Besan halwa

I've always loved besan halwa, and when this one came with the additional tag of being good for a cold, I had to try it. Not sure of the effectiveness, but definitely high on taste.

For each serving:

3 tbsp besan

4 tsp ghee

2 tsp sugar

1/2 cup water

Almonds for garnish 

Method:

Heat the ghee, add besan and on a low flame, roast till lightly browned. 

Heat the water and make a syrup with the sugar. 

Add sugar syrup to the roasted besan and mix well. Turn off the flame 

Serve, garnished with chopped almonds

Soya rose halwa

Many moons back, I had made a protein rich vegan dessert which we all loved. Today, I made the soya-rose halwa again, and liked it just as much.

Fhjj

Chocolate Sago Pudding

Continuing on the Sago Saga started last year, here is a delightfully rich chocolate pudding, which almost makes you forget about chocolate bars.

1 litre milk 

100 gms sago/sabudana
1/3 cup sugar, or to taste
3 tbsp cocoa powder

Method:
Soak the sago in water. The water should cover the sago and there should be a bit extra. Keep the soaked sago overnight, in the fridge. In the morning, drain the sago from the water and keep aside. You need about 1/2 cu sago for this.
Reserve 1/2 cup milk. Bring the rest of the milk to boil, reduce the flame, and heat with constant stirring till the volume reduces to half. Add sugar, and stir till it dissolves.
Add the drained sago to the milk, and keep stirring for 3-4 minutes until the sago pearls lose their opaque white color and become colorless. Remove from fire.
Add the cocoa powder, and mix well. Chill in the fridge for 3 hours. 

Mix in the reserved milk before serving.

Teratipal

Growing up, Teratipal was one if the few traditional Tamilian desserts I liked. Over the years, the taste waned, but lately, I have been wanting to taste it. 

Since it is not easily available in sweet shops, and because leaving things to slow cook is not something I shy away from, I decided to make it myself. 

Now, my mother makes the second best Teratipal in the world (the best being her mother), so I am spoilt. But, this wasn't too bad, if I say so myself!

1 litre milk

1/3 cup sugar*

Method:

In a thick bottomed vessel, bring the milk to boil. 

Reduce the flame, and keep it cooking till the volume reduces to 1/4th. In the meantime, every time the top thickens, mix it well to bring it back to the centre. 

When volume reduces, add sugar, and continue cooking till the water released by the sugar dries up completely. 

Serve hot or cold. 

*- I used a bit less

Vegan orange cupcakes

I haven't been baking much these last few months, and though I kept promising myself I would bake a cake for various occasions, they came and went without anything going into the oven. New Year's Eve was my last chance to redeem myself, and even though I could think of a dozen excuses not to, I weighted out the ingredients, and in no time at all had myself a lovely batch of cup cakes. I hope the next lot isn't this late in coming!

1 cup all purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt
¾ cup orange juice
½ cup powdered sugar

¼ cup olive oil

½ tsp orange zest
1 tbsp custard powder or corn flour

Method: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Sieve flour, with corn flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Keep aside.
Mix the oil and sugar, and beat well till well blended and creamy.
Add orange juice to the sugar and oil mixture, and mix well.
Add the sieved flour mixture and orange zest and mix well ensuring there are no lumps in the batter.
Pour into a greased cake tin, or cupcake liners, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes (15 minutes for cup cake, 20-25 for a regular cake), till a toothpick inserted into that batter comes out clean.
Serve hot or cold.

Matar ka halwa

While I love gajar ka halwa, and try to make it at least once a year, grating carrots is not exactly my idea of fun. Which is why I have been wanting to try matar ka halwa ever since I saw a recipe nearly a year back. I finally made it today, and liked it a lot. Given my family, though, I am going to reduce the sugar a bit more next time I make it.

2 cups green peas, shelled
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp ghee
Cardamon powder, optional
Sliced nuts for garnish

Method:
Blanche the peas in boiling water for 5 minutes (or till the colour turns a more vivid green). Remove into cold water, drain and keep aside.
Grind the peas coarsely in a blender.
Heat the ghee, add ground peas, and saute till the raw smell goes.
Add sugar and milk, stir well, and cook on a low flame till most of the milk evaporates.
Stir in cardamon powder.
Garnish with nuts and serve chilled.

Chena payash- poornima special

I made Chena payash for Sharad Poornima last year, and decided to make it again this year. I improvised slightly, and all of us really loved it.

1 litre milk

1/3 cup sugar
Few drops kewra essence

Method:
Make paneer out of 1/2 litre of milk (paneer recipe here).
While the paneer is draining, take the rest of the milk in a heavy bottomed vessel, and reduce it on a low flame till it is about half the original volume.
Break the paneer into the milk, add the sugar, and cook on a low flame till you achieve the desired consistency.
Add the essence and well.
Chill before serving.

Ashtami spread

Ashtami always meant sooji halwa, poori and kala channa, and this year too, I stuck to the tradition I set last year and made that for lunch. This, however, was a slightly different take on the regular sooji halwa, and I for one liked it much more.

1 cup sooji
1/3 cup besan
3 tbsp ghee
1/3 cup sugar
cardamon powder (to taste)
1 tbsp khus khus seeds
1 tbs melon seeds

Method:
Dry roast the sooji till it starts to turn brown.
Add the ghee, mix well, then add besan, and fry on a low flame for 2-3 minutes
Add the sugar, khus khus and melon seeds, mix well, and dry roast for a minute.
Add about 1/2 cup water, mix well, cover, and let it cook for 2-3 minutes.
Serve hot.

Janmashtami Special- Kesar Rasmalai

Food wise, Janmashtami had been a grand occasion last year.  Grand in conception, grand in preperation, grand in magnitude of disaster of some of the items. Chastened by the experience, I kept it easy this time. Krishna grew up among the dairy farmers of Mathura, he loved milk products of every kind. Ergo, he would have loved rasmalai- one of the few dishes I manage to get right most of the time. This time was no exception.

I stuck to my tried and tested recipe for rasagolla, but since the intention was always to make rasmalai, I flattened the balls before dropping them in sugar syrup.

8-12 rasagollas
1/2 litre milk
1/2 cup sugar syrup
2-4 drops kewra essence
A pinch of saffron (or food colouring)

Method:
In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the milk till it is reduced by a third.
Add the sugar syrup, and mix well.
Soak the saffron strands in water, and add to the milk, along with a few drops of essence.
Squeeze the syrup out of the rasagollas and soak in the sweetened-thickened milk .
Serve chilled.

Sugarfree Date-Banana Bread/ Muffin

A couple of weeks back, I decided to cut sugar out of my diet for "sometime". And then without warning, I was subject to carpet bombing of the most sinful desserts imaginable. Turning away from temptation requires far greater will power than I possess, and yet, I am too stubborn to admit defeat. "Necessity is the mother of Invention", they say, so I tinkered around with a basic vegan banana bread, and came up with this sugar-free version which tasted just as good as a more conventional muffin/ cupcake would.

4 bananas
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
⅔ cup coconut oil
3/4 cups dates
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
A few drops vanilla essence

Method:
Soak the dates in water, bring to a boil, and let it soak for about 10 minutes. Remove the seeds, discard the excess water, and blend the dates in a mixer.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180 degrees
Add bananas to the date puree, and blend till smooth.
Add coconut oil and vanilla essence and blend till well mixed.
Sieve flour, baking soda and baking powder a few times.
Fold the flour into the puree, making sure it is well mixed.
Grease the molds with coconut oil, pour the batter, and bake for 25 minutes (or till done)

*- I was skeptical, so made a really small amount of batter. The recipe I have written out doubles all the ingredients. That would also ensure that the cake is a bit taller, because more batter will go into each of the molds.

Mango Rasmalai

I've been wanting to make mango rasmalai for a couple of weeks, and I finally did it today. Though the dish was lovely, nobody really liked it too much, so this might just be the last time I make it.

For the rasgollas:
1 litre milk
Lime juice- 3 tbsp
Water - 3 1/2 cups
Icecubes - 4 to 5
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup (I used slightly less)
Cardamom 

For the malai:
1 mango
1/2 litre milk

Method:
Heat milk, and once it comes to a boil add the lime juice to the boiling milk and stir properly. Stir continuosly till the whey water clears and the milk curdles completely. Now switch off the stove, add ice cubes and allow it to melt completely.
Pour the curdled milk into a muslin cloth. Wash it well with running water to remove the lime juice. Squeeze the excess water and hang it aside for 30 mins without disturbing it.  
After 30 mins, the paneer would be crumbly in texture. Knead it well for 10mins. Once everything comes together to a smooth pilable dough, form them into flat discs- I made 12 with the amount of paneer I had.

Heat water in a wide bottomed vessel, then add sugar, cardamom and keep stirring till sugar dissolves completely. Ensure that the vessel is large enough to give the balls enough place to dance around. When the sugar syrup boils and starts bubbling, add the balls slowly one by one, cover, and let it cook on a high flame for 10 minutes. Lower the flame and cook for a further 3 minutes. 
Take it off the fire, and let it cool*

Meanwhile, puree the mango, and keep aside.
Remove the rasgollas, add the milk to the syrup, bring to a boil, and reduce by 25%. Switch off the flame, add the mango puree and mix well. Return the rasgollas to the malai, and chill before serving.

*- if the sugar syrup looks very thick, add some milk to dilute it. 

Coffee Sago Pudding

This is my second take on the Sago Saga- a coffee flavoured version that I absolutely love.

4 cups milk
1/4 cups coffee decoction*
3½ tablespoons sago/sabudana
2 tablespoons sugar, or to taste

Method:
Soak the sago in water. The water should cover the sago and there should be a bit extra. Keep the soaked sago overnight, in the fridge. In the morning, drain the sago from the water and keep aside.
Bring 4 cups milk to boil, reduce the flame, and heat with constant stirring till the volume reduces to 2 1/2 cups.
Add the coffee decoction and the drained sago to the milk, and keep stirring for 3-4 minutes until the sago pearls lose their opaque white color and become colorless. Remove from fire.
Chill in the fridge for 3 hours, before serving.

*- I used filter coffee decoction but you can replace it with an equivalent quantity of coffee powder dissolved in warm water.

'Plain Rose' Sago Kheer

Reading the "Sago Saga" on Kenzy's Kitchen Korner, inspired me to try my own variations of the humble Sago Kheer. This is my take on the plain vanilla version, or should I call it my Plain Rose version?

4 1/4 cups milk
3½ tablespoons sago/sabudana
2 tablespoons sugar, or to taste
1/2 tsp rose essence
2-3 drops red food colouring

Method:
Soak the sago in water. The water should cover the sago and there should be a bit extra. Keep the soaked sago overnight, in the fridge. In the morning, drain the sago from the water and keep aside.
Bring 4 cups milk to boil, reduce the flame, and heat with constant stirring till the volume reduces to 2 1/2 cups.
Add the drained sago to the milk, and keep stirring for 3-4 minutes until the sago pearls lose their opaque white color and become colorless. Remove from fire.
Add the rose essence and food colouring and mix well. Chill in the fridge for 3 hours. Before serving, add the remaining milk and mix well.

Mango halwa

As a family, we seem to have gone off mangoes, so when I saw a recipe for mango halwa, I thought it was a good way to use up the stray fruits that were lurking around in the fridge. Using the original as a base, I tweaked the recipe to my taste, and was quite satisfied with the results.

1 cup sooji
2 1/2 tbsp ghee
1/2 cup milk
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 mango
1/2 tsp cardamon powder

Method:
Dry roast the sooji till the raw smell goes. Add ghee, and fry on a low flame till golden brown.
Meanwhile peel and slice the mango, and make puree.
When the sooji is golden, add milk and water, and cook till most of the liquid is absorbed.
Add sugar, stir well, and cook till it all comes together.
Add mango puree, stir well, cover and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Add cardamon powder before serving (if you are using it). You can also garnish with dry fruits.

Mango ice cream

When it is mango season, can mango ice cream be far behind. I adapted this recipe from the internet, and though it was nice, I think I will stick to store bought mango ice creams in future.

3 mangoes

1 1/2 cups whole cream milk

1/4 cup sugar

Method:

Peel, chop and puree the mangoes with the sugar.

Add milk, and blend a few times in the mixer till well incorporated.

Pour into a flatish container and freeze for about 2 hours.

Remove from the freezer, and blend again in the mixer.

Pour it back into the same container, cover with cling film, taking care to ensure that the surface touches the film, so no ice particles are formed.

Let it set completely before serving

Rose Soya Delight

Sometimes, you look at a recipe and decide you need to try it right away. This recipe by Ros Ruby was one of them, and since all the ingredients were available at home, there was no reason not to make it right away. Frankly, I had no idea what to expect, but when the flavours exploded in my mouth, for a moment, I was in heaven. Definitely a keeper.

Soya Chunks -100gms (I used granules)
Carrot grated-40gms
Yellow Split Lentils-10gms
Jaggery-150gms
Cardamom-7 Pods (Powdered)
Cashew nuts-20gms
Raisins-20gms
Rose Essence-1 Tsp (I used rosewater, because it was available at home)
Salt-1/2 a pinch
Vegetable Oil-4Tbsps

Method:
Powder the Soya Chunks. Set aside. (even if you are using granules, like I did, powder it well)
Melt the jaggery in 200-225 ml of water. Set aside.
In a thick bottomed vessel, fry the yellow split lentils in oil, drain and set aside.
Into the same oil, add the powdered soya chunks and sauté until lightly fried.
Into this add the melted jaggery followed by the grated carrot.
Keep mixing. Add the salt.
Soya tends to absorb water, so add a little more water, if necessary.
To this add broken cashew nuts and raisins.Keep mixing at intervals until the mixture become soft and cooked.
Add the powered cardamom and turn off the heat source.
Sprinkle the rose essence and garnish with a few split cashew nuts.
Transfer the mixture into a greased container.

Microwave Eggless Mango Cake

Ever since I got my OTG, I have stopped making cakes on the microwave. A few times when I had extra batter and stuck some of it in the MW, I've seen that the cake made in the conventional oven is much better than the one from the MW.
I was naturally skeptical about trying out this MW recipe, but since it was eggless, I decided to give it a go. And I quite like the result. The original recipe called for cocoa powder, but I replaced it with an equal quantity of cornflour.
This particular cake would have tasted really good with a dollop of ice cream and some fresh mango pieces.

1 cup of plain flour
¾ tspn of baking powder
¾ tspn of soda bicarbonate
3 level tablespoons of cocoa powder (I replaced it with cornflour)

100 gms of oil
2 tbspns of powdered sugar
Mango essence

Orange colour
1/2 tin of sweetened condensed milk
1 cup water 

 

 

Sieve the dry ingredients together to mix well. 

Add the oil, essence and food colour, and mix well.

Add condensed milk and water.

Pour into a microwaveable dish, lined with butter paper

Bake on high, 100 percent power. Start checking every 30 seconds after 4:30 minutes. It is supposed to get done in 6 minutes, but mine took only 5.

Panna cotta- jelly trifle

"Why don't you make that trifle you made a few months back?", the Hubby asked me while having strawberry custard last night.

"I haven't made trifle for almost a year", I told him.

"No, you did make it four or five months back, and it was really good", he insisted.

"You don't mean the cheesecake I made last month for our Anniversary do you?", I queried.

He couldn't remember either way, but since he'd praised something I made, I had to make something similar for him again.

There was a packet of raw mango jello at home, so a vanilla pana cotta topped with green-mango jelly it was. Tasted delicious.

For the panna cotta

Ingredients:

• Whole milk, 1/2 cup 
• Gelatin, unflavored powdered, 1 1/2 tsp 
• Heavy cream, 1 1/2 cups 
• Instant coffee powder, 3 heaping tsp
• Sugar, 1/4 cup 
• Salt, a pinch
• Dark chocolate, for garnishing

- See more at: http://mmskitchenbites.blogspot.in/2013/02/espresso-panna-cottabring-on-love.html#sthash.QzzXlSLG.dpuf

 1/2 cup whole milk
1 1/2 tsp gelatin
1 1/2 cups cream
1/4 cups sugar
vanilla essence- couple of drops

Strawberries- a handful, chopped into eighths
1 packet jelly crystals (mine was raw mango)

Method
Place milk in a saucepan, sprinkle gelatin on it, and let it stand for 5 minutes till the gelatin softens
Heat the milk, stirring softly so the gelatin dissolves, but ensure the milk doesn't come to a boil (should take 2 mins or so
Add the cream, sugar and vanilla essence, and stir till the sugar dissolves. Should take 2-3 minutes
Remove from heat, let it cool a bit.
Drop a few strawberries in the serving classes (this quantity should make about 6), and pour the cream over them.
Cover and refrigerate for about 6 hours, stirring every 20 minutes or so for the first hour.
When the panna cotta is nearly set, make the jelly by following the instructions on the packet. Let it cool, and just when it starts setting, pour it over the panna cotta, and refrigerate till it sets.

Ingredients:

• Whole milk, 1/2 cup 
• Gelatin, unflavored powdered, 1 1/2 tsp 
• Heavy cream, 1 1/2 cups 
• Instant coffee powder, 3 heaping tsp
• Sugar, 1/4 cup 
• Salt, a pinch
• Dark chocolate, for garnishing

- See more at: http://mmskitchenbites.blogspot.in/2013/02/espresso-panna-cottabring-on-love.html#sthash.QzzXlSLG.dpuf

Ingredients:

• Whole milk, 1/2 cup 
• Gelatin, unflavored powdered, 1 1/2 tsp 
• Heavy cream, 1 1/2 cups 
• Instant coffee powder, 3 heaping tsp
• Sugar, 1/4 cup 
• Salt, a pinch
• Dark chocolate, for garnishing

Instructions:

Place the milk in a small heavy saucepan. Sprinkle the gelatin over the milk and let it stand for 5 minutes so that the gelatin softens. 

Now, on medium heat, stir just until the gelatin dissolves for about two minutes, but  ensure that the milk does not come to a boil.

Add the cream, espresso powder, sugar, and salt. Still on low heat, stir ,till the sugar dissolves, about three more minutes.

Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. 

Pour the cream mixture into 2 Martini glasses, dividing equally. 

Cover and refrigerate, stirring every 20 minutes during the first hour. 
Chill until set, minimum 6 hours and up to 2 days.

When ready to serve, use a vegetable peeler or grater on the chocolate block some shavings. Sprinkle the shavings over each panna cotta and serve. - See more at: http://mmskitchenbites.blogspot.in/2013/02/espresso-panna-cottabring-on-love.html#sthash.QzzXlSLG.dpuf

Cucumber cake

Cucumber cake? If we can have a zucchini cake, why not a cucumber cake?
Cucumber cake, a traditional recipe from Maharashtra. Now, that really got my attention, and since the recipe had so many of my favourite ingredients, I just had to try it out. There were very many recipes on the internet, but I based mine on SNT's recipe, though I halved the quantities.
The result was, well, different. We alternately loved it and merely liked it, but it was something new! And new is sometimes welcome.

Ingredients :-
3 Cups Grated Cucumber( do not drain its water, that lends more taste, will help moisten the cake and prevent it from becoming dry)
2 Cups of Rawa/Suji
2 Cups of Jaggery ( now depending on the sweetness of the jaggery , do reduce or increase the amount)
2 Cups Freshly Grated Coconut
1 Tsp Cardamom Powder
Handful of Broken Cashewnuts
½ a Cup of Raisins ( I didn’t add them)
Pinch of Salt
2 1/2 Tbsp of Ghee
1 Tsp of Baking Powder
½ Tsp of Baking Soda
 
Method:-
Grease your pan with ghee and keep aside.
Mix the cucumber, rawa, jaggery and coconut with your hands till the jaggery has melted well into the mixture. 
Then add ghee, cardamom powder, salt, cashewnuts, raisins. Keep aside for the rawa to absorb the liquids for about 10/15 mins. 
Add the baking powder and baking soda and mix lightly but well. 
Pour into the greased tin, and steam for 15 minutes. Let it cool a while before demoulding it. 
 Serve when totally cooled without any garnishings or sauces

Date walnut cake

I always thought eggless cakes were an oxymoron, then I started making a few of my own, and reluctantly agreed that they could be done. But as I surf the internet, I find so very many varieties of eggless cakes, I am absolutely floored.
This recipe came because I wasn't able to access my own tried and tested recipe for an eggless cake, so took the help of google to find something to accompany our Sunday tea. Came out better than I expected, and am definitely making it again.

1 ½ cups whole wheat flour/atta
½ cup all purpose flour/maida
½ cup vegetable oil
¾ cup sugar
1 cup milk
¾ cup water
1 cup seedless dates
½ cup walnuts
2 tbsp flax seeds
2 tbsp melon seeds
2 tsp instant coffee powder
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt


Method
Chop the dates and walnuts and keep aside.
Heat the milk and switch off the flame, add the coffee powder and stir. Add the dates,and allow it to soak for 20 minutes
Seive the whole wheat flours and all purpose flour with salt, baking soda and baking powder.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C/392 F.
Add sugar, soaked dates with milk, oil and water to the sieved flour, and mix well, till well aerated.
Add the chopped walnuts, flax seeds and melon seeds to the batter and mix well.
Pour the batter into the cupcake liners.
Bake for 20-25 minutes till a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Alternately, pour the batter into ceramic/ glass cups, and cook for 60 seconds on the microwave