Indian Desserts Archives | Sindhi Rasoi |Sindhi Recipes

Semolina Pudding Using STAR Ghee|Product Review

Alka Keswani — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 21:07:36 +0000

Ghee, the clarified butter, a controversial ingredient in Indian kitchens, is often criticized by weight watchers and figure conscious people due to the calories it impart. But it’s hard to ignore the medicinal and healing qualities of pure ghee. The debate could go on, discussing the pros and cons of using Ghee, but then, I prefer using white butter and ghee for slathering the parathas, for my kid, as children would gain health benefits too, along with calories. Cow ghee is hands down winner when compared to buffalo ghee, in terms of texture, colour, fat content, and healing properties. So while Buffalo milk is pale in colour, Cow ghee is sunny yellow and is low in fat as compared to ghee made from Buffalo milk. Its not without the reason, that desi ghee was, and is still used in many Ayurvedic medicines and for treatments of various ailments. Ghee is known to be a vitalizing food, that not only aids in digestion, but nourishes body organs, bones, etc and hence increases strength and reverts the age related setbacks. Its hard to judge the authenticity of the store brought ghee, considering that its so easy to adulterate the ghee by mixing it with partially hydrogenated oil (Vanaspati), refined oil, animal fat and even cotton seed oil. Hence I generally rely on home made ghee . But when I opened the pack of STAR Cow ghee, I was happy to find sunshine yellow colored, slightly grainy texture of wonderfully smelling ghee. Now that it passed visual tests, it was time to test it on taste factor. The first dish that crossed my mind, was of course a halwa, the sooji halwa to be precise, since Indian halwa is best known for the use of ghee in its preparation. Hence, Sooji Jo seero (as it is called in Sindhi) it had to be ! STAR Cow Ghee, transferred to a jar Here is some basic information about this product, as shared by the Star Bazaar! • Made from 100% fresh cow’s milk. • Rich source of vitamin A & β-Carotene. • Granular texture with authentic taste & aroma • Hygienically manufactured in modern dairy plant. • STAR Cow Ghee is a superior quality product at an affordable price. • Available in 500ml and 1 litre packets respectively. Print Semolina Pudding Using Star Ghee|Product Review Rating 4.0 from 1 reviews Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 25 mins Serves: 5 Semolina Pudding or Sooji halwa, infused with saffron, with ghee roasted nuts! Ingredients Semolina 1 cup Sugar 1 cup or more Ghee ½ cup Green Cardamon 4 Water 2 cups (more or less) Few strands of saffron soaked in ¼ cup of milk Dry fruits/nuts, like almonds, cashews, raisins, unsalted pistachios (Optional) Method In a saucepan, pour 2 cups of water and add 1 cup or more of sugar, 4-5 green cardamons and let the sugar dissolve completely. Put off the gas but make sure that the syrup is warm when you add it to the roasted semolina. In a thick bottomed pan, pour ghee and add nuts (if using) and roast till nice golden.You can chop in small pieces or just cut in halves, all the nuts, except the raisins (of course). Add semolina and roast it in ghee till it gives out a nice aroma. Take care as not to burn the semolina or the halwa will turn out to be bitter. Carefully add the warm syrup and keep stirring continuously to avoid any lumps. The mixture at this stage tends to splatter, so be careful. Add saffron infused milk and mix well. Let the halwa cook at low flame till the semolina appears to be smooth and the traces of ghee starts leaving the mixture. You can serve it hot, warm or cold, as a dessert or as a side dish along with Pooris, malpuas or boiled green grams, or black peas (Kohar or Kala Vatana) 3.2.1753 My Review: I was pleased with the heavenly aroma that STAR Cow ghee imparted to the pudding. The Halwa had authentic flavors and the richness, that only a good ghee can impart. The colour and texture of ghee looked perfect and I was happy with the way my kitchen was filled with sweet aroma of ghee while I roasted nuts and semolina in STAR Cow Ghee! I hope they live up to their claims and that more and more people are able to derive benefits from pure cow ghee.

The post Semolina Pudding Using STAR Ghee|Product Review appeared first on Sindhi Rasoi |Sindhi Recipes.

Kesar Pista Kulfi

Alka Keswani — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:11:05 +0000

Oops it already started melting….. To begin with, it’s my Better Half’s Birthday today , So Happy Birthday Dear Hubby (Even though you dislike publicly displaying affection and all those mushy sentiments..still….). Then comes the rantings (Ahh that’s my favorite part of blogging..lol). It is a long Weekend here in India and me and kiddie were really looking forward to celebrate this day, since from past many months we hardly had got some FAMILY TIME to relax and enjoy just being together, chilling out with our kid, having fun roaming around, going on vacation…the desires are innumerable, the wishes, unending. But its hard for me to understand why the corporate world need to be so ruthless and insensitive . Instead of enjoying this day with his family, parents, friends etc, he is working (though it being a National Holiday..Mahatma Gandhi’s Birthday ). Worse still…. rest of weekend and maybe next weekend too, for whatever reasons office people give. I can understand the issues they have at workplace, still I am furious . I just can’t stand all this and wish I could do something about this.But helpless as I am, I am doing what I am capable of….Rant at my blog, take out all the frustrations , breathe in and breathe out and head on towards the recipe of the day…Kesar pista Kulfi (Saffron Pistachio Ice cream) ! But something more to share before that 🙂 I longed to bake a cake, but since I am yet to decide upon Oven Vs Microwave, I hunted for a recipe to make a Cake using pressure cooker. I finally found one recipe, but it called for eggs. Nothing for Veg. option. So without having any other option(I was desperate to make one at home) I opted for Pillsbury Cooker cake mix and made the chocolate cake.It was good, came out well, tasted nice, but I really do not like to use such mixes for cooking anything.I love my food freshly made and not with anything having preservatives. But now that I am through with Baking ?(Huh?) , I guess I should wait till I got some Oven or find some good recipe for COOKER CAKES from scratch before baking another one. Ok, I know you just want me to switch over to the recipe, so without annoying you anymore here is the Kesar Pista Kulfi , pure , fresh and pleasantly sweet. The recipe is adapted from here and I hardly made any changes, except that I had less pistachios in my pantry , so used whatever I had instead of 1/4 cup as mentioned in the original recipe.Also I guess I added more than required saffron, since the colour looked pale while cooking.But after setting, it turned out to be Deep Yellow, but Who is complaining ? It tasted just perfect.The texture was smooth and creamy and the taste….Yummm. Also I didn’t had any Popsicle so I went ahead and freezed the mixture in a plastic airtight container. Thanks Ramya for a lovely recipe ! So Enjoy the spread of Chocolate cake, Kesar pista kulfi and Rasberry Jelly, while I wait here for Hubby dear to come back home.

The post Kesar Pista Kulfi appeared first on Sindhi Rasoi |Sindhi Recipes.

Gulabjamun~The Recipe

Alka Keswani — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:23:38 +0000

Starting with a Thank you , to all who cared to respond my post through comments and Emails , and all those who tried to help me decide a picture for Click event, I am glad to send the one that got most of the votes..The first picture of Gulabjamun from my previous post . So this one goes for the Click event~Heirloom This is a Recipe which remained in Drafts for the longest period, the reason being that store brought Gulabjamuns are so convenient to find here and also , these do not cost a bomb. Moreover I find making sweets too unnecessary , since we hardly eat sweet stuff and those in family who love sweets are “barred” from even looking at these, leave aside eating , obviously due to health reasons. But then, I do occasionally give in to the temptation of some appreciation , from the followers of my blog, when I share a particular recipe they keep asking for. Besides, the CLICK event is a huge driving force in itself, so when Jai and Bee asked for Heirloom…here I am with an old cherished Recipe of most cherished Sweet(Mithai) of Indians, with some cherished memories of my childhood(Oh No..Not Again !). Amongst many memories of past , and most of them related to food, one scenario that still lingers around my mind is of a frail, elderly man, always dressed in white, come rain or sunshine, with his aluminum ,wide mouthed container, lined up with stacks of thin, elongated(yes elongated..almost like a finger) hot, perfectly browned, perfectly sweetened , melt in mouth gulabjamuns. Sundays were most cherished days of all, since it used to be a day when whole family sat in front of Television to watch popular serials like Ramayana and Mahabharta, waiting for that elderly man to give a shout ”Radhey Ja Garam Jhamuh” roughly translated as Hot Gulabjamuns of Radhey..yes the man was called Radhey ! All the kids around, made sure that they get their share of gulabjamuns and saved their petty pocket money to buy the hot, fresh, straight from the stove(a mobile stove, which burnt on low flame,that kept jamuns hot to the core) each piece costing 25 paise (1/4 of an Indian Rupee…don’t ask me to convert into pence /penny/ paiso..go figure it out). So a Rupee used to fetch us four of those yummy sugar bombs , lined on a paper with a dash of sugar syrup. Enjoying those with family watching our favorite Tv. serials(At those times there were only handful of them being aired, that too mostly on Sundays…Ahh what a bliss it was !) was a feeling equivalent to being in Heaven..I swear ! For years we enjoyed his home made gulabjamuns in winter and monsoon, while some really creamy, garnished with pistachios, Kulfi was a Hot (Cool) favorite in summers. Yes, the Gulabjamuns used to give way for Kulfi in summers and till this date we are unable to figure out how did he managed to sale such a good quality stuff in pennies. It was during that wonderful period of my life that visiting maternal side Grandparents was a regular affair in vacations. The memories of spending time with cousins and aunts , uncles and Naana Naani( grandparents) still moisten my eyes , everytime I think about it. My Maasi ( Mother’s Sister) always made sure that we kids thoroughly enjoyed our stay at grandparents home, by taking us out to playgrounds, gardens, Beaches, temples, Movies etc. religiously everyday of our stay there, year after year. My Grandparents residing in Chembur, another Sindhi Populated area in Mumbai, the Jhama Store was at stone throw distance from their home. This particular Sweets shop is famous all around the place for its mind blowing Gulabjamuns, though bit costlier but good to taste at. So no visit of ours would be called off without some of these brown sweets, and everytime someone visits us from Chembur, its almost mandatory that Jhama’s Speciality…huge Gulabjamuns are on their way, about to reach our homes to fill our minds with the sweet memories of our childhood as we sweeten our taste buds with huge bites of soft spongy, hot and fresh , the one and only one…Gulabjamun…… UPDATE: Here is what I found about Jhama Stores….thought to share with you all 🙂 Jhama’s >>> Chembur It gets its name from proprietor Jhamamal Lulla, a Sindhi refugee from Karachi who set it up in 1950. “Our family lived in the refugee camps nearby,” says 30 year-old Ravi, a third generation Lulla. His grandfather’s culinary skills and reputation for using ingredients of the highest quality, brought him regulars. Close to six decades later, Jhama’s has seven branches across the city but the Chembur branch is still patronised by Sindhi families. Staffer for fifteen years, Naresh Chawla says a lot of movie stars are regulars. Amitabh Bachchan once named Jhama’s Gulab Jamuns in a list of his 7 favourite things. Then there’s Salman Khan, who picks up sweets while driving down to his Panvel farmhouse. How to get there: The wide, red signboard cannot be missed on CG Road, near Chembur colony and Basant Cinema. Open from 11 am to 1 pm, Mondays to Sundays.(Source: Mid-Day ) So here they are , soaked in lots of sweet musings , Home made gulabjamuns…Enjoy ! There are number of recipes of Gulabjamun , easily searchable on internet, and as far as the recipe I follow, it is an easy breezy one, of course, only if you have some Mawa handy. The Gulabjamun recipe is divided in two parts, one is making BALLS of flour and frying them. The other is making sugar syrup, not too thick nor too thin(sounds tricky, learn more about sugar syrups here) Print Gulabjamun~The Recipe Rating 5.0 from 3 reviews The most popular Indian Dessert, made from Khoya and dunked in sugar syrup Ingredients 500 gms of sugar( Though we found it bit too sweet for our taste, so adjust accordingly) One and half cup of water(bit more or less) 2-3 Cardamom pods One spoon of milk (optional) Few threads of saffron (optional) 2-3 drops of rosewater(optional but highly recommended) 250 gms of unsweetened Maawa (khoya-the condensed milk thickened till it turns into moist dough, preferably made from cow's milk, also known as Hariyali mawa) 1½-2 tsp All purpose flour 1tsp Cornflour 1-2 crushed green cardamom Oil for shallow frying Method Mix about 500 gm of white sugar in one and half cup water and keep it for boiling. Add a spoonful of milk to remove the impurities (impurities if any , will form a scum on surface) Add 2-3 green cardamoms also in syrup for strong flavor, and a tad of saffron strings (optional) Boil until you get just a tad sticky syrup.Gulabjamun syrup is not very dense nor too dilute as in Rasgulla Strain the syrup, add rosewater when syrup is slightly cooled . Always remember two things while using rose water, do not add it while syrup is bubbling hot or on fire, and be particular about the quantity mentioned in every recipe, since even few drops of excess rosewater could lend a bitter taste to the final product. Mix all the ingredients, in a a wide mixing bowl or Thaal ,until soft textured dough is obtained (keep mixing until it is really soft) Make very small sized balls (bit larger than pebbles) coz they swell up after frying and soaking in syrup Make sure that the surface of dough balls is really smooth (no cracks please).In case the cracks refuse to go away, slightly wet your palms with water and roll the flour till absolutely smooth Now take little oil for frying in preferably flat bottomed pan, and heat the oil. But gulabjamuns are to be fried on LOW FLAME or else the surface will be browned while the core will remain uncooked. Some prefer to place an unsalted pistachio in the center of every gulabjamun while making balls, that way the core of gulabjamun is not left uncooked . Fry one or 2 gulabjamuns at a time and always remember to STIR THE OIL with slotted spoon AND NOT TO TOUCH GULABJAMUNS, which means keep swirling the oil without tossing or turning gulabjamun . Fry till light brown in colour, remove on tissue paper and repeat the procedure with rest of dough Now soak these in COOL syrup for few hours.They will surely swell up These can be stored in the same syrup till consumed If there are cracks in the balls before frying it will burst open while frying, in that case adding a bit of cornflour will surely help You can enjoy it hot or cold ,either way it is delicious 2.2.1 These are regular Gulabjamuns, in case you like Black Gulabjamuns then here is what you need to know: Gulab Jamun gets its brownish red color because of the sugar content in the milk powder or khoya. In other types of gulab jamun, sugar is added in the dough, and after frying, the sugar caramelization gives it its dark, almost black colour, which is then called kala jamun, “black jamun”. Note: Making mawa from scratch is not difficult but time consuming Four cups of whole milk will boil down to about 6 ounces of mawa milk fudge (Source..wiki)

The post Gulabjamun~The Recipe appeared first on Sindhi Rasoi |Sindhi Recipes.