Rasmalai

A divine dessert made up of with divine milk.  The cheese balls are soaked in creamy milk that is boiled with loads of pistachios and almonds and with a hint of saffron which is called as rabdi.

Unlike the rasgullas which will be round in shape and soaked in sugar syrup, these rasmalai will be flat in shape and soaked in rich creamy milk.

The preparation is divided into parts.

First part is preparing the flat rasgullas and the second part is preparation of rabdi.

For Rasgullas -

Milk – 2 litres

Vinegar / Lemon juice – up to ½ cup

To make the cheese balls follow the same procedure as we do for rasgullas except making them flat instead of round.

For Rabdi -

Sugar – ¼ cup

Almonds – 10

Pistachios – 20

Saffron  - 1 pinch

To prepare rabdi –

Take 1 litre of milk and boil it until it reduced to 1/2 litre. Add thinly sliced pistachios, almonds and saffron and cook for some more time and remove from the flame.

Squeeze the sugar syrup from the rasgullas and drop them into rabdi.

Chill them before serving. Chillness will enhance the divine taste.

Rasgulla

This delicious sweet has got lots of names in different parts of India. It is called as Rasagola in Oriya or Roshogulla in Bengali and predominantly called as Rasgulla all over the country.

This recipe is originated in Orissa, India where traditionally served in mud pots. Also, Rasgulla has been traditionally offered to the Hindu goddess Lakshmi at the city of Puri in Orissa.

A great science art of transforming the liquid milk into solid succulent dessert.

Ingredients:

Milk - 2 litres
Vinegar - up to 1/2 cup or juice extracted from 3-4 lemons
Sugar - 2 cups
Water - 10 cups
Sooji - 1 tbsp (optional)

Method:

Bring the milk to boil. Add the required amount of vinegar slowly until the milk curdles.

Immediately turn off the heat and drain the curdled milk using a muslin cloth.
When it is still hot try to squeeze out the moisture as much as you can.
To remove the extra moisture, place the muslin cloth along with channa on to a cotton / turkey towel and roll it thoroughly.

Now place the channa  on a clean surface. Add sooji to this and mash it thoroughly to form a nice and smooth dough.

In the mean time, melt the sugar in water and bring it to boil.

Whilst the sugar syrup is boiling, make small balls out of the dough.

Slowly drop the cheese balls into the sugar water and boil them for about 15 - 20 minutes.

The sugar will increase the density of water and hence the cheese balls do not break into pieces. Make sure that the sugar water should not become syrupy whilst boiling for longer period. To avoid this add little bit of water in between.

Note: In order to make Rasgullas the channa should be soft unlike paneer. To get the softest cheese, add few ice cubes as soon as the milk curdles to stop the boiling process with immediate effect. If you do not have the ice cubes handy, dip the muslin cloth with channa in ice cold water.

Kulphi

A healthy and tasty treat for the fussy kids. An ice loaded with lots of nuts. This is a short cut to the lengthy condensing process. I have used condensed milk.

Ingredients:
Milk – 1 litre
Condensed milk - 1 cup
Pistachios - 1 tbsp chopped finely
Almonds - 1 tbsp skinned and chopped finely
Cardamom powder - 1 pinch

Put the milk and chopped nuts into a wide, heavy pan and bring to boil over medium heat by stirring occasionally.
Wait until the cream layers form on top and slowly add condensed milk and saffron strands.

Now lower the heat and cook the milk, stirring constantly for about 5-7 minutes.

Now add a pinch of cardamom powder, stir well and remove from the fire.

Allow it to cool down and pour the mixture into Kulfi moulds.

Freeze until set, about 6 hours.

Enjoy....

Paala poori

I have learned this divine recipe from my mother in law. Pooris are soaked in protein rich coconut milk. The flavour is intensified by adding saffron.

Pooris will melt in the mouth just like that......hmmmm

Ingredients:

Poori – 10 

Milk – 500 ml

Coconut + rice milk – 500 ml

(To prepare this we need 1 whole fresh coconut and 4 tbsp of rice soaked in water for 30 min )

Cashews – 10

Almonds – 10

Cardamom – 1 or 2

Method:

Prepare the poori bit smaller than the usual size so that they can be fit in a serving cup.
To prepare the coconut milk, grind the fresh coconut along with the soaked rice and extract the milk. Filter and remove the pulp.

Coconut and rice milk

Soak cashews, almonds in warm water for about 10-20 minutes and grind them into paste along with cardamom.

Take a sturdy vessel and heat the milk. When the milk gets heated up (not boiled) add the coconut + rice milk and the almond + cashew paste.

Stir every thing and bring it to boil.

Reduce the flame and boil the milk further more until it thickens.

Take the serving bowls. Place 1or 2 poori in a serving bowl.

Now pour the hot milk over it until the pooris gets soaked. Do this 30 minutes before serving, so that the heat gets reduced to room temperature and the pooris get soaked well in the milk, become soft and tastes divine.

Boondhi paayasam / Kheer

I call this as modification.com. I just changed the form of the sweet by adding milk. I had some boondhi laddus at home and the kids doesn't want to eat them. So, decided to do this experiment. Trust me, it came out very well. And guess who ate most of it., my little cheeky one.,

There are no standard measurements for this recipe as we are not preparing it right from the scratch.

Ingredients:

Boondhi laddu - 3-4

Milk - 250 ml to 400 ml depending on your choice of consistency

Almonds - 10 (Soaked and chopped into thin slices)

Method:

Bring the milk to boil.

Mash the laddu with fork and mix it with the milk and boil it again under low flame, until the boondhi absorbs the milk. 

When the mixture reaches the desired consistency, then turn off the heat. Garnish with chopped almonds and serve either warm or chilled.

Home made Paneer / Cottage cheese

This is so simple to prepare at home. It has a fresh quality and a dense, crumbly texture that goes beautifully with strong flavours. We can make n number of recipes using this home made paneer.

Ingredients:

Milk - 2 litre

Vinegar / Lemon juice - 3 tbsp

Method:

Pour the milk into a heavy-bottomed pan that allows plenty of room for boiling.

Set it over high heat and bring the milk to a full foaming boil, stirring often to prevent scorching and sticking. 

Reduce the heat to low, and before the foam subsides, drizzle in the lemon juice or vinegar.

Very gently and slowly move the spoon through the milk in one direction. After 10 or 15 seconds, remove the pan from the heat and continue to gently agitate the milk until large lumps of soft curd form. 

If the cheese has not formed after 1 minute, place the pan over the heat again momentarily until the milk coagulates and leaves the pale yellow-green whey. If necessary, add a little more lemon juice.

Remove the pan from the heat as soon as the cheese forms. Cover it and set it aside for 10 minutes. It you want a very soft cheese, gently pour in 1 or 2 cups of hot water. When the cheese has settled under the surface of the whey, it is ready to drain.

Line a colander with cheesecloth or some clean white cloth that has been dipped in water and wrung dry. Drape the corners and edges of the cloth over the sides of the colander. 

If you want to collect the whey, set the colander over another pan, like I did; otherwise place it in a sink. You can use the whey in making chapathi dough or use it in curries or even in steaming rice for biryani.

Whey that is collected during the process

Remove the large lumps of cheese with a slotted spoon and place them in the colander. Gently pour the smaller pieces and remaining whey into the colander.

Add any fresh herbs now and fold in well.

Gather up the corners of the cloth and twist it around. Hold the bag of cheese under a gentle stream of cold running water for 5 to10 seconds. Gently twist the cloth to squeeze out the excess whey.

Drain the cheese slowly, allowing it to compact under its own weight by hanging the bag to drain. To get the hard paneer, you can place the bag of cheese under a weight until firm (about 20 minutes). 

Unwrap the cheese and keep it in the fridge for 1 hour to solidify more and then cut into cubes.

You can preserve it in the fridge for upto 1 week.

Paneer cubes

Rabri / Rabdi - Milk sweet

Rabri is a traditional Rajasthani sweet, made by boiling whole milk on medium heat for a long time till it becomes dense and changes its colour to creamer.   In the whole process, the dense cream layers are collected and added at the end. Other than sugar, nothing else is added to this. It is chilled and served as a desert. A tongue licking dessert.

Ingredients:

Whole milk - 2 litres

Sugar - as per taste (Roughly about 3/4th cup)

Method:

I have chosen gold top milk as they are rich with cream. More or less, it requires, same effort for 1 litre or 2 litre, so I planned to prepare 2 litres at a time. As we boil the milk for longer period, this sweet will be preserved up to 10 days in the refrigerator. But, I doubt it., as it is difficult to stay away from it.

Take a big vessel to avoid the over flow of the milk whilst boiling. Also, the main thing in this sweet is the cream layers. If is recommended to use  wide bottomed vessel, so that we can collect more cream layers.


Boil the milk in medium high flame for about 2 hours by stirring occasionally. 
Every time, when ever the layer is formed remove it and keep it aside.


Make sure to scratch the edges to avoid burning. Also remember to scratch at the bottom of the vessel. When it has reached the desired consistency, add sugar and the collected cream layers and boil for few more minutes and turn of the heat. It gets thicker when becomes cold.

Whole milk boiled into dense creamy texture

No matter, how the consistency is., the result is a lip smacking desert.

Baasundi

Basundi is very popular milk based Maharashtrian Dessert. This is prepared by boiling the milk on medium low heat till the milk is reduced to half. Once reduced a little sugar, saffron, cardamom and almond slices are added. Usually basundi is served chilled. 

Ingredients:

2 litres Milk

3/4th cup Sugar

Cardamom powder - 1 pinch

Safron - 1 pinch

10 Almonds chopped

 

Bring the milk to a boil in a heavy pan.

Reduce the flame and cook on a slow flame till the volume is reduced to half, for approximately 1 hour, while stirring occasionally.

Add the sugar and cook on a slow flame for approximately 25 minutes or till the milk thickens.

Remember to keep scraping the sides of the vessel when cooking, as that will make the basundi thick and impart a real creamy texture.

Add the cardamom powder and saffron and cook on a slow flame for another 20 minutes.

Serve warm or chilled, garnished with almond slivers

Majjiga chaaru / Butter milk stew

There are numerous ways to prepare Majjiga chaaru. This is pretty much similar to North Indian Khadi. In Khadi, basin / gram flour is used, where as in majjiga chaaru, roasted chickpea flour is used. Very easy to prepare. A nice substitute for Rasam.

Ingredients:
Youghurt - 1 cup
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Roasted chickpea - 2 tbsp
Salt
Oinion - 1 small, chopped into small pieces

For seasoning:
Oil - 2 tsp
Turmeric - 1 pinch
Curry leaves - 1 string
Mustard+Cumin - 1/2 tsp
Red chili - 1 or 2

Method:

Grind the roasted chick pea along with cumin and salt.

Beat the yoghurt to smooth consistency.

Mix the roasted chickpea flour to the beaten yoghurt and mix it thoroughly with out any lumps. Now slowly add 1 cup of water and mix thoroughly.

For seasoning heat a small pan with oil. When it is warm enough add mustard + Cumin, red chili and then curry leaves. Now add chopped onion and turmeric. Fry the onion for less than a minute and immediately add the seasoning to the yoghurt mixture.

Serve it with rice

Note:

Those who like the raw onion taste can add the chopped onion directly to the yoghurt mixture with out frying. Bombay onion is the best for this recipe.

Chapathi / Roti in milk

During the christmas holidays, I was feeling very lazy to prepare the meal in the morning. I was pondering about the ideas to escape from cooking. It just clicked me that I had some chapathis left over from last night meal.

Simplly tear 1 or 2 chapathi / roti into bite size pieces and soak them in warm milk for about 5 to 10 minutes. Just before eating, add some honey and nuts of your choice. Adding honey, dry grapes and nuts will enhance the nutrients. Not only that, they will draw the attention of those fussy eaters as well.

This is a nice substitute for cereals. A healthy breakfast too. Though the ready made cereals are branded as healthy, there are loads of hidden sugars and enormous calories which we ignore them unknowingly.

Coconut Laddos

My kids are great fans of these laddus due to its chewy nature. I have lifted the look and feel of the laddus further more by adding the warm orange colour and placed them in the paper moulds. Outside, you can store them not more than 3 days, but in the refrigerator you can store them for up to 7 days.

Ingredients:
Desiccated Coconut (Fine variety) – 2 cups
Condensed milk – 1 cup
Whole Milk – ½ cup
Food colour (Optional)

Method:

Heat a pan and boil the whole milk. When the milk reaches the boiling point add the desiccated coconut and condensed milk along with the food colour (if using) and keep stirring until the coconut absorbs all the moisture and the mixture becomes thick and consistent to make laddus.

Initially though it looks bit loose and wet, when it gets cold if will become tight. Allow the mixture to cool down. Take 2 tbsp of desiccated coconut in a plate and scoop some amount of laddu mixture in to your palm, roll them in the desiccated coconut and make round balls.

Pista Kalakanda

The combination of nuts and dairy is intriguing, and the touch of silver leaf gives the elegant look for these sweet balls.

Ingredients:
½ cup – Coarsely grounded Pistachios
½ cup – Sugar
½ cup – Milk powder
½ cup – Paneer (Soft Variety)
Green Food colour – ½ pinch
Butter – 1 tbsp

Method:

Melt the butter in a sauce pan under low heat. Add all the above mentioned ingredients except the food colour and pistachios.

Sugar, Milk powder and Ricotta cheese are added to the melted butter

Slowly mix all the ingredients until it becomes like a soft batter and give a good stir by increasing the flame to medium.

Kalakand mixture

Keep stirring oftenly and when it is nearly done add the food colour and chopped Pistachios and continue stirring until all the moisture gets evaporated and the mixture resembles koya. Reduce the flame and stir for 1 or 2 minutes until the mixture leaves the pan and remove from the fire.

Ready to make balls

Allow it to cool completely and take small amounts of the mixture and make round balls and decorate each ball with cashew and with the touch of silver.

No words to eplain the devine taste

Kalakand

Kalakand

This is a rich fatty Indian sweet. To reduce the fatness, I have used Ricotta cheese instead of cottage cheese. It is so simple to prepare and takes just 10 – 15 minutes to make the recipe.

Ingredients:

Ricotta cheese – 1 cup
Sugar – 1 cup
Milk Powder – 1 cup
Butter – 2 tbsp
Pistachio – 2 tbsp

Method:

Drain the ricotta cheese to remove the excess water and keep it aside.

Ricotta Cheese

Chop the pistachio into thin slices and keep it aside
Melt butter in the microwave for 1 min, stirring in between
Add the ricotta cheese, sugar and milk powder to the melted butter

Melted butter,Sugar,Ricotta Cheese, Milk Powder

All the ingredients mixed together

Mix every thing and put it back into the microwave for 10 minutes and make sure to stir every 2 minutes until you get Mava / Kova consistency. Again the time will depend on the microwave power, so adjust accordingly.

Kalakand mixture becomes like this after 8 min

When the mixture gets to the required consistency without any water, remove from the microwave and pour it into the greased plate and sprinkle the chopped pistachio and pat gently.

Allow it to cool completely and cut into desired sizes.

Kalakand with Pistachios