Diwali Special - Badusha

I have started writing more culinary blogs these days. May be I am improving my cooking skills or my knowledge in other areas is very very poor :-(.


For this Diwali, I first thought of making Adhirasam, the traditional Diwali sweet of tamilians. But unfortunately, my trial version of it failed in a disastrous way. So I was thinking of some other alternative.

Every time I think of making something new, I call my friend Ruba. There is this difference between a good cook and a great cook - how much they understand cooking. What is there to understand in cooking? There are so many things. I understood this after I came to know Ruba's cooking skills. She would not stop giving the recipe. She also gives so many tips which might sound silly. But when you follow them, your recipe would turn out great. This time, she asked me to try Badusha. By the way, how badusha got this different name???



Ingredients:
Maida Flour - 1 cup
Butter/Ghee/Dalda - 1/4 cup
Baking Soda - Pinch
Water - 3 glasses
Sugar - 2 1/2 glasses...oooooooh...Try to forget the word 'Calorie' for sometime.



Method:

Mix Maida with Ghee. Add a pinch of baking soda. Prepare a nice dough little thicker than chapathi dough. Leave it for 1/2 hour. Then make small balls. Press in the middle with the thumb. This should give you the typical shape of badusha. Meanwhile, add sugar to water in a big bowl and put it in stove. Let it boil for 20 mins.


Heat oil and then start frying badusha. Keep in medium heat and allow till the badusha turns golden brown thoroughly. Only when the flame is medium, the badusha gets cooked in all sides.



Take them out and allow to cool. Allow the sugar syrup to cool. Then put these badusha in sugar syrup. Turn them and allow them to soak in syrup completely for 2-3 mins. Take out and leave them outside until the sugar coating forms on the surface of badusha.

Spinach - Broom of the stomach

I hit upon Spinach everytime I read an article about health. There is a famous French proverb that describes Spinach as 'The Broom of the Stomach'. It is also called as 'The Vitamin Vegetable'. Spinach deserves all these praises. It improves our health in so many ways and protects us from many diseases.

Here are a few good things about Spinach:

1. Protects against breast, prostate and ovarian cancer

2. Vitamin K in Spinach helps maintain bone health
3. Good source of Calcium and Magnesium
4. Good Source of Vitamin A and Vitamin C
5. Provides cardiovascular protection
6. Smarter brain
7. Better eyesight
8. Good source of Iron

and the list goes on and on....

Spinach Dhal:
Ingredients:
Spinach
Toor Dhal
Onion
Tomato
Chilli powder
Salt
Asafoetida
Garlic
Turmeric Powder

Cooking Method:
Add turmeric powder, asafoetida and garlic to toor dhal and pressure cook for three whistles. Then in a pan heat oil and fry onions till they turn golden brown. Then add tomatoes. Fry till the oil comes up and add Spinach. Fry till Spinach becomes a paste and then add dhal to it. Add Chilli powder and Salt. Cook for 5 mins. Serve with rice and chapathi.