Special recipes from India

[Perfection]

Kahara Prasad (Temple Sweet Pudding)

This prasad or temple offering is given in Sikh temples during the full moon day around October-November when Guru Nanak was born, and during Guru Parab, the birthday of Guru Gobind Singh. It is a day when they rededicate themselves to unity, brotherhood and equality among all human beings. After all this religion was created to bring hindus and muslims together.

Ingredients

5 cups 'rava' or coarsely ground wheat flour or cream of wheat or semolina
5 cups ghee
5 cups sugar

Method

Heat ghee and add the rava or the flour. Fry, stirring constantly, till each grain is brown. Add sugar little by little and continue cooking till ghee separates and the sugar is blended. No flavoring must be added. Serve hot.

[Perfection]

Coco Pista Pasand (Coconut Pistachio Sweetmeat)

This Gujarati recipe from the desert state of India. It's outside is sweetened coconut and the inside is pistachios. Serve slices of the roll with fresh lychees for a traditional finish to an Indian meal.

Ingredients

2 tsp shelled, unsalted pistachios
1 tsp icing sugar
1 tsp white poppy seeds
1/2 tsp milk

For the Coconut Casing

120 g sugar
5 cardamon pods ground in a grinder
120 g unsweetened desiccated coconut
4 tsp canned condensed milk

Method

To make the filling : Put the pistachios into the container of a clean coffee grinder. Grind to a coarse powder. Put the ground pistachios, sugar, poppy seeds and milk into a bowl. Mix to a paste. Put aside.

To make the coconut casing : put the sugar into a small heavy-bottomed pan. Add 4 tablespoons of water. Stir and bring to a simmer. Cook over a medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes until the syrup forms a single thread when a little is dropped from a spoon into a cup of cold water. Remove from the heat. Add the coconut and cardamom. Mix well. Add the condensed milk. Stir to mix.

Lay a 23 cm piece of cling film on your work surface. While the coconut paste is still warm, roll it into a thick 9 inch sausage. Put the coconut sausage horizontally on to the centre piece of cling film and flatten it to form a rectangle about 9 cm wide.

Roll the pistachio paste into a separate sausage of the same length. Put the rolled pistachio sausage on the coconut rectangle, slightly below the centre, a little closer to your end. With the aid of the cling film, fold the coconut paste over the pistachio paste. Press down on the cling film to firm up the roll. Now continue rolling, being careful to keep the cling film on the outside of the roll, until you have a slim "Swiss Roll". Press down evenly on the cling film to get a neat roll. Let the roll cool and harden a bit. Remove the cling film and cut crossways into 1 cm thick slices.

[Perfection]

Rasgoola

Ingredients

1 litre Homogenized Milk
2 tsp White Vinegar
1 1/2 Cup Sugar
3 Cup Water

Method

Bring the milk to a boil and add vinegar to the boiling milk to separate the whey. Throw away the liquid part by sifting the stuff onto a muslin cloth. Pour some cold water over the curd to cool and wash it. Discard the water and hang the cloth for 15-20 minutes to let the excess water drip off.
Put the curd in a food processor or blender and blend at high speed to get a smooth consistency.

You may add just a little (1 tsp or so) water while blending, if the curd is too dry and will not blend. Be very careful so as not to add any extra water. Remove the paste and make small balls (1-2" in diameter). Boil water in a wide vessel. Make sure that there is at least 2-3" of water in the vessel. If not, add more water and increase the quantity of sugar proportionately. Add sugar to the boiling water to make a light syrup.

Continue boiling the syrup and gently drop the curd balls in the boiling syrup. Cook the balls in the boiling syrup for 30-40 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the stuff cool down. Put the balls and the syrup in a storage container and refrigerate (don't freeze). Serve cold.

[Perfection]

Gulab Jamun (Rose Sweets)

Ingredients

Yield: 6 servings
8 Tsp Full cream milk powder
3 Tsp Self-raising flour
1/4 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp Ground cardamom
1 Tsp Soft butter or ghee
3 Tsp Water (approx.)
Ghee or oil for frying

SYRUP

2 cup White sugar
4 cup Water
5 Bruised cardamom pods
2 Tsp Rose water or few drops rose Essence

Method

Sift milk powder, flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground cardamom into large bowl. Rob in butter or ghee, then add enough water to give a firm but pliable dough which can be moulded into balls the size of large marble, or into small sausage shapes.

Fry slowly in hot ghee until they turn the colour of unblanched almonds. The frying must be done over gentle heat. Drain on absorbent paper.
Have ready the syrup, made by combining, sugar, water and cardamom pods and heating until sugar is dissolved. Put the fried gulab jamun into the syrup and soak until they are almost double in size, and soft and spongy. Add rose water when they have cooled slightly. Allow to cool completely and serve at room temperature or slightly chilled.

[Perfection]

Rasmalai

Ingredients

2 quarts milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar
5 whole cardamom pods
1 teaspoon fine grained semolina
3 to 4 drops rose essence
1 quart half and half
1/8 teaspoon cardamom seeds
1 tablespoon shelled, unsalted pistachios

Method

Make the chena with the milk and lemon juice according to the directions in the preceding recipe with this difference. Hang up the milk curds for 2 hours instead of 1/2 hour. Knead thoroughly. Make a ball and set it aside. Put the 3 cups of sugar, 6 cups of water, and the cardamom pods in a deep 9 1/2 to 10 inch skillet or saute pan. Bring to a fast simmer over a medium flame. Once the sugar has dissolved completely, turn the heat to low and let the syrup simmer gently for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat.
Flatten the ball of chena and add the semolina as well as the rose essence to it. Knead for 5 minutes, making sure the semolina and rose essence are well mixed in. Now make 20 crack-free balls, rolling each with just a little pressure between the palms of your two hands.

Bring the syrup to a simmer over a medium flame. Drop the balls into the syrup. Bring to a simmer again. Adjust the heat so the syrup simmers gently for 5 minutes. During this period, move the balls around and turn them over occasionally, using a very gentle touch. Make sure you do not damage the balls. Turn the heat up and bring the syrup to what might be
described as a furious simmer. The syrup should look like a mass of tiny moving bubbles, but it should never boil over.

Sprinkle the balls with 2 tablespoons of water, cover, and cook for 10 minutes. During this period, the balls should swell up. Uncover, sprinkle the balls with another 2 tablespoons of water, cover and cook, simmering furiously for another 10 minutes. Turn off the heat. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the balls to an empty bowl ( the syrup can now be discarded ). Pour the half and half over the balls and let them soak in it for 3 hours.
Take the balls gently out of the half and half with a slotted spoon and put them in another bowl. Pour the half and half into a skillet or saucepan and boil it down until you have about 2 cups left. Turn off the heat. Crush the cardamom seeds finely in a mortar and mince the pistachios. Add the crushed cardamom, the minced pistachios, and the one tablespoon of sugar to the reduced half and half. Pour this half and half over the chhena balls. Allow to cool. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, and serve cold, as a dessert along with the creamy sauce.

[smitha]

Mango Milk Shake

This is a delicious, refreshing, and easy-to-make drink for hot summer days.

Ingredients

(6 12-oz drinks)
1 lb sweet mango pulp
6 cups whole milk
12 ice cubes

Method

Blend mango pulp, milk, and 6 ice cubes into the blender. Blend until smooth and serve.