Easy and Quick Kalakand Recipe | How to Make Kalakand in Microwave | Indian Sweets

Quick and Easy Microwave Kalakand #Recipe

Kalakand is an Indian soft milk fudge sweet dish. It is very popular in India. In this post, I am sharing an easy and quick microwave version of this much loved Indian dessert - Kalakand.

It is again the time of year when we celebrate 'Rakhi' or 'Raksha Bandhan'. It is the Indian festival to celebrate the bond between brothers and sisters. I had written about it last year when I had shared these decadent chocolate truffles.

This year I decided to go for Indian sweets for this special occasion. So, in this post, I will present you with 5 recipes to choose from for your dear brother. Of course, the first one is this rich milk based sweet - Kalakand. It is prepared by condensing milk which requires great patience as it needs constant stirring and slow prolonged cooking. Such tedious process is often a deterrent to making this sweet at home. But when I saw this microwave version on Suma's blog, I tried it instantly and since have made it many times. It is so quick and easy that you will not think twice to try it.

This recipe needs just 2 main ingredients: freshly made paneer or cottage cheese and condensed milk. Suma had used ricotta cheese but homemade paneer works like a charm too. I have tried it with both cheese and didn't  find any difference.

Recipe Source: Veggie Platter

For homemade paneer: (yields 1 cup of fresh paneer)

1.25-litre whole milk

3-4 tbsp lemon juice

Process:

1. Bring the milk to boil. When it boiling add the lemon juice. The milk will curdle instantly. Take it off the gas immediately. 

2. Separate the whey from the cheese using a strainer. Squeeze out excess water of the cheese. No need to squeeze out every drop of whey, what we need is just a soft cheese. This should yield about a cup of paneer.

Microwave Kalakand Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh paneer

1 condensed milk tin (400 gm). It measures around 1 cup in volume.

4 cardamom pods pounded

Chopped pistachios for garnish

Process:

1. In a large microwave-safe bowl mix the fresh paneer and condensed milk such that the mixture is uniform.

2. Microwave it for 10-12 minutes stirring every 1 minute. By the end of this process, all the liquid will have evaporated. If it is not so at the end of 12 minutes, continue it for a couple of more minutes.

3. Line a tin with parchment paper and spread the mixture evenly. Sprinkle the cardamom powder over it and garnish it with chopped pistachios. 

4. Let it cool down to room temperature and then slice it in the desired shape. At this point, the kalakand slices may not hold its shape. It is always a good idea to refrigerate it overnight or a couple of hours to get firm slices. Enjoy a slice cold.

Wondering what else you could make, why not try any of these:

Kheer - Indian Rice Pudding

Basundi/Rabri

Bread Ras Malai

Malai Kulfi

Let me know what special you are making for Rakhi.

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

Chickpea Salad with Yogurt Mint Dressing ~ Healthy Food

There are days when I am in no mood for an elaborate meal. That happens mostly when I have to prepare something solely for myself. Cooking for self has never motivated me to go for elaborate cooking. In such cases I try to go healthy and make some healthy filling salad or a one pot meal like khichdi or sometimes a large glass of smoothie. This chickpea salad is one I make quite regularly because it is healthy as well as filling. And if I am in a mood to indulge a little, I can go for a decadent brownie for dessert (an ardent brownie fan I am!).

I used to make a simple Chickpea Salad often but I got the idea of pairing it with a minty yogurt dressing from Rachel Allen recipe I spotted in this book.

This is how I make it:

Salad:

1 cup boiled Chickpeas
1 tomato chopped finely
2-3 tbsp chopped red onion
2-3 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Dressing:

1/2 cup low fat yogurt
1 tsp crushed dried mint
1 tsp sugar/honey
1 tbsp lemon juice
Salt to taste

Process:

1. Mix the salad ingredients together and toss them well. Keep it in fridge until needed.
2. Whisk all the dressing ingredients and keep it in fridge until needed.
3. Before serving pour the dressing over the salad and serve. Enjoy!

Linking it to Show Me Your HITS~Lentils N Legumes and Lets make Salads.

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

Saturday Snapshot ~ Munnar in God's Own Country!

This week for Saturday Snapshot I am sharing some pictures from Munnar, India. We went for a holiday there a couple of years back and I still have sweet memories of a relaxing holiday there.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books. It’s easy to participate – just post a picture that was taken by you, a friend, or a family member and add your link on Alyce’s site.

Set at an altitude of 6000 ft in Idukki district,Kerala, Munnar was the favored summer resort of the erstwhile British rulers in the colonial days. Munnar is essentially a tea town with unending expanse of tea plantations. As far as you can see, you see a green carpet of tea plantation. It is breathtakingly beautiful, an the idyllic tourist destination in God's own country. It is a haven of peace and tranquility and is the place to be, if you are looking for a relaxing holiday! 

I will leave you here with some beautiful pictures.

Blueberry Lassi | Blueberry Smoothie ~ To Beat The Heat

I find Irish weather very unpredictable. During this summer some days have been rain washed, some over cast and gloomy and a couple of times we are blessed with bright sunny weather. Such unpredictable weather poses more than one problem. For one thing one can't decide how to dress up. Each day is different, so simply cannot do away with the woolen clothes or shove the quilts and pull overs in the overhead drawers. You buy a big tub of ice cream and from then onwards, the weather gets cold and you feel like having Onion Bhajjis with a cup of masala chai.

Today is one of those few bright and sunny days and I was craving for a cold flavorful drink. On going through my fridge I found a bottle of 'Home Made Blueberry Syrup' which I usually use for making Blueberry Lemonade. But lemonade was not what I wanted to have and I whipped up this Lassi or Smoothie as it is called in this part of the world.

 Ingredients:

1/2 cup low fat yogurt
1/4 cup water
3-4 tbsp Homemade Blueberry Syrup (follow link for recipe)
Ice cubes
6-7 fresh blueberries, optional

Process:
1. In a mixer jar add yogurt, water, ice cubes and blueberry syrup and give it a quick whiz.
2. Pour into a tall glass and top with fresh blueberries. Serve immediately.

Linking it to my event - Cool Summer Sips.
Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahari

It has been a while since I read this book, but somehow I was not able to bring myself to write about it.  Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri is a collection of 9 short stories each distictly different from each other yet they collective serve as a mirror that shows various shades of our society. These stories are about Indian people in India or about Indians who have immigrated to United States. Some stories deal with personal lives of people, a few touches some social and poltical issues while others dwells on how Indian immigrants adjusts to the life in a foreign land.

Very often short stories fail to hold my attention for long, or they don't intrigue as much as I would like them to, but that is not the case with this book. Each and every story kept me absorbed, some made me sad, some made me wonder but each touched me in profound way. The book started with the story - A Temporary Matter, a poignant tale of a failing and disintegrating realtionship. Taking advantage of a temporary electrical outage, the couple shared their most intimate secrets in the shelter of darkness. As their story unfolded you couldn't help but empathize with the characters and shed a tear or two at their predicament.

The next story, 'When Mr Pirzada came to dine' brought to the horrors and aftermaths of war through the perspective of a young girl. The title story of the novel, Interpretar of Maladies dwells upon the power of interpretation. Lahiri has the ability to spin a yarn out of the seemingly most ordinary things. One can't help but marvel at her deep observation. Real Durwan, Sexy, Mrs Sen, Treatment of Bibi Haldar, The Blessed House each have a different story to tell. Each of them is thoughtful and intense in their own way. It was make you sit back and ponder of it. They are mostly sad, yet they have a charisma of their own.

The book ends with a relatively positive story, The Third and The Final Continent, where the protagonist takes the changes in good strides and slowly adapts with the life in America. These short stories are not so much about the plot, but about the characters, their lifes, aspirations and dreams.

I will end this post with a quote that I find very profound, it reflects the author's ability to make ordinary things seem extra ordinary

"Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination."