Dilkush

     

Dilkush / Dilpasand as they are called, is a flaky bread filled with sweetened mixture of coconut, candies and nuts.. It serves as a perfect snack for tea time or also as a dessert.. I love it warm and fresh out of the oven..

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

3tbsp milk powder

4tbsp powdered sugar

1tsp salt

1 + 1/4 tsp yeast

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

2tbsp butter

For the filling:

1 cup fresh coconut grinded / shredded coarsely

1 cup tutti fruti colored

1/4 cup cashews chopped

1/4 cup cherries chopped (optional)

1/4 cup brown sugar

1tsp elaichi powder

Method: Seive whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, milk powder, sugar and salt.. Add in yeast.. Heat water and milk till luke warm.. Pour this in the dough and make a soft dough.. At this point the dough will be sticky... Now place this dough onto a greased platform and knead with butter using stretch and fold method for around 7-10mins till it gets smooth and elastic.. It should form into a soft ball and not remain sticky.. Place it in a greased bowl and cover with a cloth.. Leave it in a warm place for around an hour till it doubles in size.. Meanwhile mix all the ingredients of filling and keep aside.. After an hour punch the dough back and divide into 2 balls.. Roll one dough into 1/4 inch thickness.. Place this on a greased baking tray or parchment paper.. Spread the filling on it leaving some space on the edges.. Cover it with another rolled out dough.. Pinch the edges and seal them.. Brush with little milk and leave to rise for 30mins.. Meanwhile preheat oven at 180c.. After 30mins, brush again with milk and bake it at 180c for around 40mins till the top is golden brown in color.. Remove, leave for 5mins, cut in wedges and serve.. 

Pictorial Representation the the recipe -

Nachos with Baked Chilli Cheese Corn

Nachos are supposed to be loved by all alike.. It serves as a perfect evening snack.. I generally like having nachos topped with sour cream, guacamole and few topping (corn, kidney beans, capsicum, tomatoes ).. But it is rare that i find avocado anywhere near my place.. So having nachos topped with guacamole was very rare.. I had to find an alternative to spice up my love for nachos..  And then I came up with this version of baked chilli cheese corn to be served with nachos.. And trust me, this cheesy delight is an amazing thing to be served with nachos.. You can make individual servings in ramekins or bake it in a big baking dish at once, it is sure to please the crowd.

Ingredients:

1 pack nachos

1/4 cup corn

1/4 cup kidney beans boiled

1 small green capsicum chopped

handful of olives sliced

2 jalapenos chopped

Salt

Red chilli flakes

Oregano

1/4 cup of mozarella cheese grated

1/4 cup cheddar cheese grated

For Cheese Sauce -

1tbsp butter

1tbsp flour

1/2 cup milk

2 cubes grated processed cheese

Salt

Pepper

Method: Preheat oven at 180c.. For the white sauce - Heat butter in a pan and add flour and cook for a minute of 2 till the raw smell disappears.. Donot brown.. Gradually add in milk.. Whisk till it becomes thick.. Add in salt, pepper and grated cheese.. Mix well and keep aside. Once cooled slightly add in corn, kidney beans, capsicum and all the herbs and spices.. Mix well. Mix both the cheeses ie mozarella and cheddar and keep seperately.. Take a ramekin mould.. Layer half the mould with the filling and top with mixed cheese.. Again layer it with filling and top with cheese and bake at 180c for around 20mins till cheese browns slightly on top... Remove from oven.. Give a standing time of 5mins as it would be super hot.. Serve with nachos..

Note - You can add any veggies of your choice.
If not for cheese sauce, add in 3-4 tbsp of cream cheese.. Even that would give an amazing taste..

In case you want a lighter version of the same, donot bake and serve the filling as a salad with nachos and cheese sauce on the side.

Kunafa

Kanafah / Kunafe or Kunafah is a dessert served in the mediterranean and middle eastern region.. A crsipy exterior with a sweet and molten cheese in the interior, creates a magical wonder on your palette.. No wonder this dessert had to be my favourite apart from anything chocolaty.. Im a very big cheese lover, and also have a craving for anything sweet tooth..

                The first time i was introduced to this dessert was through a food group on fb, wherein one of the members posted the pic and also the recipe.. It was soo fascinating and drool worthy, that it got me hooked to it for long.. And the ingredients surprised me even more.. Mozarella cheese was one of the main ingredients used in this dessert.. Never did I think that mozarella can be used in the making of a dessert.. This is what actually piqued my interest in this delicious dessert and I had to give it a try.. And so my research on this dessert started..

                For the crisp outer layer, a special type of pastry known as katifi is used.. It is basically a shredded phyllo dough.. As it is difficult to find in the place i live, i had to look for an alternative.. And so i came across one of the recipes online which suggests using sutar feni in place of katifi.. Sutar Feni (fine thread like ) is generally found in any local sweet shops round the year.. Though one gets to see this in bulk during sankranti time.. I could lay my hands upon this feni very easily, and so there was no stop for me in making this dessert.. Make sure it is sugarless feni, otherwise you will end up with a sickeningly sweet dessert..

                Now coming to the main interior part of the dessert, it is completely stuffed with cheese.. You could either use a combination of mozarella and ricotta cheese or only mozarella.. Both worked fine.. I decided to use a combination of both the cheese as i only mozarella would make it a very heavy dessert.. Use which ever cheese you like, keep in mind to use unsalted cheese and also a stringy cheese like mozarella..

                Ok, now you must be wondering where does it get its sweetness from.. When the outer layer is sugarless and there is no sugar added to the cheese filling.. If you see, in most of the middle easter desserts, sugar syrup is used in the end to sweeten the dessert once the dessert is made.. Be it kunafah, basbousa or baklava.. It is sweetened by pouring sugar syrup at the end and giving it a standing time from few minutes to hours to soak the syrup depending on the dessert.. And so, we would be doing the same..

                This dessert is generally baked till you get a golden color exterior.. But few recipes online even suggested making this dessert in a heavy bottomed pan, cooking over a medium low flame and then flipping it in another pan to cook the other side.. This method is supposed to be time saving.. Would try this next time.. As of now would like to go for the baked version..

                Kunafah is extremely rich and high in calories... So limit yourself to a smaller portion.. I know its hard to resist when you have the goodness of cheese combined with sweetness of a dessert.. Never mind.. Will balance it out some other time.. ;) Now its upto you to decide, how or how much you would like to have it..

Over to the recipe now...

Ingredients:

For the outer layer

250gms of sutarfeni / katifi dough shredded (i used feni)

1/2 cup unsalted melted butter

For the filling

1 cup mozarella grated

1 cup ricotta grated

For the sugar syrup

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1tbsp milk

1tsp orange blossom water / rose water

For garnish

Few Pistachios chopped

Method - To make the sugar syrup, heat water and sugar together over medium flame and bring to boil.. Add in few lemon juice and clear the scum.. Boil this syrup for 2-3minutes and switch off the flame.. Add in orange blossom water / rose water and place it in fridge to cool.. Now mix the butter and sutarfeni really well till all the butter is absorbed by the feni.. Take a ring mould or loose bottom pie dish and grease it with butter.. Layer half of the feni in the mould covering the sides too. Press it firmly with the help of a spoon.. Mix both the cheese and fill it in the mould.. Again cover with remainig half of feni and press it firmly.. Bake in a preheated oven at 180c for 40-45mins till the top is golden brown in color.. Remove from the oven.. Pour syrup while it is still warm.. Leave it for 5minutes till it absorbs the syrup.. Serve.. It is best had immediately.. If you want to serve it later, then heat it again for a few seconds and then pour the syrup just before serving.. 

Note - Feni already have large amount of fat in it.. I would use less quantity of butter next time.. 

Donot boil the sugar syrup for long.. Otherwise it becomes very thick on cooling and cannot be poured easily.. 

Mango Pudding

               

 Rich and creamy mango pudding made with juicy alphonso mangoes is a favourite summer treat.. If mango is the king of fruits, then alphonsos have been the King of mangoes.. And this variety of mango is the most loved by my family..

                I have made this dessert earlier too, but then it was with the regular variety of mango.. This season I made it a point to use alphonsos for this dessert.. And it finally happened.. And trust me, it has taken the taste of this dessert notches up... The tropically sweet taste, the juicy texture of the mango has made this pudding even more heavenly.. And the alphonsos also imparted a  saffron golden color to the dessert making it all the more fancy and desirable..

                The best part of this pudding is, you dont need any gelatin or agar agar to set this pudding.. Cornflour does the trick here.. It sets really well if you follow the recipe to the T..

Mango Pudding

Ingredients:

1 cup milk

1 cup alphonso mango pulp

2tbsp cornflour

2tbsp sugar

1/2 cup whipped cream

Method: Mix 2tbsp milk in cornflour, make a paste and keep aside.. Heat the remaining milk.. Add the cornflour paste and sugar and stir till it is completely dissolved and thickened.. It should coat the back of the spoon.. Switch off the gas and cool it to room temperature... Whisk in mango pulp and then sieve the mixture to get rid of any fibrous pulp ( as alphonso tends to have some fibre in them) and also to get a smooth custard... Then fold in whipped cream.. Use a piping bag and fill the pudding in individual glasses or bowls.. Chill it for few hours.. Garnish with more mango and mint leaves and serve.. It would be a jiggly wiggly pudding..

Note - I have added a bit less sugar, as we like the dessert mildly sweet.. You can add it according to the taste and preference...

Whipped cream is again optional.. Though I prefer it as it gives the dessert a creaminess and makes it light and fluffy.. If you dont use whipped cream, then it would be a regular mango custard, which also tastes awesome..

Assemble all the ingredients, Heat milk and add cornflour slurry. Cook till it is dissolved and thick.. Cool and add mango pulp..

Seive the mango custard, add in whipped cream. Mix well. Fill in piping bag and fill the glasses..

Chill.. Garnish and serve..

Set pudding.. 

Chinese French Fries

Bored of the regular french fries... Give it a spicy and tangy twist, which would make it all the more enticing...

French fries are supposed to be every one's favourite... So, when I had few guests at my home, french fries was also on the menu as there were kids too.. But then, i didnt want to serve the fries to elders in their original form, just plain salted.. I wanted to make it a bit different.. After much pondering over it, I came up with this version of french fries.. So, keeping aside a few plain fries for the kids,  i gave the remaining french fries a makeover.. While making and covering these in the spicy saucy gravy, i was very confident and sure that this new french fries with a twist would be gone in no time.. And that is what happened.. My guests went crazy over this.. Now, this is one of the staple party foods in my home..

Hope you all like it alike..

Ingredients:

2 potatoes peeled and cut in wedges

1 onion cut length wise

1 capsicum cut length wise

1 tomato cut length wise without pulp

1 carrot cut length wise as thin as possible

3-4 cloves garlic chopped

1/2 tsp salt

4tbsp tomato sauce

1tbsp red chilli sauce

1 tsp vinegar

Method: Boil potato wedges in salted water for around 5mins till its half done.. Drain and deep fry in hot oil.. Heat 2tbsp oil in a pan.. Add onion and garlic and saute for 2-3 mins till onions are translucent.. Add in capsicum, carrot and stir fry for a min.. Add tomatoes, salt and all the sauces.. Mix well.. Add fried potatoes and mix lightly till it is well coated... Garnish with coriander / spring onion greens and serve hot..

Note - You can use readymade french fries pack also..

Adjust the sauces according to your taste and preference..