Simply delicious sweets to celebrate Navratri in style

Motichoor Ladoo

Ingredients: 

Moong dal - 1 cup
Aluminium foil
Perforated/ slotted spatula
Sugar ½ cup
Orange food colour (optional)
Cardamom powder ½ teaspoon
Ghee/ Oil (as per requirement)
Chopped nuts (optional)
Lemon juice (1 teaspoon)

Soak moong dal in sufficient water for two hours minimum. Wash and drain the dal. Blend it in a mixer into a thick paste. What makes motichoor ladoos different from regular ladoos is the tiny pearl-like consistency of the boondi balls used to make it. To achieve this, you need to make the smallest balls with the moong paste already prepared. 

Take a piece of aluminium foil, fold it twice and cover the back of a perforated spatula with the foil securely. Take a toothpick and poke holes into the foil using the holes already on the spatula. Heat oil in a pan on medium flame and using the covered spatula, pour the paste into the oil slowly. Fry for 40-50 seconds (not too crispy). Place in a colander. 

In another pan, take sugar and ¾ cup water. Mix well and bring to a boil. You may add the food colour at this point. Add cardamom powder to this and mix well. Add lemon juice to avoid crystallisation. Bring to a boil and add the fried boondis. Mix well for a minute until water is absorbed. Turn off the flame and cover the pan and leave for 10 minutes.

Warm mixture once again and begin making the ladoos. Garnish with chopped dry fruits. 

Milk powder Burfi

Ingredients
Ghee - ½ cup
Milk - ¼ cup
Milk powder - 2 ½ cups
Sugar - ½  cup‌
Powdered cardamom - ¼ teaspoon
Chopped pistachio or almond - as needed

Take a thick-bottomed pot and heat it. Pour ghee into it first. Then add all the above ingredients except dry nuts. Mix it well so that it won't stick to the bottom. When it is cooked properly, put some ghee in a tray, pour the prepared mixture into it and spread it with a spoon. Then garnish with chopped dry nuts. Once set, cut into desired shapes and serve.

Jalebi

Ingredients
Maida - 1 cup
Cornflower - 2 tbsp
Baking powder - 1 tbsp
Yogurt - ¼ cup
Colour (yellow) - as needed
Oil - as needed
Water - ½ cup
For making the Sugar syrup

Sugar - 2 tsp
Water - 1 ½ cup
Cardamom - 2 
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp

Add cornflour, baking powder, yoghurt and colour to the flour and mix well. Add enough water. The batter should not be too loose. Make the syrup by mixing water, cardamom and sugar.

After removing it from the oven, add the lemon juice. Fill the batter in a bottle. Pour it into hot oil to make the shape of jalebi and deep fry it. Place the fried jalebi in sugar syrup and serve hot or cold.

Bread-coconut Burfi

Ingredients
Bread - 4 pieces
Shredded coconut - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Ghee - ½ cup
Cardamom powder -¼  teaspoon
Crushed nuts - as needed

Grind the bread with a food processor or mixer. Add milk and leave for 10 minutes. In a pan, add a little ghee and shredded coconut and mix well. When it changes colour, add bread crumbs and mix well. Add remaining ghee and sugar and mix well. Add powdered nuts and cardamom powder and pour into a plate and spread hot. Once it cools down, cut into the desired shape.

 Besan Burfi

Gram flour- 2 tbsp
Maida - ¼  cup‌
Ghee - 2 cups (can be more or less depending on the need)
Nutmeg and cardamom powder - 1 tbsp
Sugar - 2 cups (sweetener can be added as required)

In a heavy-bottomed bowl, add the filtered peanut flour, all-purpose flour and a little ghee and mix well on low flame. As the colour of the flour changes, more ghee should be added. Add sugar and cardamom powder and transfer to a pan. After cooling, it can be cut into pieces and served.

Besan Ladoo

Ingredients 

Gram flour - 2 Cups
Ghee - ½ cup
Powdered sugar - ¾  cup
Powdered cardamom - ⅓ teaspoon 
Badam, Pista - As required 

Take a pan and add some ghee and heat it. Add gram flour and roast it under low flame. Once the flour turns light brown in colour, switch off the flame. Let it cool down completely. 

Now, add powdered sugar and cardamom to the flour and mix it well. Later, roll the flour into small balls using your hands. Repeat the process and to give it a nice smooth finish, place the balls in a white muslin cloth and roll gently.