Quick Boondi Ladoo

It's the joyous and jolly Indian festive season and most households are busy making sweet and savoury special treats to enjoy with family and friends. Our house is no different - this year it's double the joy with my little girl who wants to "help" with everything making it not only messy fun, but also a little more time consuming! 

So with time in mind, here is a "shortcut" Boondi Laadoo which you can make in less than half the time taken to traditionally prepare from scratch. Not only did it save me time, my food tester Hubby even said they were simply delicious :)

Ingredients:  Fresh boondi bought from bakery or plain boondi packet from Indian stores (this is the time saving factor - no making your own boondi). For sugar syrup, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water. Broken cashewes, sultanas and 1 spoon cardamon powder.

Make: Make sugar syrup by boiling sugar and water till it forms a stringy syrup. Let it cool a little then drop in boondi, cardamon powder and dry fruits. Mix and let the boondi soak in the syrup before rolling the mixture into Laadoos. The syrup will ooze out as you roll into balls, allowing your to shape them nicely.

A hit with my little helper too, as she decided to gate-crash my Boondi Laadoo photo-shoot to grab one for herself!!

Boondi Chaat - Quick Spicy Snack

"Chaats" is the word used to describe very popular Indian street food, bursting with delicious flavours. Tangy, spicy, sweet and crunchy - it's a perfect combination to get your taste buds asking for more! 

We often miss these amazing taste tantilisers but the best thing about them is they are so easy to make and enjoy fresh at home! Add to that, the fun of actually creating your own chaat dish and this is a great activity to bring the family together.

Here is my version of Boondi Chaat (Boondi is small balls of fried chickpea flour readily available at all Indian stores). Made in 5 minutes and every spoonful enjoyed thoroughly!

Ingredients: 1 cup of Boondi, 1 carrot grated, 1 tomato chopped, half onion chopped, 1 spoon chaat masala, chopped corrainder and lemon juice.

Make: Combine all wet ingredients together in a bowl then mix in the spoon of chaat masala. Add the cup of boondi to this mix and slightly toss (still keeping the boondi crunchy not soggy). Sprinkle the corrainder and squeeze some lemon juice on top before serving. 

Fruit Trifle Pizza

Fruit trifles are possibly one of the easiest and most widely served desserts. They are great to cater for large numbers of guests too. 

My take on this sweet treat is a little different - I tried creating a pizza style individual servings of Fruit Trifle. It was fun making, can even get kids involved with delicious toppings and tastes just as yummy as the traditional dessert!

Best of all, it looks pretty and that's something I love about any food!

Ingredients for egg-less base cake: Self raising flour, caster sugar, butter, vanilla essence, olive oil.

Ingredients for topping: whipped cream or custard, chocolate sauce/topping, chopped fruits of your choice, dry fruits/crumbled wafer cones for decorating.

Make: First prepare your base cake by combining all cake ingredients in a bowl and mixing to a smooth paste. Smear a thin layer on baking paper and bake in oven at 160degrees for 15 minutes (only need thin cakes, I prefer this rather than cutting a big cake into thin slices).

Once cake is baked and cooled, cut into desired shape (as shown in photo) and place layers with chocolate sauce/topping between. Layer with cream or custard and fruit. Sprinkle dry fruits or as I have done, crumbled wafer cones on top to finish. Enjoy your Fruit Trifle Pizza!