Sweet Dessert with Bottle Gourd (Bottle Gourd Halwa)

 

Sweet Dessert with Bottle Gourd (Bottle Gourd Halwa)

INGREDIENTS: 

Full cream milk powder - 3/4 cup

Fresh milk - 1 1/2 cup

Finely grated fresh young bottle gourd - 3 cups tightly packed

Brown sugar - 3 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons

Saffron - a small pinch

Cardamom - 4 pods

Chopped nuts - 2 tablespoons (optional)

Clarified butter or ghee - 5 tablespoons

METHOD:

1. First, rinse, peel and grate bottle gourd finely. Before you cook, taste the bottle gourd, if it has sour or bitter taste, discard it and don't cook it. Sour bottle gourd will curdle the milk and bitter bottle gourd will toxify your body. Always choose freshly harvested young bottle gourd and taste it before using.

2. In a heavy pan, add 4 tablespoons of ghee, after it has become warm, add grated bottle gourd. Using medium flame, keep stirring until all the moisture from the bottle gourd has evaporated. You have to cook bottle gourd in ghee until you don't taste the raw smell of the vegetable and also it has soften to perfection. This stage is crucial and don't take any short cut. It took me approximately 15 - 20 minutes. 

3. While frying the bottle gourd, I use another heavy deep bottom pan to cook the fresh milk, cardamom pods, saffron and I diluted 3/4 cup of full cream milk powder for extra richness and creaminess. I used low flame and continuously stirring the milk because I didn't want the milk to have any burnt taste at the bottom. I did the sautéing and boiling of milk simultaneously. The milk has to thicken and become half in quantity. 

4. So now, I have hot thickened milk and piping hot well-cooked bottle gourd. Now, pour the milk into the bottle gourd. Keeping both milk and bottle gourd hot is really necessary as to prevent the milk from curdling. 

5. Keep stirring the milk mixture on low flame until it thickens further and some moisture evaporates. 

6. Lastly, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of ghee and allow it to marry all the wonderful creamy flavor. The consistency of the halwa is slightly thick and it has to be eaten by spoon. 

7. Last step is optional. Scatter some silvered almonds and roughly chopped pistachio for extra goodness of nuttiness. 

8. Serve hot or cold. I like the combination of chocolate ice cream, potato chips and this halwa. It's a weird combo, but cocoa and salt work perfectly well as they cut down the creaminess of the halwa.

Thank you

Abby

Simple Stir Fried Shredded Cabbage with Cured Indian Chilies ( Stir Fried Cabbage with Mor Milagai)

This has to be the simplest and tastiest side dish that you can ever whip up a storm in no time. It's quick, hassle-free and simply budget friendly. What makes it so Indian is that we are using Indian pickled or cured dry chilies or we call 'Mor Milagai' in Tamil. You can buy it with all other tempering ingredients from the Indian grocery stores in your place. Pickled dry chilies are nothing but fresh green chilies like Jalapeno type to be mixed with curd/yoghurt and lots of salt, and later sun-dried for a couple of days. That's why it has to be fried in the oil until it changes to dark brown colour to release that exquisite pungent heat from the chilies. They can be pretty daunting spicy and salty, so you need to season with salt only if needed. As you cook, taste your food for salt and if you are mild spice eater go slow with the chilies. If you don't have that pickled dry chilies, you can substitute with normal dry red chilies. The taste would be slightly different, but that doesn't matter. My recipes are just providing an idea for you to come up with your innovative dishes. You can always improvise the recipes as per your taste. You just have to follow your instinct and stick to your gun when you are cooking in the kitchen. Good luck.

Stir Fried Cabbage with Mor Milagai

INGREDIENTS: 

Finely shredded cabbage - 10 cups

Finely sliced big red onion - 1

Chopped garlic - 1 clove

Grated coconut - 6 tablespoons (optional)

Salt to taste

TO TEMPER:

Oil - 1 tablespoon

Mustard - 1 teaspoon

Urad dal - 1 1/2 teaspoons

Curry leaves - a few

Pickled dry chili (Indian Mor Milagai) - 3 broken into pieces

METHOD:

1. Heat a pan with vegetable oil, add mustard and allow it to sputter, then add urad dal and broken pieces of pickled dry chilies (Indian Mor Milagai). Wait for the urad dal and pickled dry chilies to change to brown colour. 

pickled dry chilies (Indian Mor Milagai)

2. Next, chuck in sliced onion, chopped garlic and curry leaves. Sauté lightly and add shredded cabbage. 

Sliced onion and curry leaves

Shredded Cabbage

3. Give a stir with some salt added. Once, the cabbage has cooked well. Switch off the flame and sprinkle some freshly grated coconut. Mix together and serve as a side dish with any of your favorite meal.

Thank you

Abby 

Yoghurt with Full Cream Milk Powder

My mother has been making yoghurt from Full Cream Milk Powder for forty years now. She has never run to the grocery to get a carton of yoghurt. It's always available in our fridge. This is a staple food for us. We never liked thick and creamy yoghurt as we are using it almost everyday. Our yoghurt is neither too thick nor too runny. But, this is never like the Greek yoghurt. This is just a simple rustic homemade version of yoghurt which is always tastier than the store bought one. Plus, I personally find store bought yoghurt to be having artificial thickness, you know, like added flour...    Once you start making yoghurt at home, you will find the yoghurt making process to be fun, easier and satisfying. This is also a budget friendly food to make at home. The milk powder has to be Full cream not skimmed or low fat. When you add more milk powder and less water, you get thick and luscious yogurt. When the water is more and milk powder is less, the yoghurt is a bit runny.. 

Yoghurt making may sound too simple, but I warn you it is never the way it seems to be. I have tried this for many times, sometimes, I succeed and some other times I flop very badly. The amount of starter used, the right warm temperature and frothiness of the milk make lots of difference. This recipe works for me. Besides that, when I measure milk powder and other ingredients, I use the measuring spoons and cup measurement for precision. For this recipe, I have taken a heap of milk powder for every tablespoon. I wasn't skimping on that.  The water has to be boiling. The pouring and pulling method is necessary to give the frothiness and volume to the yoghurt. Too many rules to follow? No. You just have to play with the ingredients and follow your intuition.  Do give a try and let me know..

Full Cream Milk Powder Yoghurt

INGREDIENTS: 

Full cream milk powder - 10 tablespoons (heaped)

Boiling water - 1 1/2 cups

Starter Yoghurt - 2 teaspoons

METHOD:

1. In a bowl, measure out 10 tablespoons of full cream milk powder.

Full cream milk powder

2. Gradually, pour 1 1/2 cups of hot boiling water onto the milk powder. 

3. Quickly, use the pouring and pulling method with two bowls or cups. You can do this process five times, and this form frothy milk which is really good for making super yoghurt.

Milk after the pouring and pulling method

4. Then transfer the milk into a glass bowl, ensure the milk in neither too hot nor cold. It has to be warm to touch when we add starter yoghurt. The warm heat helps to active the yeast in the starter. You may add 2 teaspoons of the starter yoghurt. If you add a lot of the starter yoghurt then your yoghurt will become too sour.

5. This milk will turn into yoghurt within 8 hours time. Put a lid to the glass bowl and leave it outside at room temperature. But sometimes, if you live in hot and humid country, it takes less than that hour for it to set. Once, after it has become yoghurt, keep it in the fridge. 

Thank you

Abby