Rasmalai

Rasmalai

Why am I so chuffed about writing this recipe? Well it must indeed be because of the magic number 100. I am so pleased with myself and also surprised that I have brought this blog this far. Ever since I started this blog it has become such a part of my life. It has provided me with an opportunity to spend some time for myself; helped me enjoy cooking even more than I did; is helping me get to know more people in this big wide world; helping me share what I learn and I think is very important to share. In some ways it also continuously challenges my imagination and creativity. Ofcourse none of this would have happened without support from my family. My husband encouraged me to blog and my mom was my first follower on my blog. My brother and his wife keep giving me good feedback which is encouraging. I get ideas for traditional recipes from my granny and my dad makes sure my mom regularly reads my blog. This recipe is dedicated to my family and all you readers. I really hope you get a chance to make this and please your folks. This was one recipe that I did not have to google much for. I bumped into Vah Chef’s recipe and he had some very useful tips which I have shared here as well. It is actually a very simple recipe if the tips are followed well. Here is how I did it…

For the rasmalai:
5 cups milk
Juice from half a lime (1 teaspoon juice)
1 cup sugar
6 cups water
2 cardamom pods crushed

For the syrup:
4 cups milk
3 tablespoon sugar
Handful of crushed nuts (I put almond, pistachios and cashewnuts)
Few strands of saffron

To make the syrup, heat the 4 cups of milk in low heat until it reduces to about 3 cups. Add sugar and saffron strands and heat for further ten minutes.

To make the rasmalai, heat the 5 cups of milk in a broad pan until it starts to boil. Add the lime juice and stir at low flame.

The milk will begin to curdle. Do not keep long on the stove as it will harden the paneer formed.

Drain the liquid (it is called whey) from the milk and retain the paneer in a muslin cloth or any clean cloth. Wrap the paneer in the cloth to form a small bag of paneer and run this under water to cool it a bit and also get rid of lemony taste. Wring the cloth so that you get all the water out. Allow the paneer to cool.

Mix the sugar and water and add some crushed cardamom and allow this to boil at high flame.

Keep the paneer in its cloth ‘bag’ and knead it to form a dough.

Take the paneer dough out and divide them into about 7-8 balls. Roll each ball in your hand and press gently to form a fat disc like shape.

Put each disc slowly in the boiling sugar water. Make sure the flame is as high as possible else the paneer discs will break. Cook it for about 10 minutes and carefully take them from the sugar water. They will almost double in size so make sure the dish is big enough to allow this.

Put the rasmalais into the milk and garnish with the nuts and serve!

I first put the milk for the syrup on the stove so it can take the time it needs to reduce. I then got started with the rasmalais.

Bisibelabath

Bisibelabath
An extra special recipe that is a favourite of a very special person – my mom. Incidentally my brother and husband love it as well. I am guessing that the two men like it because of the time they spent in Karnataka and this is a popular dish in that state. This dish brings back some nice memories as well. My brother used to go to work from a small town and was living on his own. That was a great opportunity for my mom and me to go on a wee trip and spend sometime out of our home. We would go when my college closed for the semester and would take some basic utensils with us. I would then go to small village shops like stuff and get ingredients like vegetables and some spice mixes like for rasam and bisibelabath. The packet instructions would say something but my mom figured out that it is not to our taste. She then made it in her own way but just used the powder from the pack as we had no mixie or food processor there. It was usually cooler than in Chennai and it would be lovely to smell the nice aroma and it would then be a matter of waiting for my brother to return from work. We would then sit on the floor and help ourselves with nice accompaniment like ‘vathal’ or chips. Anyway, I have made this pretty much how my mom makes it and here is her recipe...

3 cups rice
1 cup Toor dal (pigeon peas)
1-2 teaspoon tamarind paste
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
Turmeric powder
1-2 cups mixed vegetable
Few small onions (sambar onion or shallot onion)
Cooking oil and or ghee (clarified butter)
Salt to taste

For the spice powder
3 tablespoon dhania (coriander seeds)
2 tablespoon channa dal
5 dry red chillies (adjust according to preference)
2 bay leaves
1-2 cinnamon sticks
3 cloves
2 tablespoon grated coconut or coconut powder or dessicated coconut

To make the spice powder roast each ingredient separately. Roast dhania until it starts popping, the dal until it starts turning brown, red chillies until it turns crisp. You can put the bay leaves, cinnamon and cloves together and roast until a nice aroma comes. The coconut need not be roasted especially if you are using dessicated or powdered coconut. Cool and grind to fine powder.

Cook the rice and dal together in atleast 8 cups water as we would like the rice to be mushy for this dish. Steam or boil the vegetables as well.

In a skillet, heat some oil or ghee and add mustard seeds. Once it crackles, add the onions and fry until it starts changing colour.

Add the spice powder, a cup of water and tamarind paste. Once it boils add the cooked vegetables.

Add the rice dal mixture and required salt and allow to boil. You may want to keep adding water to maintain desired consistency.

Let the rice come to a consistency where it is neither too watery nor too dry. Turn the gas off when it is just a touch watery as this dish tends to dry up when cooled.

The said quantity would serve 5-6 people. You may want to adjust quantity but keep 1:3 ratio of rice and dal. I served it with charred aubergine raita and ‘vathal’ and ofcourse a dollop of ghee added just before serving!

Crispy Okra (Crispy Ladiesfinger/Bhindi)

Crispy Okra (Crispy Ladiesfinger/Bhindi)

Like all recipes I post, I am excited about this one but just a touch more as this is the first course on the three course meal that will finish with the 100th post on my blog – a dessert. This is a nice healthy starter that has very little fat. That way it literally just starts the meal and does not completely fill you up and lose appetite for the main course. My husband loves okra and so do I. Soon after we got married I made him a stuffed okra recipe in the microwave oven and it was really good. Now that I do not use microwave oven I wanted to try something else. Also, I had been wanting to make stuffed okra and even came across a recipe by Sanjeev Kapoor. Sure it sounded yummy but it involved deep frying which generally is not appealing to me. I then came up with a hybrid recipe and because I was lazy running out of time, I made a non-stuffed okra. It turned out to be great and is now part of our weekly menu. Here is how I made it...

15-20 okra cut into inch long pieces or even longer
2-3 tablespoons besan (chickpea flour)
1 teaspoon chilly powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder (dhania)
1 teaspoon jeera powder (cumin powder)
Salt to taste
1-2 tablespoons cooking oil

Mix all the dry ingredients together with the okra. As you mix, the moisture in okra will help them bind together.

Add the oil and mix further

Put this in a shallow baking dish. Bake in a preheated oven at 180degC for 20-30 minutes and keep mixing every 10 minutes to ensure uniform cooking.

It is usually done by about 20-25 minutes but depending on whether you want it crisp or a bit soft extend the cooking time. Enjoy this until the main course is written!