Rasamalai from frozen paneer

 


This year's Father's day gift to my husband was Rasamalai. It's a favourite dessert of ours. I had frozen paneer, so I decided to go ahead with it. I had to defrost it in the microwave for a few minutes till the cubes softened enough to be ground in the mixie.The result was good, though the paneer discs were not smooth. Fresh or refrigerated paneer would have given better results. Also the sugar used for cooking the paneer should not be reduced, for better taste. I googled for recipes using readymade paneer and found one from youtoocancook.net. I followed the method but not the exact measurements. I didn't have time to make the rabri so I used evaporated milk. For a first attempt it was good.

Ingredients:

For the paneer discs (rasagullas)

Frozen paneer cubes - 400g
Sugar - 4 tablespoons
Water - 2 litres
Cardamom pods - 5


For the saffron milk

Evaporated milk - 1 litre
Cardamom pods - 5
Saffron strands - 1/2 teaspoon
Sugar - 2 heaped tablespoons
Pistachio nuts, halved - 10


Method:


Boil the evaporated milk with sugar, lightly crushed saffron, cardamom and pistachios. Adjust the sugar and keep aside.

Defrost paneer in microwave till soft enough to grind, about 5 minutes. Grind in mixie, then knead the ground paneer into a dough.

Set the water to boil along with sugar and cardamom.

Pinch portions of the paneer, roll and flatten them into discs with hands. Gently place them into the boiling water with a spoon. Cook for 5 minutes, they would have doubled in size now, gently turn them over and cook for 3 minutes. Take the discs, one by one, gently press with another spoon to see if they spring back. If they do, they are cooked. While removing the discs, squeeze each, with a spoon to remove the water.


Place the paneer discs in the saffron milk. Leave them to soak for some time.

Added some extra saffron and sugar :)

Enjoy!

Number cake

  

I made this for my son's 3rd birthday sometime ago. It was the my first attempt and I wanted to please my son, as his dad was away working. He was very happy and excited! I followed a simple tea cake recipe from  http://www.kidspot.com.au/kitchen/recipes/tea-cake-643 and followed instructions from a few websites on cutting it to form a '3'. As my daughter doesn't like icing, I melted plain Dairymilk chocolates and spread it on the cake and decorated it with M&Ms.

 

If they have no bread let them eat ada dosa!

The floods had caused shortage of supplies in supermarkets. As there were no baked items, I decided to do some baking myself. Browsing for bread recipes, made me realise that I didn't really want to spend time on all the prep and washing up; so I just made ada dosa with whatever I had in the pantry/fridge.

I ground the ingredients below and let it sit for an hour till lunch time, then cooked the ada dosas.

Basmati rice-1 cup
Mung dal -1/2 cup
Urad dal -1/2 cup
ginger -one inch
french shallots-8
dried red chilly-1
salt

To say that I'm excited and happy would be an understatement. What amazes me is not just what, you gave me, but how. Its my 'reward' for my patience, endeavours, all those moments I yearned for even a sigh of appreciation. Thank you! Thank you soo much! I feel so loved, cared for, appreciated! Like 'he' said, I am privileged.

Roast/baked sardines

I love fried mathi, my mum makes at home. Tried to do it myself but roasted the sardines. Not worth the time and effort spent cleaning it.

chilli chicken

Been busy, the last few weeks, taking mum around. Her best outing was whale watching.
Got to try this chilli chicken recipe from Sanjeev Kapoor's website, a couple of days ago.

Green thumb

green corner

Mum and m-i-l like to grow plants and they do well. I appreciate their input every time they visit. I like to grow herbs and the curry leaf plant. No more. Cant be bothered to dig the soil.