My sweet tooth, your advantage!

Rice Pudding/Kheer

As friendship's day is special, I decided to post the recipe of Kheer today...requested by many of my friends. Sorry to have kept my readers waiting for so long before I could post again...Got a bit tied up with personal stuff.
So, here we go...a little bit about how Kheer came into existence.. After I googl'd a bit, this is what I found - Kheer is a South Asian rice pudding made by boiling rice, broken wheat, or vermicelli with milk and sugar; it is flavoured with cardamom, raisins, saffron, cashew nuts, pistachios or almonds. It is typically served during a meal or as a dessert.
Kheer is prepared in festivals, temples, and all special occasions.
It is an essential dish in many Hindu feasts and celebrations. While the dish is most often made with rice, it can also be made with other ingredients such as vermicelli. It is also popular among Muslims for Islamic celebrations throughout India and Pakistan...
Ok, so lets get started! The ingredients required to prepare As friendship's day special, I decided to post the recipe of Kheer today...requested by many of my friends. Sorry to have kept my readers waiting for so long before I could post again...Got a bit tied up with personal stuff.
So, here we go...a little bit about how Kheer came into existence.. After I googled a bit, this is what I found-Kheer is a South Asian rice pudding made by boiling rice, broken wheat, or vermicelli with milk and sugar; it is flavoured with cardamom, raisins, saffron, cashew nuts, pistachios or almonds. It is typically served during a meal or as a dessert.
Kheer is prepared in festivals, temples, and all special occasions.
It is an essential dish in many Hindu feasts and celebrations. While the dish is most often made with rice, it can also be made with other ingredients such as vermicelli. It is also popular among Muslims for Islamic celebrations throughout India and Pakistan...
Ok, so lets get started! The ingredients required to prepare Kheer are as follows:
Milk: 1 litre
Rice (any fragrant rice): 1 and 1/2 fistfull
Sugar: 10 tsp or according to taste
Bay leaf: 1 or 2
Cardamom pods: 2-3 (optional)
Raisins: 10-12
Cashew nuts: 10-12 (cut into two halves and slightly fried or roasted)
Now lets see the method...pretty simple though:-)
Soak the rice in water for 15 minutes, that helps the rice to soften.  Drain and spread it over tissue paper so that the water from the rice is soaked.
Take 1 litre of milk in a deep wok and bring it to boil. Add the bay leaf and let it boil a little more so that the aroma of the bay leaf mixes with the milk. Now slowly add the rice and stir continuously as the rice tends to stick to each other and to the bottom of the wok. Also, Add the raisins and cashew nuts. Cook it on a low flame until the rice cooks atleast 80 percent.
Very important step, add the sugar gradually to the milk and keep on stirring until the milk thickens and the sugar melts entirely with the milk. Correct time to add the crushed cardamom now.
Now, my favourite step. Take a spoon and taste...if it tastes a little more sweet than normal, its ok because once it cools down the sweetness decreases...
Yup, time to pour it in your favourite bowl...what i do is I pour it in four small soup bowls and decorate it with stylishly cut almonds and refrigerate them for about 4 to 5 hours and then serve it as a dessert after food or with puris for that perfect Sunday breakfast...
Quick Pointers:
1. The ratio of milk and rice is a little tricky, so be careful.
2. Cardamom, raisins and cashew nuts are optional. Though using raisins enhances the natural sweetness required for the dish.
3. Stir it continuously but be gentle otherwise, once the rice is half cooked it will break and mix with the milk.
4. Put little sugar at a time, so that you can always taste and add more if required. are as follows:
Milk: 1 litre
Rice (any fragrant rice): 1 and 1/2 fist full
Sugar: 10 tsp or according to taste
Bay leaf: 1 or 2
Cardamom pods: 2-3 (optional)
Raisins: 10-12
Cashew nuts: 10-12 (cut into two halves and slightly fried or roasted)
Now lets see the method...pretty simple though:-)
Soak the rice in water for 15 minutes, that helps the rice to soften.  Drain and spread it over tissue paper so that the water from the rice is soaked.
Take 1 litre of milk in a deep wok and bring it to boil. Add the bay leaf and let it boil a little more so that the aroma of the bay leaf mixes with the milk. Now slowly add the rice and stir continuously as the rice tends to stick to each other and to the bottom of the wok. Also, Add the raisins and cashew nuts. Cook it on a low flame until the rice cooks atleast 80 percent.
Very important step, add the sugar gradually to the milk and keep on stirring until the milk thickens and the sugar melts entirely with the milk. Correct time to add the crushed cardamom now.
Now, my favourite step. Take a spoon and taste...if it tastes a little more sweet than normal, its ok because once it cools down the sweetness decreases...
Yup, time to pour it in your favourite bowl...what i do is I pour it in four small soup bowls and decorate it with stylishly cut almonds and refrigerate them for about 4 to 5 hours and then serve it as a dessert after food or with puris for that perfect Sunday breakfast...
Quick Pointers:
1. The ratio of milk and rice is a little tricky, so be careful.
2. Cardamom, raisins and cashew nuts are optional. Though using raisins enhances the natural sweetness required for the dish.
3. Stir it continuously but be gentle otherwise, once the rice is half cooked it will break and mix with the milk.
4. Put little sugar at a time, so that you can always taste and add more if required.

Awaiting feedback...

Love,
Annie

Bhuni Khichdi...inspired by the awesome weather in Bangalore

While turning the pages of my note book, I was quite confused as to what should be the first recipe that could be shared with my readers..! Even after thinking for a long time, could not come to a conclusion..and this is what exactly happens when you have too many things stored up your sleeves. I suddenly got distracted for a while when the raindrops started hitting my bedside window pane. For a second, the world outside looked completely serene and beautiful...Lovely is all I can say! Great is the creator and his creation... That is exactly when I realized, that Bhuni Khichdi is the only recipe that can do full justice to this weather...
This also happens to be one of my favourite recipes as I still remember Mom making it whenever it used to get extremely cold in Darjeeling. We enjoyed this recipe and Dad used to literally demand for it every other weekend, more so because Mom always came up with a new twist to it!!
I can assure this dish is very stomach friendly and extremely easy to prepare. This ones specially for all my bachelor friends out there..

Bhuni Khichdi

Preparation Time: 20 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients: 

1.  Basmati Rice( 1/2 cup)
2.  Moong Daal (1/2 cup) * The deal is that the rice and the daal should be in equal propotions
3.  Vegetables of your choice
4.  Onion, ginger and garlic diced ( garlic is optional)
5.  Bay Leaves ( 2), Elaichi (2), Cloves (2), Dalchini (2)
6.  Dry Red Chili
7.  Green Chili
8.  Ghee
9.  Salt
10.Sugar

Steps to Follow:

• Dry fry the daal in a wok and keep it aside. Make sure that the lentils are just about golden brown. Do not burn it.
• Wash and strain the rice.
• In a big thick bottomed wok, pour 3 tablespoons of ghee. Then add the bay leaves, one whole red dry chili which is again optional, elaichi, clove and dalchini. Fry these for some time and please make sure not to burn it as the aroma of the spices gives a fabulous taste to the recipe. Add the onion, ginger and garlic dices to this and keep frying in medium heat for another 2 minutes. Now, to this add the chopped vegetables and again fry for some more time. Finally, add the daal and the rice and sprinkle some more ghee and fry till it becomes light brown. Add salt as per your taste and a few slit chilies now and mix well.
• Then  transfer the entire content of the wok in a pressure cooker. Here I would like to mention that the above mentioned process can be also done in the pressure cooker. Now, the tricky part..adding the water. Add about 3 to 4 cups of warm water to the mixture and close the lid of the cooker. My pressure cooker generally does its job in 4 whistles..but lets give one extra for the daal. Another pointer for this recipe is, as this khichdi is bhuni it has to be dry.
• Remove from the heat once done and garnish with coriander leaves and and dalchini/garam masala powder.  Serve it hot with diced brinjal/eggplant fry, papad, fish fry or even achaar/pickle.

Remember that you can do a lot of innovations with this recipe. So tell me what you have to it to make it even better!!
Hope you like the recipe and try it as soon as possible. Would love to hear from you..

Love,

Annie

Mustard Fish (Bhapa Ilish)

Hi everyone... I am here with yet another popular Bengali authentic recipe and this one is requested by Leo. I feel so honoured that my readers are already requesting me for recipes...This is a huge encouragement for me and want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for the positive vibe that they are sending across.

Mustard fish widely known as Bhapa Ilish is what I am going to teach today...which also happens to be my favourite dish. I also like the preparation where brinjal is used but that one I am going to share some other time. You know something, my mouth is already watering!!

In the good old days this recipe used to be prepared in a pressure cooker or a wok with a heavy lid which of course used to be tiresome and strenuous...so, today I have attempted to compile the recipe in a simple and easy manner taught by my husband, so that even beginners can attempt making it.

Mustard Fish (Bhapa Ilish)

Preparation Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

1. Hilsa fish ( 1/2 kg washed and sliced)

2. Black Mustard Seeds ( 1 tablespoon)

3. White Mustard Seeds (1 and 1/2 table spoon)

4.Green chilis ( 2-3 neatly slit)

5.Mustard oil ( 4 tablespoon) * Mustard oil is recommended for this dish as the much needed aroma comes    from only this oil

6.Turmeric powder ( 1/2 teaspoon)

7. Salt to taste

Steps to follow:

• Wash the fish pieces well. Sprinkle salt, mustard oil and half of the turmeric powder and marinate it for 10 minutes.
• Make a smooth paste of the mustard seeds, chili, salt and the left over turmeric powder.
• Take a flat oven dish and grease it with mustard oil. Place the fish pieces in the dish in such a way so that they are not too close to each other. Now, spread the mustard paste liberally on the pieces and make sure they are well covered. Throw in some slit green chilies and sprinkle some more mustard oil on top just for that extra aroma.
• Place the dish in the oven and time it for 10 minutes. In between keep checking on the fishes, if required turn them carefully so that they do not break.

Once ready... Serve it with white rice.

I am sure most of you out there is already planning to make the recipe... I bet you are going to love it! Its already a classic, just prepared in a modern way...but the taste remains the same!!

Awaiting feedback and comments.

Love,

Annie

Only Food..The Soul Connection

I always wanted to start writing blogs, but never really got the perfect subject.. That's what I thought..but it was always in front of me but I was unable to identify the same!I always wanted to write about something which would make me happy and at the same time would not take too much of my time doing research and all of that. So, the best topic I thought for me would be FOOD.. Since, I am born and brought up in a Bengali family food has been the most important part of our daily lives. My avid love, sense and taste for food comes from the interesting childhood that I had. So, today I gladly say that I love cooking, serving and of course eating!! Thankfully, I am married in a family who are food lovers too..well,which Bong family isn't..here, in this blog I would love to share what I have learned over the years and also some travelling experiences which of course have some real good recipes to teach..This blog is going to be a learning process for me therefore, I would expect a lot of new recipes, experiences and feedback with that a lot of chit chat with many more foodies around the globe..hope to have an interesting journey ahead..and a lovely learning session...God Bless..:-)