“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!!

Encounter With A Baked Flan :)

After a series of authentic recipes from Ruchira, here’s a “fhoreign” (Indian slang for foreign)recipe of a Baked Flan for the weekend !

What is a Flan?

A flan is an open-topped pie, similar to a quiche but, especially in savory versions, lacking the custard style filling. The base is of short crust pastry, distinguishing it from the tart, which more often has a puff pastry base.

The British savory flans may have diverged from the sweeter Spanish flans in the Middle Ages. In Latin America, the sweet flan is popular, and many local versions exist, including the Flan Napolitano of Mexico and the widespread flan de leche ,often eaten with cream.

My Inspiration

Madhulika (a very dear friend of Rohan & me) often puts interesting pictures of her successful cooking adventures on orkut.She has rightly named the exhibition of these pictures as “When Belly Rules The Mind! The pictures are very encouraging for a lazy bloke like moi!

Few days ago,she had put up a picture of a “flip-flopped caramelized baked flan” which my hubby happened to see.I knew what was coming next! The wish to have it was read out by Monsieur de Madame aloud and was granted wholeheartedly!

I decided to make it with a recipe from http://allrecipes.com .Its an amazing site for foodies who love to cook.Loads of interesting international recipes have been put down for learners like us by experts!

Check out the link for direct access to the recipe (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Flan/Detail.aspx).

The flan turned out great ! Harshal ,Shraddha & Rohan survived the rockets comfortably [:P].

I hadn’t clicked any pictures while making it (it was some while ago),but have few after the flan was flip-flopped.Enjoy a different recipe :) I din’t make any changes with the original recipe,it was just so perfect !

Enjoy the “Flano a la Weekendo!”