GulabJamun No Bake Cheesecake

 ''A new year is unfolding like a blossom with petals curled tightly concealing the beauty within.'' 

- Unknown 

New Year !!
It is the regional New Year time all over India. Celebrated with different names, it basically marks the beginning of the harvest season and arrival of Spring.
It is called Vaisakhi in Punjab which  also marks the birth of Khalsa and is celebrated with lot of fervor. 
Poila Boishakh is celebrated in West Bengal which literally means first day of the first month. An auspicious time for marriages and beginning of all business activities, it is celebrated with traditional dressing and food. 
Vishu is celebrated in Kerala and is marked with Vishukanni which literally means"the first thing seen on the day of Vishu after waking up".
Ugadi is celebrated as New Year's Day in Karnataka and Andhra pradesh. The name Ugadi is derived from the name "Yuga Adi", which means 'the beginning of a new age'

Chaitti in Himachal Pradesh, Mahavishuva Sankrant in Orissa, Navreh in Kashmir, Cheiraoba in Manipur, Puthandu in Tamil Nadu, Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra, Rongali Bihu in Assam are all names of the New Year Celebrations in the different regions of India. 

Unity in Diversity is such an apt example which describes  India's varied cultures.

Recipe Adapted from:Divine Taste suggested by Swetha

Ingredients:For a 5" inch round cheesecake

Crust

• 3-4 Digestive biscuits
• 2-3 tbsp melted butter

Filling

• 8-10 Gulab jamuns, medium sized, drained and slightly squeezed to remove extra syrup
• 1/2 cup Hung curd
• 1 cup Paneer/cottage cheese
• 2-3 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tbsp Gelatin/1 tbsp China grass

Caramel Glaze

• 2 almonds(soaked in water for 2 hours,peeled and slivered finely)
• 2-3 tbsp sugar

Preparation :

Tin: 

Since I wanted to make a smaller quantity, I chose a 5" round tin instead of a Springform tin.

Cut 4 long strips of butter/parchment paper 1" wide. Fold them lengthwise to make them 1/2 " wide. Lay them as shown in Fig.1 and staple from the center. Place it in the tin(Fig 2). These will be used to pull the set cheesecake from the tin.

Cut a 5" circle butter paper for the base and a side strip.

Grease the tin lightly and place the prepared butter paper in the base and sides of tin(Fig 3)

Hung Curd:

Take 1 cup curd and put it in a muslin/cheesecloth. Tie the ends and allow it to hang overnight in the refrigerator(You may try tying it to a spatula and  placing over a bowl)

This will give you roughly 1/2 cup thick curd.

Procedure:

Crust:

Crush biscuits (placed in a kitchen towel/Ziplock)with the help of a rolling pin.

Add melted butter and mix well.

Press onto the base of the prepared tin with the help of the back of a spoon. (Fig 4)

Keep in the refrigerator to set for atleast 1/2 hour.

Filling:

Take 2 tbsp cold water and sprinkle gelatin over it for 5-10 mins or till it gets spongy.

Take hung curd, paneer and sugar in a mixer jar and process till smooth.

Transfer it to a pan and heat it very lightly over low heat. Do not let it boil.(Alternatively, microwave for 10-15 secs) As soon as the mixture is just warm to touch, remove from heat and add the gelatin. Stir well to dissolve the gelatin. 

If using china grass, break it into small pieces and soak in 1/4 cup water for 10 mins till it gets soft. Place it in a pan over low heat and let it dissolve for 5-6 mins, stirring well. Do not let it boil.

Add this to the warm curd and paneer mixture and stir well.

Place 7 pieces of gulabjamuns on the crust(Fig 5)

Pour the cheesecake mixture on the gulabjamuns.

Cut 2 gulabjamuns in half and place them inverted on the top.

Refrigerate for 3-4 hours to set.

Caramel Glaze:

Take sugar in a pan over low heat and let it cook and dissolve, stirring well. Soon you will notice it will leave water and begin to change colour. Keep stirring and when it dissolves completely becoming brownish in colour, remove from heat and add the slivered almonds. Pour onto the set cheesecake before it gets cold and hardens. Place some almond pieces on the gulab jamuns.

Slice up and serve this yummy 'very Indian' Cheesecake!!

Five days left for our 1st Anniversary and 3 Giveaways to end!!

Sending this recipe to Tangy Minds celebrate 1st Anniversary

 MJ Delights

Hearty and Healthy

Soul Food Show

Happy New Year to all of you!!
Amrita

Vellam Appam/Jaggery Pancake

I think children are like pancakes. You sort of ruin the first one, and you get better at it the second time around.
Kelly Ripa 

Pancakes are one of the most versatile food. Found in almost all cultures and their cuisines, pancakes are both sweet and savoury. Eaten mostly at breakfast, pancakes are a rage worldwide and are considered a quick and easy option. It is amazing to see the variety of pancakes, with unique regional grains, fillings and toppings.
Vellam Appam/Jaggery Pancake is traditional to South India. It is somewhat similar to the 'Meetha Pooda' eaten in Punjab where the batter is made from whole wheat flour and jaggery. Food truly is the common thread among all cultures!!
This month SNC challenge for the month was suggested by Shama nagarajan who blogs from Shama's easy 2 cook recipes. I adapted the recipe and made some changes to suit my palate.


Ingredients: For 4 medium sized 

• 2 tbsp boiled rice(Note: this does not mean rice which is boiled. It is a variety of rice you will get in stores selling South Indian groceries. Use normal rice if you cannot get this variety)
• 2 tbsp rice
• 1 tsp urad dal
• Jaggery-lemon sized
• 1/2 tsp fennel/saunf powder

Procedure: 
Wash and soak both kinds of rice and urad dal for 2 hours.
Grind to a smooth paste using little water.
Take jaggery in a pan and dissolve in some water on medium flame till the mixture becomes thick.
Cool and add this syrup to the ground rice and dal mixture. Add fennel/saunf powder.
Heat a non stick deep pan/kadhai. Pour a small ladle of this mixture and spread it by moving the vessel. 
Add a spoonful of oil and let it cook on low flame,covered with a lid.
Let it cook till golden brown in colour, turn and cook the other side too. 
Remove and serve while it is hot and crispy!!

Only a week left for our 1st Anniversary Celebration 3 amazing Book Giveaway!! 

Happy Pancake eating
Amrita

Super Quick Raw Mango Relish-Summer Herald

''Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.''Russel Baker

Summers!! 
I am sure all of you have your reasons to like and welcome summers. With its sweltering heat and unbearable humidity, esp in my part of the world, Summers are waited with bated breath for the arrival of the King of fruits-Mangoes!! Summers also bring along beautiful memories of childhood vacations. For us it was an entire month of fun and frolic in the dry heat of Punjab where we would spend countless hours getting scorched in the sun while playing out in the open. 
Summers also bring a big change in our food habits. Our menus are full of light, easy to digest meals with loads of fluids in the form of Lassi, Nimbu paani, Aam pannas etc which act as wonderful coolants. Quick and light meals are preferred to reduce the torture of spending extended time in the kitchen heat. 
A mango tree opposite my mother's house is richly laden with fruits this year. Though raw right now, every day we have loads of these tiny raw mangoes fallen on the ground which have been used to make chutneys. Last weekend when my mum made one of my favorite Luchi and cholar dal, we remembered this super quick and yummy relish which I am happy to share today. 

 Ingredients: For 2-3 servings

• 1 medium sized raw mango 
• 1/2 cup sugar
• salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder(degi lal mirch)
• 1 tsp jeera/cumin powder
• 2 cloves

 Procedure:
Peel and grate the raw mango. 
Mix grated raw mango with sugar and salt and keep aside for 1/2 hour. The mango will leave its water.
Put this mixture (along with the water)in a pan with cloves and cook over medium heat for 5 mins, or till the mango gets cooked and the water evaporates making the relish thick.
If relish is too thick, add a tbsp or two of water.
Add red chilli powder and cumin powder and mix well. 
Adjust salt and sugar to your liking.
Remove from flame and allow to cool. 

Notes: The relish will get thicker as it cools, so adjust the consistency accordingly.
            Cumin powder gives the relish its deep colour and taste, therefore try not to substitute.
            This relish is very quick and goes well with rice and pooris/luchis
             As suggested by one of our readers, Nisah from Singapore, this relish can be also used as an amazing sweet and tangy spread.

 We had this relish with the classic Bengali combination of Luchi and Cholar dal (Maida poori with chana dal)

This is a super quick and super yummy relish and is sure to get over the same day!!

Sending this recipe to Dish name starts with R

Happy Summer Relishing!!

Amrita

Chocolate Fudge Zucchini Cookies-For Hidden Veggies Challenge

 The foundation of our physical, mental and emotional health lies in every spoonful we eat and every swallow we drink.

Hidden Veggies!!
Hiding Vegetables in food and making your children eat them with fervor and joy has to be the most pleasurable cooking/baking of all!!! 
Most parents struggle at one point or the other with getting their kids to eat even few bites of vegetables. Parents even tend to beg, cajole, bribe and get creative to win this eternal and timeless battle. Though it certainly is a very daunting and frustrating task, it can be managed with some tips like cooking and shopping with kids and including them in meal making plans, experimenting with different vegetables and recipes and  'Sneaking' in vegetables. 
This months Daring Baker's Challenge was all about getting creative and hiding vegetables in bakes. When I started researching on this, I found so many amazing options like carrot cakes, sweet potato cookies, Kidney bean brownies, eggplant chocolate cake, spinach cake, zucchini brownies...!!! Can you believe such healthy bakes exist!! I chose on trying my hands on these Chocolate fudge Zucchini cookies. The cookies were fudgy and decadent with loads of chocolate flavor enhanced with Choco-chips and grated Zucchini which so conveniently mixed in the batter that we could'nt even make out its presence...hidden delight, for sure.

Recipe source : Adapted from Two peas & their Pod

Ingredients: Yields about 10 cookies

• 1/2 cup All purpose flour
• 1/4 cup grated Zucchini
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• a pinch of salt
• 2 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 5 tbsp brown sugar
• 5 tbsp hung curd
• 1/4 cup Choco-chips
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius. 
Line baking tray with baking sheet/aluminium foil.
Grate Zucchini and squeeze well. Try and remove as much fluid as possible. Pat dry on a kitchen towel.
Mix flour, soda and salt in a bowl and keep aside.
Melt butter in a saucepan, remove and add cocoa powder and both sugars. Mixture will be thick and sand like. 
Add hung curd and vanilla essence.
Now add the flour mixture and stir in Zucchini. Stir in the choco-chips.
Drop tbsp of this batter on the prepared baking tray, 2 inches apart. 
Bake for 10 mins or till done. Cool for 2-3 mins till firm. 
Repeat for another batch if batter is left. 

Sending this recipe to Bake Fest # 17 brainchild of Vardhini, Lets Cook for Kids, Whats with my Cuppa brainchild of Nupur and Bon Vivant#13-Kids Delight

Happy Hiding Veggies
Amrita

Stuffed Pav Bhaji Rolls-Indianized Hokkaido bread

People who love to eat, are always the best people!! Julia Child

Coming from a Sikh family, cooking and eating has been an integral part way of our lives. At breakfast, we discuss lunch and at lunch we settle on our dinner menu, everyday! Growing up in a foodie family and then getting married to an equally food loving family has made a non cook/baker like me to experiment and enjoy food. In fact, that is precisely the reason me and Vishal started this blog, because of our love to experiment, invent and share food. We have just completed one beautiful year of blogging and look forward to further grow our passion of learning and sharing food through this amazing medium.

Through blogging we got the opportunity to virtually meet and learn from some wonderful fellow passionate foodies. One such group of amazing bakers are the 'We Knead to Bake' and I am so glad to be part of this extremely talented group. The bread bake for this month is Hokkaido Milk bread with Tangzhong.

This technique of bread baking uses an ingredient called Tangzhong which is made by cooking flour with 5 times water at 65 degrees Celsius to form a roux. It is said that at 65 degrees, the gluten in the flour mixture will absorb the moisture creating a leavening action. This Tangzhong when added with other ingredients of bread produces extremely soft, tender and fluffy bread.  

This is a very versatile recipe and can be easily adapted to make/shape any sort of bread with amazingly soft results.

Pavs-9 regular sized 

Ingredients: I halved the original recipe adapted from Kirbie's Cravings, original recipe from 65 Degrees Tangzhong “65C Bread Doctor” by Yvonne Chen

Tangzhong - Flour water Roux

• 5 tbsp All purpose flour
• 4 tbsp water
• 4 tbsp milk

Bread dough 

• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tbsp sugar, powdered
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp powdered milk
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tbsp cream
• 1 tsp Instant yeast 
• 5 tbsp Tangzhong 
• 1 tbsp butter, softened

Procedure:

Tangzhong
Whisk together flour, water and milk in a saucepan. Place on a stove over medium heat and let it cook till it starts thickening while stirring continuously. Cook till it reaches 65 degrees Celsius or else till you see lines forming in this mixture (roux). Remove from heat and let it cool completely for 2-3 hours.

Bread dough 
Mix flour, salt, sugar, powdered milk and instant yeast in a bowl and mix well. 
Mix milk, cream and Tangzhong in another bowl, till smooth.
Add the milk Tangzhong mixture to the flour mixture and process on low speed using a  food processor/hand mixer with dough hooks till the dough comes together or else knead with hands for 10 mins.
Add butter and process till the dough is smooth and elastic. 
The dough can be sticky to begin with but will become smooth if you keep kneading (Tons of patience required to not add any more flour)
Form the dough in a ball and keep in a well oiled bowl, coating all sides. 
Cover with a damp muslin cloth and let it rise in a warm place  for an hour or till it gets double in size.
Pinch 9 equal sized balls from the dough. 
Roll each about the size of your palm and spread some garlic chutney and some Bhaji as filling. Seal the edges and give a round shape to the stuffed dough.

Place the dough balls in a well oiled square tin.

 
(You may skip the stuffing step if you want to make just the Pav buns.)
Cover with a damp muslin cloth and let it rise for another hour.
Preheat oven to 170 degree Celsius.
Brush the tops of the bread with milk cream mixture or just milk.

Bake for 20-25 mins or till the tops are browned well. 

Bhaji

Ingredients:

• 2 medium sized Potatoes, boiled and mashed
• 1/2 medium sized Green capsicum, chopped
• 1/2 cup green peas, boiled
• 1/4 cup little florets of Cauliflower
• 1 small carrot, chopped
• 2 medium sized Tomatoes, blanched in hot water, skin removed and pureed
• 2 spring onions, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
• 1 tbsp Pav Bhaji masala
• 1 tsp red chilli powder 
• Juice of a lemon  
• few drops of orange red food colouring

Procedure :

Take 2-3 tbsp oil in a deep pan/kadhai , add 1 tsp of cumin seeds and as it browns add onions. 

Add ginger garlic paste. Let it cook for a while. 

Add chopped cauliflower, carrot and capsicum. Let it cook for 4-5 mins. 

Add peas and tomato puree. 

Mix well and add mashed potatoes. 

Add salt, red chilli powder and Pav bhaji masala.

Mix lemon juice.

Using a masher, mash all the veggies well.

Let it cook till all the veggies are mashed and the bhaji has thickened. 

Add food colour to your liking or avoid this step.

Check the seasoning and adjust to your liking.

Garnish with spring onions.

Garlic Chutney

Ingredients:

• 3-4 dried red chillies, deseeded
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 10-12 garlic pods
• salt to taste

Procedure:

Soak dried red chillies in white vinegar for 1 hour. 

Remove and grind with garlic and salt to a fine paste. 

Add some water to give chutney consistency. 

 

This method of bread making is surely a keeper with  the bread being remarkably soft. The bread is as soft as my Cheesy chicken stuffed braided bread which uses the scalded flour method. Personally I liked both the methods as they have yielded super soft bread.

The choice to shape this bread dough in endless and it can be easily used to try your hands on any bread bake.

 

This recipe is getting Yeastspotted and is being sent to Bake fest#17 brainchild of Vardhini, What's with my cuppa brainchild of Nupur,
Kid’s Delight Event brainchild of Srivalli , Foodabulous Fest Event organised by Simply TADKA,

Happy Modern Pav Bhaji Experience
Amrita