Cardamom Flavoured Shreekhand with Mango bites

S had a craving for shreekhand, upon his request I was all set to make the good old shreekhand, the way my mom makes it. I was a bit tempted to make aamkhand but stuck to usual plain shreekhand but added a zing to it by serving it with ripe mango chopped finely.

Ingredients:

1 litre milk
1-2 tsp curd/buttermilk/juice of half a lemon
4-5 tbsp sugar

3/4th tsp cardamom powder
1 small ripe mango, peeled and finely chopped
A generous pinch of saffron soaked in 1-2 tbsp milk
2-3 tbsp chopped nuts ( I used almonds)

Method:
Boil the milk and set it aside to cool.
Add 1-2 tsp curd/buttermilk/lemon juice to the milk when it is tepid, stir gently cover and leave it for 5-6 hours undisturbed.
After the milk has curdled, pour it on to a muslin cloth, tie it up and hang it for 6-7 hours. By doing this all the whey from the curdled milk drips down and you are left with thick cheesy residue.
Transfer the cheesy curd to a bowl add sugar, saffron infused milk, cardamom powder, and mix thoroughly (you could use a hand blender) to get a smooth texture.
Check for the sweetness and adjust the sugar according to your taste.
If the shreekhand is very thick add a spoon or two of cold milk mix well.
Refrigerate and serve chilled garnished with nuts and mango pieces.

P.S: Friends I’m taking a short break of about a week. Wouldn’t be able to visit your blogs and leave a comment during the break. I will surely try to catch up with all the lovely recipe posts that I’ve missed. Enjoy and Happy Blogging :)

Doi Potol and something to share...

Bengali’s love potol, English name for which is Pointed gourd. Since the potol aloo combination is a common sight in most of the Bengali households, I guess Bengali’s favourite side dish is aloo potoler tarkari ;)(potato and pointed gourd stir fry) Being a non-Bengali I wasn’t knowing about the existence of this adorable vegetable, I was familiarized with this member of the gourd family by S.
Last evening I picked up a packet of fresh Potol and wanted to make something different from the usual. Upon googling I came across this fantastic webpage created by Sutupa Ray, All Bengali’s and non-Bengali would love this :) coz it’s an ocean of Bengali recipes and much more. A big hug and even bigger Thanks to Sutapa for this wonderful one stop web page. Here’s the link check it out.

http://sutapa.com/

I got the recipe for Doi Potol from one of the sited blogs at Sutapa’s page. I have made very negligible changes in the original recipe. The original recipe calls for ground ginger, I used ginger garlic paste and the powders and spices a wee..bit more than the actual measures.
Next the peeling method, it calls for fully peeled Potols with a slit on either edge. Instead I peeled each potol half inch apart and then slit the edges. I came across this peeling tip at Indranis blog Appayan, to get a clear picture here’s the link
http://indranid.blogspot.com/2009/04/aloo-potoler-tarkaripotato-parwal-curry.html
Thanks for the tip Indrani I was dying to try it out :)
Now for the recipe:

Ingredients: 250 Gms Potol/ Pointed gourd
¾ cup curd, whisked
½ tsp red chilli powder (I used Kashmiri mirch powder)
½ tsp turmeric powder
3 tsp ginger garlic paste
2 bay leaves
1 tsp cumin leaves
Salt and sugar to taste
Pinch of asafoetida
2 tbsp ghee (I skipped this one)
4 tbsp oil

Dry Grinding:
4 green cardamoms
4 sticks of cinnamon
*Grind these two ingredients to a fine powder and set it aside

Method:
Wash and clean the potol
Peel it and make ½” slit at both ends (do not cut them into halves).
Rinse them in running water and drain.
Heat 2and ½ tbsp oil in a Kadhai and fry the potol one by one and set it aside. (DO NOT USE THE SAME OIL) discard the used oil; wipe the Kadhai with a kitchen towel/tissue.
Heat 1 and 1/2 tbsp oil in the Kadhai add 1 tbsp ghee (I gave it a miss) bay leaf, asafoetida, cumin seeds sauté for a minute.
Add ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder, salt, chilli powder. Fry the spices.
Keeping the flame low add curd,potol, sugar and sprinkle some water cook uncovered for 5-6 minutes stirring occasionally.
Taste and adjust the salt and sugar accordingly.
Add ghee(I gave it a miss) and ground dry garam masala, mix so that the masala coats the vegetable evenly.
Cook till done.
Serve hot with rice or roti.

P.S: This dish comes very close to Doi Mach (fish in yogurt gravy) in taste, so I loved every bite and morsel of it :)

Wheat Flour Veggie Dosa

Wheatflour dosas usually have a mix of one or two other kinds of flours which goes in to make the batter. Here is the recipe with a difference. This dosa is made with just plain wheat flour (atta) and some veggies thrown in here and there. I was a bit doubtful, whether the batter would be too thin and would get stuck to the tava/ dosa pan. It worked out just perfect. S and I loved the taste of it. One thing that has to be taken care while pouring the batter on to the tava is DO NOT Spread the batter like the regular dosas, instead pour it like u do the pan cake batter, and spread it just a little ..
Here’s the recipe for Wheat dosa.

Ingredients:

1 cup Whole Wheat flour
1 medium carrot, grated
2-3 tbsp spinach, finely chopped
1 medium tomato, deseeded, finely chopped
1 green chilli, minced
½” piece ginger, grated
2 tbsp coriander leaves, finely chopped
Salt to taste

pinch of sugar (optional)
Oil for frying

Method:

In a mixing bowl mix all the ingredients with just enough water to make the batter a little more liquidy (thinner) than the normal dosa batter.

Heat a tava/dosa pan preferably non-stick pan, using your finger tips sprinkle some water on it, once the water begins to evaporate pour a ladle of batter and slightly and lightly spread in circular motion in the centre of the poured batter.

Dot the dosa with oil around its rim close and cook it for a few minutes. Check for the doneness by lifting the dosa slightly with the spatula.

Once it is nicely browned, flip it over to the other side and cook it in the same manner.
Repeat the same method for the remaining batter.
Serve the wheat flour dosa with chutney,pickle or side dish of your choice. It tastes brilliant with plain curd too :)