Malpua

Malpuas are far too special to confine them to breakfast but after you've tried them you'll probably want them at every meal.

Ingredients

    * 2 cups water
    * 3 cups sugar
    * Saffron strands
    * 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
    * 500 gms flour
    * 1/2 tsp baking powder
    * 1 can (400gms) sweetened condensed milk
    * 1 litre milk to make rabri
    * Slivered almonds and pistachios to garnish
    * Ghee to deep fry malpuas

Preparation

    * Mix the milk and 1 cup of sugar in a thick-bottomed pan and cook to reduce it to a fourth of its original volume. Stir frequently or the milk will burn at the bottom of the pan. When the milk has thickned as above, remove it from the fire, allow it cool and then chill in the refrigerator. This is rabri (sweetened thickened milk).
    * In another pan, mix 2 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar and boil. The syrup is ready when you get a single-thread consistency. The way to test this is to stir the syrup with a spoon, lift the spoon out and carefully touch the syrup on it with your index finger. Press your index finger and thumb together and gently pull apart. The sugar will stretch to form a single 'thread'. If this happens the syrup is ready. If not keep boiling and test occasionally till done.
    * When the syrup is ready add the cardamom powder and saffron and mix well. Keep the syrup aside to use later.
    * In a large mixing bowl, blend the condensed milk, flour and baking powder together to form a smooth batter.
    * While you are mixing the batter, heat enough ghee in a deep frying pan to cook the malpuas.
    * When the oil is hot, use a ladle to gently pour the batter into the oil to form circles about 4" in diameter.
    * Cook till golden brown. Remove from the oil and put directly into the sugar syrup.
    * Remove after 2-3 minutes and drain on a wire rack with a plate underneath to catch the dripping syrup.
    * To serve, place 2 malpuas in a plate, spoon rabri over them and garnish with slivered nuts.
 

Suji Kakara Pitha

Suji Kakara Pitha is made of of suji,and coconut.It is basically available in hotel in noon.

Ingredients

    * Suji (rawa ) -150 gm
    * Nadia kora(Shredded coconut)- half a coconut
    * Chini(Sugar) -75gm
    * Aleicha( cardamom)- 4 pcs
    * Refined Tela (Refined Oil)- As per requirement to fry
    * Salt – as per taste

Preparation Method

    * To start with, first make a powder of cardamom.
    * In a frying pan, mix properly the shredded coconut, Sugar (75 grm) and cardamom powder and then roast it for 10-15 minutes and then keep these aside.
    * Take water (double the amount of rawa) in a deep pan. Add, sugar and salt as per the taste. Boil it.
    * When it starts boiling put small amount of rawa and stir it. Do the same for the rest of rawa. Stir it properly to avoid forming lumps. Keep it on the flame for 2 min. Remove from flame and keep aside.
    * Wait till the dough cools down to room temperature, kneed the dough with oil to make it softer.
    * Make small balls from the above dough, rollout each ball into small round shape and put coconut stuff (from step-2) to it, then roll it again to make a ball.
    * Make the above balls into flat shape like puri’s, in between your palms.
    * Heat oil in a frying pan and deep fry the above flatten balls in a lower flame till it turns golden brown from each side.
    * Kakara pitha is ready and serve it cool.
 

Arisha Pitha

This is a typical Oriya sweet and made in most households.

Ingredients

Rice- 2 cups (do not use parboiled rice)
Jaggery or Sugar-2 cups
Ghee-2 cups
Salt to taste

How to prepare it
Soak the rice in water overnight.
Remove water and pound the rice to make powder.
The Rice has to be ground but not too fine.
Take 1 cup of water and add the sugar or jaggery and heat it.
Keep stirring it until you get a slightly sticky consistency.
Add the rice powder slowly into the sticky misture and keep stirring on low fire until you get a dough like consistency.
Heat ghee in a bowl.
Make small round shape from the dough with your hand while it is still warm.
Deep fry them in low fire until they turn brown on both sides.
These stay fresh for a month!

Milk Barfi

This is like milk biscuit,very delicious to eat.

Ingredients

    * 2 cups full cream milk powder
    * 300 ml thickened/ double/ heavy cream
    * 1 400 can of condensed milk
    * 1/2 cup finely chopped skinless pistachios

Preparation Method

    * Mix all the ingredients (except the nuts) in a rectangular microwave safe bowl and whisk till smooth.
    * Put the bowl in the microwave and set the time for 6 minutes on the High setting. Start and run the microwave. Watch the dish carefully and if the mixture looks like it might boil over, stop immediately and wait for 8-10 seconds. Start again and run till the 6-minute time is up.
    * Take the dish out of the microwave and stir well to break all lumps (these lumps are the milk solids that are beginning to form due to the cooking).
    * Put the dish back in the microwave and set again on High for 6 minutes. Watch for the initial minute and then allow to continue cooking. When the time is up, sprinkle the chopped nuts over the surface of the Barfi and let sit/ rest for 10 minutes.
    * After 10 minutes remove from the microwave and cut into 2 to 2 1/2-inch squares. Serve immediately or after cooling to room temprature.

Important: This time and High setting suggestion is for a 900-watt microwave. Adjust timing and setting to suit the wattage of your microwave.

Ras Malai

Ras Malai is dumplings made from cottage or riccotta cheese soaked in sweetened, thickened milk delicately flavored with cardamom. Serve it chilled and garnished with slivers of dried fruit.

Ingredients

    * Paneer made from 1 liter of milk (recipe below)
    * 1 liter full cream/ whole milk
    * 1/2 cup sugar
    * 1 tablespoon cardamom powder
    * 4 cups water
    * 1 cup sugar
    * 1/2 cup thinly sliced almonds or pistachios

Preparation Method

    * Mix the water and 1 cup of sugar in a pan and boil till all the sugar is dissolved. Turn off the fire and keep syrup aside.
    * Knead the Paneer (How to make Paneer) in a platter till very smooth. Make into balls slightly smaller than the size of a walnut and flatten slightly in the center.
    * When the Paneer balls are made, reheat the syrup to boiling, then simmer and gently drop in the Paneer balls. Cook for 10 minutes. Turn off fire.
    * In another pan boil the 1 litre of full cream milk with the 1/2 cup of sugar, till reduced/thickened to 75 per cent of its original volume. Turn off the fire, add the cardamom     powder and mix well.
    * Add the syrup soaked Paneer balls (after draining) to the milk mixture and chill for a few hours.
    * Before serving, garnish with slivers of dried fruit

sandesh

sandesh is a sweet made by Chenna.

Ingredients

• 100 gms Chenna
• 2 tbsp Milk
• 4 tsp Powdered Sugar
• Few drops of Rose/Kewra Essence
• Silver Foil
    
How to make Sandesh

•    Blend all ingredients in a pan gently
•    Cook on low flame, stirring continuously till the mixture becomes not too dry and not too soft.
•    Put off the flame and arrange the mixture on a plate. Cool it.Now cut it into pieces.
•    Decorate with silver foil.
•    Sandesh is ready.
 

Gulab Jamun

Gulab Jamun is among India's most popular desserts! This delicious dessert consists of dumplings traditionally made of thickened or reduced milk, soaked in rose flavored sugar syrup. It gets its name from two words: Gulab which means rose (for the rose flavored syrup) and Jamun which is a kind of deep purple colored Indian berry (the cooked dumplings are dark brown in colour). Serve Gulab Jamun warm or at room temprature; by itself or topped with ice cream.

Ingredients

    * 3 cups sugar
    * 6 cups water
    * 1 tbsp cardamom powder
    * 2 tbsps rose water
    * 3 cups powdered milk
    * 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
    * 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
    * 1 cup thickened/ heavy/ double cream
    * Vegetable/ canola/ sunflower oil for deep frying

Preparation Method

    * Mix the water and sugar in a deep pan and boil till all the sugar is dissolved. Turn off the flame and add the cardamom powder and rose water. Mix well and keep aside.
    * Mix the powdered milk, all purpose flour and baking powder well. Add a little of the thickened cream at a time to them and knead to make a dough that is soft but not sticky.
    * Divide the dough into walnut sized balls and roll between slightly greased palms till smooth.
    * Heat the oil for deep frying in a wide pan on a low to medium flame.
    * Fry the dumplings, stirring often to brown on all sides. Do not cook on very high heat as the dumplings will burn on the outside and remain raw inside!
    * When cooked, drain (with a slotted spoon), remove the dumplings from the oil and transfer immediately into the sugar syrup.
    * Repeat this till all the dumplings are cooked and added to the syrup.
    * Allow the dumplings to soak in the syrup for 2 hours.
    * Some serving suggestions: Warm Gulab Jamuns with ice cream; Gulab Jamun with thick cream; Gulab Jamun garnished with shavings of dried fruit like pistachio and almond.
 

Chena Murki

Chena Murki is a sugar-coated Bengali sweet in the shape of cubes.

Ingredients

• 750 gm Paneer (Cottage Cheese)
• 500 gm Ghee
• 3/4 cup Sugar
• 1 litre Water
• 1/4 tsp Black Cardamom Powder (optional)
• 10-20 drops Rose Essence (optional)
    
How to make Chena Murki

Firstly, cut paneer into very small pieces.
Then heat ghee in a heavy bottomed vessel and fry the paneer till light golden in color. Take the pieces out of the vessel and put off the flame.
Now make thin sugar syrup by mixing sugar and water in another vessel. Cook until the mixture thickens.
Add cardamom powder, or rose essence, to the sugar syrup and put off the flame.
Immerse paneer pieces in the syrup. Mix well so that all the paneer pieces get properly coated with sugar. Allow it to cool.
Chena Murki is ready.

Chhena Gaja

Chhena Gaja is rectangle-shaped cheena prepared in a sweet sugar syrup. Popular in northern India, these treats are soft and juicy

Ingredients

 500ml of full cream milk for cheena
1 lemon, squeeze out the juice
2 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 cup sugar for sugar syrup
3 cups of water
1 teaspoon good quality rose water
Preparation Instructions

Preparation Steps

1. For cheena preparation boil 500ml milk and curdle it by adding lemon juice and keep stirring it continuously.
2. Drain this curdled through a thin muslin cloth and squeeze the cheena and wash it under running tap water.
3. Drain out the excess water from cheena and add 2 tablespoon all purpose flour and knead well. Make 10-15 small rectangular shaped pieces with help of your palms. Keep aside
4. To make sugar syrup heat water in a pan and add sugar to it. Blend well. Allow it to cook for about 5-6 minutes or till the desired consistency is reached.
5. Add these cheena pieces to the syrup and cook for 10-15 minutes with lid partially covered. Cheena dumplings will swell and puff up. On cooling, add 1 teaspoon good quality rose water, take out the Chhena Gaja from sugar syrup and place them on a tray.
6. Refrigerate and serve chilled.

Rasagola

Soft, spongy balls of cottage cheese soaked in chilled sugar syrup.... Nicely made Rasgulla melts in your mouth and leaves you wanting more...always! The Bengalis (from eastern India) sure know their sweet making.

Ingredients

    * 2 litres full cream milk
    * 2-3 tbsps lime/lemon juice
    * 5 tsps flour
    * 4 cups water
    * 2 cups sugar
    * 2-3 tbsps rose water or a few strands of saffron

Preparation

    * Bring the milk to a boil over a medium flame. Stir occassionally to ensure the milk does not burn. When the milk begins to boil, add the lime juice and mix well. When the curds begin to separate from the milk, turn off the fire and leave the millk aside for 10 minutes to let the curdling process finish.
    * Strain the cheese and wash it well under running water - to remove all the lime juice from it.
    * Now put the cheese in a cheesecloth and hang for 1 hour to completely drain all the liquid from it.
    * Put the drained cheese into a mixing bowl and begin to knead it. Continue till all the lumps are removed and the cheese is absolutely smooth. When this happens the cheese will begin to release its fat and your hands will feel greasy. The success of your Rasgulla making effort depends on how smooth you knead the cheese, so give it your best shot!
    * Now sprinkle the flour over the surface of the cheese and work it into the cheese to mix thoroughly.
    * Mix the sugar and water in a pressure cooker and bring the mixture to a boil (without covering the pressure cooker). Make sure the cooker is large enough to accomodate the finished Rasgullas, as they will expand to double their size while cooking in the syrup!
    * While the sugar syrup boils, divide the dough into small marble-sized balls and roll between your palms till smooth.
    * Gently add the balls to the sugar syrup and cover the pressure cooker. Add the cooker weight and wait for the first whistle. Once the first whistle blows, wait another 8-10 minutes and then turn off the fire. Release the steam from the pressure cooker and allow the Rasgullas to cool completely before touching them. They will have expanded to almost double their original size and will be delicate when hot.
    * When cool, pour the rose water or saffron syrup (made by soaking the saffron strands in a little warm water) on the Rasgullas and chill for a few hours before serving.

Jalebi

Jalebi is a hot favourite on any special occasion be it a birthday, wedding or festival. Jalebis though mostly eaten by themselves, can also be soaked in warm milk.
Ingredients

    * 2 cups self raising flour
    * 1/2 tsp baking powder
    * 1 cup yogurt
    * Vegetable/canola/sunflower cooking oil for deep frying
    * 1 cup sugar
    * Few strands saffron
    * 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
    * 2 drops orange food colour
    * 2 tbsps rose water

Preparation
Mix the flour, baking powder and yogurt into a batter and keep aside for 24 hours to ferment. Pour batter into a ketchup dispensing bottle. To make sugar syrup: Melt the sugar with the rose water and boil to get a one thread consistency. To check for one thread consistency, carefully dip the tip of your index finger into the syrup, touch your finger and thumb together and genly tease apart. If one thread is formed between your finger and thumb the syrup is done.
Turn off fire, add the saffron strands and cardamom and stir well.
Heat the oil in a deep wok-like dish. To test for the right temperature, drop a small amount of batter into the oil. If it sizzles and rises to the top of the oil, the oil is hot enough. Keep the flame on medium at all times to ensure all round cooking of the jalebis.
Now hold the ketchup dispenser over the hot oil and squeeze the batter into the oil into a wiggly, randomly coiled circle. Squeeze out several at a time.
Fry till light golden and then remove and put directly into the sugar syrup.
 Allow to soak for 2-3 minutes and then remove.
 Serve warm.
 

Chena Poda

Chena poda is made by pure butter,it is very tasty sweet.

Preparation method
Chenna squeezed (freshly curdled) – 1 kg
Suji ( semolina) – ½ cup
Castor Sugar - 2 cups
Cardamom powder - 1 teaspoon
Raisins - 1/2 cup
Broken pieces of Cashew nuts (optional)
In a big bowl mash Chenna thoroughly. Add Suji and sugar and rest of the ingredients. Mix it well using hands.
To get a caramelized effect on the top. Apply a tablespoon of ghee to the baking tin. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar on the tin. Hold the tin slightly above gas stove for few mins to melt the sugar. Spread the melted sugar evenly.
Then pour the chenna mix over the caramelized sugar. Bake on preheat oven of 180 ' C for one hour. Insert a toothpick to check. It is cooked well if the tooth comes out clean.
Cool it for 2 to 3 hours and then turn it upside down. Slice and serve. It stays fresh for a week in the refrigerator.