Kheer Komla - Orange Milk Pudding

Had some guests at home, and served this Orange milk pudding as dessert. This is quite a traditional recipe where milk is thickened over low heat and then sugar is mixed to it. When it is cold, orange segments are added to it carefully. The result is a brilliant and you can enjoy it the Bengali way with some luchi and Aloor dom.
Though due to paucity of time, I have used condensed milk along with regular milk and added just 2-3 spoonful of sugar. It also depends on how sweet your oranges are. You have to be very careful, if the orange is sour, the kheer will curdle leaving you disheartened.

Ingredients

• Milk - 500 ml ( Preferably whole milk)
• Condensed Milk - 1 Can
• Sugar - As required
• Oranges - 4, segmented
• Ghee - 1 tsp

In a large Kadai, add the milk and condensed milk and mix well. Now put the kadai on gas and reduce the flame to the minimum. Add the spoonful of ghee too.

Boil the milk continuously for 30 minutes with a stiring here and there so that it doesnot stick to the bottom of the pan. You will notice that the milk is getting thickened. When it is almost done, add the sugar, if required. Stir again. 

Remove from it. Cool it completely.

When the milk is getting thickened, carefully remove the pulps of the oranges discarding the seeds, piths etc. Keep it refrigerated.

Place the kheer on the serving bowl, spoon the orange pulp onto it and serve immediately. Yum !!!!

Fusion Gujiya - Gujiya with Apple Pie Filling

Today is Diwali, we are celebrating the festival of lights with diyas and patakas and of course with sweets. Shops are flooded with sweets and chocolates of different size and shapes, you get gifts in the form of dry fruits and sweets from friends and relatives, some are home made, where you feel the love of your friends and so on. Now when it comes to home made sweets from my part, I am a bit skeptical, since we, as a family, donot have a sweet tooth ( quite unusual as a Bengali though), So, home made goodies has to be extra ordinary, with a kick, may be with a touch of fusion or else the effort will go unnoticed. For this reason, I usually avoid to prepare sweets at home, but this year, I have decided to give it a try and zeroed in to prepare Gujiya.  
Gujiya is quite a well known item in Northern part of India, this is kind of a deep fried pastry in half moon shape usually filled with nuts , coconuts, jaggery and sweet spices. To give it a fusion twist, I have prepared an Apple Pie filling and baked the stuffed pastry instead of deep frying. I am thrilled with the results, the combination of aromatic stuffing and flaky pastry is amazing. And yes, it is well accepted in my family.

I picked up this recipe from 'http://divinespicebox.com/' . You may see the original recipe here.

Ingredients

For Pastry Dough

• 2 cups All purpose flour
• 3/4th cup butter (Salted variety, very cold/frozen and cut into cubes)
• 2 tablespoon cold Milk
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon sugar (make your own by mixing 1 tablespoon of icing sugar with 1/2 tsp of cinnamon powder)
• Milk for brushing the gujiyas on top

For the filling

• 2 apples 
• Fat pinch of Cinnamon
• pinch of Nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons mixed fruit jam
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• A knob of butter
• 2-3 cloves
• 1 tablespoon corn starch (dissolve it in 1 tablespoon of milk)

To prepare the dough, sieve the flour. Add butter cubes and mix with your finger tips till you get a coarse bread crumb like texture.

Now add 1 tbsp of cold milk at a time to make a dough. Be careful not to add extra milk or else the dough will be soggy. Keep the dough refrigerated for one hour.

To make the apple pie filling, chop the apple. Then add the butter in a pan with two types of sugar. Let the sugar melt., 

Then add the mixed fruit jam and mix well.

Stir occasionally till the apple is cooked and the mixture becomes sticky. Then add the cinnamon and nutmeg. Add vanilla too.

When the spices are incorporated well, add cornflour dissolved in milk and stir quickly. Your filling is ready. Let it cool a bit.

To make the gujiya, take out the pastry dough from refrigerator and divide the dough into 15-16 pieces. Using a rolling pin, flatten each dough into a circle. Use a sharp bowl or cutter to cut a neat disk from the circle. Please a tbsp of filling onto the disc and fold it into half to give your gujiya a half moon shape.

Seal the edges and using a fork, press the edges securely. I have also pricked the filling part to let the steam evaporate.

Prepare all the gujiyas. Preheat the oven at 180 degree C. Place the gujiyas side by side on your baking sheet / tray and brush them generously with milk. 

Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top. Then bake them for 20-25 minutes.

When the top of the gujiyas are browned slightly, the baking is done.

Remove from oven and let them cool. Enjoy the happiness with your family and friends.

Happy Diwali to all of you !!

Nutella Brownie

Made this irresistible brownies with only 3 ingredients within an hour and your whole house will smell heaven when it is in the oven. 

Ingredients

• Nutella - 1 Jar
• Eggs - 2, at room Temparature
• All Purpose Flour - 1/2 Cup

Preheat your oven at 180 degree C. Line a oven tin with parchment paper and grease them well.

Scoop out the Nutella from the jar to a large mixing bowl. keep aside the jar to lick it later when the brownie is in the oven. :-D.

Break the eggs into the bowl. Stir it lightly.

Add the flour into the bowl using a strainer.

Mix all three ingredients using a hand mixture till it becomes a smooth, shiny brown batter.

Pour onto the parchment lined pan and then bake for 30 minutes or till the skewer comes out clean.

I get mine like this.

Let it cool down a bit, then refrigerate over night.Cut into squares and enjoy with your morning cup of tea. Pure bliss.

Nutella Swirl Pound Cake

Tender and moist, this pound cake is loaded with buttery flavor and sweet Nutella swirls. It will melt in your mouth.

Ingredients

• Eggs -4, at room temperature 
• Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
• All-purpose flour - 1 and 1/2 cups 
• Baking powder - 3/4 tsp
• Ground cinnamon - 1/2 tsp
• Butter - 1 cup, softened to room temperature
• Sugar - 1 Cup
• Nutella - 3/4 cup,  warmed

Preheat oven to 180C degrees. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan with butter and keep aside.
In a hand mixer, beat the softened butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy.
In a medium size bowl, whisk together the eggs and vanilla extract until combined. Set aside. In another medium size bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and cinnamon together. Set that aside as well.
With the mixer running on low speed, add the egg/vanilla mixture and continue to beat until smooth and light in color. 

With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients until just combined. The batter is very thick and very sticky. Do not overmix the batter.

Spread 1/3 of the batter into prepared loaf pan. Spread 1/2 the Nutella on top.  Repeat with another 1/3 of the batter and the rest of the Nutella. Top with remaining batter.

Bake the pound cake for 50-60 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out free of cake crumbs (with some Nutella).

Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before slicing and serving. 

I have warmed the nutella lightly  before layering it into the pan. I simply microwave it for about 15-20 seconds. This makes it easier to layer into the batter.

Baked Rasogolla

A new variation of famous Kolkata Rasogolla buzzing at present is Baked Rasogolla. Had it first time from the famous Balaram Mullick Shop in Kolkata and fell in love with it immediately. Though I donot have a sweet tooth ( Thank God !!) , but we Bongs cannot think of Bijoya Dashami or Diwali without sweets. Served this as dessert when friends visited for Bijoya and it was an instant hit!!

 Ingredients

• Rasogolla - 10
• Cottage Cheese made from 1/2 lt of Milk
• Milk - 1/2 litre
• Vanilla Icecream - 1 scoop
• Sugar - 1 tbsp
• Nutmeg powder - a pinch
• Cornflour - 1 tsp

Squeeze the Rasogolla a bit and place on a buttered baking dish. Boil 1/2 litre of milk till it reduces to half. Add the corn flour and let it thicken a bit. Then add the vanilla ice cream and cottage cheese ( made by boiling half litre of milk and then adding the juice of a lemon and ten straining). Mix well till it becomes smooth.

Add sugar as per taste and the nutmeg powder too. Preheat the oven to 150 degree C. Now pour the thick mixture onto the Rasogolla placed on the baking dish. Spread evenly.

Bake the Rasogolla for 10 minutes. 

 Turn your OTG mode to Broil and then broil for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and let it cool for some time. Serve yourself before serving it to others. :-D

Sending this to Diwali Special Event organised by 'Kolkata Food Bloggers'.