.....From My Palate

Desserts

Baklava – Nutty Sweet Multilayer Pastry

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I have a Cooking Bucket List, Yes! It is long and I wanted to make each item in the list in my lifetime. When I accomplish any recipe in the list as per my satisfaction, its a proud moment for me and very motivating for my tiny cooking repertoire. Well, in a time of “no sugar-no oil” healthy food (pun intended if you find one) fulfilling cooking bucket list is a big dream. Putting check sign on any particular dish gives me immense pleasure and few extra pounds on my waist.
I wanted to share one of that happy day for me with you guys and my trophy for the day is Baklava- Nuts Filled Flaky Multilayered Pastry sweetened with rose flavored Sugar Syrup.

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Baklava is a Middle-Eastern dessert, famous all around world for its flaky, nutty, sweet and rich taste. Home made baklava tastes so good, its fresh, pastry is more flaky and crunchy and sweetness according to taste. It was in my list for really long, i have no idea why i didn’t try it before…its really easy and delicious.
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Baklava
Author: Bhawana
Nutty Sweet Multilayer Pastry
Ingredients
  • 1 box Phyllo Pastry Dough
  • 1 cup Walnuts
  • 1 cup Almonds
  • 1 cup Butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup crushed Pistachios for garnishing
  • Sugar Syrup
  • 2 cups Sugar
  • 1 cup Water
  • 1 tbsp. Lemon Juice
  • (I used 1/2 tsp. Rose Water and 1 tsp. of Orange Blossom Water for extra flavor)
Instructions
  1. haw phyllo sheets according to package instructions.
  2. Mix nuts and pulse them in food processor until coarsely ground.
  3. Boil sugar and water in a pan for sugar syrup.
  4. Add lemon juice and continue boiling syrup for more 10-12 minutes.
  5. Add rose water or orange blossom water for extra flavor.
  6. Preheat oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
  7. Take a deep baking dish and butter the bottom and sides.
  8. Trim phyllo sheets to fit in to the baking dish.
  9. Place a phyllo sheet in a dish, butter it all over with a brush.
  10. Repeat the same process until you stack 15 sheets at the bottom of the dish.
  11. Spread half of the nut mixture over phyllo sheets.
  12. Add five more phyllo sheets brushing butter in between each sheets.
  13. Spread rest of the nut mixture over phyllo sheets
  14. Again, repeat stacking 15 more layers of buttered phyllo sheets.
  15. Cut Pastry diagonally in to diamond shapes.
  16. Pour rest of the melted butter over the phyllo sheets.
  17. Bake for 50-55 minutes until the top of the baklava are golden brown.
  18. Pour the sugar syrup on hot Baklava.
  19. Garnish with Pistachios.
  20. Set aside for few hours or preferably overnight.
  21. Enjoy the goodness of your hard-work.

Mishti Doi

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There are few things that seems to be so easy to do but the results are not always that good. Today we are talking about the dessert, that not only tastes delicious but the name also sounds really sweet. Mishti Doi means Meetha Dahi. It is the most popular dessert in Bengali cuisine other than Rasgulla. Mishti doi is a sweet yogurt that tastes so heavenly good and its probiotic nature is good for digestion too. The recipe sounds really simple like, setting a yogurt but my mind is always anxious for the result. I already experienced the disaster one time and that gives me nightmares even now ….. Yep! Sometimes simple things makes you realize the art of cooking. But this time I came out of this nightmare with flying colors. It not only looks authentically delicious but also tastes divinely blissful.

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Traditional way of serving Mishti Doi are in earthen pots, that soak up all the water and gives the thick rich taste to yogurt. After eating rich festival food, a small pot of Mishti doi is refreshing for the palate and the tummy too.

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There are many recipes to make Mishti Doi. This is the most basic recipe. Now,  in the time of fusion food, one can add different flavors and served with fruits and different toppings.

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Mishti Doi
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • 1 liter Milk
  • 1 can Condensed Milk
  • 1 tbsp. Unsweetened Yogurt
  • 1 tsp. Vanilla Essence
  • Saffron threads
  • Silvered Pistachios for garnishing
Instructions
  1. Boil the milk in a heavy bottomed pan and reduce it to half.
  2. Let the milk cool down for some time.
  3. When its cool enough that one can put finger in the milk add condensed milk and vanilla essence.
  4. Mix it well.
  5. Now mix in the yogurt and pour it into an earthen pot.
  6. Garnish it with saffron and pistachios and leave it overnight.
  7. Once set, refrigerate it for a couple of hours and serve chilled.

Citrus Strawberry Salad

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Cold weather, chilly winds, gray skies and snow all around…..the whole canvas is pure white. Yes! Dear Winter…we are talking about you. No doubt, Fresh snow looks blissful and pure…. indubitably, the best scenic view for the eyes to capture! But not for long….lack of colors in life always makes me grumpy and dull. I crave for colors in life so much, that colors can boost up my energy instantly and gives smile on my face.

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A small bunch of bright red color flowers are good enough to add good energy in the life and home. Same goes for food too. I believe  in a saying…….”You eat first with your eyes, then your nose, then your mouth…..”.
This bright and sunny winter salad is the perfect remedy to erase the gray side of winter. It is fresh, healthy and very versatile. One can add blood orange, grapefruit, tangerine any citrus fruit of your choice. Adding silvered nuts or roasted coconut flakes will give bite and enhance the flavor.

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Citrus Strawberry Salad
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • Strawberries hulled, sliced
  • Navel Oranges
  • Fresh Pomegranate Seeds
  • Few springs of fresh Mint
  • Lemon Juice
  • Brown Sugar/Honey
Instructions
  1. Cut peel and white pith from oranges.
  2. Cut between membranes to release segments.
  3. Combine fruit in large shallow bowl.
  4. Squeeze all the juice from the oranges into a separate bowl, then stir in the lemon juice and brown sugar.
  5. Pour the syrup over the fruit and sprinkle with fresh mint.
  6. Refrigerate the salad for some time and serve chilled.

Til Bugga/Til Khoya Ladoo

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Happy Spring to all of you! Weather is on the verge of warming up and hopefully we had the last snow of this season on that very first day of spring. Sun is going to sleep little late now and so do I. Good news is now we can go out and enjoy long walks, sit outside savor sunlight and compensate for all the vitamin D we missed in gloomy and dark winter months.

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It’s not that, I go for hibernation in winter months, my chef hat was perched on my head all the time. In fact I feel winter months are good time for baking. There are few recipes in my draft but somehow never get a chance to write and share!!
This is the recipe I made on Sakat Chauth, it’s called Tilbugga or Til Ke Ladoo.

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Til Bugga/Til Khoya Ladoo
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • 1 cup Khoya
  • 1 1/2 cups coarsely powdered roasted Sesame Seeds (Til)
  • 1 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar or Boora
  • 1/2 tsp. Cardamom Powder
  • Kesar, Silvered Almonds and Pistachios for garnishing
Instructions
  1. Roast khoya on low flame till it is very light golden-yellow color.
  2. Let it cool for few minutes.
  3. Then add coarsely powdered roasted sesame seeds and cardamom powder. Mix it.
  4. Now add powdered sugar and mix well.
  5. Shape it into small balls.
  6. Garnish them with kesar or nuts of your choice.

Ghewar

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Teej has gone and Raksha bandhan is almost there. These are the two festivals we celebrate in the month of Shravan. Every festival is known for the delicacies or sweet made or consumed on that day. Ghewar is a traditional sweet made on festive season of shravan month. Ghewar has its own special significance on teej and rakhi festival.

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Ghewar is a rajasthani delicacy famous in other parts of India. It is different from other sweets due to it honey-comb porous texture and taste. It looks like a complicated dish that needs lot of work. But on the other hand its easy to make if you know the basics and technique of frying the batter.

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Temperature of oil is very important while frying ghewar. Batter should be thin running consistency so that its easier to pour continuously in thin stream. I try to make ghewar once a year on teej festival. On very first try it comes out so well and delicious that on second time over confidence led it to disaster.

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Ghewar is mostly a technique of pouring batter in a hot oil. It is like jalebi and imarti where technique works like wonder. Malai Ghewar tastes best with the crunchy texture of ghewar and cold, sweet and creamy taste of rabdi.

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Ghewar
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • For Batter-
  • 3 cups Maida (All Purpose Flour)
  • 1/2 cup Desi Ghee (Clarified Butter)
  • 3 to 4 Ice Cubes
  • 4 cups Water
  • 1/2 cup Milk
  • Few Drops Yellow Food Color or Saffron in milk
  • Few drops Rose Essence
  • Ghee or Oil for deep frying
  • For Syrup-
  • 1 1/2 cups Sugar
  • 1 cup Water
  • 1/2 tsp. Cardamom Powder
  • For Topping-
  • 2 cups Rabri
  • 2 tbsp. sliced Almonds & Pistachios
  • Dried Rose Petals
  • Chandi Ka Varak (Silver leaf)
Instructions
  1. Take desi ghee and ice cubes in a wide bowl.
  2. Mix the ghee vigorously with ice cubes (preferably by hand) until ghee becomes very white.
  3. Take out the ice cubes and mix milk, flour and 1 cup water.
  4. Mix to make smooth batter. (no lumps)
  5. Dissolve color in some water and add to batter.
  6. Add more water as required to make a thin batter.
  7. Make a batter smooth, with no lumps, light and creamy.
  8. Prepare sugar syrup of 1 thread consistency.
  9. For frying ghewar take a deep small pan with heavy bottom.
  10. Fill half with ghee or oil.
  11. When ghee or oil is smoky hot, take a batter in a ladle.
  12. Pour in center of pan, slowly in one continuous thin stream from a little height.
  13. Stop pouring batter when bubbles comes almost to the top. Allow froth to settle.
  14. Pour another ladle of batter in same manner and make a hole in the center of the ghewar with a thin wooden skewer.
  15. Repeat pouring for 4-6 times or depending on the size and thickness of ghewar required.
  16. Cook ghewar for few minutes, pour the hot ghee over it few times.
  17. When the center is firm and color is golden brown take out the ghewar with the help of wooden skewer.
  18. Place on a paper towel to drain out excess ghee or oil.
  19. Dip ghewar in sugar syrup for 20 minutes. Drain the extra syrup.
  20. Alternatively, pour some syrup evenly all over for less sugary option.
  21. Top it with some rabri or silvered almonds or pistachios.
  22. Cool and serve.

Lemon Coconut Pound Cake

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Queen of England and I share something in common,  our liking for the afternoon tea. (pun intended) I am in love with my cup of tea. Tea is like a best friend  who always gives me comfort and  smile on my face. A cup of tea always sounds good when you wanted your brain to relax with the body. Late afternoon time is the best time to relish it because you are done with most of your morning chores and the prep work for the evening is also done.

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Company is always welcome but during my afternoon tea I like to be with myself, my I-Pad or a  good book or a show of my choice. These kind of “me time” are important as they keep you connected with yourself rejuvenates your mind and make it clear and ready to tackle with why, what, where, when questions of your child.

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well, its not just tea the whole setting with the tea is also important. Neat quite corner to relax, steaming ginger tea(my favorite) in my most liked color cup and sometimes a light food to munch on like a good cookie, tea cakes or a light sandwich. Sounds like a heaven, right!. I am lucky enough to have these me-time that keeps me going and most important connected with you. Yes! this is the time when I relax, think, talk and share with you. Sometimes I bake for myself to make this special time more special. Like today I am sharing this delicious recipe of pound cake with my favorite two things- lemon and coconut.

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Lemon Coconut Pound Cake
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • 1 3/4 cups All Purpose Flour
  • 3/4 cup softened Butter
  • 3/4 cup Coconut milk
  • 1 cup Sugar
  • 3 Eggs (lightly beaten)
  • 4 tbsp. shredded Coconut
  • 1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • Zest of 2 Lemons
  • Juice of 1 Lemon
  • 1 cup mixed color Tutti frutti (Candied Raw Papaya)
  • 1/2 tsp. Lemon Essence (optional)
  • Shredded Coconut for topping
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper.
  3. Mix baking powder and salt in flour.
  4. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  5. Add coconut milk, eggs, essence, lime zest, and lime juice; mix until smooth.
  6. Add flour mixture on low speed until all combined and smooth.
  7. Now mix shredded coconut and tutti frutti in the batter.
  8. Pour batter into prepared pan.
  9. Sprinkle shredded coconut on top.
  10. Bake 40-50 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
  11. Allow cake to cool completely before slicing.
  12. Enjoy it with tea or coffee.

Ice-Cream Cone Cupcakes

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I love my son but I don’t know if I feel the same for summer vacations. These days no early mornings, no rushing, no running for the school bus instead calm, quite morning time with my first cup of tea but still a question in my mind do I really like summer vacations? Though I must admit summer vacations gives lot of quality time to spend with your kids but we have 24 hours in a day and lots of other chores to finish. I can handle “I’m bored!”, “I played with all my toys!”, “Now what will I do?” kind of questions but what really bugs me “I’m Hungry, Can I eat something good?”

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This is not the ending, when you are in the kitchen there is always a volunteer for the help. “Can I help in something?” If you say no of course! you are a bad mom but your yes! may not be any help for you. (you know what I mean…) No matter how much you wanted to say no but there are times when yes! is the only option.

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I like doing different activities with my son. In school days he is so busy with his regular routine and after school activities there is hardly any time to connect or spend with each other. Time is already flying, in few years all these activities will be beautifully wrapped in a scrapbook. And our present time will become memories of the past….So I decided lets make some beautiful memories!!

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Besides drawing, painting, unloading dishwasher, reading, playing board and card games and other activities, baking is the thing that we both enjoy. Our today’s recipe is fun and very interesting. Its yummy… delicious and an eye catcher.

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Ice cream cone cupcakes are fun, quick and easy recipe. It looks like a ice-cream but actually its a cupcake baked in an oven and frosted like a ice cream.

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Ice-Cream Cone Cupcakes
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • Cake Batter of choice
  • 1 pack flat-bottomed Ice Cream Cones
  • 1 jar frosting of choice
  • Cherries and sprinkles
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  2. Take a muffin pan, and wrap foil tightly over the top.
  3. Use a sharp knife to cut a small X into the foil.
  4. Gently push the ice cream cone into the X.
  5. This will allow the cones to stand up nicely and not fall over.
  6. Transfer batter into a container with a pour spout.
  7. Pour batter into ice cream cones, filling each 2/3 of the way full.
  8. Bake the cupcakes cone for 18-20 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.
  9. Frost and decorate with your choice of toppings.

Fruit Trifle – English Pudding

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Trifle is a layered English dessert made from sponge cake, custard, whipped cream and fruits. Sponge cakes are usually dipped in sherry or other preferred alcohol in traditional recipe. I made a simple syrup with rose flavoring for that purpose. Trifle is a classic English dessert that still has its place on table set for any celebration. Multiple elegant layers set in the glass trifle bowl can elevate the mood of the party even when its time to go home. The presentation in the bowl looks so awesome but personally I don’t like it when it served.. It looks like a messy blob of cake. Now I know why the individual bowls of trifle are more preferred than  the big one.

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This is the easiest dessert for the party as you can buy the basic ingredients readymade from the store and assemble it in few minutes. What I really like about this dessert is the different colors and layers gives the explosion of tastes and textures in the mouth.

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Fruit Trifle – English Pudding
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • CAKE LAYER
  • Sponge cake, Pound cake, Angle Food Cake- Cake of your choice
  • Sugar Simple Syrup
  • CUSTARD LAYER
  • 3 cups Whole Milk
  • 1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
  • 4 tbsp. Sugar
  • 3 tbsp. Custard Powder
  • FRUIT LAYER
  • 2 cups sliced fresh Strawberries
  • 1 cup fresh Blueberries
  • 2 cups Mangoes, cubed
  • 1 cup Grapes, cut halves
  • 1 cup Pineapple, cubed
  • WHIPPED CREAM
  • 1 1/2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
  • 4 tbsp. powdered Sugar
  • Few drops Rose flavoring
Instructions
For The Custard
  1. Mix the custard powder with 1/4 cup of milk and whisk well until smooth. (no lumps)
  2. Boil rest of the milk with sugar.
  3. Add the custard and vanilla essence to the boiling milk.
  4. Keep stirring until the custard starts to thicken. This will take about 5-7 minutes.
  5. Cool completely, and refrigerate preferably overnight.
For the Whipped Cream
  1. Combine the heavy whipping cream, and the powdered sugar in a larger mixer bowl.
  2. Beat on high until stiff peaks form.
  3. Keep chilled in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Assemble the Trifle
  1. Place 1/2 of the cake cubes in the bottom of the trifle dish.
  2. Drizzle the sugar syrup over the cake.
  3. Top the cake cubes with custard followed by fruits and whipped cream.
  4. Repeat layers one more times or according to the size of dish.
  5. Decorate the top with fresh fruit.
  6. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Mango Shrikhand/Amrakhand

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Summers are in full swing now and with the warm weather outside, anything cold, creamy, sweet is blissful and divine to the palate. Desserts are the sweet endings to a meal. Sweets give the food perfect landing in the stomach with the bursting flavors lingering in the mouth for some time. For the sweet tooth like me, any meal is incomplete without dessert. People think dessert making is a tedious task but the dessert I am sharing today is unbelievably simple and perfect for summers.

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Shrikhand is a yogurt based dessert popular in Maharashtra and Gujarat. It is a sweet combination of yogurt, sugar, cardamom, and saffron. Mangoes “king of fruit” gives a fresh flavor to a already delicious sweet. It is also called Amrakhand and is a important part of any meal in western part of India.

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Mango Shrikhand/Amrakhand
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • 3 cups Hung Yogurt
  • 1 cup Mango Pulp
  • 1/2 cup Sugar
  • 1 tbsp. Saffron dissolved in milk
  • 1 tsp. Cardamom Powder
  • 1 tsp. Rose Water
  • Silvered Pistachios for garnishing
Instructions
For Hung Yogurt–
  1. Take a yogurt in a cheese cloth, gather all the ends and tie a knot on the top.
  2. Hang it with the help of a twine with the kitchen tap or the banana stand.
  3. Place a bowl under the yogurt.
  4. Hang it for 5-8 hours.
  5. Scoop the yogurt from the cloth and refrigerate it until needed.
Mango Shrikhand
  1. Mix hung yogurt, mango pulp, sugar, saffron milk and cardamom.
  2. Mix it until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
  3. Chill it in refrigerator.
  4. Serve with fresh mangoes garnished with silvered pistachios.