Ricotta Ras Malai

Ingredients:

For the patties:

Ricotta Cheese - 15 oz
1/4 C sugar

For the milk mixture:

4-5 C Milk
2-3 tbsp. sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp cardamom powder
1/4 C Sugar  or more to suit your taste
few strands of Saffron/Zafran
1/2 tsp Kewra Water/ rose water

Sliced Almonds / Pistachios for garnish


Method:

In a heavy bottom vessel , heat milk on medium low heat, stirring occasionally, till it thickens or reduces to half . Add sugar, cardamom powder,condensed milk and saffron.Cook for a few mins.  Turn off the heat, let it cool slightly , now add kewra water.  Let it cool completely and refrigerate till ready to use. 

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F.In a mixing bowl, whisk together the ingredients for patties ,ricotta cheese and sugar.  Mix well. Grease a 8X8 glass baking dish, pour the ricotta cheese mixture and bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until ricotta cheese looks pale yellow and has turned slightly golden at the edges. A way to test if ricotta is ready to take out of the oven , would be to insert a toothpick and see if it comes out clean. Let it cool completely.Now with a round cookie cutter, cut small round patties, you could also cut squares if you like.

Arrange the baked ricotta rounds in the serving dish, pour the cooled milk mixture and refrigerate for at least half an hour. Serve chilled.

Enjoy !

Notes:

• You could make the milk mixture and the ricotta rounds at least 3 days in advance. Remember to store them separately.
• Mix them the day you would like to serve them, so they don't be too soggy or break apart.
• You could also use half and half or evaporated milk or even add some heavy cream for added richness.
• I used a glass baking dish, but you could use any, the baking time may vary in that case
• Also if you want you patties thinner use a bigger baking dish, baking time may vary if you do.
• Adjust the quantity of sugar and flavoring to suit your taste, you dont have to add the exact amount mentioned in the recipe, you could  make it more sweeter, use less /more of cardamom or kewra

Sending it to Jagrutis, Grand Festive Feasts event.

Ritz Chaat

Ramadan Kareem to all.

Its the first day of the holy month of Ramadan , time to officially announce a break from blogging. Before I go, as promised I have a super delicious treat to share with you all.

I love chaats, I mean, who doesn't ? There are many toppings that go well with the Ritz crackers/ Monaco biscuits, the chaat toppings are my favourite way to doll up these salty crackers. These make excellent party foods, I served them at one I recently hosted and it was liked by all. 

When it comes to chaat nothing is right or wrong , it all builds according to your tastes or preferences (remember asking the chaat wala to add more imli ? ). There is no specific recipe for this chaat so I 'll simply put how I assembled these.

To assemble this chaat spread some boiled n mashed potato on each ritz cracker , top it with pudina / mint chutney, Tamarind/ Imli ki chutney, ketchup, sprinkle some chaat masala, top with finely chopped red onions then some nylon sev (thin sev) , garnish with chopped coriander/ cilantro n mint leaves.

Tip:

You can use home made or store bought chutneys. If you plan to make a big batch of these, fill the mashed potatoes in a piping bag n pipe some on each cracker instead of spreading on each individual one, this way its faster. Use a squeeze bottle for the chutneys.

Visit my Ramadan page for more recipe ideas and inspirations !

This is my entry to the following events:

Party Treats event series of Monthly mingle hosted by Saraswathi and started by Meeta

Joy from Fasting to Feasting  hosted by Lubna

Visual Treats hosted by Sanyukta

Lets Munch  Tea Time Snack  hosted by Sharmilee

Semi Home Made Event Round Up

The Semi Home Made Indian Recipes event is officially over and I am pleased to present to you the creative, smart and delicious round up. I am so glad I hosted this event coz this way I gotto know lots of new blogs and made new friends.

I would personally like to give a big hug and thank every one who did send in their contributions, who said they would try and even the ones who emailed me saying why they couldnt :)

One thing I would like to mention before going to the round up is that I am trying to include all the readers who comment (even if its only once) in my fellow bloggers list, if you have sent in your entry / commented and dont see your blog in the fellow bloggers list, please let me know.

Following are the entries in order I recieved them :


Yasmeen -- Salmon Burgers with Butternut Squash Fries

Ambika --- Egg Curry

Tazaika -- Egg Sandwich

Nithu -- Chilli Paratha

Priya -- Chilli Chicken 65

Priya -- Prawn Tikka Pizza

Asha -- Cinnamon - Brown Sugar Rolls

Asha -- Pickle Masala Dal



Kalai -- Fantastic Croissants

Swathi -- Vegetable Puffs

Ruchika -- Paneer Calzone

Divya-- Tomato Sevai

Priyanka -- Spiced Vegetable Couscous

SE-- Almond and Chocolate Rugelach

Preethi -- Chicken Tikka

Tazaika -- Curd Raita

Cham -- Vegetable Samosa

Cham -- Rasmalai

Jyoti -- Vegetable Stew

Cool Lassi(e)-- Tandoori Chicken

Cool Lassi(e) -- Chicken 65

Cool Lassi(e) --Ice cream lollipops

Cool Lassi(e) -- Sugarplum balls

Cool Lassi(e) -- Bread Pudding

Cool Lassi(e) -- Baked Mini Samosas

Cool Lassi(e) -- Malai Kofta

Nithu-- Pav Bhaji

Following are my contributions to the event

Grilled Indian Pizza

Raita

Vegeatble Korma

Gulab Jamuns

To choose a winner was the toughest, so we went for the lucky draw method and every entry was listed. If you sent more than one entry your name was included for every entry individually, and so the badge of honor goes to .....drum roll .... Cool Lassi(e) !!!

Congratulations, this is yours to keep :)

Have a great week y'all , hope to see you soon :D

Gulab Jamun

Fried dumplings of milk soaked in cardamom scented sugar syrup, this is generally how restaurant menus explain it.

Gulab Jamun is a favourite with me and my siblings. Growing up, the only sweet we would look forward to eat is Kala Jamun. Making Gulab jamun needs a perfect proportion of Khoya, Sooji or Paneer or what ever may be your recipe, the key is the proportion. This is what my mom says. For me making Gulab Jamuns, is as easy as opening a packet of my favourite brand and mixing it up. But recently I learned to kick it up a notch. Now this is how I jazz up the mix, well actually I learnt this trick from my sis who herself is a very good cook .

When you get a packet of instant gulab jamun mix (available at indian grocery stores), it comes with the instructions, in which they ask you to knead the mix using water or milk. So here is the trick, instead of that try using some condensed milk or evaporated milk (see tip below), sprinkle some elaichi powder, few blanched and finely sliced pistachios to the mix and then just knead it , fry it n soak it in sugar syrup just as the package says. I also add some rose water to my sugar syrup. You will see how richer and creamier and homier they taste just by tweaking the mix a tiny bit. Garnish with silvered almonds or pistachios and enjoy.

How much condensed milk to add: Just keep adding 1 tbsp. of condensed milk or evaporated milk at a time until you get the desired consistency, or until the mix starts to form into a ball.

Kala Jamuns can also be made using the gulab jamun mix...but lets save that story for another day :)

Thanks for sharing this trick Didi ! This is my entry to the Semi Home Made Indian Recipes event hosted by myself.


I am also sending this to the Hearts for St. Valentines Day event hosted by Priya .

Vegetable Qorma

This is another semi home made recipe for a quick qorma. I mean seriously, all I did was saute some chopped veggies till they cook slightly and then open up a jar of pre made qorma sauce . I used potatoes, carrots, peas and beans but you could use any of your favourite veggies. Just before taking the qorma off the heat I topped it with lots of fresh coriander leaves n closed the lid.

Seeds of Change has a variety of organic Indian sauces, but so far I like the Korma sauce the best. Apart from vegetables it also goes well with chicken, pan fried paneer and boiled eggs. Visit their website for coupons and more recipe inspirations.

This is my entry for the Semi Homemade event hosted here at Lazzat.

Raita

Just whip 1 Cup of Yogurt (I used Oikos Greek Yogurt) with 1 tbsp of store bought mint chutney or sandwich chutney, add some sliced red onion, few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice and season it with salt for a refreshing raita.

To this you can add grated cucumbers, cilantro, mint, green chillies , etc etc...you could also season it with chaat masala, its very twekable :) Using a store bought / pre-made chutney saves you a lot of time and effort, and the lemon juice just freshens up everything.


Raitas are usually served alongside biryanis, kababs or parathas, but you cud also use it as a dip for your nachos or chips or even papad.

This quick fix is my entry to the Semi Home Made Indian Recipes event hosted by myself.