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What's Cooking? Indian recipes
P.S. Lakshmi Rao, a retired banker, has a passion for cooking. Her friends and family enjoy her culinary delights. Lakshmi is a long time Atlanta resident.

<<What's Cooking? Main


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Sweet Chaklies

My mother used to make this sweet for Diwali. After the fire works were done we used to sit around reminiscing and munching this sweet. 

1 cup rice flour
1/2 cup besan (chick pea flour)
A pinch of salt
1 table spoon butter
1 cup boiling water 
2 cups vegetable oil 
2 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon crushed elaichi (cardamom)
1 teaspoon ghee (optional) 
In a mixing bowl mix rice flour, besan, salt and butter. Add 1 cup boiling water mix well with a spoon. When the mixture gets cold enough, mix thoroughly with hand to prepare the chakli dough. 

Heat 2 cups oil in a frying pan to medium high temperature. 
Place 1/8 inch diameter holes disc in the chakli maker, fill it with chakli dough and press the dough in to hot oil. Fry both sides until crisp. Remove*8 from the oil and place chakli on a paper towel to drain any excessive oil. Repeat with rest of the dough. 

Break chaklies into two and half to three inch pieces and set aside on a paper towel. 

In a large sauce pan mix brown sugar and water. Place the pan on the stove and make sugar syrup on high temperature mixing continuously until the syrup starts to boil and bubble. Place a small drop of the syrup in a small plate to see if it becomes a soft ball. you can also touch it in between your thumb and index finger and stretch. It should form strings. This process should be very quick, Otherwise syrup will become too thick. 

Remove the syrup from heat and add ghee, crushed ilachi and chakli pieces. Mix quickly and add the chakli pieces gently, making sure that sugar syrup coats all the pieces and crystallizes.


Dry Meetha Paan

50 paan (betel) leaves washed, dried, and stems removed. 
1/2 cups fennel seeds (saunf)
1/2 cups coriander seeds (dhana dal)
1/4 cups cloves (lavangi)
1/4 cups cardamom seeds (elaichi)
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder (dalchini)
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (jaiphal)
2 pinches edible camphor crystals (edible karpoor) (crushed)(optional) 
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water 

Gather few paan leaves together and chop them fine with a knife and keep them in a medium bowl. 
In a spice grinder blend fennel seeds, coriander seeds, cloves, and cardamom seeds separately to get a coarse powder. Mix all these powders with cinnamon, nutmeg, and edible camphor powder (if using). Mix all these with pan leaves and keep it aside. 
In a large pan mix sugar and water and make a thick syrup (if you drop a drop of sugar syrup in a plate it should become a ball). At this stage take the syrup out of the stove and pour the pan leaves mixture in to the syrup and keep mixing until it becomes thick. If the mixture gets little watery return the pan to the stove and turn the heat to medium heat and cook for few more minutes mixing continuously. 
Pour this mixture on a greased cookie sheet and spread it very thin. When it is cool and crystallized cut it or crush it in to small clusters. Keep them in a glass bottle with a tight cap. Use it as supari after meals or when ever you feel like freshening your breath. 
Note: If the paan leaves have any moisture, this will cause the syrup to become thin again when you put the masala in the syrup. 





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