Tamarind Candies / Imli Heeng Goli

Diwali celebrations just got over and we are still hanging on in festive mood. Lights put up for Diwali haven't come down yet, kandeels hanging up high in air are yet to be pulled down and diyas welcoming the door steps are to be removed. Flowers have lost their fragrance and Rangoli has faded into thin air and I am busy cleaning up the oil spill overs. Diwali may have been over, but it's spirit is still alive.

This Diwali was filled with loads of fun with lights, colors and lots of food on plate to eat. No crackers for me as the loud noise and pollution do not fascinate me much. But putting up lights and decorating home with diyas and kandeels is always on my to-do-lists. With all the festivities that went by and for the ones we have ahead, here I have a post festival treat to soothe your heavy tummies! And with sweet treats and spicy savories, what can be better if it is followed by some digestive candies to soothe your content tummies! I felt this post was apt for this season of festivities. :) So here's my version of digestive Tamarind Candies, aka Imli Heeng Goli.

The recipe comes from my dad where he uses minimalistic ingredients to make an extremely tasty, tongue tickling, lip smacking digestive candies, surely not something you can resist eating just one. I was craving for these some time ago and it brought back fond memories of my high school days when these candies were our favorite after meal treats to smack into. One of our school peons would sell these as tiny homemade candies wrapped cutely in thin transparent polythene sheets and sell them at a cheap price of 10 paisa. These candies will surely send your taste buds tingling.

Imli Heeng Goli

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp tamarind
2 tbsp jaggery
1 tsp jeera powder/cumin seeds
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp compounded asafeotida/hing
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp of castor sugar/powdered sugar for coating

DIRECTIONS

Dry roast cumin seeds till they darken lightly and turn aromatic. Pound the compounded asafeotida if in rock form. Add it to the roasted cumin. Add in the chilli powder and salt to taste. The spice mix is ready now.

Separate tamarind seeds, if any and discard them. Grate the jaggery and add it to the tamarind. Add the above spice mixture to this and start kneading it gently. Kneading it may call in a bit of your muscle effort as dry tamarind is stiff and working with it can be quite an ardent task. However, the tamarind, jaggery and spices will come together eventually to a dough like consistency. Taste and check for the spices. Increase jaggery according to taste. Your resultant dough should turn stiff and you can roll them just like a candy. Roll them to small logs or round candies using palms of your hands. Roll them in coarsely powdered sugar and store in clean air-tight containers free from moisture.

Just a handful of ingredients go into making this tongue tickling candy. It's hard to resist eating anything less than one. I made a good handful of these and before the end of day, they were all swiped clean. These candies stay for a month long since they have no moisture in them. Pack them in thin foodgrade plastic wraps and they make great travel companions too.

Rolling them in sugar helps these candies to prevent sticking to each other. There can be variations to this recipe. Add in pepper instead of red chilli powder. Omit asafeotida if that's not a flavor of your choice. If you love biting into those Hajmola candies, then this surely will tempt you to make your own at home. A melange of flavors, sweet and spice, salt and tangy, simple and easy, yet a winner recipe.

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Diwali: Kalakand

Here's wishing all my readers a very Happy Diwali. Sorry about being away from sometime. I am here, back again after a short hiatus. Work and personal life has been keeping me on my toes, to an extent blogging had to take a short backseat. I did intend to post something earlier, but time has been a bitter enemy! Now that Diwali is right here, I nudged myself to post this for my readers.

Indian sweets are comfort food for me, after all this is what I grew up eating all these years. Diwali or Deepawali is perhaps the most beautiful of Hindu festivals in India. Diwali signifies the victory of good over evil and is commonly celebrated across most states in India. Personally for me each festival brings hope, life, energy and happiness. This Diwali has been special to all of us, especially since it's our daughter's first one.

The store I hit often has been flooded with Diwali goodies. Supermarkets boast of Diwali festivity with neatly stacked gift boxes of dry fruits and sweet-meats beckoning every nook and corner. Ofcourse, then when you talk about Diwali, how can you not picture traditional Indian sweets? While traditional desserts may not be a part of daily Indian menu, they do feature on festivals making them an integral part of our festive celebrations.

I have been dreaming of making Kalakand since a long time now, ever since I saw the recipe in Nestle recipe book that came with Milkmaid. The book itself is named as Diwali special sweets with 9 traditional Indian recipes, all worth trying. I am glad I tried this out and was loved by all.

Kalakand

Recipe by Nestle's Milkmaid recipe booklet, also available on Nestle.com

INGREDIENTS

1 tin (400g) Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 heaped tbsps Milk powder
500 g Paneer (Cottage Cheese)
3-4 powdered Cardamom (Elaichi)
Silver leaf

DIRECTIONS

Mash paneer coarsely and mix in milk powder and condensed milk. Heat the mixture in a thick bottom pan. Cook on medium heat with constant stirring till the mixture becomes thick and starts leaving the sides of the pan. Remove from the fire and spread onto a greased plate. Sprinkle elaichi powder & top with silver leaf or sprinkle kesar soaked in water & top with almond slivers. Cool and cut into squares.

Kalakand is expected to have a soft, crumbly texture with every bite. Don't be alarmed if you have some whey leaving from the edges while spreading the Kalakand. Good, soft Kalakand has some whey water seperating from it when it is spread on the tray. Most of it gets absorbed as the Kalakand cools. For this dessert in particular, I suggest it's best to make cottage cheese at home using fresh milk. However, if you are short on time, a store bought paneer works equally good. I have made this dessert a couple of times and it does feature on my favorites.

A thumb-rule while making desserts which I learnt from my mom is never to combine saffron with cardamom. Cardamom has a warm aromatic flavor which can camouflage the delicate richness saffron emanates. I used cardamom to flavor this dessert, but saffron flavored, Kesar Kalakand is definitely on my to-do list. Place each kalakand on paper cup and pack them to be shared with your family and friends. With subtle warm hints from cardamom, this dessert is rich and makes a great give away as gift.

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