Janmashtami 2021: Make These Mithais At Home On The Festive Occasion

The festival of Janmashtami will be celebrated on August 30 this year. This festival marks the birth or 'janm' of Lord Krishna. People from all over the nation fast on this festival to celebrate the birth of their beloved Lord and show their devotion towards him. We've grown up listening to stories of how Lord Krishna would steal makhan mishri, and thus evolved his love for everything sweet and delicious. Mouth-watering sweets makes this festival all the more delicious and divine.

So, on the special occasion of Janmashtami, here are a few recipes which are bound to make this auspicious day a super happy one!

Makhana Paag by Meethi by Wok by in the clouds

Makhana Paag is a delicious delicacy that is traditionally prepared on the festive occasion of Janmashtami. Made with lotus seeds, ghee, milk and bhoora (powdered sugar), makhana paag is a part of the chappan bhog thali.

Ingredients

1.       200 gm / 1 cup: ghee

2.       500 gm Makhana

3.       500 gm / 2 cup: sugar

4.       1 table spoon: milk

5.       1 table spoon: Elachi powder

6.       1 table spoon dry fruits

Method

1.       First of there should be cut all these Makhana in the four pieces.

2.       Now take a deep khadhai, put over gas stove, heat them, at medium flame insert ghee, then put this Makhana, and cook it up to pink colour.

3.       Now take a plain plate, grease with ghee.

4.       Now for making sugar syrup, take another kadhai, where the ratio of sugar and water is 1:2

5.       Now when sugar is fully dilute in the syrup, add milk here, then brown colour bubbles arise, so, stir it gently with spoon and remove it.

6.       After than this mixture is keep out, from the kadhai and spread in the greasing ghee plain plate.

7.       Now, start to make three layers sugar syrup.

8.       After than put here fried Makhana and mix is quickly in the sugar syrup with Elachi powder and chopped dry fruits.

9.       At half an hour, this Makhana paag is ready.

10.    Now, cut it and keep inside the air tight container and enjoy it during fasting.

Lapsi by Chef Akshraj Jodha, Executive Chef, ITC Grand Bharat – Gurugram

Lapsi is a popular broken wheat sweet dish made during festivals in Rajasthan such as Janmashtami, Dussera, Diwali. It is said that no festival is complete without this auspicious dish.

Ingredients

1. Broken Wheat                        100gms

2. Desi Ghee                      50 ml

3. Almond slivers                        10 gms

4. Green Cardamom seeds                 18-20 nos

5. Jaggery                                    75 gms

6. Coconut Slivers                      10 gms

Method

1. Heat Desi ghee in a pan

2. Add the broken wheat and roast till lightly brown

3. Add water and cook till wheat is 3/4th cooked

4. Add in the jaggery and cook further until the jiggery dissolves and broken wheat softens

5. Meanwhile, add some cardamom seeds and almond slivers

6. Once cooked, mix well and garnish with roasted coconut slivers

Coconut ladoo by Anand Panwar, Executive Pastry Chef, Roseate Hotels & Resorts

Nariyal Ka Ladoo or Coconut Ladoo, a delicious homemade sweet also can be served as a candy.  Coconut cooked in milk and sugar until reduced to a delicious consistency and then flavored with cardamom and ghee. Interestingly, the origin of this ladoo was more because of the medicinal properties that the ingredients used proffered than as a sweet.  The coconut ladoo, called the Nariyal Nakru, finds its mention during the Chola reign, when coconut goaded nakru’s /ladoo were packed for the travelers or soldiers heading for a journey or war for good luck.

Ingredients         

1.        Desicated Coconut 500 grams     

2.        Milk  2 litres       

3.        Sugar 150 grams

4        Elaichi powder 4 grams

5.        Reduced Beetroot juice 5ml         

6.        Ghee 30 gram   

7.  Clove 20   

8.  Dolly paper                            

Method

1. Take milk in a pan and cook till it become ½.

2. Then add coconut powder and sugar and keep cooking on a slow fire till thick and binding consistency like ladoo.

3. Add few drops of reduced beetroot juice to provide pink colour, or food pink colour can also be used.

4. Finally add ghee and Elaichi powder and mix well. Take off from heat.

5. Once mixture is at room temperature make it in round shape, coat is with some coconut powder and garnish with clove.

6. Keep it on dolly paper and ladoo is ready to serve.

Gond Ki Burfi by Meethi by Wok by in the clouds

This Janmashtami, treat your friends and family members with the divine taste and amazing flavour of this ultra-delicious sweet prasad. Gond Ki Burfi, one of the favourite sweets among mommies and grannies in northern India is the most relished and preferred healthy sweet indulgences. The one reason why our mothers and grandmothers love this sweet so much is due to the magnificent nutritional profile that this dish provides.

Ingredients

1. Edible Gum - 1 cup (200 gms)

2. Mawa - 1 cup (250 gms)

3. Sugar - 1 cup (250 gms)

4. Ghee - ¾ cup (150 gms)

Method

1.       Preheat Ghee in a Wok and moderately heated Ghee is required to roast Edible Gum.

2.       Keep the flame on Low-Medium, add edible gum in the wok to roast.

3.       Roast the edible gum until they expand or their colour changes.

4.       The edible gum colour has changed to light brown so drain them out.

5.       Stop the ladle on the corner of the wok so that extra ghee moves back in it.

6.       Remove all the Edible Gum in the same way.

7.       Take a strainer and put the roasted edible gum in it using the ladle.

8.       Add mawa in the pan, stir and roast until colour changes and fragrance appear.

9.       The colour of mawa has slightly changed and there is the soothing fragrance of it because it has roasted.

10.    Take out the roasted mawa in a separate bowl, add 1 cup of sugar in a wok along with a ½ cup of Water.

11.    Cook sugar in water until it dissolves properly. Meanwhile, break the edible gum into more smaller size pieces.

12.    Add some in another plate and press it using the bottom of any vessel.

13.    Do not break them extremely coarsely grounded. Prepare all the edible gum by crushing in this way.

14.    Check the sugar syrup. The sugar has properly dissolved in water but, cook it more as we need the thick consistency sugar syrup on the low flame.

15.    Add mawa in it, mix all the ingredients properly and place it in a plate.

16.    Grease the plate and spread the mixture evenly on it.

17.    Place it aside to set and mark the cutting areas over it after 10 minutes.

18.    Cut the pieces in your desired size.

19.    The edible gum mawa paag has set and it is ready to be served.

20.    Store it in any container once it cools down and consumes it for 8-10 days.

Custard Powder Halwa by Meethi by Wok by in the clouds

Halwa is the star dessert in many Indian households, especially during festivals such as Janamashtami, Raksha-Bandhan or Diwali. Custard Powder Halwa puts a fun twist to the traditional Indian dessert. This mouth-watering recipe is prepared using simple ingredients like custard Powder, sugar, water, ghee and cashews. This sweet dish has the smooth texture of custard and nuttiness of the cashews which make this recipe simply hard to resist. This delectable recipe is liked by the people of all age groups.

Ingredients

1. Custard powder – 1/2 cup

2. Sugar – 1 and 1/2 cups

3. Water – 2 cups

4. Ghee – 2 tbsp + 1 tsp for greasing

5. Cashew nuts – 6 broken and few for ganish

6. Cardamom powder – a tiny pinch

Method

1.       Take custard powder and sugar in a pan, add 2 cups of water

2.       Whisk it well to avoid lumps, mix well till sugar completely dissolves, we are doing all this off the stove. Grease a tin / plate with ghee and keep it ready. Heat the pan and keep stirring.

3.       Keep stirring in low flame. Stir continuously to avoid lumps. It will first start to form glossy here and there, then fully glossy. Add a tbsp of ghee at this stage.

4.       Add cardamom powder. Then it will start to thicken. Keep on stirring until you see the halwa texture.

5.       Once it is thick and comes together as a whole mass and starts to leave the sides of the pan add remaining ghee, cashews, mix well and switch off. Now transfer the mixture to a ghee greased plate. Let it to set at least for an hour then cut into squares and enjoy.

6.       Once it is thick and comes together as a whole mass and starts to leave the sides of the pan add fried cashews and switch off. Now transfer the mixture to a ghee greased tin. Let it to set at least for an hour then invert, cut into squares and enjoy.

7.       Garnish each square with cashews.

There you go; here are some of the sweet treats you can make to celebrate Janmashtami this year.

Happy Janmashtami, 2021!