Gulabjamun (with egg)

Whenever I buy a pack of gulabjamun mix I would always wonder how much effort our mothers would have put to make these from scratch. Those olden recipes involve making a palkova without sugar, which itself demands lot of time and then mixing it with Ap flour, etc . While talking about this to my neighbor aunty, she told me that it can be made easily with milk powder and it is not necessary to buy a ready-pack . She also told me that it is a popular way there in NorthIndia and Pakistan. I was totally impressed by her recipe, but didn't note down on that day (now I have noted down her veggie version too). That day I wanted to make one immediately and searched the net and got a recipe of Gulabjamun with egg. This recipe is adopted from Morewish cuisine.  Egg in gulabjamun may sound unique but it tasted extremely good.  My hearty thanks to this author, I am going to use this inexpensive way hereafter instead of buying a pack. Hope you all enjoy this !

Have  a look inside and see how spongy and soft:)

Ingredients:
Milk powder - 1 cup
Egg - 1
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Maida (AP flour) - 1 tbsp
sooji (ravai) - 1 tbsp
baking soda - 1/4 tsp
baking powder - 1/4 tsp
Oil for frying- 1 cup + 1 tbsp ghee
For syrup:
Sugar - 1 cup
water - 1 cup
Rose essence - 1 drop
cardamom powder - 1/8 tsp
alomond slivers - to decorate

Method:
Make the syrup by mixing sugar with water and bring to a boil. Reduce flame and boil for 2 more minutes. Switch off and keep it warm. add cardamom powder and rose essence.
Mix all the dry ingredients first. Then mix ghee and stir well. Beat the egg with a  fork and add to the mixing bowl. Knead to a smooth dough. Don't knead too much. Make a smooth dough.
Divide it into 15 - 16 pieces and roll each piece into small balls or elongated balls. By toughing some oil or ghee smooth the gulab jamuns, so that there is no crack.

Heat oil  + ghee in a frying pan. Keep the flame in minimum and fry the jamuns in small batches, till they get golden red color.
Take them out and soak in prepared syrup.
Let it soak for an hour or overnight before serving.
Decorate with almond slivers.
Gulab jamun is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Makes 16 gulabjamuns.
Serve warm or cold as dessert.

Note:
This is the best way to make gulabjamuns that gets cooked inside and outside uniformly.
As soon as it is soaked (within few minutes) it may taste a little salty. But after an hour or more this gulabjamuns will be perfectly sweet and soft.

Quinoa upma

Quinoa is another good grain I started cooking in recent years. Generally quinoa can be made into a salad. It blends with many Indian recipes easily and here is my Uppuma (upma or kichidi) with Quinoa. Quinoa comes in a rainbow of colors, I picked up this red quinoa as it looked more pretty in that aisle:) Other than that all tastes almost the same. But red quinoa has more crunchy texture. We can use any variety for this upma recipe.

Quinoa upma with vegetables

Ingredients: (for 2 adults)
Quinoa - 1/2 cup
water - 1 1/2 cup
Tempering:
olive oil - 1 1/2  tbsp
channa dal - 1 tbsp
mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
onion - 2 tbsp 
green chilly - 2
ginger - small piece (1/2 inch)
curry leaf - few
cilantro - few
salt - to taste
carrot - 1
green peas - handful
  
Method: 
Wash the quinoa thrice in running water with gentle rubbing with our palm (as per directions). This is done to remove bitterness.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok.
Add mustard seed. let it splutter. Then add the channa dhal. Wait till it gets red. Then add chopped onion, curry leaf, cilantro, ginger, green chilly. As the onion starts to get soft, add chopped carrot, peas and stir for a minute.
Pour water + Salt and let it come to a boil.
Then reduce flame and add quinoa.
Cover tightly with a lid. Reduce flame to minimum.
Cook for 15 minutes or little more to get the quinoa completely cooked.  Then stir well.
Switch off. Quinoa upma is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve as dinner along with pickle or sugar.