Badam Kheer: Almond Pudding

Badam Kheer is a rich and creamy dessert for all occasions. It is very easy to prepare and serve. It can be cooked in slow cooker. So make it ahead of time and serve it warm or chilled.

Approx. 6 servings
Prep Time: 20 mins (except soaking time)
Cooking Time: 30 mins

Ingredients: 

• Almonds – 2 cups
• Milk – 1 quart
• Sugar – 3/4 cup
• Cardamom powder (elaichi) – 1 tsp
• Saffron (kesar) – 1/4 tsp

Method:

• Soak almonds in water over night.
• Next morning, peel the almonds and keep aside.
• Coarsely grind half of the peeled almonds using very little milk. Keep the coarse paste aside.
  Slice rest of the almonds.
• In a heavy bottom pan, boil milk. Once it is boiled, add saffron strands and cardamom powder and let it simmer on low heat till it reduces to half of volume.
• Now add coarse almond paste and half of the sliced almonds to the milk. Let it simmer for 5 more minutes. Add sugar/sugar substitute and mix well.
• Badam Kheer is ready to serve.

Garnish and Serving suggestion:
Badam kheer can be served hot or chilled. I prefer chilled. Garnish badam kheer with remaining sliced almonds and few saffron strands.

Holi Special: Instant Gulab Jamun

होली और रंग पंचमी के शुभ अवसर पर,
होली के रंग, मिठाइयों के संग।

Gulab Jamun
Gulab Jamun is my favorite dessert since my childhood. My mom makes the yummiest gulab jamuns of all. On almost all the occasions, in India, she makes them from scratch.But here in US, since I don’t get mava as we get in India, so with my mom’s suggestion, I tried these Gulab Jamuns from the Chitale gulab jamun mix [from Pune]. They turned out pretty good.
Chitale gulab jamun mix is now available is most of the Indian grocery stores in Bay Area.

Ingredients: For Gulab Jamun (50 pieces)

Chitale Gulab Jamun mix- 1 pkt [400 gms]
Sugar – 6 cups
Cardamon powder (Elachi powder) – 2 tsp
Saffron strands (Kesar) – ¼  tsp
Goldan raisins (kismis) – 1/2 cup
Water – 240 ml (1.5 cups for making gulab jamuns)
Water – 6 cups [for syrup] 

Method:

• In a bowl, gradually add little by little, 1.5 cups of water to the mix. Mix well.
• Gently knead the mixture to make it an even dough.
• In another large vessel, take 6 cups of water and add 6 cups of sugar. Also add saffron and cardamom powder to it. Bring it to a boil. Mix it well and boil again.
• Take the dough and divide it into small 50 parts. Take golden raisin and put one raisin in the center of each portion. Roll each portion into a smooth ball. Make all the balls and keep aside.
• In a pan, heat cooking oil for frying the gulab jamuns. Deep fry the gulab jamuns on medium high heat. It should take approx 7-8 minutes to become golden brown. If it happens before that, oil is too hot and jamuns won’t be able to cook all the way through. If it takes more time than 7-8 minutes, the oil is not hot enough.
• Drain all the fried gulab jamuns on a kitchen towel. Let it sit for 4-5 minutes and then add all jamuns to the sugar syrup. Let them completely soak for couple of hours.
• Gulab jamuns are ready to eat.

Serving Suggestions:
Enjoy Gulab jamums hot or chilled. I prefer them hot with chilled vanilla ice-cream on the side.

Shakarpara: A sweet treat

Shakarpara means sugar treats. These are small diamond shaped sweets usually made during Diwali or other festivals. These sweets can be stored in air tight containers for 3-4 weeks.

Ingredients:
Approx. 12 servings

• Wheat flour – 1 cup
• All purpose flour (Maida) – 1/2 cup
• Ghee or butter  – 1/2 cup
• Sugar – 1 cup
• Milk  – 1/4 cup
• Cooking oil for frying

Method:

1. In a large bowl, combine wheat flour, all purpose flour and ghee. Mix well.
2. Ina sauce pan, combine milk sugar and 1/2 cup water. Bring it to a boil till the sugar dissolves completely. Take it off the heat and let it cool.
3. Now add sugar syrup little by little to the flour mixture and knead it into stiff dough.
4. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.
5. Heat the oil in a pan for frying on medium heat.
6. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts. Take each part and roll the dough into 1/4 inch thick sheet.
7. Cut the sheet into small diamond shapes with the help of knife or the pizza cutter.
8. Carefully fry these diamonds in the medium hot oil till it becomes golden on both sides.
9. Drain them on the kitchen towel and cool them completely.
10. Once these diamond shaped shakarparas are completely cool, you can store them in air tight containers for 3-4 weeks.

Enjoy these sweet treats with a cup of coffee or masala tea.

Quick Gajar Halwa: Carrot Pudding

This is a quick and non-traditional recipe for Gajar halwa or Gajrela.

Ingredients:
Approx. 6 servings

• Carrots – 2 lbs
• Condensed milk – 1/2 can
• Ghee (clarified butter) – 2 tbsp
• Cardamom powder (elaichi) – 1 tsp
• Almonds, pistachio, cashews – 1/2 cup chopped

Method:

1. Lightly peel and grate carrots in food processor or with hand grater.
2. Pressure cook the carrots for 5 minutes.
3. In a heavy bottom pan, add the steamed carrots. Let the water dry out.
4. Now add ghee to the carrots. Sauté for 5 minutes. Now add condensed milk to these carrots.
5. Keep stirring. When it doesn’t stick to the pan anymore, it is done.
6. Now add cardamom powder and nuts to it. Mix well.

Enjoy carrot pudding or gajar halwa for dessert anytime.

Aate ka halwa or Kada prashad (Wheat pudding)

Aate ka halwa is the main offering for ashtami or navmi feast during Navratri. It is also called as kada prashad and is mainly served in all Gurdwaras.

Ingredients:
Approx. 4 servings

• Wheat flour (aata) – 1 cup
• Sugar – 1 cup
• Desi ghee (clarified butter) – 1 cup
• Water – 2 cups
• Almonds – 1/4 cup sliced
• Almonds – 1 tbsp sliced for garnish

Method:

1. In a pan, at medium-high heat add ghee. Now add wheat flour to it. Mix well. Keep the heat medium low.
2. Now in another pan, dissolve 1 cup sugar in 2 cups of water on low heat. Stir it till all the sugar is dissolved. Turn the heat off.
3. Keep stirring the wheat flour with ghee on medium low heat, till it turns golden brown and produces good aroma. Keep an eye on it otherwise it burns quickly.
4. Now add already made sugar syrup carefully to the pan and keep stirring. It all becomes thick and starts leaving the sides. All happens very quickly.
5. Add sliced almonds to the halwa and it is ready.

Garnish it with 1 tbsp sliced almonds and serve warm.

Rava Laddoo [Semolina dessert]

Ingredients: [For Approx.30 laddoos]

Fine Rava/Sooji – 2 cups
Butter/ Ghee – 1/2 cup
Shredded Dry Coconut – 1.5 cups
Sugar – 1.5 cups
Evaporated Milk – 1 can
Cardamom Powder – 1 tsp
Saffron – 1 pinch
Golden raisins – ¼ cup
Cashew/Almond– ½ cup

Method:

• In a pan, heat 2 tbsp butter/ghee. Lightly roast raisins, almonds and cashews. Drain on kitchen towel. Coarsely chop nuts and keep aside.
• In the same pan, add the remaining butter/ghee on medium heat. Add rava/sooji and fry until you get the nice roasted rava aroma.
• Add shredded coconut and sugar and mix well on low heat for a minute.
• Now add raisins, nuts, cardamom powder and Saffron. Mix well.
• Add evaporated milk and turn off the stove. Keep mixing for few minutes until the evaporated milk is well incorporated.
• Pour the mixture in a bowl or thali. Let it cool till its managable. Do not cool completely.
• Take small amount of the mixture in your palm and make lemon size balls.

Pineapple Kesari (Low fat, sugar free dessert)

Pineapple Kesari [Low fat, sugar free]

It is very hard to find healthy and tasty desserts. So I altered the original Pineapple kesari recipe to fit in healthy recipe column. But this one is not shy in taste. It is simple and easy as well. So enjoy your dessert guilt free :-).

Ingredients:

For Pineapple kesari [4 servings]

Rawa – 1 cup
Crushed pineapple – 1 cup
Splenda (Sugar substitute) – 1.5 cups
Ghee/Butter – ½ tbsp
Water – 2 cups
Kesar (Saffron) – ½ tsp (dissolve in water)
Cardamom powder – ½ tsp
Kismis (Golden raisins) – ¼ cup
Cashews – ¼ cup coarsely chopped

Method:

1. Dissolve saffron strands or Kesar in 2 cups of water.
2. In a pan, add ½ tbsp of Ghee/butter. Add rawa and dry roast it on medium low temperature, till it releases rich aroma. It will look light golden in color.
3. Add crushed pineapple and splenda to the pan and mix well. Immediately add the saffron water, while stirring continuously or it will be lumpy.
4. Add kismis, cashews and cardamom powder to it and mix well.
5. Cook for another 2-3 minutes and pineapple kesari is done.

Serving Suggestion:

Serve warm with your favorite ice-cream as a dessert after dinner.

Shahi Kheer (Rice pudding, Indian style)

 

Shahi Kheer (Rice pudding, Indian Style)

Kheer is a very traditional Indian dessert. Shahi means royal. As this recipe calls for Kesar and Badam (Saffron and Almonds), is considered royal.

Ingredients:
For Kheer:[serves 6]Whole Milk – ½ gallon
White Rice – 2/3 cup
Condensed Milk – 1 can
Kesar (saffron) – ¼ tspn
Almonds – 12
Sugar – ½ cup( if you like it really sweet) 

Method:
1. Wash rice under cold water couple of times. Soak rice in a bowl adding some warm water.

2. Soak almonds in warm water for few hours.

2. In the heavy bottom pan or in the slow cooker add whole milk and let it simmer. Add Saffron to it.

3. Take soaked rice, remove excess water and mix the rice so that it will break in halves.

4. Add the rice, without water, to the simmering milk. Let it simmer on medium low heat for an hour and stir occasionally. Do not let it stick to the bottom.

5. After hour and half add condensed milk and mix well.

6. Add sugar if desired and bring it to a boil.

7. Peel the soaked almonds and cut them into slices.

Garnish:
Garnish the Shahi Kheer with sliced almonds.
 Serve it chilled or warm.