I know for all my Indian friends the word "Rasmalai" is sufficient enough to describe this heavenly delicious sweet. But for my other friends , I must introduce that Rasmalai is a very famous , lip smacking Indian dessert where sugary white, creamy or yellow coloured cheese balls (or flattened cheese balls) of paneer( Indian Cottage Cheese) soaked in malai (milk cream) flavoured with cardamom. Rasmalai ( "Ras" means juicy or and "Malai" means thickened milk or cream) was originated in Odisha and mostly found in India and Bangladesh. Actually it's a close variation of another famous sweet Rasogolla/Rasgulla (puffed cheese balls).
Very often at my home I prepared this sweet as this is one of my most favourite dessert. Once making this sweet was a very big deal for me when I couldn't make perfect rasgulla (puffed cheese balls) but repeated trials enabled me to make this dessert successfully.
Here is the step by step process of making Rasmalai.
Ingredients:
- Milk: 2 lt. + 2 lt.
- Vinegar: 3 tbsp.
- Sugar: 4 Cups + 1/2 Cup
- Water:8 Cups
- Cardamom Powder:1/2 tsp.
- Dry Fruits: Chopped Cashews and Slivered Pistachios (handful)
- Saffron: A pinch.
Process:
- Divide the milk equally into two different deep bottomed vessel. Keep boiling the first one until it becomes thick and concentrated . Add 1/2 cup sugar into the milk and dissolve the sugar. Add the cardamom powder and saffron and half of the dry fruits and mix. Turn off the flame and pour it into a big bowl. Your milk cream is now ready. Keep it separately.
- Now start boiling the second half of the milk and while it starts to boil properly add the vinegar. Soon the milk starts to curdle and the cottage cheese or chena will be formed.When you will see a greenish diluted water which is easily separating from chena, then it's done. Now using a muslin cloth drain the water and wash the chena under the running tap water . If you are using lime juice to prepare chena, this wash will remove all the lemony taste or smell. Now tied the two ends of the muslin cloth tightly and let it drain all the excess water for atleast 15-20 minutes. And at this time you may put a heavy weight on the muslin cloth for better draining.
- Now mash the chena(cottage cheese) using your palm on the kitchen slab or on the cutlery board till it’s very smooth and creamy and has absolutely no lumps. Remember this mashing is the most important step of making rasogolla because the quality of this sweet depends on its smoothness ,sponginess.
- Now Divide the chena into equal parts. With your palm give them nice and even flattened shape.The balls should have no cracks otherwise it may break off during boiling.From 2 lt. milk you can make about 20 pieces of flattened cheese balls of equal sizes.Keep one thing in mind that these ball will be double in size after boiling in sugar syrup. So be sure to take a pan for boiling sugar syrup where the flattened cheese balls can easily play around.
- Now make the sugar syrup using 4 cups sugar and 8 cups of water. The syrup should not be thick and will be on the thinner side. This is very important.
- Then add the prepared flattened balls in this syrup, cover it tightly with a lid and let it boil for 20 -25 mins.
- Now using a perforated ladle take out the flattened cheese balls from the syrup and gently press them while taking them out .
- Transfer these flattened cheese balls into the warm concentrated milk prepared previously. Garnish it with rest of the chopped dry fruits and little saffron. Now mouth drooling rasmalai is ready to serve. Serve this excellent dessert warm or chilled.
Enjoy Your Food....!
Before I start to write the recipe , I would like to give a very brief introduction about Janmashtami Festival to all my Non Indian Friends. Sri Krishna is considered as the one of the most powerful human incarnations of the Lord Vishnu.The birthday of Lord Krishna is known as Janmashtami which is celebrated with great devotion and enthusiasm in India in the month of July or August. Being an Indian I am not an exception though I have very little knowledge about all the rituals of the puja. But I celebrate His birthday in my own way. I usually prepare a sweet dish , decorate my lord Krishna with lots of flower, light up diya & candles and then pray for my family in front of my god.
As a self proclaimed sweet lover, preparing dessert at home, gives me an immense pleasure and honestly, I never ever feel guilty while making or eating dessert. :P I believe that the feeling of guilt will restrict myself from enjoying its taste to the fullest.
Apple Kheer(sweetened milk) is a creative dessert where the grated apples are cooked with sugar , milk, ghee and cardamom powder. This is an ideal sweet dish for any type of fast or any festival or puja. I learned this recipe from my mother. I bet that the irresistible aroma of this dessert will attract your entire family and it will be relished by each and every member of the same.
Here is the process of making Apple kheer / Sev Kheer.
Ingredients:
- Apples: 2 (Medium size,)
- Milk:1 lt.
- Cardamom Powder:1/4 the tsp.
- Sugar:1/3 Cup(adjust according to your taste)
- Dry Fruits :Chopped Cashews, Sliced Almonds, Slivered Pistachios.
- Ghee: 1 tsp.
Process:
- Take a deep bottomed vessel. Non stick vessel is preferable and pour the milk. Boil the milk until it reduces to half and becomes thick.
- Meanwhile grate the apples and heat ghee in an another pan . Add the grated apple to the pan and fry it for 3-4 mins in medium flame. Then add sugar and stir it continuously so that the sugar gets dissolved with the grated apple. At this point the grated apple will turn into a yellowish colour.
- Now add the apple mixture into the boiling milk and mix very well and add the cardamom powder.
- Simmer it for 5-10 minutes.
- Add the dry fruits and turn off the flame.
- Now your Apple kheer is ready.
- Serve it hot or chilled.
Enjoy Your Food...!
Sponge Cake is a cake based on flour(basically wheat flour), sugar and eggs ,sometimes leavened baking powder which has a firm yet well aerated structure similar to a sea sponge. It is a very basic cake and once its art of making is mastered you can easily prepare amazing birthday cakes. Not only the birthday cakes, with this basic recipe ,a lot of variations like cup cakes, pound cakes, pastry ,muffins, cup cakes etc. etc. can also be prepared very easily.
The process of making a sponge cake is very simple and easy. Following all the steps with little care and attention you will be able to make an extremely good sponge cake.
With this basic sponge cake recipe, I usually make cup cakes very often for my daughter.
Here is the process:
Ingredients:
- Refined Flour: 225 gm.
- Butter: 250 gm.
- Eggs:4
- Vanilla Essence: A Few Drops
- Sugar:250 gm.
- Milk: 1/2 Cup.
- Dry Fruits: Raisins, Cashew or any other
- Tutti Frutti: A handful
Process:
- Preheat the oven at 180 degree Celsius. Place the cup cake lines into a cup cake mould. If you are making a pound cake then grease your baking pan with little butter and dust it with little flour.
- Break Eggs in a bowl and add the vanilla essence (remember the vanilla essence helps to get rid of the smell of the eggs. Beat well with an electric beater for 8-10 mins or till the ribbon stage.
- Cream together the butter and the sugar n an another bowl till fluffy with an electric beater at low speed for 2-3 mins.
- Sieve the flour into the creamed mixture, add the beaten eggs and mix well by cut and fold method. Add the remaining eggs and mix well.
- Add milk and mix well. At this time you may add the tutti frutti and dry fruits of your choice. Pour the mixture into the cup cake liners and fill 3/4 portion of each of the liners and place the baking tray into the preheated oven.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until a tooth pick inserted into each of the cupcakes comes out dry.
- Remove the baking tray from heat and let it cool for 15 minutes.
- Remove the cupcake liners and serve.
Enjoy Your Food...!
It's been a long time I didn't prepare anything special for my family ,for my daughter and in this way I was away from my blog, page and from all of you. Due to some family related responsibilities I was out of touch from all these. But , thank God, I am back to my normal routine life and at my most favourite place where I spend my "Me Time".
Last Sunday, I made one of our most favourite dishes,Kolkata Style Chicken Biriyani and going to share the recipe with all of you.
Biriyani is the exemplification of the Indian Cuisine and I must say that Kolkata is the wanderer of this special dish. As long as we were in Kolkata I never took any attempt to cook it at home as it was widely available in every nook and corner of the city. In the most famous restaurants, like Rahmania ,Shiraz if you take a spoonful of its mutton or chicken biriyani it almost melts in your mouth and even the most ordinary restaurants make it so well.
But here ,since last two and a half years, the food we miss extremely is the Biriyani. Even the most famous biriyani house in Mumbai cant bring the actual taste of the dish with which our taste buds have been accustomed.
Few months back, after my very successful attempt of making Hyderabadi Dum Biriyani, I acquired my confidence and now I make Biriyani at home whenever we want.
Here, the recipe I am going to depict is less spicy , easy to cook and obviously very delicious.
Ingredients:
- Chicken:500 gm (with bone, medium sized)
- Long Grain Basmati Rice:4 Cups
- Potatoes:4(Medium Sized, washed, peeled and cut into two halves)
- Eggs: 4 ( Hard Boiled)
- For marinating the Chicken:
- Mustard Oil:2-3 tbsp.
- Yoghurt:2 Cups
- Chilli Powder:1 tsp.
- Turmeric Powder:1 tsp.
- Salt:As per taste
- Ginger:1" (Paste)
- Garlic:8-10 Cloves(Paste)
- Onion:2 (finely chopped)
- Cinnamon Stick:1"
- Cloves:8
- Black Cardamoms:4
- Green Cardamoms:2
- Shah Jeera( Caraway Seeds):3/4 th tsp.
- Peppercorns:8-10
- Nutmeg:1/2 of a whole nutmeg
- Mace:4-5
- Dry Red Chilli(Optional)
- Few Other Important Ingredients:
- Onion: 2 Large (thin slice,for making barista)
- Saffron:2 Pinches
- Milk:1 cup
- Ghee:3-4 tbsp.
- Salt: As Per Taste:
- Water: As required
- Bay Leaves:1
- Cinnamon Stick:1"
- Cardamoms:3-4
- Star Anise:1
- White Oil:1-2 tsp.
Process:
- Marinate the chicken pieces with all the ingredients mentioned in the List 2. Keep it for 1 hr.
- Meanwhile boil the rice with enough water, bay leaves, 1" cinnamon sticks,1 tsp white oil, cardamoms and star anise (mentioned in the List 4). Now cook the rice till 60% done. Add a teaspoon of lemon juice while the rice is boiling. It will make the rice perfect white and the grains will be separated from each other.Drain the excess water and spread the rice in a flat plate . You may sprinkle one tsp. of more oil on the rice . It will help to keep the rice grains remain separated from one another.
- Soak the saffron on 1 cup of milk.
- Now dry roast all the biriyani masala mentioned in the List 3 . Let it cool and then grind it into a fine powder.
- Now heat one tsp of ghee in a pan and fry the sliced onion till the onion slices become crisp .For the time being keep it aside.
- Now add the marinated chicken to the pan and stir well. Cover and cook for 15-20 mins on low flame. Add little water if required. Add one spoonful of biriyani masala powder prepared earlier to the chicken and mix well. Don't forget to taste the seasoning. If required add little salt and sugar. Once the chicken is done keep it in a bowl along with the gravy.
- Mean while hard boiled the eggs and fry the peeled halves of potato and keep them aside.
- Now take a deep bottomed vessel or pressure cooker .Grease it well with enough ghee.
- At first make one layer of rice in the vessel and then make a layer of 2-3 pieces of chicken and 2 pieces of potatoes . Sprinkle 1/4 th tsp of biriyani masala ,little salt (sprinkle evenly), saffron milk and fried onions.
- Now make consecutive layers of chicken, potato and rice till your ingredients come to an end. But don't forget that the top layer must be of rice . Heat the rest of the ghee and pour it on the top layer.
- Now seal the mouth of the vessel with a tight lid or you may put heavy weight on the lid. You may seal the mouth of the vessel with wheat flour dough. But if you are using pressure cooker then close the lid with out whistle.
- Cook this on a very low heat for 10 -15 mins.
- Now your Kolkata Style chicken biriyani is ready,while serving don't forget to add the hard boiled eggs also.
- Enjoy the biriyani with salad /raita or any other chicken mutton preparations of your choice.
Enjoy Your Food....!
Poppy Seeds / Posto is considered to be one of the most essential spices in a Bengali Kitchen. Well, in that case for me, it is something which helps me to survive in each and every situation. Those days, when I feel very energetic to cook something very special I decide to prepare at least one dish with "Posto" and the other days when I simply don't remain in the mood of cooking at all I again look for "Posto". Yes, we the bong people even love to eat the raw pappy seed paste with steaming hot rice. I don't know whether my Non Bengali friends have ever tried this or not but sometime I must share how I like to eat a lavish lunch or dinner with rice and "Posto Bata" (poppy seed paste) .
Anyway, today I am going to share a simple poppy seed recipe where potato and pointed gourd are cooked in the gravy of poppy seed paste. Though I am not a big fan of pointed gourd but whenever anything cooked with poppy seed paste, I never say a "no".
Here is the process of making Alu Potol Posto:
Ingredients:
- Potato:2 (Medium, diced)
- Pointed Gourd: 4-6 (Peeled and diced)
- Poppy Seed Paste: 4 tbsp.
- Mustard Oil: 2-3 tbsp.
- Turmeric Powder:1 tsp.
- Chilli Powder:1/2 tsp.( Adjust according to your taste)
- Green Chilli: 2
- Salt: As per taste
- Water: 1 Cup.
Process:
- First peel off the skin of the Potol and snip off both the ends.
- Cut each one half lengthwise.
- Peel off the potatoes and cut in medium wedges.
- Heat mustard oil in a kadhai or deep bottomed vessel. Here I want to mention that for cooking something with the poppy seed paste mustard oil is the must for me. But those,who cant eat mustard oil due to its heady pungent taste may use any other oil also.
- When the oil becomes smoky and very hot add the Potato wedges and the pointed gourd.
- Sprinkle salt and turmeric powder and on medium flame slightly fry them for few minutes. But don't fry them too much.
- Now add the poppy seed paste, chilli powder and mix the paste with the potato and the pointed gourd.
- Stir it for another 4-5 minutes on medium to low flame.
- Then add water,give a nice stir and cover it.
- Cook until the potato and pointed gourd pieces become soft or boil.
- Uncover and increase the flame ,taste the seasoning, add salt if needed and adjust the gravy increasing the flame slightly.
- Add the green chilli ( you may add the green chilli at first also) and sprinkle one teaspoon of mustard oil on the top of the curry.
- Turn off the flame and serve with daal (yellow or red lentil) and steaming hot rice.
Enjoy Your Food..!!
Chicken Cutlets ,specially those which are made with minced chicken (chicken keema), reminds me of my college canteen, which was truly famous for the chicken cutlets and egg devils. During our college days, at the leisure periods, very often, we used to go to the canteen either for the cutlet or for the devil. I should mention that with this loads of sweet memories are coming to my mind. All the Lovely College memories, the PJ's, teasing friends with their crushes, some fights and making new friends, the gossiping, chatting, class bunking and loads and loads of other beautiful memories which are stored in my mind like a treasure.
Anyway, after a long time, rather after many years to recapitulate those sweet memories , I prepared this at home and tried to make a beautiful evening with my beloved ones.
This time I made it in such a way that the youngest and the little member of your family could easily enjoy it .
Here is the process of making Chicken Cutlet.
Ingredients:
- Minced Chicken:250gm.
- Onion:2 Medium (chopped)
- Garlic: 7-8 cloves (Finely Chopped)
- Ginger: 1" (Chopped finely or grated)
- Bell Peppers: Red, Yellow and Green, 1/2 cup chopped.
- Lemon Juice/Vinegar :2 tbsp.
- Turmeric Powder:1/2 tsp.
- Chilli Powder:1 tsp. (adjust according to your taste)
- Salt: As per taste
- Garam Masala Powder:1/2 tsp.
- Oil: 2 tbsp. (for marinate and cook chicken) and 1/2 cup for deep frying
- Water(optional): 2 tbsp. or less
- Bread Crumbs:1 cup
- Eggs:2 ( to bind the chicken) + 1 .
Process:
- Wash the minced chicken properly and make sure to drain all the water from it.
- Marinate the chicken with lime juice (or vinegar) , salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder, garam masala powder ,little oil and all the chopped ingredients like chopped onion, ginger, garlic and bell peppers and keep it for half an hour to 1 hour.
- Now heat two tablespoon of oil in a pan and add the marinated chicken . On a low to medium flame cook the chicken until the oil comes out from the sides and the chicken becomes tender. At this time you may sprinkle little water on it and cook it covered for another few minutes.But be careful so that the minced chicken could not be over fried.
- Turn the gas off and let it cool for sometimes.
- Then mix the cooked minced chicken with 2 beaten eggs and 2-3 table spoon of bread crumbs to bind the chicken tightly.
- Now make oval or rectangular shaped cutlets from the chicken .Using your palms give them a flat shape.
- Then beat an another egg with a pinch of salt in a bowl and spread the rest of the bread crumbs in a flat plate.
- Dip each of the cutlet into the beaten egg and coat them with the bread crumbs very well.
- Now heat enough oil in a pan and then deep fry the bread coated cutlet until crisp.
- Soak the excess oil from the fried cutlets using a kitchen towel or tissue paper.
- Serve them with your favourite sauce and salad.
Enjoy Your Food...!
