Gajorer Halva -Gajar Ka Halwa/ Carrot Halwa

Food without memories is something unimaginable for me now. The journey of my culinary world revolves round the delicately inter-woven threads of food memories associated with my upbringing. So, every food that I cook now almost has a sweet memory. Or even if it’s not there any, the incidents that do occur while making that recipe or relishing it, helps in making it indexed into my memory diary effortlessly now.

I have always silently admired my mother‘s patience in managing our household chores and also taking care of us. But I have a frank confession; I never used to like to eat gajorer halva that she would be making with great efforts for all of us. So, Ma would eventually make me eat it this way or that way. But the cravings suddenly started to splurge in when I got married and packed my bags to settle in another city with my better half. All these passed years, I have been craving that gajaorer halva madly deeply and truly, that my Maa would make every winter may be unlimited times. I tried to re-incarnate many times that flavour of gajorer halva but couldn’t.

And add to that the irony is now my adorable daughter doesn’t even want to taste Gajorer halva. Life does come a full circle sometimes. May be she will crave this halva once she flies away from comfort of our home and make her nest somewhere else. Till then I will try to make her eat it this way or that way like my Maa used to do.

Gajorer  halva -Carrot Halva
Recipe requirements
(Measurements are approx)

3 medium size carrots or gajar
1 and half large cup of whole milk
1 cup of cream
½ cup of sugar or as per taste
2 tbs of ghee or butter
Some chopped almonds for garnishing

Method

1. Wash carrots well. With the help of potato peeler, peel the carrots.A must for making carrot halva.
2. Now grate the carrots well .About 3-4 carrots will make 6-7 cups of grated carrots.I have finely grated the carrots as this helps in lesser time to cook compared to not so fine grated carrots.However if you want a grainy textured carrot halva then do not fine grate it.This halva turned out mushy but this is what actually we were craving for.
3. Heat up a saucepan, add butter.
4. Now add in grated carrots, fry them at low flame for 2-3 mints or till they shrink in volume liitle bit or changes some colour.
5. Now add in milk and cream. Mix in well.
6. Lower the flame and leave it to cook. Let it simmer very slowly till almost the milk is absorbed by carrots.It’s a bit time consuming job.Dont forget to mix and stir in between.It will take about 15-20 mints at med-low flame.
7. After the milk is very much absorbed by the carrots and carrots are cooked well.At this moment add in sugar. You will see the colour of halva changes to some-what reddish.Carmelization of sugar with the milk-carrot mixture gives this a very distinct colour of reddish-orange to carrots. halva (And also due to the fact that carrots has carotene which is some-what orangish/reddish photosynthetic pigment.)
8. Stir/fry for another 5-6 mints or till the sugar is evenly mixed and all the remaining milk is absorbed.
9. Take out in a serving bowl and garnish with chopped almonds.
10. Cream is essential to give a rich texture to halwa.However, if you don’t want to use cream then increase the quantity of milk. You may add khoya also to enhance the flavour of gajar halva at the time of serving.

Today is Saraswati Pujo; those of you who would like to prepare Gota Sheddu.You can visit This Old link .
And if you wish to observe "Shitol Shashti" then prepare rice overnight and have it with the “gota sheddu” for lunch next day. And if you wish you may wear something yellow in color as well .Basanto panchmi is all about embracing Basanto or spring in our lives again.

May goddess Saraswati bless all of us with wisdom and knowledge.

Shobaye kay Basanto Panchmir onek shubhokamna.

Cream of Chicken and Mushroom Soup -Made Easy

 

A very easy breezy recipe for mushroom and chicken soup. Usually flour is added with milk to give a thick texture for the cream of soup. But I have made in a different way and short-cut way .Penne pasta is pressure cooked with chicken legs and mushroom. When they all are cooked well, made a puree in a food processor and viola it’s ready to be served.
You may use potatoes in place of penne pasta to make a thick soup.

 

Cream of Chicken and Mushroom Soup-Made Easy My Way

Serves-5-6
Recipe requirements
2 chicken leg pieces or chicken breast cubes
1 box of mushroom or 250 g of mushroom chopped
1 carrot
1 tomato
2 onions chopped
2 garlic pods
Few tsp of ginger
1 cup of penne pasta
1 tsp of black pepper powder
2 tsp of salt
1 tbs of butter
½ cup of cream

Method

1. Chop all mushroom, onion, garlic, ginger, tomato and carrot.
2. Add in 1 tbs of butter. Sauté the chicken and vegetables for two to three minutes.
3. Now fill in about 5-6 cups of water in a pressure cooker pan.
4. Add in black pepper powder and salt as per taste.
5. Lock the pressure cooker lid with the whistle. At high flame one whistle and then lower the flame, cook it at low for 7-10 mints.
6. And then stop the cooking process, turning off the burner/hob.
7. Let the pressure subside completely. Unlock the pressure cooker lid from the pressure cooker pan.
8. Let it cool a bit. Then puree it in the blender or food processor.
9. At the time of serving add in cream and little bit of more butter reheating the soup again.
10. You are ready with easy cream of chicken and mushroom soup. Now do you really need the canned soups anymore ?

Will see you all next week, enjoy your weekend.

 

Happy Cooking Friends

Today no recipe.Just guess this ingredient.And if you have guessed then leave a comment how you would like to use them in your day-today cooking.

Happy Cooking Friends..

Mango Flavoured Sponge Cake

 

A very simple vanilla sponge cake is spruced up with the addition of mango pulp and yogurt.I have re-worked the measurements to suit our taste buds and requirements.And also added mango pulp out of cans to enhance the flavor.

Last time made these Mango Mousse using the pulp from these pre-packaged tin cans.

This sponge cake goes very well with evening tea or coffee.And even if it's adapted version of Nigella Lawson recipe, you still know it would always turn out delicious.

 

I have measured the ingredients as British ounces according to imperial sysytem.So, just thought of converting the measurements into grams and cups for readers convenience at other parts of the world .This Site  is the reference point for all the conversions.

 

But roughly

 

1 oz =28.3 g, or 1oz = 1/8 cup, 1 oz =2tbs and 1 tbs =3 tsp

 

Mango flavoured Sponge cake
(Adapted from Here)

 Recipe requirements 

6 oz of soft butter or approx 175 g or ¾ cup of soft butter
6 oz of sugar or approx 175 g or ¾ cup of sugar
4 eggs
10 oz of sponge flour or approx 275 g or 1 ¼ cup of flour
½ tsp of baking soda
8 oz or 1 cup of plain yogurt
2-3 tsp of vanilla essence
3-4 tbs heaped tbs of mango pulp

Method

1. Take out butter, yogurt and egg at least half an hour before you make the cake. Believe me it does help in at the time of mixing.
2. When butter is soft, measure it out and cream it with powdered sugar.
3. Meanwhile separate egg whites from yolks. Beat in egg white to soft peaks. Similarly mix up the egg yolks well. Now add vanilla essence to the egg yolks.
4. Slowly start mixing the egg whites, egg yolk and butter sugar mixture. Do not use up all at one go. Divide the mixing process in two-three turns.
5. Now sift the sponge flour.TIP-If you do not get sponge flour or self rising flour use normal flour with little bit of baking powde- to a cup of all purpose flour add roughhly 1 and half tsp of baking powder and 1tsp of salt . And please try to use premium quality flour for sponge cakes, you will get excellent results.
6. Add in baking soda.
7. Now when all the egg mixture is used up, slowly add about ¼ cup of yogurt till you use up the entire quantity of yogurt.
8. Now add the wet ingredients of -sugar+butter+egg mixture+yogurt mixture to the dry ingredient flour.
9. Divide the cake batter into halves. To one half add mango pulp. I have used store brought mango pulp cans. You will notice batter color changes.
10. Now prepare a baking pan generously with butter, scoop the cake batter without mango pulp first reserving some of it to be used up later to layer the cake.I have used square baking pan.You may use bundt tin for this cake also.
11. After the first layer, it’s time to do the second layer of the cake batter-add in the batter with mango pulp. Spread it out evenly. Now add in the reserved plain batter for the top layer. You may even it out with a knife, even better if you dip the knife in water beforehand.
12. You may add mango pulp to the whole batter for an even mango flavour sponge cake.
13. Bake the sponge cake at 180 deg C or 350 deg F for 40-45 mints or till a toothpick/skewer comes out clean when inserted in between.OK, I do use sometimes a plain knife as well in case I don’t have a toothpick.
14. Take out and cool it completely.Then flip it over a plate.Serve and enjoy.
15. This cake is a great way of adding variations at your breakfast table too.

Happy Cooking Friends

Oven Baked Tilapia in Coconut milk and Tomato Sauce

Fish and Bengali two inseparable identity, isn’t .But what if you don’t get fresh pona or for that matter rui /katla mach from the local vegetable markets near you. Well in that case, you have options of using frozen fish fillets. I have been cooking with these boneless, skinless tilapia fish fillet for quite a long time now. I also happen to use smoked haddock or cod also which is what I do get easily here.
This recipe can also be used to make salmon fish pieces and white fish fillet also. Add in some vegetables of your choice and it does add a whole lot of color and vibrancy.A very quick fish curry with readily available coconut milk and tomato based pasta sauce.

Oven Baked Tilapia in Coconut milk and Tomato sauce
Serves-3

Recipe Requirements

Frozen tilapia fish fillets thawed-3
Tomato sauce preferably pasta sauce-3-5 tbs
Thick coconut milk- ½ can
½ cup of water
1 tbs of water
2-3 tbs of prepared onion/garlic/ginger paste
Sautéed mushroom- about ½ cup (optional)
Mustard oil- 1-2 tbs
2 tsp of red pepper powder
2 tsp of coriander powder
½ tsp of garam masala
2-3 green chilly
Little bit of turmeric powder and salt for marinating the fish fillet

Method

1. Thaw fish fillet. Marinate them in turmeric powder and salt for ½ hour and keep it refrigerated while it’s being marinating.
2. Now prepare the sauce
3. I do keep always some pre-prepared ginger/garlic and onion paste in refridgerator. So it’s always handy to use whenever it’s required in gravy.
4. Mix all the ingredients in a big mixing bowl. Coconut milk, water, red pepper powder, garam masala, coriander powder, ginger/garlic /onion paste, tomato pasta sauce, mustard oil and salt. Add little bit of sugar about ½ tsp.
5. Now in a shallow baking pan, add in this prepared sauce and then top in with the marinating fish.Add in mustard oil and butter also.Add in green chilly slit in between.
6. Cover with foil and bake the dish for 30-33 mints at 175 deg C if the fish is thawed. And if you forgot to thaw the fish fillet earlier, then layer with the sauce and bake for 50 mints. But I would suggest thawing it as the fish fillet tends to absorb the flavor even more.
7. You can make salmon fish this way also. Increase the baking time if you are using thick slices.
8. You may add some sauteed mushroom or frozen green peas also.

I have many times tried recipes from All recipes in past with due credits.Recently, I came to know that they have included this recipe , which I have submitted a long time back in 2006.If you have time, do check in that also. That’s another great way of making rich and spicy fish curry and it has got some great reviews also.

Then this  Baked Haddock Fish curry without coconut milk.Hope you try them out sometimes.

Happy cooking Friends