Shahi Tukda

Ingredients:

• 1 whole uncut -bakery bread
• 1 cooking spoon-Ghee
• 2 litre - Full cream milk or if health conscious can use toned milk too
• 2 Tbsp - Pista, blanched and chopped
• 1 bowl - Sugar
• 1 - Cardamom, powdered
• 4-5 Nos- Almonds, toasted and sliced
• Few strands of saffron and zarda color mixed in milk.
• Some ghee for frying bread

Method:

• Cut the whole bread into thick same size pieces and then cut off the edges of the bread and cut it four squares from one piece. Keep aside for minimum 2 hours to make it a little hard. I prefer let it dry for a day or so that it soaks less ghee. Alternatively, one can dry it in oven too. I have kept it there for some time when short of time

• Take some ghee in a kadai and fry the bread pieces and then keep it aside.

• Take milk in a big utencil and let it cook and thicken for some time. Then add sugar to it and let it cook till the sugar dissolves. Let it boil and then simmer for 10 minutes. Add the powdered elachi into it and strants of saffron and zarda color during this time.

• When the milk is done, add the fried bread in it and it soaks all milk and immediately take off fame and close the lid. Add dry fruits when done. Pista tastes best in it.

• One can decorate with some khoya too (optional)- I skip this step as I thicken milk a lot.

• Cover it and refrigerate.

P.S. If bakery bread not available I have used usual sliced bread too...Tastes different...But still the dessert is awesome as this is my favorite Indian dessert :D

Chocalate Banana Muffins

Influenced by Nigella's recipe 

Ingredients 

3 very ripe or overripe bananas

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

 1/2  cup soft light brown sugar ( I think I used 1 cup since I prefer sweeter) 

1 1/2 cup  plain flour

3 tablespoons best-quality cocoa powder (sifted)

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C and line muffin tins with papers. 

2. Mash the bananas by hand or with a freestanding mixer. Still beating and mashing, add the oil followed by the eggs and sugar.

3. Mix the flour, cocoa powder and bicarb together and add this mixture, beating gently, to the banana mixture, then spoon it into the prepared papers.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for 15–20 minutes, by which time the muffins should be dark, rounded and peeking proudly out of their cases. Allow to cool slightly in their tin before removing to a wire rack.

P.S. This recipe was my first in the new convention oven and came awesome so I loved it :D

Belgian Double Chocolate Cake ( with Fudge Icing)

Recipe is inspired from here

Ingredients

180 gm flour ( 1 1/2 cups)

60gm cocoa powder (1/2 cup)

125gm butter ( about 3/4 cup)

125gm sugar ( I used almost 1 cup)

3 eggs

2 tsp baking powder

three quarter cup milk (3/4 cup)

2 tsp vanilla essence

75 gm chopped chocolate (i used dark chocolate)

3 tbsp chopped walnuts ( one can use hazelnuts too)

Some walnuts for sprinkling on top.

Method.

1.Grease and line an 8 or 9 inch baking pan. I used a heart shaped cake tin and lined it with baking paper. One can line with a foil and grease it and sprinkle some cocoa/ flour on it too.

2.Cream butter with sugar, then add eggs one at a time and beat until well incorporated. Or else one can cream them using a electric mixer to save time.

3.Sieve flour with cocoa, salt ( if unsalted butter), vanilla essence and baking powder. Gradually add flour and milk in three instalments, mixing until just incorporated, do not over mix. Add the chopped chocolate and nuts.

TIP: Dust the nuts and chopped chocolate in some flour before adding them to the batter. This will help prevent them from sinking during baking.

4. Fold gently and pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170 C for about 30minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool then either frost with chocolate ganache or lightly dust some icing sugar. I frosted it with Fudge Icing

Recipe (to cover an 8" cake)

2 tbsp margarine/butter

8 tbsp icing sugar

2 tbsp cocoa powder

half tsp vanilla essence

some milk

Heat the margarine until it melts, keep the heat on low.

Sieve the icing sugar with the cocoa together, then add this into the melted margarine.

Stir together, then slowly add milk a teaspoon at a time. You will need about 5-8 tsp so just have a bowl of milk next to you and keep adding and stirring until you reach a smooth consistency.

The icing will thicken as it cools so keep it a bit thinner than what you want the final results to look like. Add the vanilla and turn off the heat, immediately ice your cake and sprinkle crushed nuts or cake crumbs. Give it a few minutes to set, and serve!! :)

Note: cakes crack due to overheating so keep temperature less if your cake cracks....also bake in the middle shelf to avoid burnt crusts.

Gazar Halwa

Ingredients:

Carrots - 2 kg, cleaned, scrubbed, and grated to shreds(red carrots)

Sugar - 1 medium bowl(4 cups)

Milk- 3-4 kg(thickened)

Almonds - 15, blanched and cut

Cashew nuts - 15

Elaichi seeds (from 3-4) - roast on tawa and then grind it.

Ghee or butter - 2 tablespoons (preferably Indian ghee)

Method:

1. Grate the carrots and then put it in a kadai to cook. It will leave lot of water and get cooked in it. Don't add milk in the starting or gajar will become black. Later Add 1/2 cup milk if you want.

2. Take milk in a heavy-bottomed vessel and let it thicken. Let it be thickened to be turned into khoya. Or else one can use khoya made earlier/ from outside, just fry it in ghee to soften and crumble it nicely.

3. Once the water from carrots have dried up, add sugar to it and add 1 spoon ghee to it and let it cook nicely till they thicken nicely.

4. Add khoya when there is no trace of water and Keep stirring and then add nuts.

5. When done add elaichi powder and kevda and close the kadai with a plate .

6.Serve hot

Alternative method.

One can cook this halwa in milk too. Put milk in kadai and cook till it thickens and condenses into half. Then add the carrots. and keep stirring and removing milk from sides till water dries up. Then use the same process as above. Add 100 -250 grams of khoya in the end.

Nutrela Pasta and Butterscotch Desert

Ingredients 

500 grams pasta

2-3 tablespoon nutrela

2 spoon butter

1 spoon pasta seasoning

4 cloves

2 green chilly

1 big onion

2 -3small capsicum

2 tomatoes

Salt

Few drops of tomato puree/chilly ketchup

Grated cheese

Cream (optional)

Recipe 

1. Put water to boil....when boiled add pasta...with spoon of oil and salt.....when done strain and run cold water over it....in the same boiled water....put those handful of nutrela till they swell....keep pasta in side

2.Take 2 spoon butter in pan Add a spoon of pasta seasoning .

3. Add 4 cloves of garlic and 2 green chilly and fry nicely ....then add onion and let it fry nicely.

4.  And then add capscicum ( 2-3) to it...and nutrela ( or else fry them in butter seperately ) and then add or fry there in butter so its crispy....

5. Finally add 2-3 tomotoes long cut and cover pan a bit....once all are half done.....add salt to it...so it leaves juice and is done....now add pasta to it....and add tomoto puree/chilly kechup to it and mix

6. Then  season with  grated cheese and pasta seasoning...one can add cream a bit too....

Desert ideas

Take 3 marie biscut in a bowl....butterscotch ice cream on top and choco sauce for  desert

One can also make hot chocolate fudge at home...by crushing the biscut and nuts in a mixer. Heating the syrup a bit and then adding it in a class filled with butterscotch ice cream scoops

Suji Ki Katli

Ingredients

Suji(semolina)-2 cups

Besan( Chickpea)- 1 cup

Sugar- 3 cups

Ghee- 1 spoon+1 spoon (tablespoon)

Water- 6 cups

Milk- 1 cup

Malai- 2 tsp

Grated dry cocunut-1

Raisins(kishmish)-10-15

Small cardomon - 6-8 (use seeds)

Chirongi(melon seeds)- handful

Badam- blanched and grated (optional)- I didnt use.

Kevda-1 tsp

Recipe

1. Saute suji in a kadai till golden brown and take it out.

2. Add I tsp ghee in a kadai and add sauted suji and besan to it and do it till its sauted nicely( golden brown in colour) and leaves a smell. Make sure besan does not has knots and if it does remove it. The sauting with ghee is optional for katli so one can just saute alone too but ghee makes it delicious and soft.

3. Take 1 tsp ghee in a pan and add raisin and small cardomon. Once raisins swell immediately add 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water to it so raisins dont burn. Then add rest of the sugar and water to it.

4. Cook till sugar gets dissolved and the mixture gets sticky.Keep stirring while cooking and check mixture by touching the mixture and see if its sticky.

5. Add sauted suji to it or this mixture to kadai and then add milk, malai to it. Add chirongi, coconut to it. Stir it nicely fastly till its too heavy to stir and so all water is drained and its ready to be frozen. It takes 1-2 minutes.

6. Take a big thali and use ghee to moisten it. And then pour the full mixture to it and spread it with spoon to be even and let it dry under fan.

7. As its tuff to cut when its dry...marks square pieces in it when wet and when its almost hard, remove the pieces and store in a box.

New York Cheese Cake

Ingredients

Everything has to be at room temperature. This is the key to making the perfect cheesecake. You need a lot of patience for this recipe. Here it goes..

You will need

20 graham crackers [Or you can even use digestive biscuits if you don't have graham crackers. In that case just use 10-12]
2 tablespoons of melted butter
500 grams cream cheese. That is roughly 16 oz. ( I used Amul cheese spread due to unavailabilty)
1 and half cup of sugar
3/4th cup of milk
1/4th cup Maida
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon Vanilla essence
Extra butter for greasing

You will need a springform pan to bake the cake. It is available in the market. You will also need a hollow tray/vessel which is bigger than this pan, because you need to place your springform pan in this bigger tray while baking. You will also need aluminium foil.

Method

Preheat the oven to 350C/170F.

Grease the springform pan with butter. [Base and sides]. Also cover the pan with aluminium foil so that the top remains open.

Put the graham crackers in a blender and make crums out of them. Add butter and mix well. Now put them on the bottom of the springform pan and press gently so that it forms the crust of your cake.

In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese and sugar with a wooden spatula until it is smooth. Be careful not to overmix.Now add the milk and mix again.
Next, add the eggs one by one, and mix gently such that the eggs get incorporated in the mixture.
Now add the sour cream, vanilla essence and maida. Mix gently.

Once you get a uniform mixture, pour it over the crackers in the greased and foiled pan.
Just gently tap it so that it sets and lets out any air bubbles.

Now, in the larger pan, add some warm water such that when the springform pan is kept into it, then the water covers the pan half way through the height.

Add the springform pan into this water.

Place this in the oven and bake for 1 hour.DO NOT CHECK YOUR CAKE BY OPENING THE OVEN AGAIN AND AGAIN.

[manage]

Turn off the oven after an hour, but let the cake remain inside for an extra 4-5 hours so that it does not crack.

Remove the cake after 4-5 hours, and then gently remove the aluminium foil and later release your cheesecake.

Chill it in the refrigerator until serving.

TRUST ME ITS WORTH ALL THE WORK. IT TASTES AMAZING! JUST BE PATIENT!

I must make this clear too. Please place the springform pan with filling in the larger pan first, and then pour the hot water up till it reaches halfway up the springform pan. If you can handle boiling water, then it's even better to pour that into your larger pan


Note:

Cover the pan from outside. A springform pan is actually where the base comes out like a spring. So you cannot cover that from inside, otherwise the mere foundation of cheesecake would be lost. So you need to cover this pan all the way round from outside so that the water does not seep inside the cheesecake mixture when you keep it in a water bath (larger pan with water)

SOUR CREAM

As sour cream is not available in India, this recipe is suggested as a substitute.


Ingredients
200 grams fresh cream
1 to 2 tablespoon thick curds
2 pinches salt

Method
1. Beat the cream until thick.

2. Add the curds and salt and mix well.

Cream Cheese (Home made)

Take amul cream

just take 1 cream packet and put it on flame and when it just starts to bubble, squeeze a lemon into it and then stir constantly till ur wooden spoon comes out coated and then u hang it overnight in a muslin cloth in fridge and next mornin wake up to fresh cream cheese. like i pour it in the cloth and then the cloth keep it in a sieve and the sieve i keep it in a utensil and tht utensil i keep in fridge so all water drips in utensil. Then cream cheese is one inside cloth and water is to be removed in morn and remove the cheese in a bowl and nicely stir and it'll be smooth.Only thing is it wont be salted.

Nigella's brownie (Self Adapted)

Ingredients

375 g soft unsalted butter ( I used salted hence didnt add salt later and i felt butter was too much so even 300 g would be good enough)

375 g best quality dark chocolate ( I used 160 grams dark chocolate and rest good quality milk chocolate- one can make from plain milk chocolate too)
6 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanila extract
500 g caster sugar ( its generally 21/4 cups but i used 2 cups plain sugar and blended it in mixer and used 2 3/4 cups of caster sugar and so sweetness was perfect)
225 g plain flour (2 cups)
1 teaspoon salt ( i didnt use)
300 g chopped walnuts ( i used 1 cup due to less at home but 2 cups will be amazing)

Directions:

1. 1 Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. 2 Line your approximatley 33 x 23 x 5 1/2cm brownie pan with foil or baking paper. ( i used a 9" springform but usual pan is recommended due to leaks)
3. 3 Melt the butter and chocolate together in a large heavy based saucepan.
4. 4 In a bowl beat the eggs with the sugar and vanilla.
5. 5 Measure the flour into another bowl and add the salt.
6. 6 When the chocolate mixture has melted, let it cool a bit before beating in the eggs and sugar mixture, and then the nuts and flour.
7. 7 Beat to combine and then scrape out of the saucepan into the lined brownie pan.
8. 8 Bake for about 25 minutes ( it usually takes 45 minutes to a hour).
9. 9 When its's ready, the top should be dried to a paler brown speckle, but the middle still dark and dense and gooey.
10. 10 Keep checking the brownies as they cook; remember that they will continue to cook as they cool.
11. 
    
12. Note: my brownie took long to cook and i did mistake to leave overnight in oven and so was hard by morning. But it was perfect in gooeyness. So cook it maximum for an hour and take it off, cool it and leave in fridge overnight so it cooks perfectly.

Chocolate Brownie

Ingredients:

* 250 g castor [powdered] sugar

* 180 g Milk Chocolate

* 180 g soft butter

* 110 g plain flour (Maida)

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* 3 eggs

* some butter for greasing

Recipe

1. This ones very simple to make... firstly.. grease the dish in which you will be baking the brownie. preheat the oven to 160 degree celsius or 320 farhenheit..

2. Now, in a double boiler, melt chocolate and butter together.

3. How to make a double boiler: basically double boiler is nothing but a bigger pan filled with water, and a smaller pan or heat proof vessel inside it which holds your stuff to be melted.

4. So in the larger pan add some water, and in the smaller vessel add the chocolate and butter, heat this assembly for about 10 minutes, and the butter and chocolate should start melting,[ tip: do not touch the mixture before the chocolate is melted, coz if you do so then the chocolate will be very difficult to melt after that!! once u see that the chocolate is melted then u can stir it] once they are melted, mix them together, put off the heat, remove the inner vessel and allow this mixture to cool...

5. Now, in a big bowl, break the 3 eggs, add the castor sugar to it, and 1 teaspoon vanilla essence. whisk this mixture thoroughly.. now add in the cooled chocolate butter mixture to it, and FOLD it [do not whisk] with a wooden spatula.... [FOLDING THE MIXTURE means u move the spatula in such a way as if ur folding it over and over again]

6.Now add in the maida/flour to it and then mix it in a cut-n-fold way which means u have to move the spatula in the figure of "8" basically.. this makes sure that your cake mixture is very airy and it mixes thoroughly making your cake soft and spongy. [ you can add in some chopped walnuts to this mixture now if you wanna make it a walnut brownie]

7. And now!! time to bake!

you can bake this mixture just like that in the greased pan or u place a butter paper on your baking dish... both ways its good but butter paper makes sure your cake does not stick to the pan so its really your choice.

8. Pour the brownie mixture on the dish and spread it evenly with your spatula... and bake it for 20-30 mins at a temperature of 160 degree celsius or 320 fahrenheit.

9. Check the cake once 20 mins are over

10. one tip to do that is take a clean and dry knife and just poke it inside the cake.. and see if it comes out clean.. if it comes out sticky means you still have to cook it for some more time but if it comes out clean means your cake is ready!!

11. Once your cake is ready take it out and let it cool outside for 30 minutes or so... and then you can cut it and serve!!

Garnish:

you can sprinkle some castor sugar

you can serve it with vanilla ice cream

you can serve it with chocolate sauce

ENJOY and let me know how it went

Suggestions: One can also use dark chocolate or cocoa with hot water and some chocolates.

Eid Sheer

Ingredients

Milk- 4 litres

Rice-1 cup + 1 cup milk to ground it

Sugar-1.5 bowl (about 700 grams or 3 cups)

Suji Sewai (roasted brown)-100 grams

Ghee- 1 cooking spoon

Grated cocunut-1

Blanched Almonds-20-25

Chironji-2 tbsp

Raisins-20-25

Cardomon powder-1 tsp+1tsp

Crushed walnuts- 15-20

Broken cashew nuts-10-15

Kevda -1 tbsp

Recipe

1. Boil the milk in a big bowl nicely and let it thicken so that it becomes good in taste. Keep stirring so the milk is not touched in bottom and getting burned.

2. Make a paste of washed and dried rice in a mixer or else boil rice so that its cooked in 1.5 cups water. Then add a cup of cold milk to it and mash it nicely so its completely broken and add in milk .

3. If rice paste is added it requires cooking milk more so rice are done.

4. Keep stirring continously . Take sewai and break it into very small pieces and take ghee in a kadai and add sewai to it and saute it nicely till golden brown.

5. Add sewai to the milk and keep stirring continously. Once the rice and sewai seemed done. Add the nuts and sugar in the end and then add kevda water to it. (Sugar should be added in end as it slows process...let sugar dissolve)

6. Pour in bowls when hot so that a layer forms on top.

7. Decorate with grated coconut, almonds and cardamom powder and freeze.

8. It tastes awesome when cold.

Sukhi Sewai

Ingredients

Suji Sewai(Roasted brown)-100 grams

Raisins-10-15

Cardomon seeds/powder-3-4

Chironji-2 -3 tsp

Grated cocunut-1/2

Blanched almonds-10-15

Sugar- 2 -3 cups (1.5 bowl)

1-2 cups water

Milk-1 cup (optional)

Ghee- 1 cooking spoon for roasting and another spoon for sewai

Recipe

1. Break sewai into small pieces and roast sewai in ghee so that it becomes golden brown and remove. Generally sewai becomes very hard so if u cook the sheera next day. Heat the roasted sewai and add 1/2 cup of water and some milk so it softens and is not hard.

2. Take ghee in a big pan and add raisins in it and cardomon seeds. Let raisins swell and keep low flame so raisins don't blacken. Immediately add water and sugar to it.

3. Let sugar cook till its nicely done for about 10-15 minutes. Cook it till it becomes sticky.

4. Then add dry fruits and sewai to it and close lid and cook it till sewai is done. Also add some milk so that sewai doesn't become hard.

5. Remove when done and decorate with some grated coconut and serve.

Note: If sewai seems hard one can put on flame and add some milk and heat it and it becomes soft and tastier.

Doodh sewai is cooked by boiling 1 ltr milk and then adding a cup or sugar and cooking till dissolved and then adding a cup of brown suji sewai till done.

Gulgule Pua

Ingredients

Setaphal-1/2 kg.(Use fully ripe orange pumpkin)

Sugar-1 bowl(which is about 1.5-2 cups )

Milk-1 cup

Ata/Maida-250 grams(2 cups)

Salt-1/2tsp

Baking Powder-1/2 tsp

Grated cocunut-1/2

Fennel seeds(sauf)-1 tbsp

Water-1 tbsp

1.Peel the setaphal and cut it into pieces. Fry it in cooker with a pinch of salt and once it leaves water. Add 1/2cup of water and close lid. Let it whistle for 2-3 times. On high flame drain off water.

2. Add sugar to it so that it dissolves completely in it.

3. In another bowl, take atta and salt.

4. Add the sitaphal mixture to it to form a batter of dropping consistency (adding more milk if required). Add grated cocunut to it. Keep it for some time so that pua turned nicely swelled. Add baking powder just 10 minutes before making. Add 1 tbsp of water if mixture needs to be thinner.

5. Heat oil and add equivalent to a tbsp of the batter over high heat. Lower the heat and let the pua cook over medium heat.

6. Remove the fried piece with a slotted spoon. Increase the heat and then drop as many lumps as come in comfortabley without touching each other. Lower the heat and cook, turning once or twice till brown. Repeat this process with the rest of the batter.

For gulgule

Take ghee in a pan and add raisins and cardomon seeds to it and a bowl of sugar with a cup of water. Let the mixture dissolve completely and cook it nicely then add pua to it.

Serve hot.

Variation

If sitaphal is not available, one can mix rest process and make pua. Use 1 cup sugar for 2 cup of ata.

One can put this batter on a tawa like a dosa and let it cook and then turn and cook on either side to make meeta chila.

Note

Setaphal mixture can be stored and one can add rest ingredients and cook pua next day too.

Pua are dry ingredient and can be stored in box like snacks.

For people in US, butternut squash tastes similar to indian pumpkin

Meeti Tikki( sweet)

Ingredients

Sugar-1 cup

Milk-1-2 tablespoon

Ata/Maida-1/2-1 cup(I used Ata)

Salt-1/2tsp
Fennel seeds(Sauf)-1 tablespoon

Egg-1 (optional)

Recipe

1. Take sugar in a pan and add milk and then heat a bit to dissolve it. Sugar dissolves quickly in heated milk. Let the sugar solution dissolves completely.

2. Add atta, salt and egg to it and knead it firmly. Add more milk if it require more liquid.

3. Heat oil in a kadai and then lower the flame.

4. Make small round balls and then make small thick round puri type tikkis.

5 Slowly add them in the oil and then fry on both sides.

Meeti Tikki is ready!

Chocolate Cake!

INGREDIENTS

* 2 cups boiling water
* 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 2 1/4 cups white sugar(Make it 3 for the sweetness is bit less)
* 4 eggs(seperated)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract


DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 9 inch round cake pan. In medium bowl, pour boiling water over cocoa, and whisk until smooth. Let mixture cool. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. I separated the eggs and whipped the whites separately with some of the sugar, then folded it all together to make is extra airy.Beat in egg yolks one at time, then stir in vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the cocoa mixture and then fold and cut using the 8 shaped method. Spread batter evenly in the pan

3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Allow to cool.

4. One can sift some powdered sugar on top to serve.


Note: I recipe could easily be flavored with coffee, juice, or buttermilk in place of the water.
Also if one want it little more chocolaty, use half cup of chocolate sauce and half cup of cocoa and it tastes heavenly.

Variations( spongey choclate cake)

Ingredients

* 4 eggs

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* 1 (16 ounce) can chocolate syrup

* 2 cups vegetable oil

* 2 cups all-purpose flour

* 16 ounces white sugar (2 cups powdered)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Beat the eggs and the vanilla with a spoon. Blend in the chocolate syrup. Fill emptied chocolate syrup can with vegetable oil and add to bowl. Add the flour to bowl. Fill can with sugar and add to bowl. Stir well and pour into a lightly greased 9x13 inch pan.

3. Bake 40-45 minutes at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Ice after cooling or leave plain.

Note: one can mix chocolate syrup (half) and half cup cocoa.