Ras Malai ( with step by step pictures)

I have never been so busy in my life, lots of thing happening and I am working really hard after ages. Blogging should be the last thing I should be doing now, but sometimes for a break I find blogging and cooking therapeutic. I really wish I could spend more time on styling the picture and taking beautiful pictures but if I go for that doing a post might not happen for another few more weeks and I don’t want to ignore my blog that long. Let me get straight to the recipe before my hubby catches me doing a blog post when I have lots of pending work to finish.

Recipe adapted from - Show me the curry

Ingredients ( serves 6 )

For paneer

Milk – 6 cups

Lime juice – 3 tbsp.

For making Malai

Water – 5 cup

Sugar – cup

Paneer patties

For Ras

Milk – 5 cups

Sugar – 1 cup or as required

Cardamom crushed – ¼ tsp.

Saffron strand – few

Nuts- Almonds and Pistachios

Method

Making Paneer

• Boil milk and add 3 tbsp. of lime juice.
• Milk curdles and whey separates, strain it in colander lined with muslin cloth and rinse few times in cold water to remove lime flavour.
• Squeeze it hard and hang the muslin cloth under the tap for 30 minutes to strain any water left.
• Place a small weight on top of the muslin cloth to remove the water completely.

Making Paneer patties

• In a food processor or mixie blitz the Paneer for few seconds and knead until it’s soft or alternatively knead them well for 5- 10 minutes until soft.                              
  
• Divide the dough into 15- 20 equal sized balls and press them gently and make patties.                                                                                                                  
  

• Meanwhile add 5 cups of water and 1 cup of sugar in a pressure cooker. Place it on a medium flame until sugar I dissolved. Now carefully add the patties to the sugar water and close the lid and pressure cook it for 1 whistle and remove from fire.                                                                                                                         
  

• After 5 minutes take the pressure to kitchen sink and pour cold water to it so release the pressure, once the pressure is released open the cooker and take out the patties one by one with a ladle or spoon and gently give it squeeze to remove the excess water.                                                                                                       
           

• Let it cool down.

Making Ras

•  Boil milk with saffron strands in a thick bottomed vessel or a non-stick vessel and simmer it for 30- 45  minutes stirring every now and then until milk reduces to half.   
  
•  Add crushed cardamom and in the end and remove from fire once sugar is dissolved. Let it cool down a little bit.                                                                   
  

Chilling and serving

• Add the patties to Ras (Reduced milk) and chill it the fridge for 3-4 hours.
• Add Pistachios and Almond shavings on top before serving. 

Notes
When I made paneer I added a bit too much lime juice than 3 tbs so my paneer had a subtle ime flavour, but neverthless it was delicious. So please stick to 3 tbs. if you dont want a paneer with lime flavour :)

Princess Castle Cake

I love making girly cakes and making a Castle cake was  in my wish list since a long time and I am so happy to finally make one for a little princess. I should say making this castle cake was not a cake walk at all. This was one cake which took several hours of hard work and it tested all my patience. Most of the princess cake I saw have cardboard pillars but I wanted the pillars  to be edible so making the pillars out of cake was my biggest worry when I started the work.  One thing I have learnt after this making this cake is that there is no  need any fancy cutters or tools for making cakes. If you look around in your kitchen there  might be  something which comes handy and that how I decided to use my reliable puttu maker for cutting out  the pillars for the cake !!

puttu maker

 It was a 2 tier chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream. Pillars were made from cake and top (cone ) of the pillar is ice cream cone covered in fondant. My plan was to put a princess Aurora on top of the cake but my online delivery of Princess didn’t come on time so I had to satisfy with the small Tiara instead. The flags on top is my hubby's work :) He used  coloured papers for that  and glued them onto a tooth pick.

Thats all for today, will see u all again with a recipe soon :)

Broccoli Manchurian, A guest post by Manju

Usually it’s during holiday time that I neglect my blog and take breaks but this time it was surprisingly other way round. Since I have been cooking a lot during holidays I could blog about the recipes I served for my guests, but after all that over eating I took a big break from cooking and that’s why I have been silent here since new year. Moreover we are back to business,  my son is back to school and I am  back to studies and training too. It looks like till July it might be a bit quiet here as my  studies are going on a fast pace with assignments and deadlines but whenever there is half term break I am going to hit back J Till then if any of my blogger friends would like to help me out with guest posts that would be great.

Today I am inviting my dear friend Manju of Maju's eating delights a.k.a MED  for a guest post here. Do you all remember a sticky toffee pudding which I posted in my blog a while back ? it was a guest for Manju's blog. Manju and me share me the same passion for cake decorating and that’s what brought us together.  I love her cakes and bakes and her cake decoration skills are simply superb. If you would like to see more of her cakes head over to her blog and do check it out and let me warn you that you are going to get hungry  as she has got a  lot of mouth-watering recipes and some classic photographs in her blog. Over to Manju now..

Let’s start the year by sharing shall we, so here I share a lovely recipe for Broccoli Manchurian as a guest post for my good friend Vineetha. This guests post has been long overdue ever since last September I guess and Vinee has been so patient with me.

This Broccoli Manchurian is very special for me coz it was made using our very own garden grown Broccoli…remember my dad’s veggie garden last summer. I must remind myself to do a full-fledged post on it soon. 

Anyways, we had grown abundant amounts of Cauliflower and Broccoli this year and I had chopped them up into florets and freezed them so that I can use them as needed.  And I did :-)

Though Cauliflower(Gobi) manchurain is one of my absolute fav appetizers of all time, I decided to give it a twist and make Broccoli Manchurian. Trust me it tasted just the same, maybe even better.  I prefer the dry version , but you can make the sauce thinner and make a gravy version as well.  

And for those who aren’t familiar with Gobi(Cauliflower) Manchurian, it’s a very popular vegetarian appetizer or side dish served in almost all Indian restaurants and definitely a crowd pleaser dish. It’s made by deep frying the cauliflower florets that's dipped in a semi-thick batter and then tossed to coat in a wonderful flavorful tangy-spicy sauce. Here I made mine with Broccoli florets.  It’s to die for, now go make it and eat it, you’ll love it!

This is what the batter fried Broccoli looks like just before being coated in that yummy sauce. Trust me, this tastes really good eaten just as it is but wait, that sauce makes it even yummier :-)

I made some simple Cauliflower Pulav and Raita to go with this scrumptious Broccoli Manchurian and it was a yummy yummy lunch!! 

Broccoli Manchurain

Recipe adapted from ShowMeThe Curry.com

You’ll Need

Broccoli (1 medium sized) - cut into individual florets

oil – for deep frying

For batter:

All purpose flour – ¼ cup or 4-5 tblsp

Cornstarch – 3-4 tblsp

Black Pepper powder – ¼ tsp

Red chilli powder – a pinch (optional)

Salt – to taste

Water – ¼ cup + 2 tblsp

For sauce:

Canola Oil – 1 Tblsp

Red Onion – 1/2 medium, chopped finely

Green Chilies – to taste, cut diagonally

Garlic – 3 large cloves, chopped finely

Ketchup – 2 Tblsp

Red Chili Sauce – 2 Tblsp or to taste

Soy Sauce – 4 tsp or to taste

White Vinegar – 2 tsp

Corn Starch – 2 tsp

Water – 4 Tblsp

Green Onions – 2 stalks, cut diagonally for garnishing

Directions:

1. Heat Oil in a frying pan and add Onions, Green chillies and garlic and cook until onions are soft and mildly browned.

2. Add Ketchup and red chilli sauce and sauté until it cooks down and the oil starts to separate.

3.  Next add soy sauce and vinegar and mix well.

4.  Mix the cornstarch with water and add it to the pan. Cook until the sauce starts to thicken and keep aside.

5.  Make the batter by adding All purpose flour, cornstarch, pepper, red chilli powder, salt and water in a small bowl and mix it well so that there are no lumps.

6.  Start heating the oil for deep frying. Meanwhile dip the broccoli florets in the batter until well coated and once oil is hot enough deep fry them until brown in color.

7.  Once all the florets are fried, add it to the frying pan with the sauce and toss to coat well.

8.  Garnish with Green onions and serve!

They are best served immediately so that its still mildly crunchy yet starting to get soft from the sauce coated over the florets. This is how I like it. If you like it more soft then serve after few minutes. Oh! How I love this dry manchurain and I can eat the whole plate if left alone with it… ;-)

Shami Kebab

When I eat something really good at a friend’s place, I immediately asks for the recipe and most of the time inspiration gets buried deep inside without any attempt, but sometimes especially when the recipe is too good to pass, I try it out. There are many such recipes in my blogs which were inspired from friends and family and this Kebab is a result of one such inspiration. When I went to my friend Z’s place, she served some delicious Shami kebab which was her grandma’s special. Shami kebab is a Pakistani kebab and I remember her telling me that she grew up eating this a lot. She was so generous to share her recipe with me. I also did some online search and they were all pretty much the same, expect few changes. I  was really happy the way it turned out and  and this was one of my starter for my New year party with blogger friends Nisha, Suchi and Manjiri and they all loved it too :)

Ingredients ( makes 24 kebabs)

For Kheema paste

Lamb (minced) – 500gm

Chana Dal – 125 gm/ 8 tbs

Potatoes – 2 small ( diced)

Ginger- garlic paste – 2 tsp

Cinnamon stick - 3” stick

Cloves – 3

Cardamom – 2 nos

Fennel – 1 tsp (optional )

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp

Peppercorn – 1 tsp

Coriander powder – 1 tsp

Garam masala – 1 tsp

Red chilly powder – 1 tsp

Water – 1 cup

Salt

Other Ingredients

Onion – 2 medium

Cumin powder – 1 tsp

Garam masala – ½ tsp

Coriander leaves –  few sprigs (finely chopped )

Mint leaves – few sprigs ( finely  chopped )

Lime juice – 2 tbs

Egg – 1 large

Oil – for shallow frying

Method

1. Soak Chana dal in boiling water for 1 hour.
2. In a big saucepan add all the ingredients listed under ‘kheema paste’ and cook for 35-40 minutes until water dries and all the ingredients are cooked through.
3. Let it cool down and then grind them into a fine paste.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients listed under ‘ other ingredients’ expect the egg to the kheema paste and knead until its mixed well.
5. Divide the paste into 24 equal sized balls and flatten it out, dip them in beaten egg and shallow fry flipping the sides for 3-4 minutes or until firm and brown.

Apple Crumble and Home-made Custard

                          Wishing you all a happy and prosperous New Year

S and me are poles apart when it comes to desserts, he doesn’t have a sweet tooth at all , but me and our boy on other hand can eat sweets any time. One day out of nowhere, he told me that he feel like eating apple crumble or apple pie. I have  made Apple pie before and that’s the only dessert I have seen him eating greedily J But after one episode of apple pie I decided not to make it again, not because it wasn’t tasty, it was super yumm, but super rich too.  The amount of butter that goes in kind of shocks you so I decided to check apple crumble recipes online and they were much much lighter compared to Apple pie, So I decided to make this for him. Its almost ages since this demand came and he even forgot all about it but how can  I forget about a dessert that he demanded first time in 8 ½ yrs  !!

Apple crumble is so easy to put together and tastes great with home made custard. I think cinnamon and apple is a combination made in heaven, I just love it. This is a perfect dessert for cold wintery days, of course it cant be compared with the delicious apple pie, but any day I would prefer this over Apple pie as it’s a great dessert  with less calories.

Ingredients ( serves 4-5 )
Recipe adapted from here

Apple (preferably cooking apples like granny smith ) – 4 nos ( peeled, cored and sliced)

Butter – 2 tbs

Cinnamon powder – 1/2 tsp

Light Brown sugar – 2 tbs

For crumble mix

Plain flour – ¾ cup

Baking powder – ½ tsp

Salt - pinch

Demarara Sugar – ½ cup

Butter – 40 gm ( 1/5 th of a cup)

Cinnamon powder – 1 tsp

Method

1. In a frying pan add butter when butter melts, add apples, light brown sugar, ½ tsp cinnamon powder and sauté until soft and tender.
2. Transfer the apples into a small baking tray( right sized ).
3. In another bowl take plain flour, baking powder, salt and butter and run the flour with butter until it resemble crumbs/ mositened puttu podi
4. Add the sugar, cinnamon powder and mix well.Sprinkle the crumble mix on top of the apples placed in baking tray till the edge . Press them tighly.
5. Bake it a preheated oven at 200 degree C for 35 – 40 minutes until the top is crispy.
6. Let it cool for a little while.

For Home- made Custard

Egg yolks – 3 nos

Milk – ¾ cup

Double cream – ¾ cup

Corn flour – 1 tbs

Vanilla extract – 1 tsp

Sugar – ½ cup

 Method

1. In a bowl take 3 egg yolks and add corn flour and sugar. Whisk until sugar is dissolved. Add vanilla extract too.
2. In a saucepan bring milk, double cream to boil and turn off the flame.
3. Add the warm milk to the egg yolk mixture very slowly with one hand and whisking vigorously with other hand taking care not to scramble the eggs.
4. Transfer everything back to the saucepan and cook on a very slow flame (takes about 10 minute ) whisking continuously until custard starts to thicken a little bit.
5. Transfer into a bowl and cover it with a cling film with the cling film touching the surface of custard ( to avoid skin formation ) and then chill it.

Serve the warm Apple crumble with custard and enjoy !!

Kerala Mutton curry

Ingredients

Mutton – ½ kg (diced)

Shallots/ Cheriya ulli – 300 gm / ( 2 cup sliced)

Tomato – 1

Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp

Curry leaves

Water – 1 cup

To marinate

Ginger garlic paste( Inji veluthulli paste) – 1tsp

Corainder powder – 1 tbs

Redchilly powder – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Pepper powder – 1 tsp

Salt – to taste

Curry leaves

To powder

Poppy seeds / Cuscous – 1 tbs

Cinnamon stick – ¼ inch stick

Cloves -2

Cardamom – 2

Fennel/ Perum jeerakam – ½ tsp

Pepper / Kurumulaku – ½ tsp

Star anise/ Thakolam – 1

Method

1. Marinate the mutton with ingredients listed under ‘ To marinate’ and keep it aside.
2. In a wok/ Cheena chatty add coconut oil and sauté the sliced shallots until soft and light brown.
3. Add ginger garlic paste and sauté for a minute.
4. Add chopped tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are soft.
5. Transfer this masala into a pressure cooker, add the marinated mutton, curry leaves and add water. Pressure cook for 4-5 whistles or until done.
6. Open the lid of the cooker when pressure goes off .
7. Meanwhile powder the indredients listed under ‘ to powder’ and add this to the mutton curry.
8. Turn on the flame again and bring the curry to boil for 3-4 minutes and turn off the flame.

Before I sign off let me wish you all a Fabulous Newyear !!

Katharine Hepburn Brownies and Happy holidays !

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year

 

With Holiday season just around the corner I wanted to do this post  before it was  too late ! Whole food blogging world is full of Christmas bakes and I was feeling a bit left out and wanted to whip up something quick for you all and this Katherine Hepburn Brownies fitted the bill perfectly. It is literally a one bowl brownie, just stir everything together in a bowl and pop it an oven and a delicious brownie will be ready is less than 1 hour. They are perfect to gift for friends or to munch on with a cup of milk. I have to say, for a chocoholic like me, this brownies were kind of addictive. I made this cookies for giving it to a friend and good that I packed half of it to her or else I would have ended up eating whole lot of it in a single sitting.

Those who are wondering about the name of this recipe, its named after Katherine Hepburn (actress) who contributed this awesome recipe to us. I gave a little twist to the recipe by adding cashewnuts instead of walnuts and I think that lifted up the taste to a new level, I absolutely loved the cashewnuts in brownies and even my hubby who is not chocolate lover ate quite a lot !

Recipe source – Joy of baking

Ingredients

Dark Chocolate ( 70 % cocoa ) – 60 gm

Unsatled butter – 113 gm / ½ cup   

Granulated White Sugar – 200 gm /  1cup

Eggs – 2 large

Vanilla extract – ½ tsp

Plain flour/ Maida – 30 gm / ¼ cup

Salt – ¼ tsp

Chopped cashewnuts / walnuts – 100 gm

Method

1. Take butter and dark chocolate in a heat proof bowl and place them over a simmering pan of hot water until its melted.
2. Add sugar and stir in.
3. Break 2 eggs,add vanilla extract and stir in.
4. Add the flour, chopped nuts and stir in.
5. Pour the batter into a greased 8 inch square cake tin and bake in a preheated oven at 165 degree Celcius for 30-35 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.