Sandesh

Some things are simply delicious or simple and delicious. This is one such Indian sweet. Requires very few ingredients and turns out delicious. Here's how you can make them. Thanks Parnika for sharing your recipe.

Ingredients:

Full cream milk- 1 Litre
Lemon juice- a few drops
Rose water- to taste
Boora (thick powdered sugar) or Tagar in English- to taste
Cardamom powder- to taste
Rose petals to decorate


Process:

Boil milk in a heavy bottomed container. When it comes to a boil add the lemon juice to it so that the milk curdles. Take off the flame as soon as the milk has curdled. This is important to make sure your sandesh is soft. Sieve the water and take what is left (Cottage cheese/Chaina/Paneer) and hang it in a muslin cloth for at least an hour or two so that the remaining water flows out.

Now take a flat bottomed pan/paraat and put the paneer in it and start to mash it with your palms. Continue to mash till the time you have a smooth creamy texture and no granules can be seen. This is the only step where a little bit of hard work is required so please don't shy away from it. Once you have the creamy texture add in the boora/sugar, cardamom powder and rose water.

Mix well, taste and adjust the ingredients if needed. Make balls out of this mixture and keep on a greased plate, decorate with rose petals and keep in the fridge for a few hours before serving.

Apple- banana (eggless) whole wheat mini cakes

I don't have step by step pictures for this recipe as this was a spur of the moment idea that I instantly implemented.

At the bottom of my fruit basket laid ignored apples and forgotten bananas. The moment I saw them, I felt love and guilt at the same time. Love for all that they give us and guilt for ignoring them for so long. I had to use them immediately.

So I took:

Apples- 2 (washed and grated with skin)
Banana- 1 (mashed well)
Yogurt- 1 cup
Brown sugar- 1 cup
Aata/ whole wheat flour- 1 & 1/2 cups
Baking powder- 1 teaspoon
Sunflower oil- 1/2 cup
Walnuts or any nuts of your choice- chopped.

Process:

Mix it all together. Pour in a oiled baking dish/cup cake mould of your choice and bake for 45 minutes at 160-180 degrees Celsius.

The result is delicious.

Note: Since they are whole wheat, they are softer or soggier than the regular cakes.

Eggless Key Lime Pie

I love Key Lime pie.  It is tangy and sweet and simply delicious. With or without egg doesn't matter to me but my guests that day did not have eggs so the eggless version came into existence. It is not my original recipe. I checked for the recipes on the internet, read a few and eventually created my own version. Here's what you need:

Ingredients:

For the pie shell:

White Flour - 4 tablespoons
Butter (cold)- 1 tablespoon
Sugar - 1 tablespoon
Milk- 1 tablespoon

For the filling:

Sweetened Condensed milk- 1 tin (I prefer Nestle, milk made)
Butter- 2 tablespoons
Fresh key lime juice from 3-4 key limes depending on the size
Key lime zest/rind from 1 key lime
Fresh juice from 1/2 a lemon

Process:

Mix together all the ingredients for the pie shell and make a firm ball. Refrigerate for 15 minutes and then roll and set it in your pie dish. Make sure it is a thin layer. I did not have a pie dish so I used the lid of one of my Borosil containers and put foil on it, so that the shell comes out easily.

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 180 degree Celsius.

Once it is baked, keep it aside and let it cool completely.

In the mean while, in a dish take condensed milk and add butter to it. Now using a hand mixer beat it for 4 to 5 minutes.

Next add the key lime juice, lemon juice and zest and beat again for another 3 to 4 minutes.
* You may also add a few drops of green food colouring if you desire.

Now take this filling and pour it into your prepared pie shell.

Refrigerate the pie over night or at least 6 hours. Decorate as desired and serve.

  

Nussecke- Nut corners- German Nut bars

'Nussecken' as it is called in German literally means Nut corners or nut triangles. It is usually put in the category of 'fine baked goods.' It is a German speciality made out of two types of ground nuts and goes well with coffee or tea or just like that. Germans love it and I am sure so will you. Once you taste it, you would realise that it is worth the effort that goes into making it. It is a special favourite for kids.

Ingredients:

For the Pastry

White Flour- 225 grams
Unsalted butter at room temperature- 100 grams
Baking powder- 1 teaspoon
Vanilla sugar/essence- 1 to 1 and 1/2 teaspoon
Egg-1

For the Nut filling

Butter- 150 grams
Sugar-150 grams
Vannila sugar/essence- 2 Teaspoons
Water- 4 Tablespoons
Powdered Hazelnut (You can use Almond powder instead)- 200 grams
Chopped Hazelnut (You can use Chopped almonds instead)- 200 grams
* I combined two types of nuts and used Almond powder and chopped Hazelnuts.

Apricot Jam

For the decoration/corners

Bitter chocolate bars


Process:

In a bowl mix all the ingredients for the pastry and kneed together.

It would form a firm dough. Cover it and keep it in the fridge for at least half an hour. It would make it easier for you to roll it out.

Next, roll out the dough and spread it on the baking dish and make small insertions using a fork.

 Like this.

Next spread a layer of apricot jam all over this base. You could use a market bought jam or make it at home using the recipe in my blog (Plum Preserve) replacing the plums with apricots and leaving out the cinnamon powder or a recipe of your choice. 

                                                   

Now for the filling, in a large pan melt the butter, add the nut powder and pieces and the sugar. Cook for a while and add 4 Tablespoons of water.

When the mixture is ready, spread it over the baking dish that already has the pastry base and apricot jam layer.

Bake at 160- 180 degree Celsius for 25 minutes. Let it cool and then cut into triangles.

Now chop some dark chocolate and melt it in a pan on slow flame.

Dip the corners of the nut triangles in chocolate the way you like. Only the 3 tips of the triangle, all the edges or just two ends.  Let the chocolate set and serve.

Eggless Apple Cinnamon cake

A few friends were coming over to my clinic for a pot-luck lunch. One of them, Niharika, who is a superb cook had got this delicious cake. Took the recipe from her and have made it zillions of times since then. The best part is that it is easy. Just mix all ingredients and bake. Here's how:

Ingredients: 

Grated Apples- 1 cup
White flour- 1 cup
Baking powder- 1 teaspoon
Sugar- 3/4th of a cup
Curd- 1 cup
Oil- 3/4th of a cup
Cinnamon powder- 2-3 pinches
Lemon juice- a few drops.

Process:

Grate the apples and add the lemon juice to them. This way they will not turn dark.

Sieve the flour and baking powder together.

In a bowl, mix in all the ingredients in no particular order and bake at 180 degree Celsius for 20 minutes.

Your Apple cinnamon cake is ready.

This cake is usually more moist than the other cakes. Also, if you are using a microwave to bake your cake, you would have to reduce the quantity of oil. The best is to use your own estimate of oil in that case.  

Crumbly Chocolate walnut cookies

So, we were invited to a dinner. I did not know much about the host family except they have a 5-6 year old son. As an Indian, I never go empty handed to anybody's place and was wondering what to take for the dinner. Suddenly I had my 'Aahha moment' If they have a kid, cookies would be perfect.

Simple to make, delicious to taste and gorgeous to look. These cookies were a super hit with us. They had a special malty twist because of the brown sugar. Try your own. Here's how:

Ingredients :

2 and 1/4th Cup of white flour
50- 60 grams unsalted butter- softened
2 heaped teaspoons of Baking powder
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2-3 heaped table spoons of Cocoa powder
Handful of walnuts pieces

Process:

Sieve the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together.

Beat the butter and and sugars together, Add one egg at a time and beat in both. Then add the powders, mix well. Add the chopped walnuts. Your cookies dough is ready.

Now cover this and keep it in the fridge for at least an hour or two. This makes it possible for us to shape our cookies.

Pre- heat the oven at 175  degree Celsius

Put butter paper on the baking tray and place the dough in the shape you like at a distance of at least an inch from all sides between the cookies. I chose simple flattened rounds which I made using my hands. I love the rustic look of it.  If your dough becomes too soft to give a shape, then place it in the fridge for 15 minutes and start again.

Bake for 12- 14 minutes on the centre rack of the oven.

Remove from the oven and keep on a wire rack to cool. Be careful while removing the cookies from the baking tray, they will still be soft.

You can also choose to decorate them or pose with them ;) like I did.

Rasgullas- A classic Indian Desert

Superbly easy to make and delicious, of course.

Ingredients:

Full cream milk- 1 liter 
Lemon juice
Sugar- To taste
Water- 1 to 1.5 liters
cardamoms

Process:

Boil milk in a heavy bottomed container. When it comes to a boil add the lemon juice to it so that the milk curdles. Take off the flame as soon as the milk has curdled. This is important to make sure your rasgullas are soft. Sieve the water and take what is left (Cottage cheese/Chaina/Paneer) and hang it in a muslin cloth for at least an hour so that the remaining water flows out.

Now take a flat bottomed pan/paraat and put the paneer in it and start to mash it with your palms. Continue to mash till the time you have a smooth creamy texture and no granules can be seen. This is the only step where a little bit of hard work is required so please put in that work. 

You can consider this as an exercise to burn the calories that you are about to consume ;)

When the texture is smooth, make small balls out of this cheese. Make sure they are small because when you cook them, they double in size. 

In a separate pan boil water, sugar and cardamoms together to make a sugary liquid- chachni. Make sure this is thin and your pan is wide so that the rasgullas get enough space to expand. 

When the water is boiling, add the cheese balls into it and let it boil for 20 minutes. Take off the heat, let it cool and your rasgullas are ready.

They taste best when refrigerated over night or at least for 8 hours. It makes sure all the sweetness has travelled inside each Rasgulla, after all that's what the name is right, Ras- juice and Gulla- balls :)

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Banana-cinnamon Bread with a healthy twist

This is one of my favourite cakes/bread. I make it every time I have bananas that are turning soft and no one would eat. It is super simple to make and requires no artificial ingredients except for baking powder. There are more healthy twists than what I have just mentioned. I have used whole wheat along with white flour and Psyllium husk (Isabgol), which makes it healthier and full of roughage. 

Ingredients

2 Eggs

1/2 cup of white flour

1/2 cup of whole wheat powder (Atta)

2 ripe bananas 

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil or

125 grams Unsalted Butter (at room temperature)

1 teaspoon Cinnamon powder

1 teaspoon Baking powder

4-5 tablespoons of Psyllium husk

Almonds/ walnuts- handful, chopped

1/4 cup milk

The first few things I do when I am baking are:

A. Prepare the baking dish, 

Step 1-Apply oil or butter inside the dish

Step 2- Dust the dish with flour. Baking dish is ready.

B. Pre-heat the oven at 160-180 degree Celsius

C. Sieve the white flour and baking powder together. This is an important step for baking soft and fluffy cakes. Sieving makes sure that there are no lumps and that there is enough air in the flour.  

D. Mash the bananas

E. Mix all the powders including the husk.

Now it would be easier to prepare the bread batter :) 

• Beat the eggs till they are white and fluffy. I use a hand mixer but you can use your hands/ fork/ egg beater, whatever you are comfortable with.

• Add sugar to the eggs. Add half first, beat well and then add the rest and beat more.

• Beat the butter/oil with this mixture adding small portions at a time.  

The softness and fluffiness of a bread/cake depends on how well you beat it, so don't shy away from it.

Once the batter starts looking somewhat like this, keep the beater aside and take a spatula to mix the other ingredients. Add the mashed banana first, mix. Then the almonds or walnuts.

Next add the powders in small portions. Mix them using the cut and fold technique. The cut and fold method makes sure more air is added in the batter making the end result fluffy. In the end add milk, mix well and pour into the cake dish.

Bake for 20-25 mins or till the knife/toothpick comes out clean.

Let it cool for at least 20 minutes before you try to remove it from the baking dish. Slice and eat it all up- alone or with your loved ones.