A fresh spice and flour mixture is prepared with besan and rice flour. The mixture is then fried along with bhendi till fluffy.

Serve bhendi besan fry with steamed rice or with roti. Makes: around 4 Servings of Bhindi Fry.

Ingredients: Lady’s Finger 20 app. / Gram Flour 2 Tbsps 1 Tbsp Grated Raw Mango 2 Tbsps Onion 1 Small Garam Masala a big Pinch Red Chili Powder 1/2 tsp Salt to Taste Oil 1 Tbsp Talimpu: 1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp Broken Dried Red Chiles 3 – 4 a Big Pinch 5 Oil 2 tsps Method of preparation: Wash and pat dry lady’s finger.

Remove ends and chop lady’s finger into half inch pieces. Peel and finely chop the onion.

In a mixing bowl, mix together besan, rice flour, grated raw mango, chopped onion, red chili powder, garam masala powder, salt and oil. Heat oil in a pan, add all talimpu ingredients in order.

When mustard seeds start spluttering, add chopped bhendi. Fry on medium flame till bhendi turns little soft and starts to brown around the edges.

Stir in besan mixture and fry on low flame for around 10 minutes. Stir frequently and once the besan mixture is non sticky, remove from heat.

Serve bhendi besan fry with steamed rice or with roti. Notes: Make sure bhendi is fried well along with the besan mixture before removing from heat.

Suggestions: Adjust spice with red chili powder. Variations: You can also finely chopped green chiles to the besan mixture if you wish.

Other Names: Bhindi Fry (less)

Mix the powdered sugar and food colour. Keep aside.

Dry roast the besan in a wide pan, breaking lumps if any. You get pre-roasted besan, but I prefer roasting the besan to get rid of the raw taste and smell.

This does make a difference to the ladoos. Take care not to burn the besan while roasting.

Set aside. Melt ghee in the same pan.

Heavy bottom pan works well as the success of this recipe depends on continuous stirring without burning the mixture at any point. Once the ghee melts, add the roasted besan.

This can be tricky, as the besan initially thickens in consistency. This step is the longest and takes about 15-20 minutes for both these ingredients to bind together.

Stir continuously. Besan changes to golden brown color and gives out a sweet aroma.

Add coarsely ground almonds and keep stirring for another 5 minutes or till completely combined. Add powdered sugar and mix well.

Once the sugar is added, the mixture tends to loosen a bit. Excess heat melts the sugar and may start bubbling.

Hence, keep the heat low or you may even remove the pan from heat right after adding the sugar. Stir well to form an evenly brown mixture.

Once all the ingredients are mixed, you`ll notice the consistency changes. The mixture becomes manageable.

At this point, add the powdered cardamom or a few drops of cardamom extract to the mixture. Your kitchen should waft with the sweet and nutty aroma.

Transfer the mixture to a plate. As the mixture cools, it thickens.

Do not cool it completely, it will be hard to shape the ladoos and it will fall apart. It should be warm to touch with bare hands.

Grease your palm with a little ghee and shape the mixture into small ping pong sized balls. Even if you have a dry mixture, the ghee from your palm will help hold the ladoos in shape.

Store ladoos in an air tight container for 2 weeks. Note: Add only as much ghee as indicated.

Adding more ghee may seem to give a manageable mixture. But, after shaping and cooling the balls, it may flatten and make one big lump.

RELATED RECIPES Wheat puri with besan sabzi Pakoda kurma Badam ragi malt Besan ka halwa Boondi ladoos Ingredients: 1 cup besan (gram flour) 1/2 cup almonds, coarsely powdered 1 cup sugar, powdered 3/4 cup ghee 1/2 tsp cardamom, powdered 1/4 tsp saffron food coloring (optional) (less)

/ gram flour is made into paste and added to the cooked chana dal and boiled till besan is cooked. Finally whole spices are fried in ghee and added to the chana dal curry.

Serve chana dal besan curry with roti, steamed rice or with poori etc..

Makes: around 4 Servings of Curry. Ingredients: Chana dal 1/4 Cup Besan/ Gram Flour 3 Tbsps Red Chili Powder 1/2 tsp Powder a Pinch Salt to Taste Talimpu: 1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp Broken Dried Red Chiles 4 – 5 a Big Pinch 5 Ghee 1 tsp Method of preparation: In a bowl, mix together besan, red chili powder, salt and around half a cup of water to make a smooth paste without any lumps.

Soak chana dal in water for 3 – 4 hours. Bring to boil a cup of water in a saucepot, add chana dal.

Boil till chana dal is cooked and translucent without being mushy. Once chana dal is cooked, lower the flame and stir in besan paste.

Add another half a cup of water and let the besan paste cook for around 3 – 5 minutes. Heat ghee in a small pan, add all talimpu ingredients in order.

When mustard seeds start spluttering, remove from heat and add to the above besan mixture. Stir well and serve chana dal besan curry with roti, steamed rice or with poori etc.

. Notes: Make sure chana dal is cooked right.

Suggestions: Adjust the consistency of the curry with water. For more gravy, add more besan and accordingly add the red chili powder.

Variations: You can also pressure cook chana dal with 3/4 cup or so of water for 2 whistles to cook it. Other Names: Curry (less)

Now on the same frying pan (ghee in a heavy bottomed frying pan) on medium flame add gram flour, stir vigorously, cook until it becomes light brown, add sugar and water, stir continuously, cook until halwa separates from the frying pan, finally add crushed and fried cashew nuts and raisins (kismis), stir continuously the whole mixture until all the mixture is mixed properly. Grease a big tray (metal) using few drops of ghee.

Spread the hot thick and sticky mixture on the tray. Cool it and cut them in shape of Burfi.

The Besan ki Burfi in now ready (less)

Now on the same frying pan (ghee in a heavy bottomed frying pan) on medium flame add gram flour, stir vigorously, cook until it becomes light brown, add sugar and water, stir continuously, cook until halwa separates from the frying pan, finally add crushed and fried cashew nuts and raisins (kismis), stir continuously the whole mixture until all the mixture is mixed properly. Grease a big tray (metal) using few drops of ghee.

Spread the hot thick and sticky mixture on the tray. Cool it and cut them in shape of Burfi.

The Besan ki Burfi in now ready (less)

Chop the ginger, coriander and mint leaves very finely. Heat oil in a pan and dry roast the besan till it gives a nice aroma.

Put it aside and let it cool. Take the vegetable stock and heat it up till it is warm.

Then add the besan to it, mixing it very slowly. Let it boil for some time.

Heat the ghee and add the cumin, dried chillies and the whole garam masala. Saute for some time.

Also saute the spinach. Add the stock and salt and heat up.

Finally add the raw mangoes. Do not boil after this.

Serve hot. RELATED RECIPES Mango salad Mango honey delight Aam ki chutney Saffron pulao with raw mango Mango kofta curry Ingredients: 500 gms.

spinach 1 raw mango 1 litre vegetable stock 5 gms. ginger 2 gms.

coriander leaves 1 gm. Mint leaves 50 gms.

besan (gram flour) 15 ml. vegetable oil 5 ml.

ghee 2 dried kashmiri chillies 2 gms. cumin seeds 3 gms.

whole garam masala Salt to taste (less)