Rasmalai

                        Right from my childhood I am very fond of milk and milk sweets. Today I am going to share a recipe of my one such favorite sweet which I never dreamt of making at home. Yes it is rasmalai this time.It is quite time consuming to make this sweet rite from scratch. I am glad that I found this easy recipe to make yummy rasmalai in no time and can’t wait to share the recipe with you.

Ingredients:

Canned rasgullas

Whole fat milk                                                                                   - 1 ltr

Condensed milk                                                                                 - 200 gms

Sugar                                                                                                  -1 cup

Ghee                                                                                                   -1/2 tsp

Finely chopped nuts (slivered badam and pistachios)                       - 1 cup

Saffron /light yellow food color                                                         -few strands /a pinch
Elaichi Powder                                                                                   - a pinch 

Method:

1.       Smear the kadai with ½ tsp of ghee and heat it. This prevents the milk from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

2.       Boil the milk till it is reduced to ½ the quantity. Just boil the milk for a few minutes if using whole fat milk.

3.       Once the milk is reduced and becomes slightly thick, add 200gms of condensed milk and stir it to avoid milk sticking to the bottom of the pan.

4.       Since condensed milk has enough sweetness, adjust the quantity of sugar to suite your taste buds.

5.       At this stage add the yellow food color by mixing it in a tbsp of milk. You can use saffron strands in place of food color.Also add a pinch of elaichi powder for flavor.

6.       In meantime, squeeze the excess sugar syrup from the rasgullas by pressing it lightly and drop it slowly one by one to the boiling milk mixture.

7.       Simmer the milk for 5 minutes after adding the rasgullas.

8.       You will see that the rasgullas have become very soft by now. Switch of the flame and garnish it with chopped nuts.

 Notes:

1.       Do not press the rasgullas too hard for squeezing the excess sugar syrup. This might cause the rasgullas to break.

2.       Instead of condensed milk we can also use sweetened evaporated milk. I haven’t tried it personally though.

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Puttu and Kadalai Curry

It was my long time wish to make puttu and kadala curry at home. We hail from proper Tamil Nadu and so neither my mother nor my MIL was familiar with the authentic puttu –kadala curry recipe.This time during my India trip,the first thing I purchased was the puttu Kuzhai also called as puttu kutti.From then I have been searching for the recipe and finally got to try this one. I was very much satisfied with the result. The puttu was  softer  than expected and the kadala curry was also very tasty. One batch of puttu (one long puttu) is  more than enough for a person and it is quite filling.Puttu –kadala curry is a perfect weekend breakfast and here goes the recipe.First let us learn how to make the kadalai curry.

Ingredients:

Black Channa/Kala channa                           - 1 cup

Coriander Seeds /Dhania                               - 4 Tbsp

Red chilies                                                     - 5 to 6 (add according to the level of spice required)

Onion                                                             ­- 2 small

Medium sized Tomato                                   - 2

Garam masala                                                -2 tbsp

Cumin  powder                                              -2 tbsp

Red Chilli Powder                                         -1 tsp

Coriander Powder                                          -1 tsp

Grated coconut                                              - ¾ cup

Salt                                                                 - to taste

Sugar                                                              - 1 tsp

To temper:

Oil                                    -1 tbsp

Mustard seeds                  -1 Tsp

Curry leaves                     - few strands

Urad dal                            -1 tbsp 

Method:

1) Soak the channa in water overnight.
2)Cook the channa with some salt in pressure cooker for 3 whistles.

3) Dry roast the coriander seeds and red chillies. Once done finally add the grated coconut and fry till the coconut turns light red*.

4) Once this mixture cools, grind this to a smooth paste in a mixer by adding some water.

5) Add oil in a pan and add the items under “To temper”.

6) Once the urad dal turns golden brown add the chopped onions and saute till translucent.

7) Then add the chopped tomato and saute till the raw smell goes.

8) Once this is done, add cumin powder,coriander powder and garam masala and saute until the raw smell of the masala powders leaves the mixture. Add a pinch of sugar as this will bring together all the flavors. Add  little water at this stage if required .

9) Add this to the kala channa and with little more water and required salt,boil the channa in pressure cooker for 1 or 2 more  whistles until the channa is cooked soft *.

10) Once the channa is cooked add the ground paste of coconut to this and stir well. Bring it to a boil and simmer it till you get a  gravy consistency. Kadala Curry is ready to be served with steaming hot Puttu.

Puttu Recipe

Ingredients:

Puttu rice flour                   -1 cup

Grated coconut                   -3 tsp for making 1 puttu

Salt                                     -As needed

Water                                  - As needed.

Method:

1) Add 1 tsp of salt to the rice Puttu flour, sprinkle water and mix the puttu flour to a crumble state. The correct state is if you hold the puttu tightly, you should be able to form a lump in your hand.

2) In the puttu kuzhai, add 1 tbsp of coconut and on the top add 4 to 5 tbsp of puttu powder. Tap it so that the puttu flour sets tight in the puttu kuzhai.

3) Fill the puttu kuzhai with alternate layers of coconut and rice flour and set it to steam on the pressure cooker. Steam it on approx. 5 min on high flame and approx. 3 min on low flame.

4) When the steam comes out of the puttu kuzhai nozzle on the top that is the time to remove from the steam.

5) Just push the puttu from the puttu kuzhai from the hole given in the bottom onto a plate. This can be done with the help of a stick that comes along with the puttu kuzhai.

6) Serve it hot with the kadala curry.

Note:

1) Do not over fry the coconut as the dish will get spoiled if the coconut is burnt.

2) I pressure cooked the channa after adding the masala powders so that the masala flavors blend well with the channa. You can also add the separately boiled channa to the masala mixture and proceed with other steps there on.

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