* Stuffed Bell Pepper

These  stuffed bell peppers were one of my long awaited  dish.And one fine  day in my experimental spree, I opened my refrigerator  and gathered my  favorite  ingredients and  wanted to  make  the  stuffed bell peppers before these petite  bell peppers are  either  spoiled or  consumed  in any  other form(I always  have  10  different  ways  to  eat  bell pepper,love them).   Of course  I searched in Internet and   as  expected  I didn't find all the  ingredients at home the recipes  called for , then  decided just  listen to my  instinct  and  voila the resulting dish  won Shaan's heart. We  enjoyed these beauties , they were   wholesome dish. The stuffing are  upto the individual  taste .

here is  what  I used :

Ingredients :

1. Red or Orange or Yellow Bell peppers - 4(Smaller  ones  are good  for this dish)
2. Cumin Seeds                                        - 1/2  tsp
3. Onion(finely chopped)                          -  2 tb sp
4. Zucchini(Shredded)                              -  1/2 cup
5. Mozzarella Cheese(Shredded)              - 1/2 cup
6. Sweet corn                                           - 1 cup
7. Cooked Rice                                        - 1/2 cup
8. Garlic(Finely chopped)                         - 2 tb  sp
9. Portobello mushrooms(Chopped)          - 1  cup
10. Tomatoes(Chopped)                          - 3 tb sp
11. Green Onion(Chopped)                         - 3 tb sp
12. Garam masala                                       - 1/2 tsp
13. Salt                                                       - to taste

Procedure :

 1. Wash  and pat dry the  bell peppers.Chop a  thin  section of  the bell peppers so that they  sit comfortably

      while  baking.

 2. Cut the tops off the peppers and remove all the seeds from inside and  toss them on the pan  with a  tea

     spoon of  vegetable oil for  3-4  minutes and  keep them in aside  in the baking dish.

3.  Next  step is to prepare the  stuffing. The Stuffing  has  as may options  as you can think  of, you can do 

     with  meat or  vegetables.Here  I tried  with all the veggies.

4. Start with a  a table  spoon  of  vegetable  oil in a  pan, splutter cumin seeds then  add chopped onions. 

    Once Onions are  soft add Shredded Zucchini.Cook it  for  a minute then  add the chopped tomatoes and 

    Mushrooms.

5. Cook them for  5 minutes add garlic, then  add the shredded mozzarella,sweet corn and  cooked rice.

    Mix  in  and cook for  another 2 minutes. then  add  the garam masala  and  chopped  green onions to the

   mixture and  the stuffing is ready.

6. Now  stuff the  bell peppers, after the peppers are full, put the tops back on.

7. Cover the entire baking dish with aluminum foil and throw the dish into the over for 30 minutes in to 

   350F Preheated oven  .

8. Remove the foil and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

                             Make sure the peppers are tender, but not falling apart.

Thanks  for  visiting and  I would  love to hear  from you  if you liked your  stay here.

Happy cooking and  cheers. 

* Tipsy Pudding......Truly Mouth watering desert

     'Tipsy Pudding' the  name  sounds really  catchy....when I heard in the  laptop where Shaan (My  husband) is hooked up to all possible news websites. One weekend  he was going through his stuff of world news  and  he stopped by in  one channel where  a show  named 'secret  kitchen- hosted by Bikramjit Ray' comes.This one  is my favorite,,its like my dream job...he  goes  places and  gets to  eat all  specialties and gets the secret recipes too.So this  was  on the  occasion of  Indian Independence day when he  goes to the most prestigious place of  Indian defense system,where they  train  the cadets(the future officers),,he goes to National Defense academy(NDA) and  gets  three very special  recipes from the  chief  who is there for  last 35 years  and  has served some very important people in  the world. I have been there couple of times during  R's  study time (he  is one of the tuff guys trained out  there,he is  my mom's  best friend's son )and I was his  local guardian (LOL,, I'm just  two years  older to him),I don't mind it as  long  as it let me visit this  very well maintained beautiful place.Seeing his Graduation ceremony was a very special occasion, You feel for the nation all the more if you  see the spirit  of these  young charged blood. My dad also works for  Defense, so it was even emotional   to  watch the  show. Now coming to the food  part :-) The  chef of  NDA  spills his secret recipe of tipsy pudding which is served  at NDA on special occasions for special  guests. The moment I saw it,my mouth started watering and I had to try out as soon as  I saw.I  had everything but the Whipping cream, So I  got it  and made when My daring friends(I  said "Daring"  coz, they are brave enough to try  my  experiments time to time) came  over  for a  weekend chit chat. The  9X9 desert vanished  within minutes.it was  indeed a scrumptious desert.It is  simple  and a great make ahead desert.
I have  made  it couple of times  after that and incorporated small little modification  from  the original  recipe that I saw,The lemon zest added to the top whipping cream layer really makes it an exotic dessert.
Give it a try if you  are a dessert person, I know  people  who are  not  very fond of dessert part still  go crazy  for this one.

Serves :8 - 10 people

The show  didn't  tell the proportions , so I had to come up with my  proportions which worked  well for  a 9X9 baking  dish or you  can  have  individual  portions  in  small desert blows for nice  individual deserts.

Ingredients:

1. Plain Pound cake(Chopped to small cubes) : 2 cups(You  can  bake a  ready cake mix in a  cookie sheet 

                                                                        and once they are cool  cube them or  buy  any pound cake 

                                                                        and can cube them)

2. Fresh Seasonal fruits                                   :  2 cups- Chop to very small cubes (Any fruit will do,I have  

                                                                          used 1 Pears,1  golden  kiwi and hand full of  blueberries)

3. Dry fruits                                                    :  1 cup- chopped-I used  Almonds,Cashews,raisins and 

                                                                          apricots.

4. Whipping Cream                                        :  300 ml

5. Sugar                                                         :  5 tb sp

6. Custard powder                                          : 3 tb sp ( I used Brown & Polson Custard Powder   
                                                                        Vanilla  Alternatively  you can use  vanilla  pudding mix )

7. Milk                                                            : 1 cup

8. Pure Vanilla  essence                                   : 1/2 tsp
9. Lemon and orange  Zest                              :  1  tb sp

Procedure:

1.

   First prepare the  custard before you  start to assemble rest of the ingredients for the pudding.This
   custard is not the traditional custard  that is made from  egg and milk mixture
   For  preparing the custard, mix  the  custard powder in 4  tb sp of  milk and add this mixture slowly to the
   boiling milk and  stir for  5 minutes(if you  want you  can add 2 tb sp  of  sugar).it will get thick
   consistency.Take it out of  heat and  let it cool  down and  bring it to  room temperature.
2.

  Beat the whipping cream and 3 tb sp Sugar  until stiff  pick forms ,keep it aside.While beating the
  Whipping  cream be careful  about not to over beat it,because if you  over beat the  butter starts to separate
  which  spoils   the purpose of  whipping cream in the dish.Divide the  whipping cream in two  parts,one 
  part  for  mixing  the  fruit mixture and  second  part  for  the  top layer.

3.

  In a  bowl, Mix cubed pound  cake,Fresh Fruits,dry fruits.pour in the cooled  down  custard. then  mix in
  one part of  whipping cream.Add the vanilla extract to the mixture and mix well.Now the  base  of the desert  is ready.Now  pour  this mix to your serving dish and spread evenly.Here you can use large dishes to make a big pudding or make small individual portions.

4. For top layer  ,add  lemon and  orange zest  to  the whipping cream  and just fold  in,then spread the 
   whipping cream evenly  and  keep in refrigerator  for at least 1 hour. Once  chilled to  your preference
   you  can  directly serve  or  decorate with some  chopped  dry fruits or  fresh seasonal fruits.

Enjoy and  happy  cooking...  :)





* Garam Masala

Garam masala is  the  basis of many of the  Indian  curries and  gravies.Many think the store-bought verity is  the best.but  me tell ya,,there is  nothing compared to  freshly  ground garam masala...mmmmmmmm,the  smell is just heavenly.This fresh ground  garam masala when added to  any curry takes it to  another level of ecstasy.

I always  prepare this in small amount and my  obedient  kitchen Gadget coffee grinder is a big Savior for  me, which is now  an absolute  necessity in my  kitchen . All the measures are approx,so if you like some flavor more than the other,then you  can do  some  plus /minus accordingly.

Ingredients:

1. Star anise  - 1.5 stars

2. Cloves      -10-14 numbers

3. Cadamom - 10-12  numbers

4. Whole pepper - 15-20 numbers

5. Cumin             - 1/2 tsp

6. Cinnamon       - 2 inch stick

7. Mace             - 1 tsp(optional,but gives a nice  flavour)

Procedure :

Grind  everything in a coffee grinder for  about a minute and use as soon as possible.If you have some left overs then keep it in airtight container, but try to finish it soon, the  nice aroma doesn't last  longer.

Happy reading  & thanks  for  visiting.

Tips:
You can  dry roast the  whole  spices for   enhanced  flavour.

* Stuffed Mushroom

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                       Stuffed Mushroom is  one great finger food to serve for  any cocktail parties. It is tastes awesome and is good if you  have some vegetarian guests around. One evening I just  mixed all the  ingredients  together which I  love such as bell peppers,celery(because of the  health benefits I love to add this wherever I can specially my husband doesn't eat celery as such  so I try to  disguise it as much as possible and strangely he loves them :) ),Mozzarella cheese,garlic...etc and it came out real good.Got a   great review from my extremely choosy  husband.And we love to eat each mushroom in a  bite so I specially love the smaller ones.

Here goes the recipe:

 For this recipe all the  veggies are  finely chopped, so that  you get each veggie in  each bite which makes it very flavourful.

Ingredients:

1. Button mushrooms - 15 nos

2. Celery                    - 1 tb sp(finely chopped )

3. Garlic                     - 1 tb sp(finely chopped)

4. Green Bell Pepper - 2 tb sp (finely chopped)

5. Orange bell pepper - 2 tb sp (finely chopped)

6. Onion                     -4 tb sp (finely chopped )

7. Mozzarella cheese   - 1/2 cup(Shredded)

8. Parmesan cheese     - few pinches

9. Olive oil                  - 1.5 t sp

10. Dry Oregano          -1/2 tsp(optional)

11. Salt                         - to taste

Procedure :

1. Clean and remove the  stem from the mushrooms.Keep the stem for using them in for  stuffing.

2. Chop the stem  finely and keep  all the finely veggies and  preheat the oven.

3. Now  heat the pan and add 1/ t sp  Olive oil and place the de-stemmed mushrooms on the  hot pan for 3- 

    4  minutes.Take them  out  and keep aside.

4. Add the rest 1 t sp  Olive oil to the pan and throw in the onion,then celery's , when these ingredients

  are little cooked(not browned) add the chopped mushroom stalks.When Mushrooms are cooked for

  about  3 minutes,,add garlic and  finally add the bell peppers at the end so that they remain crunchy.

5. Finally add 2 tb sp grated mozzarella cheese and turn off the heat.Give   it a quick  mix and now the 

    stuffing is ready.

6. Take  the Mushrooms and  fill in the Stuffing.(Here if you divide the  stuffing as per your number of 

     mushrooms it will be  easy )

7. Now  these mushrooms go to the pre heated oven for 10 minutes on 350 degree Celsius.After 10 minutes

    take  them out and sprinkle some mozzarella cheese and  Parmesan cheese  on top of each

    mushroom.And then  goes back to oven for  5 more minutes in broil mode.

8. Now the tasty stuffed mushrooms are ready to serve.

The beauty of this dish is the stuffing options are numerous and just go by your  instinct you will find something very new with  every other option.

Thanks for visiting and I would be  more than happy to  hear from you.

* Chenna poda(Cheese cake from Eastern India)

                                                                                                     (Click on the picture to enlarge)
       Chena poda is a delicious cheese cake from Orissa(a province in eastern part of India where cheese deserts are pretty famous and they are simply awesome,there are numerous types of deserts just made from home made cheese).I love this desert a lot,,in my last visit to India I had 250 gm to 500 gm of chena poda almost everyday.Now that's not very healthy,,but I have a sweet sweet tooth and with the company of my husband,,,we give each other good company is  eating kilos of sweets like this.So the other day we  had this BIG  craving for  chena poda and he bought a gallon of 3.25% milk.So I had no way  but to make it.Even though I was tired when the  process was over and   had a bite of this virgin Chena poda,  I forgot all the tiredness..it was yumm,,the caramel that  I poured was  not as good looking but definitely that is a `must`  for a beautiful looking and  tasting crust.Ok,,now without wasting a minute I should  jot down the  process.
So here you go.....

Now there  is two parts to the process
First ,The cheese making process.(It is  basis of many more sweets  like rasgulla,rasmalai,chenna jhilly,,,etc.)
Second, The Chenna poda baking.

As I will be posting   the other deserts made up of soft cheese so I will keep the  cheese making process separate here.

For making Cheese:

Ingredients:

1. Milk- 4 Litres(I used 4 L this time  coz I was baking in 9X9 inch dish,,this amount  can  varry as per your
     requirements,if baking in a  smaller dish  you can reduce the amount or increase the  amont,,the  more the
     better)
2. Vinegar --1/4 cup
3. Water -- 1 cup(for  diluting the  vinegar )
4. Ice  cube --2-3 cups
5. cheese cloth (to filter the cheese)

Procedure:

                                                                                                                       (Click on the picture to enlarge)

1. Bring the milk to  boil and let  it boil for  2  minutes.
2. Dilute the vinegar with the 1 cup of water.
3. Pour the  diluted vinegar  over the boiling milk slowly....slowly because  the cheese will be  soft
    this way,,,and  when the milk  cuddles and you can see the  water and solid  separated,,turn off the stove and pour the ice cubes  so that the cuddling process stops immediately.
4. Filter through  cheese cloth which will separate the  solids from the liquid.
5. Hang the cheese for 15 minutes to let the water drain out.
Now the cheese  is ready and  this can be used  for   any purpose you  want.I just eat few spoons  at this time,,this fresh cheese tastes  so  good.

Now we will  proceed to the  Chenna poda making process:

Ingredients  for  Chenna poda:

1. Fresh made cheese - 1.5 lbs(may be you  can  use ricotta cheese,,if you don't want to go through the cheese making process.I personally never tried,but the ricotta making process looks very similar.So if  any one tries this alternative,,I would be  happy to hear how it came out)
2. Semolina - 2  tb sp (soaked in  3 tb sp water)
3. Sugar - 1.5 cups(1  cup of sugar  for the  cheese cake  and  1/2  cup for  caramel  that we will  spread at
                               the bottom of the  baking dish )
4. Cardamom powder -1  tsp
5. Raisin --2-3 tb sp
6. Cashew -- 2-3  tb sp
7. Oil/Ghee -1/2  t sp (for  sauteing the  dry fruits)
8. water -1/2  cup for caramel
9. Aluminium Foil - for  covering the  9X9 inch  baking dish

Procedure  for  chenna  poda :

                                                                                           (Click on the picture to enlarge)
1. Pre heat the  oven at 350 degree celcius.
2. Start  with making the caramel.Pour  1/2  cup  sugar and 1/2  cup water in  a saucepan and  make the 
    caramel(For detail you can  refer the  cream caramel  recipe in my  blog,,,
     http://titilating-tastebuds.blogspot.com/2010/03/caramel-flan-cream-caramel.html)
3.Once the caramel is ready,pour it  on the   baking dish .(just try to cover as  much area you  can  spread
   quickly,because it will  get  hard  very  quickly.it  might not  be  very looking at this  point  of time,but when
   you finish  baking ,, this will impart the  flavour to  die  for)
4. Fry the Cashew and raisin in oil/Ghee  until they just  get a light brown colour.
5. Now in a bowl, mix Fresh cheese,Sugar, Cardamom powder,soaked semolina very well and
    knead  for  5-10 minutes.
6.Spread the cheese  mixture on the  baking tray where you  already  have spread the caramel.Level the
   cheese  and cover the baking dish with  aluminum  foil ,make some slits on the foil with a  knife.

7. Bake it for  30-40 minutes  in 350degrees F.
8. Test the  doneness by pricking a toothpick or knife.
9.Let  it cool for sometime and you can munch on it,,It  is also good when chilled.But i prefer warm so if i take it out of freeze  then  microwave for 10-15 secs and it melts in my mouth.

You liked or disliked.or a have a suggestion ...feel free to write back to me...

                                                                                                                         (Click on the picture to enlarge)

* Palak Paneer (Firm Cottage Cheese in spinach gravy )

Poooof,,after a long time I could post this.I apologize for all my blog visitors for this long break.But there is a good reason,too many things happened in a short period of time,had vacation to India,lost my camera and move to the new place..Everything took a lot of my time.Well now I'm on track and I will try my best to post new recipes regularly.
Palak paneer,,one of the most exotic vegan India dishes,,pretty popular in north india,,but rest parts also its well known.I love this dish because of the nutrition value of it and the fact that I love Paneer( firm cottage cheese).Spinach is rich in vitamin C, fiber and flavonoid that functions as antioxidant and anti-cancer agent.Along with that spinach is also a nutritional powerhouse. And ladies,, Spinach is an anti-aging vegetable,,so I like eating more of the stuff than buying antioxidant bottles :)
Here goes the recipe for the ever green Palak Paneer :
Ingredients:

1. Spinach - 1 bunch
2. Paneer (Cottage Cheese) - 200 gms
3. Onion - 1 medium size chopped
4. Tomato - 1 medium size
5. Green chillies -1 or 2 (optional)
6. Ginger garlic paste - 1tbsp
7. Oil/Butter -1 tsp
8. Garlic - 1 clove(for blanching with spinach)
9. Ginger - 1/2 inch minced (for blanching with spinach)
10. Bay leaf - 1
11. Cloves -3
12. Cardamom -1
13. Cumin -1/2 Tsp
14. Nutmeg Powder -1/4 tsp
15. Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp
16. Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp
17. red chilly powder -1/4 tsp (optional)
18. sugar -1/2 tsp (optional,,you can ajust the hotness of red chillies with some sugar)
19. garam masala -1/4 tsp
20.Cream - 2 tb sp (optional for garnishing)

Preparation:

1. Cut paneer in to cubes(In toronto we get Nanak brand paneer in most south Asian stores. They are sold in 1 lb bricks so you need to cube them at home before cooking) and sauté in a non stick pan without adding any oil or butter,just saute it for a few minutes untill the paneer gets a a little browned.Keep it aside.

2. Wash the spinach bunch nicely and just blanch them with the garlic and ginger(The reason for adding some ginger and garlic,,My husband doesn't like the leafy smell in the palak paneer .That was one of the reason why he never used to like this dish).After 5 minutes of blanching the leaves with garlic and ginger.Bleand it very well and keep it aside.

3. Now you are ready to go,In a non-stick pan add 1 tsp Oil/butter.add the whole spices,cumin and green chillies.

4. Add chopped onion,sprinkle some salt.Once the onion is translucent add ginger garlic paste.

5. When you get the smell of cooked ginger garlic paste add chopped tomatoes.After tomatoes get a little softer add cumin powder,corriander powder,chilly powder.If required add a little water in order to avoid the spices to get burnt and cook for 3-4 minutes.

6. Now add the spinach paste you have blended before to the pan.Adjust the salt and if you like add some sugar.Taste and adjust to your taste and let it boil for 5-7 minutes.

7. Add the paneer(cubed and sauted cottage cheese) at this point.

8. Sprinkle soem garam masala,nutmeg powder and stirr in.

9. Garnish with some cream(optional,I didnt have cream today hence omitted that part) for richness and serve with roti/rice.

*Jalebi(deep fried spiral shaped desert deeped in syrup )

Jalebis are one of festive sweets in India.In northern part of India it is served in breakfast also, but rest of India it is a desert.My husband loves this a lot,Today while talking with my in-laws,,jalebi topic came so i though of posting this recipe.It is easy but little tricky.Traditionally they ferment the dough over-night,but here I use yeast for doing the same thing but save some time.It can se served hot or cold.
Here goes the recipe...

Ingredients:

Batter:
1/2 cup All Purpose flour

1 tsp besan (gram flour)

1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp sugar
About 1/3 cup of lukewarm water (as needed)

Syrup:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

Pinch of cardamom powder

Few strands of saffron(optional)

1 teaspoon of lemon juice(to control the cristalization)

Oil for frying

Squeeze bottle



Prparation:

batter:



1. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in luke warm water and let it sit for 5-10 minutes.

2. Mix the al purpose flour,gram flour(besan),oil.

3. Pour the yeast mixture to the flour mixture and make a smooth paste.

4. Let the batter sit for 1 hour.Don't let it over ferment.


Syrup:



1. Boil the water and sugar together 10 minutes.

2. Add cadamom and safron to the water and switch off the flame.



Jalebi making procedure:

1. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying.Test the oil putting a drop of batter.if it floats immediately then the oil is ready for fryingJalebis.

2. Pour the batter in a squeeze bottle as shown in the picture.You can replace the zip lock with a hole in it.But I always use the squeeze bottle.

3. When oil is ready squeeze the batter on hot oil making a spiral shape of 2-3 inch diameter.

4. When the Jalebis are brown on both sides then take it out of oil and deep in syrup for few seconds and serve hot.

Tips: If you like crispy jalebis then add 1 tbsp rice flour to the batter

*Kachori(lentil stuffed puff pastries)

Kachori is one snack that goes very well with tea or any time you can munch on them.They are delicious.I started making it going through Internet 2 years back.Now I love Kachoris a lot,,specially with tamarind chutney It tastes awesome.I'm not a very big fan of deep frying,,and that always stays in the last option for me.But only for this savory snack I'm always more than willing to do some frying :).In any potluck if I have to bring the appetizer most of the time I choose to bring kachori.

To Make 10-12 Kachoris.

Ingredients for crust:

1 cup All Purpose flour ( maida)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tbsp oil
1/2 cup tbsp chilled water

Ingredients for filling:

1/4 cup yellow moong dal (Skinned mung beans )
1 teaspoon coarsely ground fennel seeds (saunf)
1 teaspoon coarsely ground coriander seeds (dhania)
1 teaspoon red chilly flakes
2 teaspoon mango powder (amchoor or you can add chat masala)

1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
Pinch of Asafoetida (hing)
1/2 teaspoon salt (as per your taste)
1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoons water
Oil to deep fry

Preparation:

To make crust:

1.Mix the flour, salt and oil very well.
2.Add the chilled water slowly, mixing with your hand as you pour. Make a very soft dough.
3.Cover the dough and let it sit for at least 15-20 minutes.

To make filling:

1.Dry grind the moong dal (Don't make it fine powder)
2.Mix 1 tbsp of oil and moong dal powder in a frying pan and roast on medium heat for about two to three minutes or dal changes color lightly, stirring constantly.
3.Turn off the heat. Add all the spices and mix it well and let the mixture cool off.
4.Add two tablespoons of warm water and mix it well.
5.Let it sit for 10 minutes and keep it covered.


To make the Kachoris:

1. Take the dough and knead it for a few minutes, and make 10-12 balls of equal size.
2. Take one part of the dough and with your fingers flatten the edges and make into 3-inch circle. Leaving center little thicker then edges around.
3. Place 1 teaspoon of filling in the center. Pull the edges of the dough to wrap the dal filling. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
4. Let the filled ball sit for 3 to 4 minutes before rolling. keep them covered the entire time.
5. Set the kachoris on a surface with the seams facing up. Using the base of your palm, slowly flatten them into about 3 inch circle.
6. Heat about 1 1/2 inch of oil in a frying pan on medium heat. To check if oil is ready put a little piece of dough in the oil, it should sizzle and come up slow.
7. Fry them on medium-low heat. After they start to puff, slowly turn them over.
8. Fry until golden-brown on both sides. If the kachoris are fried on high heat, they will be soft and will not be crispy.

*Gajar ka Halwa(carrot pudding-indian mouth watering desert)

Now it is that time of the year when kids enjoys the treats and 'trick or treat' is a buzz word:) and you can see costumes and black and orange colour all over.Frankly I'm not a big fan of Halloween.But I have been busy decorating for Halloween today at office,,teamwork also means something and it is some fun time at work too.My husband has a potluck in his office ,so though of making some Halloween colour food for his potluck and 'gajar ka halwa' looked just perfect for it.This awesome desert is definitely makes one of the top rated deserts amongst Indians. So here comes the recipe......

Ingredients:

1.Shredded carrots(4 cups-use the manual shredder)
2.milk(3 cups)
3.sugar(1 cup or as per your taste)
4.Khoya(dry whole milk)
4.dry fruits(3/4 cup,I used cashew,pistachio,raisins,almonds)
5.Ghee/ clarified butter(3 tbsp)
6.cardamom powder (1/2 tsp)

preparation:

1.Pressure cook carrot and milk for 1 whistle.
2.In a non-stick pan, heat 2 tb sp ghee and fry the dry fruits till light brown make sure to add the raisin in the end so that tehy don't get burnt.
3 Then add the cooked carrot and milk mixture from the cooker to the pan and saute till the milk completely evaporates
4.Add khoya and cook for another 5 minutes in medium flame.
5.Add remaining 1 tb sp ghee and fold it in .
6.sprinkle the cardamom powder and turn the heat off.
You can serve it hot or cold.
I prefer chilled.
Tips: I pressure cook the carrot because it makes the cooking process faster and the mixture smoother.

*Zafrani Pulav...........

Here is another main dish that I made for diwali party--> Zafrani pulav.It is also known as saffron rice.Initially I thought of making plain rice but got some extra time and though of making this elegant looking aromatic saffron rice. It is festive delicacy of north India. Zafrani Pulav basically belongs to the Nawabi delicacies of India.

Ingredients:

2 cup Basmati Rice (long, grained,I used India gate basmati rice)
1 tsp biryani masala
1/2 tsp shahi zeera
4 tsp butter/ghee
15 Chopped Cashew nuts
10 Chopped almonds
20 raisins
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves
1/2 cup chopped mint leaves
3/4 cup yogurt
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 Chopped onion
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds ripe
1 pinch Saffron
1/4 cup milk for safron
1tsp salt/as per taste

Preparation:

1.Wash rice and soak in just enough water to cover it for half an hour. Drain excess water.
2.To get a wonderful saffron colour:warm up the saffron strands on a spoon on stove top for few seconds, then crush them and add to warm milk ,mix well.Keep it aside.
3.In a pan heat oil , add cumin,fry dry fruits(except the raisins )

4.Once the dry fruits are golden brown ,add onions ,sprinkle some salt and raisins ,saute for few min.

5.Add ginger garlic paste when it leaves good smell then add chopped coriander,mint leaves,yogurt and biryani masala,cook for 2 minutes.
6.Add water to the pan (for each cup of rice add 1.5 cup of water)and when water starts boiling add rice, mix once(don't mix rice often this way the rice will remain whole) and cook covered till the water is almost absorbed and small holes appear on top.Then slow down the flames.
7.Now it is time to add saffron milk mix and pomegranate seeds to add nice colour and aroma to the pulav.Also add little butter cubes on top.
8. Let it steam for another 5 min in low flame and keep it covered for next 5 minutes with the gas switched off.
serve with curries like paneer pasanda which I will post some other time.

*No Bake Mango Pie

Diwali is one festival very close to my heart.It reminds me of my childhood when our family used to sit together in kitchen and make sweets for guests who used to visit us and bring sweets and different savoury.So every year my moms staple for Diwali was gulab jamuns,gujia,home made mixture,suji laddu.More than anything I used to enjoy the Diwali eve,because of the family togetherness.When I go back in time they always seem so special.I really miss Diwali away from my family.Still Diwali keeps a special position in my heart and always will remain so.Well,they are now memories,,,,,sweet memories..
So here comes the new recipes and my first recipe for my blog-Mango pie.The fact that it doesn't have to be baked made it simple make ahead desert and you have time for other dishes on any party day.
This was my first experience of making this desert.I had this desert in one of the party at my friend Divya's place and liked it a lot and got the recipe almost 2 years now :) The reason for delay ,,well it called for sour cream and it is not a staple in my kitchen.So the purchase of sour cream took me two years.So on Diwali party I made this mango pie but was very doubtful if anyone will like it or not.So I didn't serve it on the table.But one friend was not having rasmalai,so i asked her with hesitation if she would like to try some mango pie.And then took it out of the freeze and sliced and it was over within minutes.The wives made sure their husbands had a piece and that's the reason why it was over.And it is worth a try,,,,the fact that it is mango there is a very little chance that you can go wrong with it.
Ingredients:
2 cups Mango puree(I used store bought)
2 sachet unflavoured gelatin(I used Knox gelatin)
1 cup hot water
1 pie crust(I used graham cracker crust-the stored bought,you can make your own by crushing
graham crackers and mixing with butter too)
200 gm of SOUR CREAM :)
2 tb sp cream cheese(I used Philadelphia brand)
3-4 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 t sp strawberry flavour jello(optional red colour just gives it a spark )
3-4 tb sp hot water for strawberry jello

Preparation:
1.Mix 2 sachet of unflavoured gelatin in 1 cup of hot water.let it dissolve completely
2.In a blender pour mango pulp,sour cream,cream cheese,sugar,vanilla essence and blend well until the desired consistency is reached.
3. Fold in the mango mixture in gelatin water mixture and keep it in freeze.
4.After 30 minutes prepare the strawberry jello with 3-4 tb sp hot water.
5.Take the pie out of freeze and pour the strawberry jello water on top to make some design.
and keep it back in freeze it will take 4-6 hours to set completely.
So it is a good idea to make it a day ahead of the time you are planning to have it.