Whats Cooking?

As usual, a small introduction before I give the recipe. I *love* this dish. I'm a fan of this dish; hell, I'm an air-conditioner of this! I tasted it when mom made it, and have always wanted to try it out. My first attempt was shown the bin; it tasted like egg! I got another recipe this time, and since I try until I succeed (lol), I gave it my best shot (LOL). Here's the recipe: (Courtesy - a dear friend :) )

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Ingredients:

5 Eggs

500 ml Milk

150 gm Sugar

100 gm (to make caramel) Sugar

Method:

Add the sugar for caramel in a vessel that you can put in a pressure cooker. Sprinkle some water on it, just enough to slightly wet the sugar. Set this on high and keep stirring until you see bubbles. Then stir some more until the colour turns golden brown. Set this aside.

Beat the eggs (with a blender, if possible). Add the milk and sugar to this mixture. Stir well.

Transfer the above to the vessel containing caramel. Cover it with tracing paper. I used cello tape to secure it on all sides. Steam this for 15-18 minutes.

Take the vessel out, remove the tracing paper, and allow it to cool until it reaches around the room temp.

Turn the vessel upside down into a bowl, and lo!



Resist the temptation to dig in immediately; allow it to cool in the fridge. Serve!

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Thats all. I made it last night and ate a soup-bowl full! Now, I'm sad that I didn't pack it as dessert for my lunch :-(

I asked a Bengali friend of mine, "yaar Poshto kab khilaogi?" She said, "Is mein khilaana kya hai?!" She enlightened me that poshto, is bengali for "poppy seeds"! Whoda thunk?! So I pestered her to give me some poshto recipe, that Bengali food is so famous for. Here's what she gave me - Aloo Poshto. Very yummy, and easy to make.

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Ingredients:

5 medium sized potatoes
3 table spoon Posto/Khus khus/Poppy seeds (Daata tere kaee naam!)
1 pinch fennel powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder (jeera powder)
a pinch of turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1-2 bay leaves (tej patta)
1/2 teacup Coconut milk (she'd asked to use 1 teacup grated cococut, but I had coconut milk at home, so used it. You'll see why that was just as good)
Salt to taste
2 tablespoon Mustard oil (any cooking oil will do; but for authenticity, I'd say use mustard oil)
1 tea spoon desi ghee (clarified butter)

Method:

1. Boil the potatoes in pressure cooker (7 minutes or 3 whistles). Peel and cut them in big dice-like sizes.

Do the following while the potatoes are boiling:

2. Soak poshto for 15-20 mins then grind into a paste. If you have fresh grated coconut, add it while grinding.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons of mustard oil a pan, add fennel powder and bay leaves to it. Saute for a minute.
4. Add the posto paste, cummin, turmeric, chilli powder and salt. Fry. I also added coconut milk here since I hadn't used grated coconut whilst grinding.
5. Once the masala starts to separate from the oil add the potato chunks (assuming that potatoes are done and cut at this point) and mix well.
6. Add 1/2 cup water, cover and let it simmer for 2-3 mins.
7. Add the garam masala and ghee for flavour.

Its ready!

Serving suggestion: Serve with hot rotis or rice.

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Easy isn't it? Folks at home loved it, lemme know how it worked out for ya :)

We Indians are known for our festivals, and the food thats prepared during festivals. Actually, our everyday food in itself is celebration! Who else puts dollops of desi ghee on aloo de parathe for breakfast?! And our sweets.... aaye haaye haaye haayeee! Masha allah! Though I don't have a lot of sweet tooth teeth myself, I enjoy like... half a rasmalai once in a while. But this dish is a hit with a lot of Indians, and I think even if you're not, you'd still enjoy making it and/or eating it, as much as I did! Here's the recipe, courtesy this:

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Ingredients:

1 liter milk
1 cup cream
2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
5 tablespoons sugar
3 cups water
1 tablespoon cardamom powder
5-6 almonds, diced very thinly
6-7 saffron strands

Method:

1. Boil the milk, turn the gas to sim, and squeeze fresh lemon juice. Keep sitrrig for 2-3 minutes. Turn off the gas.
2. Strain the water and put solids (curds/risotto cheese/paneer/whatever you want to call it) in a thin cotton (or muslin) cloth and tie it very tightly. Hang it onto something so that excess water drips away.
3. After 1/2 hour, untie the cloth and knead the paneer.
4. Make small balls, and flatten them. Set aside.

To make the sugar syrup:
5. In a sauce pan boil 3 cups of water and sugar together.
6. When it starts to boil, drop in the flattened paneer balls.
7. Transfer them into a flat bowl type vessel (intended for use in a pressure cooker), cover it and place it in the cooker. Close it with whistle on and keep it on sim for 15 minutes.
8. In another pan boil the cream, 2 cups of milk and saffron strands. Add 5 tablespoon of sugar.
9. Keep stirring on sim for 15 minutes until the milk becomes thick.
10. Now take out the paneer balls from the sugar syrup and add them in the pan. Simmer for another 15 minutes on low heat.
11. Place the milk rasmalai in a bowl, sprinkle cardamom powder and almond flakes and refrigerate.
12. Serve cold.

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This made 10 rasmalais, which is enough for 3-4 people. Waise to yeh Diwali pe khaaskar banti hai, but we don't really need a reason to eat sweets do we? :) Enjoy!