GENERAL

I AM GOING ON A VACATION AND WILL RETURN AFTER DIWALI.SO WISH YOU ALL HAPPY DIWALI AND NEW YEAR IN ADVANCE.MY MAIL ID IS rashis_552003@yahoo.com

STRAWBERRY GRANITA

Ingredients
strawberry crush 1 cup
orange juice 1 cup
lemon juice 2 tablespoons
crushed ice
5 cups strawberries, sliced
4 fresh mint sprigs A few sprigs
METHOD
1. Blend strawberry crush, orange juice, lemon juice and crushed ice well.
2. Pour into individual glasses and serve decorated with strawberry slices and mint sprigs.
Note: You can add chopped strawberries to the mixture and freeze.

SHREE KHAND

Ingredients:
1/2 cup hung yogurt
1 tbsp sugar
few strands of saffron
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1/2 tsp chopped almonds
1/2 tsp chopped sunflower seeds (chironji)Optional
Fresh fruits can be added instead of dry fruits
Method:
1.Take a bowl and beat yogurt with sugar. Add saffron and beat some more.
2.Now add cardamom powder, almonds, sunflower seeds and serve.
Tip:You can beat it with beater or even in mixer but you have to check the time when using mixer.Use of mixer or beater will give you a fuss free recipe.
Traditionally hung curd and sugar were mixed with the help of palm in a wide thali.Or hung curd and sugar to be passed through a seive(it is time consuming and messy).

RAS MADHURI

RASMADHURI
Ingredients
8 rasgulla logs
Other ingredients
1 recipe sandesh
5 strands saffron, soaked in 1 tablespoon milk
1/2 tablespoon chopped almonds
1/2 tablespoon chopped pistachios
1/4 teaspoon cardamom (elaichi) powder
3 tablespoons milk
2 fresh banana leaves
For the garnish
1 tablespoon pistachio slivers
2 drops saffron food colour
Method
1. Make 8 banana leaf boxes. Keep aside.
2. Make rasgulla logs as stated in the recipe. Drain the syrup and slit the rasgulla logs vertically into 2 equal parts. Keep aside.
3. Divide the sandesh into 2 equal parts.
4. In one portion of the sandesh, add the saffron milk, chopped nuts and cardamom powder and mix well. Divide into 8 portions. Keep aside.
5. To the other sandesh portion, add the milk and mix well to make a smooth mixture.
6. Sandwich one portion of the saffron-sandesh mixture between two parts of each rasgulla log and place in a banana leaf box.
7. Top each box with the sandesh-milk mixture so as to completely fill the box and smoothen the upper surface with the back of a knife.
8. Garnish with the pistachios slivers and lines of saffron colour as shown in the above picture.
9. Serve chilled.

ANJEER SHAKE

Ingredients
2 glass whole milk4 figs(anjeer)
4 tsp sugar
2 tsp broken cashews
2 tsp broken almonds
6-7 ice cubes
Directions
1.Soak figs in a cup of milk for 3-4 hours or can overnight.Now blend it in blender by adding milk & sugar.
2.Finally add ice cubes, half of cashews & almonds & again blend it until quite foamy.Pour in a glasses, garnish with remaining cashews & almonds

PURI

Ingredients
3-4 sweet potatoes
2 cup wheat flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp sugar
pinch of salt
ghee
Directions
1.Pressure cook sweet potatoes, remove skin & smash them.
2.Add flour, sugar, salt in smashed potato & with the help of milk make a thick dough of it.Divide dough in a 8-10 balls & make chapati of it (while rolling, make a hole at a center of chapati it will help to cook chapati well )
3.On hot griddle roast chapatis with the help of ghee.The way one does for puran puri.
This is a variation of puran puri.

LILWA KA HALWA

Ingredients
1 cup green chana (boiled)
1/4 cup khoya
10-12 almonds
10-12 cashewnuts
3 tbsp ghee
2 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tbsp green cardamom powder
Directions
1.Boil chana and keep aside for cooling.
2.Then grind itHeat ghee in pan and add ground chana and cook for 10mints.
3.Add milk and wait till it becomes thick, than add add sugar and keep at flame till 2 mints.
4.Add khoya, almonds, cashew nuts, and cardamom powder Serve.

KHAJUR KI KHEER

Ingredients
1/2 cup poppy seeds
1/2 cup seedless dates
1/2 liter milk
2 tsp ghee
5-6 tsp sugar
1 tsp cardamom powder
chopped almond and cashew for garnishing
Directions
1.Soak the poppy seeds in 1 cup milk for 2-3 hours.Then grind it in grinder and make a smooth paste.
2.Then make a paste of dates by grinding it.Take a bowl and allow to heat it,add ghee in this.
3.Then add poppy seed paste and dates paste in this,fry them on medium flame for 5 min.
4.Now add milk in this mixture and add sugar.Allow to boil up to it become a thick.
5.Now add cardamom powder and remove from flame.Garnish with cashew and almond, and serve it.

RAJGIRA CHIKKI

Ingredients:
250 gm ramdana / rajgira / cholai
750 gm jaggery
3 1/2 cups water
A greased surface to set the chikki
Method:
1.Heat a pan to very hot and add the rajgira. It will start popping up almost immediately. When popped up, remove from pan and keep aside.
2.Place jaggery and water in a pan, and dissolve jaggery over low heat. When dissolved increase the heat and bring to a boil and cook over high heat till a 2-3 thread consistency is reached.
3.Mix in the rajgira into the mixture.
4.Transfer at once onto the greased surface, pat to level and leave to set.

BADAM KA HALWA

Ingredients
1 cup almonds
½ poppy seeds
2 cup sugar
1 cup ghee
2 tsp cardamom powder
2 cup milk
2 tsp Broken cashew
Directions
1.Sock almonds & poppy seeds separately in milk for 3-4 hours.Grind them separately with milk in which they socked.
2.Heat a pan with ghee, add both the mixtures in it & fry them on medium heat for 20
min.
3.Now add milk & then sugar & fry it again for 5-7 min.Now add cardamom powder & cashew & remove it from fire.serve it hot.

BESAN LADDOO

Ingredients:
200 gm ghee
350 gm besan (gram flour)
175 gm castor sugar
1 tsp cardamom powder
2 tbsp dried fruit
1/4 tsp saffron strands soaked in 1 tbsp water

Method:
1.Heat ghee in a large pan. Add besan and cook on a slow flame, stirring continuously.
2.Remove the pan from the flame when the ghee separates and the besan colors. Cool.
Stir in sugar, spice, dried fruit and saffron.
3.Prepare even sized ladoos and serve decorated with extra dried fruit and silver leaf.

CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM

CHOCOLATE ICE-CREAM
Ingredients
3 litres milk
6 teaspoons cocoa
4 teaspoons chocolate powder
3 teaspoons vanilla essence
225 grams fresh cream
6 level teaspoons custard powder
2 teacups sugar ( aprox.)
50 grams cooking chocolate ( optional)
Method
1. Mix the cocoa, chocolate powder and custard powder in 1 teacup of cold milk.
2. Put the rest of the milk to boil with the sugar. When it starts boiling, add the chocolate mixture gradually. Go on cooking and stirring for 4 minutes.
3.Cool the mixture.
4. Add the fresh cream and vanilla essence.
5.If desired, add the cooking chocolate cut into small pieces to the mixture.
6. Prepare the ice-cream in an ice-cream churner.
TipsFor recipes which require use of an ice-cream churner, either a hand or an electric churner can be used. The churning incorporates air and gives a light texture. Churned ice-creams can be prepared ahead and stored in the refrigerator in a plastic box or in a vessel covered on top with polyethylene. In this way, the formation of ice crystals is avoided.

MOONG DAL HALWA

Ingredients
1cup. Moong (yellow dal) dal
1cup Sugar
1/2 cup Milk
2 cups Water
8 nos. Almonds
4 nos. Cardamoms
1/2 tsp. Saffron
3/4 cup Mawa/khoya
1 cup ghee (clarified butter)
Method
1.Wash and soak the dal overnight. Grind coarsely, using very little water.
2.Prepare a one string sugar syrup with sugar and water.
3.Soak saffron in hot milk. Crumble mawa into fine granules.
4.Blanch almonds, Cool and peel them and cut finely.
5.Heat Ghee(clarified butter) in a kadhai and add ground dal and fry till golden brown on a low heat and keep stirring .
6.Add the sugar syrup and saffron milk. Mix well and cook till halwa is of dropping consistency. Add mawa and cook till it dissolves.
7.Serve hot, garnished with crushed cardamoms and and sliced almonds.