Saambhala hai maine ,bohut apney dil ko
Zubaan pe tera phir bhi naam aaraha hai
Jahan raaz ko ,chhuppaya na jaye
Mohabbat mein aisa,Muqaam aaraha hai
Banaya hai maine , tujay apna saathi,
rahay kis tarah ab,mere hosh baaqi .....
(One of my favourite song from the movie,"Naaraaz" meaning, I am trying my best to control my heart ,still I've your name on my lips ,it's not a secret anymore,my love is known to all,I have made you my companion and now I am kinda out of senses, like it is impossible to live without you !)
How ROMANTIC na ? Blush blush ! 😍
I can imagine many eyebrows raised ,smirking and humming the song if you like it too BUT give me a break will you ? 😇...I know you are thinking that this song is dedicated to my romantic interest probably...HA HA..GOT YA!!...😄
But hush hush ...
Excuse me for destroying (read converting) that smirk to a sweet smile,eyebrows arched naturally and yes,you can hum the song for sure .Well,ironically,this song is dedicated to my SWEET heart indeed !
I mean literally "The Sweets - The edible Indian sweets !" "Mithai" in Hindi and "Madhuram" in Malayalam.
Kisi ne theek hi kaha hai,"Daanein,daanein mein likha hai khane waalon ka naam !" meaning someone's favourite food speaks for itself !
If you have read my blog or know me personally or if you don't know,"I LOVEEEEE INDIAN SWEETS !!" Issey kehthey hai janab ,pyaar mein paagal hona meaning being madly ,insanely and truly in LOVE that only leaves a delicious memory !!
You know ,whenever I bite any Indian sweets,I am in cloud 10 ! I become extra patriotic ,I feel sooo proud to be an Indian ! Why ? If you are an Indian you might have guessed it right,because India is known for its variety of sweets and savories .There are almost more than 100 sweets and they represent our rich ,sweet,remarkable traditions,celebrations ranging from state to state and one-of-a-kind cultural heritage ! Each and every sweet is so nostalgic ! Every bite brings back so many bygone memories ! One can feel India in every bite ! One of my way to feel or transported instantly back to India edible-y for free !
I am also very thankful to my parents for raising me in North India exclusively known for many popular sweets like my favourite Rosogulla/Rasgulla ,Gulab Jamun,Rasmalai etc etc ...where do I stop!
Thankfully in India we have festivals every now and then and that is incomplete without any sweets .So,needless to say,I used to look forward to festivals/any celebrations just to eat sweets for sure - the undeniable magnetic aroma of sweets made by amma or my next door aunty ,the bustling street highlighting varities of sweets and lovely packets and people in queue grabbing their favourite sweets packets for home or to gift ,the sweets offered to almighty after a puja/prayers at home or in temples and grabbing a share of divine's blessings as prasadams/the edible offering ,sweets distributed as part of a mesmerizing wedding or a cute birthday or any celebration per se ...Sweets ROCKED !!..especially my palate and my life's journey so far !
Being a South Indian was a double blessing/delight and like getting the best of two worlds .Apart from what my amma made some homely sweets and delicacies ,during my Bachelor/college days in Kerala,I realized that the Jalebis and Laddoos made in Kerala especially tasted so different to the authentic ones.
However,there are other Kerala sweet delicacies like Sukhiyan,Achchapam,NeyAppams,payasams etc that could rarely be found in North India other than some exclusive Kerala/South Indian restaurants . During my Masters/College days in Coimbatore ,I remember during weekends while some are dating their favourite boy friend or visiting relatives ,I and my room-mates at hostel would be rushing to go to town for mini shopping/visiting temples and for sure, to buy some lip-smacking Mysore Paks to name the best/authentic I ever had anywhwere else.
I was so fond of sweets that my father used to get me packetS of sweets during his payday ,he used to trade one of his perks to buy 5-6 packets of sweets JUST FOR ME !My parents always tease me saying ,"We would hardly remember when the sweet packets reached home-to-the fridge and would probably disappear directly into my growling stomach within days !" Though I truly believe in sharing everything with others ,when it came to sweets, I would become a little meanie and self-centered and it would take little effort to be kind and remember that others adore sweets too and sharing is indeed caring and being well-mannered ! One of the home rule I didn't feel guilty of breaking !
Like I said before in my blog ,I wanted to get married to a place where I could get easy access to all those sweets as well.Yes,when girls thought of their prince charming,I thought of the availability of tempting North Indian sweets and lo behold ,I found innumerable tasty beyond words sweets in my sasural in BhogRaj's 😋😄Hyderabad ! Wish came true indeed !
Now fast forward ,being in USA,so blessed that we have Indian shops with all kinds of sweets and savories wherever we go.During teenage years,girls usually love dieting the most but I was so blindly in love with sweets and not-so-healthy foods that I DIDN'T CARE a bit and so was always chubby (since I was born) !
Somehow the not-that-modern dresses were very kind enough to hide my fats and made me look healthy ! However,that changed after my wedding,I was not that into modern dresses before but after landing in the US ,I got full freedom with my hubby's permission to wear any dress especially that is not that revealing.(Being from a conservative family background !)
So as I was experimenting with jeans,midis/mini skirts,dresses upto knee etc I realized they were kinda bully to my body higlighting that I was not at all slim-trim to look flawless .It was a gruesome battle between mind,body and soul over my belly ! Having said that it was not like I would be eating sweets daily but if I come across them and I buy them blindly ,I would be like competing with the sweet packet as if sweets yummy, fits the best in my tummy .So hurry up or they may vanish with the packet into thin air.Moreover,I am very thankful that I am the one who loves the sweets so madly in my family and that's why I self-certified my self to be very-very sweet by heart !(Ahem Ahem -conditions do apply!)😍
In India,during festivals, sweets are made at home,bought or some loved ones would gift us but here rarely that happens .Sigh ! So, being a foodie turned blogger upgraded to a vlogger , I rolled my sleeves to console my little aei-dil-hai-mushkil /edible-y broken heart by experimenting foods I love and toiling hard like a crazy cooking scientist researching and creating especially my favourite sweets ,some old,some new,some borrowed and some inspired to rekindle my life's sweet journey so far .
Since I got married quite fast,and I was told that now it was time not only to eat but to cook for others as well ,all my cravings for food disappeared as if my life's pivotal exam is due and around the corner.So though I was not burning candles to study ,like a studious student,I was, likewise ,jotting down many recipes dictated by my amma in a small notebook in a hurry .So,these cooking recipes scribbled in a what looked like a doctor's prescription handwriting(no offense) tagged along with me to the US .Since then I have recipes collected from my friends,relatives,magazines,online etc which looks nothing less than a research file/project work or holy edible book .
One day when I started to make a curry and it finally became a Khichdi ,I realized that one of the paper with the recipe continued was missing and I kinda made half of one recipe and another part of other recipe.Hence a new curry with no name was formed !Similar distasteful incidents happened .
I was following and admiring my senior bloggers online work for long when I was learning to cook tastefully and it was inspiring how these bloggers were managing their passion and family life and I realized may be it's time for me too to start a blog as well mainly to store recipes,to display my passions and one of the way to showcase my mother especially that there is a genuine reason why the guy I married doesn't look pale and weak.
Life is a mix of sweet and salty experiences ! Even my blogging journey was not immune to it and a break just like in life is at times necessary to refresh,regroup,restart and bounce back because like kisi maha purush ne kaha hai/A wise man once said," The show must go on !" So,like it nor not,like Mr.Arnold Schwarzenegger said "I AM BACK !" to pursue my passions of cooking,writing and making tasteful videos .Keeping it strictly to "Do what you love and love what you do !" and Share ,hopefully praying that it will be good to digest for others as well.
Actually my blogging journey was a camouflage to all the trials/health issues etc I was facing in my life.So,I don't know how it looks and feels to others but for me, it is quite special and precious ,unfortunately it also became a medium (the only way with no other choice) to address some dramatic issues (with a touch of divinity) I came across ...Pain , pleasure,lessons all are mine !
Even though I thought of taking a loooong break from my blogging journey like years ...It was not justified/helping my aspirations and the right intentions behind my blog and for me blogging is not just mere time pass ,it means a lot to me,a work in progress ...There are millions of recipes to try ,rekindle many stories/memories to beautify my food blog with (and I've to pay for the website's running/maintenance as well😐) and like before I started my blogging journey ,the number of recipes scrambled here, there everywhere didn't do justice to my passion since my memory is aging too ,my doter loves to tear exactly the paper with my "IT" recipe too.And I don't want to make a biryani of recipes for the meal when my doter is a picky eater as well.Cooking is fun to the one who is passionate about it and it is quite time taking and demands all senses at work unanimously .Life is very challenging indeed!
So,I am praying to divine that no evil comes my way to sway and no problems I am forced to address and stays away,food-stories-lovely things only ,rest at bay ..I PRAY !To heart not to hurt ,to share that I care,to love ,to taste,to colors to light ,to dreams sweet and worth chasing for !
In India especially North Indian way,we start anything nice by eating something sweet .So, here I am too reactivating my blog by divine's grace by eating sweets and sharing as well to impart sweetness around ,not one but 5 different sweet recipes like 5-in-1 sweet recipes out of cottage cheese . Basically it was in my "To-do" list since I started blogging, to make varieties of Thalis (one by one gradually) ,a mix of varieties of curries ,sweets and savories served in a huge platter .Interesting thing about Thalis ,it varies from state to state as well.Imagine the varieties of curries,sweets etc served together that can be enjoyed in different states in different ways .What more a foodie can ask for !
Recently I tried making Kerala Thali served in an Earthen pot/container that I tasted last time when I visited Kerala and ate with my parents/bro on the eve of my birthday !My husband missed it, so,I tried to recreate the "Mannchatti Chor" meaning Thali in an Earthen pot with lots of veg and non-veg curries ,sweets and snacks on the side.That came out really yummy !
Next ,I am trying to make a Bengali Thali .So,these are the famous sweets of Kolkatta and I used to have lots of neighbors and friends who were Bengali.So,I know the feel ,the taste and is quite nostalgic to me...As I was learning to cook up some Bengali dishes ,I realized that ,I am not sure if I will be making these recipes often as I am used to that taste but my hubby is not.I was like in that case it should better be on my blog as a memorabilia atleast than just making a video ,worth my efforts !
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| One of my principle I religiously follow! |
So,finally,I thought of jotting down these recipes .The good thing about these sweets like I mentioned before are that they are 5 in one recipes meaning using the homemade cottage Cheese/soft scrambled Paneer ,5 different varieties of sweets are made Raj Bhog,Rasmalai,Sandesh/Shondesh,Mini Rasgullas and Chum Chum.
Wondering if Raj Bhog would bring a sweet sensible change to Bhog Raj 😐- Abb Shaadi kiya toh nibhana padega ....😆
Toh kuch meetha hojaye (Treat time !)
Rajbhog recipe/Mini Rasgullas Recipe/Chum Chum Recipe
3-in-1 recipes
Ingredients
To Make Cottage Cheese/Soft scrambled Paneer
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WHOLE Milk - 2 litres
Vinegar - 1/3 cup + 2 Tablespoons
Cheese Cloth
To Make sugar Syrup
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Water - 3 Cups
Sugar - 3 Cups
A mix of nuts- Almond,Pista,cashewnut and Raisin
Kesar/Saffron ,a few strands
Wide Pans
Plate to serve
or box to store
Yellow food color or any food color
Preparation methods how to make Rajbhog,Mini Rasgulla and Chum Chum :
- Boil "Whole" Milk on high flame .Keep an eye to make sure the milk doesn't get burn.
- Add Vinegar little by little and gradually the milk will start curdling.Give it a gentle stir using the ladle till all milk solids separates and whey/liquid separates .Keep the flame medium-low.If required add more vinegar ,a teaspoon more plus till the milk curdles well (Just incase).Some people use lemon juice instead of Vinegar but lemon juice have a tendency to leave a sour taste but Vinegar doesn't.
- Put off the gas and let it cool down to touch.
- Once it cools off then put the cheese cloth over another clean wide and deep pan.Gently pour the curdled milk into the cheese cloth in such a way that milk solids separates from the whey liquid.
- Squeeze out the liquid as much as possible.
- Gather the cheese cloth with the milk solids in such a way to tie it into a pouch and hang it on to something like I hang it on my cabinet's handle and keep the wide pan at the bottom to collect any leftover liquid from the milk solid pouch .It may take upto an hour or so depending upon the liquid the pouch still has.
- After an hour or so,untie the pouch and transfer it into a mixer jar and give it just one run which will smooth it out.This is my easy trick to avoid kneading the milk solids for long into a smooth dough.
- Then transfer the smooth milk solids onto a plate and knead it into a dough.This way using mixer jar ,it takes lesser time to knead it into a "lumpfree" dough.
- Since I am going to use this dough to make 5 sweet recipes,I am going to split it into two dough.One dough I will use to make Rajbhog/Rasgulla/Rasmalai/Chum Chum and another dough to make Sandesh/Shondesh recipe.
- If you want to color your Rajbhog/Chum Chum yellow in color ,add a bit of food color to the dough .But I omitted it as the color of Kesar/Saffron does give a natural tint to the sweets anyways.
- Take nut mix with Raisin and grind it into a coarse or if you wish a fine powder .
- Now make the sugar syrup -Add water ,sugar into a wide pan and bring it to a boil .Then reduce the flame till it thickens up a bit not any thread consistency though.If you touch the syrup it shouldn't be very watery but like a syrup consistency.Some people do prefer a water consistency though but syrupy makes it more flavorful .Keep an eye not to overdo it/harden it.
- Meanwhile,let's shape the sweets - take a small portion out of the dough and shape it into a "smooth lumpfree crackfree" round Rasgulla shape .Flatten it and make an indentation/dent to stuff it with little bit of ground nut mix.Then gently fold it from sides to cover it and then using palm roll it again into a "smooth-lumpfree-crackfree" Rasgulla Shape = Rajbhog ! Repeat as many required.The filling differentiates a Rasgulla from the Rajbhog sweet.
- Then take a small portion of the dough and roll it into a round Rasgulla shape and flatten it gently like a lumpfree smooth disc shaped = Rasmalai! Repeat and keep them all asides.
- Finally roll mini portions of dough onto the palm to form a shape of teeny weeny Rasgullas = Mini Rasgullas.Repeat as many needed and keep them all aside.
- Similarly,take a small portion of dough and using palm shape it into "smooth lumpfree" round to oblong shapes sweets = Chum Chum !Repeat as many as needed.
- Just make sure that all the sweets shouldn't be over crowding the sugar syrup in a wide pan.
- By this time the sugar syrup will be kind of ready,just increase the flame ,bring it to the boiling point and then gently put all the shaped sweets one by one into the syrup .Make sure they don't overfill/over-crowd .They need space to double up while cooking.
- Cover with a lid and after 8-10 minutes approx. all the sweets might have doubled up in size.Remove the lid and put off the flame.
- Allow it to cool off.
- Then separate all sweets and store it into respective boxes or serve it on a bowl/plate except Rasmalai sweets.
- That's it my Rajbhog ,Mini Rasgullas and Chum Chum are ready to eat !
Rasmalai Sweet Recipe
Ingredients to make an Instant Rasmalai syrup:
Condensed Milk (I used fat free but the whole condensed milk would give the strong authentic flavor) - 1 can -400 gm/14 Oz
Cold Whole Milk - 400 gm
Cardamom powder as needed - 1-2 Teaspoons
Ground nut mix of Almond and Pista as needed
23.Continuing the above steps,I am gonna stir the condensed milk,cold whole milk,cardamom powder and nut using a fork or a spoon until well mixed.This is my instant Rasmalai Syrup .
24.Then gently transfer the Rasmalai cooked patties into it one by one and store them all in a box into the fridge to set (must) .The more it sits more flavorful they become.That's it my instant Rasmalai is ready !
Sandesh Recipe/Shondesh Recipe
Ingredients
The above half portion of the cheese/scrambled paneer dough
Sugar - 1 Cup or to taste
Cardamom powder
How to make Sandesh :
- Heat a pan on low flame ,add the leftover dough ,sugar and cardamom powder and keep on stirring it non-stop so that it doesn't stick to the bottom.Gradually the sugar will melt with the dough .
- And keep on stirring until the mixture leaves the edges and gathers up to the centre and all the liquid might have dried up.
- Put off the cooking gas.
- Allow it to cool a bit to touch.
- Divide it into two portion.
- Into the one portion add yellow or nay color preferred little by little as needed and knead once again into a yellow colored dough.
- Take a rectangular box and transfer one portion of dough like white on bottom,press it with a spoon gently and top it up with the yellow portion and press it too to level it up smooth.
- Let this rest in a fridge like overnight for best result.
- Next day I prefer to cut them into desired shapes.In that way it is easy to cut properly and gives apt shape and is flavorful too.
- That's it..Serve it on a plate or like impatient me just grab that sweet-y and make it disappear into the woobly world of the tummy!
Kindly support my "stuck" channel as well,do watch my video demonstrating how to make those Bengali sweets and I would be grateful for any kind of positive support thereby.
Looking at all these sweets ,I can't stop but smile and reminisce my journey from staring/ eyes popping out and invisible-y eating those beautifully arranged sweets in those confectionaries/shops through my all senses except the tongue unless someone would buy it for me TO my trials and experiments to create home made delicacies from a sweet unknown to the ultimate known sweets.Quite a journey !
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| HUMAN to be precise! |
Like life,you can't create something worth until you go through trials to reach triumphs ...I call all these little pleasures of life ! No pain,no gain afterall ! Like they say,"You can't really buy happiness and I say ,"it depends" but then, you can create them !"
That's why perhaps they also say,"STRESSED spelled backwards = "DESSERTS"! How SWEET !!
As I am savoring every bite of my hard work/sweets,I am grateful to my almighty for all the sweet blessings and lessons .May divine bless me to forget the pains,remember the lessons,dismiss all negativities,give me more power to tread the life's ups and downs bravely and may I be surrounded by postive people who are supporting/motivating to acheive peace , happiness ,unity and success .
So,when life gives you curdled milk,do make healthy SWEETS !! Roger that ??
Thanks for keeping up with me !
Rest in next !
Love and light !:))
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