Mango Souffle

A quick no-cook dessert - and not too sweet! I use store bought graham cracker crusts or shortbread crusts. Stay away from the chocolate crusts for this dessert- the mango flavour and the chocolate crumbs do not go very well together.
Make sure the cream cheese is room temperature or the souffle will get a curdled look.

1 ready made graham cracker or shortbread pie crusts.
1 tin of alphonso mango pulp (easily available in your local Indian store)
4 oz (half a package) of Philadelphia cream cheese (softened)
1 1/2 cup Cool Whip (thawed)
1 package orange jello
2/3 cup boiling water
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 tsp saffron


Dissolve the jello crystals in the boiling water. Once all the crystals are dissolved, add the col water. Keep aside.
Blend together the mango pulp and the softened cream cheese till smooth. Fold in the Cool whip.
Add the prepared jello mixture and the saffron and mix.

Pour the mixture into the pie shell and refrigerate for 5-6 hours till set.

Sweeth Tooth - Banana Bread

A little from here, a little from there - finally I have the perfect banana bread recipe. And a perfect way to use up those over-ripe bananas.

4 ripe bananas (the skin should be all black) mashed
2 cups AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter
1 TBS vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts


Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Add the chopped walnuts to the flour and mix in.

In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar till smooth. Add 2 eggs and beat. Add the mashed bananas and mix very well. I use a hand mixer to get it smooth.
Add the vanilla extract and mix.

Mix in the walnuts with the flour. This way they will not sink to the bottom of the bread when you bake it. Add the flour a little at a time and mix the batter well till all the flour is mixed in.

Pour the batter into the loaf tin.

Bake for 60-65 minutes. Check that a knife or toothpick inserted, comes out clean.

Let cool in the tin for about 10 minutes. Then remove onto a cooling rack and let it get completely cool.

Kairiche Panhe - Raw mango drink

This drink is made in the summer months and is considered to be very helpful to slake your thirst during the intense heat of summer. This is served with Ambyachi Daal during the Chaitra Gauri Haldi Kumkum.

4 large raw mangoes*
4 TBS Jaggery (preferable yellow jaggery)
Sugar (quantity explained below)
salt
saffron
powdered cardamom

* The mangoes have to be really raw because the tartness of the raw mangoes is what gives this drink its unique taste.

Wash the raw mangoes thoroughly, they sometimes have sap on the skins. Steam the mangoes till completely soft, the skin will split that's when you know they are done. The easiest way is to cook them in a pressure cooker, 2 whistles and 15 minutes on low is the usual time.
When the mangoes are cool, scrape off all the pulp and keep aside.
Melt the jaggery in about a cup of water and keep aside.
Measure the mango pulp and by volume take 3/4 quantity of sugar (if you have one cup of pulp, take 3/4 cup of sugar).
Cover the sugar with just enough water to soak it and make a simple syrup and keep aside.
 Pass the mango pulp through a food mill or a sieve or just run a hand help blender through it.

Mix the blended pulp with the jaggery syrup and the sugar syrup. Add salt - about 1/4 tsp to bring out the flavour of the mango. Add the powdered cardamom and saffron strands.

This thick pulp can be kept in the fridge for a week or so. Just add cold water and ice according to taste and enjoy.

Peanut Chikki (Peanut Brittle)

Posting this recipe since someone specifically asked for it...Brenda here you go.



1 cup peanuts - roasted, skinned and coarsely chopped.
1 cup sugar
3-4 teaspoons ghee
1/2 tsp cardamom powder

apply thin film of ghee on your rolling pin, wooden cutting board or your chapati rolling board. 

In a heavy bottomed pan, on a low flame-  heat ghee, add sugar and keep stirring till the sugar dissolves and just begins to change colour. Add the peanuts and cardamom powder, mix quickly and remove from heat.

Transfer the mixture to the rolling board and roll it out quickly to desired thickness. This step should be done very fast since you cannot bring back the chikki mixture to the right temperature without changing the consistency of the sugar. Cut into squares right away when it is hot. Let cool before eating.

You can use whatever dry fruits instead of peanuts--almonds, pistachios, cashews.

Sweet Shankarpali

In time for Diwali this super easy and ever popular snack. We had it often - not just during Diwali when we were growing up...sometimes sweet and sometimes the savoury variety (recipe to follow).

1 cup milk
1 cup ghee
1 1/4 cup sugar
5 cups All Purpose flour (approx)
Flour for dusting
ghee for deep frying
pinch of salt.


heat together - milk, sugar and ghee - till the sugar completely dissolves in the milk. Pour this mixture into a large bowl add a pinch of salt and slowly add the flour incorporating it into the liquid. Keep adding flour till it forms a soft dough. It usually takes about 5 cups of flour- but maybe more or less depending on how warm your milk is, or how humid it is that day.

Heat ghee for deep frying.
Roll out the dough onto the counter - medium thickness - and cut into squares. Deep fry the squares -on moderate heat - till golden brown.

This snack really doesn't take too much time or effort to prepare. Just make sure you fry the shankarpalis on moderate heat or the outside will be brown before the inside cooks through.

Happy Diwali.

Sweet Sheera

Sheera - also known as halwa (in north India) is made in each and every Indian household. It is a firm favourite of my little one - this post is for her - Here you go Anagha

1 level cup medium semolina
1 level cup ghee (clarified butter...made by boiling down unsalted butter- on a very very low flame. one pound takes about an hour...but watch carefully after about 45 minutes so it does not burn.)
1 heaped cup sugar
2 cups milk
pinch of saffron
pinch of salt
pinch of cardamom powder (if you have it)

In a heavy bottomed pan, roast the ghee and the semolina on a low flame, for about 15 minutes or till the semolina turns light golden.
Heat the milk - do not bring it to a boil - just heat it through.
When the semolina is roasted, add the hot milk slowly, stirring carefully so lumps don't form. All the milk will get absorbed into the semolina.
Add the cardamom powder (if using), saffron, salt and the sugar.
Stir briskly till it's all mixed in.

Cover and let steam on a very low flame for about 10 minutes.

You can garnish with sliced almonds or raisins or roasted cashews if desired.

OK - for the calorie conscious- and lets face it, all of us are now...you can reduce the amount of ghee - to almost half - it will not change the taste that much but will change the texture a bit- but still is awesome.

Enjoy

Lemon marmalade

You don't always have to make lemonade when life hands you lemons, you can make marmalade too.

10-12 meyer lemons -
sugar - will be measured by volume  (explained later on)
water

Wash and dry the lemons, squeeze them and reserve the juice. Thinly slice the squeezed lemons, pith and all, only discard all the seeds.
Measure the  cut lemon slices- and use the sugar in this proportion:
1 cup of sugar for each cup of lemon slices.
Use a large non-reactive cooking pot. Put in the lemons and about a cup of water. Bring to a boil.
Add the appropriate amount of sugar, stir and let cook on a low flame, maintaining a simmer. The lemons will release some liquid on their own and cook in that mixture.Cook till the peels are tender and you get a thick and creamy consistency. Add the reserved lemon juice, cook down for another 10 minutes.
Taste and add additional sugar according to personal taste.

STORING:

1. Put jars and lids on a large baking sheet or pan and heat in a 225° oven for 15 minutes or heat them in a large pot of boiling water for 10 minutes.
2. Carefully transfer lemon mixture to jars (a wide-mouth funnel is useful here if you have one), leaving about 1/2-inch headspace in each jar between the top of the mixture mixture and the the top of the jar. Put the lids on the jars and twist on the rings. Process in a large pot of boiling water for 10 minutes or run through an otherwise empty dishwasher on the "sanitizing" cycle or any cycle that will include 10 minutes of high heat.
3. Let cool on counter before storing in a cupboard for up to 6 months. Once opened, keep refrigerated.

Shrikhand

A friend asked for this recipe - so here goes.

1 container Sour Cream OR Yogurt if you want a low-fat variety
Powdered sugar ( confectioners sugar)
Cardamom (5-6 pods)
Nutmeg (1/8 tsp
Saffron (few strands)
Pistachios (sliced)
Almonds (sliced)
Cheesecloth

Tie up the sour cream in cheese cloth and let it hang to drip at least 6 hours. You will have to let it drip overnight if you are using yogurt.
Remove from cheesecloth and measure by volume. Add equal amount by volume of sugar.
This really depends on how sweet you want it and how tart the cream is. I prefer the shrikhand not to be cloyingly sweet. Sometimes it needs about a 1/4 cup of sugar more to each cup of cream.
Beat this mixture well so there are no lumps. Using a whisk is best. Do a taste test for sweetness.

Add powdered cardamom, nutmeg, saffron and the nuts. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a couple of hours. Serve chilled. You can garnish with sliced nuts when you serve.

Variations:

Instead of the saffron and nuts you can add diced mango for 'amrakhand'. Do not add mango pulp- it does not give the same results.

Enjoy