Cottage Cheese Pudding

Today is Mahalaya , after this day Navaratri will be celebrated throughout India and abroad also .Navaratri is a 9 day long sacred period, and people worship Goddess Durga ,observe fast during this period also .Blessings of mighty Goddess Durga is seeked for the well being of family and friends .
Mahalaya falls in the month of Ashwin (according to Hindu Samvat calendar) and its generally a amavasya day (new moon day), people often offers tarpan(sacred Offerings and a ritual in Hinduisms ) to their ancestors and forefathers so that they live happily and peacefully in heaven .
We Bengalis have grown up listening to devotional songs Mahishashurmardini by Virendra Krishna Bhadra.I really can’t recollect how this started, but over a period of time, this has become a ritual itself. Without listening to these devotional songs, the very essence of festivity and the spirit is never matched.
When asked about this to My FIL , he came up with the answer .It was first Bani Kumar who initially wrote the lyrics of these devotional songs with the help of known Purohits of that time .Then It was the turn of Virendra Krishna Bhadra , who with the help of renowned musicians of that era came up with these songs .He recited the sholakas from Chandi Path and the songs were then sung by other artists. It was first played in All India radio early in the morning.From that small beginning ,it has flourished even a gap of long 75 years .

Now to my usual stuff of Recipes .


Cottage Cheese Pudding

I Have posted few months back a recipe about cake being baked in Pressure Cooker .Here

Steamed Cupcake .

This time keeping in mind few of the queries made on that post , I have tried making Cheese Pudding in Pressure Cooker , it just came out so well and flavorful , I could not resist posting about it .
This recipe worked fine for me, as the amount of egg to cheese was very proportionate, with a dash of lemon zest; it has a lemony flavor also. It was one of the Moist, spongy and soft Cheese pudding and was liked very much by my family.
I am going to make it again during this Durga Puja.

Ingredients
2 -2 ½ cups of cottage Cheese
¾ cup of sugar (add according to preferable sweetness )
2 tbs of Brandy (optional if making for kids avoid it)
2 tbs of all purpose flour
1 tsp of vanilla essence
2 -3 tsp of grated orange zest or lemon zest
¼ cup of raisins
4 eggs
¼ tsp of baking powder
Pinch of salt

Method
Separate egg white from egg yolks .Foam the egg white in mixer/blender for 5 mints at high speed.

Making Of Paneer(Cottage Cheese )

Bring ½ litre of whole milk to boil in a pot .
Add citric acid (easily available at the local grocer in India) or You can squeeze in Juice of 1 lemon .Or use the ready-made juice in small plastic lemon available in Wallmarts and Krogers.
Stir for few mints and let the milk curdle, Let it cool and then sieve the Paneer(Cottage Cheese ) and tie in Muslin cloth(If you have your old cotton saree or chiffon Duppatas , just cut out 6*6 inch piece from it and use instead of muslin cloth , It is much more handy for me in time of need , always Reuse and Recycle) Hung at a minimum height .I generally tie that in the Kitchen sink Tap .
After 1hrs, slowly take out the Cheese from the cloth.

Please Note -A great Substitute for Cottage Cheese would be Ricotta Cheese at room temperature.

Making of Pudding

Preheat the Pressure cooker for 3-4 mints at high, and then lower the flame.
Mix in the Cheese, All purpose flour, Sugar, vanilla essence and egg yolk in mixer for 1-2 mints,at low speed.
Take out in a vessel, Mix in baking Powder, Lemon Zest (Tip- you can use sweet lime zest also, this add a great fruity and lemony flavor) and egg whites, mix well.
Grease an aluminum vessel with refined oil or canola oil. (I didn’t had one so used steel vessel instead of aluminum one)
Shift the entire thing to the utensil. Decorate with raisins or cashews

Very carefully place the vessel inside the pressure cooker as it is now hot.

There are possibly two ways of making Pudding inside a Pressure Cooker.
One is use of water, so that the moisture is retained and the pudding in cooked slowly on steam.
Other way is just opposite, like making a cake, with out adding water, and cook according a cake is baked.
I followed both of them, and found out that while the first way round its more like a moistened and soft pudding ,but the second one , which was a real surprise tastes more like cake which is very spongy and flavorful and more like a bundt cake .My better half liked this way more flavorful than made with the first method.
I would suggest you to try making the dish both the way.

Well Of course there is the conventional way

Bake the pudding at 300 deg for 45 mints. Use eight 1cup ramekins or custard cups or a casserole for this purpose .
Bake till the wooden tester inserted in centre comes out clean.

All said and done, now cover the cooker with lid but without whistle or weight.
Seal it and then lower the flame, cook the pudding at low for 40- 45 mints.




Take out only when the cooker is cooled, do not open the cooker before it.
Now flip the vessel over a greased plate, Don’t worry if some of it get stuck at the base of vessel.( Just soak the vessel in water for 1 hrs , the stubborn left-over gets easily cleaned)
.
This one is packed with right content of protein, good for toddlers and growing children.

One More Close look.

Cooking From Passionate Cooks Links
I guess my taking Pics is not very Important as these recipes are it self completely well written with Pics , Please Visit their lovely sites for more detailed recipe and instruction.

Lemon Rice Lemon Rice By Indira at Mahanandi - Excellent recipe with easy to follow Guidelines, I made that for Dinner and It came out great , enjoyed by each and every member of my family .

Prawn Biryani Malabar Style Prawn Biryani By SHN at Mish-Mash – She makes it a point to write recipe in details , and with that much of clarity , nothing can go wrong .Biryani was a hit and we thoroughly enjoyed , Again a keeper recipe .
Thanks for sharing some good recipes.
Enjoy the festival Of Joy , navaratri and Durga Puja ,make loads of goodies for loved ones.
Happy cooking Friends .