Chawal ki Kheer

Chawal ki Kheer is a popular meetha/sweet dish in all Indian/ Pakistani/ Bangladeshi homes. For every special occasion when Kheer is supposed to be made, of all the different varieties of Kheer, Chawal Ki Kheer is made the most.

My love for Chawal ki Kheer is probably since birth. I have never come across any chef/cook or for that matter any person who can make Chawal ki kheer as good as my mother. Since I could understand things well, I would always look forward to days when she would make Kheer. A spoonful in your mouth was enough for anyone to experience a taste of heaven. The funny part is that I never liked the Kheer anyone else made, it was in my view a complete injustice to the dish. I expected people to work harder and make it just like my mom. Since I was a kid, I never realized the amount of effort and hard work she puts into it. When I grew up, and with time started getting ready to explore the world of spices and learn the art of cooking good food is when I saw how many hours it took her to actually make something so deliciously wonderful and that’s when I understood why I see so many faces of relatives and friends on Eid, that I do not see all year round and requesting for my mother’s special Kheer.

There is no way that I will be able to describe the number of hours she gave into it, but I can definitely give you an idea. So, we are a family that comprises almost 150+ members, almost. Please do not get shocked reading this. This includes my grandfather’s children and their families and considering that my grandfather had 9 children, all kids have large families and most of my aunts had grandchildren while I was still in my teens. So it was this plus distant family and friends. Making Kheer for these many people made my mom look like a “Khansama”. I am sure she felt that at times too. She would get around 40-50 liters of milk, maybe more and slow cook that milk till it reduces to almost 2/3 of the original quantity. Now, reducing the milk isn’t as easy as it sounds. That’s actually the first and the most important step. The Milk has to be stirred continuously so it’s evenly cooked and it shouldn’t get burnt at the bottom either. The flame or heat should be kept low. The process is tiring but worth it. The way my mom taught me was to stir once in a circular way and the second time makes the number eight. Honestly, I never realized till I was a grown-up that this is the best way to cover the whole base of the pot.

So, once the milk is reduced, you add cashew powder to it. The cashew powder does not just add some thickness and texture to it but also gives out a little sweetness and nutty flavor that is super amazing. Besides that adding, chopped almonds are a delicious add-on as well. After that, add khoya/maawa or Khoya powder, but that’s completely optional. I prefer using small grained Rice for the kheer because they are easier to mash and the texture is perfect for the Kheer after being mashed. You can use Kani ke chawal or Kaima Rice or any other small grained Rice. My mother always added condensed milk to her Kheer and some people thought that was the secret ingredient, but honestly, it’s just the magic of her hands and all the hard work. Only ingredients never make a dish great, it’s mainly the effort put in by the person cooking.

This is a wonderful way of making Kheer. I am still not as good as my mom when it comes to making it but it still comes out delicious and each spoonful makes you crave more.

Rabri

Rabri has been one of my most favorite sweet dishes ever. The thick mavaa and just perfect amount of sugar makes this dish delicious enough to die for. There is a very old shop/ small eatery in my hometown Jodhpur that is popular for Rabri, Lassi and Kulfi. They sell amazing Rabri which is something I have to eat on every visit. But, the sad part is that I visit my hometown only during the scorching summer days and as much as I love to try all my favorite foods, it kind of gets impossible to enjoy them the way i should. Rabri happens to be one of them. Summer days do not make you crave for milk based sweets.

Rabri is a gift of Mughals to India. Just like they brought in Gulab Jamuns and jalebis, or any other sweet dish that requires sugar syrup, they also brought in sweets that are made from milk solids and require thickening of the milk. Mughals were very dedicated to cooking good and rich food. The use of dry fruits, nuts, cream, Khoya, Kewra or screwpine water, orange blossoms or even rose water comes in from them. An amazing addition to India food, that foodies like me love reading about.

Anyways, I definitely cannot change the time I travel to Jodhpur and there was no way my cravings could be turned off. So I did what people like me are born to do…. Make my own Rabri. And boy, that was one of the best decisions I ever made. I still remember making it the first time, not being sure of whether the 2 liters of milk would go down the drain and saying my silent prayers that even if this Rabri came out half as good as what I like, I would be immensely happy. To my surprise, my hard work paid off so well that what I made was the best Rabri I have ever tasted. Amazingly delicious, thick, perfectly sweet and a teaspoon in your mouth makes you sweetish romantic.

The key to a perfect Rabri….apart from the ingredients, time, patience and a good cooking saucepan. You will need Milk, sugar, Kewra water and Khoya. You are required to use Whole Milk because you will have to take the cream off every 5-7 minutes and stir that cream into the milk. You need time to make rabri and undivided attention, which I believe we need each time we make any milk based sweet, but slightly more when it comes to Rabri. The milk has to be cooked on very low heat and needs constant stirring. It has to be cooked till it remains only quarter of the original quantity. In between that we add Khoya and sugar and cook it more since Khoya tends to make the milk thick, sugar on the other hand releases water. It needs constant stirring. Adding cardamom powder and Kewra water gives it an appetizing fragrance. You can also add saffron strands like I did, but its completely optional.

Rabri once cooked needs to cool down and refrigerated for at least 6-7 hours before you serve it. Rabri can be perfectly served by itself but also goes well with warm sweets, mostly Jalebi and Malpuas. This dish can be refrigerated for a week. Enjoy!!!

Khoya Seviyaan

Seviyaan are an integral part of Ramadan and Eid celebration in every Muslim. Seviyaan can be made in different ways and this is one of those ways. Though Vermicelli is made in almost all Indian Families, sweet and spicy, but there is something very special about “seviyaan Zarda” or sweet seviyaan that is cooked in Muslim families during the holidays. The taste is awesomely delicious and is always treated as something very special. I personally always looked forward to the seviyaan made by my mother every Eid.

I have a funny story with this dish. So, after I got married, during my initial “cook to impress hubby” days, I asked my mother for the seviyaan recipe. Back home, in India, people like my mother don’t cook with proper measurements, but its mostly a calculation done while cooking and always comes out perfect. So, my mother gave me the recipe based on her calculations, but what she didn’t realize is that I required perfect measurements. Anyways, I started cooking and was happy that it smelt and looked like what my mother makes. Once done, I decorated my seviyaan and started waiting for Mr. Parveez to get back from work. I felt he will be super impressed and happy and honestly, he did love the look but just as he took a spoon to dig on, he just couldn’t stop laughing. My seviyaan, once on room temperature got so hard that it if thrown at someone, the other person could get injured. Mr. Parveez though behaved like a good husband and tried his level best to break that rock solid seviyaan. That time I didn’t understand what went wrong but now I do. I put too much sugar and very little water . The imbalance of ingredients made the dish terrible.

After that episode, Mr. Parveez cooked seviyaan and since then seviyaan became his dish, which he would cook on Eid and other special days… and I always enjoyed them and so did my boys, till one day I learnt that seviyaan can also be made with Khoya and I felt that this recipe is pretty different from what Mr. Parveez cooks and it should come out good. I must say, this is one of the best kinds I have ever eaten.

Here the Vermicelli is cooked with milk solids and is very different from the seviyaan we normally make. The dish is cooked using Ghee and its a request that if you decide to make this dish Please use Ghee. No matter what oil you use, it will never make the dish appear, smell or taste this amazing unless you make it using Ghee. Please follow the recipe properly in order to get a perfect dish. This dish serves as a great sweet dish for parties, specially Eid and Ramadan. It can be prepared a day before and just needs to be reheated.

If you like this Please do have a look at Gulbahar as well.

Mango Kulfi

Kulfi or Qulfi is an indian word derived from the persin word “Qufli” which means covered cup. The dessert was likely originated during the Mughlia Reign in the 16th century. The Mughal Khansamas or cooks were already popular with their mastered skills of creating sweet dishes with dense evaporated milk.

Kulfi is traditionally prepared by evaporating sweetened milk. The key is constant stirring and slow cooking. The milk has to be reduced, thickened and later add your favorite flavors. The best thing about kulfi is that once the milk is thickened, it accepts all flavors , be it fruits, dry fruits or even just plain essence. Reduced milk is very accepting when it comes to other flavors and the blend is delicious. The thing that most people don’t understand is a basic rule of constant stirring to keep milk from sticking to the bottom of the vessel where it might burn, until its volume is reduced by a half, thus thickening it, increasing its fat, protein, and lactose density. The semi-condensed mix is then frozen in tight sealed moulds and put in the freezer.

Desserts are every family’s favorite and Kulfi for us seems to top the chart during summer. My homemade kulfi is always loved by my family and friends. After trying different types of Kulfi using a variety of dry fruits, I decided to venture out using fruits. One of the first fruits I experimented with was Lychee and though the end product wasn’t a disaster, the Kulfi never came through.

I believe after that failed experiment that fruits for Kulfi should always be fresh. The Lychee I used was canned, but this time when I tried the delicious Mango Kulfi, I wanted to make sure nothing goes wrong and we get to enjoy the most loved fruit combined with the most loved dessert.

And that’s when I thought of making Mango Kulfi. Although I would have loved to make this delicious treat with Hapus Mango, but unfortunately Hapus isn’t available here like India, so I had to bear with the best ones we get here and so I did. Remembering Hapus, I was actually challenged by someone recently claiming that with the confusion I have with Mangoes, I surely have never tried Hapus. Honestly, I am one of the weird ones who isn’t a big fan of Mangoes and as much as people find it insanely funny, its a fact that I can look at a wonderful and beautiful mango and walk away. So, I will definitely share my hapus story another day but for for now, Please enjoy this wonderful and beautiful recipe.

Badaam Ka Halwa

After Moong Daal ka halwa, Badaam ka Halwa has been my favorite. I just love the flavor of Almonds with the grainy texture cooked in ghee with the sweetness that can melt hearts.

Halwa are the innovative creations a gift from Mughla or Persian rulers. The halwas were introduced in wide range from Moong Daal Halwa or Chana Daal Halwa to those made with Carrot and Bottle Gourd and if you can dare to be more exotic one is made with just Almonds. All Halwas are rich, full-of-ghee fudges and are cooked to perfection in milk solids and milk.

Badaam Ka Halwa of course, is the quintessential rich man’s dessert. The expensive sweet dish is cooked simply, adding richness with Saffron or Zaafraan and Milk solids like Khoya. A little flavor of Screwpine water or Kewra adds a lot fragrance when added with Saffron. Kewra and Zaafraan together not just enhance flavor and fragrance but also enhance color. I always love decorating my sweet dishes with Silver varq, and I always feel that silver varq adds a lot of glamour to a dish. And for something that looks beautiful always wins the first food serving battle of presentation, since it’s a feast for the eye. Of course, if the flavors aren’t doing justice to your taste buds, then the eye feasting doesn’t do much. In this case the sweet dish is very easy to make. All you have to pay attention to is adding the right quantity of ingredients at the right time. Almonds are known to absorb flavors while maintaining their own. So you wouldn’t want anything to be added in quantity more than required specially if things cannot be reversed. Because of the copious mounts of ghee and heavier grain, this Badaam Halwa is basically a winter delicacy.

Halwas made using vegetables were invented in the kitchens of the Mughlia Empire when the Mughal culture was at its zenith of cooking. The use of lavish Almonds, pistachios, cashews , walnuts and saffron added to those delicious inventions made them more desirable and put them under the category of celebration food. Though I am not a big fan of dishes like Apple Halwa and a new known mango Halwa. I feel a hint of those fruits with Flour or Semolina and serving it as a Halwa is fine. But the moment the entire halwa is made using a single fruit, as much as people feel its something innovative, my personal opinion differs. I feel a hint of a fruit gives out lovely flavors as opposed to an entire fruit that might leave you with a very strong taste for hours and I am someone who enjoys a mix of flavors in a bite than one flavor over powering the others.

Coming back to Badaam ka halwa. This sweet dish is rich and extremely loved in every family I ever made it for.

Kaju Chicken Curry

Cashews are my favorite dry fruits. I can eat them raw, fried, baked, salty, sweet. You name it and I can eat it. So, with my love for cashews, I also enjoy their flavor in my curries. Addition of cashews makes the curry milder, thicker and a little sweeter. Its a good substitute to cream as well. I am not a big fan of using cream in my dishes, I mean I do but as little as possible and mostly its for decoration purposes.

So cashews do mostly make the gravy mild and the sauce turns a little more thicker, but the fact is that you can not put in more than 10-12 cashews pieces, soak them and grind them and add them to the gravy. Be it any curry, adding cashews does add a lot of life and adding a little more makes the flavor of cashews more prominent.

This recipe is one of those where I added more than usual cashews and the curry base has a very strong taste of cashews. Other ingredients have also been pureed to add a balance. In usual recipes that I come up with I also suggest substitutes and for this one, if you aren’t a big fan of Cashew or happen to have any allergies, You can follow the recipe the same way with Almonds. The only stipulation is that you need to soak the almonds and take the skin off. The recipe is easy and has been my kids favorite for quiet some time.

Halwa Puff Pastry

Halwa Poori is a traditional Bangalore dish, popularly made by Muslim families specially during weddings. During a wedding, a no. of food items go from the Bride’s side to the Groom’s side, which also includes Halwa Poori. There are also numerous occasions when they are made at home, but they kind of always need a special reason. I have no idea where the tradition came from, but it does have a little Mughlai influence and that’s why the traditions are carried on by Muslim families.

The reason probably is also because it a tedious job making them, requires time and effort and usually made in a large batch too. When made, its always distributed among relatives, friends and neighbors. When I first saw Halwa Poori, it reminded me of Diwali Gujiya and honestly I have never been a fan of Gujiya. I always found them too coconuty and I also felt that it was always too dry and the dry coconut would start falling out if not careful. I also felt that if there was something that was nicer, softer and sweeter and Halwa Poori seemed to be a perfect answer to it.

Halwa is made of Chana daal, coconut, Khoya, Milk and sugar cooked together in ghee/ Oil. The poori is made from All purpose flour. The halwa is filled in the poori and then sealed and fried. The traditional recipe is great and awesome if you are serving a large no. of people in a day or two. After that they kind of get a little mushy unless you keep them in a perfect airtight container.

Initially when I started making Halwa Poori, t was hard to make them for just the two of us, Mr. Parveez and me. Making 10 would be more than enough and would last us more than a week and usually by day 2 we would be dead bored and didn’t feel like eating more. So, this is when I felt that the Halwa poori needs a twist and I changed it to halwa Puff Pastry. The good thing about that is that I can always make the dough for puff pastry and keep it in my freezer. And, for the Halwa, I can make and refrigerate it for up to 15-20 days. This way we make the puff pastry whenever we want, eat them warm and fresh and we can also use the Halwa as just halwa minus the poori or puff pastry.

I hope you enjoy making this as much I do..Its definitely a great recipe.

French Toast with Chocolate Sauce

As a kid, I just loved French toast. I had a Master for Arabic and religious studies who would come every evening for an hour, but on Sundays, it was every morning and as much as it would never excite a 7 year old, it still had to be done and now I realize how important it was then. Anyways, my teacher or Maulana was always served a good breakfast every Sunday morning. My mom would mostly make the awesome French toast, or omelette or sunny fried egg with parantha for my teacher. My teacher was very found of his Sunday breakfast at our house, I could always make that out with the way he ate and I mom also made sure that the teacher was well fed… Something that we all have lost with time. Today’s time is so busy that feeling that way for a teacher or even the guests.

Now comes the fun part, my mom had a clear breakfast designed for us daily. It was a done deal and my mother wasn’t those who would cater our demands on daily basis. My Sunday class would be at 7 AM and I would usually have my breakfast after the class. the funny thing was that every time my mom would make French toast, I would ask my teacher to excuse me and run to the kitchen to ask my mom to make the same thing for me, because I always felt that if she can make it for him, she will gladly make it for me too, and she did. But now that I am all grown up, my mom laughs at the fact that she always knew that she will find me in the kitchen 5 minutes after the breakfast was served to my teacher. I guess some memories from childhood might be a little embarrassing to share, but almost all childhood memories are sweet and always bring a smile to your face.

This is one of my two types of French toast and my boys like both kinds. French Toasts are easy to make with bread slices dipped in egg, milk and white sugar mixed together. If you are a little more experimental like me, add a little cocoa powder and cardamom powder to it. My boys like me serving this French toast with chocolate sauce. You can always make a little change to it to suit your taste.

French Toast with Chocolate Chips

As a kid, I just loved French toast. I had a Master for Arabic and religious studies who would come every evening for an hour, but on Sundays, it was every morning and as much as it would never excite a 7 year old, it still had to be done and now I realize how important it was then. Anyways, my teacher or Maulana was always served a good breakfast every Sunday morning. My mom would mostly make the awesome French toast, or omelette or sunny fried egg with parantha for my teacher. My teacher was very found of his Sunday breakfast at our house, I could always make that out with the way he ate and I mom also made sure that the teacher was well fed… Something that we all have lost with time. Today’s time is so busy that feeling that way for a teacher or even the guests.

Now comes the fun part, my mom had a clear breakfast designed for us daily. It was a done deal and my mother wasn’t those who would cater our demands on daily basis. My Sunday class would be at 7 AM and I would usually have my breakfast after the class. the funny thing was that every time my mom would make French toast, I would ask my teacher to excuse me and run to the kitchen to ask my mom to make the same thing for me, because I always felt that if she can make it for him, she will gladly make it for me too, and she did. But now that I am all grown up, my mom laughs at the fact that she always knew that she will find me in the kitchen 5 minutes after the breakfast was served to my teacher. I guess some memories from childhood might be a little embarrassing to share, but almost all childhood memories are sweet and always bring a smile to your face.

French Toasts are easy to make with bread slices dipped in egg, milk and brown sugar mixed together. If you are a little more experimental like me, add a little cinnamon powder and cardamom powder to it and sprinkle some confectioner’s sugar to it. My boys like me serving the French toast with maple syrup and chocolate chips. You can always make a little change to it to suit your taste.

Malpua and Rabri

Rabri and Malpua go hand in hand for marwaris, specially for Jodhpuris. I remember my father and my maternal grandmother being huge fan of Malpuas. Though I have never liked them much, for their bonding relationship with sugar syrup and just like Jalebis, Imartis and Bengali sweets, malpuas also happened to be a sweet dish that I never tried. But, I was always a huge fan of Rabri. In fact, there is a very famous shop in Jodhpur, by the clock tower, an important stop for all tourists, that is popular for its lassi, kulfi and Rabri and every time I traveled to Jodhpur, that would be on my eating out list.

As for the history of Malpua, first reference of this sweet dish was made in the Rigveda, as ‘Apupa’. The recipe of Apupa was something that uses barley flour made in form of flat cakes, deep fried in ghee and then dipped in honey before serving.

Rabri seems to be connected with Bengal because of its flavor resemblance being close to Basundi. Its made by over boiling of milk on low heat, until it becomes dense and pale yellow in color.

I remember when I was 15, a family friend’s daughter, almost 10 years older than me, soon to be married. She loved to cook and would often come to see my mom and would also showcase her cooking skills. She would come to our house very often and she once made Khoye ke malpua and all I saw was 2 people busy making Malpuas and I never gathered the courage to go and peep to even see what was going on. All I saw was my Father and maternal Grandmother, both diabetic, hogging on to those Malpuas before anyone could stop them. They offered it to me and with the look of the dripping sugar syrup, it was a NO from my side. I then saw someone bring in Rabri from my favorite store and I was more than happy eating my plain Rabri. Now since, I have never been a big fan of Malpuas and Mr. Parveez never mentioned it either, it never occurred to me that I should try making them at home. In addition to that, I don’t know why but I always felt that making Malpuas must be too much work and I kind of never felt the need to even try it.

One day, we happened to be watching a Food channel where a food blogger went to Mumbai and showed this guy making big size Malpuas being thrown in the Kadai with boiling ghee and further dipped in the sugar syrup and being served straight away with cold Rabri and Mr. Parveez looked so impressed. So, I just asked him, “Do you like it?’ and he said, “yes”. With me that was more than enough to try making this out.

I checked with a family friend who got me a recipe from one of Jodhpur’s authentic Malpua maker. Sometimes people share secrets, they one have to be sure that no one is taking their business away, second, you need to contact through the right source and third and most important, you just have to be sweet when you ask, and mostly people fail to do the third thing. He never gave me the exact measurements though, but when you cook, ingredients are usually enough for you to crack a recipe because even if you use the exact same measurements, the dish would be completely different when made by 2 different people. I always tell everyone I teach, Don’t learn, get inspired. Learning while copying to do the same, makes you good, But Learning while getting inspired makes you outstanding. Never give up on being unique.

Now my first goal was to work on the Rabri, of course personal reasons. So, I started working on it, it was a slow process and the first time I made it, I was restless because I thought I was doing something wrong and its taking too long, but after that I was a pro and I can now cook 4 dishes the same time as I make Rabri. and, when I tasted it, I was so happy with myself, it tasted much nicer than the Rabri from my favorite sweet store in Jodhpur.

Now the Malpuas, they were much easier than I thought. Few ingredients, paying attention, and your Malpuas are ready to be served. They are very much like pancakes. My first attempt made them a little thick, the second time, I mixed in more milk trying to make them more thin. Try taking a good non stick pan to reduce the quantity of ghee you take.

Rabri can be refrigerated for up to a week. Malpua batter can also be refrigerated for up to 3-4 days. It tends to thicken a little while being refrigerated, you can always add a little milk tablespoon by tablespoon to make the consistency thinner.

I have out up ways and pics of both the thick Malpua and the thin Malpua. You can see both ways and pick your favorite. Though I have given the recipe of Rabri after the Malpua, but its always recommended that you make the Rabri few hours, if not a day before and refrigerate it. The Malpua needs to be hot and the Rabri needs to be chilled when served.

Decorate with silver leaf, crushed nuts and roses or anyway you like or just plain…the taste is so good that it will be loved and appreciated any which way. Enjoy!!!