Kandhe Khas Khas

We  all have  that one  traditional dish, passed on generations after generations.  No matter however trendy the food gets, you always yearn for that delicious dish. Khande Khas Khas is one of them.  'Khande' meaning onions and 'Khas Khas' meaning poppy seeds, this dish is made of chana dal cooked with cubed onions and poppy seeds paste.  This recipe may differ from one family to another. My mother follows this, while my Mother-in-law avoids poppy seeds paste and cooks chana dal with onions.  But, I guarantee you will love this dish and make them quite often.  Combine them with roti or dosa, though they taste best with roti.

Please note that it is a spicy dish.  I have prepared them lightly spiced because my kid doesn't like too much of spice.  If you are preparing for your family, I suggest you add more chilly powder, accordingly.  

Shepherd's pie

   Shepherd's pie has a meat filling and is  lined with the crust made of mashed potatoes.  This savoury pie was traditionally devoured whenever there was  left-over of grilled meat.  I can also say that it's a comfort food.   With so much humidity around, all you need is a piping hot shepherd's pie and a good book to mark a great day.

I got this recipe from my mom's Morphy Richards oven guidebook.  They have beautifully twisted it according to our Indian palette.  This dish is a layered dish.  The layers start with  thinly sliced potatoes, followed by vegetable mince, lamb mince and topped with mashed potatoes.  This, in turn, is brushed with melted butter and some crumbled cheese.  When these layers are baked, all you get is aromatic and a crispy potato crust top, followed by soft layers of vegetables and meat mince and ends with potato slices. I flavoured meat mince with dill and totally  this pie had such complementing flavours that I ended up devouring them as such.  Alternatively,  you can dig them with roti as well.  

  The round  casserole, I used here is 15 cm in diameter and 5 cm depth.  The filling measurements are made accordingly.  You may have to twist the measurements according to your casserole's size. 

So, let's get started. 

Tiramisu cupcakes

  After making Mascarpone cheese, I didn't want to make this winner dessert right away.  I took some time to go through what I wanted.   With guests at home and my kid waiting to get pampered, I could not have settled less for the cupcake.  Yes, super soft and moist coffee cupcakes paired with Mascarpone cheese icing, with a hint of coffee on top.  I got this super-soft sponge recipe from Natasha's Kitchen. With coffee flavour infused, they were great even when had straight away from the refrigerator.

So, what's this Tiramisu?  What makes them so special and so romantic?  Tiramisu meaning 'pick me up' or 'lift me up', is a popular Coffee-based Italian dessert.  It is assembled with ladyfinger -(a sponge cake in a shape of a finger) dipped in coffee syrup and arranged with a layer of mascarpone cheese and whipped eggs, topped with cocoa.  It's this beautiful combination of coffee, cocoa, and cream that can light up the romance in the air.  <3  <3

So, let me hope that you agree with  the same and bake them for ur better half's ;)  ;)

Cream cheese - from scratch

Cream cheese is a soft cheese made from full-fat milk.  The following recipe yields 130 grams of cream cheese with a balanced taste, ending on the tangy note.  They are used in making Cheesecakes, dip or spread, and cookies.  Cream cheese frosting goes very popular with Red Velvet Cake.  Though they can be easily spotted in Market, it is still better to make them at home, as it brings out the fresh flavour and is quite cheap as well.

Ingredients required

• 1/2 litre Full fat milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 11/2 tsp lime juice
• 11/2 tsp curd

Don't use normal milk,  Cream cheese is best made using full-fat milk.  

Method

Combine the milk with salt  and let it boil in a milk pan. 

As soon as it bubbles up and rises above, simmer the flame and add lime juice.  

Mix them well with a spoon, the milk will slowly start to curdle.  

Pour them over muslin cloth lined bowl and tie them up on the counter.  

Let it drain for 15 minutes.  

After 15 minutes, you will end up getting a soft cheese.

Add in the curd and fold them into the cheese using a spoon.

Let this mixture drain again for 10 minutes.  Store them in an air-tight container and use within a week's time.  

You can blend them if you want, and TA-DA , within an hour we have our super-cool Cream cheese ready!

Happy Baking :)  :)

Mascarpone Cheese - from scratch

   Mascarpone cheese is a soft, creamy cheese.   Originating from Italy, this cheese is the main ingredient in Tiramisu.  They are also used in other recipes like Cheesecake and pasta.  Provided they are very costly and are very rare to find, it is best to prepare them at home.  So, given below recipe is my interpretation, as derived from Wikipedia.

Ingredients required

• 200 ml Amul fresh cream
• 1 tsp lemon juice

This batch yielded me about 125 grams of mascarpone cheese, 

Method

Heat Amul cream in a milk pan, till they bubble up on the sides and is hot to touch.

Add in lemon juice and stir them well using the spatula.

Simmer the flame, You will notice that within few seconds, the cream will get thick and start bubbling.  This will coat  the back of the spatula.  

Pour them on muslin cloth lined bowl.  

Tie the muslin cloth and hang them over the counter.  

Let it drain for 2 hours.  You can use the whey for cooking purpose.

Store them in  an air-tight container and use within a week.  

Happy Baking  :)