X - Easy Xmas sweets and treats

Hello friends,
Today is the third last post for letter X for my BlogchatterA2Z 2020 challenge.

Xmas is the time to indulge, make merry, and enjoy sweet goodies with family.
Just a snippet of some of the treats I make during the festive season. Today I bring to you 3 easy dessert fixes.

1. Raspberry flavored Jello Shots

Ingredients

I packet Raspberry flavored Jell-O mix
2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup ice water
1 cup Vodka
Dash of lime

Method

1. Stir the Rasberry Jello into the boiling water until dissolved.

2. Now Pour in the ice water and vodka, a dash of lime, and mix well.

3.  Pour into shot glasses or plastic cups and freeze for 1 to 2 hours before serving.

Butter Cookies

These butter cookies can be shaped and created in the way you wish. Bake it to enjoy the buttery,  crunchy and addictive flavour.

Ingredients

1cup soft butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
⅔cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

Method

1. Take a large mixing bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy.
2. Now add the sugar and mix it in.
3. Also stir in the vanilla extract.
3. Add one egg at a time,  eat each for five minutes then add the second one.
5. Now sift the flour, baking powder  and salt together
6. Add this flour to the mixture and stir well.
7. Keep covered for 15 minutes.
8.  Now roll the pastry dough like a roti, to about ⅛ inch thickness.
9. Use a cookie cutter and cut into shapes of your choice.
10. Place it on a greased baking tray but 1 inch apart.
11. Now bake at 350'C. for 10 minutes or until lightly brown.
12. Cool and store.

Mini Tart

These mini tarts are extremely quick to prepare if your base is ready. In fact I pick mine up from the nearby bakery to make the process even faster.

Ingredients

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup cream cheese
1/2  cup sugar

Topping

1/2 cup of fresh fruit of your choice (strawberries, pineapple, black grape kiwi)

Method

1. Take a large glass mixing bowl, add the fresh cream and use an electric  hand  to whip

2. Whip till the cream stiffens into peaks.

3. In another bowl whip the cream cheese and sugar together.

4. Now gently fold in the whipped cream.

5. Now spread this mixture into the tarts or pipe it through a piping bag.

6. Place it in the refrigerator for an hour before decorating it with cut fruits.

 I love what I do, especially during the Christmas Season. To cook, bake and decorate and then serve up lots of sweet surprises to my family. 




 A balanced diet is a Christmas cookie in each hand. 😆⁣ So just done count your calories.

R - Easy Rasgulla Recipe

Rasgulla is a traditional bengali sweet recipe. These soft spongy, and delicious sweets can be comfortably made at home. White heavenly balls loaded with sugary syrup can be rich and indulgent but totally worth it especially because you have made it at home.

Rasgullas are prepared by curdling the milk and then separating the curdled Chenna and then preparing the round balls. Later cooking it and dunking it in sugar syrup.

Ingredients

Half litre full fat  milk
1 cup of sugar
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
1/2 tsp kewra water
Juice of one lime
3 cups of water

Method

For the Chenna

1. Boil the  whole milk in a pan and keep stirring occasionally. 

2. Once the milk is boiled, add the juice of the  lime  and switch off the flame and stir it well.

3. Now strain the curdled milk over a strainer lined with a muslin cloth.

4.  Rinse the curdled cheema with cold water 2-3 times to remove the lemon taste.

5. Strain further to remove excess water.

6. Transfer the Cheena into a plate and knead for 3-5 minutes until you get soft dough without lumps.

7. Make small balls according to your choice and keep it aside.

For the Syrup 

8.  Take a heavy bottom pan. Add the 3 cups of water with one cup of sugar.

9.  Let the  sugar syrup boil,  now add the cardamom powder and Kewra water and stir well.

10.  Slowly add Cheena balls and boil them on a medium flame for 12 minutes. By this time Rasgullas have doubled in size.

11. Now  reduce the heat and again boil them for another 10 minutes.

12. Your Rasgullas are ready. Transfer them into a bowl and allow it to cool them completely.

13. Let the Rasgullas come on room temperature  and then keep in the fridge. Serve chilled.

Traditional Albanian Wheat Pudding

My knowledge about Albanian Cuisine was purely limited to the country Albania.

More on Albania 

However after attending the 6th edition of #wildasparagustable I got to learn so much more about this beautiful Mediterranean Country.

Albania boasts of delicious dishes like tave kosi (a spiced lamb and rice casserole with a baked yoghurt lid) and perime ne zgare (a simple dish of fresh grilled vegetables). The gang of gorgeous Homechefs researched and replicated dishes from that land. Take a bow you have overdone yourself this time.
I decided to stir up an Albanian Wheat pudding and guess what? It really turned out very well.

While the other participants had already decided what to make. Mine was a last minute entry as someone dropped out. I googled the net and discovered this very interesting Albanian Wheat pudding.

Traditional Albanian Wheat Pudding 

It was interesting to learn that this Albanian wheat pudding is also known as "asure" or  Noah's ark pudding. It is The Oldest Dessert In The World.
Turkish tales tell you that has it that the first version of 'asure' was made by Noah himself. After weeks on the ark, the waters began to recede. As food on the Ark diminished, Noah decided to use the last few grains of wheat and other bits along with sugar in a large pot.
And What he got was a delicious Tradional Albanian Wheat pudding.



You can adapt the ingredients and according to your taste or what you have on hand. Classic versions of this pudding requires over 24 hours to prepare  however you can hasten up the steps by using a pressure cooker.  It I am really not sure if it will give the same results.

Ingredients

 2 cups Whole Wheat
1/2 cup sugar ( or any other substitute sweetener)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 /2 cup golden raisins
1 apple finely chopped
1 tbsp  honey
1 tsp  cinnamon
1 litre or more water depending on the wheat

Method 

1. Wash and soak  the wheat in cold water the night before. See that there is enough water for it to soak.

2. The next morning, drain the wheat grains and transfer them to a large pot. Now pour the water in and allow it to cook . You  need to cook it until they turn very soft.

3. See that there is a little water as wheat will further swell up. Let the wheat sit in the pot overnight or for minimum 12 hours.

4. If you have less time,  pressure cooker the grains. Do not strain this water. Next day you’ll notice that the grains have absorbed the water and the thickened in size.

5. Now after 10 hours transfer the wheat grains to a large cooking vessel, add the sugar and keep stirring on low heat and for about 40-50 minutes until the wheat gets caramelized and darkened in color.

6. Now add the honey, cinnamon, chopped apple, walnuts and raisins and cook for 10 minutes more.

7. Once thick in consistency the wheat pudding is ready. Divide in individual bowls and serve it when cool.

Note

You can substitute sugar for any sweetener or even jaggery.
Serve it hot or cold.  Both ways it tastes brilliant.

Thanks to our dearest Salloni Malkani and Ananya Banerjee who have introduced the epic Wild Asparagus table.

Ahoy!! Let's sail to Albania. 

Gobi ki kheer Recipe - Cauliflower Kheer

You may have made a Cauliflower ki sabzi or baked cauliflower with cheese but have you tried to make a Cauliflower ki Kheer / Gobi ki Kheer? Well, on my quest to discover new recipes and experiment in the kitchen, I tried to make a different sweet dish for on Sunday. And yes, it turned out better than what I had expected.

 The use of fruits and vegetables in desserts is very common in Indian cuisine. Carrots and Pumpkin get turned into Halwa.  But some others like Beetroot and cauliflower are also worth exploring.

This is a simple recipe but I assure you it's so delicious. There will be no confusion so read on and execute this lip-smacking treat in your kitchen. Let your family guess the ingredients. Trust me they will be asking for more- it is a total treat.

To make 4 servings

Time – 40 minutes, including prep time

Ingredients

 400-gram cauliflower (gobi)

¾  litre full cream milk

1 teaspoon Cardamon powder ( Elaichi)

1/2 Cup sugar or any sweetener substitute

100 gms grated paneer

 For Garnish:

A handful of chopped almonds, cashew nuts, raisins, and dried fruits. 

Method

1. First, take the cauliflower head and wash it properly. Cut the cauliflower in big chunks and then grate it on a hand grater. Or just skin it in a vegetable chopper. Let it be coarse.

2. Keep the milk to boil and add the sugar to it. Stir and let is boil on medium flame.

3. In another vessel add the cauliflower and bring to a boil for 5 minutes. The smell will go away and the cauliflower will not curdle when added to milk.

4. Now strain the cauliflower and add to the boiling milk.

5. Simmer and let the two blend and cook for five minutes.

6. Add the grated paneer and elaichi powder. Simmer and further cook. Keep stirring to see that it doesn’t burn at the bottom.

7. Simmer the kheer on a low heat until the cauliflower ki kheer gets a creamy consistency. Turn off the heat.

8. Chop up the nuts and add it to the kheer when slightly cooler. Keep some aside for garnish.

9. Now serve the Gobi Ki Kheer chilled and watch everyone lick the dessert bowl clean.

 Note

Paneer is an option to make the dish rich. You can use khoya/mawa instead or avoid it totally.
Use Sugar free or honey if want a sugar free option but not jaggery.

Saffron also enhances the taste but I did not have, so did not use in this recipe.

Easy Gajar ka Halwa Recipe

Hello friends,

So I am back today with everyone's favourite winter preparation of sweet. It is the 'Gajar ka Halwa"

Gajar ka Halwa – is the most loved halwa in India. A ghee laden sugary Indian dessert that is made when the red carrot season arrives with the onset on winters. My blog covers a pumpkin and doodhi halwa uptil now. So let me add to my list of halwas with Gajar ka Halwa.

Sharing with you a  no fuss, no mess, simple and straightforward recipe that is easy to follow. 

Ingredients

2 cups grated carrot
1 cup milk
3 tbsps white butter/ ghee
2-3 tbsps sugar
1/2 tsp cardamom ( elaichi ) powder
Handful of  raisins, almonds, cashew
1 cup Mawa/khoya

Method

1. In a non stick pan add  1 tbsp  ghee. Roast the cashews/ almonds and fry until it emits a fragrance.  Do not brown to much. Keep aside. 

2. Now in a heavy bottom pan add carrot, milk, sugar and mawa. Keep this on high flame and allow it to boil and cook.

3.  Cook until the milk evaporates and the carrots are softened and cooked completely.

4. Keep stirring constantly  to avoid the carrots from sticking to the bottom and burning.

5. Once the liquid reduces add the cardamom powder and ghee. 

6. Keep stirring until all the water evaporates and ghee is seen on the side of the pot. The cooked carrot mixture should thickens. 

7. Now add the roasted cashews/ almonds and stir in on low flame. Keep some aside for garnish.

8. Keep stirring to avoid burning at tne bottom. The way to know Gajar ka Halwa is done is to check the mixture. If the carrot mixture thickens and comes off the pan as one mass it is done.

9. Now garnish with nuts and raisins before serving.

10. Always serve warm, even if you serve it with a scoop of ice-cream

Note

1. You can totally avoid ghee in yr halwa to make a diet version.  But ut will definitely vary in taste.

2. Mawa is optional. You can add a cup of fresh malai or condensed milk.

3. If you adding condensed milk then lessen the sugar quantity.

4. Some cooks add saffron too. However I don't like mixing too many ingredients. The cardamom ( elaichi ) is the best when it comes to a halwa.

Parsi Sev / Sweet Vermicelli Recipe

Dear Friends,
Wishing all my Parsi friends and everyone celebrating Navroze a very prosperous New Year and a happy Khordad saal . Some dishes are a must on festive occasions. It is auspicious  to Mora - dal chawal and fried fish, salli Margi, and definitely something sweet to end the indulgent  meal.

I am making  Parsi sev for you  today. This dish was prepared by my Paternal Grandmother when she would visit during happy occasions. Infact she would get up before we all did and would start preparing. The aroma of ghee and vanilla essence would fill the household. We enjoyed with relish at the breakfast table.
The recipe has simple easily available ingredients however needs skilled technique while cooking the sev.

Ingredients 

250 gms brown vermicelli crushed into bits
2 to 3 tbsp ghee
I cup  sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
1/2 tsp Nutmeg powder
1/4 cup  raisins
1/4 cup charoli
2 and 1/2 cup water

Method

1. In a heavy bottom vessel melt 2 tbsp ghee or oil and fry the chopped mixed dry fruits on low flame. 

2. Remove and keep aside on a paper towel to drain and absorb the oil.

3. Now add 1 tbsp ghee to the pan and fry the vermicelli till it gets to a darkish brown colour. Roast on slow flame to not let it burn.

4. In another vessel combine water sugar and essence and bring to a boil to make a chasni.

5. Add Nutmeg powder and cardamon powder to the sev. 

6. Now comes the tricky part.
 You need to slowly add a little bit of water to the sev and cook with a lid on till the water dries up.

7. Repeat the process. Add little chasni again to the sev. Then stir with a light hand and cover with the lid.  This will ensure that the sev gets cooked well without sticking together.

8. Complete the steps 2-4 times more till the sugar water is over. You will see the sev swell and get cooked.

9. Now Garnish with the fried charoli and kishmish and enjoy this much relished dish. 

 Parsi Sev is generally served along  with sweet yogurt ( Mitho Dahi) on most festive occasions. The warm sev and the cool yogurt take it to another level of tasty indulgence. Parsis enjoy their Sagan ni sev with a cup of ginger tea too.

Easy Pumpkin (Kaddu) Halwa recipe

Hello Friends,
 

A bit slow with my recipe posts these days, I know it. But the fact is that I have been too busy with other things and posts on my other blog site sweetannu.com . But Nonetheless today I am back with another Indian dessert recipe, low on sugar but high on nutrition and taste. 

 

Its a red pumpkin Halwa. Pumpkin is better known as kaddu or bhopla in our language. It belongs to Cucurbita family like cucumbers, squash. Slightly sweet, the pumpkin is an excellent source of carotenes,  minerals and antioxidants vitamins such as vitamin-A, vitamin-C, and vitamin-E.

So lets not waste any more time and get into making of the recipe.

Ingredients

 2 tbsp Ghee

2 cups Grated Pumpkin

1 cup Sugar

1 cup Milk

 Handful of Dry fruits ( Almonds, walnuts and raisins)

1/2 tsp Cardamom powder

6-8 strands of Saffron

Method 

1. Grate the Pumpkin and keep aside.

2. Mix a little saffron to milk to use later in the recipe. 

3. Take a heavy bottom pan/kadai. Heat up a pan, add ghee on medium heat till fragrant.

 

4. Now add the milk and grated pumpkin to the heated ghee.

5. Let the mixture boil till milk and pumpkin get soaked together and cook for 5-7 minutes.

6. Add the sugar and stir the mixture.

7. To this add the saffron milk and keep stirring. 

8. Mix everything well together so that the mixture doesn't burn at the bottom.

9. When halwa thickens up and milk dries up turn off the gas and cardamom powder.

10. Roast the nuts and raisins in a little ghee and top the halwa with it.

11. Your halwa is ready to be served. Make hot puris or eat it with Vanilla ice cream

 

Note

Khoya( mawa) can be used in this recipe to make it richer.

You can also pressure cooker the pumpkin if you find grating the pumpkin a tedious job.

Avoid sugar, use a sugar free sweetener if desired.

Lessen the quantity as pumpkin is a sweetish type of underground vegetable.

You can store the halwa in freeze for about 7-8 days.

Lets check out Doodhi Halwa recipe here

Doodhi ka Halwa

Hello Friends,

How many of you crave for something sweet to eat after each meal? We all do. The same goes with me. Even if it a few raisins or some sugar free chocolate.

I rarely make desserts. Infact this year I didn't make Gaajar ka Halwa during the season of red carrots. Feeling guilty and craving a halwa I decided to make Doodhi ka Halwa.  My first dessert recipe for this blog. I have such beautiful childhood memories of this Indian sweet. As a child, Mom would take my sister and me to Brijwasi Sweets on Grant Road after school. She would order lassi and doodhi halwa which we would gobble it up with such relish. Enjoyed it hot, infact before I could finish my share the waiter would bring the bill to the table.

Mummy knew we hated doodhi as a vegetable but halwa we could never refuse.
Doodhi or lauki or bottle gourd as known to all is very nutritious as it contains all the goodness needed for the body. So without further ado lets make Doodhi ka Halwa for good times sake.

Ingredients

1. Grated Bottle gourd - 2 cup.
2. 2 tsp powdered Cardamom ( elaichi) 
3. Sugar 1 cup.
4.  1/2 litre milk 
5.  2 tbsp Ghee
6.  Handful of raisins and nuts. 
7.  Sada mawa 1 cup.

Method 

1. Peel and grate bottle gourd.

2. In a deep bottom vessel ( I use non stick from Vinod Cookware)  add ghee and bottle gourd, saute for two minute.

3. Then add the milk, sugar and cook for around 10 minutes, keep stirring occasionally so that it doesn't burn at the bottom. 

4. Add green food colour if desired. But I have not added to this recipe.

5. Add grated mawa as we do not want it lumpy. Keep stirring with a heavy hand. 

6.Cook further it till it dries up and ghee leaves side of pan. 

7. Fry some chopped almonds and raisins and mix in.

8. Before serving add chandi ka vaar ( optional) and some nuts. 

Wow. It was ready to be relished. Wish my mom was here with me. Would have given her an extra dollop of fresh malai in her bowl of doodhi ka Halwa.