Sugarfree Thandai Shrikhand ( A very Happy Holi to Everyone :) )

"Gulal hai Bhaiya ?"

"Kaunsa color chahiye Maam ?"

"Pink aur Green de dijiye ."

"Kaunse flavour mein doon ?"

"Excuse me."

"Madam kaunsa flavour chahiye ? Jasmine, mogra, gulab ya chandan ?"

I was almost tempted to ask "bas itni hai ? Aur char paanch flavor bhi rakhna tha na Bhaiya ". But better sense prevailed and I asked him to give whatever he wanted as I had to wind up last minute Holi shopping and get back home to prepare dinner.

However the next stall had an ever greater surprise in store. Gone are the days when we were happy with those pichkaris that cost around 10 bucks each. The salesman duly presented me with the latest water gun which had a 2 liter water storage tank attached to it. And even before I could close my jaw which had dropped to threatening levels, yet another specimen was placed in my hands. This one could spray three different colors. And predictably, this 'state of the art' did not come cheap. Each gun was marked above Rs 1000.

Anticipating another tantrum, I quickly placed them back on the makeshift counter and dragged the kid to another stall. His protests quickly drowned out as I handed him a 'Chota Bheem' gun which was priced much more reasonably.

The final stop happened to be the local supermarket. I needed a few things for preparing desserts for the next day. One look at the shelves revealed endless bottles of Thandai jostling for space with a variety of bottled beverages and tinned/canned sweets. A little voice in my head reminded me about my health/fitness resolutions. And that was the moment when I decided to ditch my plans for making kheer. I wanted to prepare something that captured the essence of the festival but without piling on the calories.

Thandai Shrikhand seemed to the prefect answer to my dilemma. I was anyways preparing Thandai for Holi so it was a smart choice to use some of the extract to flavor a home made Shrikhand sweetened with a Zero calorie sweetener like Sugarfree Natura. As I had predicted, none of my guests could guess that it was a sugarfree dessert.

Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 15 mins ( plus overnight standby time for the hung curd )

Ingredients -

• 500 ml curd
• 1/3 cup milk
• 4 almonds
• 3 cashews
• 1/2 tsp khuskhus
• 1/2 tsp watermelon seeds
• 1/2 pinch fennel
• 1 green cardamon
• 4-5 peppercorns
• a few strands of saffron
• a few drops of rose syrup
• 3 tbsp Sugarfree Natura ( or as per taste )

For garnishing -

• Chopped pistachios
• dried rose petals
• rose syrup
• saffron strands

Preparation - Strain the curd overnight using a muslin cloth. This will remove all the excess water from it.

Soak the almonds, cashews, khuskhus and watermelon seeds together. (remove the almond skin once it is soaked)

Dry roast the peppercorns, fennel and cardamom till it gives off a fragrance.

Transfer the roasted spices to a grinder jar and powder them as finely as possible. Add all the soaked nuts to the same jar. Grind everything till it becomes a fine paste. [ Add 2-3 tsp milk to thin the consistency if it is getting too difficult to grind. ]

Heat the milk in a saucepan. Add the saffron strands to the still hot milk. Once it cools down to room temperature, add the nuts and spices paste along with rose syrup to it. Let it stand for 1 hour.

Use a muslin cloth to strain the extract into another vessel.

Transfer the hung curd, thandai extract and the sugarfree into a mixing bowl. Whisk together to get a uniform mixture. Refrigerate for a couple of hours.

Serve into small dessert bowls and garnish with rose petals, pistachios and saffron strands.

Serve .

Thai Black Rice and Coconut Pudding ( Vegan Recipe )

Black rice. There is something magical about this ingredient that goes beyond it's qualities. Yes, it is highly Instagram-worthy. And cooked the right way, it can induce nothing less than a a food-orgasm. Plus it is one of the most versatile ingredients that I have worked with. Very filling and a little quantity goes a long way. Given a chance I could go on and on about my sentiments for this wonder ingredient but for now, I can just about summarize it as a mixture of love bordering on obsession.

Back to this 'Sticky Black rice and Coconut Pudding' recipe, I fell in love with the very sound of it. Caught it for the first time while surfing on television and looked up the recipe on the web. But since I had no access to black rice at that point of time, it was relegated to some corner of my memory. Only recently did it pop up once again when I was collating all the black rice dishes that I have worked on in the last few months. I realized that I had missed out on the very first dish which had triggered my interest in this wonderfully exotic ingredient.

A native Thai recipe made with the short grained glutinous black rice, I have not made any major changes to it . Except for substituting the Thai rice with another short grained variety cultivated in India. Original recipe is taken from - thekitchn.com . Don't mistake it for the Kavuni Arisi Payasam (from Chettinad) or the Amubi (from North East India ) .

Read on -

Preparation Time - 1 hour

Ingredients -

• 1 cup black rice 
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup thin coconut milk
• 4 heaped teaspoons brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• thin coconut slices for garnishing

Preparation - Wash and soak the black rice in 3 cups of water. Let it stand overnight.

Cooking - Transfer the soaked rice along with the soaking water and the thin coconut milk to a thick-bottomed saucepan, Bring to a boil on low heat.

Once the rice is about 3/4th done, add the brown sugar and salt. Let it simmer till all the liquid dries up. (The last 3-4 mins are crucial and one has to be careful not to burn the pudding.)

Around the same time, dry roast the coconut slices on a iron skillet. Take care to keep the heat low else they tend to burn. Once they are light brown , remove from the flame and keep aside.

Garnish with the roasted coconut slices. Serve warm.

Black Rice Truffles with Coconut Custard ( The Vegan Attakali )

IMP - This is an original recipe created by the blogger and has been published for the first time on Oriyarasoi. 


At times, when I look at food, my thoughts begin to wander far and wide. How would a dish look like if it were to be prepared in a different realm or even in a different era ? That inspires me to take a very mundane everyday dish and give it a makeover. For me a makeover is all about preserving the very soul of a recipe while mutating it into something very different. And that is exactly what I have done with the 'attakali', a traditional Odia dessert. Of course, this recipe is a late Teacher's day tribute to Masterchef Vikas Khanna for it is his show 'Twist of Taste' that really inspires me to take on such mammoth challenges.

For the uninitiated, 'attakali' consists of rice balls immersed in a rice custard (more like a phirni). It is quite low in calories as compared to other desserts and is usually prepared on certain festive days. In my recipe, I have used two varieties of rice. The black or purple rice from Manipur is used to create the rice balls and the sweet smelling Gobindo bhog from Bengal is cooked in coconut milk to create a vegan custard. The nuttiness of the black rice complements the sweetness of the Gobindo bhog to build a unique flavor. This is a vegan version of the 'attakali'.

Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 40 mins

Ingredients -

For the rice balls -

• 1/2 cup Black (Manipur) rice 
• 3-4 tsp jaggery
• 2 tsp almond paste (optional)
• a pinch of cardamom
• toasted sesame seeds for garnishing

For the coconut custard

• 3 tsp Gobindo bhog rice ( one can use Jeera rice instead ) 
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 2-3 tsp sugar 
• 2 pinch white pepper powder
• toasted charoli seeds

Preparation - Wash and soak the two rice varieties separately . 

Grind the purple rice into a fine paste without using too much water. Add the jaggery and grind it again. Keep aside

Grind the Gobindo bhog rice separately.

Cooking - 

For making the rice balls -

Boil about 1/4 cup water in a wok. 

Add the purple rice and jaggery paste. Cook on low to medium flame as it thickens. 

Once it starts to solidify, add the almond paste and the cardamom powder. Remove from the flame and keep aside it is bearable to touch the dough.

Rub a few drops of oil on the fingers and knead it again. Divide the dough into small portions and shape into balls by rolling between the palms. 

Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on a plate. Roll these balls gently on the seeds.

For the coconut custard -

Bring the coconut milk and sugar to a gentle boil. Add the Gobindo bhog rice paste and keep stirring it till it thickens to a thin custard like consistency. 

Add the powdered white pepper and toasted charoli at this stage. Mix it in. Remove from the flame. Let it cool down before popping it into the fridge for 15 mins.

Serve the rice balls (at room temperature) with a dollop of the chilled coconut-rice custard. 

Note - Want to look up the original 'Attakali' recipe ? Check out HERE.

Kiwi and Black Rice Phirni ( An exotic rice pudding )

Important - This is an original recipe and has been published for the first time. Please do not copy/reproduce without approval of the owner.

Thanks to my numerous food posts on Facebook and other social media, I keep getting bombarded with requests from foodie friends . "Kabhi hame khane par toh bulao" is the most common rant that I get to here on a day to day basis. So, when a special friend arrived last weekend, it was time to create yet another magical recipe just for him. Is there a better way of making someone feel special ? Not really when the person in question is a die-hard foodie.

So, did I pull on my thinking cap ?? Or scour the supermarket shelves for some inspiration ? No. I did not do anything of that sort. I had a Black rice Phirni waiting for me in the drafts. The timing seemed perfect to debut my special dessert. Now I had been planning to prepare it for sometime but the inclement weather in Blore had dulled my taste for all things sweet. But as the sun shone bright, it seemed that the weather Gods were in tandem with my wishes.

I used jaggery as a sweetener to bring out the naturally nutty taste of the black rice. Instead of using nuts of any kind, I decided to top it up with a fruit. Makes it healthier and the acidity in the fruit acts as the perfect foil to the sweetness of the phirni. Luckily, I had quite a few options stocked up but I decided to pick on the Kiwi as it makes for a lovely contrast with the lavender hues of the black rice .

Read on -

Preparation Time - 40-45 mins

Ingredients -

• 1 liter whole milk 
• 4 tbsp black rice powder
• 4 tsp jaggery or as per taste ( I used the light hued variety )
• 2 kiwis ( for topping )
• 1/2 cup cold milk for mixing with the rice powder

Preparation - Soak the black rice grains for 4 hours. Drain and spread on a plate to air dry. Once the surface moisture evaporates, grind it into a powder.

Mix the rice powder in the cold milk.

Cooking - Boil the milk till it reduces to half of the original volume. 

Pour in the rice mixture and keep stirring till it starts to thicken a bit. Once the consistency reaches that of a custard, mix in the powdered jaggery.

Remove from the flame and allow it to cool down a bit.

Pop it into the fridge for a couple of hours.

Just before serving, peel and chop the kiwi into thin half-moon slices.

Pour the phirni into dessert glasses. Top it up with the kiwi and serve.

Note - Jaggery can cause the milk to curdle as it contains residual traces of alum. Hence I usually prefer to add it just before removing the phirni/kheer from the flame.

Quinoa Pudding ( A healthy take on 'Chaula Khiri' from Odisha )

Rice kheer or Chaula Kheeri is one of the most frequently prepared dishes at home. If not for a festival, I find myself cooking some for guests or even on husband's request. And I prefer doing it the hard way. Slow cooked to a rich creamy texture and caramelized flavour, the taste is something just out of the world. But at times, the effort and time required proves to be just too much and I end up with a delicious kheer but a grumpy mood to go with it.

That is precisely why I ended up trying to cook Kheer with quinoa as soon as I got my hands on this wonder grain. I wanted to find out if I could save time by doing so and yes, I had guessed it right. The grains being smaller tend to acquire that melt-in-the-mouth texture quite faster as compared to Basmati rice or even the small grained 'arua chaula' that we use in Odisha. Have not used any thickening agents like milk powder, khoya or condensed milk to keep it as healthy as possible.

Quinoa being a superfood, has a high amount of protein, fiber, manganese, magnesium, iron and B2. Apart from the fact that it is gluten-free, it is also one of those food grains that remain non-GMO (GMO stands for Genetically modified and while it may be the only answer to a billowing population and the only hope of abating global hunger, I can't help being scared of what Frankensteins one might be consuming). It is the grain of choice for diabetics as it has a low glycemic index. Plus people trying to lose weight will benefit from eating quinoa as it makes one feel fuller and also takes time to get digested.

Without much ado, read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 1 hr

Ingredients -

• 1/2 cup quinoa
• 2 ltrs whole milk
• 8-10 pepperorns
• 2-3 green cardamom
• 4 tbsp sugar ( adjust as per taste )
• 1 tsp ghee

Preparation - Wash the quinoa under running water. Let it soak for 30 mins.

Cooking - Bring the milk to boil in a large pan. Keep stirring it at regular interval so that it does not catch at  the bottom and the layer does not form on top. Switch off after boiling for 15 mins and keep aside.

Heat the ghee in a pressure cooker. Put about 1 tsp sugar in it and wait for it to turn brown. Before it starts to smoke, add the rinsed and drained quinoa to the pressure cooker. Roast it for 5 mins to give it brownish shade and also to ensure that it's typical smell goes off. Now add 1 cup water and close the lid. Cook on medium flame for 2 whistles.

Keep it aside till steam escapes.

Now add the cooked quinoa to the boiled milk. Cook on a low flame for about an hour or till you reach the desired consistency. (remember that it get still thicker after cooling down)

Add the powdered peppercorns and cardamom to the kheer and give it a stir. Keep aside till it coold down.

Serve at room temperature or even chilled.

Creamy Spinach Granita with Sticky Potato Chips

IMP - This i an original recipe created by the blogger and has been published for the first time on Oriyarasoi. 

Ok...The main course is done and dusted ( Pan Seared Spinach and Potato Cigars in case you have forgotten about it ). Now it's time  to magically transform the same set of ingredients into something delectably sweet and asking for minimal effort. Should I try to bake some muffins ? Pie ? Mousse ? Naah. Has been done to death.

Since it is already summer in most parts of the country and the temperatures are soaring, I am going to go something chilled. So, why not make it a granita loaded with the goodness of Popeye's superfood ! Let's go one step further and make it a creamy one. Done. And I am gonna make it super easy and quick ( just in terms of the preparation time, not the freezing time. I don't fancy the liquid nitrogen stuff ).

Click here to READ more about the amazing benefits of this superfood aka 'Spinach' !!!

Back to the recipe. Read on -

Preparation Time - 3 hours 15 mins ( With 3 hours being the standby time)

Ingredients -

For the granita -

• 1/2 cup spinach puree ( just blanch, strain and puree with 2-3 tsp water )
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 tbsp sour cream ( add a little more if you like it creamier or reduce it if cal conscious )
• 4 tsp brown sugar ( adjust as per taste )
• pinch of salt
• 2 pinch chili flakes for seasoning

For the Sticky Potato fries -

• 1 medium sized potato
• 1 tbsp sour cream
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2-3 tsp water 
• a pinch of salt
• 2-3 tsp brown sugar

Preparation - Blanch the spinach. Throw into the mixer jar. Whizz till smooth. Throw in some water, sour cream and brown sugar. Buzz it again till mixed thoroughly.

Pour it into a large cake tray (use a freezer safe one) such that it makes a layer about 4-5 cm thick. Nothing more. Mind you.

Pop it into the freezer. Take out after 30 mins and scrape the sides and along the length using a fork. Pop it back into the fridge and repeat the process every 30 mins for the next 3-4 hours. The creamy spinach granita is ready. Now sprinkle the chili flakes over it and mix in.

(Absolutely no cheating else you end up with a solid frozen mass or small chunks of ice instead of a slurry of ice particles. Once it is ready, it can be served anytime between immediately and the next 12 hours. After that, the ice just starts to stick together. )

For the sticky fries, let prepare some sticky sauce. Mix sour cream, water, brown sugar, salt and olive oil in a saucepan. Boil on low heat it it bubbles and foams up. Keep aside till cool.

Peel and slice the potato into a bowl containing salt water. Strain and throw the slices into boiling water. Let it cook for 2 mins. Remove and dry on kitchen towel. Brush lightly with oil and spread on a baking tray. Bake at 400 F for 15 mins max. Remove from oven and let it cool for half an hour.

Drizzle the sauce on the potato chips ( or just toss the chips along with the sauce) and serve alongside the Creamy Spinach Granita.

Shrikhand

Shrikhand is a simple yet easy to make and good to eat Indian dessert. By using a low calorie yogurt and substituting Sugarfree/Splenda for sugar, it can be transformed into a low calorie delight. One can also add fruit puree to it. Also it happens to be one of Bal gopal's favorites.

Read on for this recipe which is also offered as prasad/neivaidyam on the occasion of Janmasthami-

Preparation Time - 10 mins

Ingredients -

• 1 cup hung curd
• 1 1/2 - 2 tbsp powdered sugar
• a pinch of cardamom powder
• a few nuts
• 3-4 strands of saffron
• 1 tbsp warm milk
• 1-2 drops rose water/kewda water (optional)

Preparation - Soak the saffron in the milk for 10 mins.

Transfer all ingredients (except nuts) to a blender. Buzz to get a smooth paste.

Garnish with the chopped nuts and serve chilled.

Note - I personally prefer to make shrikhand with a day old yogurt so that it has just a hint of sourness. 

Caramel Custard

Caramel Custard is one gorgeous looking pudding which can also be quite low on the calorie meter. The soft layer of caramelized or slightly burnt sugar on top lends it a somewhat bitter yet distinct taste (quite like a tofee but little bitter ). A sure shot winner when served at sit down dinners, this one is surprisingly easy to prepare ( and ridiculously low-budget too ).

While the original calls for the use of eggs, I used the Brown & Polson Custard powder ( Vanilla flavour ) which is an egg-free formula. And as my readers already know, I am not into fancy molds/ramekins. So, I opted for a simple steel bowl or katori ( one can find them in all indian homes ) and it turned out quite well. With a whole lot of designs cropping up in the steel dinnerware, one can easily find square, oval or even flower shaped katoris.

I opted a pressure cooker ( with a stand inside ) for cooking the pudding. If you do not have one of these stands, use a raised steel/iron mesh ( the kind that is used to avoid putting a hot kadhai/vessel directly on the table ). Read on for the recipe:

Preparation Time - 30 mins

Ingredients - 3 cups boiled milk, 6 tbs milk powder, 3 tsp custard powder, 6 tsp sugar, 1/2 cup sugar for caramelizing, butter for greasing the bowls/molds.

Preparation - Lightly grease the bowls with butter. Dissolve the custard powder in 1/2 cup slightly warm milk.

Cooking - Heat the 1/2 cup sugar in a thick bottomed pan on a low heat. Stir at regular intervals. It will turn melt and turn golden brown. You can allow it to turn a few shades darker ( if you like a little bitterness ) but remove it from flame when it is just short of starting to smoke.

Pour into the bowls and swirl gently to cover the bottom of the bowls. Allow to stand and solidify .

Bring milk to a boil in a saucepan. Remove some of the milk to another cup, add milk powder, mix well and pour back into the saucepan. Add sugar and dissolve.

Pour the milk-custard powder mix into the saucepan slowly with continuous stirring. Cook for 3-4 minutes till it thickens. Carefully adjust heat to avoid burning the bottom contents of the pan. Remove from flame and pour into the bowls/molds.

Put a stand inside a wide mouthed pressure cooker. Place the bowls inside it and pour water gently so that the bowls are half immersed. Remove the weight and put on the lid of pressure cooker.

Cook on medium flame for 15 minutes. Switch off burner and allow to stand for another 5-10 minutes.

Open lid and remove the bowls. Insert a knife in the center and if it comes out clean, pudding is done. Else cook for another 4-5 minutes.

To unmold, run a knife around the sides of the bowl. Place a plate on top of each bowl and turn over carefully. The pudding will come out nice and wobbly. Pour the remaining caramel sauce over it.

Serve right away or chill if for 2-3 hours before serving.