I promised myself sometime back that I’d actually use the recipe books I have. Well, I did make this dessert from Sanjeev Kumar’s book quite a while back, and the people I served it to said, “yummm, and “I’m impressed!” and “this is sinful”, etc, but I really wasn’t very convinced myself. Well for one, I’m not much of a fan of condensed milk. I find the taste absolutely cloying. There was a little granular texture that I didn’t care for, but that’s possibly because the mango pulp I used was frozen for over a month. It certainly got finished, though my 5 year old who has a real sweet tooth couldn’t be persuaded beyond 3 bites.

Would I try it again? Yes, once more. It was super simple and quick. It had no eggs. I loved the way it unmoulded so perfectly. It looked fabulous. I want to see if the texture is improved with fresher pulp. For that I’ll have to wait for summer again I guess.

Here goes. This is my version. His had some oranges and sweet limes to garnish which I didn’t have at home.
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SANJEEV KAPOOR’s MANGO BAPA DOI Serves 8
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Ingredients
1 tin (400 grams) Condensed Milk
1 cup thick yogurt
1/2 cup mango pulp [ I used 1 full cup ]
1/2 cup chopped mango to garnish
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This is about as healthy as street food can get, and the added plus is that because it’s street food my little one loves it, and is willing to have it happily even at home. In fact last night I got the best complement ever! “This is better that what we get on the road.” Wow!
I won’t even get into the recipe for the “real thing”, my main intent making this at home is to get a larger than normal serving of vegetables into the meal. The real thing is spicier and has a more extreme sweet and sour taste.
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KACHHI DABELI HOME-STYLE make about 6 dabelis
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INGREDIENTS
2 large potatoes
1 small onion
1 large tomato
1 carrot
1 cup of cauliflower florets
1 tablespoon jaggery / 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup tamarind pulp
1/4 cup cilantro (coriander / kothmir) leaves cut fine
1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
Yellow fine sev (optional)
2 tablespoons butter
Salt to taste
Some pomegranate if you have it.
Oil
Indian Pav. Burger buns will do the job as well. (more…)

This is one on a list of comfort foods if there’s one. Though I admit, the only time I think of making it is when I have excess milk in the fridge.

More inportantly, I’d decided I was going to follow a recipe from one of my numerous cookbooks and so started searching for the ideal Kheer recipe. Ideal for ingredients in my cupboards. I found it in The Food of India from Periplus World Cookbooks, a book with beautiful photographs, and recipes written for westerners, and those who know more than a little cooking. For example it said ‘Bruise the cardamoms’. Basically that means crush them slightly so they’re open but the seeds don’t fall out. I had to look it up!Ultimately though, I ended up doing my own thing, loosely based on what was in the cookbook. Below is my slight adaptation.
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RICE KHEER. Sweet Rice Pudding Serves 6
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Ingredients
1 cup rice
6 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
6 cardamom pods, bruised
10 almonds, blanched and slivered
20 raisins
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

PREPARATION
I’ve made kheer before and frankly I prefer the rice well cooked.
So this time I washed the rice, then cooked it for about 7 minutes in 1 cup of water.

After this, add milk, bring to a boil and then let it simmer. Stir occasionally so it doesn’t start burning at the bottom.

When the rice is almost done, add the sugar, cardamoms, essence, and almonds. Cook until it reaches the consistency you’d like, but ideally the rice, though a little mushy, should not have reached a point of blending with the milk.

If your milk is drying out add more, or even add water.

Remove from heat and eat either hot or chilled. Enjoy!

This one is my filler recipe. If someone drops in suddenly and it doesn’t look like there might be enough to go round, this is a favorite of mine. Or sometimes, just because I don’t find what’s for dinner satisfying enough. The best thing about it is it tastes almost as good if you don’t have the time for the oven and baking, and if it’s just for myself, I often dispense with the baking.

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SPICY BAKED POTATOES Serves 2
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Ingredients
4 large potatoes scrubbed clean
2 green chillies
1 large tomato
3/4 cup grated cheese, cheddar will do.
2 tablespoons soya sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
2 tablespoons lemon juice squeezes
1 tablesppon Tabasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon butter
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste
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This is a favorite dessert recipe of mine. It’s very simple, but you really, really need to work fast. I’ve had it scribbled over an envelope, literally for years and hadn’t typed it in here because I wanted to add photographs, but have discovered that working fast doesn’t allow for time for playing about with the camera. Will try for one soon, but until then, here goes.

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SHORT-CUT ORANGE SOUFFLE Serves 8
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Ingredients
200 ml of orange juice (2 small tetrapaks)
85 gms crystal jelly / jello ( 1 packet )
1 ltr pack Vanilla ice-cream
10 Crushed low-sweet or multi-grain biscuits
1 tablespoon butter
Orange slices or walnuts for garnish

Preparation
Prepare a flat-ish serving dish by pressing the crushed biscuits mixed with butter along the bottom. You can of course eliminate this step altogether.

Take the ice cream out of the freezer before you start work and cut up into small chunks. Leave to soften naturally in a large mixing bowl.

Follow the instructions on the jelly packet. Just use the juice instead of water.

When the jelly crystals are completely dissolved, pour into the ice-cream, folding in rapidly. Don’t do any very vigorous mixing or you’ll liquefy the ice-cream too much and beat all the air out of it.

Pour the mixture into the prepared serving dish.

Put it into the freezer for 20 minutes, and then move to a lower shelf in the refrigerator.

Garnish with walnuts or orange pieces after it’s totally set. Serve cold.

Note : This is the simplest combo but you can get creative. Use raspberry juice and raspberry flavored jelly, or apple juice and stewed apple / peach pieces.