Phirni

Phirni is a classic dessert which needs no introduction. Phirni is a sweet made out of rice. It must have originated during the times of mughal rule in India since similar rice pudding and desserts are also seen in Lebanese cuisine (must have been middle eastern in origin). Here goes the recipe...

Ingredients:
Milk - 1 litre
Basmati rice - 100 grams
Cashew, badam, pista paste - 1 tsp
Cardamom - 6 nos
Saffron -3-4 strands
Sugar for taste
Sweetened condensed milk - 400 grams
Condensed milk cream - 170 grams
Salt - 1 pinch

For the garnish
Almond - 4 nos
Pista - 4 nos
Saffron strands - 1 pinch
Raisins (optional) - 4 - 8 nos
Silver foil (optional)

Method:
Wash rice and drain well using a clean dry cloth. Boil milk, add cardamon (Discard them after the aroma is released), add this rice with constant stirring and cook till the rice is done (can add more water). Mash well. Reduce the flame, add condensed milk cream with constant stirring and cook till it thickens. Add the cashew, badam and pista paste, saffron strands, pinch of salt and mash well again using a hand mixer. Add condensed milk, sugar for taste and turn off the flame. Chill for 4-5 hours, garnish and serve.

Note:
To garnish, place silver foil on the phirini and take it out carefully. Add sliced almonds, sliced pista, cashew, raisins, saffron etc. for the garnishing . Add sugar as per need, Can use sugarfree also. Can add cardamon powder instead of whole cardamons.

Rava Kesari/Rawa kesari (kesari bath)

This Rava Kesari is a south Indian sweet. Rava means suji or semolina and kesari means saffron. In karnataka it is called as kesari bath. The savoury version is kara bath or uppit/upma. Both the sweet and savoury versions are served together and that is known as chow chow bath (mixture bath). Rava kesari is also served with pongal, vada, chutney, sambar or idli, vada, chutney, sambar at breakfast. Both the combos are simply perfect. Oh !!! A lavish south Indian breakfast ! May it be an evening tiffin or even special celebrations, this Rava kesari is always there. For sweet food lovers, this one is simply perfect and easy. Here goes the recipe...

Ingredients:
Elachi - 6 nos
Cashew nuts - 8 nos
Raisins - 6 nos
Saffron strands - 1 pinch
Milk - 4 tbsp
Water - 2-3 cups
Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup
Roasted rava - 1 cup
Ghee - 4 tbsp

Method:
Heat ghee, in a not stick stew pot. Fry the elachi till it gives out the aroma, after that discard them. Now in the same ghee, add cashew nuts and fry till light brown, add the raisins and give a stir. Add 2-3 cups of water and bring it to boil. Boil about 4 tbsp milk separately and dissolve the saffron strands in it. Now add this into the cashew, raisin and water mixture. Add the powdered sugar along with roasted rava with constant stirring and cook till the water is fully evaporated. Now this is done. Garnish with cashews , saffron strands etc. and serve.

Note:
Some prefer to add kesari powder. In that case, it should be added to the boiling water. The milk and saffron strand may be excluded from the recipe.

Chocolate Cake Gulab Jamoon

I know, I know ... You'll must be guessing this to be a kala jamoon...( it looks like one). But this one is Chocolate cake gulab jamoon. I had some leftover sugar syrup (used in gulab jamoon) and some leftover chocolate cake (this could be a perfect leftover recipe, lol). Being a fan of gulab jamoon and off course chocolate cake, I fused them to make this chocolate cake gulab jamoon... interesting, isn't it? Here goes the recipe...

Ingredients:
Chocolate cake - 500grams
sweetened condensed milk - 1 small tin
oil for deep frying

For the syrup:
Sugar - 1cup
Water - 1cup
Elachi - 4 nos
Rose essence - one pinch
oil - 1 tsp

Method:
Prepare the sugar syrup by boiling the sugar and water in a wide bottom casserole on a low heat with constant stirring. Fry the elachi in 1tsp oil , when the aroma is released discard the elachi and pour this oil over the syrup. When the syrup is almost done, add a pinch of rose essence for the flavour. Turn of the flame, and keep this aside. Knead the chocolate cake with sweetened condensed milk and form the dough. make small balls and deep fry in hot oil (when the oil is hot, reduce the flame to medium and then fry), just for 10 seconds (it will break if fried for longer, just put it in and take it out). Pour the sugar syrup over and serve hot with cold vanilla ice cream.

Note:
Click here for Chocolate cake recipe

Chocolate cake

This one is a simple chocolate cake recipe. This cake was simply sinful and yummy. Here goes the recipe....

Ingredients:
Flour - 2 cups
Sugar - 1 1/2 cups
Cocoa powder - 100 grams
Vanilla baking powder - 2 tsp
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Egg white of 2 eggs
Condensed milk cream - 170 gram or 1 small tin
Vanilla aroma - 1 tbsp
Salt a pinch
Water - 1 1/2 cup

Method:
In a mixing bowl, add flour, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla baking powder, baking soda and salt. Now add egg white, condensed milk cream,vanilla aroma and mix well until you get a batter of pouring consistency. Pour into greased cake pans of different shapes and sizes of your choice (let the batter be slightly more than half, never 3/4th or full). Bake at 180 degrees for 30-35min. Insert a toothpick to check if it comes out clean ( if any particles sticks to the toothpick, bake for a little longer and check). Cool and serve.

Note:
See that the batter is not too thick or too thin. If the batter is too thick, the cake will be too hard, if its too thin, then it would be hard to get the desired shape.

Kulfi

Kulfi is Indian Ice cream. It is made by the slow condensation of milk along with sugar and other spices and nuts like saffron, cardamom, pista, almond etc. Just in case you add any one ingredient in large quantity say for example saffron, then it becomes saffron or kesar kulfi, if pista is added in excess then its called pista kulfi. The unique taste comes from the slow caramelizing milk and sugar combined with these expensive spices and nuts. Traditionally it was prepared in large earthen pots or matkas (hence, they are called as matka kulfi). Now a days there is so much to play with kulfis (the other day I made strawberry kulfi, and the taste was unbeatable) like there are many new flavours etc. This one is does not require an ice cream maker and easy too. Nothing can beat the heat better than this slow melting, thick Indian ice cream kulfi. Here is the recipe...

Ingredients:
full cream Milk - 3 cups(1 1/2 cup milk,1 1/2 cup cream)
Elachi - 6 nos
condensed milk cream - 170 grams or 1 small tin
pista - 1/2 cup
almond - 4 nos
saffron - 0,6 g( since I used saffron powder, can take it as one pinch)
Sugar for taste

For garnishing:
pista and Almonds( finely sliced) - 1 tsp
saffron - 3 strands

Method:
Finely slice pista and almonds and keep aside. Add saffron strands or powder in 1 tsp hot milk and keep aside. Add milk in a board bottomed vessel or casserole or stew pot. Heat in low flame with constant stirring. Add elachi and stir for a min. When all the smell of elachi has been released can take them out and discard them. Add condensed milk cream, sugar for taste with constant stirring. Now add finely sliced almonds, pista, saffron and cook till the milk seperates from the sides of the vessel. At this point its done. Turn off the flame, pour into a container (earthen pot, but I used plastic container box). Freeze it. Keep mixing once in half an hour for about 6 hours, freeze overnight. Next day scoop, garnish and serve.

Note:
Milk should be boiled on low flame, and constant stirring is a must. Sugar added should not be to too sweet or too less, just add enough sugar as per requirement. Mixing every half an hour the freezed kulfi is very important.