Tag Archives: nuts

Gajar ka Halwa with Pistachio Coulis

Wishing all my wonderful readers A Very Happy Valentine’s Day! I would love to celebrate this day with this recipe of Gajar ka halwa with pistachio coulis. There is one more sweet reason to celebrate. Tomorrow ‘MellownSpicy’ will be completing six months. It has been a wonderful experience in this blogging world, sharing recipes, interacting with fellow bloggers and getting inspiration from them. Looking forward to many more fun filled days in this blogging world.

Today’s recipe is a simple twist to a classic Indian dessert. Back home Gajar ka halwa is a winter delicacy when the carrots are in abundance and cheap. The pistachio coulis pairs great with the halwa and takes it to another level. Try this recipe and sweeten the lives of your loved ones.

Gajar ka Halwa with Pistachio Coulis

Recipe Serves: 4-6 people

Recipe of ‘coulis’ adapted from: Sanjeev Kapoor

4 cups grated carrot
2 tablespoons ghee or clarified butter
2 cups milk
½ cup grated khoya or mawa (solidified milk)
¾ cup sugar or adjust to taste
Pinch of green cardamom powder
2 tablespoons raisins
2 tablespoons sliced almonds
Sliced pistachios for garnish

For Pistachio Coulis

½ cup blanched pistachios ground to a paste
2 tablespoons honey
¼ cup fresh cream

Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed pan and sauté the grated carrots for couple of minutes, add the milk and let it cook in medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes or until the milk is absorbed and the carrot is soft and tender. Now add the grated khoya, sugar, raisins and sliced almonds and mix in well. Continuously stir the mixture and let it cook for 5 more minutes. When the mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan add the green cardamom powder and take out of the heat and let it cool down a bit.

Meanwhile prepare the pistachio coulis. In a separate pan mix the pistachio paste and the cream and bring it to a boil. Add the honey and mix well. Cook at a medium heat for 4-5 minutes until the mixture becomes thick.

Serve ‘Gajar ka halwa’ warm on a plate and garnish with sliced pistachios and pistachio coulis on the side. Enjoy!

Tips:

While cooking the halwa always stir the mixture and cook at a medium heat. You can add nuts of your choice. While Gajar ka halwa itself tastes great, you can add the coulis to give it a more festive touch.

Fruit Cake and A Merry Christmas!!!

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Christmas is all about Santa Claus, gifts, loving and sharing and Fruit cakes. Baking a cake on this day has become a tradition for many but if you choose to bake a fruit cake you have to plan ahead. The soaking of the fruits in alcohol starts way back in September so that the fruits can absorb most of the flavor. But if you are a late planner like me then you can even soak for a week and that is just fine.

Now I am not a great fan of a cake that is heavily laden with fruits and strong flavor of alcohol so I usually go for a lighter version but for the last couple of years I am baking a rich fruit cake because of popular demand. My husband is a great lover of fruit cakes and even my friends demand for a rich traditional fruit cake on Christmas. I follow my mom’s recipe (she has a great passion for cooking and baking) with a slight twist. I make the caramel syrup and add it to the batter which she skips.

The recipe is otherwise simple except for the soaking part and the making of the caramel syrup. As I said that you can soak the fruits even for a week and that is absolutely fine but more the better and if you want to have a non-alcoholic version, soaking in lemon or orange juice is just fine.

I wish all my wonderful readers and fellow bloggers a wonderful Merry Christmas!!!

Fruit and Nut Christmas cake

Recipe makes two 8 inch round cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking power
Pinch of salt
4 eggs at room temperature
1 cup butter melted
1 ½ cup brown sugar
1 cup dry fruits of your choice e.g.: dates, raisins, sweetened cranberries, sultanas etc.
½ cup candied citrus peels
½ cup mixed nuts of your choice
1/2 cup glazed cherries
1 cup Rum
2 teaspoons cinnamon powder
¼ teaspoon clove powder
1 teaspoon nutmeg powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the caramel syrup

½ cup sugar
¾ cup boiling hot water

Mix all the fruits in a large bowl and add the rum and stir well. Cover and leave on the kitchen counter and stir often. If you are soaking for more than a week then keep in the refrigerator and give a stir in between.

On the day of baking the cake, first prepare the caramel syrup. Preparing the caramel syrup is not difficult but you have to be very careful. Start heating the sugar in a sauce pan at a low heat. The sugar will slowly melt and form caramel. Do not stir the melted sugar with a spoon but you can swirl the pan. When all the sugar crystals have melted add the boiling water and stir to form a uniform mixture. Set aside and cool completely.

Grease two eight inch round pan with butter and line the bottom with parchment paper and preheat the oven at 350F.

In a big bowl sift the flour, baking powder, salt and the powdered spices and keep aside. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and the sugar with a hand-held mixture. When it becomes fluffy add the melted butter and mix in. Add the vanilla. Now add the flour mixture in batches and mix the batter until everything is well incorporated. Add in the soaked fruits with the rum and mix in well. At last add the cooled caramel syrup and mix well one last time.

Divide the batter between the two greased cake pans and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Cool the cake completely and wrap with a cling film and leave on the kitchen counter for at least three days for the flavors to mature.

Decorate the cake with ribbons and dust powdered sugar on top and serve.

Enjoy!

Tips:

You can use orange or lemon juice instead of alcohol. You can use oil in place of butter in the recipe. One note of caution is to be extra careful while you are cooking the sugar because once the sugar has melted it has a much higher temperature than boiling water and always use a pan with high sides.

Here I have used two small Bundt pans to bake the cakes.

Linking this to:Bake Fest #14 @ Cooks Joy

Dorbesh or Boondi Laddu and Shubho Bijoya !!!

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Finally we are on the last day of the week-long celebration and with it the end of all the grandeur, lightings, and pandal hopping. It is the time when we bid farewell to our Durga Maa with a heavy heart and tears in our eyes and look forward to the next Pujo. Some traditional rituals are carried out like sindur khela and kolakuli while Maa leaves with her family for the Kailash.

Today is the day when we meet with friends and family and exchange Bijoya greetings and take blessings from the elders. The guests are then treated with traditional Bengali snacks and sweets for which they look forward to.

Today with these ‘ dorbesh’ or boondi laddus I wish all my readers a Shubho Bijoya.

To make the dorbesh or laddu first we need to make the boondis or bonde. Then the boondis are mixed with khoya and other spices and nuts to make the laddus. The flavor of the nutmeg takes this sweet to another level. These are very easy to make at home and taste great.I enjoyed making these and sharing with my friends here.

Dorbesh or Boondi Laddu

Recipe: makes 15-20 pieces

For the boondis:

2 cups chickpea flour or besan
1 perforated ladle or jhanjri
1 ½ cups sugar
1 cup of water for the syrup
Oil for frying

To make the laddus:

1 cup grated khoya or mawa
½ cup milk powder
1-2 black cardamoms
2 teaspoons nutmeg or jaifal powder
¼ cup chopped cashew nuts
¼ cup raisins
2 teaspoons ghee
2-3 drops of food color (optional)

In a bowl take the besan and gradually add 1 cup of water to make a lump free batter .The batter should be of medium consistency like the pakora batter. To check, pass the batter through the perforated ladle and it should flow in drops. You may need one to two tablespoons more water to get the right consistency. When the batter is ready, start making the sugar syrup. Bring the sugar and water to a boil and cook until the syrup becomes little thick or of half thread consistency. Remove from heat. Now heat oil in a pan to deep fry the boondis. When the oil is hot enough bring the perforated ladle as close as possible to the oil and slowly pour the batter over it. Fry the little droplets of the batter for few minutes then drain and transfer directly to the sugar syrup. Continue with the rest of the batter. Once all the boondis are fried soak them in the syrup for fifteen minutes.

To make the laddus, drain the soaked boondis from the syrup with a slotted spoon and place it in a bowl and add the food color if using. In a separate bowl mix all the ingredients listed under ‘to make the laddus’ except for the milk powder and ghee. Now heat a pan on low and add the boondis and the khoya mixture and mix in well. The mixture may look a bit sticky but as you add the milk powder it will become dry. If it still feels sticky you may add more milk powder. Adjust accordingly. Once the mixture looks dry remove from heat and let it cool down a bit. When the mixture is cool enough to handle grease your palms with ghee and start making balls out of the mixture. When all the laddus are formed, garnish with cashew nuts and grated khoya. Let the laddus set for at least half an hour in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Tips:

While frying the boondis, make sure that you keep the perforated ladle closer to the oil, if not then the boondis will not have a round shape. Do not keep the boondi mixture in the pan for too long before making the laddus. As soon as the mixture dries out remove from the pan. To give the laddus a festive look I used food color in half of the mixture but it is completely optional.

Linking this to: Festive Food and Spotlight