Kalakand

As a child I hated anything sweet. So much so, that whenever someone would offer me chocolates as a child I would politely thank them and hand it over to my mother or father (they both are major sweet lovers). People often commented on how odd it was, but I would steer clear of anything even slightly sweet. Give me some spicy samosas or chips over sugar anyday.

That was then, not sure if having a baby permanently blew some nerves or what, but since the day my daughter was born two years ago, I crave sweets. Halwas, cakes, gulab jamun, cookies… even a teaspoon of sugar if nothing else is available!

Anyway, I am always on the lookout for simple yet delicious Indian Sweet recipes. The Kalakand from Sandeepa's Bong Mom's Cookbook fit the bill perfectly. This was one of the first recipes I tried from any blog and I make it quite regularly. Only 2 ingredients and takes exactly 18 minutes, don't need to refer to the original recipe more than once - what more can I ask for? I have made this so many times that I almost think of it as my own recipe.

Ingredients:

Condensed Milk

Ricotta Cheese

(both ingredients should be of 1:1 ratio, I use 1 can condensed milk and use the same can to measure the ricotta cheese)

1/2 tspn cardamom powder (optional)

Sliced almonds or pistachios sliced for garnishing on top (optional)

Method:

Pour the condensed milk and ricotta cheese (and cardamom powder if adding) in a glass container and mix well. (try to make sure the mixture only half fills the container so it does not overflow while heating)

Microwave 5 minutes on high, mix well, Do this 3 times (so you have heated for 15 min)

Then heat for 1 or 2 min and mix well, till you find the mixture has dried siginficantly and has a kalakand-like texture. Make sure there is some mositre left as it gets a little drier on colling down.

Cut into squares, garnish with sliced nuts and enjoy!

I made this hoping it would be my entry for MBP-Sweets hosted by Coffee. But I completely forgot that the deadline was the 20th of the month, so I was way too late for the event. Nevertheless, I loved the excuse it gave me to make this delicious sweet and to eat it too!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

When I first found out about the AFAM event, I knew at once which fruit I was waiting for. That's right pineapple, so I could make the pineapple upside down cake! I had bookmarked the original recipe from the Betty Crocker Webpage and finally got round to making it! Without much ado, here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
1/4cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 can (8 oz) pineapple slices, drained, cut in half
1/3 cup chopped pecans
8-9 Maraschino cherries
1.5 cups Original Bisquick® mix
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup milk or water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg

Method:
Pre-Heat Oven to 350°F.
Put butter in a 9 inch round baking dish and melt it in the oven.
Remove dish and melted butter and sprinkle with the brown sugar (as evenly as you can)
Arrange the pineapple pieces and place a cherry in the center of each pineapple. Drop the chopped pecans in all the spaces left. I ran out of pecans so it looks somewhat scantily covered. Do feel free to be very generous with the pecans, it will only make it taste better.
In a large bowl mix the remaining ingredients well (to form the cake batter)
Bake 35-40 minutes till the cake is done.
Remove from oven and immediately turn the cake upside down to remove from baking dish (so the pineapple side is on the top).

While on the blog patrol, I found another recipe for Pineapple Upside-Down Cake posted by Trupti. See her version here.

Decadent Pecan Pie

I don't remember where I had pecan pie for the first time, but I do remember it was served piping hot with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream on the side and it was divine! Since pecan pie with vanilla ice cream has been a favorite dessert of mine. I make it often when I have friends over for dinner and it is a favorite of my friend V. In fact whenever we have a potluck and I ask what I should bring, my friend V pipes up with "Pecan Pie". For her baby shower I asked what do you feel like eating and pat came the reply "Pecan Pie"! It makes me very happy because it is a VERY easy dessert to prepare if you have ingredients at hand - more so since I use a store bought pie crust. In fact I am having second thoughts about posting this because now all my friends who are impressed with the pie will come to know how easy it really is :-)

Ingredients:
1 9-inch pie crust (unbaked)
3 eggs
1 cup Karo Corn syrup (I use the dark variety but the light one would be just fine)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar (original recipe calls for 1 cup, but I find it gets too sweet)
1 cup chopped pecans + about 3/4 cup whole pecans for decoration on top.

Method:
Mix all ingredients except the whole pecans well by hand.
Pour into the pie crust.

Arrange the whole pecans in concentric circles on top (or in any manner you like).
Bake at 350° F for about 50 min or till the center is firm. You could insert a toothpick in the center to check if it done.

I didn’t have any ice cream at home when I made this and tried it with some whipped cream. That tasted really good too.

Pumpkin Spice Cake

When I heard that the next JFI ingredient selected by Rosie was ginger, I was thrilled, this one would be a breeze. I use ginger in most of my cooking. Be it daal, chole, rajma, chicken, mutton and most types of fish… it is easier for me list out the few dishes I make that do not use ginger! However, I thought it would be nice to try out something I had never made before.. Hmmm, maybe not so easy after all. So I searched the web and came up with this cake. The recipe is from Betty Crocker's recipes and I have made some modifications to suit the ingredients I had at hand.

Ingredients:
4 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
2 cups Bisquick mix (original recipe used 2 cups all purpose flour and 1 tsp baking soda)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg powder (original recipe uses cloves)
1 cup chopped pecans (or any other nut or even raisins would work fine)

Method:
Lightly grease a large baking pan. I used 13x10x2 sized pyrex dish. This cake is large and comes out better if baked more flat and spread out.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl mix the following well till smooth - eggs, oil, sugar, pumpkin.
Add cinnamon, ginger, salt, nutmeg and baking powder and fold into the batter
Gently fold in flour (or Bisquick) and mix well till the batter is smooth with no lumps.
Pour into baking dish and bake till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (Took about 30 min for me)

The original recipes also suggests a frosting, which I skipped altogether. The end result was a delicious, super moist cake, which I'll certainly make again!

Thanks Rosie for hosting this event!

Handy Hint:I was out of baking soda so used Bisquick instead. You can use it for any cake recipe, just reduce/remove the amount of baking soda you use. Bisquick is basically flour with some baking soda pre-mixed in it and has always worked quite well for me.

Kolkata's Mishti Doi

No account of Bengali sweets is complete without "Mishti Doi" or sweet yoghurt. It is a must-have item on all auspicious occasions for Bengalis.Having grown up outside Bengal for most of my life, mishti doi has always been a special treat. (Till recently I don't think it was available in Bombay).... Something we would have only while visiting family in Bengal or Bihar.

So when a friend gave me the recipe for Mishti Doi (and a very simple one too!) I was thrilled. I made it at once and then I filed it away so well that I never foundit again! :-) The other day, I tried it from memory and it turned out very close the mishti doi we get in Kolkata.

Without much ado, here is the recipe:

1 can (14 oz) Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 can (12 oz) Evaporated Milk
~1 cup plain yogurt

Mix all ingredients well and pour into a flat over-safe container. Bake at 200 F for about 1 hr 15 min or till it sets. Cool and then refrigerate.

BTW, did you know that even early Vedic texts speak of curds and call it the "food of the Gods"? A blended curd-rice dish is mentioned in the Rigveda as karambha (I have been told that is it's name name even today in Gujarati).