Kojagiri Poornima or the full moon day in Ashwin month is celebrated as Kojagiri Poornima in Maharashtra. Traditionally people stay awake whole night on this day and get together to spend time in singing bhajans and other cultural programmes.
Being away from family, we don't celebrate this day in the traditional way anymore. But we do enjoy the main delicacy of this night, Masala doodh :) This is a sweet preparation of milk with lots of dry fruits and spices.
These ingredients are enough to prepare two cups of masala doodh.
What do I need??
Half a litre milk
2 tablespoon sugar
1 teapoon unsalted almonds
1 teaspoon unsalted pistachios
1/2 teaspoon unsalted cashews
1 teaspoon charoli (chironji)
A pinch of Cardamom powder
A pinch of nutmeg powder
A couple of strands of kesar (saffron) [optional]
What are the steps??
1. Dry roast the almonds, pistachios and cashews. Add a few drops of pure ghee for taste while roasting the dry fruits.
2. Once done, keep a few dry fruits away for garnishing. Grind the rest in a coarse powder.
3. Dry roast the charoli (chironji) in a similar way. There is no need to grind it.
4. Keep the milk for boiling and once its reduced to around three fourth its original quantity, add the sugar, dry fruits powder, charoli, cardamom and nutmeg powder. Add the kesar too. Keep stirring it so that it does not spill over.
5. Continue boiling the milk until it is half the original quantity.
5. Continue boiling the milk until it is half the original quantity.
Garnish with chopped dry fruits and its ready to be enjoyed under the cool light of the Kojagiri full moon
