Savouring Kulfi : Indian frozen dessert

We placed an order for our last round of dessert in a fancy restaurant in Mumbai. The waiter arrived balancing the four plates on his hands. These white plates had a royal red border on the edge with beautiful thin veils all round it. The centre it seemed was reserved only for this shahi frozen dessert: Kulfi.

It arrived as a slender square slab cut in smaller cubes (for the ease of eating). With the spoon I popped a cube in my mouth and the chill felt as though the Himalayan show was crushing in my mouth. Slowly its flavours started releasing. First bit dense sweet dairy particles followed by flavours of saffron, cardamom and gulkand (rose petal jam). I let it stay on the edge of my tongue and let the liquid drip down my oesophagus. Within seconds it disappeared leaving a lingering taste and temptation to have more.

I had the second cube. This time I bit it. Suddenly the ice crystals in the kulfi gave numbing sense to my teeth. It was amusing to imagine how these tiny ice crystals in the kulfi were teasing my taste palate.

I swear I meant to stop after five spoons but somehow in minutes the white plate was empty with just few milky saffron drops here and there (which I wiped clean with my finger J )

‘The discovery of a new dish confers more happiness on humanity, than the discovery of a new star.’ ~ Brillat Savarin

 
It struck me: how long its been since I had it last? A few years ago the kulfiwallas (local Kulfi sellers) were everywhere. Then just as suddenly they just disappeared. A good Kulfi is an absolute delight. A perfect closure to a meal. Vowing I would never again leave my kulfi cravings to the whims of restaurant fashion, I determined to make it myself.

It is a make ahead dessert. The process is simple. Reduce milk to half or 1/3^rd depending on what the recipe calls for. To fasten the process and increase its density, external thickeners (condensed milk, cornflour, milk powder, almond and rice flour) can be used. Having tried various thickeners and reduction points, i prefer reducing it to half and adding 2 tbsp of milk powder to 1 litre milk for additional dense milky taste. Add flavours of your choice and freeze them in your choice moulds for minimum 6 hours.

Unmould them to serve.

Eggless chocolate cake with chocolate nutella frosting

Hey Hello there.. Well I may just as well admit that inspite of my new year resolution is to focus on healthy eating, i have been hogging on.. how to put it... all possible unhealthy, fitness enthusiasts-will-be shocked stuff. How could I say no to those fluffy puff pastries, cakes, sweets, fast food... and the list goes on.

Today was just one of those days when I guess my cravings were so bad that i ended up baking a 2 tier cake. I did try preparing a basic frosting before. The quantity of butter and sugar tends to be so high that i couldn't go back to try another.

But then i wasn't going to finish off the whole cake myself (i would love to.. trust me) and here I am sharing my first every 2 tier eggless chocolate cake with chocolate nutella frosting.

Recipe:

Prep time for cake:15 minutes for each cake

Baking time for  cake: 20 minutes each

Prep time for frosting: 10 minutes

Beating time for frosting: 7 minutes

Serves : 8-10

Eggless Chocolate cake: (for 1 cake)

225 gms all purpose flour

3 tbsp coco powder

1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda bi-carb
200gms condensed milk/ sweetened evaporated milk 

60 ml melted butter
1 tsp vanilla essence

50 ml sprite / 7 up / coke / water

2 tsp dalda for greasing

Process

 Pre-heat the oven at 180C.  Grease a 7 inch tin with dalda. Sieve all the dry ingredients and keep aside. Except 50 ml liquid (aerated drink or water), combine all the wet ingredients condensed milk, melted butter, vanilla essence mix well. Now add the prepared dry ingredients along with the 50 ml liquid and mix gently with help of a spatula. The batter should be of dropping consistency.

Pour the prepared cake batter into the greased tin and spread it evenly. Bake in the pre-heated oven at 180oc (360of) 20 minutes or till done. The cake is ready when it leaves the sides of the tin and is springy to touch. When ready, remove from the oven, invert the tin over a plate and tap sharply to unmould the sponge.

Keep aside to cool. Repeat the process for the 2^nd cake.

 

Nutella Cloud Frosting*  

Ingredients
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups premium bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
2/3 cup Nutella
2 tablespoon milk
pinch of salt

( i halved this recipe. it was more than enough)

Directions
In a medium bowl, beat together the butter and sifted confectioners sugar for about 1 minute.  Add the vanilla, and beat on low for another 30 seconds. Add the melted and slightly cooled chocolate and beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes, until smooth. Add the Nutella, milk, and a pinch of salt, and beat on medium-high speed for another minute.

 

Source : sunnysideupsd

Sugar syrup:

half cup regular sugar 

1 cup water

Dissolve the sugar in the water and keep aside

Assembling the cake

Process

Once the cakes have cooled down completely, slice the cakes horizontally in 2 layers. Place one half of one cake on the cardboard cake round ( i did this on an inverted steel place as i was out of cardboard). Sprinkle  1/3 of the sugar syrup over the entire surface. Top with a good heaping spoonful of frosting and spread to the edges. Repeat with the next 2 layers (sugar syrup then the frosting)

Place the 4th and final cake layer on the top. Frost the top and sides and with the remainder of the frosting. Finally you can make it playful by using colorful sprinklers.

Refrigerate the cake if not consuming it instantly. Bets if eaten in 2 days.

Et voila .... the cake is ready to be served.

Green chilli bhajias or poppers

Looking for quick fuss free appetizers with few ingredients? Green chilli poppers are a must try. These are long green chillies that you get in abundance especially during winters and are not at all spicy. Select nice stiff and crunchy chillies for this. Only then it gives a nice flavor.

Goes by the name of Bhavnagari chillies, These can be fried with or without the stuffing. Peanut, sesame mix / tamarind with coconut or cheese stuffing tastes very well. Depending on your taste you can experiment with other fillings as well. These chilli poppers are a specialty of Marwadi cuisine in India. Generally served with sweet n sour dip. It literally take 5 minutes to put together the batter, stuffing and say another 5 minutes to fry them. They get fried pretty quick. Tastes great when hot. Sprinkle some chat masala on these poppers while serving.



Recipe
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Servings: 12
Source: tarladalal

 
Ingredients

12 Bhavnagari chillies

Batter

1 1/2 cups besan (Bengal gram flour)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp curds (dahi)
salt to taste
oil for deep frying

Stuffing1/2 cup peanuts
1 1/2 tbsp sesame seeds (til)
2 tsp dried mango powder (amchur)
3/4 tsp salt

 

To serve

1 tbsp chat masala  

1 cup sweet and sour chutney/dip 

 

Method

1. Heat water to a rolling boil, along with one teaspoon of salt
2. Now, add the clean green chilies to the hot water, stir and let stay for one minute
3. Remove the green chilies and drain on a paper towel. Discard the water.
4. Mix the ingredients for stuffing and grind in a blender until smooth by adding some water
5. The consistency should be that of very thick yogurt. It should not be of dripping consistency
6. Make a slit, lengthwise, along three fourth of the chili's length and remove the seeds and fill in the stuffing
7. Mix well the flour, baking soda, salt, yogurt and a little water to make a thick batter
8. Heat oil in a skillet, dip the chilies in the batter and drop gently in the oil.
9. Deep fry the chilies, occasionally turning, until they are golden yellow in color

 

 Serve warm with chat masala and sweet and sour dip.
 

Oats and dried fruits nuggets

Do you wonder what if .. just what if sweets and healthy food went hand in hand. Gobble down how much ever you want without worrying about the calorie. Here is the dessert/ sweet morsel/ mithai that everyone in my family loves. Oats and dried fruits nuggets.

Although I have used dates, apricots, raisins and pistachio, you can use any other dried fruit of your choice. Do not replace dates as they help in binding together the nuggets. I have tried dried cranberries, blueberries instead of apricot and raisins. They too give a food flavor. These nuggets will last maximum for a week. Store them in cold area.

Recipe: Oats and dried fruits nuggets

Prep time: 15 mins

Cooking time: 10 mins

Servings: 15 medium sized nuggets

Ingredients

200 gms oats

50gms Dates

100 gms Apricot

50gms Raisins

2 tbsp crushed pistachio

1 tbsp flax seeds

1 tbsp dried sunflower seeds

1/2 cup roasted sesame seeds/ poppy seeds/ non roasted dessicated coconut

Process

 - Dry roast oats, pistachio, flax seeds and sunflower seeds separately on low heat

 - Chop dates, apricot and raisins finely or grind them coarsely in the mixer

 - Grind finely oats, flax seeds and sunflower seeds together in the mixer

 - Mix all the ingredients together to represents a dough except sesame seeds / poppy seeds / dessicated coconut

  - Shape them into nuggets of any size you wish

 -  Roll them in sesame seeds/ poppy seeds/ dessicated coconut

 - You can apply little oil / ghee to your palm if its difficult to roll out the nuggets

P.S. : If you like chocolate, replace few grams of oats with coco powder

Try it on... You might just get addicted.

Cashew nut roll and New Beginnings

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”  - Edith Sitwell

 Winter has finally settled here in India with markets full of freshest produce of the  season. I’ve been whipping something or the other since the beginning of the year that now I have almost lost track of the recipes. My technology skills also got a thorough workout recently, after many hours of  reading up on the blog world, I’m proud to say I finally have a collective space to store my thoughts and images, and a reason to start with marathon cooking in the kitchen and behind the lens.

I was unsure about my first entry. I thought of sharing traditional Indian cuisine or probably a cake. But then I settled down to this cashew nut roll. This recipes was shared with me by aunt last year. I have been eying to make this since long but could never get around to actually making it. I feel little scarred of traditional Indian sweets. I tend to so wrong with the process of making the sugar syrup. But then I did wanted to make something sweet for the New Beginning and also something i havent tried before so that i could share my first time experience here. So I settled on something a little more approachable.

Ingredients

1 cup milk
1 cup semolina
1/2 cup powdered cashew nut
1 n 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 ghee
 2 tbsp crushed pistachio 

Process

 - Melt ghee in a think bottomed pan on a slow gas. Add sugar, milk and stir for a few minutes 

 - Add semolina and cashew nut powder. Mix it well till soft paste is formed            ( about 3 minutes)

 - Remove it from the gas and keep on stirring till it cools down. The paste will  automatically star to in the process of cooling down

 - Apply some ghee to your palms and roll the thick paste into desired shape

 

Do try it out. And keep me posted on your adventures.

Ciao