Kesar Pista Malai Kulfi (Saffron pistachio cream kulfi)

Kesar Pista Malai Kulfi (Saffron pistachio cream kulfi) 

When it comes to traditional desserts I do not believe that a healthy version can do justice to the dish. Now I have always used whole milk to make my kulfis yet I was simply not satisfied till I tried this version. This is one of the reasons that I have not shared the recipe on my blog till now.

I have a book called the 'Classic Cooking of Punjab' by the legendary Jiggs Kalra and needless to say it contains quite a few recipes for kulfi but he adds eggs to his kulfi and since my grandmother is allergic to eggs I am not much in favour of using eggs for my kulfi.

So what I ultimately did was use his recipe as a base and after a short chat with my friend Somnath who is a food enthusiast I finally decided to give the kulfis one last shot at making it perfect for my taste buds. I had an idea of how I wanted it to taste which is smooth creamy silky .

The trick is in using the 'malai' aka extra cream

Its actually one of the simplest desserst that one might try

Makes 7 Kulfi when using the moulds :-

1 litre full cream milk
400ml cream (I used Amul cream which has 25% fat)
80gm sugar which you can change as per taste
1 green cardamom pounded well in a mortar an pestle
Half cup whole pistachios (Cup used holds 220ml liquid)
A fat pinch of saffron
1/2 tsp ghee
Ghee to prepare the kulfi moulds

Start by first blanching the pistachios and then chopping them.

Now one needs to make the rabri for the base of the kulfi.

Keep aside 1/4th cup milk and mix 200ml cream , ghee and the rest of the milk in a heavy bottomed pan (preferably aluminium or iron)

Now reduce this on low heat till it reaches half its content and then add the sugar and 100ml cream and add half the amount of chopped pistachios in the milk while you further reduce it. Keep checking every 7 minutes to 10 minutes and stir it well.

Reduce the milk till it reaches 1/3rd of its original content. In this case you are reducing 1.3 litres milk + cream which means you need to reduce it till it reaches 433ml.

This process of reducing the milk took me 1 hour 45 minutes.

Let the rabri base rest for 15 minutes and then add the saffron an mix well and add the remaining 100ml cream and gentle mix everything.

Use a tiny bit of ghee to grease the moulds and then pour in the kulfi to be frozen. Freeze it till its just about frozen (takes me 2 hours to 3 hours but the time require largely depends on your freezer and the amount of things it is storing when you are freezing the kulfi)  and then de-mould and serve garnished with the remaining chopped pistachios.

Important Note

1. The ghee used when reducing the milk prevents the milk from sticking to the bottom of the pan keeping it smooth and silky. This is a valuable tip I have learnt from my aunt.
2. The ghee used to grease the moulds helps you easily demould the kulfi .
3. From my experience with ice-creams freezing it till its just about frozen gives you the most creamy and silky tasting kulfi. Excessive freezing makes it very hard in consistency and prevents you from enjoying the creaminess.  

Coffee Walnut Cake with a Coffee Caramel Glaze

Coffee Walnut Cake with a Coffee Caramel Glaze 

As part of the Kolkata Food Bloggers not only do I get to meet other people who share my passion for the kitchen but I get to make great friends. I met Pritha who blogs from Guilt-Free  a few months ago but we almost connected instantly and would keep chatting over the messenger and our mutual obsession with creating new dishes would lead to these fun trips to the market. Having never had a partner to go out with and share the same passion I cannot express how much joy I feel when I get to flock with a bird of my own feather.

When I had gone to visit my husband for a few months it goes without saying I missed my friend and so the moment I came back we had a lovely potluck lunch .

Anyway coming back to our event Know Your Blogger 2 I had actually picked a certain recipe of Pritha's quite some time back which I wanted to make but then came work and it just kept piling with a deadline which had robbed me of my sleep.

I was quite at a loss when I suddenly remembered the very first time I was fascinated with another recipe of her's.

I wasted no time in recreating what had initially impressed me and it goes without saying the end result was superb.m Lets just say that this is a dream cake for all coffee lovers. All I did was change the amount of sugar a little bit, leave out the oil and make the glaze a bit differently.

So her is Pritha's Coffee Walnut Cake

Serves 5 to 6

125gm butter
150gm castor sugar
128gm all purpose flour sifted with 1 tsp baking powder
2 medium sized eggs
50gm of walnuts crushed to make walnut flour
1 heaped tbsp ground coffee soaked in 6 tbsp hot  boiled milk and strained twice

For the glaze

Half a cup of castor sugar
50gm butter
Half a cup of  freshly brewed extra strong coffee

Start by creaming the butter and sugar till its pale and fluffy. Now add the eggs one by one and whisk well to create a smooth fluffy batter. Add the strained coffee flavoured milk and beat well. Preheat the oven to 180C. Now fold in the ground walnuts and then fold in the sifted flour + baking powder bit by bit . When you mix the flour you must never whisk it else it looses that airy fluffiness.

Pour the batter in a 6 inch to 7 inch baking pan and bake for 30 minutes to 45 minutes. Here I must expressly mention that the temperature of ovens vary greatly. My friend Pritha and I both use Convection oven and while she required 25 minutes to 30 minutes of baking time , I checked at 30 minutes and the batter was wet in the center and I required 44 minutes in total.

Now let the cake cool completely and in the meantime make the glaze by first caramelizing the sugar on medium heat and then adding the butter and then the coffee and once it bubbles let it cool down. Once the cake has cooled down completely pour the glaze on top and enjoy this delightful treat with what else but a cup of coffee.

Please note that you must wait till the cake cools down completely to glaze it else it will become soggy.

This is part of

Cheesecake Ice-cream with Confiture de Lait

Cheesecake Ice-cream with Confiture de Lait 

I love Cheesecake made with Cream Cheese. Its creamy and delicious but then again till now all the Cheesecake that I have made were baked and contained eggs. I was in a real fix when I came over to Bombay for a few months since I neither have an oven in this temporary house nor does my other half eat eggs and once one has had the baked cheesecake the unbaked ones seem incomplete . I was reluctantly thinking of making eggless bakeless cheesecake when the idea of a Cheesecake Icecream came to my mind.

Truth be told a lot of people indirectly contributed to this dessert. Some months back Nazneem, a lovely lady had posted about Dulce De Leche on a food group and it immediately caught my attention. This was back in September and then there was one festival after the other which meant that I was busy making traditional Indian desserts such as the Bengali Cootage Cheese Jalebi, Bengali Gulab Jamun called Pantua, Kalakand, Malai Chomchom etc , the recipe for all which you would find in this blog's Dessert section.

Confiture de Lait 

Anyway coming back to the recipe I made my own Confiture de Lait aka Dulce De leche which in simple English is called Milk Jam. Its a creamy reduced caramelized milk.

Many people take a can of condensed milk and steams it till its caramelized but I for one like getting to the bottom of a recipe and more importantly I am not too fond of shelved packaged fresh food and when you make your own Milk Jam you can add a bit of Vanilla which gives it an amazing flavour .

I was in love with Confiture de Lait but the surprise was when my Cheesecake Ice-cream which turned out smooth creamy and amazingly rich and all this was made using a non-electric hand held whisk. This frozen delight had no ice-crystals at all.

This is a 2 day procedure and completely worth it.

So here is the recipe

Makes 3 to 4 serving

For the Confiture de Lait

1 litre whole milk
500gm sugar
1 tsp vanilla beans
1 tsp butter

For the Cheesecake Ice-cream

226gm aka 1 packet of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
200ml of cream
1 tbsp vinegar
2/3rd cup sugar
1/2 cup water Few drops of lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla beans

On the first day simply mix the vinegar with the cream and let the sour cream form for 24 hours at room temperature.

The Sour Cream after 24 hours of fermentation 

Now start with the Confiture De Lait. Remember that you would probably have a lot more confiture de lait topping than required but its delicious and makes for a lip-smacking spread on buttered toast or as a dip for apples etc.

The Final Confiture de Lait 

Take a heavy bottomed deep pan and add the milk, sugar , butter and vanilla and put it on the lowest flame possible and keep stirring every  7 minutes for the next 45 minutes. Make sure you use a broad spatula to scrape the bottom of the pan so that it doesn't stick to the bottom. Once the colour turns beige which takes about 1.5 hours from the start you must keep stirring it continuously to avoid burning the Confiture de Lait. Once done if the result looks grainy don'y worry about it. Just wait for it to cool down and blend it well and you have smooth creamy caramelized milk jam aka Confiture de Lait. Once cool put it in the refrigerator.

The next day bring the Cream cheese to room temperature . Just keep it at room temperature for an hour or so. I live in India and it takes very little time to soften the cream cheese but in case you stay in a cold country it might take you a bit of time. Instructions are provided in the pack on how to soften cream cheese. By now your sour cream would have thickened and ready to be used.

Make the sugar syrup by combining the 2/3rd cup sugar and water and add the lemon juice to prevent crystallization and then simply let it cool down.

Whisk the cream cheese, sour cream , vanilla beans with the sugar syrup. Add the syrup bit by bit and keep tasting so that you get the perfect amount of sweetness for your taste buds . Chill it for 2 hours in the refrigerator and then whisk it again and transfer to an air-tight container and freeze for 4 hours and serve delicious creamy smooth Cheesecake Ice-cream and top it with the Confiture de lait.

Important tips :-

1. The butter added to the Confiture de Lait keeps the milk as smooth as possible 
2. In my experience sugar syrup leads to a smoother consistency 
3. The lemon juice added to the sugar syrup when making it prevents crystallization 
4. Bring the Confiture de Lait to room temperature before serving. You should let it come to room temperature, 1 hour before serving. 

Piyau Bare

Piayau Bare 

There is a saying in Bengali, 'Chena manush ke notun kore chena' (Getting to know something we already know afresh from a different perspective) This is exactly what had happened with me while I was engrossed in Adil .I. Ahmed's wonderful book, 'Tehzeeb - Culinary Traditions of Awadh' The book is not only a treasure of this aristocrat's family recipes but it explores a by-gone way of living.

I have always known that Bengal's cuisine is greatly influenced by many culture's cuisines, Awadh being a great influence. Its not as if Benga's cuisine is exactly like Awadh's but the influences are seen quite distinctly. Take the example of Egg Halwa, an egg based halwa dish which is very popular in present day Bangladesh which was a part of undivided Bengal and it finds its roots nestled in Awadhi cuisine.

When I came across the recipe for Piyau Bare  in the book I immediately felt that I know it and it immediately hit me that we have a variation of the same recipe in Bengal which goes by the name, 'Rosh bora' meaning juicy syrupy fritters. Piyau bare is more majestic with the use of saffron and Vetivier water aka Kewra  water and is served with cream which is completely left out in Bengal.

To be fair after making this extremely easy yet delectable sweet dish I actually find the creamy version even better than the one I have grown up with and it being Diwali its the Festival of Indulgence as well.

Recipe Source: The Culinary cookbook Tehzeeb

The author credits Saba Hasan for the recipe

I have reduced the quantities to suit my audience since we are 2 people in this house

1/2 cup of Split black gram
2 cups of sugar
3/4th cup water
Fat pinch of Saffron
1/2 tsp Vetivier water aka Kewra water
Vegetable oil for frying
100ml thick cream

Soak the lentil for a good 2 hours to 2.5 hours. The longer its soaked the fluffier it will be.

Now make a fluffy paste of the lentil by first draining it of all the water and grinding it with 1 tbsp of the water it is soaked in. Make sure you scrape the sides of the grinder so that it becomes a smooth fluffy consistency. The trick to getting a fluffier batter is to grind the already ground lentil a second time with 1 tsp water.

Now soak the saffron in 1 tbsp water and make a syrup by bringing the water and sugar to a boil and simmering it for 10 minutes or so. It should be of a single thread consistency. Add the saffron and Kewra water and simmer l for a few seconds.

Now heat oil and fry the fritters. Keep a bowl of water near you and dip your fingers in the water and scoop out a bit of batter and make a ball and fry it on low heat till it reaches a golden stage. I like mine the colour of gold but you can fry it a bit longer to get a brownish hue. Remember to never increase the heat else the fritters might burn. keep adjusting the heat between low to medium.

Once fried use a kitchen towel to absorb extra oil and soak the fritters in the syrup for about 10 minutes and take it out and then serve it topped with cream.

If you like your cream thick like I do whip it with a fork for 1 minute and put it in the refrigerator when you soak the pulse  so that by the time you serve it it is quite thick.

Enjoy a not so popular but exquisite dessert

This is part of Kolkata Food Blogger's Ongoing Event, 

Deepavali Festival of Lights with Sweets n Savouries 

Kalakand

Kalakand 

(Indian Milk Cheese Fudge) 

It seems that right after the partition of India a 'Halwai' (Indian sweet chef)  named Baba Thakur Das who had migrated from Pakistan to Alwar, Rajasthan in India had started his day with experimentation with milk and having added lemon juice to the milk he was fascinated with the resultant cheese and legend has it that he uttered the famous Sentecne 'Arey ye to kala hai' (This is art) which led to the creation of a magnificent sweet dish, Kalakand a kind of Indian Milk Cheese Fudge. Freshly homemade cottage cheese is cooked with reduced milk till it reaches an extremely thick consistency which is milky, cheesy and completely lip smacking.

Now Baba Thakur's descendants say with great pride that recreating the original magic of the Kalakand produced at their store is impossible due to the water and the soil around Alwar which I believe to a certain extent but then again you can still make a gorgeous Kalakand which might not be as good as the ones created at Alwar but with a bit of patience you can create some lip smacking gorgeous dessert.

Before I give the recipe let me emphasize on the fact that certain desserts cannot be made easy by cutting down on time and effort else you shall simply not get the proper taste and flavour. The internet is filled with recipes which uses packaged condensed milk and a short cut method which wouldn't simply give you a superior taste. Believe me I speak from experience. A bit of hard work  is worth the effort. The entire process takes about 2 hour 15 minutes to make and another 1 hour to 2 hours for setting.

Makes 10 large sized Kalakand :-

2 litre full fat milk and yes it must be full fat
1 tbsp to 2 tbsp vinegar diluted with 2 tbsp water
5 to 6 tbsp sugar (please adjust the sweetness as per your taste)
3 green cardamom
2 tbsp blanched halved pistachios
2 tbsp ghee

Simply start of by taking 1.2  litre of the milk and add 1 tsp ghee to it. (The ghee helps in keeping the reduced milk smooth)

Start reducing it. Take the remaining milk and bring to a roaring boil in another pan and then lower heat and add the diluted vinegar and when the cheese forms in 2 minutes. You should have white masses floating in an olive green whey switch off gas once the entire milk is well curdled and then cover it and leave it for 5 minutes. Gather the cheese in a cheesecloth and drain it of its water. After 10 minutes squeeze out the excess water and crumble the cheese as finely as possible.

Meanwhile keep stirring the other pot of milk which you are reducing to avoid scorching the bottom. Once it gets reduced to half its original content add the crumbled cheese and crushed cardamom seeds along with the sugar.

The best way to add sugar as per taste is adding it little by little and checking the taste.

Now keep reducing the mixture of cheese and milk together stirring it from time to time and when it gets reduced to a mass where you see bubbles all over keep stirring the mixture continuously from this point on.

Here is an useful tip. At this point transfer it to a non-stick pan and use a masher to mash the content continuously . Non-stick pans reduces the chances of  scorching. Once the mass is dried up add the remaining  ghee saving a bit for greasing the plate on which you would set it and mix well .

Transfer to the greased plate and make a rectangular block and stud it with blanched halved pistachios and leave it to set at room temperature for 1 hour to 2 hours . Never ever set it in the refrigerator which dries out the Kalakand. Cut squares and enjoy this delightful dessert.

Tips :-

1. You must use full fat milk else the taste will be compromised upon 
2. The leftover whey used to cook curries gives it a full bodied flavour and when used to knead chapati or make bread renders it extra soft 
3. Use the pistachios on the Kalakand while its warm so that it remaisn studded once the Kalakand sets the nuts won't remain intact on it.
4. Enjoy a bit of warm Kalakand as suggested by the creator's descendants. It tastes amazing when served warm. 
5. Using the masher ensures that the cottage cheese is evenly distributed and does not form any big lumps anywhere. In case you don't have a masher use the back of a big ladle to use it for the mashing effect. 
6. For storing it , do use an air-tight container and then put it in the refrigerator. I would personally suggest eating it as fresh as possible but in case you are storing ti the air-tight container helps in retaining the moisture. 

Source of information 

Tehelka 

The Hindu 

This is part of Kolkata Food Blogger's ongoing event Deepavali Festival of Lights with Sweets and Savouries

Malai Chop and an aunt's Love

Malai Chop and an aunt's love

I can just call this my Calcutta Connection. Well I'l be honest once you start making sweets at home it becomes an addiction. I am passionate not just about sweets but about cultures because for me it through food that I can communicate with the entire world.

'Malai Chomchom' is a much loved sweet dish from Bengal where flattened or cylindrical shaped cottage cheese is boiled in thin sugar syrup and then soaked in slightly thickened milk. It is an absolute delicacy but then the recipe I am sharing today is extra special for me. I have a beautiful aunt who would often come over to our place with a big case of delightful  white Malai Chomchom but these malai chom choms had a coat of milk which was thickened enough to stay put on the white beauties. Now that I think about it I haven't ever paid attention to the name of the shop from where my darling aunt would bring one of my favourite sweets but now I can easily make it at home and so can anyone who is reading this.

Sitting in Bombay I miss Kolkata and so on an ordinary Saturday I decided to make these sweets from my memory. Having previously made roshogollas , pantuas, chanar jilipi , jalebi I was more or less confident enough to not consult any recipe and my confidence was well rewarded with a husband who usually doesn't like sweets yet gobbled up 3 and 3/4th malai chomchoms out of the 5 that I made 

Makes 4 Malaichochoms and a semi mini malai chomchom

1 litre full fat milk and it must be full fat

7 tbsp sugar

3/4th tbsp vinegar diluted in 3 tbsp water

1 tsp sugar

3/4th tsp semolina

tiny pinch of bi-carbonate of soda

For the syrup

1/2 cup sugar granules

5 cups of water

2 green cardamom

2 tbsp pistachios blanched and finely chopped

Start a day ahead by first making the condensed milk. Simply take 500ml of the milk and 7 tbsp sugar in a heavy bottomed pan and simmer it on low flame stirring it from time to time. Once the milk turns beige , thick and starts bubbling you must keep stirring it continuously and then cool it and blend it in the food processor / mixer grinder. Chill it in the refrigerator. The process takes about 45 minutes to 50 minutes.

The next day bring the milk to a roaring boil and lower the heat and add the diluted vinegar and let the cottage cheese form well so that in the end you have snow white cheese floating in a green liquid. It takes 2 minutes. Now switch off the gas-stove and cover and leave for 5 minutes . Then gather the cheese in a cloth and drain it for 15 minutes to 20 minutes and then take the cheese on a wooden board and knead well rubbing the cheese against the wooden board and gathering it and kneading it. After 3 minutes of kneading add the semolina , baking powder and 1 tsp sugar and knead well. Knead well for a good 15 minutes. The softness of the dessert depends entirely on the kneading. Make a large ball and divide it into 5 parts and make discs out of them.

Now bring the sugar and water to a boil and add the green cardamom . make sure that the pan is large enough to hold all the cheese discs side by side. Lower the heat and add the discs and cover and boil on medium heat for 15 minutes. It is essential that you keep lowering the temperature and increasing it in-between. Once done keep it covered for 10 minutes to 15 minutes and then take off the cover. Once the discs cool down place them on a tray and soak them with the thick condensed milk and garnish with pistachios and chill for 4 hours to 5 hours before serving.

Enjoy these soft milky creamy delights.

Very important tips :-

1. It is extremely important that you use the tiniest pinch of bakign soda else your discs will break when they are being boiled in the syrup. 
2. The softness of the discs depends entirely on the kneading , so knead as much as possible , your dough should be melt in the mouth and ultra soft 
3. When you make the syrup remember that it is the thinnest syrup possible so once the sugar gets dissolved in the water after you have started boiling it immediately lower heat and add discs.  

This is part of Kolkata Food Blogger's  Ongoing event 'Deepavali, Festival of Lights with Sweets and Savouries'

Payesh/ Bengali Kheer/ Payasam

Payesh/ Bengali Kheer/ Payasam

One of the most basic Indian desserts is the Rice Pudding. It goes by many many names be it Payesh in Bengali, Kheer in Hindi, Payasam in tamil and telegu, payasa in Kannada or Khiri in Oriya.

Its an easy basic recipe indeed yet perfecting it is really an art.

To be fair I am fortunate enough to have an aunt like my Mimi who can perfect each and every Bengali recipe. Now the problem is once you have had the perfect dish or to be politically correct lets say its perfect for me then it is difficult to enjoy any other variations which falls short of being perfect. As a result throughout my childhood and adulthood the only place I would relish this decadent creamy dessert was at my Mimi's (even my grandmother's kheer pales in comparison to my Mimi's) till the day I asked her to teach me how to make it.

The best part about Mimi as a teacher is that she tries and explains each step and gives me the reasons wherever possible.  This one is neither too thick so that the creaminess is overshadowed by the rice clotted together and nor is it too liquid in nature. Its just right.

This is one of the desserts I have made again and again and again from a very long time and so here goes a simple easy recipe which I have tried to keep as precise and detailed as possible

Recipe :

Makes about 4 to 5 servings

Cups used hold 220ml liquid

1 litre full fat milk (you cannot use toned milk else it will most definitely compromise the taste)
1 handful of . rice washed thoroughly (it comes to about 1/4th cup of rice ) { This rice is short grained and sometimes it is sold as kheer rice in many places, it is called Atop Chal or Gobindobhog chal in Bengali)
1 handful of sugar + 2 tbsp sugar but you must change the amount of sugar as per taste
2 green cardamom
1 large bay leaf
50gm broken cashew nuts
Fat pinch of saffron soaked in milk
1 tsp ghee

Bring the milk to a boil in a deep bottomed pan and the ghee , green cardamom and bay leaf  . Adding the ghee keeps the dessert extra smooth.

Now reduce the heat to the lowest possible temperature and add the washed rice and simmer it. Use a wide spatula to stir the mixture every 10 minutes for the next 45 minutes make sure the bottom of the pan does not burn.

Add the cashew nuts after 45 minutes.

After 50 minutes of simmering it with frequent stirring check the rice . It would have been cooked by now and will be of a melt in the mouth consistency. Now add the sugar . You must not add sugar before the rice is fully cooked else the rice remains uncooked.

You must stir continuously for the next 10 minutes to 15 minutes to prevent the dessert from sticking to the bottom and getting ruined. After 10 minutes add the soaked saffron and simmer while stirring continuously for another 2 minutes and switch off the gas.

Let it cool down and chill it for 3 hours to 4 hours and serve after giving the dessert a good stir. You must stir before serving because a thick cream will form on top which must be mixed well with the desert for the creamy smooth consistency.

Enjoy this classic delicacy

Tip

1. During the winters we get a special jaggery called 'Nolen Gur' in Bengal which is palm date jaggery and we repalce the sugar with the jaggery and it gives a divine taste. 
2. Many people love adding raisins to the dish. If you wish to do so add it when you are adding the cashew nuts. 
3. You can replace the cashew nuts with blanched  pistachios or blanched and chopped almonds. 

Chanar Jilipi (Cottage Cheese Jalebi)

Chanar Jilipi (Cottage Cheese Jalebi) 

 There comes a time of the year when the entire state of Bengal gets intoxicated with celebrating the Goddess Durga.

Now the whole of India loves jalebis , fermented deep fried soaked in syrup ,its crunchy and sweet and delicious but then it is only in Bengal that we have Chanar Jilipi soft and luscious soaked in sugar syrup. To be fair Bengal has its own love affair with ' Chana ' fresh cottage cheese and its other love affair is with sweets. The variety of sweets that you get here amazes everyone.

Makes 8 Jalebis

1 litre full cream milk
1 tbsp to 2 tbsp vinegar diluted with 1 tbsp to 2 tbsp water
3 heaped tbsp all purpose flour
1 tbsp semolina
A tiny pinch of baking soda
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp ghee

Oil for deep-frying

For the syrup :-

1.5 cup sugar
3 cups water
A few drops of lemon juice
3 green cardamom

Start by making the cottage cheese aka 'chena' by first bringing the milk to a roaring boil and then adding the diluted vinegar. You shall see the green whey separate from the white cheese. One must immediately turn down the heat and let the cheese form for about 5 minutes and then switch off the gas and cover the pan and leave it for 5 minutes.

Before I added the whey 

Now gather the cheese aka 'chena' in a cheese-cloth or muslin cloth and drain it of the whey by hanging it for about 15 minutes or so. Do not throw away the whey.

Now make your dough with the chena , sugar, all purpose flour, baking soda , ghee, 1 tbsp whey and semolina. Your dough must be extremely soft. Kneading the dough on a wooden surface gives the best result.

Once you are done kneading leave the dough to rest for 15 minutes and in the meanwhile start preparing the sugar syrup by bringing the sugar and water to a boil and adding the cardamom and lemon juice and simmering for 5 minutes.

Now give a good kneading to the dough and divide it into 4 equal halves and then make eight balls from these halves and roll out each ball gently but firmly to form a cylindrical shape. When you are forming the cylinders make sure you dip your hands in the why and then mash the balls and form the cylinders , but do it gently because if you put too much of pressure it will leave cracks and now form a 6 with the dough bring the loose end towards the head and press it gently to form the shape.

 These must not have any cracks and if the dough doesn't have enough liquid it starts cracking which is why you must dip your fingers in the whey.

Now heat enough oil for deep frying but on low heat. Gently slide the final raw chanar jilipi in the oil and fry it till its a golden reddish colour on both the sides and then soak it in the syrup for 2 hours before serving it.

Very Important tips :-

1. You must use full fat milk else the taste is almost always compromised upon 
2. When you are making the syrup adding the lemon juice prevents crystallization. 
3. When making the dough if you happen to add even a bit of extra bicarbonate of soda your jilipis will break when you are frying them which is why after forming the dough and having it let it rest you should first shape and fry and in case it spreads out use a bit of flour , say about 2 tbsp flour and knead the dough. This will prevent the rest of the jilipis from cracking and spreading. 
4. When you are frying the jilipi it must be on low heat at all times. It will take a frustratingly long time but if you increase the heat it will burn or become golden very quickly and the insides will remain raw.

Healthy Pomegranate Parfait

 Healthy Pomegranate  Parfait 

The more I learn the more I am surprised and happy to know things. For me the word parfait had always meant Frozen dessert as is used by the French. Only when I came across a few recipes where the dessert was not frozen did I look up the word and realized it can mean different things as well. In the USA sometimes yogurt is layered with granola , nuts or fresh fruits to create a parfait.

So on a day when I was craving something sweet and avoiding cakes and pastries at all cost I whipped this up. It needs a little planning ahead but is really healthy , nutritious and tasty.

What you need :-

Makes 2 servings

250gm yogurt
Half a pomegranate
3/4th tsp honey
1 tbsp dried cranberries

Simply make hung curd out of the yogurt and then whisk the hung curd with the honey and layer it with pomegranate. Top it with cranberries and chill  voila you have your healthy dessert.

I used cranberries against the usual raisins because they give a nice tangy taste to the otherwise sweet dessert.

  

Sondesh

Norom paker Sondesh (Ultra soft sondesh)  

Once you have had your success with Sondesh a delicate sweet from Bengal you realize its one of the easiest desserts to make but all you need is patience, strong hands and a will to knead a good amount.

Before I give the very easy recipe what you need to know is Sondesh can be categorized broadly under 'Norom Pak' the soft melt in the mouth variant which is cooked for a few minutes to make cotton soft sweets and then there is the 'Kora Pak' the hard variant which lasts longer than the Norom Pak but quite honestly isn't of the melt in the mouth texture. Then there is 'Kacha Golla' a softer variant which is not even cooked or hardly cooked to keep it ultra soft.

Now I was born in the city of sweets at least the city of Sondesh, Kolkata , but I am very particular about the kind of sondesh I eat. If its coloured I will give it a skip, if it has too much of fragrance from artifical attar I detest it. I like mine in the purest form with natural falvourings such as rose or saffron or pistachios or almonds.

When it comes to Sondesh I cannot remember my maternal grandmother, 'Dima' who stays in a house which is more ancient than her 92 years. Not that she has ever made sweets but my Dima was always the sweet connoisseur or rather one who staunchly believed when it came to sweets it must be traditional. There is one of the oldest sweet shops in Calcutta located near her home called , 'Bhim Chandra Nag' established somewhere in 1848 and while I was growing up she would ritually send me to get sweets from the sweetshop to feed me a huge number of sweets. Later in my late teen years I would protest saying that it seemed irrational since at times I did not want to eat sweets. Only after I passed out from college and suddenly stepped into adulthood did I realize how much I cherish these silly rituals.

Today when I made these soft sondesh and fed my 92 year old grandmother at first she refused them saying she has lost her taste and doesn't enjoy sweets and then when I informed her that I have made it myself she ate an entire square and said that it was fantastic. I guess that brought me all the joy.

Then there is my Mimi (maternal uncle's wife) who is a true magician in the kitchen when it comes to Bengali dishes and when her approval came for the sweets I knew I have passed in the art of making sweets. Funnily enough I realize it now that I have begun writing that I did not follow anyone's recipe but I will share those very important tips which are essential

What you need for 16 squares of Sondesh

1.5 litre full cream milk
1 tbsp to 2 tbsp non fruit vinegar diluted with 1 tbsp water
6 tbsp castor sugar
50gm finely chopped pistachios which have been blanched from before
2 fat green cardamom
Ghee or clarified butter for greasing

The process is pretty simple. Bring the milk to a roaring boil in a large pan and slowly add the diluted vinegar and keep boiling till the cheese is formed and you see the greenish whey and the floating cheese. Turn off the gas stove and cover with a lid with no holes and let it stand for 5 minutes.

Now gather the cheese in a cheesecloth or muslin cloth and hang it to drain it of whey for 15 minutes.

In the meantime dry roast the cardamom for 2 minutes and take out the seeds and pound them to a fine powder. Blanch the pistachios and finely chop them.

After 15 minutes take the cheese in a large flat bowl. It helps to have a raised fence around the flat plate greased with ghee from before for ease of working with the cheese. Start mashing it using both your hands and then use the heel of your palm to make the smoothest dough ever. Your Sondesh's success depends completely on this process of kneading.

After 5 minutes add the sugar and cardamom powder and knead for 15 minutes. In the end it will be a soft dough. Now take the smallest possible wok in proportion to the amount of cheese dough and place the dough in it and cook this on low heat for just about 2 minutes to 3 minutes.

Let it cool down and knead with some amount of the finely chopped pistachios for 10 minutes and then make 16 balls and shape them in squares on a greased plate. Finish off by sprinkling pistachios on each square.

For making Ultra soft Sondesh these following tips are crucial :-

1. The milk must absolutely be 100% whole milk. No compromise on fat please 
2. You must not use lemon to curdle the milk since it leaves a lemony smell which interferes with the flavours you use 
3. If you want ultra soft melt in the mouth Sondesh you hand the cheese for 15 minutes else you can hang it for 30 minutes 
4. You cannot compromise on the time for kneading because that dictates how soft your Sondesh will turn out 
5. When it comes to flavouring know that Sondesh is supposed to be delicate so if you are using rose flavour where you use 1 tbsp rose water per 500ml of milk used for making cheese its best to not use cardamom because then the flavour of cardamom will overpower the flavour of rose. When using saffron no other flavouring is needed. 

Rose flavoured Norom Paker Sondesh

Simple Chocolate gateau

Simple Chocolate Gateau 

To be fair,  I love exploring new desserts and as a result some very basic ones are pushed in the little closet of my mind and unfortunately they remain there and are not used in reality. So when one of my friends asked me for a simple recipe for a cake which she wants to bake for her mother on her mother's birthday the most simple cake which came to my mind was the good old chocolate cake with buttercream filling  and a ganache frosting. To be fair most people who have baked foam cakes would know that a foam cake which air leavened and uses little flour and fat is the lightest base for a gateau or what is commonly known as a layered cake but foam cakes take a lot of practice and well in India most of the cakes we get at bakeries are not foam cakes but are still very light and airy because they use oil instead of butter which is quite obvious because if one carefully smells the cakes they would find that it doesn't have that special aroma which butter incorporates but the problem with baking a British chocolate sponge cake is that though it is basic it tends to be more packed than what we get outside and a reader had once pointed out that though she loved the cake which she had baked using my recipe for sponge cake she missed that light texture. Well that was a year ago , so this time what I did was use a simple trick to make the cake airy fluffy yet with the buttery smell. All one needs to do is separate the eggs and use some extra egg whites and voila you have airy spongy light cake , which is well less airy than a foam cake but tastes quite nice. I adapted Mary Berry's recipe for the cake base altering the recipe with my separation of eggs and addition of egg whites, used a basic buttercream recipe and ganache recipe .

So here goes the recipe

Serves 4 to 5

For the base :-

175gm of all purpose flour (1.5 cups ) cups which hold 250ml of liquid
50gm cocoa powder (Half a cup of cocoa powder) the cups which hold 250ml of liquid
100gm butter
4 eggs separated
4 egg whites
1 scant tsp baking powder
200gm castor sugar (2 cups)

For the buttercream filling :-

62gm good quality dark chocolate
100gm of butter
25ml cream
25ml milk
125gm of icing sugar (you can increase the amount of icing sugar as per your taste)

For the ganache

175ml of cream
100gm of dark chocolate chopped well

Start by first preparing your baking pans ( 6 inch to 7 inch) by greasing them  with butter and dusting it with flour. If you are doing this for the first time refer to the videos on youtube which show you how to prepare cake pans. Sift your cocoa powder. You need two baking pans of size 6 inch

Now start by sifting the flour with the baking powder. This helps in making the  cake airy and light.
Whip your egg whites to a firm peak. You are using a total of 8 egg whites.
Now preheat the oven to 180 C and quickly cream your butter with a wooden spoon,  that is mix the sugar and butter well with the wooden spoon till the sugar is well incorporated and now use a whisk to fluff it up. Add the yolks one by one and keep whisking. Once done sift your flour and baking powder which has already been sifted once again and fold it in with the wooden spoon. Add the cocoa powder and fold that in then fold in the egg whites.
Bake the cake at preheated oven for 30 minutes if using a convection oven and 20 minutes for regular OTG.  Once baked insert a toothpick in the middle and if it comes out clean your cake has been baked else bake for another 5 minutes or so. let it cool on the pan for 5 minutes to 10 minutes and then run a sharp knife under hot water and run ti along the edge and take invert the cake on a wire rack to cool down completely.

Once the cake has cooled down completely cream your butter and icing sugar and melt the chocolate over a double boiler and once its cool enough add it with your creamed butter. And keep whisking well till its fluffy and light and add the milk and cream and fluff it up again.

For the ganache simply chop the chocolate and leave it in a big bowl , heat the cream over a double boiler and pour the cream over the chocolates and mix well. If you find lumps put the entire bowl over a double boiler till everything melts into a smooth silky texture

To assemble the cake you must remember that the cake must be allowed to cool completely before you proceed. So once it has cooled down completely . I usually proceed. I usually leave it to cool down for 2 hours or more. Now First cut the cakes in two and apply a generous amount of buttercream on the middle layers and put it in the refrigerator to firm up for about 15 minutes and then assemble them by placing them on top of one another and apply a base coat of buttercream and put it back in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Now generously apply the ganache and put it back in the refrigerator for 15 minutes and now simple cut the cake and serve .

Important tips : -

1. The butter for both the cake base and butter-cream filling must be at room temperature completely softened 
2. Once you have whisked your butter and yolks you must not use the whisk else you will knock down the bubbles and your cake will be dense , so after you have whisked the yolks you must use the wooden spoon to fold in the flour and then the egg whites 
3. In case you do not have two pans or your oven is small cream the butter and add yolks and then use half of this and use half of the flour and half of the cocoa powder and half the egg whites and bake , let it rest cool down and then leave it to cool on a wire rack, clean your pan grease it , dust it with flour and then fold the remaining flour and cocoa powder with the remaining creamed butter and egg yolk mixture and the egg whites bake again but you must never prepare the entire cake batter and leave half of it because then the cake becomes dense and horrible . 
4. When making the butter cream keep tasting it to check whether all the sugar has been incorporated.