Tag Archives: sweet

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.

Patishapta:Indian Crêpes with Sweet Coconut Filling

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The next traditional sweet that is prepared in most of the Bengali homes in winter is Patishapta. The sweet coconut filling rolled up in a warm and soft crêpe is absolutely delicious in its own way. This is one the few pithes that I love.

I made this the other day for the first time and they came out quite well. I made some with only khoya filling as my husband is not a great fan of coconut. These rolled crêpes can be stored in room temperature for couple of days in the winter months or in a refrigerator for a week.

Patishapta : Indian Crêpes with Sweet Coconut Filling

Recipe makes: 6 medium size crêpes

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup rice flour
¼ cup semolina
2-4 tablespoons sugar
Milk as needed to make the batter
1 ½ cups sweet coconut filling
2 tablespoons melted ghee

For the sweet coconut filling

1 cup grated coconut
½ cup grated khoya or mawa
¼ cup nolen gur (date palm jiggery)
¼ cup sugar

In a big bowl add the all-purpose flour, rice flour, semolina and mix well then slowly add the milk and make a medium consistency batter. Add the sugar and give a good mix. Cover and set aside for at least half an hour.

Meanwhile make the coconut filling. Heat a pan over medium heat and add the grated coconut and grated khoya and stir. Let the mixture cook for couple of minutes and then add the sugar and nolen gur. Stir the mixture well till it starts to release from the pan and dries up a bit. Take off the heat and keep aside to cool.

Now to make the crêpes, first take a non-stick pan and heat over a low-medium flame. Give the batter a final mix and take a ladle full of batter and add it to the pan. Move the ladle in a circular motion to form an oval shape with the batter. Add a teaspoon of ghee to the sides of the pan. Let it cook for just couple of minutes and then add the stuffing to one end of the crêpe and roll it. Patishapta is now ready. Continue with the rest of the batter.

You can serve the patishapta as is or with kheer (reduced milk) on top and the leftover filling as a garnish.

Dunk the patishapta into nolen gurer payesh , give a bite and enjoy the sweetness of life.

Tips:

You can grind the grated coconut to get a smooth texture. You can use nolen gur to the crêpe batter, that will make the patishapta darker in color. Do not over mix the batter and few lumps are just fine.

Nolen Gurer Payesh:Rice Pudding with Date Palm Jaggery

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Winter in India is well coveted by all. No more sweating, stickiness and the blazing sun around. Back home I used to love this time of the year the most. Life now is to enjoy the abundance of fresh vegetables and fruits. It is mainly the time for weddings, celebrations, fairs, picnics and all things revolve around good food. It is also the time for nolen gur (date palm jaggery) mostly in West Bengal. People wait to try different traditional homemade sweets and desserts with nolen gur as one of the key ingredients.

I grew up seeing my mom and grand mom making these sweets and desserts with great élan. Back then I never thought of learning the art and did not have a sweet tooth. Gradually my taste changed and started loving some of the pithe and nolen gurer payesh. Now I am far away from home and sometime when I crave for some traditional sweets, I have no other choice other than to try it myself. Maa makes the best payesh I ever had but never thought of taking down the recipe. The other day when I thought of giving the recipe a try, I called her and tried getting the recipe. You know how moms are; they will give you all the detailed instructions, the dos and don’ts but can’t say the exact amount of ingredients for the recipe. She insists on “chokher andaz” (to eye ball the ingredients for the recipe). After several conversations I came down to this recipe which came out beautifully. When I tasted, it just tasted like Maa’s. I love you Maa for the recipe. I want to document this recipe as I do not want to rely on ‘andaz’ in future.

The recipe is very simple with very few ingredients. Here I have used the liquid nolen gur which was available in the Bangladeshi store. The sweetness and the flavor were just right. You can always adjust the sweetness according to personal likings.

Nolen Gurer Payesh: Rice Pudding with Date Palm Jaggery

Recipe serves: 2-4 people

750 ml full-fat milk
3 tablespoons gobindobhog rice (short grained rice) or Basmati rice
6 tablespoons sugar
4-6 table spoons melted date palm jaggery
1 table spoon cashew nut soaked in water
1 table spoon raisins soaked in water

First wash the rice and then soak in water for at least half an hour. In a heavy bottomed pan bring the milk to a boil in medium heat, stirring continuously. When the milk gets one –two boils, drain the soaked rice and add it to the milk. Let the rice cook in the milk for some time. Keep stirring the milk to avoid sticking to the bottom of the pan. Check for the doneness of the rice. The rice should be cooked through but not mushy and by this time the milk should become thick and reduce in volume. As soon as the rice is cooked, add the sugar, the date palm jaggery and the soaked nuts-raisins. Mix in well. Boil the mixture for 5-8 minutes. Take off the heat.

Serve at room temperature with some drops of melted nolen gur on top.

Tips:

Soaking of the rice is important. It makes the cooking time faster. Don’t forget to stir the milk continuously to avoid milk sticking to the bottom of the pan. If you are not sure about the quality of the nolen gur then mix it at last when the milk is in room temperature and avoid further boiling. That way the milk will never split.We don’t use bay leaf or green cardamom in this recipe as they might suppress the flavor of nolen gur but if you wish you can always add.