Summer at Saloh and Aata ka halwa

As a kid I had seen a picture in a calendar covering the most beautiful hillstations of India. I had particularly liked one picture of a makeshift wooden bridge on a stream .We visited a village by the name Saloh in Himachal  last summers and there I found something exactly like the picture I had seen more than two decades back.

 What I found most alluring in the villages of Himachal was that the golden fields of Wheat would come right upto the doorstep .So people would be sipping tea in their verandah and a few steps away were these golden beauties ready to be harvested.

   If a simple camera could capture such beautiful snaps imagine what a hi-tech camera  could do.

Wheat forms the staple diet of the north Indians and now I am going to present before you a simple yet most popular sweet pudding made with whole wheat flour.

There are innumerable ways of making the same sweet and trust me they are one better than the other. This proportion of the ingredients is followed by a dear friend Anita and is so convenient to make  that I decided to put it on the blog. Infact Anita is the one making the halwa in the pictures while I photographed it.

 Ingredients

You could use any measuring cup for this.

1.    ¾ cup ghee / clarified butter

2.    1 cup whole wheat flour

3.      ½ cup water ( infact a tablespoon less would be better)

4.      ¾ cup sugar

5.     Cashews , kishmish  and  almonds for garnishing ( optional)

Method

1.    Warm the ghee is a heavy bottomed pan.

2.    Add the flour in one go and keep stirring on low flame till the wheat starts giving out a pleasant aroma and turns one shade darker.

3.    Turn the gas off and add the water . Keep stirring and turn the gas on ,keep the flame low.

4.   As soon as the mixture starts to stick together and turns into a ball ,that will take about 20 seconds add the sugar and keep stirring for say about 30 seconds more till the sugar gets dissolved.

5.   Add the garnishing while the sweet is in the pan or decorate later to your choice.

I guess it goes without saying to serve it piping hot.

desserts· Indian sweets· whole wheat flour

Summer at Saloh and Aata ka halwa

As a kid I had seen a picture in a calendar covering the most beautiful hillstations of India. I had particularly liked one picture of a makeshift wooden bridge on a stream .We visited a village by the name Saloh in Himachal  last summers and there I found something exactly like the picture I had seen more than two decades back.

 What I found most alluring in the villages of Himachal was that the golden fields of Wheat would come right upto the doorstep .So people would be sipping tea in their verandah and a few steps away were these golden beauties ready to be harvested.

   If a simple camera could capture such beautiful snaps imagine what a hi-tech camera  could do.

Wheat forms the staple diet of the north Indians and now I am going to present before you a simple yet most popular sweet pudding made with whole wheat flour.

There are innumerable ways of making the same sweet and trust me they are one better than the other. This proportion of the ingredients is followed by a dear friend Anita and is so convenient to make  that I decided to put it on the blog. Infact Anita is the one making the halwa in the pictures while I photographed it.

 Ingredients

You could use any measuring cup for this.

1.    ¾ cup ghee / clarified butter

2.    1 cup whole wheat flour

3.      ½ cup water ( infact a tablespoon less would be better)

4.      ¾ cup sugar

5.     Cashews , kishmish  and  almonds for garnishing ( optional)

Method

1.    Warm the ghee is a heavy bottomed pan.

2.    Add the flour in one go and keep stirring on low flame till the wheat starts giving out a pleasant aroma and turns one shade darker.

3.    Turn the gas off and add the water . Keep stirring and turn the gas on ,keep the flame low.

4.   As soon as the mixture starts to stick together and turns into a ball ,that will take about 20 seconds add the sugar and keep stirring for say about 30 seconds more till the sugar gets dissolved.

5.   Add the garnishing while the sweet is in the pan or decorate later to your choice.

I guess it goes without saying to serve it piping hot.

Whole wheat flour Cake

Ingredients:

American measuring cup of 250 ml

1.           1 cup butter at room temperature

2.           1 cup brown sugar

3.           2 cups whole wheat  flour

4.           1 cup curd

5.           1 teaspoon  baking powder

6.           1 teaspoon  baking soda

7.           2 eggs

8.           One teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

1.           Beat the butter and brown sugar  till they are blended.

2.           Add the eggs one at a time and beat.

3.           Sift the whole wheat flour , baking powder and soda.

4.           Add the flour to the above mixture one table spoon at a time and mix .

5.           Add the curd  and vanilla essence and mix well but do not over beat.

6.           Pour into a greased tin.

7.           Bake at 180° c  for 60 minutes .

cakes and bakes· curd· demerara sugar· egg.· whole wheat flour

Whole wheat flour Cake

Ingredients:

American measuring cup of 250 ml

1.           1 cup butter at room temperature

2.           1 cup brown sugar

3.           2 cups whole wheat  flour

4.           1 cup curd

5.           1 teaspoon  baking powder

6.           1 teaspoon  baking soda

7.           2 eggs

8.           One teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

1.           Beat the butter and brown sugar  till they are blended.

2.           Add the eggs one at a time and beat.

3.           Sift the whole wheat flour , baking powder and soda.

4.           Add the flour to the above mixture one table spoon at a time and mix .

5.           Add the curd  and vanilla essence and mix well but do not over beat.

6.           Pour into a greased tin.

7.           Bake at 180° c  for 60 minutes .

Whole Wheat Cookies

(makes 18 pieces)

(Using Indian cup of 200 ml measurement)

I have always wanted to have a recipe of the cookies which can be shaped by hand and can be made in not more than half an hour's time.Somehow I could never get my hands on one to my liking and finally I decided to make one of my own and I was pretty happy with the results.Here's sharing it with you.

Ingredients

(a)     150 gms whole wheat flour (atta)./1 cup+ ¼  cup

(b)     50 gms sooji /semolina.

(c)     100 gms sugar (powdered).

(d)     1 tsp baking powder.

(e)     100 gms butter at room temperature.

(f)      2 tbsps cold milk.

Method

(a)     Mix butter and sugar  well  till creamy.

(b)     Sift the dry ingredients.

(c)     Add to the butter sugar mixture.

(d)     Bind well…add milk if necessary.

(e)     Take one tbsp of the mixture, round it into ball, flatten it and cut a cross.

(f)      Place them on a greased baking tray.

(g)     Put the tray in a preheated oven set at 180°C for  20 minutes.

(h)     Let cool.

(i)      Keep in an airtight container.

cookies and slices· semolina· whole wheat flour

Whole Wheat Cookies

(makes 18 pieces)

(Using Indian cup of 200 ml measurement)

I have always wanted to have a recipe of the cookies which can be shaped by hand and can be made in not more than half an hour's time.Somehow I could never get my hands on one to my liking and finally I decided to make one of my own and I was pretty happy with the results.Here's sharing it with you.

Ingredients

(a)     150 gms whole wheat flour (atta)./1 cup+ ¼  cup

(b)     50 gms sooji /semolina.

(c)     100 gms sugar (powdered).

(d)     1 tsp baking powder.

(e)     100 gms butter at room temperature.

(f)      2 tbsps cold milk.

Method

(a)     Mix butter and sugar  well  till creamy.

(b)     Sift the dry ingredients.

(c)     Add to the butter sugar mixture.

(d)     Bind well…add milk if necessary.

(e)     Take one tbsp of the mixture, round it into ball, flatten it and cut a cross.

(f)      Place them on a greased baking tray.

(g)     Put the tray in a preheated oven set at 180°C for  20 minutes.

(h)     Let cool.

(i)      Keep in an airtight container.