Chocolate Barfi

Ingredients:

Paneer/cottage cheese: 1 cup
Khoya or mawa:  1/2 cup
Rava/semolina: 3 tbsp
Cocoa powder: 4 tbsp.
Sugar: 1/2 cup
Ghee: 1 tbsp.
Almond flakes : for garnishing




Method:

Grease a tin/dish/tray and keep aside.

Heat ghee in a pan. Add the khoya and grated paneer and mix well. Add the semolina, sugar , stirring continuously , slowly add the cocoa powder. Mix everything continuously in low flame till the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and starts binding. Now remove from the flame and transfer the mixture to the greased tray and spread evenly. Sprinkle the almond flakes and press a little.  Let it cool and set in refrigerator for about half an hour.

Cut into desired shapes and enjoy this delicious treat.

 

Easy peasy Kalakand recipe

Very popular Kalakand sweet is a favourite of  me and PB. Made from Paneer this sweet is very easy to prepare with minimum ingredients and less time & effort.  I have made kalakand many times before for family and guests as well also and it turned out to be good only but i was never satisfied much with the result. Something I always found incomplete in the recipe. But this time I finally  nailed it! Exactly the way it should be tastewise texture wise. This one has to be my no fail recipe of kalakand. Feeling great that the husband ate happily thinking I got them from the nearby shop.

In this recipe I used store bought packaged paneer which is why you may see the colour a bit off white. While You can always  use the fresh home-made paneer as well for that perfect white colour.

Ingredients:

Paneer/cottage cheese: 200 gms
Sweetened condensed milk: 200 gms (I used Amul mithai mate)
Cardamom powder: few pinches
pistachios : for decorating (I used 5 and sliced according to the number of kalakand pieces)
Ghee: to grease the plate/tin


Method:

Grease a square tin/plate. I placed an aluminium foil sheet on a plate and grease the foil sheet with some ghee.

Cut the paneer into small cubes and in a blender crumble it.

If you are using fresh paneer do keep it in mind to squeeze water from the paneer while putting in blender. You can crumble it with your hands as well if you are using home-made paneer.

Transfer the crumbled paneer to a large bowl. Add the condensed milk, cardamom powder and mix everything well.

Heat a non-stick pan and pour the paneer mixture. Keep stirring the mixture continuously in low to medium heat. It took me about 4-5 minutes when the mixture starts leaving the sides of the pan and it starts binding.  Once you reach that stage, put the flame off.

Now transfer the mixture to the greased tin/plate and spread evenly.

Grease a knife and cut into squares. Decorate the individual squares by pressing the pistachios on the top. Keep it in the refrigerator to set for about half an hour.

 

Maida (Flour) Barfi

Making perfect sweets at home is something very exciting and satisfying.  Since the day I started making sweets at home, we had stopped buying them from shops except on few occasions where i am not able take out time to make them. Kalakand, Rasgulla, rabri, rasmalai, kala jamun, gulab jamun, sondesh etc are few such examples i tried at home and they came out pretty well, still trying to excel in it. Yesterday i suddenly thought of making some sweet but not the ones I made before. Then i remember once I saw this maida barfi recipe in the blog Rak's kitechen (http://www.rakskitchen.net/2009/01/maida-burfi-simple-sweet-for-fic-yellow.html)
. I was so amazed by  the colour of the barfi she made that i decided to go with it. Moreover the minimum ingredients required for this particular barfi is readily available at one's home. This delicious barfi loaded with dry fruits is very soft and its just melts in mouth and you can actually make it in a jiffy.
When i was serving this to PB with tea after he got back home from work, he ate it thinking I bought it from our nearby halwai shop. He didnot even believe initially  that it was made by me looking at the colour & texture. Well I have taken that  happily as a big compliment :)


You may refer the original recipe as well from the link I have mentioned above as slightest changes I have made here.

Ingredients:

Maida/plain flour: 1/2 cup
Ghee: 1/3 cup
Sugar: 1/2 cup
Cashew nuts/almond/pista: 5-6 of each roughly chopped.
Vanilla essence: few drops
food colour: few drops - I used green colour . You can use any colour of your choice or without colour also you can make
Ghee: as required to grease the tin
sufficient water to make the sugar syrup


Method:

Heat the ghee in a pan and fry the chopped dry fruits till they are turned into light golden brown colour. Add the maida and mix everything well and stir continuously till the maida is fried completely in low flame. Put the flame off and transfer it to a bowl.

On the other hand in a heavy bottomed pan add the sugar and water to make the sugar syrup till you get the one -string consistency. Add vanilla essence & food colour and mix. Put the flame off and add the maida mixture to it and mix everything well. Once the mixture starts getting thickened and still loose enough to be able to spread on the tin then transfer it to the greased tin and spread evenly with the help of a flat spatula or knife. At this stage I greased the knife with some ghee and cut into equal sized shapes and kept in the refrigerator to set for about half an hour. You can let this cool down and set in room temperature as well.

You can store this sweet in air-tight container for 2-3 days.

 

Sweet potato gulab jamun

Gulab Jamun is definitely a delicious and popular dessert in india. Back in home I remember mom used to make jamuns with sweet potatoes. This is one particular sweet I have seen almost every house in Assam makes during our festival bihu.  An easy and quick recipe of jamun other than the normal gulab jamun recipe where we have to use paneer /khoya. Soft and light and no compromise on the taste. Do try this once I am sure you wont be disappointed.

Ingredients:

Sweet Potato: 3 medium sized
Plain flour:  3 tbsp.
Milk powder: 2 tsp
Soda bicarbonate: a pinch
Salt: a pinch
Sugar: 1 cup
Water: 1 cup
Cardamom powder: 1/2 tsp
Saffron: few strands
Rose essence: 1/2 tsp
Oil for deep frying

Method:


Wash the sweet potatoes properly. Cut them and pressure cook upto 2 whistles.
Once done transfer into a strainer and let the them dry. Now peel off the skin and put them in a bowl. Mash with a help of a spoon or fork. Add flour, soda, salt, milk powder and combine them all well. If you find the mixture a bit sticky , you can always add some extra flour. And if it gets dry add few drops of milk. After mixing them well to a smooth texture, make small portions out of the mixture and make balls.

At the same time make sugar syrup by boiling sugar in water in a saucepan until it is a bit thick. Add cardamom and saffron & rose essence in it.

Heat oil in a deep bottomed kadhai/pan for deep frying the jamuns. Slide down the jamuns one by one into the hot oil keeping the flame low to medium. Fry 4-5 jamuns at a time. Keep turning them while frying till they are golden brown. Repeat the same process for rest of the jamuns. Transfer them to the paper napkin.

Once the jamuns are cold add them into the sugar syrup. Let the jamuns get soaked in the syrup completely. Allow the jamuns to stand in the syrup for an hour or so before serving. This will help to get the typical sweet potato smell out of the jamuns which you may not like while eating them.

Enjoy !

 

Popular Indian sweet Peda

Peda needs no introduction when it comes to popular sweets of India, served during festivals mostly and otherwise as well and loved by all. We all in the family are so fond of this sweet. In Assam there is a place called Bokhakhat which is actually famous for their awesome melt in mouth pedas. People buy kilos and kilos of pedas whenever they visit that place. I miss them so much here and never tasted any peda like the ones of Bokakhat. You ask any one from Assam about this place and you will get to know how famous their pedas are !
Pedas are made from milk by cooking it till it thickens. But I wanted a recipe which is easy and less time taking. So when I saw one of my friend in US preparing this sweet during Diwali and posted few pictures , I asked her to share the recipe. She then sent me this link for this easy microwave pedas of Show me the curry http://showmethecurry.com/desserts/peda-indian-sweet.html. Tried and tested this in my kitchen and a sure shot hit recipe it is. Though only variation I did is the measurement as per my number of servings. You can follow the exact measurements as given in the original recipe.

Ingredients:

Dry Milk Powder: 1 cup
Sweetend condensed milk:1/2 cup
Butter: 50 gms
Cardamom powder: 1 tsp
Chopped Pistachios: for garnishing

Procedure:

In  a microwave safe dish melt the butter and keep aside. Add the milk powder, condensed milk and mix well with the help of a spoon. Now cook this mixture in the microwave for 3 minutes (for beginners for a better understanding microwave for 3 minutes means you have to cook the mixture in microwave mode  ). Stir the mixture after every one minute by putting the microwave off , taking out the dish, stir and putting it back in the microwave and cook. again 

After cooking for 3 minutes, take this out and mix it once again and keep aside to cool down enough so that you can mix with you hands. Once the mixture is cooled down, sprinkle the cardamom powder and mix with your hands nicely.  Now divide this mixture into small equal sized portions and make balls and flatten the balls in the center by pressing gently with your finger and arrange them on a dish. Garnish with chopped pistachios in the centre of the pedas as shown in the pictures. Keep them aside to set and cool down. Serve them , enjoy them whenever you get the craving for these delicious sweets ..

You can also give different shapes to this sweet by rolling out the mixture and cut with different cookie cutters and also by serving in beautiful decorative cup cake liners.

Our very own Rasgulla

Rasgulla is a syrupy dessert very popular in India and we all love to eat rasgullas. A commonly seen dessert in weddings/parties. I have seen my mother making rasgullas when I was a kid. And I somehow exactly remember how she used to make it. And I exactly follow the recipe whenever I make my rasgullas. I have seen many people complaining about the chenna not binding properly or the rasgullas not becoming soft & fluffy. But thanks to god & my mom's recipe that as of now , my rasgullas have always been a success. While making rasgulla, a good quality milk plays the crucial part. I have made them with both Tetra pack milk and packaged milk as well and never disappointed. After making the chenna from milk, process of kneading the chenna should be perfect. You just can not ignore this step , in short there is no short cut for this step. Lastly the time required for the rasgullas to get cooked in sugar syrup. I cook them in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Some cook the same in pressure cooker as well.

Ingredients:

Milk: 1 ltr
White vinegar: 2 tsp
Maida: 2 tsp

for the sugar syrup

Water: 2 cups
Sugar: 4 tbsp.
Cardamom powder: 1/2 tsp
Kesar: few strands

 Method:

In a saucepan boil the milk. After the first boil, add the vinegar and put the flame off. Keep it undisturbed for about 5 minutes so that the milk curdles.  

Through a colander lined with a muslin cloth strain the paneer/chenna that formed and wash under cold tape water very nicely so that the sourness due to the vinegar is removed. Drain off water by squeezing and tie a knot in the muslin cloth and  leave the paneer hanging for about half an hour.

 

After half an hour, take out the paneer/chenna which will be crumbly and dry with little moisture. Now the major part of making rasgulla is to knead the paneer/chenna well with your fingers and palms of your hands. At this stage I added the maida (if you donot feel like, you can avoid it). Mix them well and knead till it forms a dough. This whole process would take about 10 minutes.
Now divide the dough into equal sized portions and make balls without any crack on them , not very big sized as the rasgullas will double up while on boiling.

While making the balls, boil water in a heavy bottom saucepan. Put the rasgullas in the boiling water in batches so that they get enough space to double up and sinks well in water and cover with lid for about 10 minutes or so. After 10 minutes you will see the rasgullas becoming double their original size. Now its very important to know whether the rasgullas are cooked well.

I took the idea of a dear sister Garima, a blogger (her blog's name is Café Garima) having magical hands in the field of cooking, experimenting..that if you want to check whether your rasgullas are cooked, take plain cold water in a glass and drop the rasgulla. If it sinks, it is done. If it floats, boil for a couple of minutes and check again. And yes it works fantastically. Thanks dear sister. :)

Make the sugar syrup by boiling the mentioned quantity of water and sugar in a big heavy bottomed saucepan. Now add cardamom powder & saffron strands. Squeeze out the rasgullas from the water and drop in the sugar syrup. I keep it in boiling mode for about another 5-7 minutes. Put the flame off and let it cool down and serve.


Cooking in Pressure cooker:

Once your chenna balls are ready, boil water and sugar in the cooker and make the syrup a bit thick. This will take about 2 minutes or so. Then add the rasgullas carefully in the syrup. Close the lid and , keep the flame in low and pressure cook for at least 10-12 minutes. Put the flame off. Don't wait for the pressure to release on its own. Place the pressure cooker under running water or on a water bath so that the pressure releases immediately. Open the lid an transfer the rasgullas with the syrup to a bowl.

Serve hot if you like that way or keep in refrigerator to enjoy it chilled.

 

Beetroot halwa

Beetroot is a vegetable which most of us  normally do not like to eat. We three in the family specially is just not comfortable eating this particular vegetable. I have been reading and watching this vegetable used in making halwa. So I thought to give it a try in my kitchen today. And the outcome is actually great. Very tasty & healthy one too. And the colour of beetroot gives an extra ordinary look to the halwa , no typical flavour of the beetroot exist any more.

Ingredients:

Beetroot: 1 medium sized grated
Milk: 1 1/2cup
Milk maid: 3 tbsp. (also depends on how sweetened you want your halwa to be)
Cardamom powder: 1/2 tsp
Ghee: 2-3 tbsp.

Method:

In a non-stick pan heat the ghee. Put the grated beetroot and stir very nicely for about 2-3 minutes. Add the cardamom powder and again mix and stir continuously for another 1 minute so that the beetroot gets cooked and release its strong essence/flavour . Now add the milk and mix properly and bring it to boil. Add the milk maid for the sweetness and the thick texture of the halwa. Mix properly and stir continuously till the halwa gets a little dry and attains a thick texture.

Serve the halwa hot or cold as per your choice and taste and garnish with almond & pista flakes before serving. A perfect evening snack or dessert during this monsoon.

 

Sweet Snack Shakarpara

Shakarpara is a popular sweet snack in Maharashtra & Gujarat. The only dish of Maharashtra I learnt so far since we have shifted to Mumbai. As people say this is generally made during the festivals like Diwali. But why to wait for Diwali to come when it comes to food and with ingredients available all the time and season at home. I made these shakarpara today evening when I found all my snacks containers empty at home. So I quickly decided to make this sweet snack before the hubby landed at home from office and have with his cup of tea. Serve this as evening snacks to your kids as this snack is rich in carbohydrates which is an instant source of energy. Yes it does look like the same as our kata neemki

Ingredients:

White Flour/Maida: 1 cup
Semolina (Rava): 1/2 cup
Ghee: 2 tbsp.
Powdered sugar: 1/2 cup
Pinch of salt
Oil for frying
water as required to make sugar syrup


Method:

In a saucepan, add sugar and water and make a thin syrup.
In another bowl, add maida, semolina, salt, ghee. Now with the sugar syrup made , knead into a soft dough. Cover the dough and keep aside to rest for about 10-15 minutes.

After 10-15 minutes, make small balls of the dough like we take to make rotis. Roll these balls into thin roti. Cut the roti into diamond shapes with the help of a knife. Do the same for the rest of the balls.

Now heat oil in a deep bottomed pan. Deep fry these pieces till golden brown and keep in  tissue paper to strain the extra oil. Fry all the Shakarparas and keep them to cool. Once cool these become crispy and crunchy. Store them in air-tight container and enjoy this sweet snack with your evening tea and serve your  kids with their hot glass of milk.




   

Rava (Sooji) Barfi

Rava Barfi or sooji barfi is something that Ma used to make when we were kids. Mostly she used to make it in the evenings when we all come back home after playing outside for hours to have it with milk/complan/tea. Ma used to make them without dry fruits like pista/almond. It was very simple and very soft to eat having beautiful barfi shape she used to give with her long knife. I have tried to make this last weekend and it came out nice. Though not soft like ma's..

Ingredients:

Rava or sooji : 1/2 cup
Sugar: 1 1/2 Cups
Hot boiled milk:  2 cups
Cardamom powder - 1 pinch and a little more
Ghee to roast the rava
Almond: 2-3 tbsp roasted and crushed 
Saffron - 5-6 strips
Few grated almonds for garnishing.

Method:

In a hot pan put ghee. Add the rava and stir continuously and slowly in low flame until the colour changes to little brown. Then add the sugar , crushed almonds, cardamom powder and give all the ingredients a nice mix for about 5-7mins. While boiling the milk in another pan , add few strips of saffron to the milk to give a nice colour and flavour. Now pour the hot milk into the rava mix keeping the flame low. Stir them well for another 3 -4 mins in medium flame. Once mixture gets thickened and takes a body put the flame off and  transfer the mixture into a tray. Spread them evenly and sprinkle grated almonds over it. Now keep the tray in the refrigerator to set for an hour or so. Once it is set, cut into desired barfi shapes/square shape and serve .