Carrot Kheer

Hi there! Have been busy from past few weeks and havent been able to post recipes for dishes that I have been making. Am back after a fun filled and tiring weekend with another post for a sweet dish on the occasion of Tamil New Year...
எல்லோருக்கும் இனிய தமிழ் புத்தாண்டு நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள் :)

INGREDIENTS:

Carrots: 8-10 nos.
Cashews: 10-15 (whole)
Sugar: 2 cups (adjust as per your taste)
Milk: 2 small glasses
Cardamom powder: 1 tsp
Cinnamon stick: 1/4 inch
Cloves: 3-4 nos.
Ghee: 1 tblspn
Cashews (broken) and Raisins: 2 tblspns

METHOD:

Soak the whole cashews in warm milk for atleast 15 mins.

Pressure cook the carrots. Grind the carrots and cashews into a smooth paste in a mixer.

Boil the milk in a thick bottomed vessel and add the sugar.

Add the carrot and cashew paste. Add the cinnamon stick and cloves into this and boil for about 3-5 mins.

Remove from heat and add the cardamom powder.

The cinnamon stick and cloves were added just for flavour and you can remove this from the kheer now (just spoon them out).

Garnish with the cashews and raisins roasted in ghee.

Delicious carrot kheer is ready.

May the New Year bring you loads of Happiness, Prosperity and Good fortune....
Ciao till next time...Have fun! Vidya.

Apple Rabadi

Rabadi or rabri is a kind of pudding made with milk and is one of the easiest Indian desserts. There are several variations for this dish. One such variation is with apples.

Prep Time: 45 mins

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS:

Whole Milk: 3 glasses

Condensed milk: 1 cup

Sugar: 4 tbspns

Dessert apple: 1 medium sized

Cardamom powder: 1 tsp

Almonds: 10-12 nos

METHOD:

In a heavy bottomed pan heat the milk on a low flame. Add the sugar and keep stirring occasionally till it reduces to half. 

You can use any dessert apple; I used washington red apples. Peel and grate the apple. Add the apple and the condensed milk. Mix well. Boil just once after adding apple and remove from heat. 

Add the cardamom powder.  Garnish with blanched and sliced almonds and serve.

Ciao till next time...Have fun! Vidya.

Mango Kesari

Kesari is a sweet dish made of rava. It can be made plain or with any of the fruits like banana, mango or pineapple.

I had a lot of mango pulp and decided to make mango kesari. 

Prep. time: 15-20 mins

Makes 3-4 cups.

INGREDIENTS:

Rava (sooji): 2 cups

Mango pulp: 1 cup

Sugar: 1 1/2 to (2 cups if you have a sweet tooth)

Ghee: 3/4 cup

Milk: 3 cups

Water: 1/2 cup

Mango essence: a few drops (optional)

Cardamom: 2 nos. (optional)

Cashews and Raisins for garnishing (optional)

METHOD:

Heat a heavy bottomed pan and add two spoons of ghee.

Roast the cashews and raisins and keep aside.

In the same pan, add the rest of the ghee. When melted, add the rava and roast till light golden brown.

Add the milk and water and mix well without lumps. (Some recipes suggest boiling the water/milk first and adding the rava to it. I prefer this way since it doesnt give any scope for lumps.)

Cover with a lid on a low-medium flame till the rava is cooked.

Next add the sugar and mix well. Add the mango pulp, essence and cardamom and mix well.

All the ingredients will combine well and you will see the ghee seperate a bit at the sides. 

Your mango kesari is ready. 

Garnish with cashews and raisins and serve hot.

Ciao till next time...Have fun! Vidya.

Crescent Danish Rolls

Had a can of pillsbury dough sheet which I had to finish and was bored of the regular vegetable filling for the same. I found this recipe for Danish rolls on the dough can. 

INGREDIENTS:

For the Rolls:

Pillsbury crescant rolls/ dough sheet: 1 can

Shipped cream cheese: 1 cup

Powdered sugar: 1/2 cup

Lemon: 2 tblsp

Any Jam/ Fruit preserves: 4 tspn

For the glaze:

Powdered sugar: 1/2 cup

Vanilla extracts: 1 tsp

Milk: 2-3 tspns

METHOD: 

Preheat the oven to 350 F. 

Mix the cream cheese, lemon and sugar in a bowl, whip together and keep aside.

Spread the dough sheet and cut them to 8 pieces.

On each piece, place about 2 tablespoons of the cream mixture and roll it on the longer edge and seal it completely.

Stretch the rolls a little bit and then coil them into spirals.

In the middle place about 1/2 a tspn of jam or preserve in each piece.

Bake till they are golden brown (about 25-30 mins).

In the mean time, make the glaze by mixing the sugar, vanilla and milk. 

Add sufficient milk to make a drizzling consistency. 

Once baked, use a fork to drizzle the glaze on the warm rolls.

Kids will love this and will serve as a good snack for them.

Do not glaze when hot, this would melt the sugar in the glaze (I did it when the rolls were not cooled enough and the drizzle wasnt up to the mark).

One variation for this would be to make plain rolls and spread a layer of jam and sprinkle roasted pistachios and other nuts of your choice on it.

There can be several flavours for this and imagination is the limit.

Ciao till next time...Have fun! Vidya.

Date and Nut Roll

Here is a sweet that doesnt use much of ghee or sugar!

So people who are health conscious would love this. Plus its so simple to make unlike many other sweets!

INGREDIENTS:

500 gms Dates pitted and chopped
200 gms unsalted almonds roughly chopped
200gms unsalted pistachios
1tsp poppy seeds1tbslp ghee/ butter

METHOD:

Heat a little ghee in a heavy bottomed pan and seperately roast the chopped almonds, pistachios and poppy seeds and keep them aside

Heat the remaining ghee and add the pitted and chopped dates and keep stirring under low flame until it melts. It will take about 10-15 mins

Add the roasted nuts and mix well

Cool the mixture slightly and then make chapathi-like layers out of it

Roll them into logs and roll them over the poppy seeds (to get an outer coverng of poppy seeds)

Refridgerate for about 45-60 mins

Cut them into slices and serve.

Hope you like it!

Ciao till next time...Have fun!! Vidya.

Vanakkam!

Hi all...

From quite some time I wanted to start a food blog. Though not a professional at this, I am passionate about cooking and trying new recipes.

All that I post here are those that come out well for me. Its just a compilation of all the recipes that I learn from various people.

So to start with, a sweet dish, my favourite, Gajar ka Halwa!! :)

Ingredients:

Fresh Shredded carrot - 2 cups

Milk - 1 1/2 cup

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Cardamom powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Ghee - 4 tablespoons
Khoa - 2 tablespoon

Cashews and raisins to garnish

Saffron (optional)

Method:

Roast the cashews and raisins with ghee and keep them aside.

In a pan, add 3 tblsp ghee and once it melts, add the carrot and saute for a few minutes till there is no raw smell of carrot.

Add milk and cover with a lid. Cook the carrot on a low-to-medium flame (for about 10 mins).

Once the carrot is well cooked add the sugar and saute.

When the sugar melts and the halwa starts leaving the sides, add the powdered cardamom, khoa, saffron dissolved in a little milk.

Garnish with the roasted cashews and raisins.

Khoa adds the flavour for this halwa. If it is not available, you can also use doodh peda! ;)

Ciao till next time! Have fun...Vidya!