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?”

I started boiling 2 cups of milk really not knowing what I was going to make. Soon I added brown sugar to sweeten it, followed by my favorite cocoa powder. What next? Let me set it with something…. I didnt want to use the flavored vegetarian gelation as it would clash with the taste of the cocoa powder. So I thought of using china grass/ agar agar to set it. I have never really used this grass but I remember reading in some blogs that a tablespoon is enought to set a cup of milk. So thats what went into the mysterious boiling pot. Finally, I poured this liquid into jelly molds and forgot about it.

When it was time for desserts I started trying to de-mold the pudding. Thankfully it was set enough to hold and came out easily too. I garnished it with chocolate sauce and chocolate vermicelli. My friend suggested that this can be made for Birthday parties as well. I think thats a good idea as its a self-setting pudding. Imagine boiling 50 pudding molds for a party, that would mean a free sauna bath in the comfort of your kitchen

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of milk
• 1.5 tablespoons of china grass / agar agar
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1.5 tablespoons brown sugar (or as per taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Procedure:

1. Boil the milk. Add sugar and cocoa powder. Mix well.
2. Add china grass. Stir well till it dissolves.
3. Turn off the heat and add vanilla essence.
4. Strain into jelly molds. Allow them to come to room temperature and then refrigerate.

Please note:
The same pudding can be made in other flavors like caramel or coffee -
Caramel : Heat sugar in mold till it caramelizes. If you have caramel sauce pour it into the milk while it boils. Now pour the pudding mix into the molds and set.
Coffee : Add instant coffee powder to the milk after turning off the heat and mix well.

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.

You can enjoy this ice cream with a biscuit fudge. I had a pack of digestive biscuits that had been lying on my kitchen shelf for way too long. I just blended the biscuits into a powder and made a simple fudge. Thanks to Jayasree of Kailas Kitchen for giving me this idea. I spread two fat layers of fudge on a small plate and so I got these cookie-like pieces. To get a nice, neat swirl like Jayasree’s you need to spread a thin layer of fudge on a big plate. The biscuit fudge can be eaten as such or as a part of an ice cream sundae.

For the ice cream:

Ingredients:

• 2 small , ripe bananas
• 2 cups milk
• 3 TB sp sugar
• 2.5 TB sp milk pwd
• pinch of cmc , gms
• 1/2 tsp banana ice cream
• 1/2 tsp cornflour powder
• Few drops of vanilla 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 glucose separately in a small quantity of the boiling milk mix. Once you get a lump-free liquid, mix it back into 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 mixer jar.
8. Add cold fresh cream, mashed banana 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 place ice cream on biscuit fudge and with garnish chocolate sauce.

Please NOTE :

You need to mix liquid glucose 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.

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.

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.

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

In the season when sweet red carrots are available this dessert is a natural choice. Though you can make it with orange carrots too the taste isn’t quite like the one you get with the red ones.

Ingredients :

• 2 cups grated red carrot
• 1/2 cup sugar (as per your taste)
• 1/2 cup khoya
• 1/2 cup ghee
• Pinch of elaichi powder
• Dry fruits (almonds, cashew nuts, raisins)

Procedure :

1. Steam carrot till its soft.
2. Heat ghee. Fry dry fruits and take them out.
3. To the remaining ghee add grated carrot and fry till water dries up.
4. Add roasted khoya and continue to cook for 5 more minutes.
5. Finally add sugar, fried dry fruits and elaichi powder.
6. Continue to cook till the halwa comes together.

Variation

If you dont have Khoya you can use milk cream instead. You can freeze the cream that settles on top of the milk for a month or so and make this dessert. Only difference is that it will take a little longer to make than khoya and will be heavier too.

Ingredients :

• 1.5 cups of Basmati rice
• 3 tablespoons of ghee
• Few pieces of chopped Badam, Kaju, Kismis, elaichi
• Few strands of Kesar
• Milk 1.5 litres
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 100 grams khoya

Procedure :

1. Soak rice for an hour and wash till milkiness goes away.
2. Heat 1.5 tablespoons of ghee in a cooker and fry the rice for sometime. Add 2.5 cups of water and pressure cook till rice is done.
3. In a kadai heat remaining ghee and fry the badam, kaju and kismis in it. Once done, take them out of the kadai and fry the cooked rice in it.
4. Now add 1 litre of boiled milk and mix well with the rice, stirring continuously. Once thick, add another 1/2 litre milk and continue to cook.
5. Heat a small quantity of milk in a vessel and add the khoya to it after mashing. Let it boil once. Add this to the kheer and stir well with mathani (a long stirring rod with plates at the end).
6. Mix kesar in small quantity of milk and mix into the kheer, stirring continuously.
7. Once kheer is thick, add the fried dry fruits, sugar and teaspoon of ground elaichi and mix till sugar dissolves.

Please NOTE :

1. Khoya needs to be boiled in small quantity of milk so as to ensure that it isn’t sour. If it is, the milk will split and the rest of the kheer will be safe. In this case you may have to try thickening with malai (cream of milk).
2. The above recipe makes a thick kheer. If you like it thin, please add some more milk towards the end and boil well.