Happy New Year.... 2007!

The recipe that I have chosen today for the eve of New Year is Makhane Ki Kheer, which is my all time favourite. Lets start with a little introduction about Makhana, which can be used with vegetables, in sweets and also makes a nice snack when roasted.

Makhana (Euryale ferox) , a dry fruit, famed for its easy digestibility, high nutritional contents and wide use in religious fasting by people all over India is a major product in Madhubani, Darbhanga, Purnea, Supaul and Sitamarhi districts of Bihar. Also known as a water fruit, it is popped kernel of gorgon nut or fox nut, prepared from lotus seeds, is widely used for preparation of its kheer and pudding. It is considered pure enough to be offered even to the God. According to a popular adage in Mithila, betel leaves and makhana are not found in heaven. So one should relish them on earth so as not to regret later. Makhana is eaten in various forms, the commonest being salted puffs. Kheer (a dessert usually prepared with milk and rice) prepared with makhana is a mouth-watering delicacy. So lets get cooking something sweet on the first day of the New Year - 2007.

I wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year and may each day of the coming New year is as Sweet as my Kheer...Enjoy!

Serves 6-8

Serving Size 3Tbsp

Ingredients:

Milk (1 lt)
Condensed milk (1/2 Cup)

Makhana (100 gm)

Sugar (3/4 Cup, or to taste)

Almonds (2 Tbsp)

Cashews (2 Tbsp)

Pistachios (2 Tbsp)

Chironji (2 Tbsp)

Kishmish (2 Tbsp)

Cardomum Powder (1 Tsp)

Method:

1. Heat a pan and roast makhanas till they are crispy and no need to use any oil for roasting them.
2. Now put them in a food processor and grind them while pulsing the food processor. They should be coarsely ground. Keep aside.
3. In a large pan, bring the milk to boil and add coarsely ground Makhanas in it with cardomum powder and condensed milk . Simmer for almost 2-3 hours on a low flame.
4. Keep on stirring in between making sure that it doesn't burn from the bottom of the pan.
5. Coarsely chop all the dry fruits accept Kishmish and Chironji. Keep aside.
6. Now add sugar to the milk along with all the dry fruits, keeping 1 tbsp of coarsely chopped mixed dry fruits aside for garnishing later on. Simmer for another 20-30 minutes.
7. Serve hot or cold garnished with varq (silver foil/leaf) and dry fruits.

Merry Christmas !

Wish You all a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year. May the coming year brings all the joys in your life and may all your dreams come true...

With Love, Nidhi.

Hey! Also check out my recipe for Mocha Cake Roll.

Muh Meetha Kijiye...

Today, we completed Two Years of Marriage....Wonderful two years. So, I wanted to share something sweet with you all, which I have made for my Loving Husband. My Mocha Cake Roll will be a sweet ending for a wonderful day....on which we tied knots to be together for ever n ever.....and a perfect beginning of those wonderful years of togetherness, that are ahead of us....

(Servings 6)

Bake Time 15 to 20 Mins at 350ºF

Prep Time 30 Mins (including cooling)

Ingredients:

Eggs (2, Separated)

All Purpose Flour (¼ cup)

Unsalted Butter (¼ cup) Sugar (¼ + ¼ cup)

Heavy Whipping Cream (½ cup)

Vanilla Essence (½ + ½ Tsp)

Mocha Pwd or Instant Coffee Pwd (½ + ½ Tsp)

Milk (1 Tbsp)

Salt (a pinch)

Method:

1. Beat egg whites in a medium bowl on high speed, till they form soft white peaks, then sprinkle ¼ cup of sugar slowly and beat again till firm white peaks are formed.
2. In a small bowl, beat egg yolks, flour, butter, milk, ½ tsp vanilla essence, salt and ½ tsp mocha pwd or coffee pwd, till light coffee color appears.
3. Now fold in the yolk mixture in egg white mixture with the help of a rubber spatula.
4. Preheat the oven at 350ºF and grease the jelly roll pan (13” by 9”) with a non-stick spray or butter and spoon the above mixture on it.
5. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes. Once the cake is baked, damp the kitchen towel and put it over the jelly roll pan to keep the cake’s upper layer moist and let it cool completely.
6. In a small bowl, beat the whipping cream, ¼ cup sugar, coffee and 1/2 tsp vanilla essence at high speed till it becomes soft and fluffy. Keep refrigerated till ready to use.
7. Lift the cake from the jelly roll pan and put on a plastic wrap.
8. Now spread the whipped cream over the cake and roll tightly.
9. Cover the roll in that plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hrs before serving.
10. Cut in ½ inch thick slices and serve cold.

Veg Dumplings

Chinese is cooking on my blog today and its healthy.....something with lots of vegetables. Guess what??? Ya, its Vegetarian Dumplings, oh! I love to eat those. Even though, I had some idea how to make them, I wasn't very sure. I searched for Wonton Wrapers for a long time but couldn't find them in regular grocery stores. Thanks to my sweet husband, yesterday evening when we were coming back from the grocery store, thinking that we can never find them, he suggested to try this New Asian Super market, near our home. He went there and after 5 mins he came back with a bag in his hand, Oh! I was so happy to see those wrapers and decided to try them tomorrow itself and this is what I have come up with. Its my postcard from China to you....Enjoy..

Makes 16
Servings 8

Ingredients:
Wonton/Dumpling Wrapers (16, At Room Temperature)
Carrot (1, Finely Grated)
Green Beans (3-4, Very Finely Sliced)
Mushroom (3-4, Finely Diced)
Paneer/Cheese (1/4 Cup, Crushed)
Onion (1/2, Finely Chopped)
Garlic (4-5 Cloves, Finely Chopped)
All-Purpose Flour (1/2 Tbsp)
Salt (To Taste)
Black Pepper (Freshly Ground, To Taste)
Oil (1 Tsp)

Method:

1. Heat oil in a small pan and fry onion and garlic till golden brown.
2. Now add salt, pepper and all purpose flour. Mix well.
3. Mix the above prepared mixture with all the other ingredients accept Wonton Wrapers.
4. Now take one Wonton Wraper and put 1 tbsp of prepared filling in the center of it and with the help of a pastry brush, put a little bit of water on all the four corners. Try to put filling in an oval shape as shown in the picture below.

1. Seal all the edges and make a triangle shape. Now take a ravioli cutter and cut the edges to make it look pretty. Repeat the process for every wraper.
2. Boil 2.5 lt of water in a deep pan and put 1/2 tbsp of salt and 1 tsp of oil, thanput the dumplings in it and let them cook for 2-3 mins.
3. Once they are done they will become tranparent and you can see the filling inside them.
4. Serve them hot with Chilli & Garlic chutney.

Tip: You can use any type of vegetables that you like but they should be finely chopped. You can even make chicken dumplings by using grilled chicken, which is finely chopped.

Thank You Lakshmi...

Thanks a lot Lakshmi (http://lakshmiammal.wordpress.com/), I am so happy to see my ‘Chefs.com: Treasured Recipes contest!' details on your blog. Your help and votes can really make me win.

With your tremendous support, I have reached the 2nd position today. Lets see what happens tomorrow. :-) I tried to leave a comment on your blog as well, but I don't know why, its not taking it. Anyways, Thanks a lot for everything.

I would also like to thank all of you, who are voting for me and have helped me throught out to come to the 1st position.

Love, Nidhi.

Its Party Time.....

Its that time of the year again. Prepartion for Christmas presents and parties....chilling winter nights, having friends and family over for dinners, sharing of your best recipes with your loved ones and exchanging presents......Isn't it??? In my Christmas party, for my American friends, I am gonno makes some mouth-watering Indian dishes and some cookies and cake-rolls for the dessert. The cookie recipe that I am going to share with you today is my "Blue-Berry Muffin Tops". You must be wondering how did I came up with this name, "MUFFIN TOPS"? When I made these for the first time, my husband said, they are soft like cake and one of my friends 'J' said, they look as if you have made muffins and cut their tops off. Then she said, why don't you call them 'Muffin Tops' and thats how we came up with this name. Try it in your Christmas party and you will be surely securing some wonderful compliments for yourself.

Makes 18 Cookies

Ingredients:

All-Purpose Flour (2 Cups)

Baking Powder (1 1/2 Tsp)

Salt (1/4 Tsp)

Sugar (1 Cup)

Butter (1 Cup, Soften)

Egg (1, At Room Temperature)

Milk (1/4 Cup)

Vanilla Essence (1.5 Tsp)

Blue-Berry (1 Cup)

Almonds (1/4 Cup, Roughly Chopped)
Pistachios (1/4 Cup, Roughly Chopped)

Method:

1. Mix the above 3 ingredients together, keep aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, egg and vanilla essence untill it becomes creamy and all the ingredients are well incorporated.
3. Now add the mixture of dry ingredients, in butter-sugar mixture, 2 tbsp at a time.
4. It will start becoming hard, so keep on adding a little bit of milk in between.
5. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula, making sure that everything is mixed in well.
6. Now, fold the blue-berries, almonds and pistachios in the mixture. Freeze for 30 to 45 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven at 350F. On a large baking sheet, with the help of a large ice-cream scooper, scoop out the prepared cookie dough on the baking sheet, keeping each scoop at almost 1.5 inch apart.
8. Bake for 25 -30 minutes. They will become golden-brown around the edges.
9. Serve them warm with chilled vanilla ice cream.

Tips: Use craisins along with pistachios instead of blue-berries and they will be more Christmas like. Always use a cold baking sheet for making cookies, they will come out perfect everytime.

Khasta Kachori...... Aaloo Matar Wali

You must have tried Khasta Kachori before but the one that I m going to share with you today is made up with fresh and spicy Potato & Peas filling and not with Dal/lentil filling. Its not as heavy as the dal one and is much more fresh. Its such a mouth watering snack that you cannot just eat one. After having this, with a nice hot cup of ginger tea, you will never crave for Samosa again.

Makes 50
Servings 25
Servings Size 2

Ingredients:

For Dough:
All-Purpose flour (7 Cups)
Refind Oil/Vegetable Shortening (1 Cup)
Salt (1 Tbsp)
Water (400 ml)

For Filling:
Potato (4-6 Large, Boiled & Mashed)
Peas (1 1/2 Cups, Boiled)
Green Chillies (7-8, Finely Chopped)
Ginger (2 1/2 Tbsp, Minced)
Coriander Leaves (1 Cup)
Oil (2 Tbsp)
Spices:
Turmeric Powder (1/2 Tbsp)
Red Chilli Powder (1/2 Tbsp)
Coriander Powder (2 Tbsp)
Amchoor Powder (1 Tbsp)
Salt (To Taste)
Oil for Frying

Method:

1. Start by making the dough or the crust for the Khasta Kachori. Put all the dry ingredients in the Food Processor and start pulsing.
2. Add Refind oil/ Vegetable shortening and pulse 5 times, so that it is mixed with the dry ingredients.
3. Now start adding water slowly from the feed tube and make a hard dough. The harder the dough will be, the crispier the Khasta will become.
4. Take out and keep aside for 30-45 mins, covered with a plastic wrap or a wet cloth. If needed, smooth the dough with hands.
5. For potato filling: In a large bowl mix mashed potatoes, boiled peas, coriander leaves, ginger and green chillies. Keep aside.
6. Heat oil in a pan and add all the spices accept Amchoor powder and fry them for about 1/2 minute.
7. Now add the potato mixture prepared before to the spices and sprinkle Amchoor powder over it. Mix well and let it cool for a while.
8. Take a small portion of dough and roll it in the shape of a circle. Put a little bit of potato filling in the middle of it, as shown in the picture below.

1. Roll it into the shape of Khasta Kachori, as shown below.

1. Heat oil for frying in a pan and deep fry them until they are golden brown on a medium low flame.
2. Serve hot with Coriander Chutney/ Tamarind Chutney.

Tips: You can freeze them after very lightly frying them. Keep them on a baking sheet and put them in the freezer overnight. Transfer them into a ziplock bag and freeze them again. Whenever want to serve them, keep them out for 6-8 hours and than fry them in heated oil until they are done. They will taste as fresh as ever.

To make it more crispy and a little more healthy, substitute 2 cups of flour with 2 cups of Semolina/ Rava.

You can also add some dry fruits like cashews and golden raisins to potato filling, to make it more attractive for special occasion.