sweets

Raj bhog is  very popular  sweet in India made with homemade chenna / paneer stuffed with nuts , which is cooked in saffron flavored  sugar syrup . Though I have tried this with stuffing before and my H doesn’t like the stuffing much but he likes the only the raj bhog with out any stuffing so this time I made it without stuffing . I made them same as we make for Rasgulla as traditionally they don’t add any flour to make rajbhog so I made them with only chenna/ paneer so that they turn spongy and soft. 

I have joined this new  group “Sweet fantasy club” whose brain child is +Preeti Garg  ,a wonderful blogger author of “ Simply tadka” . This is our first challenge an indian authentic sweet dish which one of my fav . This month preeti has chosen two wonderful indian and international   sweet and dessert , thanks preeti for this wonderful challenge . So coming to the challenge the first dish is an authentic North indian sweet dish “Raj bhog”  which nothing but a large size cheese balls dipped in saffron flavored sugar syrup. 
Lets move on to the recipe of this spongy rajbhog

 Ingredients
For Chenna/ Paneer

Whole Milk – 4 cups or 1 litre 
Lemon juice – 3 tbsp + water 1/4 cup ( dilute them )

For Sugar syrup

Sugar – 3 cups
Water – 5 cups

Other Ingredients

Lemon yellow color – few drops
Saffron strands few
Rose essence –  few drops

Method

To make Paneer / chenna

• In a saucepan boil the milk and simmer it to low.
• Add the lemon and water mixture and stir .
• It will curdle and the whey will get separated  .
• If you see the milk haven’t curdled well and you haven’t got the required paneer then add more few tbsps of lemon juice .
• After the milk have curdled completely and the whey have separated , this may take only few minutes. Take a strainer and spread the muslin cloth over it strain the milk .
• Reserve the whey and use it instead of lemon juice while making paneer for the next time.
• Strain the chenna/ paneer and run cold water over it once so that the lemon sourness goes off from the paneer.
• Tie the muslin cloth and keep a heavy vessel or any heavy thingy on it and wait till all the water drains of. But still a tiny little moisture should be in so that it is easy to knead the chenna.
•  Now transfer the chenna/ paneer to a plate an start kneading for 10 – 15 mins  or till they form a very smooth dough.
• Add lemon yellow color to the chenna and knead them again till all the dough is dyed 
• Divide the  chenna / panner into equal parts and roll them into lemon size balls and keep it aside.

To make Sugar syrup

• In a sauce pan measure and put sugar and water.
• Turn on the  flame and let the boil.
• After all the sugar dissolves  add saffron strands .

How to proceed

• After the sugar syrup starts to boil add the paneer balls .
• Cover the sauce pan with a lid and simmer the flame .
• Now cook the paneer balls for 15 – 20 mins covered in a sauce pan.
• turn of the flame and let them stand cover for 10 more mins.
• After which when you open the lid you will find the panner balls would have doubled in size.

•  Spongy raj bhog is ready chill them in fridge . They taste better the second day as all the sugar syrup is well absorbed by the paneer balls till then.

Tips 

• I haven’t stuffed them with nuts mixer but you can stuff them with pistachios or mixed nuts powdered which is mixed in a small quantity chenna / panner and then stuffed in the paneer balls.

• You can use even vinegar to curdle the milk about 2 -3 tbsp.
• If you chill the rajbhog let them sit for 1/2 – 1 hour in room temperature before serving.
• The paneer should not turn too hard so be carefully while curdling the milk , once you find all the milk have curdled switch of the flame . If you cook them after they curdle the paneer may turn hard and you rajbhog might turn rubbery . so the key to make a spongy rajbhog or rasgulla lies in how well you make you paneer or chenna.
• If the chenna is too very soft then you can try adding few tsps of maida but the same results can’t be expected  . Making with only panner is the key to make it really spongy .

On this special occasion am so happy to share this traditional rajasthani ghevar .The festival is marked by the tying of a rakhi, or holy thread, which comes in many colors and fancy designs, by the sister on the wrist of her brother. The brother in return offers a gift to his sister. The brother usually presents his sister with an envelope filled with money, though other presents such as sarees and clothing can be given. The brother and sister traditionally feed one another sweets. These sweets include anything from Jalebi, Kaju Katli, Burfi and the most traditional rajasthani ghevar.  Raksha Bandhan is celebrated on shravan purnima. I know all remember this Ghevar is a popular post in my Blog as I challenged Ghevar for SNC. Am here with another ghevar post  today 🙂 

 Ghevars are usually and traditionally large in size approx. 200 mm. or 250 mm. (8″ or 10″) squares or rounds and are either sweetened with syrup or served topped with sweet rabdi (i.e. thickened milk). Lakshmi Mishtaan Bhandar in Jaipur is famous for their “melt in the mouth” Paneer ghevars and many other sweet shops in Rajasthan also specialise in the same. We can find them all over India in the occassion of raksha bandhan .Ghevars are earmarked as a traditional dish for some special rituals and festivals. They are generally prepared in January for Makar Sankranti ( or you call them pongal), in March-April for Gangaur and in July-August for the Teej festival ( in some parts they celebrate karwa choth ) . But you can enjoy these at any time of the year by just following the recipe given below. And of course ghevar is more  prepared for rakhi and in our family we take ghevar as sweet for our brothers . As my bro likes them a lot i am dedicating this traditional and crispy ghevar’s as my  virtual treat for him 🙂

Ingredients


Maida – 1 cup
Ice cold Water – 1 cup 
Chilled Milk – 1/4 cup
Clarified Butter/ Ghee – 1/4 cup
Ice cubes – 6-7
saffron stands few
ghee / Olive oil for frying  ( I used cooking Olive oil )
Almonds and Pistachios (for garnish)
Rose essence or kewra essence few drops
Cardamom pd  – 1 pinch (optional)

For sugar syrup 

Sugar – 2 cup
Water – 1 cup
Cardamom pd – a pinch
Rose / kewra essence – few drops 

Method

For the sugar syrup

• Combine the sugar and water in a pan and simmer till it reaches a 1 string consistency.
• Put a drop of sugar syrup on your thumb and touch drop with forefinger. When you pull both the fingers apart, a single thread of syrup should form without breaking.
• Add rose/kewra essence  and also cardamom once the sugar attains the consistency.
• Remove from the heat and keep warm.

For Ghevar

• In a bowl first take the ghee and 4 -5 ice cubes
• In a large round bowl, take solidified ghee with some ice cubes and churn/whisk it till it turns white and smooth. Remove the ice cubes.
• Soak saffron in 1 tablespoon of milk. Add maida, then water and  then milk to the mixture in turns little by little .Do not drop all the ingredients in a go. Adding saffron to the mixture will make it light yellow in color, you can also make them plain white too. 
• Avoid any lump in the mixture.Once lumps are formed it will become difficult to break the lumps
• Heat ghee in a deep pan. Slowly pour the above mixture into the center of pan. 
• As soon as the batter touches the hot ghee, bubbles start to appear. Be sure that the ghee bubbles do not start jumping out of the vessel. If you see that the bubbles are getting high enough, stop pouring for a while, and continue later.
• After the first spoon or after pouring  , wait for a few seconds till the bubbles settle, and then pour the second spoonful  . Repeat this for 3-4 times if you want to increase the size and thickness  of your ghevar I poured  only 2 ladle  full to make mini ghevar . This actually depends on the size of the vessel; the bigger the size, more are the number of ladle or the number of times you have to pour the batter  required.
• If the ghee or oil  is not hot enough, the batter will start sticking to the bottom, so keep the flame on medium to high depending on the temperature required. 
• When you pour in the batter, you’ll see that the batter starts scattering and collects near the sides in a circular fashion. As you keep increasing the batter, the disc starts taking its correct shape. In the meanwhile, if the batter sticks in the middle after pouring, use a skewer to detach that. Keep on increasing the center space by using that skewer after the batter has settled. After 2-3  pourings this is completely you choice on how thick enough you want your ghevar be i tried 3 – 5 ladles .
• Once all the mixture is poured into the pan, lower down the heat to medium high. Let it cook till light brown.
• Take it out and keep it on paper towel or a plate , Repeat this for all the batter left and stack the ghevars one by one on top . so that excess ghee will drain out.
• After all oil get drained out , dip it in sugar syrup and remove it .Garnish it with dry fruits and cardamom powder.

For Other variations and methods with step wise clicks to Make ghevar Click here

Hi my dear SNC group !!!Am so happy to complete  the 10th challenge …As you all know there is an event going on +Divya Pramil   space You Too Can Cook  .. The event is all about two teams north and south team ..A member from north team and a member south team respectively  will challenge  the opposite team members with a recipe from their respective zone  and opposite teams have to post the same recipe on their Blog .. this takes place every month .. The idea of this event is that we learn so many different recipes from different zones .. Hats off to divya for this great idea .. click here to partcipate

An update on whats going on till now in SNC challenge:

Challenge 1– October month’s challenge

North team Host shruti dhingra from ” shruti’s rasoi”- Bhel puri
South team Host divya from “Divya’s culinary journey “- Mysore pak

WINNER
NORTH TEAM

Challenge 2– November month’s challenge

North team host Pallavi from “cook -eat- burrp” – Gulab jamun
South team host Yashodha from “yashodha’s kitchen” – Adhirasam

WINNER
 SOUTH TEAM

Challenge 3– December month’s challenge

North team Host Meena from ” Random rambling ” – Misal pav
South team Host Sherin from ” Kuk’s kitchen” – Medu vada

WINNER
SOUTH TEAM

Challenge 4– Janurary month’s challenge
North team Host ” me ” (Manjula bharath) from “Desi fiesta” – Rajasthani  mini ghevar topped with kesar rabdi 
South team Host Ramya  from ” Lemon Kurry” – Vada curry

WINNER
SOUTH TEAM

Challenge 5 – February month’s challenge

North team’s host Sanoli from Sanoli’s recipes- Green pea kachori with dum aloo
South teams’s host Tamil from Tamil’s kitchen- paal kozhukattai

Challenge 6 – March  month’s challenge

North team’s host  Kirti Choudhary Kardam  from Flavour’s from my kitchen- Chana Dal Halwa/Barfi

South team’s host Sawsthi   from Indian healthy recipes – Vegetable Hyderbadi Biryani                                                                                      

WINNER 
NORTH TEAM

Challenge 7 – April Month’s challenge

North team’s host Hetal from Gjurati zaika- Khandvi

South team’s host Shama from Easy2cookrecipes – Palm jaggery aapam 

Winner
South Team

Challenge 8 – May Month’s challenge

North team’s host Nabanita das from Esho-besho aahare – Dokar dalna .
South team’s host  Roha from Hyderbadi cuisine – Kurbani ka meetha.

Winner 
South Team

Challange 9- June Month’s challenge

North team’s host  Chandrani Banerjee from cuisine delights – Channar jelebi 
South team’s host Priya suresh from Priya’s verstile recipes 🙂 

Winner 
North Team

Challenge 10 – July Month’s challenge

North Team’s Host ” Me 🙂 ” – Rajasthani Thali click here

South Teams Host sowmya of Nivedhanam-  Vendayakeerai Parupu Urundai Mor Kuzhambu 

Challenge 11- August  Month’s Challenge

North Team’s Host Divya pramil of You too can cook Indian food (Founder of SNC) – Pasiparrupu payasam
South Team’s Host Shruti dhingra  of  shruti’s Rasoi- Kesar pista kulfi

First of all i would like to thank all of my SNC members for the great support and compliments you have showered for my rajasthani thali and i thoroughly enjoyed the virtual thali made by our south team pals. Hats of to your efforts dearies . Coming to this months challenge for North team , its was a pleasure to make this delicious pasipparupu payasam   which was challenged by our very kind hearted and an jovial Founder of SNC – +Divya Pramil  🙂   Thanks divya for sharing this traditional south indian payasam we thoroughly enjoyed this delicious payasam a lot 🙂  

Pasipparupu payasam is an traditional payasam made in south india for an auspicious south indian festive’s. This is traditionally made with water but i made with milk for getting the extra creamy texture . Lets Move on To the delicious kheer recipe 🙂

Ingredients

Split green gram dal / Yellow moong dal / Paasi paruppu – 1/2 cup
Raw rice/Pacharisi – 2 tbsp
Jaggery / Achu Vellam – 100 gm
Cashew nuts – 4-5
 Cardamom powder – 1/4 tsp 
Grated coconut – 2 tablespoons  (fresh / desiccated)
Milk – 3/4 cup (adjust to how thin you want your payasam  to be)
Ghee – 1 tablespoon (1 more tbsp can also be added)
Saffron – 1/2 tsp (soaked in warm milk for 10 mins)

 Method

• Wash dal and rice in water and set aside ( you can soak the dal and rice for 15 minute so that the cook really well and save time while cooking). 
• If you using fresh Coconut pieces grind them coarsely and set aside. (If you are using grated coconut you can use it as is, you can add grated coconut as it is.)
• Take jaggery / Achu Vellam, place inside a paper and crush it into smaller pieces using a hammer or any kitchen stone . Then put it in a blender or mixer grinder and grind jaggery into fine powder; set aside. 
• In a pressure cooker add split green gram dal/moong dal/paasi paruppu, raw rice/pacharisi (rice is optional, if you do not have raw rice you can add basmati rice too)  then pour 1 cup of water, close the lid, place the whistle and pressure cook for 10 minutes (3 -4 whistles ) on low flame.
• Open the pressure cooker once all the pressure is gone .
• Mash the well cooked dal, pour milk and place on flame. Stir well. (Cook on low flame)
• This consistency will be perfect so, extra water is not necessary here, but if you feel your dal is thick even after adding milk, then add a little more water (i prefer adding milk to get the creamy consistency ). 
• Boil the mixture then add the jaggery powder and stir well. Check for sweetness and add more jaggery if necessary. 
• Add the grated coconut (or) the prepared coarse coconut mixture and stir well.
• Add  the saffron and milk mixture at this stage and stir well
•  Cook for a minute or 2 mean while in  another pan  add ghee, when its starts to melt add the cashews and fry till it turns light brown and add it to the payasam. 
• Fry cashews in low flame to avoid burning.
• Remove from flame  and pour the fried cashews in payasam. serve them warm. (As time goes the kheer will thicken, if it thickens up too much, just place on flame, add some more milk or water and stir well).

Tips

• Some jaggery contains impurities for that take jaggery pd and  water in a bowl boil it till the jaggery dissolves do not over boil and then strain and you can use this jaggery syrup in your payasam.
• Rice is optional if you don’t want you can omit it but i think it tasted gud with rice. 
• You can also add chopped almonds and raisins along with cashews. 
• This payasam can be made vegan by adding water instead of milk.
•  The payasam/kheer should not be too thick nor too runny. 
• You can skip saffron and make them white as i made this payasam fully with milk they had the creamy texture in them.
• You can prepare this payasam with white sugar even .

Thanks for this delicious divine payasam challenge +Divya Pramil  and South team we throughly enjoyed this payasam a lot 🙂 Happily completing this months challenge.