Baby Corn Milagu Varuval/Baby Corn Pepper Fry

This is a recipe I saw in Chef Venkatesh Bhat's cookery show and is a wonderful snack. Its specially good to eat in rainy weather. If you love pepper flavour then this is for you.

Ingredients:

•  Baby Corn - roughly chopped (2 cups)
•  Rice flour - 1 and 1/2 tsp (see notes below)
•  Corn flour - 3/4 tsp (see notes below)
• Ginger Garlic paste - 1tsp
•  Pepper powder - 2 tsp
•  Curry leaves - few
•  Freshly ground pepper - 1tsp (for garnish)
•  Salt -as needed
• Lemon juice - 1/2 tsp
• Oil - for deep frying

Method:

1. Chop baby corn roughly. First we need to parboil the baby corn. To do this take about 3 to 4 cups of water in a vessel and let it boil. Then add baby corn with a pinch of salt and let it boil for about 3 minutes.

2. Strain the water, take the baby corn, rice flour, corn flour, pepper powder, lemon juice, ginger garlic paste along with it. Mix well. Finely chop curry leaves and mix well such that the curry leaves stick to the corn. Let this marinate for 10 to 15 mins.

3. Once marinated, heat oil in pan, and fry the baby corn till golden brown. Since we have already parboiled the baby corn, once it turns golden brown we can take it out. It will be very crisp. Drain in tissue paper and add freshly ground pepper on top. Serve hot!.

Notes:

• The corn flour and rice flour quantity should be in such a way that the pepper and curry leaves stick well to the corn. Adjust accordingly. Dont add too much also. 

               

• Adding freshly ground pepper towards the end gives a great flavour. I just used my mortar and pestle to make the freshly ground pepper for garnish.
• Curry leaves and pepper are a great combo.
• Always serve hot.

Gulab Jamun with Milk Powder

Gulab Jamun has always been my favourite sweet from childhood. These lovely balls make my mouth water whenever I see them in sweet shops. However, my favourite is what my Amma makes. Though she makes from a store bought mix, she makes it so perfectly that they melt in mouth instantly. When I was small, she used to make for my birthdays and diwali and I used to just relish them. Now after marriage, I tried the same store bought mix and got perfect results. But I have always wanted to try gulab jamun using homemade mix. I browsed the internet and got a recipe using milk powder. But my first attempt at the jamuns using milk powder turned out very hard :(. I was very disappointed.

However I got the courage to make them once again. This time I used a recipe I had saved long ago in a word document and the results were just perfect. I was so happy and even my husband loved it a lot. So here is the recipe. Just follow it exactly and you will get perfect results. Read the notes section for the hints to get the perfect jamun.

Ingredients:

• Milk powder - 1/2 cup
• Maida/all purpose flour - 1/4 cup
• Ghee - 1 tbsp
• Milk - 1/4 cup (if needed add more or less. )
• Baking soda - 1/4tsp
• Oil and ghee(if using) - as required to deep fry

For the sugar syrup:

• Sugar - 1.5 cups
• Water - 2 cups
• Rose essence - 3 to 4 drops

Method:

1. Mix milk powder, maida and baking soda in a wide bowl.

2. Add milk gradually and gather to form a dough. The dough will be sticky but soft. Just knead very slightly for 1 min or so. Do not over knead or knead too hard.

3. Now we can start making the sugar syrup. In a heavy bottomed vessel, take the sugar and water and boil it for few mins. Maybe for 8 mins in medium low flame. 

4. Once the sugar syrup is done, switch off and add rose essence. Heat oil in kadai, Grease your hands with little ghee and make smooth and small balls out of the dough. Deep fry them keeping the flame in low. Roll them gently to cook evenly.

5.  Cook 5 to 6 balls at a time till deep golden brown and drain them and add it to the hot sugar syrup. Wait atleast 1 hr or 2 hrs so that the jamuns absorb the sugar syrup well. Enjoy your jamuns!.

Notes:

• Dont knead the dough too much.
• Always fry the jamuns in low flame or medium flame maximum so that insides also get evenly cooked. The oil should be hot enough to cook the jamuns but not too hot as to burn them. If the oil temp is very low in between increase to medium if required.
• You can add cardamom powder instead of rose essence. Also some nuts in sugar syrup if preferred.
• The most important thing while shaping the jamuns is that the balls should be smooth without any cracks. If there are cracks the balls will open up on frying.
• Also, another thing to note is that, the balls should be shaped small as they increase in size when they absorb the syrup. Almost double. You can see the difference in size in the last two pics.
• You can also use ghee and oil in 50:50 ratio for frying. It sure adds extra taste. I always do it like that. 
• Give minimum 1 hr standing time.