Gajar/Carrot Halwa

You need -

6-7 medium sized carrots

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp powdered cardamom

10-12 cashew nuts

5 tsps ghee

What you have to do -

- Grate the carrots and set aside

- On low flame, in a pan, crush and roast the cashew nuts

- Take the nuts out once they're golden brown and then add the carrots (add more ghee if you want it richer)

- Cook carrots until the raw smell goes away

- Once they're soft, add the sugar, powdered cardamom and the milk

- Cook for another 10 minutes and take it down from the flame

- Garnish with the roast cashew nuts

Serve hot with ice cream!

Cherry Cheesecake

Makes 6 slices

Inspired by Nigella Lawson, I tried this out at home - and I'm proud to say that it was a success. Overall, it works out to be expensive - but makes every paisa spent completely worth the while! This is the non-bake variety of cheesecake.

You need -

200gms Philadelphia/Danish Cream Cheese

90gms of digestive biscuits

50gms of butter (unsalted preferred)

40gms of icing sugar/powdered sugar

175mls of Amul fresh cream

A fresh lemon

Vanilla essence

A bottle of fruit preserve - I chose St. Dalfour's Black Cherry preserve

What you have to do -

- Beat the fresh cream into a thick mixture and set aside in a bowl

- Put the icing/powdered sugar, a dash of lime, vanilla essence and the cream cheese into a bowl and beat it up until it's consistent and fluffy

- Put the biscuits and butter in a blender until you get a coarse mix for the base

- Butter a flat medium-deep bowl and press the base on to it evenly

- Mix the fresh cream mix with the second mix until you get an even consistency

- Pour the fresh batter over the base evenly and then put away in the fridge for a few hours

- Place on a plate and pour our generous portions of cherry preserve on top of the cake just before serving

Serve cold and don't count the calories!

Coconut Laddu

Makes 12 balls.

I had some left over coconut after I was done making Kozhakattais. So. I decided to quickly try my hand at coconut barfi. That didn't work out very well, so I was left with coconut balls. Trust me, they taste as good - just look different!

You need -

1 large cup of shaved coconut

3 tb spoons milk

2 spoons sugar (more if you want it sweeter)

6 pieces of ground cardamom

Some ghee

What you have to do -

- Fry the shaved coconut in one spoon of ghee until it gets crispy

- In a kadai, boil the milk along with the sugar, a spoon of ghee and the ground cardamom

- Add the fried coconut shavings and sautee until it's hard

- Make small balls and put away in the fridge until you have to serve it

Choc-Almond Fudge Drops

Makes 12 balls

You need -

2 bars of dark chocolate (bournville)

1 can of condensed milk

1 tablespoon of butter

A handful of crushed almonds

What you have to do -

- Break the dark chocolate into little pieces, put in a bowl and heat

- Add condensed milk immediately and mix it up until the pieces melt into the batter

- The batter will get bubbly (within 5-6 minutes) so be careful to make sure it doesn't burn - mix until you get an even consistency and the batter seems to be consistent

- Add the almonds and take it off the flame

- Wait for it to cool and then use your palms to make small Ferrero Rocher sized balls

Wrap these little drops of heaven in small pieces of foil and share!

Kozhakattai (sweet coconut dumplings) Part 2

Today I put together the two mixes and made the final sweet.

After bringing both mixes to room temperature, here's what I did:

- Apply a little coconut oil on your hands, and make little balls out of the rice mix (meil mau) using your palm

- Using your fingers, spread it out into thin flat cakes of 2" diameter - making it thinner towards the edges

- Put 1 tsp of the filling (poornam) in the center and then shut the filling with the edges - much like you'd do while making aloo paratha

- Pinch off the thick top part to give it an even outer coating

- Steam for 15 minutes by placing in a perforated plate over hot water, or by placing in an idly plate in a pressure cooker

Best when served hot!

Kozhakattai (sweet coconut dumplings) Part 1

Every year, my grandma would make the most delicious Kozhakattais on Ganesh Chaturthi day. This year, I'm in Hyderabad, and so I decided to try making them myself. This is a delicate dish and takes time, so I'm making it over two days.

Today, I made the two batters (meil mau & poornam), and tomorrow I'm going to make the actual kozhakattais. Here's what I did today:

For the outer shell (meil mau)

You need -

1 cup rice

4 spoons of coconut oil

A pinch of salt

What you have to do -

- Soak the rice in 2 cups of water for 2 hours

- Strain the water (but save for later use) and put the rice in a blender

- Blend until you get the pasty consistency of a very thick soup

- On a very low flame, put the rice paste, the coconut oil and the pinch of salt in a kadai

- Stir continuously until it gets hard but not too dry - it should have the same consistency as the batter you'd make for rotis

- Put away in a box in the fridge

For the inner filling (poornam)

You need -

1 coconut

Some jaggery

Some ground cardamom

What you have to do:

- Grate the coconut or put it in a blender for a few minutes

- Heat a kadai on a low flame and melt a small cup of jaggery

- Once it starts to turn into liquid, add the coconut and cardamom

- Continue to stir the mix on the low flame until it gets crunchy and the liquid is no longer separate from the coconut

- Put in a bowl and put away in the fridge

For part 2, visit this post.

Basundhi

Serves four.

I had a few friends coming over for lunch and card games one Saturday, and I decided to try my hand at Basundhi. It took time - but was actually quite easy to put together.

You need -

1l milk

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cardamom (powdered)

6 crushed almonds

3 strands of saffron

What you have to do -

- Boil the milk in a kadai until it reduces to half its quantity - you'll start seeing layers in the milk

- Add the sugar and mix until it dissolves

- Once it comes down to 1/4th it's quantity, add the cardamom and saffron

- When the mix is layered and coarse, take it off the flame and garnish with almonds

- Serve hot or cold!

Note: This is a very heavy dessert.

Parisian Crepes

I tasted my first crepe while in Paris, in 2007, at a little cafe opposite the Louvre museum metro stop - and I loved it!

(at the Louvre, soon after the crepes)

Since then, I've experimented in my own kitchen and I must say - it has come out very well.

You need -

3 cups maida/flour

3 eggs

3 cups milk

1/2 cup sugar

2 small spoons of baking powder

2 spoons of molten butter

2 spoons of flavored essence (optional)

Fruit of your choice (banana, apple, strawberry, pineapple recommended)

Honey/chocolate syrup

What you have to do -

- Mix the maida, eggs, milk, sugar, baking powder, butter and essence to make a loose flow-ey batter. It has to have the consistency of olive oil.

- Let it sit for about 10-20 minutes. You can put it away in the fridge and come back to it later if you're preparing it ahead of time.

- Heat a wide flat pan with a small amount of butter.

- Pour out the batter evenly, while ensuring that you're maintaining the least possible thickness.

- After it cooks for a bit, it will separate from the pan. Turn it over and let it cook on the other side.

- As it cooks, add cut fruit and honey/chocolate syrup.

- Roll it over or fold twice and serve!

Some interesting variations -

- Make chocolate pancakes with slices bananas and leave it in the fridge for a few hours. They're quite yummy on a hot summer afternoon or make for a good dessert.

- Chocolate + Banana + Coconut shavings = very yum!

- Strawberry + Honey = very very yum!

- Add white/brown chocolate chips to make them crunchy and super-chocolatey.