid
4. Pour this liquid into a saucepan and stir away until the rice flour cooks
5. Stirring helps avoid knots in the dough
6. When the white fluid thickens and comes off the sides, add the oil
7. The color will not be white anymore and the dough will have assumed a cooked look.
8. Switch off and cover with a cloth so that it does not dry out.

Both these processes take no more than 10 -15 minutes flat – I kid you not.

1. Now Let’s get them together
2. So make lemon sized or even smaller balls with the dough. Put your thumbs in the middle of the ball and start pressing the sides, creating a dippy hole in the middle.
3. Make sure this is deep and the sides are thin without falling apart.
4. Now take a teaspoon of the stuffing and place in the hole.
5. Gently fold the sides pulling up with your fingers to make a small tuft, so to speak.
6. The other method is the make a smile –
7. Make a round flat circle with the dough.
8. Add the stuffing and fold joining at the corners, pressing them together. Both kinds are shown below.
9. Steam them and you have your Kozhakattais 

Offer to the Good Lord Ganesha before you pop one into your mouth J Happy Chaturthi Folks and May Lord Ganesha obliterate any obstacles in your life.

My first Avant Garde Cookies Post 

Linking this to Cook Like a Chef

Fresh Fig Chutney/Preserve

Fresh Fig Chutney

I wonder how the expression, I don't give a fig ever came about - were they talking about Figs or was that a short for figure as in number?  If they were referring to Figs, then they have indeed been overly shortsighted to have been so dismissive of this delicious and rather luscious looking and tasting fruit. I have known the delights of this fruit thanks to my friend who has this massive fig tree at her home and has been sharing kindly. Today I picked about two pounds (about 20-24 figs) came back home and decided to make something with it asap. And after sifting through a bunch of recipes, I settled on a Fig Chutney with the half and a tart with the other. Today I blog the chutney which I must say myself was absolutely amazing! Here is my recipe and some lovely pictures of the fruit

Ingredients

12 Figs black mountain medium sized

1 cup of honey

1/2 cup orange juice 

1/2 cup Port Wine

1tbsp unsalted butter

2 cloves (crushed)

3 black whole peppers (crushed)

1 tsp each of

crushed cardamom

all spice

crushed saffron

lemon zest

My Fig Face :p

Method

Wash and cut the stems of the figs before cutting them into quarters

Melt the butter in a heave sauce pan

Heat the honey until it becomes syrupy. 

Add the rest of the ingredients (except the figs)

All the all to thicken into a syrup consistency (about 10 -12 mins of medium heat gas flame)

Now add the figs and swirl syrup around or gently aid with ladle until the syrup covers the figs.

All this to simmer in medium low flame for about 18 -20 minutes depending on how ripe your figs are. 

Remove from flame And cool.

Bottling the preserve

I wonder why I do this since this yielded about 1/2 of the 1/2 liter mason jar or a little less and from what I heard after the kids tasted it, they were planning to make short work of it by tomorrow - glad I got the pictures in now -lol :)

Anyway,

Wash the mason jar and lids with soap thoroughly and rinse

Boil them for about 7 minutes in water

Remove with tongs and pat dry with paper towel and place on a sterile (or clean) surface

Cool the chutney and put in the jar

Seal tight. If the jar is full and you notice air bubbles, open the jar ensure that they are teased out before resealing.

If this is to be put away, boil water again and put sealed jar in and boil for 5 more minutes for the seal to set. 

Label and put away in the pantry - It will be good for a year of these instructions are followed.

Now for some pics :) And stay tuned for my Fig pie/tart

Fig Mascarpone

This is one of the easiest deserts to put together, if you have some figs, some mascarpone cheese, fresh rosemary and some maple syrup handy – Let me rephrase – equip yourself with these ingredients to make this incredibly delicious dessert – It takes all of 10 minutes start to finish and I must thank 5 minute live videopedia http://www.5min.com/Video/Fig-Mascarpone-Recipe---Under-One-Minute-60117976for my resource where the chappie on the video claims it cam be done in under a minute – true if you have this recipe – The baking time I used was 10 minutes but I would recommend 5-7 minutes tops @ 350 if you don’t want you Mascarpone to melt and flow like a river (which mine sort of did). But it still tasted completely delicious

Here is the recipe

Ingredeints

4-5 sprigs of Rosemary

3tbsp Mascarpone cheese

8-10 ripe figs

2tbsp Maple syrup

1 square sheet of aluminum foil

Prepararion

Set oven at 350 degrees

Wash figs and from the conical top, make 2 cuts like an X and pinch the bottom of the fruit so it opens up like a flower

Lay the aluminum sheet flat

Arrange the sprigs of rosemary in the middle

Place the semi-diced figs over the bed of rosemary

Scoop 3tbsp of mascarpone cheese into a bowl

Add the maple syrup and gently mix so as to not liquefy the cheese

Now place a good-sized blob over each of the fig cuts

Bake for about 5 minutes

See If the cheese has melted half way into the fig

Leave for a minute or two longer and remove from oven

Place in a serving dish and serve hot or cold