In India we have thousands of Gods. I kid you not! And everyone has a distinct personality and attribute to them. So’ of course in India everyone has their own favorite Gods.
Ganesha is also known as Ganapati and Vinayaka, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu religion. Now I don’t want to play favorites but Ganesha is an endearing God. He is the God of prosperity. So, he loves to eat! In India prosperity is marked also by what weight you are. The heavier the more wealthy! Not sure if that would work in 2020 🙂
People love Ganesha because he is the God of prosperity and by keeping his statue in their house it is believed you invite that prosperity into your house as well. I have several of his statues, just because I love elephants and he adorns the elephants head. Ganesha is widely revered also as the remover of obstacles, the patron of arts and sciences and the lord of intellect and wisdom. As the god of beginnings, he is honoured at the start of rites and ceremonies.
Ganesh Chaturthi is a festival on right now and marks the celebrations of the birth of Lord Ganesh. Large clay statues are created and mounted on pedestals and at the of the ten day period floated in the rivers of India. The clay then dissolves and Ganesh is believed to return to Mount Kailash and to Shiva and Parvati.
Since the dear Ganesh loves to eat, I prepared motichoor ladoos for him this year. They are made by deep frying besan or chickpea batter through a mesh forming small droplets of crunchy fried balls. These are then soaked in a sugar syrup and then formed into balls of bliss!
Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to you all!
- for sugar syrup
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup water
- orange food color
- for making boondi
- 1 cup besan (gram flour)
- a few strands of saffron
- orange food color (use according to how intense you'd like the color to be)
- ¾ cup water
- oil for deep frying
- For the sugar syrup, dissolve sugar, saffron threads, food coloring and water in a pan and bring to a boil on high heat.
- Cook the sugar solution till it reaches one thread consistency. Keep the sugar solution aside.
- For the boondi, make a smooth flowing batter of the gram flour/besan, food coloring and water. The batter should neither be thick nor thin. It should be a flowing batter without any lumps. You can add more water if necessary. It should be like pancake batter.
- Heat oil for deep frying in a deep pan. The oil has to be moderately hot. Take a perforated spoon. With your hands position the ladle above the oil. Take a large spoon of the besan batter and pour it on perforated spoon. Press with the other spoon so that the batter falls down from the perforations into the hot oil.
- Fry the gram flour balls or boondi till they become golden.
- Transfer the fried boondis to a dish. In the meanwhile heat the sugar syrup and and then add the boondis to it. Stir and mix well. The boondis should get softened in the sugar syrup.
- In a blender add the sugar soaked boondis. Pulse the boondi mixture a few times.
- If the boondis are a bit crisp, then add 1 or 2 tbsp more of the hot water. The boondis will absorb the hot water and remain soft and moist.
- Apply some oil or ghee on your palms and shape the motichoor ladoos. The mixture would be warm when preparing the ladoos. When cool they will become more firm.
- You can garnish the motichoor ladoos with pistachio nuts.
Vegan Atta Nankhatai / Cardamom Cookies
Tamatar ki Chutney (Tomato Chutney)
Spicy Stuffed Peppers with Paneer
ziet er erg lekker uit, nieuwsgierig naar de smaak
Very sweet and very delicious!