Wheat oats Ladoo

Happy Dussera to my readers and friends!

Here is a semi-healthy snack to munch on:)

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
oats - 1 cup
puffed channa dhal (pori kadalai) - 1/2 cup
brown sugar / white sugar - 1 1/2 cup
cardamom powder - 1 tsp
ghee - 1 tbsp + 1 tbsp
cashew , raisin - 1 for 1 ladoo
milk - 1/2 cup
dry ginger powder (sukku) - 1 tbsp

Method:

Heat a wide frying pan with 1 tbsp ghee.
Fry the cashews , raisins in the ghee.

In the same wok fry the oats till it turns crispy and mild pinkish.
Once it gets cool, grind it to a fine powder. Keep aside.

Now add the remaining ghee and start roasting the wheat flour.
After some time, the flour will turn very loose and flavorful.
Roast it in medium flame till it starts turning mild pink.
Take it off the wok and let cool.

Grind the puffed channa dhal to a fine powder along with cardamom.

Powder the brown sugar / white sugar in a blender.

Mix the 3 flours, sugar, nuts, ginger powder and sprinkle some milk to moisten it.
Let it be just enough to make balls and not sticky as we are not going to knead it as a dough:)

Make lemon size balls. (It should be soft and powdery, but holding the shape).

Wheat oats laddu is ready!

Serving suggestion:

Serve as snack.
If made with 1/2 cup ghee instead of milk, it stays longer.
If made with milk it can be refrigerated for a week.

Kaara pori (Spicy puffed rice)

Many a days I was wondering if I could get an 'oil-less spicy-snack recipe' till I came across this tasty snack in Tasty traditions .  Thanks to the blogging world and the author, now I can snack on this quick, guilt-free spicy snack along with a cup of coffee every evening:)

Serving this kara pori and a  banana with an evening coffee is very common in Tamilnadu villages.

Ingredients:

Puffed rice (arisi pori) - 4 cup
groundnut - 1 cup
puffed channa dhal (pottu kadalai)- 1/2 cup
thin beaten rice (aval/poha) - 1/2 cup
oil - 1 tbsp
garlic - 2 cloves
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
hing (perungayam) - few shakes
red chilly powder - 1 tbsp
curry leaf - 1 sprig
salt - to taste

Method:

Microwave the pori in a big bowl for 1 minute or till it turns crispy (another 30 seconds).
Heat oil in a wok. Fry the groundnut and take out.
In the same wok roast the puffed channa dhal, till it turns crispy.
Add the beaten rice (thin poha) and fry together till both gets crispy (not red).
In a blender crush together the chilly powder or dry red chillies, curry leaf, hing, garlic, salt. Let it be a coarse mixture.
Heat a tsp of oil in the wok and fry the crushes ingredients.
Then switch off flame and add the fried peanut, pottu kadalai, puffed rice, beaten rice, fried groundnut and mix well.
Mix very evenly, so that every piece gets coated with the spices.
Let them cool well (otherwise they will get soggy by their own steam) and store in airtight container.

Serving suggestions:

Serve as snack with coffee or tea in the evening.
It can be used to garnish over Indian salads, curries and raitha.

Tips:

Fresh garlic can be replaced by garlic powder to avoid crushing.
Instead of microwaving the puffed rice, we can dry roast it for 5 minutes in low heat.