Gajar ki barfi

Preparation time- 20 minutes

Cooking time- 20 min

Ingredients

Carrot- 1 kg

Milk- 1 cup

Ghee- 1 ½ cup

Sugar- ½ cup

Mawa- 1 cup

Chopped almonds and cashews- 2 tbsp

Silver foil- optional

Cardamom seed powder- ½ tsp

Method-

Wash, peel and grate the carrot. Add ghee to the kadhai, add ghee and cook the carrot in ghee for about 5-7 minutes. Carrot will start taking a shine because of ghee, add milk at this stage. Cook it for another 5 minutes while stirring. Once the milk is completely absorbed and the carrot looks almost cooked add sugar to it. Let the sugar dissolve, and then add grated mawa. Stir it for 2-3 minutes, remove from flame. Add cardamom seed powder, and chopped nuts. Spread it in a greased/ foiled/ butter paper lined tray. Allow it to cool, then cut in desired shapes.

Rabri

 

Preparation time- 5 min

Cooking time- 1 hr

Ingredients-

Milk- 2 ltr

Sugar- ½ cup

Pistachios- ½ tbsp

Kewra essence- 5 drops

Method-

In a broad kadhai boil the milk on slow flame and with a spatula set the thin malai on the brim of kadhai so as it stays on the rim of kadhai near the milk. Continue stirring the milk so as to avoid  it sticking to the pan .Continue this process for 30- 45 minutes in a span of every 2-3 minutes. Removing thick m

alai might not give the desired stiffness required as the thin malai might give. When the milk has reduced to almost ¼ of the original, add sugar and stir in the malai stacked at the brim. Remove from heat , add kewra essence and pistachios and stir a bit. Serve as per you like, warm or cold.

Gobhi Gajar Shalgam ka achaar

Preparation time- 20 min / Sundry the boiled vegetables- 4-5 hrs

Cooking time- 30 min

Ingredients-

• Cauliflower / Gobhi flowerets- 500 g / 2 ½ cups
• Carrot / Gajar – 500 gm / 2 ¼ cups
• Turnip/ Shaljum- 500gm / 2 ½ cups
• Jaggery- 400gm / 3 ¼ cup
• Mustard oil- 400ltr / 2 cups
• Vinegar- ½ cup
• Nigella/ kalonji seeds- ½ tsp
• Fenugreek / methi seeds-  5 tsp
• Black peppercorns / Sabut kali mirch-  6 tsp
• Cumin / jeera seeds – 6 tsp
• Caraway / shahjeera – 2 ½ tsp
• Black cardamom/ Bari elaichi- 4
• Cloves/ laung – 10
• Cinnamon stick/ dalchini- 2 inch
• Turmeric powder- 1 tbsp
• Salt- 150 gms/ 10 tbsp
• Peeled garlic- 1 cup
• Ginger- 1 cup
• Fennel seeds/ saunf- 1 tbsp
• Red chili powder- 1 tbsp
• Asafetida/ hing- ¼ tsp

Method-

Peel and cut carrot and turnip into chunks, cut turnip vertically, wash and keep side. Take a large pan, add cauliflower florets, boil till they change color, and then add carrot and turnip. Make sure all the vegetables are soaked in water. Simmer on low heat till carrot and turnip is a bit tender. Drain out the water. Lay the vegetable on clean cloth/ towel and allow it to dry in sunlight for 4-5 hours.  Blend ginger and garlic to a paste, keep aside. Heat mustard oil in kadhai/ wok, add kalonji, jeera, asafetida, cinnamon, Black cardamom, fenugreek seeds, cloves, caraway seeds, and stir for a minute, then add ginger garlic paste and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add fennel seeds, turmeric powder and sauté for another 2-3 minutes. Add salt, red chili powder, sauté for a minute and add the vegetables. Mix thoroughly , meanwhile break the jaggery into small pieces and then add them to the vegetables in kadhai. Stir slowly and let the jaggery melt completely. Mix and then add vinegar, keep the flame on for 1-2 minutes and then remove from heat. Transfer the achaar to sterilized glass jars (plastic or metal will not be good to keep achaar as vinegar might corrode metal).  Let it cool and then close the lid. This achaar need not be placed in sunlight for any cooking/ preservation.  Properly kept it can last for 6 months.

Bengali egg tadka dal

Preparation time- 10 min

Cooking time- 30 min

Ingredients-

Whole moong daal (soaked overnight) 1 cup

Chana dal – ½ cup

Urad dal- 1 tbsp

Ginger – 1 “

Garlic- 2 pods

Onion- 2 big

Tomato- 1

Mustard oil- 2 tbsp

Tejpatta/ bay leaf- 1

Green chili- 2

Ghee- 2 tbsp

Asofetida- pinch

Coriander powder- 1 tsp

Red chili powder- ½ tsp

Bhuna Jeera powder- ½ tsp

Garam masala- ½ tsp

Salt- to taste

Cardamom- 2

Sugar- ¼ tsp

Dried red chili- 4

Scrambeled eggs- 2 eggs

Method-

Boil soaked moong dal, chana dal and urad dal in pressure cooker with turmeric and salt. Bring to one whistle and cook on simmer for 20 min. meanwhile blend ginger, garlic and 1 onion to paste. Chop another onion and tomato. In a pan heat mustard oil, add pinch of sugar, tejpatta, cardamom,and red chilies. Add chopped onions, sauté till brown, add ginger garlic onion paste and sauté till oil separates, add tomato, sauté for 1 min, add turmeric, coriander powder, red chili powder and sauté for 2 min, add some water to the paste and cook till oil separates. Add garam  masala and sauté for another 1 minute. Now add the boiled dal to this paste , mix and add ½ cup water, cook for 5- 7 minutes, stirring in between to avoid any sticking in the pan and lumps. Add scrambled eggs and mix it , consistency depends upon your taste like thick gravy dal or thin gravy. After adding eggs, and cooking for 5 min, top it with ghee and if you like- give a tadka of ghee, red chili and asafetida. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and chopped ginger.

Orange marmalade

Preparation Time- 1 hr

Cooking time- 1- ½ hrs

Ingredients-

Oranges- 1 kg

2 cup sugar

1 ½ cup water

Muslin cloth

Method-

 Wash the oranges and carefully cut the skin so as to not take any white pith with the rind. Keep it aside. Take the heavy bottom pan and a bowl. Start removing the white pith from the oranges in the bowl. Start removing the skin of oranges and seeds while carefully collecting the juice (juice in heavy bottom pan and pith, seeds and skin the bowl). After all the oranges are done, chop the rind and add to the juice and orange pulp. Add half the sugar and bring the mixture to boil. Meanwhile put all the seeds pith etc from bowl in a muslin cloth, tie it properly and put it in the heavy bottom pan once the jam mixture has come to a boil, continue cooking on low flame. The seeds and white pith have natural pectin.  Cook on low flame for 1 hr with the remaining sugar. Meanwhile chill a plate in fridge and after cooking the jam for 50-55 minutes, drop a spoon on the plate and swirl a bit to see if it is setting. If no, continue to cook for another 15-20 minutes; If just there , then 5-10 minutes, if yes then squeeze all the jam, from the muslin cloth bag, stir and pour it in sterilized jam jars. It will form into jelly like after cooling down.