Mango-Kesar-Cashew Pedas

Mango-Kesar-Cashew Pedas

 Mango pedas, were actually a by product of the mango kesar cashew burfis . Infact after the dough became warm it was not easy to spread out and make burfi shapes thats when ,Mango pedas  idea sprang up .With the corner pieces and dough which was left over from making theMango Burfi I managed to kneed into a dough and then press then roll them into flattened disks and press them into pedas. The touch of professional pedas did come only when they got their designer look from a mould press.The deep yellowish-orange colour of the safron n mango combination was real treat to the eye adding to the beauty of the Pedas.the Taste was anyways awesome as said by dearest hubby and children . In fact ,a  few of which i did share with our dear friends the Gupta family just to get a feed back from their kids too. Must say the response i got from Sunita was over whelming.Please do try out this recepie and experience the joy of home made pedas.

Ingredients:-

1. 1cup Alphanso Mango Pulp
2. 1Cup Milk
3. 1Cup Paneer(cheena)
4. 1/2cup sugar
5. 1 spoon ghee , n some more to grease your palm
6. Pinch of safron
7. Pinch of cardimom powder
8. 1/2 cup Cashew nuts coursly chopped
9. cahewnuts for garnish

Method:- 

1. Grind ingredients from 1- 4 , into a smooth paste.
2. Heat 1 spoon ghee in a deep non stick pot.
3. Pour all the ground paste.
4. Keep flame on low to medium high and keep stiring with a wodden or sillicon spatula continuesly.
5. Add safron once it starts to bubble.
6. keep stiring until it begins to reduce in volume
7. Continue the process until it forms a thick mixture , we are not done yet
8. Now add the cardimom powder and cashew bits and continue to stir.
9. You can stitch off once you reach a Dough consistancy.
10. Grease your palm and roll small balls of dough while it is still warm.
11. Press into desired moulds to get lovely shapes. ( you can use fancy hair clips, jelly/chocolate moulds, bottle caps, back of a pen or pencil , etc to make the designs as per your imiganation)
12. Serve.
13. Stays good for upto 3 days without refrigration and upto 5 days with refrigration.

Mango-Kesar-Cashew Burfi

Mango-Kesar-Cashew Burfi

Mango burfi!!! a sheer delight that brings a smile on my son Mihir's face and a twinkle in Mohit's eye. It isn't a great idea to feed kids the store bought burfi , that too just because they love to eat it . Also unlike in india , we do not get speciality sweets in every shop near the house , to cater to the demand of kids according to their moodsThen there was a class party for my son at school and he told it to me the previous day about a home made sweetfor 25 kids. So , here came this trial into picture. Began with a  quick search of the recepie over the net,youtube, with friends,etc... Until i was convinced it will come out fine (i mean just fine , not like a halva consistancy nor any that awesome to begin with), I never wanted to lay my hands on this . From what i had heard , from friends , the stiring process could be very tedious(which i agree undoubtedly) , nevertheless, i was determined to try it out once atleast. the Final motivation came from the fact that ready to use Alphonso pulp was available in the store(which i picked up instantly when i sighted it). All the hard work followed as soon as this tin was home , while kids were aspleep . One more reason i will never forget the making of this burfi was , the joy of making the burfi was almost making me loose interest in life , when my younger son son woke up midway making me carry him in my arm, while i was still relentlesly stiring the mix for the next 25 mins. All is well that ends well , finally the mango burfi was ready and cooling away . when kids were waiting to get a taste (i mean polish the dish till hearts content). I quickly took a few clicks giving them a go ahead to munch on a few of them (i really ment a few this time) as we had to keep aside for the cass party too. Also, made few mango pedas with the corner pieces and dough which was left over from making the burfi(will Post it next), Few of which i did share with our dear friends the Gupta family just to get a feed back from their kids too. Must say the response i got from Sunita was over whelming.

 

Ingredients:-

1. 1cup Alphanso Mango Pulp
2. 1Cup Milk
3. 1Cup Paneer(cheena)
4. 1/2cup sugar
5. 1 spoon ghee , n some more to grease the dish
6. Pinch of safron
7. Pinch of cardimom powder
8. 1/2 cup Cashew nuts coursly chopped
9. cahewnuts for garnish

Method:-

1. Keep a greased dish ready
2. Grind ingredients from 1- 4 , into a smooth paste.
3. Heat 1 spoon ghee in a deep non stick pot
4. Pour all the ground paste
5. Keep flame on low to medium high and keep stiring with a wodden or sillicon spatula continuesly
6. Add safron once it starts to bubble
7. keep stiring until it begins to reduce in volume
8. Continue the process until it forms a thick mixture , we are not done yet
9. Now add the cardimom powder and cashew bits  and continue to stir.
10. You can stitch off once you reach a Dough consistancy.
11. Transfere into the greased dish and garnish with cashew halfs
12. Wait for it to cool completely, before you can cut it.
13. Cut into diamond shaped pieces and serve.
14. Stays good for upto 3 days without refrigration  and upto 5 days with refrigration.
     





Garlic Butter naan

Garlic Butter Naan

 

We all enjoy eating hot Garlic breads when we go to resturants, don't we!!! .. So this time I thought why not give it a try in my own kitchen, and what could have been better than eating them at home with my family over the dinner table getting compliments from my dear once that it is one of the best home made nans ever!!!... ( felt like i won a trophy for a moment... hehe... ). The first try of making garlic nan has been a very exiting and at the same time very anxious too experience ,begining with gathering all the ingredients , to ensure that all measures are perfect and how the dough will rise , will the bread  come well , etc,etc ,etc.... Must say at this time, that it was byond my own imagination and as perfect as i could dream for a first try....( scope for perfection can only improve). Hope the you will like this recepie and try it  in your own kitchen with full confidence that it will turn out well.

Do give your suggestions and share your experience too.

 



Ingredients

• 1cup warm water
• 1 table spoon (2flakes) crushed chopped garlic
• 1teaspoon dry active yeast
• 1/4 spoon salt
• 1/4 spoon sugar
• 1cup self rising flour/plain flour with baking powder n baking soda (sevied)
• 1cup whole wheat flour(seived)
• 1 pinch kalongi
• 1whole garlic grated
• few springs corriender leaves chopped
• 1 spoon white sesmee seeds/ till
• 1no. egg
• 2table spoons milk
• 1/2 cup curds
• 2 spoons butter

Cooking Directions

1. Activate Dry yeast in 1 cup luke warm water( not hot)let it rest for 10 mins until it becomes frothy .
2. Mix to disolve n add salt sugar,egg, milk, curd, kalongi, seived flour and crushed minced garlic to form a dry but soft dough,
3. kneed well add ghee n kneed more for aproximately 10 mins or so .
4. Put cling film n let it rest in a cool dark place for about 2 hrs . It will rise and become double in size .
5. Now Punch the dough back to remove the air. kneed for 5 more mins.
6. Pre heat oven at 230 degrees,
7. Roll the naan in oval or tringle shape, press down the grated garlic, corriender leaves n sesmee seeds . Now wet your hands n lift the naan apply water on the lower side n place it on the grill rack . Brush water on top .
8.  Let it grill for 6-8 mins at 230 degrees . Serve hot . Apply butter on top.
   
   
   
    

Palak Patrado

Palak Patrado:-

 

Having seen that my mum made regular patrado make atleast once a week in my childhood, I have developed a liking for this tasty konkani Amchi delicious side dish . However when i first came to middle east , I hardly knew how to make Patroda (the cleaning of the colcossa leaves, which leaves to buy , etc) the rest of the procedure was also not as motivating enough to simply give it a try( i mean the time consuming part of it).Soon , i would wait for holidays and when i go to india , enjoy this lovely home cooked patrados till heart content. Infact, if i tell you that i even packed some and got along so that even hubby doesn't miss it. Until , I made a trip to dubai along with my parents for a wedding (a big fat konkani wedding)and this is where I had this Palak Patrado for the very first time. Trust me this was a instant likes from all of us , and the result was obvious . Palak Patrado as and when the cravings creeped in. Now , it has definately made its rank over the love for regular patrado.

 

Ingredients:-

1. 4Big bunches of Spinach(Palak)
2. 5-6 Red Chillies
3. Pinch of hing
4. 1cup toor dal
5. 1cup rice
6. 1spoon coconut(optional)
7. A small ball of tamarind
8. Salt to taste

Method:-

1. Wash ,clean the spinach leaves (prefreably use Big leaves).
2. Dry roast red chillies in a spoon of oil .
3. Grind Ingredients 3 to 8 into a fine paste along with the chilles.
4. Apply the ground paste on the wrong side(back) each spinach leaf while you place them overlapping each of these using about 10-12 leaves in each roll .
5. Then Fold it begining with sides first , fold about an inch from both sides, then carefully fold the side of the stems tuccking them well into a tight roll as shown in the picture.
6. Carefully place them in a vessel and the steam cook in a cooker or steamer for about  12-15 mins.
7. Remove from steamer and let it cool slightly .
8. Cut it into round pieces.
9. Serve hot goes well with dal rice.

Do try this manglorian delicasy . Hope you like it . Happy cooking.

 

 

 

 
 



Zebra Cake.....

Zebra Cake

This is one cake that could bring water in my mouth no matter what time of the day or night it is. More so it all began on a day when, I was generally looking for some thing to try our when saw this interesting cake on Hilda's blog (Hilda Mascrane's blog, a friend through one of the food groups Kuch khatta , kuch meeta , Kuch teeka on Face book). The looks of the picture of the cake she baked not only got drools instantly but also , got me to try this lovely recepie . Not just that the cake came out well but i also got some great response from my son and hubby dearest about the lovely stripes.My house was smelling devine with the very fragrent smell of the cake baking...zzzz...zzz.... With little patience did I manage to click pics of this while we all 'Drooled... '. I am quite sure , atleast some of you will try this out and revert back to second my experience as one of your own.

Ingredients:-

1. 300 g fresh self raising flour(sieved) or equal amount of plain flour mixed with 1 tea spoon baking powder.
2.   250g granulated sugar
3. 250ml milk at room temperature
4. 250ml cooking oil ( i used canola)
5. vanila essence few drops
6. coco powder 3 tea spoons
7. 3eggs at room temperature or else equal amount beaten curds for vegetarian ( egg is better option)

Method:-

1. Break eggs n mix it with sugar, vanila essence, oil and milk to get a frothy consistancy. Beat at low spead for 2 mins n then on high spead for 2-3 mins approximately. the colour should be light n texture frothy n foam like.
2. Gengly mix in flour little at a time to incorporate it in the wet ingredient mix.
3. Blend it gently . care to be taken not to over do the blending else cake will not rise.
4. Now divide the batter equally in 2 bowls
5. In one bowl mix in coco powder n blend until mixed thoroughly.
6. Mantain 2 different ladles for the 2 batters and keep a greased n dusted bake pan ready .
7. Pre-heat oven at 180- degrees for 10 -12 mins or so.
8. Now start pouring the batter slowly n carefully with the laddle begining with the plain one first . Alternating with the coco batter . Just keep putting one spoon over the other .Do not wait for the batter to spread, it will take its own shape n form by the time you finish layering using up all the batter. Do not mix .
9. Place it gently into the oven. and bake at 180 degrees for 40 mins or until the kife comes out clear from the center of the cake.
10. The cake will be ready n im sure you will be admiring the layers while you enjoy the home baked piping hot zebra cake.