Category: DESSERTS

Mango Almond Delight

Today I tried out a lovely combination of Mango and almond.

Since both have their lien natural sweetness I just had to blend the flavours to get a beautiful dessert and garnished them with small mango bits and a spoon of soaked chia seeds.

Ingredients:

Mango -1

Almonds -10-12 soaked

Milk powder – 3 tablespoons

Chia seeds – 2 tablespoons

Water -1 cup

Milk -1 cup

Corn flour – 1 spoon.

Method:

With a help of a peeler remove the peels of the mango.

Slice a part of the big chunk into little bits and refrigerate it.

Peel the soaked almonds and grind it to a smooth paste adding the water and the milk powder.

Blend the remaining pieces of mango to a fine paste.

Soak the chia seeds in half a cup of water .

In a pan preferably a nonstick one, add the almond paste and the milk and as it thickens add the cornflower mix d in an ounce water.

As it boils the mixture thickens.

Switch off the gas and allow the mixture to cool.

Take a glass bowl or tall glass and pour the mango purée and then the almond milk mixture spreading it evenly over the mango purée.

Add the mango bits of n the top and garnish with soaked chia seeds.

Refrigerate the bowl or glass for about one hour and enjoy it cold.

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Custard Biscuit Relish

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas 🎄 and a Happy and blessed 2023 .
Tried this new dessert today which has no added sugar.
I have used sugar free wheat digestives as a crunchy base for the silky smooth custard topped with fruits and toasted Nuts and raisins.

It’s a simple and easy Peasy recipe. Do try it in your kitchen and enjoy with family.

Ingredients:

Digestive Biscuits – 8-10

Butter – 2 table spoons

Custard powder – 2 table spoons.

Milk – 2 cups

Honey -3 table spoons

Black Grapes – 8-10

Sliced strawberries -4


Dry fruits – Almonds, Cashew and Pista bits (toasted) for garnishing

Method:

Crush the biscuits using a rolling pin and transfer it to a glass container.


Melt the butter and pour it over the biscuit mixture.
With the help of the spatula spread and flatten the mixture in the bowl. Keep it in the freezer for about twenty minutes to set.


In a saucepan heat milk .
Now add a few tea spoons of milk to the custard powder and mix well.
Add it slowly to the hot milk stirring continuously to avoid lumps.

once it thickens put off the flame.
Allow to cool.
Now add the honey and vanilla essence . With the help of a whisk mix well to get a smooth consistency..


Now pour the thickened custard mixture over the set biscuit mixture .



Now garnish the strawberry slices, grapes and tossed nuts and raisins and cover the container with a cling wrap or a foil and refrigerate for another two hours.
Enjoy with family.

namithaskitchen

Fig & Beaten Rice Halwa

Today I tried out a new halwa which has no added sugar. It came out very yummy.unique combination but relished by my family.

Ingredients :

Dry figs – 10 to 12 pieces.

Beaten rice – 1/2 cup.

Almond bits -1 table spoon

Ghee – 3 table spoons

Milk – 1 cup.

Cardamom powder – 1/4 spoon.

Method:

In a pan add a table spoon of ghee and roast the Poha until it turns golden brown. Transfer it to a mixer jar and dry grind it to coarse powder.

Now in the same pan add a table spoon of ghee and add in sliced fig bits.

Now add the roasted Poha and milk and mix well. Add the remaining ghee amd on closed lid and cook for another two minutes.

Put off the flame and garnish with almond bits.The halwa is ready.

namithaskitchen

Kalakand

Kalakand is a milk based sweet which is normally prepared on festive occasions.

It used to be a long process where milk is cooked until it thickens and then the rest of the ingredients get added into it.

The paneer (cottage cheese) too would be home made.

I still prefer to prepare the paneer the previous night. Although generally we put some weight on it to extract all the moisture, when preparing this dish, I avoid doing so to retain the moisture as the end result is a perfect grainy textured Kalakand.

I prefer using milk powder instead of khoya as it saves time and tastes the same while cutting the entire process much shorter as making khoya from scratch is a long process.

You may increase the amount of sugar as per your preference.

Ingredients:

Paneer/cottage cheese – 1 cup grated

Milk Powder – 1 cup

Ghee – 2 table spoons

Brown Sugar – 5 table spoons

Almond slivers – 1 table spoon

Pistachio flakes – 1 table spoon

Cardamom powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Milk – 1 cup

Method:

In a heavy bottomed pan, preferably a non stick or ceramic pan, add milk and boil it – stirring occasionally until it thickens and reduces in quantity. This may take about 10-15 minutes.

Add in the grated Paneer and milk powder, mix well so that any lumps that may form disintegrate. Keep sautéing until you get a grainy texture.

Now add ghee followed by the brown sugar and cardamom until the mixture begins to form a ball leaving the sides of the pan.

Grease a small baking dish with some butter and transfer the mixture into the dish.

This may take about 12 – 15 minutes.

Garnish with pistachios and almond slivers

Pat it with the back of a ladle or a turner to smoothen the top and allow it to cool.

Once warm (no longer hot), cut them into square bits and enjoy.

namithaskitchen

Banana & Walnut Muffins


When you have ripe bananas in your fruit bowl and your neighbor gives you some more then you make the best use of those bananas by trying out new recipes.Have made muffins earlier too. These bananas ripened overnight and taste wise they were too sweet and that’s when I decided to bake these muffins.
I have added a bit of jaggery to get the right texture.They turned out awesome both in taste and texture.


Ingredients:
Whole wheat flour – 1 cup
Bananas – 5 ( small ellakki bananas)
Baking powder – 1/4 spoon
Baking soda – 1/4 spoon
Jaggery powder – 1/4 cup
Curd – 1/2 cup
Walnuts – 1/4 cup(bits)
Vanilla essence – 1/4 spoon
Oil – 1/4 cup
Method:
Preheat the oven for 10 minutes setting the temperature at 180 degrees Celsius.
Take a deep bowl and mash the peeled bananas one by one.
Add in the curd to which a few pinches of salt is added.
Add the oil and jaggery powder and mix well.
Now take a big bowl and pass the baking soda, baking powder and the whole wheat flour through a seive.
Slowly spoon in the mixture into the curd and jaggery mixture using the cut and fold method.
Add the vanilla essence and the walnut bits and then mix it lightly.
The batter should be of thick consistency.You may add a table spoon or so of milk if the mixture is too thick.
Lightly grease the muffin pan and spoon in the mixture into the moulds one by one.
Bake for about twenty minutes at 180 degree Celsius.
I could make 6 muffins from the above given measure.

namithaskitchen

Dates & Vermicelli Halwa

This is one of my favourite desserts. My family loves it without extra sugar and so I prefer to skip the sugar part and I choose to increase the quantity of dates to get the natural sweetness.

Vermicelli – 1 cup(Roasted using a little ghee)

Hot water – 1 cup.

Dates chopped into long bits – 1/2 cup

Raisins – 1 table spoon

Almonds – 2 slivered

Walnuts – 3 to 4 chopped

Cashew nut bits – 1 spoon

Brown sugar – 1/4 cup

Ghee- – 1/4 cup.(warm)

Cardamom – 3 to 4 pods skinned and powdered.

Take a little ghee in a pan and roast the vermicelli on low heat and keep aside.

Roast the dry fruits in the same pan and keep aside.

Add a cup of hot water to the pan and then add the roasted vermicelli and cook on a closed lid for about 5 minutes.

When it’s done add ghee and the dry fruits. Mix well and lastly mix in the brown sugar and powdered cardamom. Mix well and the halwa is ready.

namithaskitchen