Colorful cashew Rolls.

I will never go wrong with this burfi not only because its so easy but also for the fact that its yummy, delicious and a sweet with richness.

Ingredients:
1. Unsalted Cashews - 400 grams
2. Sugar  - 200 grams
3. Strawberry - About 6 or 7
4. Badam milk powder - 2 tbsp

Optional : Pistachios, Walnuts.

Method.
Grind the cashew into fine powder and pour it into a bowl.
Cut strawberries and add 2 tbsp of sugar. Make a puree of it and keep it aside.[Do not add water to make the puree]
Mix the remaining sugar to the powdered cashew.
On a double boiler system place this bowl with the cashew sugar mixture.
Slowly the sugar melts and mixes with the cashew making a fine paste.
When the mixtures leaves the sides of the bowl thats when you make three equal portions of the mixture.
For the first part of the mixture add the strawberry puree. Keep stirring till this gels well with the cashew-sugar dough.
To another part add badam powder and a little of kesar color to make it attractive. I did not add enough color so it wasn't clear to distinguish between layers.[However the taste doesn't get harmed though]
Once you have three different dough portions, firstly make a chapati of the plain cashew dough.
Sprinkle pistachios or walnuts over this layer. Make the next chapati of the same size from the badam-cashew dough and place over the first layer. You can sprinkle yet another layer of nuts. Finally make a chapati of the strawberry-cashew layer and place over the other two layers. Roll them to a cylinder and cut them into small rounds.

Simple and easy Cashew burfis are ready!

Some calories for a feast is definitely not a sin. Have some and enjoy. This whole exercise of making the burfi took the entire lady battalion of the house into a sense of amusement and it was ready within 30 min of time. New variety and festive mood combo made this sweet dish a little more sweeter.

Drooling over chocolates.

A chocolate lover ME never get an aversion to chocolates. I love them in all forms. But yeah nothing can beat the Dairy milk versions in the market. Of late the silk with a touch of Orange --- Yummmyyyy!!!

I had been planning to make some chocolates at home from a very very long time. Had surfed the net which resulted a lot of versions of making simple dark chocolate right from scratch.

Of all the recepies I found, the simplest one below is what I chose to start my trial with.

Ingredients:

1. Sugar - 1 Cup
2. Milk Powder - 1 Cup
3. Butter - 3/4 Cup
4. Cocoa Powder - 3/4 Cup

Method:

Firstly sieve the Cocoa Powder and Milk powder into a container/bowl in order to have a smooth textured chocolate finesse.

Now make a sugar syrup - to a single string consistency. Make sure it is a strong string which does not break easily.[I used fine white sugar , maybe you could give a try with icing sugar.]

Remove this syrup from the direct flame.

Next on a double boiler system add butter to the sugar syrup and dissolve it completely. Mix the blend of cocoa
and milk powder into the butter-sugar syrup.

Keep stirring this mixture until it thickens.

Pour it into the moulds[I have a set of small sized mould sheets which I used, however you can simply transfer it
into a greasy container or even a plate would suffice].

Allow it to cool. You can refrigerate and soft yummy chocolates are ready.

Some tips that'll attract attention to this simple chocolate:

1. You can use small coloured sugar balls to decorate the chocolates.
2. Orange zest can be used as a topping for dark chocolate.[The idea definitely borrowed from Cadbury's]
3. Well known chocolates do carry richness in terms of nuts and raisins. Why not use them? They definitely are available in your kitchen store.
4. Coconut filled chocolates. This was an instantaneous hit in our house. I used the grated dessicated coconut.

Once you relish on these wonderful chocolates made at home there is no need to feel guilty on those little extra calories you put on.

Paneer/Cottage cheese simple curry

I love rotis and I love to experiment flavors for its complimenting side dish. In this trial I have found this simple dish prepared with easily available ingredients very tasty that goes perfect with Indian bread. Here is how I prepare my Paneer Curry.

Ingredients:1. Paneer - 75 grams
2. Red Chilli - 1 to 2
3. Jeera - 1 tsp
4. Mustard - 1/2 tsp
5. Tomato - 1 diced into small cubes
6. Onion - 1 chopped fine
7. Garlic - 6 to 7 cloves
8. Yogurt/Curd - 2 tsp
9. Tamarind powder - 1 tsp
10.Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
11.Olive oil - 2 tbsp
12.Turmeric - a pinch
13.Salt - to taste
14.Jaggery - small piece
15.Carrot - 1 small 

Method:
1. Boil the diced carrot with a pinch of salt.
2. In a kadai heat a tbsp of oil.
3. Add jeera/cumin seeds, methi(mustard), red chilli and garlic pods and fry until the flavours fill the room.
4. Add the chopped onions, garam masala, turmeric and tamarind powder and fry till onions turn transperant.
5. Add the diced tomato and cook for another 3 minutes.
6. Add the boiled carrot and remove the kadai from flame.
7. Allow this mixture to cool so that you grind it into a fine paste.
8. Smear another pan with a little olive oil and fry the diced panneer cubes on all sides.
9. Add the paste into this pan and add a little water to adjust the consistency of the curry.
10. In goes a little of jaggery and salt if needed.
11. Once the curry is cooked completely, remove the pan from the flame, add thick curd and slowly mix it well.

Your simple Paneer/Cottage cheese curry is ready to be served with chapati/rotis/naan Bread/puris.

This proportion makes curry that serves two.

Variation: This paneer curry can be enhanced in richness by adding roasted cashews and almonds.

I did not click any pictures of the curry when prepared. Surely will do and post it the next time its made.

Panna Cotta!

Summer and season of Mangoes calls for some exotic yet easy cold dessert. It was labor's day. I had plans of making a pudding sometime this summer ,so had bought a packet of agar-agar[china grass] when I found it in a local market store.

I'd never known making a dessert which tastes so wonderful and yummy takes just about 15 minutes of  time in all. Here is how I made them.

Ingredients:
1. Coconut milk - 1 cup[Fresh cream - 2 cups]
2. Yogurt - 1 cup
3. Milk - 1/4 cup
3. Mangoes - 3 small ones. [pulp equate to 1.5 cups]
4. Sugar - 1/4 cup
5. Agar-Agar - 2 tsp

Method:1. Boil Milk in a saucepan. Combine coconut milk,sugar and agar agar into this milk.
Let stand for 5 minutes. Bring to simmer and reduce heat to low.
2. Simmer ucovered for another 6 to 8 minutes or until the agar agar is completely dissolved.
3. Remove from heat.
4. Sieve the mixture and whisk in yogurt and mango pulp until the mixture is smooth.
5. Transfer to custard cups and keep it refreigerated until set.

To serve, immerse bottom half of custard cup in hot water about 15 seconds. Run a clean small knife around edge to loosen. Invert onto dessert plate.Garnish with fresh cut mangoes or any other fruit that compliments your taste buds.I had some pommogranate pearls handy and used them to decorate the yummy mango panna cotta.

Try this simple and relishing dessert. I bet you'll try variations of them and let me know the ideas used.