Roma's Space

I had a pleasant lunch with a friend on Friday afternoon. It was an unplanned meal so my menu was within limitations of what was available in my fridge – one radish and some brinjals. I decided on radish sambar and Baigan ki sabzi. I have never made brinjals when I’ve invited someone over for lunch or dinner as most people dont eat brinjals. Thankfully my friend likes them and she enjoyed the sambar as well. I did not go out of the way to make something special. So I thought “Ok, lunch is the usual so why not make the dessert interesting?” Read the rest of this entry »

Yes! I saved two bananas. They were very ripe and were fast approaching their expiry when I decided to use them up. Usually I make  banana cakes or Deep fried Dumplings (Gulgule) when I find very ripe bananas lying in my kitchen. However this time I wanted to try something different so I decided to go with Banana Icecream. It was simple and easy to make, not to mention the difference in taste and price as compared to the store bought ones. These ice creams use fruit preserves hence taste synthetic and are non-nutritive. On the other hand the ones made at home have that natural taste of fruit like the one you enjoy in freshly prepared milk shakes. I am eagerly waiting for the mango season to make my next favorite ice cream. Read the rest of this entry »

Creme Caramel is a French pudding which is really easy to make. I learnt this recipe from a show on TV , The Chef and his better half. They actually baked their caramel but I am used to steaming puddings so I went ahead that way. It turned out firm, yet soft. The caramel coat complemented the vanilla flavor of the pudding. The smooth texture and simplicity of this dish makes you want to make it again and again.

This is my entry to the Steamed Dishes Event hosted by Srivalli.

Ingredients :

• 1 cup milk
• vanilla essence
• cinnamon sticks (optional)
• 100 g cream
• 2 eggs

Procedure :

For the Custard :

1. Boil milk , you can add cinnamon sticks to the milk and take them out once milk is boiled.
2. Turn of the heat and add a few drops of vanilla essence.
3. Beat eggs with sugar. Add small quantities of milk and continue beating. This is called tempering the eggs. Basically bringing them to the same temperature as the milk.
4. Let the mix cool a bit. Now add some fresh cream and beat the mixture well.

For the caramel :

1. Once the egg and milk mixture is ready you need to caramelize the sugar.
2. Take sugar in a pan and heat it till the sugar becomes a brown liquid or caramel.
3. Pour the caramel into the pudding mould and let it harden.

For the pudding :

1. Now pour the milk mix over the caramel.
2. Put water in your microwave steamer. Place the stand on it and on that your pudding dish. Micro on High power for 10 – 15 mins. (or Steam in a rice cooker without the whistle for 15 – 20 mins)
3. Check with a fork if its done. If it comes out clean then its cooked else micro it for 5 mins more.
4. Once the pudding cools overturn it into a vessel of your choice. The caramel will ooze out from all sides. Dont worry, thats the way its meant to be.

Enjoy your Creme caramel!

Please NOTE :

1. Eggs need to be tempered as otherwise they will scramble due to the temperature difference.
2. Try to use a steamer / cooker which best fits the size of the pudding bowl. This will ensure even steaming.

Simply Chocolate

Moms are true role models for us in every way. We always want to be like them, whether in managing the house, bring up children or making food. In my childhood days I had the good fortune of having many delicacies like cakes, ice creams and pies freshly prepared at home.

Mom had done a course in cooking. She even used to run Bakery/Cookery classes at home. As kids we never paid attention to that fact that we may need to pick up her culinary skills. Whenever she asked us to join her for a class we would ask her to call us when the dishes were done. Ohh! Wish I hadnt been so playful back then. I would have learnt a thing or two from the person who is an absolute genius when it comes to cooking.

Even today I cant make cakes or ice creams like her but I am surely going to give it a try. I dedicate this months JFI- Love to my mother, the best cook I know.

Jihva for ingredients is an online monthly culinary event started by Indira of Mahanandi. JFI-Love for the month of May, 2008 is being hosted by Pratibha and Jigyasa.

Ingredients :

* 3 cups of milk
* 8 teaspoons sugar
* 4 tablespoons of powder milk
* 1 teaspoon cornflour
* 1 teaspoon Liquid glucous
*  Chemicals : GMS , CMC (1/4 teaspoon each)
* 100 grams fresh cream
* 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
* Few drops of Chocolate essence

Procedure :

1. Boil the milk. Separately make a paste of sugar, cornflour and milk powder with a small quantity of milk.
2. Continuously stir the milk while putting the paste in.
3. Mix the 2 chemicals CMC and GMS with little milk in a cup. Pour this into the boiling milk mixture.
4. Add one teaspoon of liquid glucous to the boiling milk mix.
5. Cool this mix and pour into an ice cream box. Increase temperature of freezer. Freeze the mix.
6. Once it becomes hard. Take it out and leave it outside for few minutes so that it can come out easily.
7. Break it and churn a bit. Blend into a paste in a mixie jar.
8. Add cold fresh cream and essence into the paste and churn well. (Should not be watery, only pasty!)
9. Put it back in the ice cream box and reduce the freezer temp to normal.
10. After 1-2 hrs check if ice cream has crystals. If so, churn it again and increase the temperature of the freezer.
11. While serving garnish Ice cream with whipped cream, chocolate wafers and grated chocolate.

Please NOTE :

You need to mix liquid glucous well in the hot milk otherwise it will form lumps. If you want you can mix it first in a small amount of hot milk and then mix that into the boiling milk.

Variation :

The same procedure can be followed to make all other flavors of icecream as well. You can make it with banana/mango/ any fruit of your choice. Just reduce the amount of sugar depending on the sweetness of the fruit used.

Instant Rasmalai

The same old flavor of your favorite rasmalai can now be got very quickly and easily. Only constraint here is that you have to be an eggetarian to enjoy this short cut. I still haven’t been able to find something that can substitute egg in this recipe and still retain the texture of the end result.

Ingredients :

• 50 g Milk powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• One egg
• 1/2 lt milk
• 1 tablespoon of Khoya
• Sugar (to taste)
• A teaspoon of Gulab jal
• Pinch of Elaichi powder
• Few strands of Kesar
• Pistas

Procedure :

1. Mix milk powder with baking powder in a dry container.
2. Beat an egg. Wet hands with the beaten egg and make a dough of the milk powder mix.
3. Mix kesar in a small quantity of milk till it releases its color.
4. Boil milk. Add sugar, kesar milk and elaichi powder to the milk and mix well.
5. Make marble-sized pedas with wet hands and drop in boiling milk.
6. Let it cook till the rasmalai bloats up and reaches the surface.
7. Add khoya to the milk and stir till milk thickens.
8. Cool and add gulab jal. Garnish with sliced pista and serve chill.

Please NOTE :

1. Although one egg is beaten in this dish we may not use the whole of it. Care should be taken to make the dough with hands wetted with the egg mix. If you pour the egg into the milk powder the dough will become a batter and things might get out of hand.
2. In any dessert, gulab jal should be added only after dish cools.
3. In the above recipe I used Amul milk powder and was satisfied with the dessert.

© Roma Sharma 2007-2008