Desserts

Qatayef with Qishta Karsan Recipe | Middle Eastern Street Food

April 20, 2018 By manjulabharathkumar@gmail.com

Qatayef or Katayef is a middle eastern pancake dessert filled with pastry cream. This dessert is a famous middle eastern delicacy which served for Iftar during the ramadan fast. Every Iftar table will sure have this yummy delight to break the fast and get back the energy. These pancakes may look like any other pancake but they taste completely different. As a dessert they are so yummy and attractive as well. Katayef are prepared many ways and with different fillings in each middle eastern country. It tastes divine and so addictive. I have seen this in a street food show and came to know that they also made in the streets during ramadan. Like seasonal foods you can find these desserts made only during Ramadan either made at home or even sold in the streets.

I always have a hard time deciding the letter q, and am so glad to had found this recipe from here. These mini pancakes stuffed with cream pastry filling is a perfect dessert if you have a big sweet tooth, When I saw these first I was sure I have to make them as they looked so wonderful and I was sure they tasted divine as well, Indeed they do. I have followed the recipe as given with not a much of tweaking in the pancakes. For cream I made home made ricotta cheese ( Paneer + Milk) , the cream filling was a super hit. I made the fried version of qatayef as well with almonds and sugar filling they tastes delicious too. Can’t believe it is just 8 more days to complete the marathon. I have been doing my regular cooking plus cooking for the marathon almost the same day it is so much fun. Hope you all are enjoying as well. Now let me quickly move to the recipe.

Q for Qatayeb with Qishta Karsan

Recipe Source : Xawaash

Ingredients

For Pancakes

All purpose Flour – 1 cup
Fine semolina/ sooji – 1 cup
Dry Instant Yeast – 1/2 tsp
Sugar – 2 1/2 tbsp
Salt – 1/4 tsp
Baking Powder – 1 tsp
Water – 2 1/2 cups

For White Pastry Cream

Milk – 1 cup
Ricotta cheese – 1 cup ( 1 cup crumbled Paneer + 1/4 cup Milk )
Sugar – 3 tbsp
Corn starch – 3 tbsp
Butter – 2 tbsp ( Melted)
Orange Extract- few drops
Icing Sugar – For dusting

For Syrup

Sugar – 2 cups
Water – 1 cup
Lemon juice – 1 tsp
Rose essence – few drops

For Garnish

Pistachios- Few Crushed

Method

For Pancakes

In a mixing bowl combine All purpose flour, Semolina, instant yeast,sugar,salt, baking pd and Mix well.
Add water and form a smooth batter , cover and let it rest for 30 mins.
After it gets 30 mins proofing time , Mix the batter well.
Heat a pan , slightly grease it and Pour 2 tbsp of the batter to form a circle.
These pancake are cooked just one side, Cook the pancakes till the pores are formed and the top dries out.
Cook the pancakes and place it in a napkin/ Kitchen cloth covered . This step is so important as to keep the pan cakes from getting dried.
Do the same to the rest of the batter and place them in kitchen cloth.Once they cool down transfer them to a ziploc.

For White Pastry Cream

In a pan Mix milk, corn starch,sugar and ricotta cheese.
Turn on the flame and cook them mixing constantly till they thicken up.
Once it starts thickening add butter and mix the cream well.
Turn of the heat and add rose essence to the cream and Mix well.
Dust some Icing sugar on top to avoid drying out in the top
Transfer it to a bowl after it cools down Refrigerate the cream till needed.

For Sugar Syrup

In a sauce pan heat sugar and water till they dissolve .
Add lemon juice and cook the syrup till it thickens up slightly.
Turn of the flame add rose essence and mix.

To Proceed

Using a spoon scoop a tsp of the white pastry and place it over the cooked pancakes.
Seal the corners of the pancakes by pressing the edges together till 2/3 rd of the pancake.
Sprinkle some crushed Pistachios over the open side of the cream.
Pour some syrup on top and enjoy

5.0 from 9 reviews

Qatayef with Qishta Karsan Recipe | Middle Eastern Street Food

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Prep time

1 hour

Cook time

1 hour

Total time

2 hours

Qatayef / Katayef is a mini pancake filled with white pastry filling, they are made is different variations. These are ramadan desserts made for Iftar table.

Author: Manjula Bharath

Recipe type: Street Food Recipes

Cuisine: Middle Eastern Cuisine

Serves: 20

Ingredients

For Pancakes
All purpose Flour - 1 cup
Fine semolina/ sooji - 1 cup
Dry Instant Yeast - ½ tsp
Sugar - 2½ tbsp
Salt - ¼ tsp
Baking Powder - 1 tsp
Water - 2½ cups
For White Pastry Cream
Milk - 1 cup
Ricotta cheese - 1 cup ( 1 cup crumbled Paneer + ¼ cup Milk )
Sugar - 3 tbsp
Corn starch - 3 tbsp
Butter - 2 tbsp ( Melted)
Orange Extract- few drops
Icing Sugar - For dusting
For Syrup
Sugar - 2 cups
Water - 1 cup
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Rose essence - few drops
For Garnish
Pistachios- Few Crushed

Instructions

For Pancakes
In a mixing bowl combine All purpose flour, Semolina, instant yeast,sugar,salt, baking pd and Mix well.
Add water and form a smooth batter , cover and let it rest for 30 mins.
After it gets 30 mins proofing time , Mix the batter well.
Heat a pan , slightly grease it and Pour 2 tbsp of the batter to form a circle.
These pancake are cooked just one side, Cook the pancakes till the pores are formed and the top dries out.
Cook the pancakes and place it in a napkin/ Kitchen cloth covered . This step is so important as to keep the pan cakes from getting dried.
Do the same to the rest of the batter and place them in kitchen cloth.Once they cool down transfer them to a ziploc.
For White Pastry Cream
In a pan Mix milk, corn starch,sugar and ricotta cheese.
Turn on the flame and cook them mixing constantly till they thicken up.
Once it starts thickening add butter and mix the cream well.
Turn of the heat and add rose essence to the cream and Mix well.
Dust some Icing sugar on top to avoid drying out in the top
Transfer it to a bowl after it cools down Refrigerate the cream till needed.
For Sugar Syrup
In a sauce pan heat sugar and water till they dissolve .
Add lemon juice and cook the syrup till it thickens up slightly.
Turn of the flame add rose essence and mix.
To Proceed
Using a spoon scoop a tsp of the white pastry and place it over the cooked pancakes.
Seal the corners of the pancakes by pressing the edges together till ⅔ rd of the pancake.
Sprinkle some crushed Pistachios over the open side of the cream.
Pour some syrup on top and enjoy

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Orange Sondesh Recipe | Orange Sandesh | Orange Rasmalai ~ Bengali Sweets

April 18, 2018 By manjulabharathkumar@gmail.com

Orange sondesh is a variation of the popular bengali sondesh. Sondesh or sandesh is a milk sweet made by heat the milk and curdling it to form Chenna, is then drained and kneaded with sugar and flavoring. The non cooked versions of sondesh is called Kacha golla which literally means raw ball which is most common kind prepared at every household there , there can be a elaborate cooked versions of sondesh too. The no cook sondesh is not my kind as I some how don’t like the raw taste of chenna in it so I usually cook my sandesh when ever I make. At school we learned to make the non cooked versions and giving it a few variations like one of them was chocolate sandesh stuffed in the regular sandesh ( which is most popularly called as vino sandesh in the internet ) I will post my own version of it some day. I love giving a fruit flavor to our traditional Indian sweets it just make the dish more interesting and taste unique and yummy..I wanted to do this for so long and am so glad to have joined mega Bm this month, this theme just made me do what I was postponing to do so long.

Today am here with two amazing bengali sweets but with a twist, I love developing recipes and it gives me more happiness when I post them. In the morning when I was doing my regular cooking I had decided that for O I will go for Orange recipe, so after all the thinking I just started executing it. The Orange Rasmalai = Orange Rasgulla + Orange Rabdi was my equation to bring up something different. Morning I started my cooking thinking I would post the rasmalai recipe today but changed my mind and thought I should do some justice to them doing a separate post. I will post the recipe in a separate post for now lets come back to sondesh. I have made a cooked version of sondesh with orange flavors infused in them . I made My sondesh with ricotta cheese , No need to make chenna this is just that easy. Just mix in all the Ingredients and yeah little patience is sure required to make and shape them. You can shape them as you like , I tried to shaped them like an orange but my daughter kept telling me “Mama the shape looks like a pumpkin” :p he he so I stopped made the rest in the mold. My lil one is a super choosy and she got so attracted to these that she couldn’t resist to taste them. I usually enjoy shaping any sweets , so this was a fun task for me. Lets Move on to the recipe real quick..

O for Orange Sondesh and Orange Rasmalai

Theme ~ Indian Sweets

Ingredients

Ricotta cheese -14 Oz
Condensed Milk – 1 tin
Icing sugar – 2 tbsp ( optional)
Heavy cream – 1/2 cup
Orange juice – 1/2 cup
Orange extract – Few drops
Orange Food color – Few drops
Saffron – For garnish
Pistachios – For garnish
Ghee – For greasing the molds (optional)

Method

In a pan pour in ricotta cheese, condensed milk,Icing sugar,heavy cream and mix them well.
In low flame with constant stirring cook the mixture till it boils well and starts popping bubbles.
Add orange juice,orange extract to the mixture and keep stirring.
It needs little patience and constant stirring is must if not done it might burn from the bottom.
Cook the Mixture till it leaves the corner of the pan and starts forming a mass.
Transfer this to a greased plate and let it cool a bit.
When it cools down but still warm to touch knead it well. Grease sondesh molds with ghee.
Shape the sondesh as you like or use a sondesh mold to give some embellishment.
I also tried to give my sondesh a orange shape with a clove on top for the branch and pistachios acting like a leaf.
Shape your sondesh garnish it with some saffron strands and pistachios. Enjoy !!

5.0 from 10 reviews

Orange Sondesh Recipe | Orange Sandesh | Orange Rasmalai ~ Bengali Sweets

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

45 mins

Orange Sandesh is a variation of bengali sandesh with orange flavor infused in it. This is just melt mouth kind of cooked sandesh.

Author: Manjula Bharath

Recipe type: Indian Sweets

Cuisine: Bengali Cuisine

Serves: 15

Ingredients

Ricotta cheese -14 Oz
Condensed Milk - 1 tin
Icing sugar - 2 tbsp ( optional)
Heavy cream - ½ cup
Orange juice - ½ cup ( Fresh juice)
Orange extract - Few drops
Orange Food color - Few drops
Saffron - For garnish
Pistachios - For garnish
Ghee - For greasing the molds (optional)

Instructions

In a pan pour in ricotta cheese, condensed milk,Icing sugar,heavy cream and mix them well.
In low flame with constant stirring cook the mixture till it boils well and starts popping bubbles.
Add orange juice,orange extract to the mixture and keep stirring.
It needs little patience and constant stirring is must if not done it might burn from the bottom.
Cook the Mixture till it leaves the corner of the pan and starts forming a mass.
Transfer this to a greased plate and let it cool a bit.
When it cools down but still warm to touch knead it well. Grease sondesh molds with ghee.
Shape the sondesh as you like or use a sondesh mold to give some embellishment.
I also tried to give my sondesh a orange shape with a clove on top for the branch and pistachios acting like a leaf.
Shape your sondesh garnish it with some saffron strands and pistachios. Enjoy !!

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Dulce De Leche Chocolate Truffle | Chocolate Truffles Recipe

March 5, 2018 By manjulabharathkumar@gmail.com

Raining truffles here… I am here with another super addictive truffle. Dulce de leche is my favorite to relish by itself, But I thought to combine this sinful dessert with chocolate and make soft and smooth truffles.After a long time, I took out my instant pot to make this delicious dessert, this creamy caramelized sauce is so sinful by itself. Traditionally it takes more than an hour to cook a perfectly colored dulce de leche, but it only took 45 mins to make these in the Instant Pot.

I have exploded a can of condensed milk years back when I tried them for the first time. Making it in the Instant Pot was a breeze.
I love making chocolate ganache truffles, so thought why not I make a dulce de leche chocolate truffles the same way. The consistency of the truffle depends on how thick your dulce de leche is. You can either coat them with cocoa pd or coat them with candy melts. These melt in the mouth, rich truffles are sinful dessert to indulge for sure. Diving into the recipe without further adieu. Am loading this post with more captures I know, I am out words and want you to virtually enjoy these yummy treats.

Dulce De Leche Chocolate Truffles

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Prep time

24 hours

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

24 hours 15 mins

These are melt in mouth truffles made with two sinful ingredients. Dulce de leche and chocolate make these truffles sinfully addictive and you won't stop having just one.

Author: Manjula Bharath

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: International Cuisine

Serves: 20

Ingredients

For Dulce de Leche

Condensed Milk- 1 can

For Truffles

Chocolate Chips - 2½ cups
Heavy Cream - ½ cup
Dulce de leche - 1 can
Chocolate candy melts - 1 cup ( for coating)
Cocoa pd - To Coat

Instructions

How To Make Dulce De Leche In the Instant Pot

Remove the label from the condensed milk, check if there is an opening or damage ( as we are cooking in a pressure cooker it can be hazardous ).
Place the condensed milk in the instant pot.
Pour water until the can is fully submerged in water.
Turn the knob to seal mode on the lid of the instant pot.
Cook in manual mode high pressure for 40 -45 minute.
I left the can in low for 25 minutes.
Once the pressure goes down open the lid.
Leave it open till the water cools down.
Remove the can and refrigerate it without opening this becoz the tin might be hot from inside still.
After the can cool down completely open and tada dulce de leche is ready.

How To make truffles

In a bowl put the chocolate chips and keep it ready.
In a saucepan put the dulce de leche and cream.
Turn on the heat to medium, Mix the mixture using a ladle or whisk till smooth.
Once you see small bubbles popping from the sides, turn off the heat.
Your dulce de leche ganache is ready.
Now pour the hot dulce de leche and cream mixture on the chocolate chips.
Whisk them well till all the chocolate melts down and the mixture looks smooth shiny in texture.
Cover the bowl with a cling wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
After the mixture becomes firm, using a scoop or a spoon make equal sized balls.
You can dust your hands with cocoa pd or grease them with butter.So that it is easy to roll the balls.
Place the balls on a tray, cling wrap it and store in the fridge for 30 more minutes.
After 30 minutes melt the candy melts in a microwave for 30 seconds or use a double boiler method to melt them.
Take each ball and drop it in the melted chocolate. Coat them from all sides.
Using a fork tap the balls and remove the excess chocolate.
Place all the chocolate covered truffle on a parchment paper lined tray.
Do the same for rest of the truffles, drizzle some melted chocolate on top of each chocolate covered truffles or just coat the truffle balls with cocoa pd.
Refrigerate the truffles or leave them at room temperature until the chocolate sets well.
Enjoy this addictive truffle, store them in a refrigerator for 3 days.

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Classic Brigadeiro – Brazilian Chocolate Truffles

March 4, 2018 By manjulabharathkumar@gmail.com

Brigadeiro is a classic Brazilian delicacy which is made with 3 easy to find ingredients and the preparation is as simple as could be. According to wiki, it was created in 1940’s. This is again very easy to make no bake truffle recipe which tastes gooey and dense. I made these twice, The first time I made and my daughter couldn’t resist till I clicked so it was her treat and the light played hide and seek so gave up to photograph them. The second time I made again the light played with me and ended up shooting it in low light condition, But I had to. Hope I have done justice to this deliciousness.

I am a big time chocolate lover and I assure you won’t stop just by having one of these beautiful truffles. The beauty is when these perfectly shaped truffles placed on the cupcake liner and you see them from sideways, you should see the perfect dome shape on the top. The Trick is cooking them perfectly not too less or not too long. This classic Brazilian delicacy is most famous candy in Brazil served in parties. It is can me had without rolling them in any kind of sprinkles or nuts. This addictive truffle had to be included in my theme this week for BM ” All that come round are ladoos”. Though I first thought to make Indian ladoos, it was a nice chance for me to experiment all the international dishes that looks like ladoos. So here is my classic Brigadeiro Recipe, Hope someday I make a Gourmet brigadeiro sweet box this is my future project :)…

Classic Brigadeiro - Brazilian Chocolate Truffles

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Prep time

45 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

55 mins

These Brazilian truffles are easy to make and perfect gooey treats to indulge anytime. They are rolled in chocolate sprinkles traditionally but can be rolled with nuts, coconut or any sprinkles of your choice.

Author: Manjula Bharath

Serves: 10

Ingredients

Sweetened Condensed Milk - 1 can ( 14 OZ)
Cocoa pd - 3-4 tbsp
Butter - 2 tbsp
Salt - A pinch
Chocolate sprinkle - To coat

Instructions

Take a saucepan, Mix condensed milk, cocoa pd, butter.
Keep the heat medium and stir it constantly ( otherwise it will burn from the bottom) with a wooden ladle until the mixture thickens.
To find the correct consistency just scrape the wooden ladle in middle of the pan and the mixture should take time to move back to its the place .
The mixture will thicken in few minutes and leave the sides of the pan.
Transfer the chocolate mixture to a tray and cool it down to room temperature.
After it comes to room temperature cling wrap and store it in the refrigerator for an hour so that it firms up faster.
In a plate pour the chocolate sprinkle.
Use a teaspoon and scoop some of the chocolate mixtures and make equal sized balls.
Roll each ball in the chocolate sprinkles and place them on a mini cupcake liner or a plate.
Store them in a tight container for a week.

Brigadeiro | Brazilian Chocolate Truffles

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Orange Creamsicle Truffles| No Bake White Chocolate Truffles

March 3, 2018 By manjulabharathkumar@gmail.com

Orange creamsicle truffles are easy to make and no-bake version of making a yummy truffle with the orange flavor to it. I love making chocolate truffles a lot and have made many truffles when I found this on Pinterest I couldn’t resist to give it a try. These add soft melt in mouth kind of truffles, My hubby said it tastes like the Indian orange mittai. These a super simple way to make truffles but yet delicious in taste. I always have stock of oranges as we drink a lot of freshly squeezed orange juice, so gave this a truffle a try. The only this is I didn’t have any orange food color so used yellow just a drop, you can skip it if. Apart from melting the chocolate in low temperature without burning, you can’t go wrong in this recipe. The taste of orange and chocolate marry so well and make you close your eye and enjoy 🙂 This is how my hubby reviewed these.

I am so glad to blog after a long break, had taken a super long break but didn’t stop cooking and trying new innovations though. Starting the first recipe post of 2018 with this melt in mouth no bake truffles. I spent more than an hour to photograph these, though recipe looks simple it was really challenging to photograph. Hope I have done justice to this yumminess. For people who follow my insta who guessed what I was about to shoot in my stories, revealing time – these are ones I shot. For this week’s BM theme I chose ” All that come round are ladoos”. The first thing came to my mind was why not truffles as they are round in shape and looks like ladoos. read more here

Recipe adapted from cooking classy

Orange Creamsicle Truffles

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

20 mins

Author: Manjula Bharath

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 5

Ingredients

White chocolate bar ( chopped) - 1½ cup
Orange extract - ½ tsp
Orange zest - 2 tbsp
Butter - ¼ cup
Heavy cream - 4 tbsp
Confectionery sugar or powdered sugar - ½ cup
Orange or yellow food color ( optional)

Instructions

Take the chopped chocolate in a clean bowl and melt it either in the microwave or use double boiler method as I did.
To melt the chocolate in double boiler method, boil water in a saucepan and place the bowl with chopped chocolates on the sauce.
See to that the chocolate doesn't have direct contact with the water. As it may ruin the chocolate (you know the rule chocolate and water are enemies).
Keep stirring the chocolate until they melt completely. once the chocolate is all melted, keep them to cool a bit.
Meanwhile, heat a saucepan add butter and melt it.
Add the orange zest and saute them for few seconds.
Lower the flame and add cream to the mixture and keep stirring.
Once you see little bubbles popping from the edges of the pan, turn of the heat.
Let the bubbles settle down and strain the orange zest butter mixture into the melted white chocolate.
Use a spatula and press the orange zest so that all the essence from the zest comes out.
Mix the chocolate and butter mixture well, then add orange extract and color if needed.
Cover the bowl with a cling wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
It should be firm enough so that you can roll under your palms and make balls.
In a plate or tray add the sugar pd. Scoop or use a spoon to take a heaping orange truffle mixture and shape them into balls.
Drop them in the sugar pd mixture and coat it all over.Do the same to the rest of the mixture.
In the rolled truffles and leftover sugar pd in a container with a lid and shake it so the sugar pd gets coated all over the truffle.
Refrigerate them for 20 more minutes. serve them when ready to eat.

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Panqueques de dulce de leche ( Crepes with dulce de leche) Recipe | Alfajores ( sandwich cookies with dulce de leche) Recipe ~ Uruguayan Cuisine

September 25, 2014 By manjulabharathkumar@gmail.com

Today we are landing on U after T for thai cuisine , For U I chose Uruguay which is officially called eastern republic of Uruguay a southeastern region in south america. Uruguayan culture is strongly influenced by Europe the language spoken here is Spanish and some speak a mix of Italian and Spanish which is called Cocoliche. Meat is a fundamental part in this country and dish prepared with dulce de leche our very famous here. So for today I chose two addictive dishes you will sure like it 100% as it contains the delicious dulce de leche.Alfajores are short bread cookies prepared which is sandwiched between in between dulce de leche. Panqueques de dulce de leche is a sinful dish and a perfect breakfast or snack to enjoy, By sinful I really mean it . It is sent me to heaven I, My daughter and H we totally enjoy the stacked crepes a lot .. Again desserts are following , I really couldn’t stop my self doing a dessert again today , feeling fulfilled and happy about both dishes I made for U specially. Will meet you all tomorrow with next letter till then enjoy the heavenly recipes ..

Recipe Source : Joy of baking

Alfajores

Recipe Category	Preparation time	Co ok Time
Cookies	15 mins	15 mins

Ingredients

All-purpose Flour – 2 cup

Butter – 2 sticks (at room temperature)

Sugar – 1/2 cup

Vanilla extract – few drops

Dulce de leche – 1 cup

Method

In a bowl whisk the butter till smooth and creamy.
Add sugar and vanilla extract to it and Mix them well.
Now add flour and combine them till it forms a soft dough.
Preheat the oven to 350 F . On a cookie tray line a parchment paper.
In a floured surface roll the dough.Cut them to circles or any shape you like.
Place the cut cookies on the parchment paper and bake them at 350F for 8-10 mins.
Once done cool them on a wire rack while they are still sitting on the cookie tray.
Take a shortbread cookie and spread some dulce de leche and sandwich them with another cookie.
Can be stored for few days in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Panqueques de dulce de leche

Recipe Category	Preparation time	Cook Time
Cookies	15 mins	15 mins

Ingredients

All purpose Flour – 2 cups

Heavy cream – 1/2 cup

Milk – 1 – 11/2 cups

Vanilla extract – few drops

Sugar – 4 tbsp

Dulce de leche – 1/4 cup

For Garnish

Chocolate syrup

Icing sugar

Strawberries

Method

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl excluding dulce.
Mix them well and form a lup free batter.
Heat a skillet and pour one ladle of batter in it. You can make it thin if your like.
Once you see it is light brown from one side flip and cook the other side.
Once done , do the same for the rest of the batter.
Once all the crepes are cooked .
Take a crepes and spread dulce de leche in one side.
Sandwich it with other crepes and repeat the same till you finish stacking all the crepes.You can also spread the dulce de leche and roll each crepe serving is as you wish.
Dust it with icing sugar and drizzle some chocolate sauce.
Garnish it with fresh fruit, I used strawberries.

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Beetroot Rasgulla – Virtual Party For Viji

January 23, 2014 By

I am so happy today is my best buddies b’day and am so happy for her. She is a wonderful blogger and a very kind hearted person who is one of those close friends who encourage me and motivate me to always . Its her kindness which attracted me in the first place when i first met her through SNC . She was is a very enthusiastic blogger and I love her cooking style a lot. You know whom am talking about its Viji of Viruthu unna vanga :). Wish you a many more happy returns viji am so glad to be a part of this virtual party in which few of our mutual friends bring some delicious recipes to celebrate the day together . Am dedicating this post for viji’s b’day and I wish her many more happy returns to come.

She is a dessert queen that how we call her as her space is filled with lots of drool worthy sweets and desserts and she is an awesome innovator. So today I share a very unique sweet for this sweet person . I still remember how my buddies celebrated my b’day virtually by making mouthwatering breakfast thali and am so glad to be surrounded with such good friends . As it was viji’s b’day the frist think struck in my mind is to make the color idli’s and chutney again , but i also didn’t want to miss the sweet surprise for her so made this Beetroot rasgulla and Tri color Tiffin Thali which includes tri color idli and tri color chutney .

Beetroot rasgulla was in mind to try for a long time and today I experimented it on this spl occasion . I make rasgullas often and have tried my hand making rasgullas with fruits But this was the first I tried with veggie 🙂 and so happy that it turned super yumm and they look absolutely gorgeous don’t they 😛 So here comes the recipe of this innovative rasgulla with a veggie.

Ingredients

4 cups Whole milk
4 tbsp Lemon juice
11/2 cups Sugar
1 cup Beetroot puree ( Boil chopped beetroot in water , when done drain the water and blend them in the blender till a smooth paste)
4 cups Water
1/2 tsp Cardamom powder
Few drops of Rose essence

Method

In heavy bottomed pan take milk ,bring it to boil and keep stirring to avoid burning of milk from bottom of the pan..
Once the milk comes to boil, add the lemon juice and keep stirring.
Put the flame in low and cook for few seconds until the milk curdles and is separated from the whey . Turn off the flame.
Pour this curdled milk to the already lined muslin cloth over a strainer,squeeze out all the whey water and rinse the milk solids/paneer under cold water once to remove the lemon flavor in it and squeeze out the water as much as possible.
Place a heavy weight over the drained milk solids/paneer to squeeze out the water completely.
Take the paneer in a plate and knead it well for few minutes until they turns soft and comes together.
Divide them to medium sized balls and roll them without any cracks.
Boil the water in a heavy bottomed pan, add the sugar,cardamom powder and Beetroot puree,bring this to boil after the sugar dissolves, turn of the flame and strain them in strainer if using a plastic strainer wait till the syrup cools down a bit .
After straining them again put them in a heavy boycotted pan and at them boil.
Add the prepared paneer balls to the boiling syrup. Cover it with a lid , simmer and cook for 15-20 mins.
After 20 mins turn off the heat and let the rasgullas be covered for 10 mins .
After they cool down completely you can refrigerator them , or have them as it.

Tips

If you see some frothy layer coming while the paneer balls are cooking in syrup just remove them as much as you can using a ladle .

Sakkarai Pongal with Jaggery ( Pongal spl )

January 14, 2014 By

Pongal / Makar sakranti is celebrated all over India but as am a Chennaite I used to enjoy those pongal holidays a lot. We used to get 4 days holidays and lots special program in TV was so much fun . Other than that our neighbors used to share all those yummy treats they made for pongal . Sugar cane is another reason why i love pongal festival ,I just love to enjoy the juicy sugar canes which i miss today. Pongal / Makar sakratri is winter harvest festival celebrated all over India by different names . As am a north indian we make sweet and savory vada’s but in Tamil nadu it is celebrated for 4 days – Bhogi, Thai pongal, Mattu pongal , Kaanam pongal each day has it own significance.

People make sweet savory pongal varieties and vadas this day , served ( bhog/ padayal) to god then they enjoy the festival with family. On the last day thats is on kaanam pongal with family they have a fun time at beach or some entertaining places like to watch movie etc . So this festival bring so many happy faces to enjoy !! So I made sakkarai pongal and masala vadai for this auspicious day 🙂 Wish you have a very happy pongal / makar sakrantri 🙂 ..Ok now over to the recipe..

Ingredients

Moong dal – 1/4 cup
Rice – 1/2 cup
Milk – 1 cup
Water – 1 1/2 cup
Ghee – 3- 4 tbsp
Cashew nut – 4-5 Nos
Raisins – 3-4 Nos
Jaggery pd – 1 cup
Cardamom pd – a pinch

Method

Wash and Soak rice and dal for 15 mins.
Drain the water from rice and dal , In a pressure put rice , dal, water ad milk.
Pressure cook them for 3- 4 whistles then turn off the flame .
After the pressure subsides open the lid and and mash them well with a ladle.
In a sauce pan take the jaggery pd and 1/2 cup water , boil them till one string consistency .
To check the one string just drop the syrup with a ladle it should form a string while flows drown.
After it attains the one string consistency add the syrup to the cooked and mashed rice and dal also add the cardamom pd .
In a low flame mix them well till well combined and add ghee .
Cook them for 2 mins while mixing them .

In a another sauce pan heat 1 tbsp ghee and saute cashews and raisins till they turn slight brown .
Transfer the roasted cashews and raisins to the pongal and mix well.
Enjoy them warm!!

Linking this to Tamizhar samayal Tuesday whose brain child is +nalini suresh .

Chocolate Tutti Frutti Cake

December 25, 2013 By

Its Christmas eve I know all would have Baked a lot and all set to celebrated the Christmas and welcome Christ . But if you have some last minute planes to bake a cake then this recipe should be help to those . Christmas is one festival I love the most , I love the lights , fireworks and the sip the hot Chocolate. When I was at school we had this fun game of counting the stars and making wishes .In the way to school we used to search for homes hanging star’s and used to make a wish it was so fun I don’t remember whether my wishes came true or not but that was a really gud fun game for us. The second thing comes to mind is we used to play chris mom and chris child I know most of us know this game for every Christmas this game was so awaited and we had some funny pranks ,a very nostalgic moment. I wish everyone a very Merry christmas and happy new year 🙂

As tomorrow is christmas I wanted to share some last min cake ideas if you don’t have enough time to bake a fruit cake then am sure you will try this as it is a chocolate cake with tutti frutti which is super moist and very delicious to cake . It is a normal chocolate cake with a tutti frutti in it you will sure love the bites of tutti frutti in between the cake. So here is my treat for my readers and followers for this Christmas eve 🙂

Ingredients

All purpose / Maida -2 cups
Sugar -1 1/2 cup
Cocoa pd – 1/3 cup
Milk – 1 3/4 cups
Oil – 1/4 cup
Tutti frutti – 1/4 cup ( more if needed)
Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
Baking pd – 1 1/2 tsp
Baking soda – 1/2 tsp
Apple cider vinegar – 2 tsp

Garnish
Confectionery sugar
MnM’s
Glazed Cheeries

Method

Pre heat the oven at 350 F
Grease a can pan ( here I used a christmas tree mould) Flour the pan and dust the excess.
Sift flour , baking pd, baking soda, cocoa pd in a bowl.
In another bowl mix oil, sugar , milk , vanilla essence and mix them till sugar dissolves.
Add the wet ingredient mixture in to the flour mixtur little by little and mix them well till they appear glossy.
Add the tutti frutti and mix well.
At last add apple cider vinegar and fold them in the batter till well combined.
Transfer the batter to the greased and floured pan.
Bake the cake at 350 F for 30 – 45 Mins.
Bake them till a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
After they are done let the cake stand on pan for 10 mins then transfer them to serving platter.
If you want you can frost with any cream frosting or just dust some confectionery sugar .
As I baked them in christmas tree pan I decorated them with some MnM’s and cheeries.

Linking to Divya’s Culinary Journey and Cooks Joy

Banoffee Pie -SFC#3

December 22, 2013 By

Banoffee pie is something I would love to make again again Bcoz of the addictive dulce de leche in it :). Dulche de leche is a famous in south America which is nothing but a slowly sweetened milk till it attains a caramelized color . The milk is slowly cooked with sugar till it turns thick and turns into brown color. Now a days we make use of condensed milk to make it more easier and this way it takes less time to make a addictive dulce de leche which tastes just like a toffee. This addictive caramel milk is used in many desserts and one such english dessert is famous Banoffee pie. Banoffe Pie is one of my fav after i tried the first time when an non blogger share it in my space for come on – lets cook event. I was so excited when preeti of “ Simply tadka” suggested that this months international dessert for our “Sweet fantasy club” is going to be a banoffee pie.

Banoffee is a traditional British dessert, which includes Banana slices, sticky toffee or other wise called as dulce de leche , and topped with whipped cream are arranged in layers crust made with digestive biscuits, outcome is a addictive and irresistible dessert. Using crushed digestive biscuits for the crust balances the taste of this yummy treat.

Ingredients

Condensed milk – 1 Can
Marie biscuit – 10 No
Butter – 1/4 Cup
Banana – 2
Whipped cream – 1/2 Cup ( whipped till stiff peaks)

To garnish

Grated chocolate
Crumbled Chocolate cake
Cherries (optional)

Method

For Dulce de Leche (In Pressure cooker)

Prepare the pressure cooker by adding ample amount of water so that the condensed milk tin can immerse in it .
Remove any label from the tin and see if there is any damage in the tin if there is any damage don’t use it as it might lead to busting of cooker so be cautious.
Put the can in the pressure cooker which is filled with water , it should be fully immersed.
Close the lid put the weight / whistle and cook them in a till one whistle and then lower the flame and cook the for 20 mins.
Switch of the flame and let the pressure completely subsides.
Do not shake the pressure cooker at the time stay in the water till water completely cools down.
You can store the can/ tin in refrigerator and use them the next day or wait till the tin is completely cool.

Dulce de leche is ready to use!!

*Notes – Avoid opening the can of condensed milk when hot

For the crust

Powder the biscuits by putting them in aziplock and rolling them with the rolling pin to form a fine pd or use a mixer .Now Mix melted butter with the pd biscuit pd . Crust of the pie is ready.

Assembling the pie