Mango Coconut Payasam

Ingredients:

1. Mango puree - 1.5 cups
2. Coconut thin milk - 2 cups
3. Sweet condensed milk - 2 tbs
4. Thick coconut milk - 1/3 cup
5. Saffron - 1/2 tsp
6. Brown/white sugar - 2-3 tbs (optional)
7. Pistachio - 2-3 for garnish

Note:

• In the first step you can thicken mango puree more to enhance the caramelized taste

Method:

1. In a thick bottomed pan, heat the mango puree till it thickens and caramelizes.
2. Bring it to a very low temperature and add thin milk and mix well.
3. Add saffron and mix well
4. Stir in low flame till it reduces to about half or 2/3
5. Add sweetened condensed milk, thick coconut milk and sugar and mix well
6. Stir for some more time in low flame till it is all mixed well and thick enough and switch off the flame

Cool the payasam and top it with pistachios for garnish!

Brigadeiro, a brazilian chocolate truffle

 

Brigadeiro, a yummy delicious chocolate truffle introduced to me by my co sister.

 

Ingredients:

1. Cocoa powder - 2 tbs
2. Melted Butter/Ghee - 1 tbs
3. Sweetened condensed milk(milkmaid) - 1/2 can
4. Vanilla /Rum extract - 1/2tsp
5. Sprinkles as required for rolling

Note:

• Mix ghee/Butter with cocoa powder first using a small wire whisk so that no lumps are formed
• Spread the hot mixture on plate with cling wrap so that it doesn't stick to plate
• Use chopped nuts or sweet coconut shavings instead of sprinkles for variety

Method:

1. Heat all the ingredients in a heavy bottomed sauce pan, mixing well
2. Stir it in medium heat till it starts thickening and pull from the pan, about 20 min
3. Switch off the heat and spread it on a buttered plate
4. Keep it refrigerated for about 1 hr
5. Butter the palm and make small balls about size of small lime
6. Roll it in sprinkles and keep it refrigerated till serving

Paneer kheer/Cottage cheese pudding

Paneer kheer is a delicate kheer made with paneer. It is a tasty treat which is sure to win everyone's compliments!

Ingredients:

1. Milk - 1.5 Liters
2. Condensed milk - 1/2 tin
3. Cardamom powder - 1/8 tsp 
4. White Vinegar - 1 tbs
5. Saffron - 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Heat 1liter of milk in a sauce pan
2. Once the milk is hot, add vinegar to it. 
3. Keep the milk hot it in low flame for a minute more and switch off the flame 
4. The milk should be completely split by now 
5. Add more cool water to the above to clean the milk solids from vinegar taste
6. Pour it into a muslin cloth to drain water. Hang it or keep it flat to drain water.
7. Once fully drained, crumble the paneer
8. Heat the rest of milk in another sauce pan
9. Add condensed milk, cardamom and saffron to it and stir it for 20 minutes till the kheer thickens
10. Add crumbled paneer and cook for 15 minutes more and switch off the flame 

Garnish kheer with edible silver foil!

Baklava

Baklava is a sweet pastry made with filo pastry layered with crushed nuts and dates soaked in sugar-honey syrup.

Ingredients:

1. Filo pastry sheets - 35 sheets in pan shape
2. Butter, melted and cooled - 2 cups
3. Crushed or chopped almonds - 2 cups
4. Dates, chopped - 1/2 cup

Syrup

1. Sugar-1/2 cup
2. Honey - 1/4 cup
3. Water -1/3 cup
4. Lemon peel, shredded - 1/2 lemon

Method:

1. Heat all the ingredients for syrup in a bowl, stirring in between to melt sugar
2. Once the syrup starts to boil, stop stirring and let it boil for 4-5 minutes and keep it in room temperature to cool
3. Preheat oven to 160 degree Celsius 
4. Butter a baking pan
5. Cut 35 sheets of filo pastry dough to the pan shape
6. Place a filo sheet in the buttered pan
7. Brush the filo sheet with butter and place  next sheet on top
8. Repeat the procedure till 10 sheets are placed on top of each other with butter brushed in between each sheet
9. Brush butter on the 10th sheet and layer with 1/2 cup of almonds
10. Again place 5 sheets of filo with butter brushed between each filo sheet
11. Layer 1/2 cup of crushed almonds again
12. Repeat the same 2 more times with 5 sheets of filo again and almonds
13. Top with 10 sheets of filo with butter brushed between each filo sheet
14. Finally brush butter in the top layer and bake for 1 hr
15. Raise the temperature from 160 to 220 and bake for 15 more minutes or till the top is golden brown
16. Take out from the oven and pour cool syrup on the hot baklava. You should be able to hear the sizzling sound. 
17. Keep the baklava open to cool in the room temperature
18. Let the baklava stand for a few hours undisturbed so the syrup penetrates well. 
19. Garnish with chopped pistachios. 

Crème Brûlée

Crème Brûlée or Burnt cream is a sweet creamy custard topped with crispy browned sugar surface.
If you have a sweet tooth and if you are not scared of calories then this recipe is for you..

Ingredients:

1. Fresh cream- 2 cups
2. Egg yolk- 5
3. Sugar - 1/2 cup
4. Vanilla extract/ puree - 2 tbs
5. Sugar - 1/2 cup

Method:

1. Beat egg yolks with sugar and vanilla till it is mixed well and pale in color
2. Heat milk cream in a pan until it starts to get slightly frothy on the edges
3. Add 1 or 2 tbsp of hot cream to the yolk mixture and mix well
4. Strain the above mixture in a fine mesh
5. Add some more hot cream, about half a cup and whisk it well
6. And finally add the whole of the milk cream to the egg mixture and mix well ( Step by step adding and mixing of hot cream to the egg mixture is done to avoid cooking of egg in hot cream)
7. Pour the mixture equally among ramekins, about 3 or 4
8. Preheat the oven to 325F heat
9. Place the ramekins in a large roasting/cake pan with hot water filled till half of the ramekin height
10. Bake for 30 minutes or until set
11. Cool them to room temperature and chill it in the fridge for 3-4 hrs
12. Brown 1/2 cup of sugar with a tsp of water in a wide pan (Don't stir sugar during browning, you may swirl the pan for uniform browning)
13. When sugar reaches the required color (see the picture for the color), pour it over the chilled pudding in ramekins to form a thin layer

Crème Brûlée is ready to be served. I loved cracking open the crispy browned sugar surface and digging into the creamy goodness :) 

Unniyappam

Finally I made a very successful batch of appams today.  This is my third trial in making appams. In the first trial I made appam batter using puttipodi and baking soda + etc etc and it turned out to be a super flop. Second trial turned out better, but not the best. Third trial is the below recipe which I really liked. Patience is the key to success for appams, Give it time for soaking and fermentation to soft appams :)

Ingredients:

1. Raw rice / Pachari - 2 cups
2. Jaggery - 300gm
3. Cardamom - 1
4. Sesam seeds - 1 tbs
5. Coconut bits/ thenga kothu - 1/2 cup
6. Banana - 2
7. Salt to taste
8. Coconut oil/ghee - for deep fry
9. Clarified butter / Ghee - 2tbs

Appachatti

Note:

• I have soaked the rice in the morning at around 10am
• Made batter  at night around 8pm
• Made appams next day morning at 9 am
• I have use banas similar to robusta, palayankodan pazham is best suited for making appams
• Adjust Jaggery qty according to your taste

Method:

1. Soak rice in water for a minimum of 5 hrs
2. Melt jaggery in half a cup of water on heat
3. Strain it in a fine mesh top remove dirt
4. Strain the soaked rice and grind it with banana, cardamom, salt and melted jaggery.
5. The batter need not be vey smooth, similar to idli batter. (if you take little batter on your finger and rub with another finger, there will be few sand like particle you will feel., not many)
6. Batter should not be too runny, nor thick, similar to idli batter again
7. Keep the batter for fermentation for minimum 5-6 hrs.
8. Fry coconut bits and sesame seeds in ghee and keep aside, take care not to burn them
9. Heat appachatti(picture above) in medium to high flame
10. Fill half of each cup with coconut oil or ghee
11. Spoon the batter in to each cup upto 3/4 full and fry till brown on both side. You may use, spoon, fork or bamboo stick for flipping appams in appachatti (Take care not to burn appams. They will burn very fast if unattended. Adjust the heat accordingly)

This Recipe is an entry to The KitchenAid India Navratri Challenge for The Hub @ Archana’s Kitchen.

7 cups

As the name says 7 cups have 7 cups of main ingredients in it. It tastes like ghee Mysore pak + coconut burfi. Super tasty sweet for the next festive season!

I got this recipe from our lovely family friend and neighbour Vimalaunty. She is such a fantastic cook that every time I visit here there will be something homemade to welcome me. I have tried 7 cups few times from her and it is very tasty. So here I come up with Vimalaunty 's recipe for 7 cups with minor modifications made on it. I used almond flour instead of besan/ chickpea flour. Also I have added some saffron milk and edible silver leaves to it.

Ingredients:

1. Besan flour or Almond flour - 1 cup
2. Ghee/clarified butter - 1 cup
3. Coconut shredded - 1 cup
4. Milk - 1 cup
5. Sugar - 3 cups
6. Saffron milk- 2tsp(optional)
7. Edible silver leaf - 1 or 2 sheets

Method: 

1. Mix all ingredients except saffron milk in a  wide heavy bottom pan
2. Make sure that there is no lumps
3. Move the pan on to stove 
4. Cook 7 cups in medium flame and stir continuously so that the batter doesn't stick to the bottom 
5. Once the batter is thickened ( you should be able to pour it , but not smooth flow. After you pour, you should be able to smoothen it using spoon or spatula without pressure) and add saffron milk and roughly mix it. 
6. Pour it in to a tray with parchment paper in it and let it cool
7. Place edible silver leaf on top of it
8. Using a knife cut it before it gets fully cool and hard

Note

If you have used almond flour, your 7 cups will be softer. If besan flour, then it is slightly harder

This Recipe is an entry to The KitchenAid India Navratri Challenge for The Hub @ Archana’s Kitchen.