Unveil the flavours

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 attr...

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 b...

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 refreigerate...

Weekends are boring until I cook something new and refreshing. So there is a fun to do recepie awaiting for you. Basic ingredients available in a nearby store is what you'll need. Ingredients: 1. Milk - 1/2 litre 2. Milkmaid - 100 to 150 grams 3. Almonds - 15 nos. 4. Elaichi/cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp 5. Fresh Cream - 2 tbsp (Optional) 6. Corn flour - 1 tsp Method 1. Bring the milk to boil. 2. Grind about 10 almonds coarsely. 3. Pour the almond powder into the boiling milk. 4. Add the milkmaid and continue stirring for about 5 min. [Also add the fresh cream if available.] 5. Add the elaichi powder. 6. Add a little water to the corn flour and pour the mixture into the boiling milk mixture. 7. Stir continuously on medium flame for another 2 minutes or until the solution thickens. 8. Chop the remaining almonds into thin slices. 9. Pour the contents till 3/4th of the kulfi container. Sprinkle the chopped almond slices and fill the kulfi mixture to the brim of the cont...

One evening when I saw the fruit basket at home filled with variety of fruits I could not resist from making some fresh fruit salad. I open up the fridge to find some stuff that would aid in enhancing the taste and the decorum. Here is the list of ingredients I found for my salad mission. Ingredients: 1. 3 table spoons of custard powder[I used plain vanilla flavour] 2. 250 ml of milk 3. Sugar - 50 grams/ Sugar substitute 4. Fruits of your choice[apple,mango, kiwi, 5. Nuts and raisins 6. Milk maid - 2 tsp 7. Fresh cream - 6 tsp 8. Fruit jam - 1 tsp Method: 1. Mix custard powder in 3 table spoons of cold milk and a little water. 2. Boil Milk. Add the custard powder solution into milk. 3. Add sugar/substitute into the mixture. 4. Keep stirring for about 5 minutes on a medium flame until it thickens in consistency. 5. Pour this mixture into separate serving bowls [about 1/4 bowl level fill]. 7. Keep this in the refrigerator to chill and settle for about half an hour. 6...

There are times when you have a lot of fruits lying in the fridge and there walks a guest with a bagful of fresh fruits. Don't worry of them right away. I will like to give you a splendid idea on how best you can feed your guests with a lovely dessert which is ready in like half an hour to 45 minutes inclusive of the setting time in the refrigerator. It definitely sounds interesting and pretty easy. Ingredients: 1. Fruits - I had plenty of chikoo and banana. So here goes a recepie I'd narrate with those available fruits. 2. Custard powder - your favourite Flavour. I chose plain vanilla as I thought of complimenting it with a hint of coffee. - 1 cup 3. Marie or glucose biscuits - about 10 to 15 nos. 4. Sugar/Sugar substitute 5. Raisins and Nuts 6. Milk - 2 cups 7. Black Coffee - 1/4 cup 8. Butter - melted - 2 tsp Method: 1.  Crush the biscuits/grind them in a mixer so that they are in the coarse form. 2.  Mix it with melted butter, 2 tsp of coffee. Pour half...

This one is a recipie borrowed from my cousin. It is a new combination of the regularly eaten sweets - Jamoon and the Sonpapdi. Very simple and quick to make with no extra skill required. Ingredients: 1. Jamoon mix of 200 gms(I used the MTR brand) 2. Sonpapdi 5 to 6 pieces ( Used special one from Haldirams brand) 3. Grated coconut about 50 grams 4. Sugar powder - 75 grams 5. Elachi powder - 1 tsp 6. Milk - 1 cup 7. Oil/ghee - to fry the Moonlight(yeah new version of jamoon) Method: Make dough by mixing the jamoon mix and milk and 5 tea spoons of sugar powder. Now make small balls out of the dough, each of about inch in diameter. Make smaller balls/laddoos of Sonpapdi by softening it with a few drops of milk. Press the jamoon balls a little and place the sonpapdi balls in them. Roll back into a complete ball and place them aside. Once you have done the same with all of the dough. Meanwhile keep the oil/ghee to heat up. Pop out a few moonlights into the oil and fr...

Ingredients: 1. Dates - deseeded about 5 to 6 2. Milk - 2 cups 3. Raisins - about 10 Nuts(optional - if you like it creamier). 4. Choco powder - 1 tsp 5. Sugar - 3 tsp (or less if you want it mild in sweetness) 6. Salt - a pinch 7. Vanilla cream/ice cream - 1 small scoop Method: Immerse Dates and Raisin in half a cup of warm water for about 15 min. Boil Milk and reduce it by half. Keep it aside to cool. In a blender add the reduced milk, dates, raisins with the water, and all other ingredients. Blend it untill all the dates are mixed well and the drink is creamy. Serve it as a whole energy drink. Note: With the addition of nuts you may need to blend for a longer time until it is finely blend. If you like the smoothie to be a little nutty then ensure you place a spoon to scoop it out.

Ingredients: 1. 2 cups of grated Carrot. 2. 200gms of unsweetened khova 3. 50 ml of Fresh cream 4. 1.5 cups of Sugar. 5. 1 tsp Cardamom powder 6. 2 Tbsp Ghee 7. Chopped Nut mix ( Optional). Method: On a low flame place a pan and add 1 tbsp of ghee. Add the grated carrot and the fresh cream and stir it. once the carrot is cooked for about 5 - 6 minutes, add the unsweetened khova. Mix well. After the Khova blends with the grated carrot , add sugar and allow it to completely melt. Keep stirring occassionally and ensure low flame until consistency of halwa is reached. Now add the cardamom, nuts and 1 tbsp of ghee. After 10 more minutes of extra stirring transfer the mix onto the plate where you can cut even pieces of the mixture to get the hard and crisp Carrot burfies.

Ingredients: 1. 1 1/2 cups Flour 2. 3 tbsp Cocoa Powder 3. 1 tsp Baking Soda 4. 1 cup Powdered Sugar 5. 5 tbsp Oil 6. 1 tsp Vanilla Essence 7. 1 tbsp White Vinegar 8. 1 cup Milk Method: Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and powdered sugar together. Add milk and vanilla essence to the flour mixture. Then add oil and white vinegar. Mix well. Pour into a greased microwave safe bowl and microwave on high(900W) for 5-7 minutes. Allow to stand for 10 minutes. Note:* I added a little yeast into the batter to attain a soft and spongy texture. ** Also few nuts and raisins mixture was added to bring the crunchiness in the bites.

Ingredients: For Rasagulla paneer: 1. 6 cups milk 2. 1-2 tbl spoons lemon juice For syrup: 1. 1 cup sugar 2. 2 and 1/2 cups water 3. 1/4 tea spn cardamom powder or 1/4 tea spoon rose water Method: Heat milk in a heavy bottomed pan. When it is hot, add the lemon juice. Mix with a spoon and cook for a few minutes till the milk separates.Sieve it through a clean cloth.Tie the towel in a pouch and squeeze it to remove any extra water.Hang the towel for about 30 mins allowing all the water to fall down. Now the paneer is ready.Take it on a plate and knead it very well to remove any chunks. This is very important to get good quality rasgullas.Now make small balls (of peda size), remember, when they are cooked, they increase in volume, so don’t make them too big. It is quite difficult to make these as they break very easily. So apply a bit of pressure to hold them together. Try to give them as smooth surface as possible. In a big vessel, heat sugar and water. When the sugar is diss...