Basundi

According to Wiki, Basundi the traditional sweet prepared from milk, belongs to the states, Karnataka, Gujarat and Maharashtra and is similar to the preparation of the North Indian Rabri.
I already have the recipe of Rabri in my Rasagulla post. When I asked one of my Maharashtrian friend about the difference between the both, she mentioned about the Rabri being thicker and creamier and Basundi. Addition of dry fruits or lime or other fruity flavours gives versatility to Basundi which again serves as an accompaniment to pooris!

So, Basundi is all about boiling fresh full fat milk, bringing down to half its level, cooked with slivers of nuts, sweetened with white sugar and flavoured with cardamom and nutmeg.

Basundi

Total time needed- 40 mins 

Yield - Fills two 200ml cups


Get ready with:

 1 litre Full fat Milk
 1/4 cup scant Sugar
 A tablespoon each of slivered nuts, Pistachios, Almonds and Cashews. Reserve a few pieces if you wish to garnish.
 A few strands of saffron soaked in 2 tbsps warm milk
 Two fat pinches of freshly ground cardamom
 A pinch of powdered nutmeg (I didn't use)

How to make:



Start with boiling the milk in a wide non stick kadai. Lower the flame and taking utmost care, not to burn the cream in the base, stir along well.Scrape the edges as well and combine with the milk all along. Reduce the quantity to almost half.  I needed 25 minutes to reach this point. Add the nuts and stir along.





Simmer for a few minutes. Keep stirring and scraping. I switched off the flame and took a break here as my hands were aching a bit ;). Soak a few saffron strands in two tablespoons of warm milk. Reserve. Back to the milk, add sugar and stir in.





Addition of sugar makes the milk thinner. So, simmer for 3 minutes in minimum flame. Add in milk with the soaked saffron followed by the freshly ground cardamom powder. Put off heat. You can get an idea of the finished hot Basundi from the the final picture. Its thick,  nutty, creamy and has a mild yellow hue.

Serve warm or chilled! 

         


          Notes:

•  If you feel, the traditional method of boiling down the milk and preparing Basundi, elaborate, you can use 1/4 - 1/2 cup of sweetened condensed milk, stirred in with the milk. Cut down on the amount of sugar in that case.

• Stir the milk continuously while simmering down, taking extra care to scrape the base gently to prevent browning of the milk fat. If you ever come across that, switch off the stove and filter milk to remove them. 

• Usage of wide nonstick pans, make the work easier. I needed 45 minutes for the whole process for 1.250 litres of full fat milk.The whole idea of stirring up rich Basundi is to preserve the cream / malai while boiling milk. Keep scraping the sides and bottom and combine with the simmering milk all the while. You can even switch it off in mid point as I did :) to relax a bit and start again after an hour or so. The thick cream or malai on top can be stirred along :)

• Basundi can be made a day or two earlier if you wish to serve your guests. Keep it chilled and airtight.

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Thumbprint Cookies

My son loves anything jam-centred. He has them as a meal apart snacking them. Surprisingly he wanted cookies instead of cakes this Christmas and I found myself searching for a simple cookie recipe of his kind.

"Thumbprint Cookies are a very popular holiday cookie. They are made with a shortbread-like dough that is formed into balls and then rolled in either finely chopped nuts or dried coconut. The name 'thumbprint' comes from the fact you use your "thumb" to make an indentation into each ball of dough and then fill it with jam."

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Pasiparuppu Urundai / Moong dal Ladoos

Diwali is round the corner. Busy streets, people carrying heavy shopping bags, buzzing happily, children laughing, crowded sweet shops and there is merriment everywhere.
I decided to start with the easiest sweet to welcome the festival. Moong dal ladoos or Pasi paruppu urundai is one among the easiest to make in the list. This healthy sweet has a good shelf life and I am reserving for my children who are turning up soon for the holiday!

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Rustic Wheat, Date & Walnut Bread

I came across this beautiful looking bread in Chinmayie's space. Ever since I had been dreaming baking this, taking pictures and savouring the heavenly stuff!

The attractive part was that, the recipe of this bread seemed to be flexible and I loved the way she'd described..

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Banana Walnut Bread - without eggs!

                                 
                                                Tastespotted and Foodgawked

I admire her.
So does she.
I appreciate her talents and creativity.
So does she.

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Simple Chocolate Brownies

Many a times I think of my friends who prepare lunch and dinner for larger number of guests in a jiffy, host parties frequently and obviously are better cooks than me.
They are not bloggers, but don't you think they deserve to be looked upon?

Devi is one such friend of mine who was given a short notice, to host 15 adults (14 men including my husband and then me) for lunch, just a couple of hours before, by her husband Surya!!!

Believe me or not I got tensed and rushed over to see her quite coolly cutting veggies simultaneously making preparations for the dessert!!I helped her along watching with awe, the way she carried herself around, cooked and presented the food as the final step, chatting cheerfully(which can never happen with me minus a maid) with me the whole time!!!

Soon WE (:D) were finally up with a drink, a starter, bowls of vegetable rice, chicken biriyani, a vegetable and a fish gravy plus two dry dishes and accompaniments, within the time Surya had allotted her!!

Now for the dessert part, all she had was a tub of vanilla ice cream waiting to be served with fresh warm chocolate brownies and the batter was pushed into the OTG when the men settled down for the grand lunch!

The freshly baked brownies got paired up with scoops of vanilla ice creams in bowls which got finished by the men, heartily!! :)

Devi and me sat down for lunch. Each dish was literally 'out of the world' and I jotted down the recipe of her classic dessert !

Amma is getting better now.
She loves brownies and I baked them today for her while I am preparing to go back home tomorrow...

Ingredients:

Melted butter-1 cup
Sugar-1 cup +powdered, for dusting
Eggs- 4
Maida-1 cup
Cocoa powder- 3/4 cup
Broken walnuts- 1/4 cup
Baking powder- 1/2 tsp
Vanilla essence-1 tsp
Salt-a pinch

Method:

• Sieve maida, baking powder, cocoa and salt 3 to four times.

• Add sugar with melted butter.

• Beat in eggs and essence.

• Fold in the flour.

• Spread nuts in a greased pan and pour the prepared batter.

• Bake at 180 C for 40-45 min in a suitable square tin or till done.(I baked it for a slightly longer time and hence doesn't have that 'moist' look)
  

• Cool, dust with powdered sugar and cut into even squares.

Devi, I Admire You and this post is dedicated to you.

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Papaya-Cashew Muffins

Little Mister-busy with his usual online multiplayer game.

Mom approaches and informs-"Hey, chithi is hosting Papaya for AFAM!."(chithi=mom’s younger sister).

Little Mister-without taking off his eyes from the monitor,"ahem, she knows I am not a fan of that fruit".

Mom-"She doesn’t have to consider you. All she has is to think of a fruit which is not yet announced for the event and this is one among them.Next, she has to consider her readers and the availablility of the fruit."

Little Mister-Sighs deeply, seeming disappointed.

Mom-"Now tell me what I can make with the fruit and contribute to her."

Little Mister -"Like what?", in a low voice, still reluctant to take his eyes off from the screen.

Mom-"… hmm… sort of salad or a salsa?…smoothie? milk shake?..may me muffins?…or..

Little Mister-“that sounds better…muffins..bake them, ma.”

Little Mister gets over with his game, mom googles for a long while and book marks the following recipe, from here!.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups diced peeled papaya
1-1/4 cups lightly salted roasted cashew nuts

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 190 deg C.


• Prepare muffin pans.


• In a bowl beat oil and sugar for 2 minutes then add eggs and vanilla and beat 1 minute.


• In another bowl stir together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger.


• Add dry mix to wet mix then stir to just combine.


• Stir in papaya and cashews then spoon batter into pans.


• Bake for 25 minutes.


• Cool 5 minutes before removing.

Mom has halved the original recipe above, which yielded about a dozen medium sized muffins.The combination of the fruit and the nuts and the bursting aroma of the cinnamon and ginger were of course sinfully delicious as mentioned in the site!.

Little Mister returns from school in the evening, carefully pinches out the fruit pieces and the nuts, nibbles the cake along with the proclamation,"ma, this is not bad, but next time when you make this, you do the job what I am doing right now, yourself, before baking…ok??"

“Chithi, hope you are happy to receive what amma had made specially for the AFAM-Papaya event. Amma, daddy and akka did enjoy them”. :)

Bindiya, this is also for your cute event of My favourite things-Cakes and Muffins.:)

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