Gaajar ka Halwa ~ Carrot Halwa

There are certain sweets that you can associate with some particular season. Carrot Halwa or Gaajar ka Halwa is one such Indian sweet that I associate with Winters. I remember how my mom used to painstakingly shred kilos of carrot to prepare this dish. It must have been a tedious job for her to keep up with the demands of 4 kids. Every time it was prepared in our house, it was a special treat. It is amazing how a dish can bring so many fond memories.

In India, red carrots are preferred for making this dish. Since, we don't get it here, I have used the regular carrots. Red carrots do add a special note to this dish but regular works just fine. Lets see how I make it.

Ingredients:

2 cups shredded carrots.
1 tbsp ghee
1 cup milk.
¼ cup sugar or less.
A few strands of saffron.
2 cardamom pods crushed.
Almond flakes and chopped pistachios to garnish.

Process:

1. Heat a pan and add ghee. Add the shredded carrot and give it a good stir. In a tbsp of milk soak a few saffron strands.
2. After 2-3 minutes add the milk and heat the mixture on medium high heat for 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally.
3. The milk will reduce and thicken. Add the sugar and mix it properly. Heat for another 5 minutes. 
4. Add crushed cardamom pods,saffron milk  Keep heating and stirring till the mixture gets the required consistency.
5. It may take another 5-10 minutes.Remove from heat when done. Transfer in a serving bowl. Garnish it with chopped almonds and pistachios. Serve hot.

Note:
1. Always use freshly grated carrot for this dish otherwise the color of carrots will turn brown.
2. You can add a little condensed milk if you have it at hand.

Thank you for stopping by! Have a great weekend. Cheers!

Bhapa Doi ~ Misti Doi ~Sweet Steam Yogurt ~ Bengali delicacy

 

This space has been silent for a few days. Even though I have a number of recipes in my drafts to be shared, I could not bring myself to compose a post. Plain lazy, I have been. Today's recipe comes from Miss Masala- a Cookbook by Mallika Basu. I had reviewed it a few days back after trying a couple of recipes from it.

Bhapa Doi/Misti Doi is a popular Bengali delicacy. It is basically steam sweet yogurt and it often called the Indian cheese cake because of its texture. The traditional recipe can be quite time consuming at it involves thickening the milk by slowly cooking it, setting the yoghurt and then steaming it. Mallika however provides us with a quicker recipe. You will be amazed by the simplicity of the recipe.

Serves 4-6

2 green cardamom pounded
10-12 strands of saffron
1 tbsp whole milk
250 g low fat yogurt
200 ml sweetened condensed milk


Process:
1. Preheat the oven at 190 C
2. Soak the saffron in the milk. Powder the cardamom finely.
3. Beat the yogurt and condensed milk together until smooth and add the powdered cardamom.
4. Fill this mixture into ramekins or a baking dish. Place them in a large baking tray. Fill the tray with enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins or dish. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
5. Spoon the saffron mixture over  it and bake it for another 5 minutes. If you are using a large baking dish, it may take longer. The yogurt mixture should appear set. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate. Serve chilled. Once it is chilled, it sets a little more.

Note: I had over baked it by 10 minutes then what is stated above and the result was nice and firm set yogurt. If you want it less firm, change the baking time accordingly. None the less it will taste good.

I am leaving you with links of this delicacy posted on other food blogs:

Bhapa Doi @ Bong Moms Cookbook

Misti Doi @ Cook Like A Bong

Bhapa Doi @ Indian Food Rocks

Misti Doi @ VeggiBelly

I will be up with a quick kulfi recipe I had tried from Mallika Basu's Book - Quick Indian Cooking, next. Stay tuned. Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

Dulce de Leche Malai Kulfi

If you do not know what 'dulce de leche' is, then the title of this post may sound a bit intimidating. But, let me assure you this is one of the easiest recipes and quick recipes and once you try this one, I am sure you will make it again. I must add a word of caution here, it can get really addictive.


Dulce de leche is just 'cooked' condensed milk. I had made it for these Banoffee pots and I used the leftover dulce de leche for making these kulfis. I am a big kulfi fan and can have them at any time and of course, weather doesn't count. I can be wearing sweaters and be tucked under a blanket and still can gobble down a whole lot of them. You can find the other kulfi recipes I have posted, here.


Refer to this post to see how I made dulce de leche. If you are apprehensive about trying it that way then read this post by aquadaze where she has described a number of ways to make it, including one in microwave. Sure, that would be a time saver and will come in handy. But, I have discovered something better. On searching a bit more about in google I found that Nestle Caramel is nothing but dulce de leche. I had searched for it in the grocery store and had taken for granted that it would be selling under its original name. So, the next time I have a serious urge to make these kulfis, a trip to the super market will help me a lot. Stocking them up at home can be dangerous!

Click here for the printable version
Ingredients:


180ml dulce de leche
120 ml double cream or fresh cream
120 ml milk, I used low fat.


Yields 6-8 kulfis depending on the size of the molds.


Process:


1. Add all the ingredients in a mixer jar and whiz for a few seconds.
2. Pour into kulfi molds and freeze over night.
3. Allow the molds to remain outside the refrigerator for 5 minutes and then un mold it or run hot water over the kulfi molds to un mold it even quickly. Enjoy!

To sum up in a word, they were just 'AWESOME'. I already have my favorite recipe of the year! Do try it out!

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

Creamy Rabri/Basundi ~ For Blog Hop Wednesdays ~ From Enveetu KItchen!

For the 3rd edition of Blog Hop Wednesday I am assigned Priya's Blog- Enveetu Kitchen. She has an amazing collection of recipes. I just love her bakes. Despite that I have chosen her recipe of Basundi for today's post. I am sure some baking posts will follow soon.

To know more about it and participate check this. This event is the brain child of Radhika.

She had very lovingly prepared it for her grand mother's anniversary. Basundi is very much like Malai Rabri which I grew up eating. My mom's recipes is almost the same except she does not add saffron. Here, I have followed Priya's recipe to the T and loved it immensely.

I had prepared this long time back, before coming to my India visit and today on seeing these pictures I am tempted to make them again soon. I have used half of the measures as given in the original recipe.

Ingredients:

1 Litres Full Fat Milk

1/4 +2tbsp Sugar

2 tbsp Almond Meal

2 tbsp Chopped Almonds

2 tbsp Chopped Pista

3 cardamom pod seeds crushed

a generous of Saffron, rubbed in 2 tbsp of milk

Method

1. In a Heavy-bottom non stick pan, boil Milk. keep the flame on medium and boil till  it reduces to 3/4 of the volume. 

2. Stir the Milk and Scrape the Pan-Side and return it to the boiling milk. When the Milk reduces to 3/4 of its quantity, add saffron Soaked Milk to this and Sugar. 

3. Keep Stirring often and scrape the sides and stir the malai in to the milk.

4. When Milk reduces to half its quantity, add the almond meal and Chopped nuts and Stir Well. Switch off the Stove and let it cool. When cool refrigerate it. Serve chillled

I enjoyed it very much. See what other bloggers are up with for Blog Hop Wednesday!

Thank you for stopping by. Cheers!

Creamy Mango & Saffron Yoghurt ~ Aamarakhand~ Mango Shrikhand

Shrikhand is a yoghurt based Indian dessert. It is creamy and flavourful and popular throughout India. Served chilled, it is definately a means to beat the heat. While traditionally, it requires some patience to make it as it is made from creamy strained yoghurt. Using Greek style yoghurt considerably reduces the time. Mango being in season, I decided to go for the mango flavoured one, Amarakhand ( Aam being Mango in Hindi). I have infused saffron in it for a enlivened flavour.

Saffron is the world most expensive spice by weight. It imparts a distinct taste and colour to dishes. To derive the full flavour and colour of this spice, take a generous pinch of it in a small pestle and mortat and add a few drops of milk or water and rub it and use the resultant. See the picture below for an illustration.

Be careful while handling it as it can give stains to cloths.

Coming back to today's recipe, that is, Creamy Mango & Saffron Yoghurt ~ Aamarakhand~ Mango Shrikhand, you will need:

Ingredients:

250ml Greek style yoghurt.
1 large mango.
1 tbsp sugar (adjust according to the sweetness of the mango)
A generous pinch of saffron rubbed with a few drops of milk.
Sliced pistachios to garnish.

Serves 4

Process:

1. Peel the mango and scrape all the flesh of it. Puree it in a blender. Seive to separate any fibre from the puree.

2. In a large bowl, add the greek yoghurt and add the mango puree. Mix till well blended. Add sugar as required. I needed only a tbsp. Add in the rubbed saffron. Mix well.

3. Scoop them in 4 serving bowl and garnish with sliced pistachios. Keep it in the fridge to chill.

4. Serve chilled.

Notes:

1. Rubbing the saffron with a few drops of milk really brings out the colour and flavour.

2. If you want it creamier, add 60 ml of whipped double cream while mixing the yoghurt and puree.

3. Instead of Greek yoghurt, you can use hung yoghurt. Hang twice the amount, i.e. 2 cups of yoghurt in a muslin cloth over a bowl for 4-5 hours in fridge to get 1 cup of thick yoghurt.

4. If you do not like fruit flavoured yoghurt, try adding only cardamom, saffron, nutmeg and a combination of these. You can even try other fruits like peach, berries, apple etc.

Linking it to Sameena's Mango Recipes Event and Kalyani's Indian Mithai Mela.

Thanks for stopping by!! Cheers!