With the festive season upon us, it's time to look forward to some lip-smacking dishes and desserts. So, we asked readers to share their Diwali recipes with us. As part of a continuing series, we present five delicious dessert recipes that we received:
First up is R Kesavan's family recipe for Thirattu Paal:
Cuisine: South indian
Type: Vegetarian
Preparation time: Approx 25 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 litre curdled milk (for approx 250 gms of Thirattu Paal)
- Sugar (to taste)
- 6-7 pods of cardamom
- Kishmish or raisins
Method:
- Pour the curdled milk (you can curdle fresh milk by squeezing in a few drops of lemon juice) into a pan with a thick bottom.
- Heat on a low flame (preferably on Sim).
- Add sugar in proportion and as per your taste.
- Keep stirring so that the milk does not get burnt.
- As you stir, the milk will thicken, takin on a caramel like hue.
- Keep stirring till you achieve a solid, crunchy consistency.
- Garnsih with kishmish or dry fruits.
Health quotient: It contains boiled milk which is free of bacteria. Ordinary milk will produce flatulence and bloating sensation in some, but not "Thirattu paal" which translated means 'coagulated milk'. Children who hate drinking milk will of course love this avatar.
Next Mahalaxmi Ganesh shares her recipe for Mysore Pak:
Cuisine: South Indian
Type: Vegetarian
Preparation time: 20-25 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 cup besan (gram flour)
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 cups ghee or vanaspati (clarified butter)
Method:
- Smear a plate with ghee and keep aside.
- Heat 3/4th quantity of the ghee in a pot till it melts.
- Add the besan and stir for 2-3 mins. Remove it from heat and keep aside.
- In another kadhai (wok) add the sugar and half a cup of water and boil it to one-thread consistency.
- Add the ghee and besan mixture and keep stirring over medium heat. Also add the remaing ghee until it leaves the sides of the kadhai and froths up.
- Pour the entire mix on to the smeared plate and wait for it to cool.
- Cut into square shapes and it is ready to serve.
Up next is Gauri Bagchi's reipe for Mawa Gujiyas:
Cuisine: Indian
Type: Vegetarian
Preparation time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
- 250 gms mawa or dried whole milk (makes 25 Gujiyas)
- 2 tsp khuskhus (powdered poppy seeds)
- 400 gms sugar (powdered)
- 2 tbsp coconut (dryand grated)
- 250 gms maida (refined flour)
- 2 tblsp corn flour
- Oil for maida and for frying
Method:
- Mix maida and corn flour and add half a cup of warm oil. Then knead into a dough by adding some warm water. The dough should be like for puris.
- Put the mawa in a pan and fry on slow fire till it turns pink. Remove from fire and add the sugar, khuskhus, dry, grated coconut.
- Mix well till it resembles crumbs.
- Make a puri (small pancake) of the dough and add a teaspoon and a half of mawa mix in the middle of the puri.
- Now fold the puri and add water at the edge to seal.
- Take a gujiya cutter (if you don't have one just cut it with a sharp knife) to shape the edges.
- Fry the gujiyas in hot oil but on a slow fire till they turn brown.
- Store them in airtight jars once they are at room temperature.
Health quotient: During Diwali everyone love gujiyas specially made of mawa so this recipe is for amateurs who do know how to eat it but do not know how to prepare it.
Honey send in this recipe for Rasgulla:
Cuisine: Bengali dessert
Type: Vegetarian
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1/2 litre milk
- 2 tsp maida
- 1/4 tsp citric acid dissolved in 1/2 cup water or 2-3 tbsp of lemon juice
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 2-3 drops rose essence or 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
Method:
- Heat the milk in a pan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat.
- Add citric acid or lemon juice.
- Stir slowly and gently until white curd forms on the surface and separates from whey.
- On straining this milk, the curd that is obtained is called 'chenna'. Wash chenna well under cold running water and twist the cloth that was used for straining to extract water.
- Knead the chenna to make a smooth dough. Add flour and knead again.
- Make small balls of equal size (6-7) of the dough and keep aside.
- Next make a sugar syrup by mixing sugar and water in a saucepan and bringing to a boil.
- Add chenna balls to the syrup and cook for 15 minutes with lid partially covered. The chenna dumplings will puff up.
- On cooling, add rose essence, refrigerate and serve chilled.
Ruchi Sharma shares her mom's recipe for Sandesh:
Cuisine: Bengali dessert
Type: Vegetarian
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
- 100 gms chenna (cottage cheese)
- 2 tbsp milk
- 4 tsp powdered sugar
- Few drops of rose/ kewra essence
- Edible silver foil (for presentation)
Method:
- Blend all ingredients in a pan gently.
- Cook on low flame, stirring continuously till the mixture becomes not too dry and not too soft.
- Turn off the flame and spread the mixture on a plate to cool.
- Once cool, cut into pieces and decorate with silver foil.
Health quotient: It's a milk product and low in fat.
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