Ras Malai

This is a very famous Bengali sweet and almost everyone loves it. It has simple flavours and extremely tasty. Now the thought of making Ras malai might be scary, coz you dont if it will come out the way you get in the sweets shops...believe me the preparation is very simple and it has very few ingredients. All that you have to be careful about is the timing and consistency. Then rest all works wonders, you can be experimental also. It does not take more than 45-60 mins for the entire process. Dont get scared by looking at the length of this post, I have added many pictures so that its easy for people to understand each step.

And I have to quote, my Husband loves this sweet.

Now for the recipe-

Ingredients :

Whole Milk - 1 Litre

Juice of 1 lemon

water - 5 cups

sugar - 1 cup

cheese cloth.

For the rabadi

Whole Milk - 1/2 litre

sugar - 2 Tsp

Condensed Milk - 2 Tbsp

Saffron Strands - 1Tsp

Almonds - 1Tbsp (coarsely crushed)

Elachi Powder (Cardmom powder) - 1 Tsp.

Method :

Bring the 1 Litre milk to boil in a wide sauce pan. When the milk starts to boil add the lemon juice and stir in, wait till you can see the greenish yellow water separate from the milk soilds. Now is the time to turn off the flame and pour this over the cheese cloth on a colander. Once the water drains, pour some fresh cold water ....ensure to rinse off the lemon flavour.

After the water visibly moved out the cheese cloth, tie it into a small sack and and let the water drip hanging it over the tap.

After 30 mins all the water would have drained completely, remove the milk solid from the cloth. This stage is called the "Cheena". I dont know if I have spelt it correctly, but the key thing to make Rasgollas or ras malai...the cheena has to fresh....you cannot make this ahead. so make the cheena only if you already to complete the dish the same time. The Cheena will have to look like the one in the picture.

Another key thing to get a good quality of cheena is by using Buffalo milk in India. Here you can always use the British Cow milk. But in India ensure to use Buffalo milk.

Now this cheena is the dough that we have to work on, knead it enough to ensure it is smooth....else it will crack or break while its getting cooked.

You can judged if the dough is ready for the next step when you can roll into a ball and not find any fine lines over it.
Now make small balls and slightly flatten it, but dont make it too thin.

Prepare all of it, in the meantime heat the water and sugar in the Pressure pan. Once all the dough in rolled and flattened. And the water is boiling. Drop all the balls at once.

Ensure to drop the balls only when the water is boiling hot. Else the sponge will not be bouncy. Now close the pressure pan and cook on high till one whistle. After the whistle immediately turn off the stove and set the timer for 5 mins and open the cooker exactly after 5 mins by cooling the top with running cold water.

Once you open the cooker, you can see that the balls have risen and bigger in size, remove the balls and drop into a bowl of cold water and let it cool.

In the meantime, heat the 1/2 litre milk for the rabadi in a thick bottom pan. In Pestle and Mortar smash the saffron strands with the sugar, the sugar actions as friction. Drop this in the milk and let it boil on medium flame. Ensure to keep stirring, after the milk has slightly reduced, add the condensed milk and further boil for another 15-20 mins, add the cardamom powder and turn off the heat. You can also make the Rabadi by reducing the milk without adding the condensed milk. But this is the shortcut. Once the rabadi is cool, take the cooked milk solids and gently squeeze out the water and spread over a wide bowl and add the rabadi over it. Add some almonds for garnish and serve chilled.

You can also add Pista, but I avoid to watch the calories.

Palak Pappu and Dondekkai Fry

This is another complete meal we started to cook at home after our stay in Hyderabad. And as Bangaloreans we all must have had this is any of the Andra Style restaurants. Its a very simple meal to cook and tastes delicious.

We will start with the pappu, so that when it is getting pressure cooked we can concentrate on the Dondekkai.

Palak Pappu:

500 Gms - Baby Spinach leaves (palak)

Toor Dal - 3/4 Cup

Chopped onions - 1 medium sized

Green chillies chopped - 4 nos

Meethi seed (fenugreek seeds) - 1Tsp

Tumeric - 1/2 Tsp

Oil - 2 Tsp

Salt to taste

For Tempering -

Oil - 1 Tsp

Mustard Seeds - 1 Tsp

Asafoetida - 1/2 Tsp

Curry Leaves - 1 Sprig

Method:

Wash the spinach and let drain in a colander. Wash the dal and keep in water to soak.

In a pressure pan/cooker, heat the oil, add the meethi seeds, green chillies and chopped onions to saute' for 5 mins. You add more or less of the green chillies based on your spice requirements. You can also avoid the onions if you are not too keen on it. When the onions turn translucent add the spinach and saute' till the spinach colour changes to a darker shade, now add the soaked dal, tumeric and salt to taste and pressure cook on high untill 4 whistles. When the pressure settles, its time to add the tempering. In a small kadai heat the oil, add the mustard seeds, curry leaves and asafoetida. And pour it over the dal. Now the dal to ready to be served woth Rice and Ghee (if desired, I personally dont like the taste of Ghee in savoury food, but most of the Indians love it).

Now for the Dondekkai Fry, Its also called Dondakaya in Hyderabad and Tindora in Hindi (may be). You start off with the vegetable as soon as you let the dal to pressure cook, I am writing it separately so that there is no confusion.

Dondekkai Fry :

Dondekkai - 10 Nos (sliced lenghtwise)

Onion Chopped - 1 Small sized

Dry red chiilies - 8 Nos

Peanuts - A handful

Oil - 1 Tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 Tsp

Curry leaves - 1 Sprig

Tumeric Powder - 1/2 Tsp

Asafoetida - 1/2 Tsp

Salt to taste

Preparation - Dry roast the peanuts, cool and remove the skin. Dry roast 6 of the red chillies. and make into a coarse powder in a blender.

Method :

Heat oil in kadai, add the mustard seeds,curry leaves and 2 red chillies. Now add the Onions and saute' till translucent. Add the asafoetida and the sliced dondekkai. and saute' for ten minutes and let cover cook for another ten mintues. Add salt and check if the vegetable is cooked esle allow it to cook for some more time. Once the vegetable is cooked, sprinkle over the peanut and chillies mixture, fry for 5 more minutes and remove from flame. Ensure not to keep on flame for too long after adding the peanuts, for it will stick to the bottom.

There are other variations to preparing this vegetable. This is one of them that I learnt from my maid Padma.

Enjoy the meal with some pappads and pickles.