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Enjoy the Sankranti platter!

Sankranti is actually a celebration, it is the celebration of harvest.

Smita Mishra
Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Gangasagar, Lohri or Bihu, the festival may have many names and there may be a hundred ways of celebrating it. But there is one basic similarity connecting the nationwide celebrations in one single cord of unity. It is the festival`s emphasis on food and fun.
Sankranti is actually a celebration. It is the celebration of harvest, it is the celebration of the end of cold winter nights and of the gradual warming of the sun and it is the celebration of newly filled granaries with freshly harvested grains.So here, we too, celebrate the spirit of this festival through a choice of specialities chosen from across this land of bounty and variety. MAHARASHTRA Til Polis Ingredients: 2 cups white sesame 2 cups grated jaggery ½ tsp ginger powder 1`` cardamom ¼ tsp nutmeg powder 2 cups maida (refined flour) oil as required Procedure : Rub in 2 tsp oil and a pinch of salt to the flour and knead into soft dough. Cover it with a wet cloth. Heat sesame on low fire, stirring continuously so that they do not splutter. When cooled, pound them. Add grated jaggery and pound once more to make the mixture even and smooth. Mix powders of cardamoms and nutmeg. Shape small balls from the ready dough. Place one ball in the left hand palm and make an indentation in the middle. Put in this hollow a lump from the mixture. Pull up the sides, gather at the top and press down. Smear a wooden board with oil, place the stuffed ball on it and roll out into as thin a round as possible. Using enough oil fry till it becomes golden and crisp. Make all the Til Polis in this manner. They can be preserved for a long time. BENGAL Khichuri Ingredients: 1/2 cup Basmati rice 1/2 cup yellow moong dal 2 bay leaves 1 tsp cumin seeds 3/4 tsp ginger paste salt to taste ghee 1/4 tsp turmeric powder 1 tsp chilli powder (adjust to taste) 1 1/2 tsp coriander powder ½ cup diced cauliflower 4 baby potatoes, peeled and cut into large cubes 1/2 cup peas 2 tsp garam masala paste Procedure: Roast moong dal on low heat till it becomes golden. Let cool. Wash dal and drain in a colander. Wash rice till water runs clear then drain in a colander. Heat oil in a deep pan. Add bay leaves and cumin seeds. When they begin to sizzle, add ginger garlic paste. Stir. Add dal, rice, vegetables and spice powders. Mix well. Add 2 1/2 cups of water and stir for a while. Bring to boil. Cover the lid, lower heat and cook until done. Add more water if necessary. When rice and dal are cooked, add the garam masala paste and ghee. Mix well and serve hot with chokha (bharta) and Baigun Bhaja (deep fried spiced brinjals). BIHAR Laai/Larua Ingredients: ½ kg jaggery 250gms puffed rice or ½ kg chiwra or roasted gram or roasted til 4 tsp grated ginger Procedure: Heat jaggery with a cup of water in a heavy bottomed pan. Bring it to boil. Take a spoon of jaggery and pour it in a bowl of water. If it remains soft, boil further but if the jaggery becomes crunchy and sticky, immediately remove from fire. Add ginger and puffed rice or gram or chivra or til. Mix vigorously, and immediately make into round balls because if the mixture will cool down, the jaggery will become hard making it impossible to form balls. This can be stored for a long time. On Til Sankranti it is eaten along with creamy curd.ANDHRA PRADESH Bandaru Ladoo Ingredients: 250 gms Bengal gram flour 250 gms sugar 1 tsp cardamom powder Oil for frying ½ cup fried cashewnuts Procedure: Heat oil and add Bengal gram flour. Mix well with hand and knead it into dough using water. It should neither be too soft or too hard. Place the disc with medium size holes in the muruku press. Fill it with dough leaving space to place the upper part of the press. Heat oil and carefully press the dough, like spirals and without overlapping, directly into the oil, keeping the bottom of the press 2 inches away from the oil. Turn it over and remove when golden brown. Drain the oil and repeat the procedure till the dough is over. Powder them in a blender, measure and set aside. Take equal measure of sugar and make light syrup. Add the powdered spirals, cardamom powder and the cashew nuts to it and mix well. Turn off the flame and make big laddus. TAMIL NADU Pongal Ingredients: Cup rice 2 cups Milk ½ cup green gram dal 2 tsp black pepper 1 tsp Cumin seeds 1 tbs: Broken cashew nuts 1 tsp finely cut ginger 3-4 curry leaves 2 tsp ghee 4 cups water Salt to taste Procedure: Wash rice and dal and cook them together in five cups of water for 10 minutes. Add salt, curry leaves and ginger with half a cup of milk. Simmer for a few minutes and remove from fire. Fry cashew nuts, pepper and cumin seeds in ghee. Pour this over the rice-dal mixture. Mix well and serve steaming hot with ghee on top.

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