Pedhe with condensed milk

On auspicious occasions Indians are known to make desserts or buy them and distribute it to family, neighbors and friends. This year we bought our own bike, the Rocket III which has been on my husband’s bucket list. I had no access to Indian store that day to buy sweets. Luckily I had all these ingredients at hands and made these small yummy balls which uses khoya(dairy fats)/ mawa in the original recipe. This is an instant recipe which was a big hit.

All you need:

1. 1 cup condensed milk
2. 1 cup milk powder
3. 2 tbsp ghee/clarified butter
4. 1 tsp cardamom powder
5. 2 tbsp warm milk with few strands of saffron dissolved in it.
6. 2 tbsp of your choice of dry fruits/ nuts to garnish

Ready, Set, Go:

1. Heat ghee in a pan, let it melt.
2. Add condensed milk and let it melt into a more liquid state, add the milk powder at this stage. Stir well.
3. Cook this mixture until it bubbles and starts to thicken. It took me about 6-8 minutes.
4. Add the warm milk dissolved with saffron, let it cook for a minute or so or until the mixture is thick and starts leaving the pan. Turn off the heat.
5. Add the cardamom powder and mix well.
6. Remove the mixture to cool it down on a plate.
7. Grease palms with ghee and divide mixture into equal size balls and roll them into round balls and press down in the center with thumb.
8. Garnish with chopped dry fruits in the dent. I used almond and pistachio.

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Serradura

I haven’t been sharing many desserts, I have heard many people confuse ‘desert’ as in a barren land with soil or sand which is pronounced as ‘De-zert’ with desserts pronounced ‘Dee-zerts’…oh well..I have an entire post on my other blog for this discussion. But my point is I had to share something interesting and easy since I have mentioned in my earlier posts that Indian desserts are a little complicated. Although I love ‘Shira’ and recently I discovered how easy it was to make my own serving in a microwave…oh the lazy body inspires my lazy mind to play tricks and I am truly happy with the result. I will share the recipe soon. But let me share this one, it is my favorite and I consider it as an exotic dessert even if it is so simple to make. Serradura is basically a cream dish layered with crackers or biscuits. I am not sure if it is originally a Portuguese dish or Italian but what matters is it is delicious. It is an indulgence I admit, but once in a while is okay I guess. The serving glass in the picture is pretty big, you can use small ones.

Tip: You need not add sugar since it has condensed milk. Also, you can have many versions by adding nuts, chocolate sauce, marshmallows, Oreos, get creative with it.

All you need:

1. 8 oz. Heavy Cream
2. 1/4 cup condensed milk
3. 1 sleeve of  crushed crackers (plain)
4. 1/2 cup crushed cashewnuts
5. 1 tsp vanilla essence

Ready, Set, Go:

1. Whisk cream in a bowl until smooth and add vanilla essence, condensed milk and whisk just once again to combine everything nicely and chill for about 20 minutes.
2. Crush cashewnuts and crackers separately, in a ziploc bag with a rolling pin or roughly chop them into small pieces. Combine.
3. Take a serving glass. Pour about two tablespoons of mixture and then layer it with the crushed cashewnuts and crackers mixture. Layer again with cream mixture, topping the layers with the crushed cashewnuts and crackers mixture.
4. Chill for an hour and serve cold.

Simple Zuccotto

It is late in the month, my posts are generally updated early in a month but I am so excited for my travel that I am hardly finding time to get on the computer. It is freaking chilly here in Texas now I don’t like typing with cold rough hands! Ha! Excuses, excuses…well, excuse me for daring to try something far far away from my culture and traditions and stepping out in a new zone. I tried zuccotto, although I made this in a single serving size in case I fail, but I did not(don’t judge the first pic, it was a trial), so here is a full fledged recipe of an Italian dessert…a simple zuccotto. I call it simple because it is not one of the fancy ones! Ha!

Tip: You can use different liqueurs for different flavor for a personalized zuccotto. If not essence works fine. You can go absolutely fancy with frosting, icing, nuts, etc.

All you need:

1. 1 sponge/pound cake (rectangle shaped)
2. 3 cups vanilla icecream/favorite ice-cream
3. 3 tbsp almond or favorite liqueur (I used amaretto)
4. 3 tbsp brandy(optional but I would not skip it 😛 )

Ready, Set, Go:

1. Slice the entire top half of the rectangular cake and invert a bowl (round shaped) on the rectangle piece. Cut around the edges. This will form the base of zuccotto and I will call this a lid. Set aside the round piece or the lid.
2. Slice the remaining cake into long rectangular pieces. Arrange the slices side by side making sure they overlap so that the icecream filled inside does not stick out and remains a surprise! Lightly press the slices against the bowl.
3. Trim off excess edges around the bowl. The round piece has to go on top so make sure that the edges are trimmed.
4. In a separate bowl combine the liqueur and brandy and sprinkle all over the cake in the bowl. Press again lightly to make sure all the spaces are nicely secured. At this point you can add dry fruits, berries or chocolate chips in the ice-cream if you want. If you don’t have any of that move on to the next step, remember I didn’t have any of this!
5. Dunk the the icecream to fill in the entire cake. Spread evenly.
6. Cover with the lid(the round piece/base). Make sure you cover the cake with lid immediately, cut earlier in a round shape.
7. Wrap the entire bowl with plastic wrap and pop it in the freezer for 2 hours, you can then refrigerate it further upto a day.
8. When it is ready just invert on a plate. Cut as you like. Done! Or you could go fancy with the frosting, icing, do whatever you want to! Yum!