Carrot Fudge/ Carrot Barfi

I know these days I'm a bit irregular in posting new recipes. The reason behind is that we moved from USA to India. So, there's lot of things happening at our end. The major thing is shifting to our new home. Hope I'll be regular once we get everything settled at our end. Amen!!

One of few things which we used to miss in USA is our family and the way festivals are celebrated here in India. The real essence of Indian festivals can be enjoyed being in India itself and so did we this time in Holi. This was my first Holi with my in-laws after my marriage. So, I was quite excited and made lot of sweets and savory items. One of them was "Carrot Fudge". 

Carrots marks Indian winters and they are incomplete without them. There are lot of dessert delicacies made with carrots. One of them is "Gajar Ka Halwa". I already posted the recipe here. You can have a look here:

http://flavorsofmyplate.blogspot.in/2015/01/gajar-ka-halwaa-quintessential-dessert.html

As this festivals marks the ending of Indian winters so I thought of enjoying these last few days of winter by having carrots in the form of dessert. So instead of making the usual "Gajar Ka Halwa" (Carrot Pudding) I decided to go for "Carrot Fudge" (Carrot Barfi). This is a very easy recipe and takes very less time to make.

My family enjoyed it having with the various other sweet and savory items. Hope you'll enjoy it as we did.  So, let's get started:

Ingredients:

1. Carrots: 1 kg

2. Milk: 2 cups
3. Khoa (Solidified milk): 1 cup

3. Sugar: 2 cups (as per requirement)

4. Ghee (clarified butter): 2 tbsp + 1 tbsp

5. Green Cardamoms (crushed): 1 tbsp

6. Chopped Dry fruits(as per your choice): 1/2 cup

Method:

1. Wash the carrots thoroughly and peel off the skin. Now grate them with the help of a vegetable grater.

2. In a heavy bottom pan pour milk and let it boil on medium heat. Reduce the milk to half. Stir continuously as milk tends to stick at the bottom of the pan.

3. Take another pan add 2 tbsp of ghee and add grated carrots. Let the carrot cook on medium heat until all the carrot juice gets evaporated. 

4. Now add sugar to the carrot mixture and mix until sugar gets well combined with the mixture.

5. Once the carrot is well cooked and no juice is left it's time to add this mixture to the reduced milk. Cook the carrot in this milk until everything gets dry.

6. Now add the khoa, crushed cardamoms and chopped dry fruits to the fudge mixture and mix well. Let it cool down.

7. Take a plate and grease it with 1 tbsp of ghee and spread the fudge mixture on this plate. Sprinkle finely chopped dry fruits on the fudge mixture and press it well so that it gets stick to the mixture.

8. Cut the fudge into desired shape. 

9. Enjoy!!

Note:

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Mango Ice Cream

Yes, you might be thinking that I have gone crazy. The season of Mangoes and Ice-creams has not been arrived yet or I must say we are just a few weeks away to indulge ourselves in the sweetness of mangoes and the rich, creamy goodness of Ice-creams.

To be very frank I am a die hard fan of Ice-creams and can enjoy it even in the subzero temperatures and when its Mango flavored I can't resist myself to have a scoop of it. Moreover who doesn't love mangoes after all it's the King of all fruits.

Recently, I found a can of mango puree in a departmental store and as usual I couldn't stop myself from buying it without a second thought. I was walking through the aisles and thinking what to do with this puree. Suddenly I turned and saw an aisle of ice-creams. Yippee!!! I got it. I decided to treat my family and of course myself with Mango Ice-cream.

Whenever we think of making ice-cream at home two thoughts comes in our mind successively:

• Will it be smooth, creamy, rich and soft like store bought?
• Is it possible to make ice-cream without an Ice-cream maker?

Well, the answer to all your questions is "Yes, Of course!" . It's just a pleasure when your ice-cream scooper glides through the ice-cream without encountering any ice crystals and yet you get a nice and perfect scoop. Moreover it requires very few ingredients and no cooking or churning. Just mix all the ingredients together and set it in the refrigerator for 5-6 hours. 

So let's dig into the divine flavors of Mango Ice-cream:

Ingredients:

1. Mango Puree: 1 and 1/2 cup

2. Heavy whipping Cream: 1 and 1/2 cup

3. Sweetened Condensed Milk: 1 cup

4. Salt: a pinch

5. Powdered Sugar (if required)

Method:

1. In a mixing bowl Pour the heavy whipping cream and whip it with your electric blender or wire whisk until you get soft peaks.

2. Add in the sweetened condensed milk and mix very gently otherwise the whipped cream will deflate.

3. Now add the mango puree and a pinch of salt then fold the mixture with very light hands.

4. Once everything is well incorporated, pour this mixture into a bowl and keep it in the freezer for good 5-6 hours and till then control yourself not to open the freezer every single hour and check whether its set or not :)

5. Take out the bowl 5 minutes prior to serving scoop it and top with anything you like. 

6. Enjoy the real flavors of mango and the richness of ice-cream blended together.

Note:

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Crème Caramel

Crème Caramel, Flan de Leche or Caramel Custard whatever you call, it won't change the deliciousness of this extremely melt in mouth dessert. Each country whether its America, Spain, France, India or any Asian has its own recipe for this caramel coated custard. 

The variation of names and recipes is self explanatory that how much this dessert is appreciated internationally. Whatever you call it or whichever recipe you follow the taste of this silky smooth custard always pleases your taste buds.

Crème Caramel is said to have a French connection which requires very few ingredients which is easily available in our pantry. It has two main steps:

• Making the Caramel
• Making the Custard

Once you master the first step then you'll always get your Crème Caramel perfect. It is a perfect dessert for any party. For parties we usually make multiple dishes in maincourse but when it comes to dessert we search for something quick and easy. This dessert is the answer to all your search queries.

So let's get started:

Ingredients:

1. Evaporated Milk: 1 cup

2. Heavy Whipping Cream: 1 cup

3. Sugar: 1 cup + 1/2 cup

4. Eggs: 3

5. Vanilla Extract: 1 tbsp

6. Hot Water: as required

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

2. Place a pan full of water on medium heat.

3. In a pan add half cup of sugar with 2 tbsp of water and place it on medium heat. Let it boil. Don't stir the caramel otherwise the sugar will crystallize. If required rotate the pan occasionally. As the sugar changes it's color to golden turn off the heat.

4. Now carefully pour the caramel into individual ramekins or baking dish to coat the bottom. Keep them aside.

5. Crack the eggs in a separate bowl and beat them well. Add the evaporated them and mix well until well combined.

6. Add sugar and vanilla extract into the eggs and evaporated milk mixture. Mix well until well incorporated.

7. In the mean time beat the heavy whipping cream until you get soft peaks. Add the cream to the mixture and mix very gently.

8. Pour the custard into the caramel coated ramekins or baking dish. Place the ramekins into the baking tray so that it has enough space in between the ramekins.

9. Add hot water into the baking tray and place the baking tray very carefully into the oven. Bake the custard for around 30-40 mins until set (If you are using baking dish then it will take 50-60 mins).

10. Take the tray out of the oven and let them cool down. Flip the custard into the serving tray and pour the caramel on top of the custard.

11. Enjoy the silky smooth Crème Caramel.

Note:

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Raspberry Pannacotta......A perfect dessert for your Valentine

Love is in the air as Valentine's Day is here. We all know this day is celebrated as the day of love and romance all over the world. Being a foodie the best way to celebrate this special day is making something special for the love of my life. So, I decided to make one of my all time favorite desserts - "Raspberry Pannacotta".

Pannacotta is an Italian dessert which means cooked cream. Traditionally it is made from milk, cream, sugar and gelatin. It is generally served chilled and topped with chocolate, caramel sauce or fruits of your choice. You can enjoy this dessert as it is just spoon up and indulge yourself in it's silky smooth texture.

These days we can easily find gelatin in our local grocery stores unlike earlier; people would use egg-whites instead. So, if you are not in favor of using gelatin you can always replace gelatin with egg whites but in that case you need to bake it. Having gelatin in your pantry makes your life easy and you can make really gorgeous looking desserts instantly.

I used Raspberry but you can always use fruit of your choice or replace it with chocolate the options are endless! So let's begin with the recipe:

Ingredients:

1. Milk: 1 cup
2. Cream: 1 cup
3. Sugar: 1 cup
4. Vanilla Extract: 1 tbsp
5. Fresh Raspberries: 1 cup
6. Unflavored Gelatin: 2 packet

Method:

1. Dissolve one packet of gelatin in water as per the instructions on the packet and keep it aside.

2. In a separate pan pour the milk and boil it on low-medium heat. Keep stirring so that it doesn't stick to the bottom. Add the cream and mix well.  

3. Add 1/2 cup of sugar to the milk-cream mixture and cook it for 5-6 mins. Check the sweetness and adjust accordingly. Pour vanilla extract and give a nice mix.

4. Add the gelatin to the mixture and stir continously until the gelatin gets dissolved completely.

5. Pour this mixture into individual glasses or ramekins and refrigerate for 2-3 hours or until it sets.

6. In the meanwhile take the raspberries and sugar in the blender and puree it. Strain it through a strainer to discard the seeds.

7. Once the milk-cream mixture is set completely take them out of the refrigerator.

8. Dissolve the other packet of gelatin in water as per the instructions.

9. Mix gelatin with the raspberry puree and pour the mixture into the glasses. Refrigerate it for 2-3 hours.

10. When you are ready to serve garnish it the way you like.

11. Enjoy.

Note:

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Cream Horns

From past one and half month I'm just roaming around my oven. I know that but I'm so addicted to it that I become helpless when it comes to baking. The aroma of freshly baked cakes, cupcakes and cookies pulls me towards my oven. 

Whenever I go to my nearby grocery store I always get stick to the bakery section those cute little cupcakes, beautifully decorated cakes, freshly baked breads magnetize me. I can fell the magnetic properties of that section. My husband literally drags me out of there. Anyway enough of rambling lets come back to today's recipe.

Cream Horns or Kremrole is a pastry made with flaky or puff pastry and filled with flavored whipped cream. My husband love them but the saddest part is we don't get them in our local grocery store. We get them in an Asian Store tough. I'm not a big fan of these cute little pastries, last time when we bought it , they somehow invited me and compled me to try one; that day I decided to try them at home. But I was not having molds or funnels for making the cream horns then I "Googled" a little bit and got the idea to make these cutie pies without molds.

So let's start making these Cream Horns without molds:

Ingredients:

1. Puff Pastry Sheet:1
2. Heavy Whipping Cream: 1 cup
3. Powdered Sugar: 1/2 cup
4. Granulated Sugar: 1/2 cup
5. Vanilla Essence: 1/4 tsp
6. Egg: 1
7. Flour: for dusting
8. Ice cream cones: 5-6

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F.

2. Prepare the ice-cream cones by wrapping it with aluminium foil and lightly greasing it with butter.

3. Thaw puff pastry sheets as directed. It's absolutely okay if you see some cracks in it, seal it with help of water by just wetting your fingers.

4. Lightly dust your work surface with flour and roll out the puff pastry gently.

5. Cut into equal long strips (2 cm wide approx).

6. Take a strip and roll onto the prepared ice-cream cones, push down and overlap as you go. Repeat the process for rest of the strips.

7. Crack the egg in a bowl, add 1/4 tsp of water and beat it with fork. Brush the prepared puff pastry with the egg and sprinkle granulated sugar.

8. Place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake the pastries in the oven for 15 mins.

9. In the meanwhile beat the heavy whipping cream with powdered sugar and vanilla essence until you get stiff peaks. Keep it aside.

10. Take the pastries out of the oven and let it cool down.

11. When the pastries are completely cooled fill in the whipped cream with the help of a cream bag or a ziploc bag.

12. Enjoy !!

Note:

For regular updates just click the "Like" button on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Flavors-Of-My-Plate/737185573034586?ref=hl

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Golap Pithe.......Edible Rose Garden

As I'm celebrating "Poush Sankranti" or "Makar Sankranti" on my blog so my posts are revolving around "Pithe". Let me just give you an idea of what this festival is all about, so basically its a major harvesting festival which is celebrated in many parts of India. As India is a very diversified country, this festival is celebrated in many regions but with different names: 

Assam==> Bhogali Bihu

Andhra Pradesh==> Makara Sankranti

Bihar, UP and Rajasthan==> Sankrat

Gujarat==> Uttrayan

Goa and Maharashtra==> Makar Sankranti

Himachal Pradesh==> Magha Saaji

Karnataka==> Suggi

Kerala==> Pongal

Punjab==> Maghi

Tamil Nadu==> Pongal
Goa and Maharashtra==> Sankrant

West Bengal==> Poush Sankranti

I believe it really doesn't matter how a same festival is being celebrated in different regions, but what counts is same level of happiness that it brings along.

We Bengalis celebrate it with "Pithe-Payesh". For those who don't know what is "Pithe" so let me introduce it to you its basically a type of cake or dimsum common in the Eastern India and Bangladesh. They are made up of rice flour or wheat flour batter (or dough), stuffed with sweet or savory ingredients and then cooked and "Payesh" is rice pudding which is made with "Nolen Gur" (date palm jaggery) available only this time of the year.

To keep the spirit up of this festival I chose a very unique dessert called "Golap Pithe". It involves not only "Cooking" but "Crafting" too and when these two combine they give a recipe which pleases your mind aesthetically.

So let's begin:

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour: 1 and 1/2 cup

2. Sugar: 2 cups

3. Milk: 1 cup

4. Egg: 1

5. Ghee (clarified butter): 2 tbsp

6. Green Cardamoms(crushed): 5-6

7. Salt: 1/2 tbsp

8. Oil: for frying pithe

9. Water: 3 cups

Method:

1. In a heavy bottomed pan boil two cups of water with sugar on medium heat. Stir in between and remove the scums (if any). Once sugar is dissolved completely reduce the heat.

2. In another pan boil a cup of water with salt on medium-high heat. Once the water starts boiling add the flour and mix well with a wire whisk. Remove the mixture from heat and let it cool down.

3. Crack the egg in a bowl and beat it nicely with a fork. 

4. Add ghee, beaten egg (very little at a time) and remaining crushed cardamoms to the flour mixture. Knead well until the mixture comes together into a dough.

5. Make small balls (8-10) out of the dough. Take one ball at a time and roll it into a flat puri (bread) with your rolling pin. 

6. Now take the puri (bread) and cut a circle with the help of a cookie cutter. In the same manner make the other two puris (breads). We need three puris (breads) to make one flower.

7. Put one puri on top of the other and make three cuts leaving the center as shown in the figure. Take one part at a time and fold it inwards to form the petals. Use water to seal the edges together. Continue the process until you are done.

8. Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan on medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and add the pithe. Fry them until they get a nice golden hue. Take them out on a plate lined with paper-towel. 

9. Put them in sugar syrup (the syrup should be warm enough) and let it rest for good 2-4 hours.

10. Enjoy these beautiful "Golap Pithe" with your friends and family.

Note:

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Hridoy Horon Pithe.....A Heart Stealing Delicacy

The foodies just need a reason to celebrate and slurp some of the sumptuous delicacies. Whether it's Holi, Diwali, Eid, Christmas or a simple weekend, we don't miss any chance to cook and then wolf it down. But this time for sure we have a reason. Yes, it's "Makar Sankranti" or "Poush Sankranti" (in Bengali) which is a major harvest festival in many parts of India. In Eastern India this festival is also called as "Poush Parbon" or "Poush Sankranti" as this festival marks end of the month "Poush". 

During this auspicious time of the year several desserts are prepared using freshly harvested paddy, nolen gur (date palm jaggery) and coconuts which are called as "Pithe" or "Pitha". The sweet shops in Kolkata are bursting with the sweets made up of "Nolen Gur". Every household is filled with the aroma of Pithe at this time of the year.

I grew up seeing my Mom and Grandma making these pithe. They use to spend their whole day (of Sankranti) making several types of pithe and payesh (rice pudding); I'm just following their footsteps. Well, I have to also confess that I don't make so many varieties of pithe-payesh but I do make three to four varieties. 

Pithe or Pitha is a type of cake or dimsum common in the Eastern India and Bangladesh. They are made up of rice flour or wheat flour batter (or dough), stuffed with sweet or savory ingredients and then cooked. 

"Hridoy Horon Pithe" is a very palatable and easy on the eye delicacy. "Hridoy Horon" is a bengali term which means "Heart-robbing". This dessert literally steals your heart when you look at it. When I made it at the very first time, trust me I couldn't have it, not because it didn't turn out well but due to its exceptional and affectionate look. Anyway that's another story :)

So, let's start with this heart stealing recipe of the pithe:

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour: 1 and 1/2 cup

2. Sugar: 2 and 1/2 cups

3. Milk: 2 cups

4. Egg: 1

5. Ghee (clarified butter): 2 tbsp

6. Green Cardamoms(crushed): 5-6

7. Salt: 1/2 tbsp

8. Oil: for frying pithe

9. Water: 3 cups

10. Almonds and Saffron strands: for garnishing

Method For Making Malai:

1. Take a pan and heat the milk on medium heat. Cook the milk till it is reduced to half.  At this stage add 1/2 cup of sugar and mix well.

2. Cook the milk-sugar mixture for another minute. Add crushed cardamoms and keep it aside.

Method For Making Pithe:

1. Take a heavy bottomed pan add sugar and two cups of water and let it boil on medium heat. Stir in between and remove the scums (if any). Once sugar is dissolved completely reduce the heat.

2. In a separate pan boil a cup of water with salt on medium heat. Once the water starts boiling add the flour and mix well with a wire whisk. Remove the mixture from heat and let it cool down.

3. Break the egg in a bowl and beat it nicely with a fork. 

4. Add ghee, beaten egg (very little at a time) and remaining crushed cardamoms to the flour mixture. Knead well until the mixture comes together into a dough.

5. Make small balls (8-10) out of the dough. Take one ball at a time and roll it into a flat puri (bread) with your rolling pin. 

6. Now take the puri (bread) and shape it into a paper fan. Fold it into half and seal inside with a wet finger.

7. Fold the open edges opposite way to give it a heart shape. Use water to seal the edges together. 

8. Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan on medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and add the pithe. Fry them until they get a nice golden hue. Take them out on a plate lined with paper-towel. 

9. Put them in sugar syrup (the syrup should be warm enough) and let it rest for good 2-4 hours. You can have these pithe as it is with sugar syrup or put it into malai.  

10. I guess this pithe justifies its name when you dip them in malai. Garnish with chopped almonds and  few strands of saffron.

11. Serve your "Hridoyhoron Pithe" and steal the hearts of your friends and family.

Note:

For regular updates just click the "Like" button on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Flavors-Of-My-Plate/737185573034586?ref=hl

You can also follow me on:

Instagram: http://instagram.com/ananyabhowmick

Twitter: https://twitter.com/flavorsofmyplat

If you want the recipe in Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu (or any other language) click on the Google Translate button on the left side.