Bengali Rasgulla..

Rasgulla it is popular throughout India and other parts of South Asia. The dish is made from ball shaped dumplings of chhena (an Indian cottage cheese), cooked in light sugar syrup. This is done until the syrup permeates the dumplings. This was the first attempt and i was quite happy with the result.

Ingredients:

4 cups milk

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 1/2 cups water

1tsp arrowroot flour

Pressure cooker.

Method for Paneer/Chhena

Mix lemon juice in half cup of hot water and keep aside.

Boil the milk in a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, making sure not to burn milk.

As the milk comes to a boil, add the lemon juice gradually and stir the milk gently. The curd will start separating from the whey, turn off the heat.

Once the milk fat has separated from the whey, drain the whey using a strainer line with muslin cloth.

Wrap the curd in a muslin cloth, and rince under cold water, and squeeze well. This process takes out the sourness from the lemon.

To check if enough water is out of the paneer, take a little piece of paneer on your palm and rub with your fingers. After rubbing the paneer for about 15-20 seconds, you should be able to make a firm but smooth ball.

Once the paneer is drained, place on a dry, clean surface and knead the paneer for 3-4 minutes until the paneer is almost rolls into smooth soft dough.

Knead the paneer and arrowroot flour by dragging the palm of your hand hard on the paneer. Keep scooping it back to togather and knead more. If the paneer is too crumbly, add a teaspoon of water. Your palm will be little greasy.

Method For Rasgulla 

Divide the dough into 12 equal parts and roll them into smooth balls.

To make the balls apply some pressure at the first and then release when forming the balls.

Mix the sugar and water in a pressure cooker on medium high heat and bring to a boil.

Add the paneer balls and close the pressure cooker. After the pressure cooker starts steaming, turn the heat to medium and cook for about seven minutes.

Make sure the pressure cooker is large enough to accommodate the finished Rasgullas, as they will expand to about double in the volume while cooking in the syrup.

Close the heat and wait a few minutes before you opening the pressure cooker. Pour cold water over the pressure cooker before opening.

Rasgullas should be little spongy. Serve the Rasgullas chilled.

Merry Christmas!!!! Eggless Mini Bundt Cake.

It's Christmas time again. Merry Christmas to all my blogger friends and readers. Do lots of shopping, cooking and enjoy your holidays... I have made this bundt as i had made the pound cake with little bit of change in ingredient's.. And this bundt also had come out very spongy, this year i'm doing lots of baking, there are many more recipes yet to come, u'll all see it very soon :)

Ingredient's

1+1/2cups all purpose flour

1/2cup butter, room temperature

1/2cups sugar

1cup plain yogurt

1/4cup milk

1tsp vanilla extract

1tsp baking powder

1tsp baking soda

4tbsp dried black grapes and raisin.

For the icing

2tbsp icing sugar

1/2tbsp warm water.

Baking Method

Preheat oven at 350F/180C for 10minutes. Grease and flour the mini bundt cake tin.

In a small bowl blend together the, milk, yogurt and vanilla extract.

In another small bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until it’s light and fluffy. To this mixture, add the liquid ingredients in 3 additions, beating well after each addition.

Now combine the dry ingredients and blend well. Stir in the black grapes.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. I made 6 mini bundt cake from this batter.

Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack. You will be able to remove the cake from the pan in about 10-15 minutes. Keep the cake on the wire rack and let it cool completely.

After the cake completely cooled pour the icing on it..

Eggless Pound Cake!!! To celebrate Christmas

Pound cake refers to a type of cake traditionally made with a pound of each of four ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. This is the way to make a perfect pound cake, but i have not used egg in my pound cake so i don't call it a perfect pound cake. Many people don't prefer egg in their cakes, it is the same case with my hubby also. What ever i bake i keep in my mind to use very less eggs in it. Last night i was just going through some websites there this recipe caught my eyes and i have changed the many ingredient's, but still the result was awesome. The cake was very soft and good to taste... So friends do try this recipe and let know :)

Ingredient's

1+1/2cups all purpose flour

1/2cup butter, room temperature

1/2cups sugar

1cup plain yogurt

1/4cup milk

1tsp vanilla extract

1tsp baking powder

1tsp baking soda

1/4tsp salt

4tbsp dried black grapes.

Baking Method

Preheat oven at 350F/180C for 10minutes. Grease and flour the mini bread loaf tin.

In a small bowl blend together the, milk, yogurt and vanilla extract.

In another small bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until it’s light and fluffy. It will take about 5 minutes. To this mixture, add the liquid ingredients in 3 additions, beating well after each addition.

Now combine the dry ingredients and blend well. Stir in the black grapes.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. I made 6 mini pound cake from this batter.

Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack. You will be able to remove the cake from the pan in about 10-15 minutes. Keep the cake on the wire rack and let it cool completely.

Mini Uttapam

A delicious and quick breakfast recipe made with a dosa batter, seasoning and top with tomatos and onion. I had this mini uttapam once in restaurant on my way to chennai, they were looking so cute i din't feel like eat them, i just wanted to keep looking at them only. I wanted to try this at home from a long long time but i use to always forget. Last week i had dosa batter in my fridge and i was not having idea what to cook with that dosa batter. Then suddenly i told myself when not cook those mini uttapam which we had on that day in restaurant. Then i made mini uttapam they were as beautiful as i had in restaurant... I love it.

Ingredient's

2 cup Dosa Batter

1 cup finely chopped (tomato, onion, green chilli and coriander leafs)

Salt and Oil to taste.

Cooing Method

Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat. Pour few drops of oil

Take one ladle full of dosa batter and pour into small portions to make 2 to 3 mini uttapams.

Sprinkle some salt and place the tomatoes, onion, chilli and coriander mixture over each of mini uttapam.

Cover with a lid and cook on low fire.

Turn over very gently and cook the other side.

Once both the sides are cooked, remove and Serve hot with Chutney.

Plain Dosa!!

Plain Dosa. I like dosa a lot, because it is easy to cook and delicious to eat. This is a regular dosa variety which is prepared in every south Indian houses but with some of my touch and tricks which helps in keeping the dosa soft for a long time. If you ask me to describe a perfect dosa, I would say that 'Dosa should have red crispy crust without a single white spot and a soft and porous white interior. But everybody can't make the perfect dosa, i have tried my best to get the crispy and perfect dosa. This is the simple and easy recipe with easily available ingredient's..

Ingredient's

3/4 cup raw rice

1/4 cup urad dal (split black lentils)

2 tbsp cooked rice

2 tbsp poha (beaten rice)

1/4tsp fenugreek seeds

Oil for frying

salt to taste

Butter for serving.

Cooking Method

Wash the urad dal, raw rice and methi seeds. Soak in a little water along with the poha and cooked rice for at least 2 hours.

Grind to a smooth paste with a little water. Cover and keep aside for at least 4 hours. Add salt and mix well.

Heat a non-stick tava and grease lightly with oil. when hot, sprinkle a little water, pour a ladle of batter, spread it around, into a thin crepe and cook on one side.

Pour a little oil along the edges while cooking. When crispy, fold and serve hot with Sambar and Chutney.

Repeat for the remaining batter.