EGGLESS RAS MALAI

Hello everyone

Today I am having a very delicious Bengali sweet recipe, which is loved by almost every sweet tooth. My son is a fussy eater yet he always love to relish on these yummy sweets. He always want to have it. So thought why not to give it a try at home also to satisfy him to core. Though the chhena ( cheese) made from carton milk is not as easy to roll into a nice dough but I managed to prepare these. That's why shapes are not as smooth as we get in market but taste wise, full marks given by my lil one. Today I am not having step wise pics as it was not pre planned and also was not sure for the awesome outcome , so didn't click pics. But will try to explain at my best and will add pics too , when prepare it again. Hope you all will love to try this delicious treat and come up with your feedback.

** Updating stepwise pics too as per my promise☺️☺️

EGGLESS RAS MALAI

Serves: 6-7 ( will make 15-16 regular size dumplings)

Time : 1 hr

Ingredients 

For chhena:

1 1/4 lt full cream milk ( cow's fresh milk is best)

2 tsp white vinegar/ lemon juice( as per need)

For syrup:

1 lt water

1 cup sugar

For base milk:

3/4 lt milk

3-4 tbsp sugar ( as per taste)

8-10 strands saffron ( kesar) , soaked in 1 tbsp warm milk

1 tbsp pistachio, finely sliced

1 tbsp rose water ( optional)

Method: 

For chhena:

Boil milk and switch off the flame. Add vinegar , 1 tsp at a time and mix well. Let it sit for some time and check whether it is cuddled or not. If needed add more vinegar and check. 

When all the milk is cuddled and whey is separated , strain it in a muslin cloth. Now wash it under tap water thoroughly to get rid of any vinegar in chhena. 

Now tie a knot on muslin cloth and hang it for 3-4 hrs or till all the extra water drips from it and it remain only moist not water laden. 

* don't cook milk after adding vinegar/ lemon juice, it hardens the chhena.

* But don't over do hanging your cheese as if the chhena become dry you can't make proper dough with it.

* don't add too much vinegar or lemon juice at a time, it will make your chhena hard. Add little at a time  and give some time to curdle and then use next batch.

* Always use only required amount of vinegar/ lemon juice. Vinegar gives much better result , so if possible go for vinegar instead of lemon juice.

Now your chenna is ready to be kneaded as dough. Knead this for 5-6 mins using your Palm to a smooth greasy non sticky dough ( it will release ghee when kneaded well).

 

* I used carton milk so my dough was not as much greasy and was sticky too. If you are using carton milk then don't expect a clean dough and knead for at least 8-10 mins. 

** While making it again this time , I used fresh cows milk available here in plastic gallon and is pretty better than carton milk to make chhena.

To get best chhena and ras malai like store ones , I will advice to use cow's milk. 

** Here only packaged milk is available, so I used that. It's little tricky to use packaged milk for making chhena dough but not impossible. Just have some patience 😊, as I did 😜.

For cooking chhena dumplings in sugar syrup:

Boil water and sugar in a wide deep pan ( as chenna expands to double on cooking) till rolling hot. Now make small flat discs of chhena dough little bigger than a coin and put in rolling hot sugar syrup . 

Let it cook for a while to check it is not breaking during cooking. If it is breaking then knead your dough for more 2-3 mins and then make discs. 

If it's not breaking while cooking then add all the prepared discs one by one carefully in boiling suger syrup.

 Cover with lid and Let it cook on high flame for 10 - 15 mins then lower the flame and let it cook for another 10 mins. Switch off the flame and let it cool down completely before dipping in prepared milk .

** If you feel your sugar syrup is getting much thicker while boiling then add some water.

* always add chenna discs in rolling hot sugar syrup. If it's not boiling then discs may scatter in syrup.

* To check whether your chhena discs are cooked well, dip one cooked disc in normal water in a bowl. If the cooked chhena settles down then it is completely cooked otherwise cook for more minutes and check again for doneness.

* let the chhena cool completely in sugar syrup before removing it from pan to avoid breaking your chhena dumplings as they are too delicate to handle while hot.

For milk condensing:

Meanwhile your chhena dumplings were preparing, boil 3/4 lt of milk till it remain 1/2 lt. Add sugar and 

Saffron to it and simmer for 4-5 minutes. 

Switch off the flame and let it cool completely. Add rose water and pistachio. 

Now add prepared chhena dumplings one by one to it by squeezing a little, don't press too hard otherwise dumplings will break. 

Let it chill in refrigerator before serving.

Your super delicious ras malai is ready to please your guests and loving ones. 

Prepare these easy and tempting sweet dish and earn lots and lots of praise . 

I tried to short out all the do's and don't in my post but even if there is any thing left then please let me know in the comments box below so that I can clarify at my best. 

Hope you will love to try this super delicious sweet treat and don't forget to share your experience with me here, they meant a lot.

Happy cooking....

EGGLESS DATES AND DRY FRUITS BUNDT CAKE

Hello everyone

According to me no celebration is completed without a sinful cake. Whether it's birthday, anniversary or  Christmas, Easter etc. Cakes increase the excitement of an occasion to many folds and if it comes to festivals like Christmas or Easter then it becomes must to have a rich and flavorful cake in hand . So today I am sharing a very delicious and rich cake recipe full of healthy ingredients and most importantly it's eggless. You will just fall in love with this gorgeous eggless and alcohol free cake which is perfect for Christmas, Easter or any occasion you want to celebrate. 

Step wise recipe is given below, hope you will love this awesome cake and don't forget to tell me your experience ☺️

EGGLESS DATES AND DRY FRUITS BUNDT CAKE

Serves: 7-8

Time: 50 mins

Ingredients 

2 cup whole wheat flour / all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup dates, deseeded and finely chopped  

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup almonds

1/3 cup oil

1 tsp vanilla essence 

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar 

1 cup milk 

Method:

First of all add water , sugar and oil in a pan. Add all dry fruits in it and let it boil, then lower the flame and let it cook for 15 -20 mins or till dates become mushy . Switch off the flame and let it cool completely.

Till then sieve flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together and keep aside for later use.

When dates mixture is cooled down, add milk and vanilla essence to it. 

Mix well and add lemon juice, give a quick stir and add flour to it in two to three batches and fold to a lump less smooth batter.

 This batter should not be runny , will be little thick . Now transfer the batter in greased and dusted bundt pan , tap the mold to evacuate any air bubble formed. 

Now bake it at 180 degree C in a preheated oven for 35-40 mins to till skewer or knife inserted in it comes out clean.

Let it cool for 10-15 mins in pan then demold on a wire rack and let it cool completely.

Your super delicious cake is ready to be served. 

Either serve it as it is or pour some ganache over it. It will taste divine in either way.

Choice of dry fruits is completely yours, you can use cashews, pistachios, cranberries, prunes or whatever you like. If you don't have bundt pand then go for any pan you have, but then baking time may vary so keep an eye on it after 30 mins of baking and keep checking.

Never over mix the batter after adding wet and dry ingredients together. 

Always let cake to become warm before de molding other wise it will not come out clean if it's too hot . 

It's a never fail recipe as I made it many time and it turned out perfect every time. 

So enjoy this rich palatable cake on any occasion and don't forget to share your feedback with me. Your comments and suggestions are precious, they meant a lot.

Happy cooking....

WATERMELON SWEET

Hello everyone 

Today is holi , a festival of colors and deliciousness. First of all wishing you all a very happy, colorful and delicious holi.

My daughter is too fond of sweets and somehow she saw a sweet in watermelon shape and color in some mall few days back. From that day she was insisting me to make the same for her and being a lazy mom I always tried to shift it to next day all the time. But now I thought to give it a try on this colorful festival to please my kids. Thought it was only experiment, so made very small batch but soon will make another big batch as it turned out more delicious and eye catching beyond my expectations.

It is perfect for this occasion,very easy to prepare with only few ingredients, little chewy and super tempting tummy and eye treat for everyone.

Step wise recipe is given below, hope you all fall in love with these cuties and definitely come up with your feedback😊😊.

WATERMELON SWEET

Yield: 20-24 pieces

Time: 25 mins ( excluding resting time)

Ingredients 

3/4 cup condensed milk, nearly 200ml

3/4 cup milk powder

1 tbsp ghee

2 tbsp sugar ( as per taste)

1/2 tsp cardamom powder 

2 tsp chopped cashews

Red and green gel food colors

Method:

First of all add ghee and condensed milk in a heavy bottom wok and let it boil. Now add milk powder and mix well stirring constantly to avoid forming lumps. Let it cook until it starts to come together and form a big lump. Now add sugar and cardamom powder, again cook till it again become nice thick mass.

 Take very small pinch of this dough in your hand and try to roll it, if it rolls without sticking then your dough is ready other wise cook few more mins and check again. Be careful while checking as it will be really hot to handle, so be quick in rolling and take very small dough to avoid hurting your palm.

Now let it cool until it become easy to handle. Divide the dough in three parts, two equal and one little smaller than these two. Now add green and red colors to equal part doughs and mix well to get desired color. Leave the third one as it is. Now add chopped cashews in red dough and again mix well.

Your doughs are ready to prepare your sweet. 

Divide all the three doughs in 5-6 equal portions. First of all take red dough portion and roll it to round ball, then take white dough and flatten it with your fingers to make small round poori shape. Now place red round ball on white one and cover it completely by rolling in between Palm, so that red ball is completely covered by white dough. Similarly do with green dough. Finally you will get a slightly big green ball in your hand.

In the same manner make all the watermelon balls and keep in a plate. Now keep these in refrigerator for 1 1/2 - 2 hrs then with help of a sharp knife , cut each balls in quarter.

 Your super tempting easy eye treat delight is ready to serve.

Do all cooking at minimum flame to avoid uneven colored and burnt , final outcome.

Keeping in refrigerator before cutting is an important step to get clean slices, so don't skip it.

This is very easy yet palatable delight to serve this festive season and will surely win your guests heart. 

My daughter is super happy to see these, even my fussy eater loved to hog on. 

So prepare these cuties and please do tell me how's it turned out for you, your valuable comments and suggestions are always invited, they meant a lot.

Happy cooking....

KESAR BADAAM KULFI

Hello everyone

With holi , summer is also knocking at our door. And for kids it's season for more and more ice creams and chilled desserts. So my kids also demanded for the Desi ice cream, which we call kulfi with love and is much much better in flavor than any other ice cream. To make it even more healthier I added lots of almonds to it . Along with adding health , it also increases kulfi's flavor to many folds. So for this holi , prepare this super yum and simple kulfi and please your guests in chilled way. 

Step wise recipe is given below, do try and don't forget to tell how's it turned out for you😊

KESAR BADAAM KULFI

Serves: 14-15 ( depend on mold size)

Time: 25 mins ( leaving freezing time)

Ingredients 

1 Lt milk
1/2 tin condensed milk , nearly 200 ml
1/2 cup roasted almonds
10-12 threads of saffron, soaked in 2 tbsp milk
2 tbsp corn flour
2 tbsp Sugar or as per taste

Method:

First of all coarsly grind roasted almonds. Don't over grind as we want small chunks of almonds not powder. Keep aside for later use.

In a heavy bottom wok, boil milk till it remain 3/4th. Now add condensed milk and mix well. Let it boil again.

Now add corn flour in some warm milk and add in boiling milk , slowly and stirring constantly to avoid lump formation. Also add sugar and soaked saffron to it. Cook it stirring constantly till it become nice thick like custard . 

Always keep flame minimum after adding corn flour to avoid sticking to the bottom of pan. Now switch off the flame and add crushed almonds to it. Mix well and let it cool for 10-15 mins. 

Then pour in desired molds and keep in freezer for atleast 5-6 hrs or overnight. 

Then demold and serve chilled.

This delicious kulfi is loved by everyone, even my fussy eater loves to relish on it. I am so happy that In this way I can feed him some almonds. 

You can make any flavor of kulfi, this way. Substitute almonds with pista for pista kulfi, add any other dry fruit of your choice or add any other flavor of your choice. 

This kulfi always turned out superb for me and hope you will also love it. So please don't forget to share your experience with me, your valuable comments and suggestions are precious.

Happy cooking....

GUJHIYA ( HOLI SPECIAL )

Hello everyone

Holi , the name itself is enough to describe its vibrant colorful celebrations  with lots and lots of delectable snacks . The main snacks which is usually made on this occasion in UP, Bihar and MP is gujhiya. Gujhiya is a very delicious sweet and crunchy snacks made with outer covering of flour and rich filling of dry fruits, nuts and milk solid. Gujhiya is made in different ways, some made with only mawa and dry fruits filling and finally dipped in suger syrup and some are made dry with sugar and dry fruits mawa filling. I am preparing the second one. Those who ate this delectable snacks start drooling over it on mere mention of holi as both compliments each other. And those who remained unaware of this delicious treat, should must try once, you will fall in love with these cuties. I remember, when we were kids , we used to dig in these cuties in such a speed that our parents had to hide some from us for guests. Feeling nostalgic, As holi is just few days away so today I am sharing this special snacks recipe , so that you can also try and make your colorful festival even more delicious and enjoyable.

Step wise recipe Is given below, do try and please share your experience with me.

GUJHIYA ( HOLI SPECIAL)

Yield: 50-60( depend on size)

Time: 2:30 - 3 hrs

Ingredients 

For filling:

1 cup semolina ( sooji)

1/3 cup dry fruits( almonds, pistachio, cashews), finely chopped

1/3 cup raisins

1/3 cup desiccated coconut

3/4 cup sugar ( or as per taste)

10-12 green cardamom

1/2 - 3/4 cup khoya or mawa

For mawa or khoya :

1 cup milk powder
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 butter or ghee

For dough:

3 cup all purpose flour
3-4 tbsp ghee ( as per need)
Chilled water for kneading dough

Method:

First of all take all purpose flour in a big bowl, add melted gee in it and keep mixing with your fingers. Now hold some dry flour ghee mixture in your palm and press hard , if on opening your fist the flour holds the shape then your flour mixture is ready to be kneaded otherwise add some more ghee and do the same test again . Don't add too much ghee at a time as excess ghee will also spoil your dish, so add only required quantity.

Now using cold water knead the dough, neither very hard nor soft, stiff dough which can be easily rolled.

Cover it and keep aside for later use.

Filling preparation:

Dry roast semolina till nice golden and keep aside to cool. Saute mawa till light pink ( milk solid) if you have ready made. Or prepare it by adding milk powder, milk and ghee in a wok and cook on low flame till everything is mixed well and acquire the consistency of mawa. 

Add this to semolina. Now add all chopped nuts , raisins and desiccated coconut to semolina. You can also lightly roast all dry fruits( I skipped). Grind sugar with cardamom and mix in semolina mixture. 

Now mix everything well with your fingers or spatula. Your super yum filling is ready to be filled in dough covering. This filling is so yummy that I can't resist my self from having few more spoons while tasting 😃.

Final preparation:

Take an orange size ball of dough and roll a big thick chapatti of it. Now using a cookie cutter or sharp edge steel glass/ bowl cut rounds from it. Now again roll these rounds in thin chapatti , nearly transparent. You can see the strips on board through it. Or you can also take very small balls and roll very thin individual chapatti instead of cutting and rolling.

Place this chapatti on gujhiya mold, run wet finger round its edges. Fill 2-3 tsp of filling on this chapatti in middle carefully , leaving the edges clean. Otherwise edges may open while frying and spoiling your oil.Now close the mold and press hard to seal the edges. Remove extra dough from mold and keep the prepared gujhiya on a dry tray.

 Similarly make all the gujhiyas and place on tray at some distance to avoid sticking to each other . Cover the on batch with clean cloth while making another to avoid drying.

Now heat sufficient oil in a wok, you can use ghee or vegetable shortening too. Add 4-5 gujhiya at a time, depend on size of your wok. Fry on medium heat then lower the flame and fry till they become nice golden from both sides. Drain on a kitchen towel or tissue paper. 

Let it cool completely then store in an airtight container to maintain its crunch for long. Your super delicious holi snacks is ready to please your guests.

Always add gujhiya in oil at medium heat and then lower the flame to avoid oil drunk snacks. And this ensure nice crunchy end product for sure. Never fry on high heat as you may end up with dark texture snacks which will become soft on cooling. 

Never try to put too much filling inside the dough as it may open in oil and will spoil whole batch along with oil. Be careful in lifting raw gujhiya as they are delicate . Keeping these simple precautions you can prepare perfect holi snacks and earn everyone's praise.

If you don't have gujhiya mold then don't worry, there are many alternatives, after rolling thin chapatti put filling in middle of it , run wet finger on its edges and fold in half circle and press edges together to seal, either make small folds like momos or press with fork to give nice impressions on edges and done. 

You can also use dough cutter to make nice shape of gujhiya.

You can use any dry fruits of your choice and as per availability. Quantity of semolina, mawa , dry fruits and sugar can be adjusted as per your taste and availability, as there is no any hard and fast rule for taste.

Everyone love to relish on these super yum snacks, specially kids.

Hope you all will love to make and enjoy these super scrumptious snacks this holi and please don't forget to share your experience with me. Your valuable comments and suggestions are precious to me.

Happy cooking....