Dhoodh Peda - Recipe for a simple and easy sweet

It had been more than 15 years since I started full fledged cooking and sweets making. My first sweet was Mysore Pa and it defenitely turned out too well. It definitely gave me enough confidence to try out more and more sweets. I make Basundi quite often as it is my hubby's favourite sweet. Still I kept postponing one particular sweet which is mine and my family's all time favourite and it is none other than dhoodh peda. Whenever we want to eat it, I get a few from our favourite sweet stall and finish it off.

Whenever I plan to make this Dhoodh Peda some thing will stop me and I will end up making up something else. Still the year before last I did attempt it with cocoa but it turned out to be chocolate lolipop and I was never able to make a peda. But this year I was determined to make it as many of my friends said it is very easy to make in microwave. But Saillu's kitchen website gave me even more confidence to do it in stove top. Though I followed the recipe I did make a few alterations.

Ingredients:
Ghee - 1/4 cup
Milk Maid - 2 tins (400 gms each)
Milk Powder - 500 gms
Cardomom Powder - 1/2 sp
Nuts for decoration. I decorated a few with halved cashew nut and a few with unsalted pistachio.

Method:
Took me 15 mins for making it and 30 mins for making the Peda.

In a hard bottom pan add ghee, condensed milk, milkpowder and mix well. In medium flame mix well. Ensure no lumps are formed. Keep stirring till it becomes thick enough and does not stick to the sides of the pan. Transfer it to another plate. Make balls and flatten it and decorate it with nuts.

Refrigerate it and it can be used for a week.

Paal Poli by Sowpernica

Wheat based recipe posted by Sowpernica

Ingredients:

Atta – 1 cup

Milk – 2 ½ cups

Sugar – 10 teaspoons

Cardamom powder – ¾ teaspoon

Oil – to deep fry pooris

Ghee – 2 teaspoons

Cashews – 5 (broken to small pieces)

(This recipe is traditionally made with maida, but I have used whole wheat atta instead, which makes the recipe healthier)

Method:

Boil milk in a thick-bottomed pan/vessel till it becomes 2 cups.

Add sugar & cardamom powder, mix well.

Allow boiling for 2 more minutes.

Keep aside till it cools.

Fry cashew pieces in a teaspoon of oil till golden brown.

Heat oil in a deep kadai.

Mix atta & a teaspoon of ghee, make dough.

Make small balls.

Roll them into pooris.

Fry in hot oil.

Keep aside till it cools.

Arrange pooris in a plate.

Add milk on top till pooris immerse.

Garnish with fried cashew pieces & serve.

Suggestion:

Keep in freezer compartment for about 15 minutes before serving.

Pistachio Milk Shake

Ingredients:
Pistachio - 1/4 cup (unsalted)
Sugar - 1/2 cup
  or
Honey - 4 tbsp
Milk - 3 cups
Ice - 1 cup

Method:
Grind pistachio and sugar or honey. Add 1/2 of the milk and crushed ice and blend together. Add this to the remaining milk and serve chilled.

Shahi Turka - A royal dish from Mughalai Cuisine

Ingredients: 
Bread - 8 nos
Ghee - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1 ltr
Sugar - 1 cup
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Dry grapes - 8 to 12 nos
Cashew nuts - 10 to 12 nos

Method:
Chop off the edges of the bread and cut it diagonally. In a flat bottom pan toast the bread slices till they become golden brown on both the sides. Let them cool.

In a hard bottom pan heat the milk when it boils add sugar to it and stir it continuously till it reduces to half. Remove from flame and let it cool. Add cardamom powder. Break the cashewnuts into pieces. Fry that and cashewnut in ghee add it to the milk.

While serving, place the bread slice on a shallow plate and pour milk on top. Sprinkle a few nuts. This can be served either hot or cold.

A royal dish from Mohalai Cuisine.

Coconut Milkshake

Ingredients:
Vanilla Ice cream - 1/2 kg tub
Milk - 3 cups
Fresh cream - 3 tbsp
Dessicated coconut - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup

Method:
Add 1 cup of milk, 8 scoops of ice cream, sugar, dessicated coconut and cream to a blender and blend well till it comes to a creamy texture. Fill a tall glass with this mixture upto 3/4th. Add milk and 1 scoop of ice cream and serve it with a straw. Decorate the rim of the glass with wafer biscuits.

Recipe for Mango Frappe

Ingredient:
Ripe Mango - 1 no
Vannila Essence - 1/2 tsp
Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp
Ice cubes - a few
Milk - 2 cups
Sugar - 4 tbsp

Method:
Peel and cut mango into cubes and freeze them for about 30 to 45 mins. Add sugar, milk, lemon juice and vannila essence to the mango and blend them till it forms a smooth mixture. Add the ice cubes and blend again. Serve immediatly along with a few frozen pieces of mango on top of the glass.

Note: It is better to use Honey instead of Sugar, if you are health conscious.
          Alphonso variety of Mango will taste much better.

Cardamom (Elaichi) Milk Shake - Recipe to remove tiredness

Ingredients:

Milk - 3 cups (whole Milk)

Sugar - to taste

Almonds - 10 to 15 nos

Cashew Nuts - 8 nos

Ice cubes - 4 to 5 nos

Caradamom seeds - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Grind cashew nuts, Almond seeds and cardamom in a blender. When they are powdered, add the milk to the blender and mix thoroughly. Add the ice cubes to the blender and blend till the milk frosts. Add sugar and serve chilled.

Note:

If this is served in summer, heat the milk and add the powdered nuts to the milk and serve warm.

Great energy drink.

Shankarapalli - A sweet tea time snack

Shankarapalli is a triangle shaped tea time snack which can be made very very easily in about 20 to 30 mins.

Ingredients:
Maida - 3 1/2 cups
Milk - 1 1/2 cup
Sugar - 2 cups
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Ghee - 3/4th cup
Oil to fry

Method:
Seive the maida to avoid forming lumps. In a hard bottom pan add ghee, sugar and milk and boil it. When the mixture starts boiling remove from flame and let it cool.

Mix the seived maida to the above mixture slowly and making a dough out of it. The dough have to be stiff enough to make be able to make chappatis out of it.

Divide the dough into equal parts and make balls out of it. Heat oil in a kadai and when hot reduce the flame to medium. Make chappatis out of the balls (the chappatis should not be very thin). Cut the chappatis with a knife or shankarapalli cutter into square or diamond shape. Fry it in oil in the medium heat itself. Keep turning it till it becomes golden brown in colour.

Note: If the sugar is very sweet, reduce the quantity by half cup.

How to make Thirattupal in Microwave

Ingredients:

Condensed Milk - 1 tin (500 ml)

Curd - 1 tsp

Sugar or Jaggery - 1 cup

Method:

In a deep microwave vessel, add the condensed milk (donot add water). Add the curd and mix well. 

Keep the container in micro high for 2 mins. Remove and stir well. Repeat the process twice. By this time, the milk would have thickened even more, keep it for one more minute in microwave and if it is thick enough, add sugar or jaggery, if not keep it again for a min. By this time, the mixture would have become pink in colour. 

Now add the sugar or jaggery and mix thoroughly and microwave it for one more min in micro high. Remove and let it cool and store it.

Recipe for Thirattupaal

This is one of the method to make Thirattupal. A traditional sweet of Tamilnadu, which is one of the main sweets that is to be kept in seer during any functions and festivals.

Ingredients:

Full Cream Milk - 1 ltr

Sugar - 2 cups

Method: 

Heat milk in a deep non-stick pan. When the milk boils reduce the flame and keep stirring occasionally. When the milk gets reduced to half add sugar to it and stir to make the sugar dissolve completely. 

Keep stirring till the paste thickens again and turns pink in colour. Remove from flame and when cool, store it in airtight container.

Note: Instead of sugar, jaggery can also be used to give more taste.

How to make Khoya at home

Many sweet dishes, especially north Indian dishes ask for Khoya in the recipe. It is good if it is made at home. Both sweet and unsweetened khoya can be prepared at home.

In a hard bottom pan, add one litre of fresh cream milk or whole cream milk and keep it on a high flame stirring occassionally, till the milk gets reduced. Once about 85% of the moisture in the milk is gone, remove from flame and let it cool. Store it in airtight container and use it to make Kajjar ka halwa, Cashew Peda etc.

Care should be taken that the milk does not get burnt. To ensure that the milk does not get burned, a shallow non-stick pan can be used. The whole process can take about 2 to 2.5 hours

Milk Payasam|Paal Payasam

The king of Paayasam is Paal Payasam. It is one of the favourite dish for many. And during festivals and marriages, it is prepared as one of the items in menu. 

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice - 1/2 cup

Milk - 2 cups

Sugar - 1 cup

cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp

Cashew nuts - 10 to 12 nos

Raisins - 10 to 12 nos

Ghee - 2 to 3 tbsp

Saffron strands - 1 pinch

How to make paal payasam

Fry the rice in 1 tbsp of ghee in low flame till it fries and turns golden in colour. Boil milk and once it is done reduce the flame and keep stirring till the 2 litres is reuduced to 3/4th. Add sugar, cardamom powder and saffron strands to it and keep stirring it to mix all together. Add the rice to the milk and keep cooking till the milk reduced to 1/2 and the rice gets cooked. Keep stirring to avoid rice settling at the bottom and burning out.

In a pan add remaining ghee and add cashewnuts and raisins and fry till they turn golden brown; add it to the Paal Payasam. 

Toffee in Coffee a recipe for chocolate coffee lovers

Some thing different and something yummy. Though pure coffee lovers may not approve this, still, it tastes good.

Ingredients:

Milk - 1 cup

Instant coffee - 1 1/2 tsp

Boost or drinking choclolate - 1 tbsp

cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp

Sugar - 1 tsp

Whipped cream - 1 tsp

Method:

Heat the milk and add instant coffee powder to it. Add cinnamon powder, boost and sugar. Add whipped sugar and serve warm. 

This can be served as iced coffee also by adding one or two ice cubes to it.

Apple Shake with cinnamon to cure Acidity

Acidity have become very very common ailment in the recent times. People tend to get it more easily due to the current lift style. Apple which keeps the doctor away, definitely keeps acidity away if it is taken with cinnamon.

Ingredients:
Apple - 2 nos
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Milk - 2 cups (chilled milk)
Cinnamon Powder - 1 tsp
Ice cubes - 4 nos

Method to make:
Peel and dice apples to cubes and grind it in a blender to a fine puree along with milk and 1/2 cup of milk. Add the cinnamon powder and the remaining milk and whip it well. Serve with 1 or 2 ice cubes.

This makes 4 glasses of milk shake. Can be served with small cubes of apple on top.

Health Benefits of Cinnamon Powder.

Rich and Royal Milkshake

A very rich easy to make milkshake. This gives instant strength and energy too.

Ingredients:
Badam - 10 to 12 pieces (soaked and skin peeled)
Crushed Ice - 4 cubes
Pista - 8 to 10 pieces (unsalted)
Butter Scotch Ice cream - 3 scoops
Kesar - 1/2 tsp
Cardamom - 2 nos
Milk - 1 cup

Method:
Add milk, 2 cups of butter scotch icecream, badam, cardamom, pista and 4 cubes of ice. It is better to use a whipper rather than grinding it. Garnish it with pista pieces and Kesar strangs.

This makes 2 glasses of milkshake. While serving add the remaining 1 scoop of icecream, (half scoop in each glass) and serve chilled.

Pomegranate Milk Shake

Ingredients:
Pomegranate  - 1 no (big and ripe)
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Milk - 3/4th cups
Ice cubes - 2 nos

Method to make Pomegranate Milk Shake:
In a juicer, add all the ingredients together and grind well till it frosts.

Pour in a tall glass. Serve with a twig of mint leaf.

Recipe for Rabadi

Tired of making the regular payasams for Diwali? Try out this Rabadi, which will sure become a great hit in your family.

Ingredients:
Milk - 1 ltr
Sugar - 100gms
Badam - 20 to 25
Melon seeds (Saarai Paruppu) - 1/4 cup
Cardamom powder from 4 to 6 nos
Saffron Strands - a pinch

Method:
Soak the Badaam in warm water and peel the skin. Grind the Badaam along with cardamom. Add it along with milk and sugar and boil it. When thick remove from flame and let it cool. Refrigerate it and serve it cool. Sprinkle Melon seeds and saffron strands and serve.

Choclate Milk shake - Kid's favourite recipe

This is one milkshake that can be had either cold or hot. I dont make it with the coco powder that we get in the supermarkets, they give a bitter taste, instead I use a combination of choclate drink and Cadbury's Dairy Milk.

Ingredients:
Milk - 2 glasses
Sugar - 3 tbsp
Boost - 4 tbsp
Dairy Milk Bar - (the Rs. 5 bar is enough for 2 glass)
Water - 1/4 cup
Ice cubes - 2

Method:
Warm the water add boost to it and mix well. Scrap the Dairy Milk into pieces and add that to the warm water. Take a hard bottom vessel and add the milk, sugar and the choclate mixture and keep stirring till everything blends together. Remove from flame, let it cool. Take half of it and blend in a blender till it frosts. Mix it with the remaining. If you want it hot, heat the remaining mixture before adding the forsted mixture to it.

If you are serving it cold, blend both together, add ice cubes and serve chilled.

Alternatively, you can add choclate ice cream while blending. But avoid Dairy Milk.

Mango Milkshake

Ingredients:
Mango Puree- 1/2 cup
Milk - 3/4th cup
Mango Ice cream - 2 scoops
Sugar - 2 spoons

Method:
Blend mango puree and milk and one scoop of mango ice cream along with sugar in a blender. Serve in a tall glass with the remaining scoop of ice cream.

Healthy drink for exam goers - Soya bean milkshake

Ingredients:
Soyabean powder - 100gms
Milk Powder - 100gms
Baadam, Unsalted Pista - 50 gms
Sugar - As per taste
Cardomom - 2 to 5
Milk - 1 cup chilled

Method:
Mix and seive soya powder and milk powder to blend well. Dry roast baadam, pista and cardomom and grind them in a dry mixer. Mix it along with the soya bean mixlk powder mixture and blend well again.

Add this powder and 1 tspn of sugar to one glass of chilled milk. Beat it in a juicer or hand blender and serve cold.

Alternatively, it can be had in a glass of warm water and this helps in keeping a person awake but alert when studying for exams.