Roma's Space

I have always been a huge fan of chocolates in any form right from truffles to cakes, icecreams to cookies and a Deep Dark Chocolate cake has the potential to satisfy any chocoholic’s craving.

Rich chocolate cakes are irresistible whether as a part of hot chocolate fudge or a black forest pastry. More than chocolate its the dark chocolate versions that I am fond of as I prefer chocolate bitter to sweet. If you share my taste and craze please try this out. I am sure you wont be disappointed. Whats more? Its really simple to make. You can find the recipe at the Hershey’s site. There was a point in time when I added boiling water to the batter and soon began to feel that the end of this cake was near! The batter became so thin and watery that I was wondering whether I should go ahead and bake it or not. Anyway, Hersheys is a trusted chocolate company for decades. The recipe said the batter will be thin so I just closed by eyes and went ahead. Once the cake was ready I opened my eyes and I couldnt believe what I saw! It looked gorgeous and tempting as ever. Its a must-try for chocoholics. Please follow the recipe of Deep Dark Chocolate cake by Hersheys.

Some changes I made to the recipe :
1) I added 1 teaspoon of baking powder and baking soda each.
2) I used 1.5 cups of brown sugar instead of 2 cups of plain sugar.

This is my 100th recipe and I could think of no other dish that is closer to my heart than this one. Here comes the century! More than the recipes I am so happy about the number of friends I have made on this journey. I have learnt a whole lot from you guys. Thanks so much for being with me and inspiring me with your recipes in my Space.

Through out the mango season I kept thinking of making some dessert or sweet out of this king of fruits. However, for some reason it never happened and now the season is almost over. A few weeks ago I came across this recipe for mango cake that sounded really new to me.

I had heard of only Mango cheese cake not a baked mango cake. I got really interested and started going over the procedure. To my delight I had all the ingredients and the procedure seemed really simple. I got my baby to sit in front of her favorite cartoon show and whisked this cake up in 20 mins. I put it in to bake and joined my baby who had barely noticed that I wasnt around.

While we got ready to go to the park the cake was done too. Baby as usual couldnt wait for me to take  pictures of the cake. She just wanted to dig in! Takes after her mother, right?

This is another recipe to bake a healthy cake as it has the goodness of wheat flour, curds and mango in it. You can find this recipe at La Gourmet Chef. I made about 1/2 the quantity and did not add pistas to the cake. Thanks for sharing this interesting recipe with us.

We keep Ganeshji Ki Sthapna for about 10 days and submerge the idol on Ekadashi (a day in the Hindi Calender). These 10 days we do pooja everyday. Sometimes when I’m busy I dont find the time to make the prasad in the morning. For such days, I have certain instant sweet mixes which can remain fresh for almost 2 weeks. Whenever I need to make prasad for pooja or if I want to offer laddus to unexpected guests I just need to bind the mix and use it.

Some commonly used ingredients for making these kind of powders include rawa, roasted gram flour powder and groundnuts. Any of these can be used following the same procedure described below and can be stored for about 2 weeks in an air tight container without refrigeration. Here, I have used thin beaten rice which is a less commonly used base for laddu mixes. It however tastes good and the poha / beaten rice offers softness to the laddu.
You can bind the powder with hot milk or ghee. Sugar can also be replaced with Jaggery. You can select the dry fruits you wish to add to your laddu mix.

This is my entry to the Long Live the Shelf event that I’m hosting this month. This instant poha laddu mix can be stored for 2 weeks in an air tight container without refrigeration.

Also, sending this to the Original Recipe Event hosted by Lore of Culinarty.

Ingredients :

• 1 cup thin poha / beaten rice
• 1/2 cup dry dessicated coconut powder
• less than 1/2 cup sugar (change as per your taste)
• Few almonds, raisins and cardamoms
• Few teaspoons of hot milk to bind

Procedure :

1. Dry roast the beaten rice till its crinkly. Place in a dry mixie jar.
2. Dry roast the dry coconut powder for about a minute, stirring continuously. Place along with poha in the mixie jar.
3. Now roast almonds and cardamom seeds and add to the other roasted ingredients.
4. Once the contents of the mixie jar cool add sugar and grind the contents into a powder.
5. Store this powder in an air tight container.
6. Whenever you need to prepare laddus just add hot milk / ghee to the powder and bind it.
7. Dust the laddus with some more powder and garnish it with a raisin. You can fry raisins in the same ghee you heated for the binding.

Please NOTE :

1. Its really easy for the thin poha and the dry coconut powder to get burnt. You need to stir them continuously.
2. Please wait till the roasted ingredients completely cool off before adding sugar.
3. While binding, add hot milk / ghee in small quantities else you might suddenly find the dough unmanageable.

Janamashtmi

Janamashtmi Prasad

Festivals bring a change in environment that serves as a much needed break from the daily hussle bussle of life. A time to stop and celebrate life and to enrich ourselves by praying to the divine. You might have noticed that although there is a lot of work for almost 2-3 days before a festival you somehow dont seem to get tired. Its the devotion that gives us a whole lot of energy and gives us so much relaxation even amidst work.

A day before Janamashti I went shopping for fruits, flowers, milk, curds and a dress to make my daughter look like Radha. Last Janamashtami I made her into Krishna as then she looked more like a cute boy. Now she is about 1.5 yrs old and is more girlish. She noticed the preparations going on at home and was well aware that she was going to have some fun. She consented to becoming Radha and even danced around the house before pooja

Prasad : Panjeeri & Charanamrut
These 2 dishes together form the most important prasad we offer lord Krishna every year on Janamashtmi.

Panjeeri :

• Roast 1 cup of wheat flour in a thick bottom pan. Stir continuously to ensure it doesnt get burnt.
• When its almost done add 1/2 teaspoon of elaichi powder.
• Turn off the gas and transfer the roasted wheat flour into a plate to cool.
• Once its cooled off completely add less than 1/2 cup of ground sugar.

Panjeeri

Panjeeri can be made for traveling as it lasts for about 2-3 weeks. Just ensure the flour is roasted well for a longer shelf life.

Charanamrut :
Charan in Hindi means feet and amrut means necter. Hence, Charanamrut here means the necter from the feet of the lord. Its a mix of 5 ingredients and doesnt require cooking. This sacred necter is the first to be had after pooja, that means even before prasad.

Mix 1 cup milk, 1.5 tablespoons curds, 1 tablespoon honey, any dry fruits (we use chironji), few roasted lotus seeds (options) and 1 teaspoon of ghee.

Charanamrut

Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesh Chaturthi was possible in the same grand way we usually have it, thanks to Ganeshji for that. We actually returned from a 3-day long trip just 24 hrs before the festival. I was busy unpacking and getting the laundry done. However, on good occasions things just go on well. My husband surprised me by buying all the possible things I needed to make the occasion special. The next day I got busy making modaks , kheer and tamarind rice. We did pooja and really enjoyed the prasad. Somehow the tamarind rice we make all year doesnt taste as good as it does on Ganesh Chathuti. We worship the idol of Ganeshji for 10 days before submerging it in water.

For prasadam I made tamarind rice and Ganeshji’s favorite modaks.

Ganesh Chaturthi Prasad

Modak :

• Heat 2.5 cups of water. Once water boils add about 1 cup of rice flour.
• Cook till it thickens. Now cool this mix.
• Separately heat 1/2 cup jaggery with 1/2 cup grated coconut. Cook till mixture comes together.
• Flatten the rice dough with your palms and fill it with the coconut mixture. Seal in the shape of a modak.
• Steam modaks for 20 mins.

Modak

This is my entry to the Krishna Janamashtmi and Ganesh Chaturthi event hosted by Purva’s Daawat. What I like so much about the event started on monthly festivals is that it allows us to know more about each others culture and traditions. We get a glimpse of how homes in different parts of India look on festive occasions. Our ways of celebrating the same festival differ every 1000 miles but the enthusiasm is shared across borders.