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!!!

Mango Lassi

Mango Lassi is a popular name in Indian houses during summer, specially the Mango season. I personally have always loved sweet and sour lassi, but those days I never realized that Lassi could have fruit flavors as  well.

The maximum innovation I tried during our Ramadan was Rose Lassi, which was basically sweet lassi with Rose syrup, not really an innovation. With time, and thank you to all wonderful exposure that I got, I came across Mango Lassi. As a Mango lover, it was definitely something that I wanted to master.

It’s an easy drink to make and very refreshing, specially during summer evenings. I prefer using real mangoes for lassi than mango puree. I feel the taste is more pure and the natural sugar from Mango gives it a great taste.

Chocolate Milkshake

A family who loves Chocolate would go to any extent to have chocolate in different forms…LOlzzz. Trust me, I try to make chocolate in all ways and forms possible. One of the best creations I ever did was making my own chocolate Ice cream which didn’t just make an excellent dessert by itself , but a perfect base for so many different desserts.

Chocolate Milkshake is super easy if you have chocolate Ice cream and want to serve your guests with something fancier, this is your go to dessert drink. My Boys love it as an after school snack or to entertain their friends on a play. Honestly, I have never seen an adult leave even a sip behind when served, so basically, its just a super fab Chocolate shake.

I used my home made chocolate Ice cream, little heavy cream, little sugar and milk. I made sure that the milk and cream were chilled before using. Blending the ingredients together, not only turns them into more liquid but also brings them to room temperature. Therefore, its important that cream and milk are chilled. Blending Ice cream with milk and cream and adding the chocolate syrup makes it more chocolaty and yummy.

I added half of Ferrero Rocher on top to make it look more kid friendly and appealing. You can always add any of your other favorite chocolates as well.

Choco Oreo Icecream Cake

For most Chocolate lovers, chocolate Ice cream and chocolate cake are one of the world’s most favorite flavors. A mix of oreos in that batch and the taste becomes heavenly.

Chocolate cake, without any kind of icing is our family favorite. Its simple to make, easily baked and rapidly vanishes. And the one day, my boys wanted something more exciting and and wanted to try making an Ice cream cake, which we normally buy from our favorite Ice cream store.  My kids are just like me, if I crack the recipe of one dish, I have to try harder and crack another one. They like me to experiment with new things and then they try to mix and match. So, once I mastered the perfect ice cream recipe, they wanted to try the ice cream cake.

We mixed in a few crushed Oreos to enhance the taste and make it more kid friendly, since it was an idea from my boys. The recipe is very easy. The cake recipe and Ice cream recipes are a part of my recipes too and you can find them on this site as well.

Badaam Kulfi

Kulfi is an Indian Ice cream and is favorite to ice cream lovers. My family has always loved eating or ordering kulfis from our favorite kulfi shop. There used to be one particular Kulfi shop that sold the best “marwari kulfi”. That shop is still by the clock tower in Jodhpur and it still sells the most authentic marwari kulfi.

Though in last few years, a lot of new ice cream shops and kulfi places have opened and become popular too. But, for people like me, we still go back to that old shop to get the traditional and delicious kulfi.

Being far away from home, we yearn to have those flavors and no matter which restaurant we go to, the kulfi doesn’t taste the same as what we get back home. I always craved for the creamy texture and nutty flavor which I never found anywhere around.

And then one fine day, I decided to start making my own. Trust me, its one of the best decision I ever took. After this, it was no looking back. I experimented with loads of different flavors and made a huge variety.

I feel there is nothing better than having your kulfi homemade. See, there is nothing that can beat the freshness, the quality of the products that you use plus the shelf time. When you buy them from the market, you have no idea how many times, they have been defrosted and refreeze again and don’t forget all the preservatives added to them.

As much as its hyped with all the recipes given of how to get a perfect kulfi, trust me there is no big deal to it. Its simple and comes out delicious. Just follow the simple steps. It doesn’t require too many ingredients and it would turn out more delicious than your favorite store brand.

If you have questions, feel free to ask.

Almond Choco Bar

My family and I love homemade chocolates…From Atlantic city, New Jersey to Ooti, India… any place that said homemade chocolates, we were there . We would try almost all kinds, cashews, coconut, caramel and our most favorite Almond. I would always look forward to our trips or spend a fortune online to have them shipped to us.

Finally, one day I got down to trying my own and Oh boy! They were out of the world. And since then, everything changed…These chocolates were made on different occasions along with making them for my kids schools . The best part was everyone always trying to find out the name of the store [since I used colored wrappers from amazon with no names].

 

The recipe makes chocolates that melt in the mouth. I made these and cut them uneven like homemade chocolate bars. Later, I got chocolate molds and  they look super delicious and beautiful.

Malai Kofta Curry

I belong to Rajasthan and I love almost all dishes that are from Rajasthan. Though Jodhpur, my home town is very popular for its Laal Maas, but its also very well known for its “asli ghee mein bani dishes”. One of my all time favorite is Malai Kofta. My home town, Jodhpur has some super amazing small restaurants that serve super delicious Malai Kofta. These restaurants are so small that they will never show up on a google map, but a true Jodhpuri knows how to get around and satisfy their taste buds.

Growing up, I loved going to all those restaurants, it was just so much fun and now, every time I visit my hometown, I revisit all these restaurants for the love of my hometown food. this is the closest I could get to the Malai Kofta flavor of Marwar.

Puraani Dilli Ki Kacche Gosht ki Biryani

Food and Purani Dilli go hand in hand. No person in this world can enter purani Dilli and come out hungry. The hustling Jama’a Masjid area or the area connecting to Chandni chowk or Sadar Bazaar offer food for all. whether you are a vegetarian or a non vegetarian, whether you are in mood for parantha or just a plate of kebab or plain simple juice/tea…You find them all.

Its a place where only the brave hearts can survive. I still remember my time in Purani Dilli as a kid and I used to hate being on the cycle riksha. It takes major skills to survive sitting on those small seats with bags and get through without falling each time the rikshawala applies break, which is just around 20 times a minute…LOLzzz. But, trust me, the food is worth more and you will find the trip an amazing experience.

If you do ever visit, do try the awesome non vegetarian restaurants opposite Jama’a Masjid and also ask the riksha wala to take you to paranthe wali gali. The lane has almost every parantha that exists and is a parantha heaven for every foodie.

Coming back to this Biryani. I believe the original recipe for this Biryani is definitely the Mughals trying the initial ways of cooking Biryani. My reasoning is comparing this dish to many rice and meat based dishes cooked in  the Middle east, where in a similar manner the meat is 50% cooked and is tenderized using raw papaya or Vinegar and then the rice, which is only 20% cooked, is layered on top of the half cooked meat and the steam generated from cooking the meat cooks the rice. The recipe is pretty hassle free and simple.

If you still are confused with any step or would like to learn how to cook this dish, feel free to contact me.

Hyderabadi Korme ki Biryani

Hyderabad is popular for its food, especially for the Biryani. But did you know that Hyderabad itself offers at least 100 varieties of Biryanis. And trust me, each Biryani is completely different in taste from the other. The cooking style, the spices and different times of adding the spice changes the complete taste and to understand that better, you have to be a Biryani lover like me.

This recipe is among one of my favorites, honestly I think they all are and it gets really hard to choose between them. My younger one loves the idea of having potatoes in his Biryani. I have no idea which side he gets it from because me or Mr. Parveez are strictly “meat lovers only” when it comes to our Biryanis and as much as my younger son loves Potatoes, he wouldn’t ever eat vegetable Biryani to save his life. Yupp!!! Its quiet funny . So, this Biryani is one of his favorites.

Korma is essentially , a yogurt based curry to which musk melon seeds, poppy seeds and cashew nuts have been added. It is to this curry that rice is added making the flavor amazing.

Its always worth trying a new flavor. Just make sure you read all the instructions and follow the steps strictly to enjoy the same taste as we did. You can always contact me if you miss out something or need help.

Chicken Hyderabadi Dumm Biryani

Hyderabad is very popular for its Non vegetarian food, mainly Biryani. Hyderabad is the first place that comes to our mind when we think of good Biryani. When I started researching more about Biryanis, I found out the numerous  Biryanis that Hyderabad offers, which are not just Non vegetarian but also vegetarian.

I have tried a variety of Hyderabadi Biryanis and each one is delicious and completely different from each other. The recipes also has “Baghare Baingan”, an eggplant dish cooked with peanuts and tamarind and “Khatte Baingan”, another recipe of eggplant, where eggplant is cooked with tomatoes and tamarind. Biryanis are served with different sides including Raita and Dalcha too.