Instant Phirni / Semolina Pudding

Festive season, Get together with friends , dinner party, wedding occasion,  dessert which comes to my mind immediately is Phirni.  After a heavy main course like Biryani or any spicy curries, phirni is something which cools and soothes you.  A traditional phirni is made using ground rice, although it's not that complicated process, I always prefer the instant version using semolina.  Personally I don't see any wide difference between semolina phirni and ground rice phirni in terms of texture and flavour.  Also this Instant version is a solution to quick dessert.

In this sweet moment I have something to share with you. Few weeks back  my husband gave me a surprise that I had won an award from his company, I was astonished that why would his company give me award and for what.  He said it's Mahindra's Rise value.  Many of you might have come across about this Rise value through adverts or friends.  If not let me give a short note about Rise- accepting no limits, thinking alternatively and driving positive change.

So the employees of Mahindra can nominate their family members if they have achieved something in the field of Education, Sports, Music, Creative Arts.  My husband nominated me in the field of Creative Arts for my blog and I got it.  A Certificate and a gift card worth Rs.5000/-  Rise is nice isn't?
 Thanks to my husband who nominated me and  thank you Mahindra for this Rise initiative.  To know more about Mahindra Rise click here.
 
When I was in off blogging mode , this is one of the reason which made me get back into blogging and also I would like to thank those wonderful blogger and non blogger friends who cheered me to get back to blogging, so here I am with this sweet relish.

Serves 8
Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
Milk- 1 litre
Semolina- 4 tbsp
Sugar- 4 tbsp
Cardamom powder- 1 tsp
Saffron- 1/2 tsp soaked in 1 tbsp warm milk
Kewra essence- 1 tsp
Almonds, pista- each 10, chopped coarsely

Method:
Boil the milk, once it boils, add the semolina little by little stirring continuously.  Once the semolina gets cooked, add the sugar and keep stirring until the sugar gets dissolved completely .  Now add the cardamom powder, saffron soaked in milk, kewra essence and chopped nuts,stir well. Switch of the flame.  You can serve it immediately while it's still warm with some chopped nuts and saffron on top for garnish or let it cool down, chill in the refrigerator and serve it cold, either way it tastes good.

Note:
The amount of sugar is bit low according to our taste buds, so you can add more sugar if you want.  Also a tablespoon of condensed milk at the end will give much more rich flavours.

Sending this sweet to Feast Of Sacrifice, Milk Sweet Recipes and Festive Food hosted by Cuisine Delights originally started by Recipe Junction.

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Chum Chum

Chum Chum the name itself makes me happy.  I don't know what exactly the meaning of the word is but it's traditional Bengali sweet.  Chum Chums are made with Indian Cottage Cheese( Paneer) which is cooked in sugar syrup .  This is something very similar to rasgullas, rasgullas are served with syrup  and this without syrup.  I know a typical Indian may not need these explanation for this well known popular sweet, I'm just saying these for those who doesn't know what is a chum chum.

   You can make these Chum Chum for any special occation, it can be made easily in minutes, that too if you want to make something in bulk, you can definitely go for this.  You can also make these as a special gift for your   better half instead of regular chocolate box.

  Any way this is a recipe which I adopted from  Manjula's Kitchen.  I have failed so many times making this rasgullas or rasmalai,  but Manjula's recipe was perfect the very first time I got this right.  Thank you Manjula for your clear instructions.
Also don't forget to check our bloggers in marathon  Priya Suresh,Jay, Gayathri, Monika, PJ, Priya Vaasu, Azeema, Reva,Veena, Usha , Srivalli; Soumya.

Ingredients:
Milk- 1 litre
Lemon juice- 2 tbsp mixed with 1 tbsp of water
Sugar- 2 cups
Water- 5 cups
Kalakand- 2 cups( Kalakand recipe here)
Few drops of food colouring
Coco powder- 1 tbsp
Dessicated coconut- 3 tbsp

Method:
Boil the milk and the add the lemon juice slowly.  You can see the curd separates from the water.  At this stage pour it in a clean muslin cloth and separate the curd from the water.  Squeeze the water gently, don't squueze too much, it will dry the paneer.  Place a heavy bottomed pan on top of the paneer for 1 hour.
After 1 hour take the paneer and pulse in a food processor until it forms a dough. If it doesn't come together add a few drops of water until it forms a dough.
  Take the dough and knead it again and roll it into small balls.  Boil the water and sugar together in a pressure cooker.  Add the balls leave enough space to spread.  Close the lid and cook in high until you steam on top, once you see steam on top, reduce the heat to medium and cook for further 7 minutes.  Switch off the flame and keep the pressure on cold tap water.  Let it sit for few minutes.  Then open the lid and see if the chum chum looks spongy and big in size.  Take it out from the water.
  Add  a few drops of food colouring to the dessicated coconut and coat the chum chum in it.
For kalakand coating, add few drops of food colouring or coco powder to the kalakand.  Grease your palms with ghee,  take a small size ball of kalakand,  flatten it.  Place a chum chum inside and cover with kalakand.
To make the flour shape and heart shape, I used a cookie cutter to cut those shapes. You can serve it just like this or coat the kalakand with dessicated coconut again. Chill the chum chum in the refrigerator for minimum 5 hours before you serve.

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Black Jaggery Kheer

 This is just like regular rice kheer or rice pudding, instead of normal sugar I have used Black Jaggery .  Jaggery  is an unrefined cane sugar. Jaggery is considered to retain it's mineral values than the refined sugar. It does not involve any chemical agents when processing. It's also known to treat throat infections.
  So Jaggery is considered as a healthier option to use for your sweets than your normal white sugar. For more information about jaggery click here.

Serves 4
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time:
Pressure cooker: 20 minutes
In normal pan: about 1 hour

Ingredients:
Raw rice- 1/2 cup
Whole milk or coconut milk- 2 cups
Jaggery- 3/4 cup( adjust according to your taste)
Cardamom powder- 1/2 tsp
Ghee- 1/2 tbsp
Cashew and raisins- about 10 to sprinkle on top
Method:
Using Pressure Cooker:
Powder the rice coarsely in a blender. Add the powdered rice and milk in a pressure cooker, cook up to 4 to 5 whistles. Add the jaggery in a pan and heat in low heat until the jaggery is completely melted. Add the cooked rice mixture to the melted jaggery and mix well in medium to low heat until it gets well incorporated.
Heat ghee in another pan, add the cashew and raisins, when it turns golden brown, add it to the kheer along with the cardamom powder and mix well.
Serve warm or cold.

In normal pan:
Use a heavy based pan if you are using a normal pan. Add the rice and milk, keep stirring in medium to low heat. Cover the pan, keep it in low heat and cook until the rice gets completely cooked and mashed up. Keep an eye so that the milk doesn't overflow.
Then melt the jaggery with 1 tbsp of water until it gets completely melted. Add the cooked rice mixture to the melted jaggery and mix well in medium to low heat until it gets well incorporated.

Heat ghee in another pan, add the cashew and raisins, when it turns golden brown, add it to the kheer along with the cardamom powder and mix well.

Serve warm or cold.

This recipe goes to Celebrate Sweets- Kheer hosted by me started by Nivedita and Complete My Thali- Sweets hosted by Authentic Vegetarian Recipes started by Joy Of Cooking

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