Semolina Coconut Laddu

Rava coconut Laddu in Marathi

Yield: 22 to 24 medium laddus
Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
2 cup Rava (Fine)
1 cup scraped fresh coconut
1 and 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
3 to 4 tbsp pure ghee
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
25 Golden raisins

Method:
1) Dry roast rava over medium-high heat for 5 minutes. Stir continuously to prevent rava from burning. [Note - Do not roast too much until color changes as we are going to roast it again]
2) Transfer roasted rava to a big thali (plate). Add fresh coconut and mix. Let rava soak the moisture from coconut for 10 minutes.
3) Heat a pan. Add ghee and wait until it melts. Add rava-coconut mixture and roast for 8 to 10 minutes over medium-high heat. Stir continuously. After few minutes you will sense nice aroma of ghee and roasted rava. Roast until color changes very slightly.Transfer roasted rava to a big thali.
4) Now, prepare one string consistency sugar syrup. For that, mix sugar and water to a medium saucepan. Bring it to a boil. Stir occasionally. To check one string consistency, dip a spoon in syrup, touch carefully with your index finger. Press your index finger against your thumb.When finger and thumb pull apart, a thin string should form between them [the string will be for fraction of a second]. OR the easy way is, once syrup starts boiling, boil for 3 to 4 minutes and turn off the heat.
5) Immediately, pour the syrup on roasted rava. Mix nicely. Consistency of the mixture will be very loose. However it will thicken after sometime. Add cardamom powder. Mix this mixture occasionally.
Once mixture is thick enough to form a ball, make laddus. Stick one golden raisin on each laddu.

Tips:
1) The shelf life of laddus are no more than 7-8 days due to fresh coconut. If the weather is hot and humid it might be 3 to 4 days.
2) Usually, Rava gets in 3 qualities, Coarse, fine and superfine. For above recipe, use fine quality rava. Coarse rava will give grainy texture. Superfine rava almost looks like white flour, so it is not suitable for this recipe.
3) If the laddu mixture becomes dry, that means sugar syrup has got two or three string consistency. In that case, boil 1/2 cup water plus 3 tbsp sugar. Boil for 3 to 4 minutes and pour it on the mixture. Mix and make laddus after couple of hours.
4) Sliced dry fruits can be added according to your preference.
5) Use only white part of coconut and avoid black particles from shell.

Rava Idli

Rava Idli in Marathi

Yield: around 15 to 18 medium Idlis
Time: 35 to 40 minutes (Prep time - 15 mins + steaming time - 20 to 25 mins)

Ingredients:
1 cup Rava /Semolina (Coarse quality)
1 tsp Oil, pinch of mustard seeds, pinch of asafoetida (hing), 1/2 tsp urad dal, 1/2 to 1 tsp chana dal, 4 to 5 curry leaves
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1/2 cup sour plain yogurt, well beaten
1/2 cup water
salt to taste
1 tsp Eno fruit salt (Eno Soda) - original flavor (do not use flavors like cherry, lemon)

Method:
1) Heat oil in the pan. Add mustard seeds and hing. Immediately add chana dal. Let the chana dal turn pink. Then add urad dal and saute for few seconds. Add curry leaves and ginger. Now add Rava and roast for couple of minutes over medium heat.
2) Transfer roasted rava into a deep bowl. In other bowl mix beaten yogurt and water well. when rava becomes warm, add yogurt+water mixture to it and blend well (tip 2). Add salt and mix. Let it stand for 10 minutes. Consistency should be like usual Idli batter, not too thick or thin.
3) Pour about 2 to 2.5 cups of water into the Idli cooker. Put it on the stove over high heat. Light grease the Idli stand (molds) with little oil (tip 3). Add Eno salt to the batter and mix in one direction. Spoon the batter into Idli molds.
4) Once water starts boiling, put the Idli stand inside the cooker (important tip 4). Close cooker with the lid. Steam the idlis for 12 to 15 minutes. After 12-15 minutes, turn off the heat and wait for 7-8 minutes before opening the cooker.
Remove idlis with sharp edged spoon (Do not use knife, it will break the idlis)

Tips:
1) Some variations can be done in the above recipe. Vegetables like carrot, peas, cabbage can be added to the idli batter. Just put small quantity of grated carrot and 2-3 peas into idli molds and then spoon the batter over it. Another idea is you may add the vegetables to idli batter.Though, it changes the color of Idlis.
2) If you have roasted the rava a little longer, it will soak more water. So, you may need to add little more water to adjust the consistency.
3) If you have small Idli stand (8 to 12 medium molds), Do not add Eno soda into whole batter. Divide it into 2 equal portions. Add 1/2 tsp of soda into one portion. Make idlis as per above instructions. Now add remaining 1/2 tsp soda into second prortion of batter and make idlis with the same directions.
4) If using normal pressure cooker, remove the weight (Pressure whistle) and then before steaming idlis.