Angoori Rasmalai

Rasmalai is one of the popular Indian sweet from West Bengal. Rasmalai is basically, a soft and spongy cottage cheese balls dunked in saffron flavoured milk and garnished with dry fruits. The word Angoori derives from the name Angoor which means grape in Hindi, is significant here for its shape and size. This angoori Rasmalai is creamy, soft and luscious and heavenly delicious. I made this dessert for my daughter's Birthday.

 

Ingredients :

For the Paneer:

Full cream milk - 1litre

Lemon juice - 3 tbsp

For the Sugar Syrup:

Sugar -1/2 cup

Water - 3 cups

Cardamon -1/2 tsp

The Saffron Flavoured Thick Milk:

Thick milk- 1 litre

Sugar- 1/2 cup

Cashew nut - 2 tbsp

Pistachio- 2 tbsp

Cardamon powder - 1 tsp

Saffron - a good pinch

Yellow food color - a small pinch

Almond/Pistachio slivers, for garnishing

 

Method:

1.Heat 11/2 litre of the milk in a heavy bottomed pan. Allow the milk to come to a boil. Once the milk comes to a boil, pour in the lime juice and give the milk a stir. Turn off the heat.

2.The milk will curdle immediately.Let it rest for 5 minutes. Drain the curdled milk in a cheese cloth.Wash the cheese under running water to remove the traces of lemon juice.

3.Tie the cloth holding the corners and hang it in the sink tap for 1 hour to drain away any excess whey.

4.Place the chena in a wide mixing bowl and begin to knead the chena with the heel of your palm.

 

5.Knead well for about 5 to 10 minutes until you get a really smooth dough.

6.Make small bite size balls of the chena dough. Roll the chena balls between your palm to make the outer surface smooth. This will be your angoori (grape sized) rasmalai balls.

 7.Mean while, heat the remaining 1 liter milk in a  heavy bottom pan. Add saffron and yellow food coloring. Cook on low heat, till milk is reduced to half.

 

8.Add 1/2 cup sugar and dry fruits and cardamom powder in the reduced milk    Mix well.    Keep the milk aside.

 9. Heat 1 and ½ cup sugar and water in a pan. When the water comes to a rolling boil, add a few  chenna balls.Do not over crowd .

 

10.Cook for about 5 minutes on high heat and then turn the flame to minimum possible flame. Now cook it covered for next 10 minutes on lowest flame.

11.Open the pan and Angoor(mini rasgulla) are now cooked. You may check it by pressing a sponge with your finger if it bounces back to its original shape, its cooked.

 

12.Squeeze out any excess sugar syrup from the rasgullas gently. take out the angoor gently and add in the warm reduced milk.

 

13.Once the rasmalai is completely cool, refrigerate it and serve chilled with some extra garnish of dry fruits.

Eggless Multi Grain Cookies

Maida is used in mostly all cakes, cookies and brownies. For a change instead of Maida I used multi  grain powder  to make cookies. It combines the goodness of various grains to give you a healthier and nutritious diet. They are very easy to make and taste delicious. I  Made these Multi grain cookies with goodness of butter, and refreshing Cardamom flavour and pistachio on top makes these cookies more flavorful and cookies are light and crispy. They are great with tea or coffee.

Multigrain powder: Take 50 gm of Ragi, bajra, jowar, channa dal, saboodana , maize,whole wheat grains, and barley . Clean and Dry roast the ingredients except oats and  till nice aroma comes. Remove from heat and let it cool. Combine all ingredients and grind in flour mill. Let the flour cool to room temperature after grinding. Your multigrain flour is now ready. Store it in an air tight container and use when required. you can make Porridge also.

Ingredients-

Multi Grain flour-2 cups

Powdered sugar-1/2 cup

Butterat room temperature-1/2 cup

Baking powder-  1/2tsp

Cardamom powder- 1 tsp

Badam Pistachio flakes for topping. 2 tbsp

Method-

1.Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

2.In a bowl sieve together multi grain flour, baking powder and Cardamom powder.

3.In bowl beat together butter  and powdered sugar till light and creamy.

4.Once done combine dry and wet ingredients and using your hand mix them well, ensure not to knead the dough.

5.Rest the dough for 30 minutes in fridge covered with plastic wrap.

6.Then start taking small portions of the dough between palms shape them like a ball and then press a little between your palms

7.Garnish them with desired Badam pistachio flakes.

8.Place them on baking tray at some distance apart.

9.Bake at 180 degrees for12 to 15 minutes or till you see a light golden crust on top of the cookies.

10.Transfer the cookies carefully on to cooling rack and Cool them completely to room temperature.Store in airtight container.

11.Enjoy these melt in mouth cookies with your cup of tea/Coffee

Whole Wheat Bread

Whole Wheat Bread

Instead of buying bread from market I wish to try at home. With minimal ingredients and a very easy method,making bread is quite easy and once you start making it at home you will not buy it from the market.So, I thought to try my hands in bread making process. I baked breads But wheat bread Initially, it was a failed attempt just can't get the bread bake accurate the dough never rises. It's because the yeast is either expired or the temperature of water is not perfect for yeast to rise.  but I was determined to try  and  go through so many videos and recipes .finally I tried with instant yeast which can be mixed with the dry flour and kneaded into a dough, and came out perfect..It’s a 100% whole wheat bread which is soft, moist and flavourful. Freshly-baked Whole Wheat Bread is a delight to bite with butter jam!

Ingredients:

Wheat Flour -400 gm

Water - 170 ml

Instant Yeast -1 tsp

Sugar / Honey   2 tbsp

Vegetable Oil -/butter-2 tbsp

Milk Powder- 2 tbsp

Salt         1 tsp

Mixture of Milk and Vegetable Oil /Melted Butter

 

Method:- 

1. In a bowl take the wheat flour and make a well in it. To this add, instant dry yeast, sugar, milk powder lukewarm water and mix it well until you see small bubbles.

2. Now add more water and form a dough. Once the dough comes together, mix vegetable oil and salt and incorporate it in the dough properly. 

 

3. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for around 10 minutes.    Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover it with wet cloth and set aside for 30 minutes [ first proofing]

4.After 30 minutes, transfer the sticky dough to a lightly floured  on table. Gently knead the dough for 10 minutes. You can add the little flour if required.

 5. After 10 minutes of gentle kneading, the dough will be smooth and flexible. Again, place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover it with a wet cloth and let it rise at a warm place until it’s doubled in size. Usually, it will take 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending upon the weather. [ 2nd proofing]

 6.After the dough doubles in size take it out on lightly floured surface and knead it for a minute and round it up again and leave it on the board for another 15-20 minutes covered with a damp towel.

 

7.Then shape the dough  in a rectangular shape.Place the log of bread, into a well-greased bread tin of size 8 inches x 4 inches. Place the tin in a plastic bag for 30 minutes and keep aside for the dough to rise. .  [ 3rd proofing]

8.Just 10 minutes before the completion of 3rd proofing, pre-heat the oven at at 180°C

9.Brush the top of the loaf with a mixture of milk and vegetable oil.

10.Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for around 25 to 30 min minutes. Check after 25 minutes.

11..Once the bread is out of the oven, brush melted butter on top and turn it out onto a cooling rack

12. Let it cool down to room temperature and slice it only after 2-3 hours.

13.You can slice the loaf only after complete cooling.