Gulab Semiya Kheer (Rose vermicelli kheer)

Mild sweet dish with a tempting rose fragrance, makes Gulab Semiya Kheer a divinely delicious dish. I came across this recipe in 101 diet dishes by Nita Mehta. The original recipe is a rice kheer flavored with rose. I replaced rice with vermicelli and was delightfully satisfied with the result. I had bookmarked this recipe almost a year back but I got to try it only recently when mom got these lovely paneer roses. The roses were fresh and had a wonderful fragrance. It is a very simple recipe and if you get these paneer roses, do try it out! So if you do not prefer high calorie loaded sweets for the festive season, then this is the best dish for you!

Apple Kheer

Happy Raksha Bandhan to all my dear brothers! Here is my sweet treat for this special occasion. 

About two years ago, I had come across this recipe in tarladalal.com and I did it for mothers day with just 2 teaspoons of sugar as my mom is diabetic. Now I have altered it with a little extra sugar for taste and added in more nuts, for the richness!

INGREDIENTS:

• Milk - 1 litre
• Apples - 3 medium
• Sugar - 1/2 cup or more according to your taste
• Almonds - 10
• Pistachios - 10
• Cardamom powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Saffron strands - 3 - 5

METHOD:

1. Soak almonds in warm water for 15 minutes, remove the skin and finely chop them. Finely chop the pistachios and keep the nuts aside
2. In a heavy bottomed wide pan, boil milk in medium to high flame. This takes about 10 minutes
3. Take two to three tablespoons of warm milk and soak the saffron strands in them. Keep aside
4. Reduce the flame to low-medium and keep stirring the milk. Scrape the sides of the pan in between and stir in the contents
5. Continue this till the milk reduces to half. This takes about 20 minutes
6. In the meanwhile, core and peel the apples. You can either finely chop them or grate them
7. Cook the apples with a cup of water on a medium flame, till the apples get soft (about 10 minutes)
8. Add sugar to the milk that is reduced to half, mix well and cook for 2-3 minutes
9. Drain water from the cooked apples and add the apples to the milk-sugar mixture
10. Finally add the chopped nuts, saffron strands soaked in milk and mix well. Switch off the flame
11. You can either serve this kheer warm or chilled

NOTES:

• You can add a quarter cup of condensed milk to the boiled milk and this will thicken the milk faster. But make sure to reduce the sugar accordingly

Dates Kulfi (Low fat)

Last week mom got some Arabian dates while doing her regular grocery shopping. The big black dates were so sweet and tasty and that was enough to tempt me to try out some interesting recipe with it. 

I have already tried sticky date pudding before. So this time I wanted to make a dessert without any baking involved. While browsing the net, I found various recipes for dates milkshake, dates payasam/pudding/kheer etc. 

I finally decided to make my own dates payasam by adding all that I wished to! I used the one spoon of condensed milk that remained after doing toffees, then included some remaining fresh cream that was lying in the refrigerator and I wanted to use it in a day or two. So the final product was a creamy and yummy dates payasam/pudding/kheer or however you wish to call it. I left it to cool and I thought I could refrigerate it and serve it chilled. But I decided I would not blog it here, as there was nothing special in it. 

Then came my mom with a fantastic idea. As I had added fresh cream in the recipe, she asked me to freeze it in kulfi moulds and freeze it! And look at how it turned out! My God.. Moms' are always the best! Don't you agree?? 

INGREDIENTS: (Makes 7-8 mini kulfis)

• Dates - 5 big (deseeded)
• Milk - 1/2 cup
• Condensed milk - 1 tablespoon (absolutely optional, I just wanted to empty the remaining condensed milk in the fridge)
• Sugar - 2 teaspoons (This depends on your taste and also the sweetness of dates)
• Fresh cream - 1/2 cup (I used low fat fresh cream. You could use the full fat cream too)

METHOD:

1. Soak the dates in 1/4 cup of warm milk for 15 minutes
2. Grind the soaked dates into a smooth paste. You can use the milk in which you soaked the dates, for grinding
3. Boil the remaining milk and add the dates paste
4. Stir continuously and cook in low flame for 5 to 10 minutes
5. Add in the sugar, condensed milk (optional) and fresh cream
6. Cook for 2 minutes and once it starts to bubble, switch off the heat
7. Allow it to cool
8. Pour it in kulfi moulds and freeze it for a minimum of 5 to 6 hours or overnight
9. Just before serving, take a bowl of water and dip the moulds in the bowl of water for 10 seconds and then pull out the kulfi
10. That's it!! Start licking and enjoy this low fat but rich in taste dessert, absolutely guilt free!

Note - It is not necessary to freeze in kulfi moulds. If you don't have them, then you can use small mud pots (matka kulfi!!) or just freeze them in an air tight container and while serving, just scoop and serve like ice-cream!

Kesar Pista Phirni

When it is Mother's day, then the dessert has to be absolutely special. Check out this very simple yet exotic rice pudding recipe with flavors of saffron and pistachios! I referred to Manjula's kitchen blog for this lovely recipe and everyone at home, specially mom, loved it! Do try this out and surprise your loved ones :)

INGREDIENTS:

• Rice - 1/4 cup
• Milk - 3 and 1/4 cup
• Safforn - 3-4 strands
• Pistachios - 1/4 cup
• Sugar - 1/2 cup
• Cardamom powder - 1 Tsp

METHOD:

1. Was and soak rice for half an hour
2. Drain the water and blend the rice into a  smooth paste along with 2 Tbsp of milk
3. Add 1/4 cup of milk to this paste and mix well to get a running batter consistency. Keep aside
4. Soak the pistachios in hot water for 10 minutes. Drain and rub them using a kitchen towel to remove the skin. Once they are dried, crush the pistachios and keep aside
5. Boil milk in a heavy bottomed pan. Once it starts boiling, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 10 more minutes, so that the milk reduces. Keep scrapping the sides of the pan
6. Add the rice mixture and keep stirring constantly to avoid any lumps
7. Add sugar, saffron, cardamom powder, pista (keep a few pistachios aside for garnishing) and boil for 4-5 minutes
8. Once the pudding thickens, transfer immediately to serving bowl, garnish with pistachios and set in the refrigerator for 2-3 hrs
9. Serve Chilled! 

Almond panna cotta

This is an exotic Italian dessert that I came across in 101 diet recipes book by Nita Mehta. You can wonder how can a dessert be featured in a diet recipe book. Yes thats true because it has only about a Tsp of sugar per serving. You could add more if you wish to. It has a creamy texture as that of an ice-cream but is absolutely a healthier version. It came out so well but by the time I could take a good picture, it started melting. So please forgive me for the bad capture. I shall try updating this post with a better picture when I try panna cotta the next time. 

INGREDIENTS:

• Crumbled paneer - 1/2 cup
• Yogurt - 1 cup
• Gelatine - 2 Tsp (You can use agar agar powder if you do not wish to include gelatine)
• Almonds - 4-5 soaked in warm water, peeled and finely chopped
• Milk - 1/2 cup
• Sugar - 4-5 Tsp
• Almond essence - 1/4 Tsp

METHOD:

1. Hang the curd/yogurt in a muslin cloth for 20-30 minutes
2. Blend together hung curd, milk and paneer into a smooth paste. Keep aside
3. Sprinkle gelatine on 1/4 cup water. Heat it gently. Do not let it to boil. Remove from fire once the gelatine dissolves
4. Add sugar to gelatine and mix well
5. Pour the hot gelatine solution to the yogurt mixture, stirring continuously. Allow it to cool to room temperature
6. Add essence and blanched almonds. Check sweetness and add more sugar if required
7. Rinse small glass bowls with water. Do not wipe. Pour the prepared mixture into each bowl and refrigerate it for 3-4 hours
8. Serve it with the bowls itself or demould them and garnish with toasted almonds and serve :)
9. If you find it difficult to demould them, gently cut through with a knife and demould it

Elaneer Payasam | Tender coconut payasam (No cooking required)

I would call this an absolutely refreshing summer treat! I have tasted elaneer payasam at a restaurant during thier special onam sadhya but that had jaggery in it and I personally did not like the combination. But later one day dad told me that he tasted a different version of elaneer payasam at a hotel during his official meetings and that he liked it very much. So after some recipe hunting, I found this absolutely easy elaneer payasam that requires no cooking!! Doesn't that sound interesting! Yes, it is such a simple recipe and can be made in a jiffy. Enjoy this in summer and keep cool :)

INGREDIENTS

• Tender coconut water - 1 and 1/2 cups
• Tender coconut flesh - 1 cup
• Sweetened condensed milk - 2-3 Tbsp
• Coconut milk - 1 cup
• Cardamom powder - 1/2 Tsp
• Raisins, Almonds. cashew nuts - for garnish (Optional)

METHOD

1. Grind the tender coconut flesh
2. Mix the ground tender coconut flesh, tender coconut water, condensed milk, coconut milk and mix very well
3. Add cardamom powder and garnish with some nuts if required (I did not add any nuts)
4. Refrigerate it for atleast an hour and serve chilled!

Pineapple Sheera | Pineapple Pal Kesari

Pineapple kesari is a common dessert that is served in south Indian weddings especially for breakfast or evening tiffin. This pineapple sheera has a unique flavor to it as it is pal kesari/milk kesari with pineapple flavour! It also requires lesser sugar compared to the regular kesari but make sure that you chose ripe pineapple that is not sour. 

INGREDIENTS

• Pineapple puree - 1 cup
• Milk - 1 cup
• Rava/Semolina - 1 cup
• Sugar - 3/4th - 1 cup (can be increased according to your taste)
• Ghee - 2 Tbsp
• Cardamom powder - 1/2 Tsp
• Yellow color - 1/4 Tsp

For garnish:

• Cashew nuts - 4 to 5 (each split into two)
• Raisins - 1 Tsp

METHOD:

1. Add a Tbsp of sugar to the pineapple puree and cook it on a medium flame for a few minutes stirring continuously. Keep aside
2. Heat 1 Tbsp of ghee in a heavy bottomed kadai and add rava to it. Roast it for 5 minutes till a good aroma arises
3. Add milk, 2 cups of water, stirring continuously to avoid any lumps. Cook for 3 minutes
4. Once the rava starts absorbing the milk, add sugar, mix well and cook further for a minute or two
5. Add the puree and color. Mix very well and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the remaining ghee
6. In the end add cardamom powder and remove from heat after a minute
7. Garnish with roasted cashew nuts and raisins

Now the yummy pineapple sheera is ready to serve!!

Carrot Kheer (Carrot Payasam)

This is a super easy and very tasty kheer/payasam. The sugar that is to be added is also very less compared to the regular kheers/payasams, as the carrots themselves add to the sweetness.

INGREDIENTS

• Medium sized carrots - 6 to 8 
• Milk - 1/2 lt 
• Sugar - 3/4 cup  (depending on the sweetness of carrot and your preference, this can be varied)
• Cardamom powder - 1 Tsp
• Dry grapes, cashew nuts - for garnishing 

METHOD

1. Peel and dice the carrots into cubes. Then pressure cook them with very little water for 1 whistle
2. Let them cool for a while and then grind it into a smooth paste. If you want the kheer to be more rich, then while grinding the carrots you could also add a few soaked and peeled almonds
3. Mix the ground paste, milk and sugar and bring it to boil
4. Remove from flame and add the cardamom powder
5. Fry the cashew nuts and dry grapes in very little ghee and garnish the kheer with the nuts

Milk Halwa

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year 2014 :) I am really excited to start this New year with a sweet, a quick and very easy Milk Halwa! May this year bring in a lot of sweetness to your life :)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups milk (preferably full fat milk, for a creamy texture)
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp fresh curds 
2 pinches saffron (kesar/kungumapoo) strands dissolved in 2 tsp water
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
2 tbsp fresh cream 
1 tsp chopped almond
1 tsp chopped pistachio

For Garnishing
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1 tsp chopped almond
1 tsp chopped pistachio

Method

1. Combine the milk, sugar and curds in a broad pan (preferably non-stick), mix well and cook on a high flame for 8-10 minutes, keep stirring continuously and scrapping the sides.
2. Remove from the flame and allow it to cool and blend in a mixer to a smooth and creamy paste.
3. Transfer the paste into a bowl and add the saffron-water mixture, cardamom powder, fresh cream, almonds and pistachios and mix well.
4. Pour it in a small plate, garnish with cardamom powder, almonds and pistachio over it.
5. Refrigerate for at least 1 to 2 hours.
6. Serve chilled.