“सुक्या-मेव्याची पेशवाई खीर” (Dry Fruit Porridge)

The “Peshwa” (hindi:पेशवा, plural Peshwe, Marathi:पेशवे) were Brahmin Prime Ministers to the Maratha Chattrapatis (Kings), who lead Maratha armies and became the hereditary rulers of the Maratha empire of central India from 1749 to 1818. Prior to 1700 Peshwa enjoyed the status of king for eight or nine years. They oversaw the greatest expansion of the Maratha Empire in 1760’s.Their culture,heritage & luxurious style of living has had a great influence on the way of life of the entire civilization in Pune.

My paternal grand-mother hailed from Hasabnis family who served as Sardars (generals) to Peshwas.

Vasant Kaka (Rohan’s father,I fondly address him as uncle) reminds me of the Peshwe era in some ways.His charm,wit,sophistication, love for art & good food make him perfect to be born a Peshwa!In his own way,he is a King.The king who is generous at heart yet a family man.

 “Badam Sheera” (Almond thick porridge) is one thing he loves to eat and Hema Athya (Rohan’s mother,I fondly address her as paternal aunty) has to make efforts to keep him away from sweets (for obvious reasons).However,its Diwali and I could not stop myself from finding a suitable recipe for his likes.Although,Ruchira did not have a recipe for Badam Sheera,it did have one for “Badam Kheer” (an almond liquid consistency porridge) which I m going to enrich with other dry fruits.

This is my Diwali Gift for Vasant Kaka (hopefully,Hema Athya would relax the diet restrictions for a day in Diwali & make it soon :)

Ingredients

• 1/4 muffin-full bowl of Finely powdered Dry Fruits.I used raisins,walnuts,pistachios,almonds,cashews.One may follow the book’s method of soaking almonds in hot water to de-skin and later crush them thoroughly with pestle & mortar ,which I skipped.
• 1/2 muffin-full bowl of dates+poppy seed+sugar mixture (left over of the dates paratha i had made earlier this week,my addition)
• 2 tsp cardamom powder
• 2 tsp nutmeg powder
• 2 mugs full of low fat milk
• 1/8 muffin-full bowl of heavy cream
• 4-5 strands of saffron-soaked in 2-3 tbsp of milk
• 1 tbsp pure ghee-I would not suggest any thing else for this recipe.(my addition)
• 2 cloves-powdered (my addition)
• 1 small piece of cinnamon-powdered (my addition)
• sugar

Stir thy Soul

The Book’s method: Its pretty simple and non-fuss.Boil the milk and add the crushed almonds in it along with cardamom powder & sugar.Allow this porridge to cook for 5-8 minutes or until the milk thickens considerably.

I want it my way: I sautéed the powdered dry fruits & dates mix in some ghee on medium flame.Simultaneously,I boiled the milk and heavy cream.I pushed  the sautéed dry fruits and dates mix into the boiled,thick milk.Allowed it to boil for some time,I transferred the saffron,cardamom powder,clove powder,cinnamon powder & nutmeg powder into it.I was stirring it continually,until my hand and back paved way for a tired fall on sofa (:P)!!

Anyway,the Kheer was awesome! I love it chilled as well as hot! Choose your pick!!

 I really miss serving to Vasant Kaka.How I wish he was here with us in US?! Hope,he is listening (reading) what my diwali wish is!!

“चिक्कूच्या वड्या” (Manilkara achras sweet munchkins)

Its festive season.Visiting friends & family or having them for supper would be the most common activities over this fortnight beginning with “Vasu Baras” and ending with “Tulshi che lagna/tulsi ki shaadi” (mythological concept of Lord Vishnu getting married to Goddess Tulsi/holy basil plant goddess).

The most common sweets become boring within first few visits.However,I m going to try something innovative & interesting.Absolutely “jara hatke” (something unique-slang used in Bollywood) style !!

My source book has a series of recipes for “barfis” & “mithais” (flavoured sweet condensed milk goodies).However,I love the concept of fruit based goodies very much.The usual fruit sweets are made of mango,strawberries & oranges.But,I would be using “Chikoo” (Manilkara achras) instead of coconut in the coconut barfi recipe.

Total Time=Cooking Time+Preparation Time=30-40 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 muffin-full bowl of chikoo pulp (instead of coconut)-I used frozen chikoos and made a pulp of them in the mixer.Its always better to use fresh ones.
• 1/2 muffin-full bowl of heavy cream (my addition-not mandatory)
• 1/4 muffin-full bowl of Crushed dry-fruit mixture (my addition)
• 5 tbsp of milk powder
• 1 glass of low fat milk (sweetened condensed milk may also be used)
• 2 and 1/2 muffin-full bowls of sugar (quantity depends on quality,use discretion)
• 2 tsp-cardamom powder
• 2 tsp nutmeg powder (my addition)
• 1 small piece of cinnamon-I powdered the cinnamon.(my addition)
• 1-2 cloves-I powdered the cloves (my addition)
• khoya/khawa-I had some Kaju katli (cashew nut munchkins),so crushed them with other dry ingredients and added. (my addition)
• 1 tsp pure ghee or oil-to grease the sheet.

Pour It Flat

As given in the book’s recipe for Coconut Barfi,I did not add milk,sugar and fruit together in the pot over flame.I boiled the milk and half portion of heavy cream together.

 

I blended the sugar,chikoo and the remaining portion of the heavy cream in the blender.I added this frothy mixture into the boiling milk.Allowed to cook together and added rest of the dry ingredients into it.

One has to keep stirring it often to avoid burning the batter for the munchkins.Apart from that,I feared that the milk powder might get stuck to the bottom of the pan , so kept stirring it (was wondering about washing comfort :P).

The mixture would be thick in sometime.However,it would not have the consistency of Coconut barfi batter.The coconut barfi batter is thicker and coarser unlike this one.I poured it into a greased steel plate (glass or cookie sheet would also be fine).One needs to keep it to set for some time.

I sprinkled the freshly powdered dry fruits over it.

 “Yum-Yum Sweet Munchkins spread on the snack table could win accolades for the chef’s culinary & creative skills!!”

Simply Fruit Salad :)

Reading my blogs, most of the readers might feel that I am “A Mamma's Pet”. Interestingly, I have been very much “A Daddy’s Darling Daughter” always. Being an only daughter, I have been very close to both my parents. However, baba (my father) is definitely “The Numero Uno” friend, philosopher & guide that a daughter could ever dream of. Now,that I am in the US,not missing him is difficult.

Baba has quite a multi-faceted persona. He penned down a beautiful poetry for my wedding that Jyotsna Kaku (my paternal uncle’s wife who is a professional singer) sang & composed most aesthetically. Its a memoire to treasure & pass on to the future generations.

His wit & intelligence, teamed up with modesty as well as optimism makes him unique. There is a lot to learn from him. A workaholic, is extremely enthusiastic at an age when people retire from work. Baba’s efforts of all these years of innovation in the field geo-tech engineering are finally going to be paid off with completion of his PhD this year (at age 67,he is already working on the next one :) and I want to grab this opportunity to congratulate him.

This is a very proud moment for any daughter with a father of amazonic personality. A man of simple tastes, he loves sweets. Fruit Salad is one of his favourite sweets. So, I am making Simple Fruit Salad from my source bible Ruchira to celebrate the honour of being the daughter of such a dashing Doctor!

Voici!

Total Time=Cooking Time +Preparation Time=30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 Green Apple-deskinned and cut into small pieces (my addition)
• 1 Red Apple-deskinned and cut into small pieces
• 1 orange-peeled,deskinned,pitted
• blueberries (my addition)
• 2-3 plums (alubukhar)-cut into small pieces (my addition)
• 1/2 muffin-full bowl of Chikku pieces (Sapota,this is my addition-frozen ones are available at Indian stores)
• 1 banana-peeled & cut
• Pineapple pieces (I did not have them,so skipped :P)
• Mango cubes (I skipped them too)
• 2 mugs milk-condense it ,heat it (low-medium flame) on gas until it reduces to half the quantity.If you are short of time then you could just use any sweetened condensed milk.However,it would be best to use some portions of condensed milk from the can and some milk (low fat).This thins the salad and can serve more people.
• Walnuts,almonds,cashew nuts,raisins (5-6 e.a).I used roasted dry fruits and crushed them.Its not mandatory to do so.
• Fresh Cream-I used heavy cream instead
• pomegranate (I replaced it with “anardana” powder which is available at most Indian stores)
• Sugar
• few pitted dates (for sweetness and flavour)-chopped finely
• 2 tsp Brown & Polson Vanilla Custard Powder

Whip it In & Dress it Up!

Fruit Salad is made in various ways. The book itself suggests the following ways to prepare it:

• Replacing Milk with thick Curd/plain Yogurt (good option to cut calories in cream etc): This is done by making “Chakka” which we prepared for Shrikhand  and then mixing up all the fruits or Making Shrikhand & then adding the fruits to it.
• Making Custard liquid as instructed on the custard powder pack and pouring it over fruits & milk.
• The Milk & Fruit Mix: This is the simplest fruit salad,wherein we mix the fruits in sweetened condensed milk (sugar added to home-made condensed milk) ,followed by dry fruits etc.

My method

I condensed the low fat milk ,2 tsp of custard powder along with 1/2 muffin-full bowl of heavy cream. One needs to stir this mixture often.While the milk was on the flame condensing, I added sugar to eat. Few may add in “saffron” (3-4 strands) to this condensing milk like my Aai.But,considering the other ingredients that I m adding (my mom does not add them) like custard powder might not blend well with it (vanilla extract or essence may be added).  The final salad gets a wonderful flavour as well as colour. I roasted the dry fruits, powdered them manually & added them to the milk while it was condensing.

After the milk was condensed, I set it aside to cool then shifted it to the refrigerator (One has to let the milk cool down before its goes into the refrigerator to avoid any curdling of milk) and added the cut fruits to it (after @ 5-7 minutes).

(*You may add any fruits to the salad as per liking and availability.I did not have time to rush to Safeway or Lucky,so used the fruits at home)

I poured fruit with condensed milk into the serving bowl and put in the refrigerator. The fruit salad was ready and looked stunning. Garnished it with few dry fruits ,cannot get better! :P

Serve it chilled :) One suggestion,eat it with blueberry or chocolate chip cup cakes or muffins available at Wal-Mart & Costco!

Try this folks and transform your Diwali into a healthy & happy Celebration!!

Cheers!

Bread Pudding

One good thing about being in the US is the opportunity to experience distinct international cuisines. Thanks to that, I could keep my mother well informed on Mediterranean food, making her stay in Egypt comfortable.

Bread is an interesting food preparation common to most international cuisines. The breads of kinds and sizes bewilder me most. Though bakeries in India produce great quality breads, I also appreciate the variety of breads offered here.

While flipping through the pages of Ruchira, I came across a recipe for Bread Pudding. It is one of the few recipes in the book having an egg as an ingredient. I found it interesting, simple and challenging too. The simplicity lies in the challenge to prepare this delicacy without the egg. The eggs here have a pungent odour that puts me off completely, so I don’t prefer to use them. Interestingly , Kamala Aji has insisted on the usage of a brown bread! That sure looks like a healthy option, n'est ce pas?

This was the second dish that I prepared for the "table for three kitty" at my place today!

Ingredients

• 1 cup of brown bread / white bread pieces. I used Safeway’s crushed wheat bread.
• 5 tbsp of sugar (depends on the type of sugar and taste). I added about 30 tsps of super fine sugar.Since I was going to bake the pudding the sugar quantity had to be slightly more.
• 1 cup of low fat milk
• 2 tbsp of unsalted butter / 1 egg / pure ghee. I used 2 tbsp of heavy cream. Egg less.
• 1.5 tsps of vanilla or other essence. I used vanilla essence which is available at most Indian and American grocery stores or marts.
• 1 apple/strawberries/other fruits. This is completely optional. There is another bread pudding recipe in the book with apple which could be merged into this one. However,I used some almonds and walnuts (finely crushed).
• 5 tbsps Rice flakes, that’s my addition to this recipe. Rice flakes shall impart the crunchy and crispy touch in a soft chewy bite.
• 1/2 tsp of baking powder (my addition).

Total Time =Cooking Time + Preparation Time = 40 minutes (max)

Pledging the Pudding

I immersed the pieces of bread in 1/2 cup of milk. If egg has to be added then one needs to beat it thoroughly and pour it over the bread. Since, I am not using an egg, the heavy cream, vanilla essence (or cardamom powder etc.), sugar and milk need to be whisked together until they lather enough. I poured this mixture over the bread, mashed it gently with my finger tips and added the baking powder, walnuts, almonds and rice flakes to it. Whipped it all together with a long stemmed steel spoon.

The book suggests that this bread mixture for pudding must be steamed in the pressure cooker and refrigerated. However,my Aai (mother) makes similar pudding but in a different way. I followed her concept of baking instead of the one given in the book.

Aai's Method

Aai puts the bread mixture in a sauce pan arranged on a medium-high flame, and covers it with a lid. One has to keep eyes glued to this pudding because it might just stick to the pan. It unveils an excellent aroma and that's when one knows it's ready. The upper side should be slightly pinkish while the bottom should be caramelized and crispy.

My Method

I refrigerated the wet mixture over night since my friends were going to be at my place next day for lunch and baked it inside the oven, pre-heated at about 300 deg F for about 15 minutes (instead of using Aai’s sauce pan approach).

You can eat it JLT! I prefer it with tomato sauce :)

In case you are using fruits, all you need to do is lay alternate layers of fruit & bread mixture into a pan. Once all the layers are set onto a greased pan, just put it on flame for a couple of minutes or bake it in the oven at 300 deg F (pre-heat, min, it may vary). 

Sweet Cravings fulfilled for the day! Hopefully, Kariz & Rids would stay alive for another of such lunch tortures in future!

Badam-Akrod-Keshar yukta Shrikhand (Shrikhand flavoured with almonds,walnuts & saffron)

Indian Cooking is not merely all about taste, but also about emotions associated with our culture, traditions, memories & relationships.As a child, if there was one sweet that caught my fancies then it was Shrikhand (Indian Yogurt). I would wish aloud to my mother that it would be a feast to find Shrikhand inside the refrigerator after coming home from school everyday. She would make it quite often, since it is a sort of family favourite amongst 4 generations of our family.

I miss celebrating Indian festivals the most in US, for one can't feast on the lovely "Shrikhand-Puri" (Puri is a sort of Indian wheat fritter eaten with side entrees and sweets) made by my mother all so often. So, here's a toast of Shrikhand raised for all the Ganpule clan way back in L'Inde (my maiden name is Ganpule).

Ingredients

• Low fat plain Yogurt (American Dahi) or home made Curd-@ 5 table spoons for two people
• Cardamom powder (veldoda/elaichi)
• Saffron sticks dissolved in 3 tbsp of milk
• a muslin or cotton cloth (1'x1')
• Sugar , (as per desired).I added 15 tsps since the sugar used was super fine and highly processed.
• Nutmeg (Jaiphal)
• Charoli (Indian crispies added for flavour). Optional. It would be difficult to get Charoli in US, but one can do without it. 
• Mrs. Ogale of Ruchira suggests the usage of food colour in the absence of Saffron, however, it's always healthier to use Saffron (not cheaper anyway, 0.5 gm box for 5 dollars).
• 5 almonds (de-skinned and finely cut into thin slices)
• 3 walnuts (finely cut)

For Home-made Dahi/Curd

Before proceeding any further, here's an age old recipe for making home made Curd (Dahi/Yogurt) so that one can prepare Dahi one night before making Shrikhand. I set up a soup bowl full of milk on low flame and added some Yogurt/Curd (1tsp) while it was lukewarm.One can use little lemon juice to curdle it.I took it off the flame and stirred it.I left it covered overnight at room temprature.The weather here is quite favourable for this,but in India many people keep it in a cool dry place like Fadtal (a sideboard/shelf with leafs).

Next day,just few hours prior to the feast,I transferred the dahi/curds in a soft muslin /cotton cloth and tied a knot.This satchel was set aside until all the moisture was absorbed by the muslin/cotton cloth.Drain all the water content from the batter before opening the knot.This is called "Chakka/चक्का "  (the thick batter for Shrikhand).


I moved the contents into a serving bowl and whipped it with a spoon.Later i added 15 tsps of sugar to this batter.The quantity of sugar to be added may vary due to sweetness & thickness of sugar used."Ruchira" insists that this sugar+batter mixture should besieved through a special sieve. This sieve wasnt available in the nearby stores in Sunnyvale, so I had to do without it.I tried sieving it through the normal french fry sieve which was harldy any help.It instead added to my to-wash list for the day! [:P]

Anyway folks, the Shrikhand was almost ready and my dream was close to a reality when the maintenance guy showed up. After seeing him off, I resumed work.The sweet batter was a little too thick so i added a little milk in it,just to get the consistency good enough for serving (consistency is similar to cake batter,it glides through the spoon into the bowl).Then began the make-up! The saffron-milk solution,nutmeg and cardamom powder(seived it  through normal tea strainer "गाल्णे"  rouged up the batter.Some walnuts & almonds (charoli was replaced by walnuts/almonds) were added just before serving.


Voila (a with a the big grave accent),my favourite sweet was up on the dinner table!

I prefer it with puri or chapathi,but as my husband says "Sweets need to be enjoyed as themselves,no contamination with the tastes and aromas they possess"...the rest of you could also eat it JLT!