Phirni / Rice pudding

hiPhirni / phir nee / firni  is a traditional sweet,quite famous from the northern parts of india , tastes more or less like a kheer but this dish is thick & creamy in texture.Its usually chilled before serving in kasori's,a pot which is actually an earthenware bowl,the pot is washed and dried before hand ,then the phirni is filled and kept in refrigerators to be cooled.Its little grainy in texture,very rich dish and it happens to be a scrumptious dessert.

ingredients :
1 litre whole milk (  approx 4 - 41/4 cups full fat cream milk )
1/4 cup rice ( basmati rice is preferably )
1 cup sugar ( adjust more or less acc to your taste )
1/2 tsp crushed saffaron strands soaked in 1 tbsp of warm milk for half an hr.( optional )
1/2 tbsp rose water ( optional )
cardomon pwd to taste
few flakes of almonds,pistachios
method :
Wash and soak rice for half an hour.Boil milk on a slow flame for atleast 15 mins,keep stirring occassionally so that it does not stick to the bottom of your pan.Drain the rice and grind it into coarse powdery form .Add little milk ( say about 2-3 tsps ) to the grinded rice and mix to avoid any lumps.Add this rice mixture to the boiled milk and keep stirring for 1-2 mins  and take care that there are no lumps formed in the milk.Let the rice cook completely in the milk stirring occassionally now .Once the rice is cooked,quite tender and soft enough, add sugar, saffaron and cardomon pwd.Switch off the flame,add rose water,garnish with the nuts and chill in refrigerator or can also be served hot.

chocolate muffins !

Few days back in my  daughter's kindergarten there was an annual meeting followed by a plate to share the food with everyone.I and my friends were discussing about what shall we make and also the food should be kids friendly ,i was thinking about cookies ,just then my friend rasheeda told me that her son is fond of muffins and kids surely luv muffins anytime,so without thinking anymore i went ahead and made these muffins.My princess also meantime insisted me to make muffins only that also she wanted chocochips in them,but i had hardly dark chocochips left so i used some white chocochips as well and the flavour of both the chips turned out amazingly yum !The muffins were exactly as i wanted them,simple,soft and super moist with chips in between !Everyone in kinder ,including my frend's son and my daughter liked these muffins very much and all the liners were empty in no time.

approx 14-15 muffins
dry ingredients :
11/2 cup plain flour
1/3 cup coco pwd
1 cup sugar ( adjust more or less acc to your taste )
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking pwd
1/2 cup white & dark choco chips ( optional,u can use one or both or none or can use some nuts instead)
wet ingredients :
1/2 cup olive oil
3/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract
method :
Preheat the oven at 350f  or 180c .Sieve all the dry ingredients together except chocochips for 2-3 times.Mix wet ingredients together.Add the wet ingredients into dry ingredients and gently mix well.Fold in the choco chips / nuts and mix well.Line the muffin tray with liners,fill about 3/4 cup of the batter and bake for 15-20 mins or insert  the skewer and check if it is clean.Rest for 5 mins and remove from the muffin pan and njoy the muffins !

paneer manchurian

We are fond of indo-chinese food ,have tried veg manchurian ,gobi manchurian ( dry /gravy both )in the past so this time i wanted to try paneer manchurian.I had made chilli paneer which was a great hit in my family and so this is my another way of making paneer manchurian with gravy.I made paneer balls instead of  whole marinated fried paneer pieces for the gravy and it turned out super delicious.Actually its more or less like veg balls ,instead of vegetables i used  grated paneer for a change.The paneer balls itself on its own were very yummy and scrumptious,we also njoyed without adding them in the gravy just like a hot fried snack.My husband luved this indianised chinese paneer manchurian very much and will surely keep making it again and again,it was much easier and comfortable and less time consuming then making veg manchurian balls,whenever u feel like having ,manchurian and still lazy to buy so many vegetables and then grating or chopping it,you can surely go for this type of manchurian,i am sure you wont repent it ;).Sending this fusion of indo-chinese dish to priya's now serving ,for hosting the only-fusion recipes event started by pari of food delicious.

for approx 4-5 ppl
ingredients for paneer balls :
200 gms paneer,grated
2 tsps garlic-ginger paste
1-2 green chillies,chopped finely
1/4 cup finely chopped onions
2 tbsp cornflour
black pepper pwd or white pepper pwd to taste
salt  to taste
oil for deep frying

 ingredients for gravy :
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp soya sauce
2 tsps chilli sauce
1 tsp vinegar
2 tbsp chopped ginger-garlic
salt to taste
sugar to taste
2 tbsp capsicum chopped
2 tbsp onions chopped
2 tbsp spring onions
1-1/2 cup vegetable stock or water
2 tbsp oil

method :
Add all the ingredients under paneer balls except oil ,together and make walnut size balls.Heat oil and deep fry in medium flame till brown in colour.Remove the paneer balls from oil and strain the excess oil on paper towel.Keep the fried paneer balls aside.
Heat 2 tbsp ,add onions,saute on high flame for 2 mins,add spring onions,capsicum ,ginger and garlic and stir fry on high for a min,add all the sauces,salt and sugar.Mix cornflour with very little water to make a thick paste.Add vegetable stock/water in vegetables and stir in cornflour paste continuosly till the gravy  gets  thicks ,simmer for a while.Add the paneer balls 10-12 mins before serving .

pls note :
1.while making paneer balls,make one ball and try deep frying it,if dosent break in oil that means its perfect and if it spread in oil then either ur oil is not too hot and ready for deep frying or u have to increase the amt of cornflour.Cornflour is used here as a binding agent and u can increase the quantity by adding 1 more tbsp .
2.Again in gravy u can adjust the thickness and quantity according to ur needs.If u want the gravy more thick make the cornflour paste more then the given quantity,or if u want to increase the gravy add some more water and boil for few more mins.Similarly if you dont want much gravy add less water and adjust the thickn ess of gravy by using cornflour.
3.Also you can skip capsicum / spring onions /onions in the gravy and just make plain with ginger-garlic flavour gravy.

tomato and carrot soup

This soup is very light,healthy and simple clear soup,perfect for the cold weather here with less ingredients,my daughter specially luves this tomato & carrot combination soup and she keeps saying me to make this everynow and then.When she was not well a couple of weeks back i made this for her and it really helped her in all means.She liked sipping the soup whole day and i was relieved a bit.

for 2 ppl

ingredients :

2-3 medium size tomatoes ( preferable little ripened )

1 large carrot or 2 small ones

black pepper pwd to taste

roasted cumin pwd to taste

salt to taste

butter to taste ,optional

chopped corriander / basil leaves to garnish ( optional)

method :

Wash tomatoes and carrots,cut tomatoes in quaters,dont peel the carrot ,just knock off both the ends and cut into medium size pieces.Pressure cook tomatoes and carrots with little water and cook till tender (around 2-3 whistles ).Let it cool,grind and strain them into thick puree,add little water if required.Boil the puree for few mins,add pepper pwd ,cumin pwd and salt and mix well.Add a blob of butter and serve hot.