Kaju Peda

Anaya was craving for Pedas one day. With very limited choice of ingredients the challenge was to soothe her sweet tooth. I checked my pantry and the idea of making Cashew Nut Pedas struck me.

Google is god as always. A little bit of research and the ingredients were lined up.

The end result was simply delicious.

Ingredients –

1 cup cashew nuts soaked for 3 hours,

1/2 cup sugar,

1/2 cup milk,

1/4th tsp cardamom powder,

3 tsp clarified butter / ghee

Method –

Grind together soaked cashew nuts and sugar to a smooth paste.

Heat a heavy bottom pan, melt the ghee and put the ground cashew paste and stir well.

Add milk and keep stirring till you get a lumpy mass that does not stuck to the pan. This takes approximately 7 minutes.

Mix in the cardamom powder and switch off the gas.

Allow it to cool down a bit and shape them into pedas.

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Eggless Chocolate Brownie

Ingredients –

1 cup All Purpose Flour/Maida,

½ cup coco powder,

3/4^th cup powdered sugar,

5 tbsp ghee (homemade clarified butter) (you can substitute ghee with 5 tbsp cooking oil),

1 cup buttermilk (you can substitute buttermilk with 1 cup water + 2 tsp yogurt and 1 tsp lime juice),

1 tsp coffee powder dissolved in 2 tsp warm water,

1 tsp Baking soda,

A pinch of salt,

A few chocolate chips (I used small chunks of dark chocolate),

A handful of dry fruits (I used cashew and almonds)

Method –

Take all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix gently till all the ingredients are mixed well.

Grease and dust a baking tray, pour this mixture in the tray and bake in a preheated oven at 175 degree centigrade for approx. 20 minutes.

Cut into pieces when cooled completely.

Beetroot Halwa

 

I had 8 big beetroots lying in the fridge for quite sometime and I wanted to finish them off before they became soft. There was also some leftover sugar syrup of Gulab Jamuns in the fridge which I wanted to put it to use. Last time we used it for Pineapple Jam and this time it made its way to Beetroot Halwa. Milo quite often makes yummy Gajar Ka Halwa (Carrot Halwa) when carrots are in season and we all devour it. On the same lines I made this Beetroot Halwa for the first time and we all liked. So here is the recipe…

Ingredients –

4 big beetroots peeled and grated,

3 cups milk,

Sugar as per your taste (I used 1.5 cups sugar syrup),

A handful of cashew nuts,

1 tbsp ghee,

1/4^th tsp cardamom powder

Method –

In a heavy bottom pan, heat ghee and fry cashew nuts till light golden brown.

Add in the grated beetroot and keep stirring for approx 6 to 7 minutes till the raw smell of beetroot goes off.

Now add sugar, milk and cardamom powder and stir well. Keep stirring in between and let the milk evaporate. This will take approx 8 to 10 minutes.

Beetroot halwa is ready to be served.

Carrot Kheer

 

We had some guests for lunch on last weekend and I made this Carrot Kheer for the dessert. I had read it on some of the blogs and decided to give it a try. It tasted good and was a good change. Do add a lot of dry fruits and don’t forget cardamom powder and saffron strands. Serve chilled.

Ingredients –

5 medium sized carrots peeled and cut into small cubes,

½ liter + 1 cup milk,

3/4^th cup sugar,

1 tbsp ghee,

A handful of dry fruits,

2 pinches of saffron,

1/4^th tsp cardamom powder

Method –

Take carrot pieces and 1 cup milk, put it in a cooker vessel and pressure cook for 2 whistles.

Let it cool and grind to a smooth puree along with the milk.

Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed saucepan.

Fry the dry fruits till light brown and put the carrot pulp. Fry the pulp for approx 4 to 5 minutes.

Add half liter milk, sugar, cardamom powder and saffron.

Let it boil. It thicken slightly on boiling.

Keep in the fridge for a minimum 3 to 4 hours. It tastes better when served chilled.

Eggless Chocolate Custard

I had this recipe book marked for a very long time from Divine Taste and had planned to make it for Valentines Day. We had invited one of our friends for a small dinner party on Sunday. Milo said this was the right time to make this custard. I gave it a try and it was liked by all. For more creamy custard, use high fat milk. I had skimmed milk at hand so I tried it with that. It turned out yummy. It had a soft creamy texture and was absolutely luscious. Does not involve much cooking time and the best part about it is it has no eggs. Do try it out and let me know your comments……

Ingredients-

200 ml fresh cream (I used Amul fresh cream),

300 ml milk,

1 cup warm milk,

½ cup coco powder,

½ cup corn flour,

Sugar (I used 1 cup approx. You may vary it as per your taste)

Method-

Mix the cream and 300 ml milk well and keep it on a low flame.

Blend well the coco powder, corn flour, sugar and milk. Keep mixing this with a spoon for around 5 to 10 minutes.

When the milk cream mixture comes to a boil, pour in the coco corn flour mixture and keep stirring.

Let the mixture cook well, Do not stop stirring else the custard will get burnt.

When the mixture comes to a boil, switch off the gas and pour the hot custard in glass bowls.

Let it cool for some time. Place the bowls in the refrigerator for a minimum of 3 to 4 hours.

Drizzle with chocolate syrup and serve cold.

Christmas and New Year 2012 Celebrations

Best Seasons greetings to you all…. Wishing each one of you the BEST in 2012!!!!

  

We baked 2 types of cakes (Dates Cake and Chocolate Cake) on the occasion of Christmas for family and friends. See the above pic.

I also tried my hands at Zebra Cake for the New Years celebration. The recipe and the pic will follow soon….

And last but not the least I made this awesome Corn Radbi on the eve of New Year. This recipe was given to me by my colleague and friend Jaykumari (affectionately called as Jayku). It’s a very quick and easy dessert and tastes yummyyy when served chilled….. She got the third place for this at the Cooking Competition that took place at our office. Here is the recipe…

Ingredients-

1 big sweet corn,

500 ml skimmed milk,

½ cup sugar,

2 tsp ghee,

A pinch of cardamom powder,

2 pinches of saffron,

Broken pieces of cashew nuts

Method-

Grate the corn on a grater and collect the pulp.

Heat ghee in a deep bottomed pan and fry cashew nuts till golden brown.

Add corn pulp to it and keep stirring. Fry the corn pulp till the raw smell goes off. This will take approximately 6 to 7 minutes.

Mix in the sugar and add hot milk, cardamom powder and saffron.

Let the rabid cook well. It will thicken as it cooks. Once it is done switch off the gas and allow it to cool to room temperature. Keep it in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours and serve chilled.

Phirni

This is Milo’s version of phirni with rice and chana dal. He made it on the occasion of Janamastami. It tasted yummy. I have asked him to make it again for Anaya’s first birthday.

 Ingredients- 

1 cup basmati rice washed and drained,

½ cup soaked chana dal,

2 cups coconut milk,

4 cups whole milk,

A handful of dry fruits,

1/4^th tsp cardamom powder,

1/8^th tsp of nutmeg powder,

1.5 cups sugar,

2 tsp ghee

 

Method –

 

Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed pan and lightly fry rice till ghee coats the grain well.

Add chana dal to the rice and fry for another 2 to 3 minutes.

Add 2 cups milk and keep stirring till the rice grain puffs up.

Keep adding the remaining milk little at a time till all the milk is over.

Now add the coconut milk and dry fruits and let it boil for 5 minutes.

Mix in the sugar, cardamom and nutmeg powder. Keep stirring till the sugar dissolves.

Serve hot or chilled.

 

Besan Laddu

Besan laddus are my MIL’s speciality. She makes the best laddus I have every eaten. She makes the besan at home by dry roasting chana dal and grinding it to a powder once cooled. The powder should not be as fine as the store brought besan – a little course (close to fine powder). Making these laddus need a lot of patience and strength to fry the besan. You need to keep stiring and breaking the lumps to avoid burning the besan. So if you are making it for the first time then start with a very little amount of besan.

 Ingredients-

4 cups besan (chick pea flour) (preferably home made),

1 cup ghee,

1.5 cup sugar,

 ¼ cup dink (coarsely powered),

 1 tsp cardamom powder,

¼ cup cashew,

A few raisins,

Method –

Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed pan and fry cashews and keep aside.

Now fry raisins and keep aside. In the same ghee fry the dink till it gets puffed up. Remove excess ghee from the dink and crush it to a fine powder. You can do this with your fingers also.

In the remaining ghee, fry besan for approx 20 minutes to half and hour.  (Till a lumpy mixture is formed and the color of the besan should change to light brown)

Allow the besan to cool completely.

Once cooled, add sugar, cardamom powder, dink, dry fruits and knead thoroughly. Make small balls and decorate with a piece of cashew.

 

Cake Custard

This is a dessert innovated by Milo. We usually make this when guests are expected. It’s very simple to make, does not take much time, does not call for many ingredients but the outcome is too good….

Here’s the recipe …

Ingredients-

1 ltr tonned milk.

3 to 4 tbsp custard powder (Here we have used Strawberry flavour)

9 inch sponge cake (Strawberry flavour)

For Garnish – Apple pieces, dry fruits.

Method-

Slice the sponge cake horizontally to make 3 slices. You can make more slices if your cake height is more. Take care not to break them.

Prepare custard as per packet instruction.

Take a big bowl and keep one slice of cake in it and pour the custard to cover the slice. (Do not let the custard to becoem very cold, it should not become firm, should be of pourable consistency).

Sprinkle some dryfruits.

Keep another cake slice on top of the previous layer and pour custard. Sprinkle some dryfruits.

Repeat the steps for all the cake slices. Once this is done, set it in the fridge for 4 to 5 hrs.

Serve it with apple pieces and a slice of Icecream of your choice.

Happy eating!!!