Rasmalai

I tried making Rasmalai yesterday and they really came out well. I had kept them in fridge last night and had them now...they were soo delicious :) I made the rasogollas first, and then soaked them in milk. I got this recipe from
Manjula's Kitchen...an awesome site...you can check there too.

Here comes the recipe which yielded 12 Rasmalais ... :)

Rasogolla

Ingredients :

Milk - 4 cups ( 2% is ok)

Lemon juice - 1/4 cup, mixed in 1/2 cup hot water.

Water- 41/2 cups

Sugar- 11/2 cups

Method :

To make the paneer/chhana -

Boil the milk in heavy bottomed pan and stir continuously so that the bottom of the pan doesn't get burned. After it comes to boil, add the lemon juice mixed in water. When the curd starts separating from whey, turn off the heat.

Once the curd has separated completely, drain the whey in a strainer lined with a muslin cloth. I dont have one, so I use an ordinary handkerchief :P It works okay. Wrap the curd in the cloth and then rinse under cold water. This helps in removing the sourness of the lemon.

Then squeeze the cloth and keep under a heavy bottomed pan. I do not have that either, so I just keep the wrapped cloth in the strainer and keep on a deep bowl for about an hour which works the same way as hanging the muslin cloth. I have made Rasogollas twice before and this has worked well :)

This step is very important in making rasogollas.

To check whether enough water is out of paneer, take a small portion on your palm and rub with your fingers. After a few secs, you would be able to make a small ball. This advice is directly from the above mentioned video.

When its done, put the paneer on a hard and clean surface and knead for sometime to make a smooth soft dough.

Divide the dough in 12 equal parts and make small balls. Keep it round shaped for rasogollas. And press them lightly into shape of patties for Rasmalais. Since I was making rasmalais this time, you would find the shape of rasogollas a bit flat !!

Mix the water and sugar in a pressure cooker and bring to a boil. Then add the balls in the syrup and close the lid. My cooker doesnt give whistles, so after it started rocking, I put the heat in medium and cooked for 7 mins. The pressure cooker should be big enough because the paneer balls will double its size when they are done.

After 7 mins, keep it off the heat for about 4-5 mins and then put the cooker under cold water to release the pressure. Open the lid and take out the rasogollas !!!! :)

Rasmalai

Ingredients :

Rasogollas - as described above

For Milk syrup :

Milk - 3 cups, 2 % is fine ( I used fat-free)

Sugar- I used about 6-7 tsp (adjust to taste)

Cardamom - I crused about 6-8 whole cardamoms

Pistachios - sliced for decoration

Method :

After making the rasogollas/rasmalai patties, take them out of the cooker and squeeze them slightly and keep them aside. Oh they were soo hot !!

Boil the milk while stirring continuously. Add the sugar and keep stirring till reduced to about 2 cups. I added the cardamom powder and some pistachios after this step.

Then add the Rasmalai patties in the milk and cook for 5-6 mins. Pour them in a bowl and garnish with the remaining pistachios. Serve chilled !!

Enjoy !! :)

Update : After seeing these, the first thing that my Mom said was ," why so big" ?? I was a bit surprised and replied that the size was like this only in the video which I followed !! Actually in Kolkata, we used to have rasmalais which were small balls in milk syrup ...but seeing the size in the website, I thought probably I was confusing with something else. But after asking my hubby I was sure Rasmalai in Kolkata are very smalls balls indeed. So if some of you are wondering "why so big"... here lies the answer !! :P Next time I would make it smaller...thus would get many rasmalais. :)

Subho Bijaya & Happy Diwali with Gulab Jamun :)

Shobaike janai Shubho Bijayar antarik preeti o shubhechha - Wish you all a very Happy Vijaya Dashami and Happy Diwali in advance. I have been waiting to write this post for a long time now, but wasn't getting the opportunity. Actually, I got the research volunteer position in the lab for which I have been waiting for last few months. I wanted to learn various lab procedures and get some research experience. Since I was done with my exams in August, I thought to follow-up there and ultimately got it around 3rd week of September. I joined there as a volunteer (as of now, thats the only option as I dont have work permit in my Visa) .Here they are working towards developing more effective vaccines for children !! :) I am going there 5 days a week - normal work hours....thats why got busy and couldnt post for long !! Hope this experience will help me in future :)

Ok, back to the post !! I made Gulab Jamuns at home for about 5-6 times now... these are so delicious...can be made anytime if you have the mix at home. I have always made with Gulab Jamun mix - mostly with ' Gits ' mix. The mix comes in both 100g and 500g packets... the second one is a lot more economic :D The method is given in the back of the packet.

Gulab Jamun / Pantua

• First make the sugar syrup - Add 1 cup of sugar in 1 cup of water and bring to a boil. Then simmer for 5 mins so that the sugar gets dissolved properly. Keep off the heat. You can taste the syrup, if some more sugar needs to be added, it can be adjusted at this point.
• Slowly add 50-60 ml of milk (or water) to 100g of mix and knead into a soft and smooth dough. If needed, sprinkle some water to make it smooth.
• Make about 12-18 small balls ( it will become double its size after being soaked in sugar syrup - so the size depends on your choice). There should not be any cracks on the balls. If there is any, take some oil/water in the palm and apply on the cracks. they will become smooth.
• While making the dough, heat oil in medium . ( it should be in medium to medium low to cook the sweets properly ). These will be deep-fried, so add oil accordingly.
• When the oil is ready ( test with a a very small dough, it should rise to the top of the oil immediately), add the balls to the oil.
• Fry them for about 7-8 mins- the colour will become reddish brown.
• When they are done, drain the excess oil and keep on a paper towel for about 2 mins. In the meantime, fry the next batch.
• After about 2 mins, add the fried balls to the hot sugar syrup. Make sure there is enough space for them to expand.
• These are ready to eat after 40 mins to 1 hour. But can be kept in the syrup as long as you want !! :)
• Enjoy !! :)

See you again ... Everybody Take care !! :)

Boondi Laddoo

Shubho Mahalaya to all my friends !! :) Aaj theke Debi-pokkho suru -The festive season has begun....and everybody seems to be in a joyous mood :) Thats the essence of Durga Puja ... the most favorite festival of the Bengalis !! I have always been in Kolkata during Durga Puja till 2007. Then missing this auspicious occasion started for me too....though we will attend the Puja over here, but of course, "Probashe Puja" doesnt have the same charm. Nonetheless, we are waiting for the first weekend of October !!

I have got this link from a friend today : thought of sharing with you too :)

http://durgapuja-images.blogspot.com/2009/09/agomoni-gaan-collection-of-devotional.html

We had bought a packet of boondi few months back...to have with raita. So, when I saw the video for making boondi laddoo, I was immediately tempted to make that. Next time maybe I would make these from scratch :D

Here I am giving the recipe for making laddoos with store-bought boondis.

Boondi Laddoo

Ingredients :

Boondi - about 2 cups

Sugar - 1 1/2 cups

Water

Method :

Boil the water and then add sugar in it. Reduce the flame and let the sugar dissolve. Simmer the sugar syrup till it becomes 'one thread consistency'. Then keep it off the heat. Add the boondis. I had to soak the boondis for more than half hour because these were not freshly prepared, so took more time to absorb the syrup. When the boondis look soft, take them out of the pan , after draining off the extra syrup. When the temperature cools down a bit, take a handful of boondis and squeeze in between both the palms in round shape, about the size of a ping-pong ball...or the size you prefer.

After some time, the laddoos will become firm and ready to be enjoyed!! :)

Rainy Day Special : Khichudi and Tomato Chutney

Hello Everybody, hope all of you are doing fine !! Last 2 weeks I was very busy, so could not post any recipe. But I have prepared some dishes which I will be posting soon. I couldnt take some pictures with our camera as the charger was not working properly. So few, including these two, were taken with iphone cam, so the resolution might not be that good. My husband has bought a new digital charger and I hope to take good pics hereafter :)

Its been the same weather over here.... everyday hovering over 102 degrees !! But last saturday, when we got up in the morning, we were thrilled to see its raining , for a change !! :) My hubby immediately told me that we will have khichudi today !! Rain and khichudi.... its something which is incorporated inside us since childhood. Both of us just love to eat khichudi...whether simple or with spices...doesnt matter !! We had khichudi here even when it wasnt raining and the temperature was 45 degrees centigrade :P But last saturday was an ideal day to relish it.... so I made amish (with spices and onions) Khichudi along with aloo-kopir torkari , tomato chutney and fulkopir bora. It was an awesome lunch that day !! :)

I generally use basmati rice to make this, but completely forgot that day, instead used normal long-grain rice that I use everyday !! But nonetheless, it tasted great with the spices and ginger-garlic paste !!

Let me post the recipe now ... :)

Khichudi

Ingredients :

Basmati Rice - 1 1/2 cups

Moong dal - 1 1/2 cups

Water - 10 cups ( I have tried with 4 times water, i.e. 12 cups for 3 cups of total rice and dal in pressure cooker ... but it was a bit more liquidy, this time 10 cups touched the upper mark in pressure cooker ... but when it was ready, the consistency was perfect ... so for 3 cups rice+dal, 9-10 cups is fine)

Onion - 1 small/medium , chopped

Potato - 2 medium, cut into halves

Cauliflower - 8-10 florets

Peas - 1/2 cup ( I dint give this time)

Tomato - 1 medium, chopped

Ginger-garlic paste- 1 tbsp

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 to 1 tsp

Cumin and Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Green chilli - 1, slit along the length

Bay leaf - 1-2

Salt

Pinch of Sugar

Oil and Ghee

** Khichudi can be made without onion, ginger garlic paste and the spices, and then also it tastes great. We generally have without these spices during Puja. In that case, just omit those and cook in the same way.

Method :

In pressure cooker, roast the moong dal till golden brown. Wash the daal and keep it aside.

Wash the rice very well and mix with the daal.

Add 1 tbsp of oil and fry the cauliflower florets till golden brown and then keep them aside.

Then fry the potatoes slightly and keep aside.

Add 1 tbsp oil and little ghee and when its hot , add cumin seeds and bay leaf ( tejpata).

When they start crackling, add the onions and fry them till soft . After that, add ginger and garlic paste and fry till the raw smell is gone.

Make a paste of the turmeric, cumin & coriander and red chilli powder with little water.

Add it to the onion and fry till oil separates out.

Then add the rice and dal and mix them properly. Also, add the potatoes, cauliflower , peas and tomatoes and mix well. Add about 1 tsp salt and a pinch of sugar.

Put 10 cups of water in the pressure cooker and taste for salt. I did it like this, had to add more salt . The salt was perfect this time.

Mix everything nicely and close the lid. Mine doesn't give whistles, so i cant tell for how many whistles it needs to be cooked. But slightly less than it needs to cook daal completely.

I cooked it for about 3 to 31/2 mins after the pressure regulator started rocking steadily. After it was done I kept it for few mins off heat and removed the lid.

Add 1 tsp ghee on top of it before serving !! :)

Tomato Chutney

Ingredients :

Tomato - 2 big, chopped into small cubes

Oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Whole red chilli - 1-2

Sugar

Roasted Panch Phoron - I made it as Mom told, by roasting panch phoron and then grinding them in the mixer.

Method:

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add red chilli.

Add the chopped tomatoes and cook till they get mushy.

Add sugar and mix with tomatoes well.

Add very little water so that the chutney doesn't become too dry. Keep on adding sugar till it tastes right.

Take off the heat and sprinkle the roasted panch phoron on top of the chutney.

Enjoy as dessert after rice or khichudi !! :)

Hot Summer Evenings and Mango Lassi

June/July/August are the hottest months in this part of Amercia. Everyday is hotter than the previous day... reaching upto 115 degrees in the afternoons. Longing for rain...but thats just a wish till now !! This is my first summer outside Kolkata . I never used to like monsoon when I was there... but, now it feels like ages that we didnt get to drench in heavy downpour !!

Few weeks back, we got a can of Mango pulp from an oriental store here and didnt use it for long. On one hot evening, I thought of making Mango Lassi with that , and it turned out very refreshing. The snap was taken very casually, much before I started blogging. I am planning to buy two nice glasses... and make this again... :) and also, try some other drinks from fellow bloggers' recipes !!

Mango Lassi

Ingredients :

Yogurt : 1/2 cup

Mango pulp : 1/2 cup

Milk/Water : 1/2 -1 cup

Sugar - 2 tbsp ( as per taste)

Green Cardamom- 1

Ice cubes - 3-4

Method :

Put the yogurt, mango pulp and water/milk in the blender and mix till smooth. Add the sugar, ice cubes and cardamom ( without the skin) and blend well . This should not be too thick or too liquidy. So water is to be added carefully. This makes 1 mug as shown in the pic. These are the party mugs that I got with the Magic Bullet, my favorite kitchen appliance :)

Serve chilled !! :)