Mysore pa

This was totally unexpected. I got nice north Indian friends recently. One of them, Sutapa was very much interested in mysore pak. My mother in law is a sweet specialist. So I got the recipe from her, dropped tharun at his playschool and went to sutapa's place, She had kept the ingredients ready i.e
Besan(Gram flour) - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 1/2 cup
Oil - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 1/4 cup
Water - 1/2 cup


Method:
1.Add 1/2 cup of water to sugar in a thick bottomed pan and heat it.
2. Once the sugar dissolves fully in water, add the gram flour gradually while stirring continuously to avoid lumps.
3. Once all the flour is dissolved, add ghee while continuously stirring it.
4. Add oil also and keep stirring. For a while you might think its too much of oil and ghee. But once in a while its ok.
5. Stirring is the only difficult part of the method, so you can use both hands alternately. Since I did with my friend it was not too much of pain.
6. After it starts hardening and stirring becomes difficult and the whole paste separates out of the pan thoroughly, transfer the contents into a plate greased with butter/ghee.
7. Let it cool for 10 minutes and later cut it into diamonds.
8. Yummy mysore pa is ready. This is another sweet trial which turned successful the first time itself:))

Note: Preparation time is just half an hour.

Rasamalai

This is my all time favorite sweet. In fact, I should say its my family sweet.. Everytime we go for any get together we dont even go for a second thought and order this sweet. Everyone likes it. So I have tried it for pajaaka's event.

Cooking time : 45 min
Makes 6-8 balls

Ingredients:
For Malai:
Milk - 1/2 litre (For best results use full cream milk)
Lemon juice - 3 tablespoons
Sugar - 1 cup
Milk powder / plain flour - 1-2 tablespoons
Water - 2 cups

For flavoured Milk:
Milk - 1/2 litre
Sugar - 1/2 cup or as required
Cardamom powder - 1 teaspoon
Saffron - 1/4 tsp (soaked in warm water/milk)
Sliced Nuts for garnishing (Almonds, Cashew, Pistachios, etc)



Method:
For Malai:
1. Take a thick bottomed pan and boil the milk well.
2. Reduce the flame, add lemon juice slowly, stirring the milk continously.
3. As the curdling process begins, continue stirring.
4. When all the milk turns curd and water separates out, immediately add ice cubes to stop the curdling process further(this is an important step to avoid hardening of malai).
5. Use a clean muslin/cotton cloth to extract the solid parts. This is called paneer or cottage cheese.
6. Run cold water thoroughly from outside in order to avoid the lemon's smell in the dish.
7. Drain the water fully and knead it to make a smooth dough. If needed, sprinkle milk powder or plain flour to get a smoother consistency.
8. Make them into small balls and flatten them with your palm and keep them aside.
9. Heat sugar and water in 1:2 ratio and allow it to boil.
10. As it starts boiling, reduce the flame and add the flattened cakes one by one slowly.
11. Let it cook for 10-15 minutes. Once the balls puff up and start floating on the surface indicating it is cooked, you can take them out and keep them aside.

For flavoured milk:
1. Boil milk in a heavy bottomed pan.
2. Stir it continuously until the volume reduces to half and becomes thick.
3. Add sugar, cardamom powder, saffron water/milk and stir well, until sugar dissolves (5-10 minutes).

Put off the flame let it cool for sumtime and add the cheese balls one by one.
Garnish it with nuts and allow it to cool completely.
Refrigerate and serve chilled.

Lemon-Mint Magic(serves 2) - Beat the Heat..

This goes as an entry to the 'Fun n Sun Event'.

Nothing can be more refreshing than mint. Mint leaves have been enjoyed for its wonderful aroma, its great taste, and its healing power. Mint is well known for its ability to sooth the digestive tract and reduce the severity and length of stomach aches. Lemon is one of the fruits that would strengthen your immune system. If you have flu or colds, try drinking lemon juice. It will relieve the symptoms as well as halt the progress of most infection because of its antibacterial and antiviral properties. Lemon acts as a blood purifier and improves the body’s ability to get rid of toxins.

So, having said all about the benefits of mint and lemon, lets get into a quick magic to beat the heat..

Ingredients:
Lemon - 1
Mint Leaves - 10-12 leaves
Ice cubes/crushed ice - 5
Sugar - 4 tsp
Salt(to taste)/ 1 tsp
Water(to taste)/4 Cups

Method:
Blend together all the ingredients in a mixer and serve with a lovely fizz on the top.

Vegetarian Black Forest

This is my entry to srivalli's MEC:Cakes.. I have great fun making cakes n pastries.. Generally I prefer vannilla/fresh cream.. but this time i wanted to try something different.. so I tried chocolate flavour.. I would say this one is a treat for chocolate lovers... My lesson on making cakes is to always use a blender or mixer to beat it.. once i did it manually.. and i had a sprain in my ankle which remained for months.. so never try even if u add lotta eggs.. I would also prefer to have a measuring cup..as our skilled hand measurement does not work for cakes..atleast for me,..
Ingredients:
All Purpose flour(Maida) - 120 gms
Cocoa powder - 20 gms
Butter - 40 gms
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Milk Maid - 130 gms
Milk - 1/4 cup
Soda - 1/4 tsp

Method:
1. Sieve the flour, Cocoa powder, baking powder and soda in a bowl. Do it twice or thrice till they mix well.
2. Beat butter and milk maid mix well.
3. Add flour and beat well.
4. Add milk and beat well.
5. Grease the baking bowl with butter paper and pour the cake batter into it.
6. Set the microwave in the convection mode(those who have convection models) at 170 degees celsius for 30 minutes. Those who don't have convection, simply cook in micro wave at 200 degree celsius for 20-30 minutes.
7. Times vary according to different ovens. So keep an eye on the cake from 20 min onwards.
8. Prick it with a toothpick till the base to check whether its done.
9. Once its done, garnish with roasted almonds.
10. Yummy cake is ready.