Makar Sankranti Special: 2 Delicious Recipes To Add Sweet Flavour To Your Festivities

Celebrate Makar Sankranti with culinary delight! Indulge in the warmth of the festival with these two delectable recipes – Makar Chaula and Tilkut Laddoo. These sweet treats not only honor tradition but also bring a burst of authentic flavors to your festivities.

Makar Chaula

Recipe by Chef Nurul Bashar, Corp. Master Chef at Radisson Blu MBD Hotel Noida.

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup raw rice

- 1 cup milk

- 1/2 cup freshly grated coconut

- 1/3 cup small sugarcane pieces

- 1-2 ripe banana

- sugar to taste

- 1/2 tsp pepper powder

- 1/4 cup cottage cheese (Chenna)

- 1 tsp grated ginger

- 1/2 cup chopped fruits of your choice

Method:

- Soak the rice overnight. Wash and drain. Spread on a plate and allow to dry at room temperature for 2-3 hours.

- Grind into a coarse powder and transfer to a mixing bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients except for the banana and mix well.

- Peel and crush the banana. Add to the mixing bowl and mix it.

- Consume within a day if kept outside the refrigerator. Can be refrigerated for 2-3 days.

Tilkut Laddoo

Food made from sesame gives both heat and energy, which we need in the cold season of January. Laddus made by mixing sesame and jaggery is made on Makar Sankranti, til gur (jaggery) laddoo is also known as Tilkut Laddus by Chef Saarthak Sharma, Chef De Cuisine, Radisson Blu MBD Hotel Noida. These laddus are very easy to make and very tasty to eat.

Ingredients:

- Sesame seeds – 2 cups (250 grams)

- Jaggery – 1 cup (250 grams)

- Cashew – 2 tbsp ( Broken )

- Almonds – 2 tbsp ( chopped )

- Green cardamom – 7 to 8 (ground)

- Ghee – 3 tsp

Method:

- Clean the sesame seeds thoroughly. Roast sesame seeds

- Heat a heavy frying pan & roast the medium on fire, stirring continuously with a spoon, until the sesame turns light brown (the mole starts to crumble by hand). Sesame burns very soon, remember not to burn them. Take out roasted sesame seeds on a plate and cool it down a bit.

- Grind sesame seeds. Grind half a mole lightly with roasted sesame or coarsely stir it with a little mixture. Mix whole and lightly ground sesame seeds. Melt jaggery

- Break the jaggery into small pieces. Put a spoonful of ghee in the pan and heat it, add jaggery pieces and melt the jaggery on a very low flame, immediately stop the fire when the jaggery melts.

- Meanwhile, chop cashews and almonds.

- Mix all ingredients in jaggery

- After the jaggery cools down, add roasted sesame seeds to it. Then, mix cashew almond and cardamom powder in it as well. The Jaggery sesame mixture is ready. Take it out of the pan on a plate and let it cool down a bit.

- Tie laddus

- Grease your hands with some ghee, mix little by little, and lift one tablespoon (laddus has to be made from hot mixture, the mixture starts to freeze and it is difficult to make laddus). Make round ladoos and place them on a plate, make ladoos from all the mixture and apply it on the plate.