Lemon Pudding

20 lady fingers
Juice of I lemon
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. pistachios

For Custard

5 egg yolks
2 cups of milk + 2 Tbsp. milk
1 pinch of salt
¼ cups of corn starch
½ cup sugar
1 tbsp. cold butter
Zest of 1 lemon

Heat the milk until it is warm in a saucepan. Mix egg yolks with starch, salt, and sugar. Add the eggs slowly, bit by bit, while continuously whisking the liquid to the mixture so that the eggs do not scramble.

Pour the custard in the saucepan and keep whisking until mixture feels heavy. Should take 3-5 minutes.
Add lemon zest and butter. Refrigerate overnight.

Mix the lemon juice with sugar and water. Dip the lady fingers in the juice and add to the glass. You can layer the bottom of a wide glass or lay them out like petals in a martini glass. The lady fingers will absorb the lemon juice and acquire the flavor. 5 lady fingers per serving.

Add the custard on the top. The pistachios should be roughly ground and added to the custard for texture.

Banoffee Pie

Banana + Toffee pie…English, rich creamy and utterly decadent. The essential ingredients of a banoffee pie are a pastry base (a biscuit base or a pastry crust), cream, banana, and toffee. This pie was invented in a restaurant called Hungry Monk in West Sussex. The original recipe is as follows

http://www.hungrymonk.co.uk/banoffi_pie/

First of all, the base. There are a couple of alternatives here. A graham biscuit crust, a digestive biscuit crust, or a pie crust. For a nine inch pie, that would be 9 graham crackers, 4 tbsp. butter and 2 tsp. sugar turned into a crumb base and baked for 15 minutes. The original recipe uses a shortbread pastry crust.

Then, the toffee. I thought the toffee part is daunting where you boil a tin of condensed milk in water for two and a half hour and you have to make sure that the tin of milk is always covered by water. That was too much of a hassle, like thinking about the milk for two and a half hour! So at the local store I found a 14 oz. tin of dulce de leche in the Mexican food aisle. There are other ways to caramelize condensed milk. Other ways include baking the condense milk in a water bath for 1 and ½ hours. On the other hand, here is Curtis Stone’s recipe, where you make a toffee and add condensed milk.

To make the toffee sauce: Place a medium-heavy saucepan over medium heat. Combine the sugar and 3 tablespoons of water in a medium-heavy saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat and boil without stirring until the color is deep amber, occasionally swirling the pan and brushing down the sides with a pastry brush dipped into water, about 5 minutes. Stir in the condensed milk and butter. Continue stirring for 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens slightly. Remove the toffee sauce from the heat and spread 1 cup of the sauce over the prepared crust and refrigerate for about 1 hour or until the caramel is semi-firm. Keep the remaining caramel sauce at room temperature.

My recipe

I used a pie crust and pre baked it at  350 degrees in a 9” pie dish for 15 minutes, till golden.

I took a tin of dulce de leche, added 3 eggs, and 1 tbspn butter. I added it to the pie cust and baked it for another 17 minutes. I found no recipe where the toffee was mixed with eggs and baked. I thought it would lessen the sweetness of the toffee. It actually works out fine.

Cool the pie. Now slice 1 banana and stick all over the pie.

 Whip one cup of cream with 2 tbsp. confectioner’s sugar. Slather all over the pie. You could flavor the cream with instant coffee or vanilla, or even add chocolate shavings on the top. I did none of these things.

Key Lime Pie

I am on the lookout for citrusy desserts. I have never been a fan of chocolate desserts; in my mind chocolate takes over the flavor completely and nothing else shines. Therefore, I made a key lime pie yesterday. The big debate was where to get the key limes. Now key limes are hard to find and you need 10-12 key limes for ½ cup of lime juice. Some suggest using lemon instead, but there is a big difference in flavor. That would be lemon pie and not key lime pie. I ended up buying bottled key lime juice and the flavor was delightful. You can find the same recipe all over the internet and I was wondering what interesting variations could be done next time; maybe some pistachio on the top. I am wondering what pairs with lime besides ginger in a dessert.

Crust
9 graham crackers
4 -5 tbsp. butter
2 tbspn sugar
Crush the crackers with the sugar. Add melted better and pat down like a crust in a 9” pie pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Allow to cool.

In a blender mix the following-
3 eggs (every recipe suggests using egg yolks, but this turned out fine)
1 - 14 oz. tin of condensed milk
½ cup 2tbsp of key lime juice
1 Tspn zest of lemon
Add to the shell and bake for 15 minutes.

Cool and top with whipped cream.
1 cup of heavy cream, 2 Tspn confectioner sugar, and vanilla essence. Chill overnight.

Banana Pudding

I adopted this recipe with almost no changes. This is an easy dessert, which is a great crowd pleaser. This amount should serve four.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/banana-pudding-with-vanilla-wafer-crumble

For crumble

12 Nilla vanilla cookies
2 Tbsps. melted butter
1 ½ Tsps. sugar
Place the cookies in a Ziploc bag and pound them until the cookies crumble. Mix with butter and sugar and bake on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper for 15 minutes at 325 degrees. Let this cool.

For Custard
5 egg yolks
2 cups of milk + 2 Tbsp. milk
1 pinch of salt
¼ cups of corn starch
½ cup sugar
1 Tsps. vanilla essence
1 Tbsps. cold butter
2 bananas
Heat the milk until it is warm in a saucepan.
Mix egg yolks with starch, salt, and sugar. Add the eggs slowly, bit by bit, while continuously whisking the liquid to the mixture so that the eggs do not scramble.
Pour the custard in the saucepan and keep whisking until mixture feels heavy. Should take 3-5 minutes.
Add vanilla essence and butter. Refrigerate overnight.

Assemble
Slice 2 bananas thinly
An hour before serving, layer a dish with bananas. Add the custard on top. And top with the crumble. Give this at least an hour because the pudding acquires a banana flavor and the crumble stays crisp.

Gianduja Mousse

Gianduja (pronounced -zhahn-DOO-yuh) a sweet chocolate containing about 30% hazelnut paste. It takes its name from Gianduja, a Carnival and marionette character who represents the archetypal Piedmontese, a native of the Italian region where hazelnut confectionery is common. Nutella is a form of gianduja, although the hazelnut accounts for only 13% of the composition.

1 cup nutella
½ cup sour cream
1 cup whipped heavy cream
Blend the sour cream and nutella together. Fold in the heavy cream. Serve with a cookie. Add a tablespoon of amaretto if you have any.

Molten Chocolate cakes – how to get it wrong and right

I followed the recipe to a tee and I got it wrong. I was alone with my partner away in Asia and I was missing him, staring at the wilted Valentines Day roses which I couldn't bring myself to throw away. Maybe that had something to do with this culinary disaster.

The Oscars were on and I was bored as I am during any award season. I was hoping it was Monday so I could watch the “Bachelor.” I was looking at Food and Wine Magazine till I stumbled on this recipe.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/molten-chocolate-cake

I am always looking for ways to make quick desserts when I have company. I also will not try a new recipe if that is the case so I thought this was the perfect time to make something quick and fast, like a practice run, and distract myself from the blues. So, molten cakes are supposed to be soft with a gooey filling. Mine had no filling, they were spongy throughout. The shape was…., wait, there was no shape. The flavor was actually nice, but hey, this was no molten cake.

The recipe was for four cakes, but since I was testing, halved it.

½ stick of butter
1/8 cup of flour or 2 Tbspn
3 ounces dark Ghirardelli chocolate
1 tspn vanilla extract
1 ½ large eggs
¼ cup white sugar
Some butter and cocoa powder to dust the ramekins

1. I preheated the oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a mixer, I beat the eggs, sugar, butter, and vanilla till I get a light airy batter.
3. I melted the chocolate in the microwave for around 40 seconds.
4. I cooled the chocolate and add a little bit of batter so the batter would not scramble. I gradually added the chocolate to the batter and ran it in the mixer.
5. I added the flour.
6. Poured the cake batter in the ramekins and baked it for 16 minutes according to the recipe.

I think 16 minutes' baking time was too much. Also, the batter was thick, so less flour would have been better. I should have used deeper ramekins with lesser surface area on the top. Let’s see, it could turn out right next time.

Looking at this recipe confirms my doubts.

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/molten-chocolate-cake%20comments_page=1&#conversation-container%0A
or
http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/molten-chocolate-magic/

Martha Stewart’s recipe requires a six muffin-tin, a temperature of 400 degrees, and only 8 minutes' baking time. I need two slabs of Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate and three eggs to make six cakes. This recipe uses less butter. The New York Times features Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s individual warm, soft chocolate cakes. This recipe requires 1 tspn flour, 1 egg, 1 egg yolk, 2 tbspn sugar, 4 tbspn butter, and 2 ounces, or half a slab, of bittersweet chocolate for each cake. It would be easy to test one cake. The oven should be at 450 degrees and the cakes should be baked for 6-7 minutes. So here is the correct way, tried and tested.

The other good thing about molten cakes is that you can make the batter in advance and refrigerate it. The batter does not have baking powder so you are not worried about air escaping the batter. Just before you bake the cakes, you need to bring the batter to room temperature. If the batter is cold, the baking time will increase and I am not sure by how much. The best thing to do is to pour the batter in ready ramekins and pop in the oven around 15 minutes before you want to serve.

Makes 2

½ cup unsalted butter or 1 stick butter
4 ounces of semi sweet chocolate or 1 bar of Ghirardelli semi sweet
2 teaspoons of flour
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 tspn vanilla extract
¼ cup sugar
Cocoa powder for dusting the ramekins
Butter for coating the ramekins

1. Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Heat the butter and chocolate in a double broiler. Or just heat the butter and add the chocolate after breaking it into small pieces. You do not want to burn chocolate so be very careful. The mixture should be warm and not hot.
3. Beat the sugar and the eggs and egg yolk in a blender.
4. Add the egg mixture to the chocolate slowly. Add a little and whisk as you do not want the egg to curdle. Keep repeating till you mix the two together.
5. Now add the flour.
6. Rub the ramekins with cold butter and dust the ramekins with cocoa powder.
7. Add the cake mixture to the ramekins and bake for 7 minutes. The sides will be soft but the cake will have a molten center.
8. To unmold, take the ramekin out of the oven and invert on a plate and tap very lightly. You should run a knife on the side of the dish to separate the cake out a little before you do so. Let the cake rest for 5 minutes before you serve.

Individual apple chestnut cakes with a walnut crumb

I have been making desserts with apples lately. There was the apple bread pudding, followed by the apple crumble pie, and the latest being, the individual apple chestnut cakes with a walnut crumb on the top. Again, just reiterating and repeating, I am one of the worst bakers in the world. Cakes and cookies are definitely not my forte, no scratch that, I am incapable of baking edible cookies and cakes. But I had one granny smith apple left over when I made the apple crumb pie. Again, browsing through the apple based desserts in food and wine magazine, I thought of making these individual cakes.

The recipe in question can be found at the following link.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/apple-crumble-cakes-with-chestnuts
This recipe was for eight, and I narrowed it down to 4. I am using most of the text of the original recipe with my changes.
Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease 4 8-ounce ramekins and place on a baking tray.
Crumb
Toss the following together
• ¾ cups coarsely chopped walnuts which I pounded in the mortar
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
Cake
Blend the following wet ingredients
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup white sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ½ stick of butter
• 1 tspn vanilla extract
Chop the following
• 1 large Granny Smith apple—peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 3/4 cup roasted chestnuts, quartered
Whisk the following dry ingredients
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cups all-purpose flour
Directions
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. In a large bowl, blend the butter with the sugar, brown sugar and eggs. Gently stir in the flour mixture and milk until blended, then fold in the apples and chestnuts.
2. Spoon the batter into the ramekins and sprinkle the walnut mixture on top. Bake for about 40 minutes, until the topping is browned and a cake tester inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes, and then serve with a scoop of ice cream.

Apple Pie with crumb topping

The world abounds with recipes of apple pie. There are so many versions of the perfect “grandma’s apple pie” out there, and it’s not hard to find many apple pie recipes in the blogworld which are coated in saccharine sentimentality of nostalgia, real or not. Not many people admit that grandma or mum actually sucked in the kitchen, hell, I don’t either.

But having sampled a few apple pies, and acknowledging that neither am I a connoisseur, nor do I have the handed down know- how of a family recipe handed down for generations, I still figured down a few things on my own. For example, I prefer the crumb top to a lattice top, pre made crust to freshly made pie dough strictly on the disproportionate rewards to effort outcome, combination of apples like golden delicious and granny smith to just granny smith.

So here it is- my virgin attempt at making an apple pie. I was debating whether to make the crust myself, having done that years ago when I used to make quiches. However, I succumbed to laziness and bought a store bought crust. When I first tasted the pie, hot from the oven, I thought it was too tart. But as it cooled down, I realized that the sweetness of the crumb top was a good contrast to the tartness, however, I might reduce the quantity of lemon juice next time. The best part was when my partner gulped down four slices on the first night, he never eats that much of my dessert ever.

For the filling, I mixed the following.
7 med granny smith apples ( it might be a better idea to mix some sweet apples with these tart ones) which I cubed
juice of half a lemon ( I might use half of this quantitiy next time)
handful of raisins ( will use at least a cup of raisins in the future )
1 cup of sugar
2 tbspn flour
nutmeg
cinnamon
vanilla extract
I spread the dough over a nine inch crust, and added the filling. I baked it for 45 minutes in a pre heated 375 degrees oven.

For the crumb top I mixed the following till I got little lumps and I froze it.
I cup of flour,
2/3 cups of brown sugar
half a stick of cold butter

I then toppped the pie with the crumbs, which had been baked for 45 minutes, and baked it for another 45 minutes.

Chocolate Pots de Crème

I invited friends over for dinner on Sunday. My menu included my virgin attempt at cooking meat, I ended up making a "chicken tikka masala," I just substituted chicken for the paneer in my tried and tested " paneer tikka masala" recipe. (http://indianfoodathome.blogspot.com/2010/07/paneer-tikka-masala.html )
It worked fine.

Now coming to the problem that always baffles me - dessert. My original idea was to make a "khubani ka meetha" with mascarpone. I found the recipe on the Masterchef web site-

http://starplus.startv.in/masterchef/mcrecipe.aspx?cname=KandlaNijhowne&id=119&sid=40

I thought the concept of using mascarpone with the apricot and adding pomegranate seeds was genius. The sweetness of the apricots, balanced with mascarpone rather than whipped cream, and the pomegranate seeds bursting in your mouth while adding freshness and pizzaz to the recipe. However, I couldn't find dried apricots at the store. Again as usual, I started to surf food and wine magazine. At this point, it was the afternoon of the dinner day, and I was desperate, till I stumbled on this recipe. Pot de crème ("pot of cream") is a traditional French custard typically served in a pot-shaped cup. It is pronounced as "poe de krehm', with a soft 'd' like we have in Hindi. This milk-chocolate version from pastry chef Frank Urso is easy and I got it right the first time I made it. I was looking for a dessert recipe for a dinner party, and foiund this recipe on food and wine magazine. I have copied the original recipe here, with my comments in bold.

I followed the following link to make this recipe.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/milk-chocolate-pots-de-creme

The dessert turned out to be dense rich decadent chocolate custard, topped with whipped cream. It also looks very pretty in a martini glass. I modified the above recipe, using semi sweet chocolate, and halving the amounts. It made four servings.

1. 10 ounces milk chocolate, finely chopped ( I used 4 ounces of semi sweet Ghirardelli chocolate and 2 ounces bitter sweet)
2. 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped ( mentioned above)
3. 1 cup milk ( used ½ cup)
4. 1 cup heavy cream ( used ½ cup)
5. 1/4 cup sugar ( used 2 tbspn)
6. 5 large egg yolks ( used 3)
7. Crème fraîche and chocolate shavings, for garnish ( I used whipped heavy cream with vanilla extract and confectioner’s sugar)
8. Vanilla Extract ( My touch)

• In a large heatproof bowl, combine the milk and bittersweet chocolates. (Tempering chocolate. I just took the chocolate in a glass bowl and micro waved it for 2 minutes. You need to keep doing this and checking the chocolate, till it melts)
• In a medium saucepan, bring the milk, heavy cream and sugar to a boil, whisking constantly until the sugar is dissolved.
• In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Gradually whisk in half of the hot cream. (Be careful here and keep whisking. You do not want the egg to scramble. Make sure you add the cream, little at a time)
• Whisk the egg-and-cream mixture into the saucepan and cook over moderate heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the custard coats the back of the spoon, about 4 minutes. Pour the custard over the chocolate and let stand for 2 minutes, and then stir until smooth. ( At this stage, add some vanilla extract)
• Transfer the mixture to a blender and puree until very smooth, about 1 minute. Pour the mixture into four 4-ounce ramekins and refrigerate until chilled, 2 hours.
• Let the pots de crème stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. Garnish with crème fraîche and chocolate shavings; serve. ( I served with whipped cream. I also kept the dessert out for longer, you want the custard to be softer, it turns hard in the fridge. )

Apple Bread Pudding

We were invited to a friend's house for dinner and I was struggling to figure out a dessert we could take with us, rather than just the obligatory bottle of wine. Historical evidence over the years does let me know what I am not capable of - baking. Baking is a little too precise for me. I am more of the ,"throw a little bit of this" and "a little bit of that" kind of a girl. So, I tried baking cookies two months ago. What a disaster that was. Some of the cookies were burnt, some underbaked. The cookies definitely needed more sugar and everything ended up in the trash can. Also, dessert is definitely not my forte. I actually avoid making dessert, because I am the only one who ends up finishing it in my house. Who needs the extra calories?

And so I ended up browsing "food and wine" for something I could make. My partner likes apple pie, and I definitely wanted to make something he would appreciate. I have made bread pudding in the past. But this one was different. It turned out light and fluffy, with a flavor that reminded me of apple pie. So I found this recipe, which Tre Wilcox from "Top Chef" had made in one of the seasons. Here is a link to the recipe

http://www.bravotv.com/foodies/recipes/apple-and-brioche-bread-pudding

He just toasted brioche and cored the apples, which he then baked in vanilla anglais. Vanilla anglais is heavy on egg yolk. The pudding was deemed as heavy and I can understand why. Vanilla anglais is great on it's own, and works well with cakes and fruit. However, further baking it would make it denser.

However, Gail Simmons modified the recipe. She cooked the apples in calvados, she also lightened the custard. I love the idea of using brioche as the bread base for the pudding. Brioche is a light, slightly sweet, eggy bread and also makes as an excellent bread for french toast. The difference between using plain white bread and brioche is huge. This is the Gail Simmons recipe I followed ,

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/apple-bread-pudding

I used a lesser amount of bread. I had a loaf of brioche; I used only three fourths of the loaf; I think the custard needed more sugar; I cooked the apples for more than one and a half minutes after adding the calvados. Here is the original recipe with my modifications in bold .

1 pound brioche, cut into 1-inch pieces – (12 cups of bread) I used 8 cups of bread.
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 large Granny Smith apples—peeled, cored and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup sugar (I used ¾ cup sugar for the custard and ¼ cup brown sugar for the apples. In the future I will add an extra 2 tbspn sugar to the custard)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup Calvados or other brandy ( I used Calvados)
4 large eggs, beaten ( I make sure that these are at room temperature)
3 cups milk ( I used 2 ½ cups milk and ½ cup cream)
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped ( I used pure vanilla extract)
Whipped cream or crème fraîche, for serving (I made this by whipping 1 ½ cup oh heavy whipping cream, with 4 Tbspn confectioner’s sugar and vanilla extract. I made the cream a little sweeter, because my bread pudding was a little less sweet than what I aimed for)
Nutmeg, 1/2 cup raisins , 1/2 cup walnuts ( my additions)

1 Preheat the oven to 350°. Spread the brioche on a large rimmed baking sheet and toast for about 15 minutes, stirring once or twice, until lightly golden and dry.
2 Similarly toast the walnuts.
3 Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt the butter; reserve 3 tablespoons of the melted butter in a small bowl. Add the apples and 1/4 cup of the sugar (use brown sugar here ) to the skillet and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the apples are golden and softened, about 15 minutes. ( I did so for 12 minutes) Stir in the cinnamon. ( I also added nutmeg) Remove from the heat and add the Calvados. Return the skillet to the heat and cook until the sauce is syrupy, about 1 minute. I cooked for an addition 3-4 minutes, till the smell of alcohol was not as pronounced.
4 In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with the milk and the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar. ( I think an extra 2 tbspn sugar will be better) Add the vanilla essence, raisins and walnuts. Add the brioche and apples and toss until evenly coated. Let stand for 5 minutes to allow the brioche to absorb the custard.
5 Brush an 8-by-11-inch baking dish with 1 tablespoon of the reserved melted butter. Add the bread pudding and drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons of melted butter on top. Bake for about 50 minutes, until the custard is set and the top is golden. Let the bread pudding cool slightly, and then serve with whipped cream or crème fraîche.

Strawberry Shortcake Sundaes

1 pint of strawberries
1 tbspn brown sugar
Seeds of 1 pomegranate

Make croutons as mentioned in the following recipe

http://indianfoodathome.blogspot.com/2010/10/nectarine-sundaes-for-2.html

Heat a pan and add the strawberries. Cook them for around 5 minutes with the sugar, till they are pulpy but still retain their structure. When cool add the pomegranate seeds. Refrigerate.

When you assemble the dessert with the cake croutons, the vanilla ice-cream, and the strawberry sauce, it reminds you of strawberry shortcake albeit a frozen one.

Nectarine Sundaes – for 2

Occassion - friends for dinner. My reaction -the usual "dinner is a breeze, but dessert will baffle me." Action - the usual " browse through food and wine magazine till you hit a no-bake dessert.
recipe inspiration -
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/bourbon-nectarine-ice-cream-sundaes-with-pound-cake-croutons

I did not use bourbon, and I will do so next time.

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Take a pound cake and cube it till you get a cup of cubes.
3. Add 1 tbspn melted butter to the pound cake cubes and bake till crispy. Should take 15-20 mins.
4. You can freeze the croutons so make them in huge batches.
5. Slice a nectarine finely.
6. In a pan take some butter. Add 1 tbspn light brown sugar. Add the nectarine slices. Saute till moist.
7. Add some lemon juice. Cook sauce till thick.
8. In a bowl, take one fourth of the nectarine sauce. Add a scoop of ice cream. Top with croutons. Repeat.

Rasgulla

In retrospect , I should have added 1 tspn of all purpose flour to the cheese. Though these rasgullas did not fall apart, they were very soft. The trick is to steam the rasgullas in very little sugar and water and add more sugar later. Next time I will boil the balls for 10 minutes.

makes 20

1/2 gallon of whole milk
1/4 quart half and half
1 cup sugar
6 cups water
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup water

1. Boil the milk and add the lemon juice.
2. When the cheese separates and trhe water becomes clear add ice to stop the curdling.
3. In a fine cheese cloth separate the cheese. Hang it for two hours.
4. Run in a food prcessor to smoothen out the cheese.
5. Make twenty balls from the cheese. Make sure the balls are smooth and there are no cracks.
6. Add 1 cup sugar to 6 cups water and bring to a boil. Cover with a lid.
7. Add around 6-7 balls at a time.
8. Steam for 5-6 minutes. The lid should be on the pan.
9. For the third batch add the remaining sugar and water. Bring to a boil. Add the remaining balls.
10. Alternatively add all the balls to sugar and water in a pressure cooker. Steam till you hear 1 whistle. Immediately pour cold water on the lid of the coooker and let the steam escape.
11. Chill the rasgullas overnight.

Sevaiyan Ki Kheer - Vermicelli Pudding

Add two tbsp ghee to a pan. To this add some cashews, raisins, pistachios, almonds- approximately a cup of nuts. When the raisins puff up, remove the dry fruit and reserve.
To the remaining ghee, add 2 cups of broken vermicelli.
Roast till golden brown.
Add 1 quart of whole milk and 10 oz of evaporated milk.
Gently simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Add about 1 cup or more of sugar.
Add 5-6 pods of cardamom.
Add the nuts.
Chill and serve.

Rasmalai

Create pillows of soft ras malai swimming in a pool of sweet milk rabdi. I know how to do it. Take a liter of milk and reduce it, till it is thick and creamy and add the sugar. Heat another liter of milk, curdle it with lemon juice. Scoop the soft paneer and squeeze the water out of it, every last drop. Then gather it in a fine muslin cloth and let it hang for half an hour. Smoothen the cheese in the food processor or knead it till you get a soft dough. Make spheres out of the cheese and drop them gently in a boiling light syrup of six parts of water to one part of sugar. Steam for five minutes, reveling in the new gigantic shape the cheese balls acquire. Cool these soft spongy balls of bliss and pour the rabdi on top. Sure I could, but what after that. Face the world again. I am not ready for that yet.

Lauki Ka Halwa

My mother fasted every monday. She would eat once a day and the meal was marked by many restrictions - no salt, no grains, no onions, no garlic, no vegetable that grew under the soil like carrots and radishes. She would make all sorts of puddings on monday - since rice pudding was taboo the most popular pudding would be the sago kheer. A number of vegetables make good kheers well suited for a vrata- sweet potatoes, carrots, water chestnuts,and bottle gourd. A vegetable which is slightly sweet can be grated cooked in milk and then spiced with cardomom, raisins and nuts. This recipe is actually more successful as a kheer. These are excellent substitutes for rice pudding during a vrata, or festivals.

1/2 lauki grated
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
5 pods cardomom
2 tbspn ghee
pistachios to garnish

1. Heat the ghee and add the grated lauki. Cook till tender and translucent.
2. Add the milk. Cook till milk reduces and the halwa looks like a homogenous mass.
3. Add cardomom and garnish with pistachios.

Magaj

This recipe comes from my Aunt or Maasi in Mumbai. Maasi is a beautiful woman in her seventies, graceful, slim, and petite with porcelain skin and a soft voice. Dressed beautifully in perfectly draped cotton sarees, light diamond jewelry, she walks gracefully around her house, making sure each table is spotless, the food is impeccable, and people around her are warm and cared in her benign presence. I talked with her on the phone the other day. I always loved her magaj so much and asked her how to make it. She patiently explained it all painstakingly going over every little detail. I couldn’t wait to make her magaj her way, and as I put the first piece in my mouth, I felt like she was there in front of me comforting me, soothing me, and listening to me. I miss her. Cooking is joyful; it can recreate the presence of those you love, even if they are far away from you.

1 cup besan
3/4 cup ghee
1/4 cup milk
1 cup almonds
1 cup fine sugar
4 pods cardomom

1. Grind the almonds and the sugar together. Reserve.
2. Heat the ghee in a pan. Fry the besan till it turns golden brown. Add the hot milk.
3. MAke sure the mixture is light and the besan is brown.
4. Turn off the flame.
5. Add the sugar almond mixture and the cardomom.
6. Lay out in a tray and cut into squares.

Badam Halwa - Almond Halwa

Sometimes I like to watch Chef Sanjay cook up stuff on vahrevah.com. His thick South Indian accent and colorful phrases are extremely endearing. His earnestness shines through and I was compelled to try out his recipe for badam (almond) halwa. I reduced the sugar - his prescribed ratio should for almonds to sugar are 1:1 while mine is 2: 1. I personally don’t like my dessert very sweet since it overpowers the other ingredients. He also uses food color which I avoid. However, the halwa was a pleasure with its richness and flavor. I am a big fan of halwas made from lentils but here I used almonds. You can also increase the ghee to 1/2 cup or more for a richer flavor- I just recommended that to my cousin who is dealing with a fussy toddler who has lost weight.

I also made this halwa for my South Indian friend who lives in Hong Kong. This recipe is a South Indian halwa and it makes sense to check with a native. He thought this was the best version he had ever had, primarily because it was not overly sweet.
1 1/4 cups of alomonds - soak overnight
3/4 cups sugar
pinch of saffrom
2 tbspn ghee
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cardomom

1. Peel the soaked almonds. Blend with the milk till you get a coarse batter.
2. In a heavy bottom sauce pan, add 1 tbspn ghee and heat.
3. Add the batter.
4. Add the sugar and after 5 minutes add the saffron.
5. Keep stirring the batter or else it will burn.
6. After a while it starts bubbling and hot liquid starts flying off the pan. Be careful. Add the remaining ghee.
7. Be very careful and keep stirring. The halwa is done when the botton of the pan is clean and no residual sticks to it.
8. Add the ground cardomom seeds.
9. Either lay it out in a greased tray and cut int0 diamond shapes or eat as such.

Kele Ka Halwa

Growing up, breakfast on Sunday, was sooji ka halwa. And lunch was usually vegetable pulao, cooked in whole spices. This halwa is a variation of the regular halwa and uses the over ripe bananas which are lying in the kitchen which one wants to eat. This halwa is flavored with nutmeg powder, not a very usual combination, but nutmeg really compliments banana. For variation add a tspn of fennel seeds and let the seeds splutter in your ghee before adding the banana.

Ingredients

2 mashed ripe large bananas or 3 small ones
1 cup semolina
1 cup milk
1/4 cup ghee
1/4 cup of sugar
1 pod cardomom
1/2 tspn powdered nutmeg

1. Take 2 tbspn ghee and add the mashed banana and sugar. Cook on low heat till the mixture turns brown. Keep aside.
2. Add the remaining ghee to the pan and add the semolina. Roast the semolina till it is fragrant. You want it to lose the raw flavor and turn a light pink in color.
3. Add the milk and the banana mixture. Saute till the mixture becomes uniform. Keep roasting till the halwa turns golden.
4. Add the cardomom and nutmeg.
5. Serve

Sheh- Pahadi Halwa

I used to love Sheh as a kid - much much more than plain semolina halwa. However , it is so rich and involves a lot of muscle work to stir it constantly , that my mom would make it rarely. I was told that it is the recipe of the Shahs ( the traders) in Nainital. It uses hill flavors like fennel seeds, and infact the batter can be fried to make fritters or 'puas' , typically made for festivals.

So after years, I tried to recreate Sheh in my San Francisco kitchen on this President's day weekend. I thought it was decent although I should have used more sugar, which I have adjusted in the recipe. Remember to stir sheh a lot, the golden crust gives it this divine flavor. My friend freaked out when I told him about my little experiment, the amount of ghee seriously unnerved him, but I enjoyed every morsel of this dessert and it was worth all the ghee to me. I can eat salad for the rest of the week.




1 cup of semolina
1 cup yoghurt
1 cup water
1 tspn fennel seeds
2 pods cardomom
1/4 cup ghee
3/4 cup sugar





Instructions

1. Mix the semolina, yoghurt, water, fennel seeds and cardomom and keep at room temperature for half an hour.
2. In a wok , heat the ghee. Add the semolina mixture.
3. Constantly stir. When golden add the sugar.
4. Mix in the sugar and keep stirring. Try to get a golden crust by not stirring for a minute and then turn to the other side. Thoroughly mix the crust with the rest of the halwa.

Variation - You can add a mashed banana to the semolina mixture.