Easy Rasmalai

Rasmalais were summer treats when I was a kid. You would get them only in select shops and you won’t be lucky enough to buy a cup if you are late. It will be over before noon. Relishing the chilled rasmalais in the scorching heat was a bliss. When I made the mini rasgullas, I thought of making rasmalais at home. But all the recipes I refered, called for a lengthy cooking process. So I invented a shortcut to prepare it in less than 10 mins. And believe me, it tasted better than the conventional made rasmalais. Now to the recipe.

 

 

Ingredients:

Milk – 1.5 cup + 1 tb

Sugar – 3 tbsp

Vanilla custard powder – 1/2 tbsp

Mini Rasgullas – 5 nos

Elaichi powder – a pinch

Method:

Heat the milk in a heavy bottomed pan. Mix the custard powder in 1 tbsp milk without any lump. Now add custard paste & sugar to the boiling milk and mix well. Keep stirring to avoid any lumps and scratch down the sides of the pan. Squeeze the rasgullas to remove the sugar syrup from it and add it to the boiling milk. Keep stirring till the milk thickens. Add the elaichi powder & switch off the stove. Cool it, refrigerate and serve chill!

Note:

You can adjust the liquid consistency of the rasmalai by adding the sugar syrup of the rasgullas to the milk, before refrigeration.

Linking this recipe to Shruti’s ‘Sweet Celebration’ Event :)

 

 

 

Mini Homemade Rasgullas (Made in Pressure cooker)

I was thinking that making rasgullas is a tough process till I found this recipe. You can make rasgullas in a pressure cooker! And it hardly takes some ten minutes to cook!! I tried it immediately and it turned out real delicious.

 

 

Ingredients:

Milk – 1 litre

Curd – ½ cup

Ice cubes – 12 nos

Water -3 cups

Sugar – 2 cups

Elachi powder – a pinch

Nuts – For garnish

 

Method:

Boil the milk well and cool it. Once cooled remove the cream layer formed on the top of the milk. Heat the milk again. Once it is hot, simmer the flame and add the curd gradually. Keep stirring till the whey separates completely. Now switch off the stove. Add the ice cubes and mix well.

Tie the cloth to the sink tap and hang it for an hour without disturbing. After that, take the channa(crumbly paneer) and kneed it for 10-15 mins gently till it forms a smooth dough.
Pour the water in a wide pressure cooker, add the sugar & cardamom powder to it and bring it to a rolling boil. In the meantime, roll the channa into small equal sized balls. I got some 20 balls.

Once the sugar syrup has come to a boil, add the channa balls to it and close the pressure cooker. Cook in a medium flame till one whistle. After that, simmer the flame and cook for another 5 mins and switch off the stove.

Wait till the pressure gets released by itself and open the lid. The rasgullas would have doubled in size. Let it cool, refrigerate, garnish with nuts and serve chilled

Note:

1.Kneading the channa is an important process. It helps to make nice, firm rasgullas.

2. Once the rasgullas are cooked, you can remove them and just cook the syrup for one more whistle and then add the rasgullas if you prefer the syrup to be of  a thicker consistency.

 
Linking this recipe to Shruti’s ‘Sweet Celebration’ Event :)

Homemade Paneer

I like paneer, in any form. The other day, we were having dinner in HB and i ordered chilli paneer. I just fell in love with it on first bite. It was so soft that i wiped off the plate clean in minutes. Vj said they should be making their own paneer as store bought ones wouldn't be this soft. Since am at mom's place now and we get farm fresh milk here i thought of trying my hands with home made paneer & it turned out so good. Here is the method of making your own paneer. 

 

 

 

Ingredients :

Milk - 1 litre

Curd - 1/2 cup

Ice cube - 10 to 12 nos

Method :

 

Boil the milk & let it cool. Once cooled remove the top layer of cream formed. Now boil the milk again till it is hot. Add the curd slowly, while stirring the milk simultaneously. The milk will start curdling. Stir till the whey completely seperates. When the whey is in greenish colour, switch off the stove and add ice cubes. Ice cubes are added to stop further curdling. 

Place a cheese cloth (I used a old cotton sari cloth) over a container and strain the paneer. Tie the cloth and hang it to the sink tap and allow the whey to drip. Leave it undisturbed for two hours.

Flatten it to a round or square shape and place it on a flat plate. Then keep another flat plate over it and keep a weight on it. I kept my 5 kg flour container. Allow it to set for 3 hours minimum. Place it in the fridge for an hour. Take it out, remove the cloth carefully and let the paneer come to room temperature. Now cut into cubes and proceed making your favourite dish.

Easy Soya Curry

Looking at the ingredient list you may think that this curry preparation will stretch for ages, but believe me, this is a very easy recipe. You just have to grind everything and pressure cook it. Sounds easy, isn't it. It comes handy when you run out of stock of veggies and want to do a quick side dish for chapathi / roti. Soya chunks are rich in protein too. So a quick, healthy, tasty and easy curry for you to try :-)

Soya Curry

Ingredients :


Soya chunks - 30 nos
Onion - 3 medium nos
Tomato - 3 medium nos
Garlic - 4 pods
Ginger - 1 small piece
Hing - a pinch
Pepper - 1 spn
Cumin - 1 spn
Coriander - 1 spn
Red chillies - 2 nos
Mustard - 1/4 spn
Curry leaves - few
Turmeric powder - 1/4 spn
Garam Masala - 1/2 spn
oil - 2 tspn
Water - 1 cup
salt - to taste

Method :

Soak the soya chunks in hot water for 15 minutes. Then wash with cold water for 2/3 times.
Squeeze the soyachunks thoroughly and cut into halves.

Fine chop the onions, tomatoes, ginger and garlic.

Heat 1 tspn oil in a pan, add the red chillies, coriander seeds, pepper, hing and cumin seeds. Now add onions, ginger, garlic and saute till the onions turn brown. Add tomatoes and saute till slightly mushy. Cool this mixture and grind into a fine paste.

In a pressure cooker heat the rest of the oil and add mustard seeds. Once they splutter add the curry leaves and fry. Now add the ground paste, turmeric powder, garam masala, salt and saute for few minutes. Now add water and soyachunks, close the cooker and cook for one whistle.

Once the pressure is released, transfer to serving bowl and garnish with coriander leaves.