How to make a simple Indian sweet in minutes?

Srikhand is an extremely popular dessert in central part of India, and I have several memories of hanging out with friends and eating Srikhand especially in the night markets in a city called Indore. The dish originally comes from western state in India - Gujarat. Made with yoghurt ~ it's an extremely simple sweet to make and yes it has sugar, but is much healthier than several other sweets. You might want to try making it...here's how.

Ingredients:

1. Full cream yoghurt ( Indian or Greek Yoghurt) - 1 kg
2. Sugar powder - appx 10-12 tbspns ( A bit more if yoghurt is slightly sour)
3. Amonds and Pistachios - appx 1 tbsp. (coarsely grounded)
4. Saffron (kesar) - strands 7-8 ( I haven't used it here )
5. Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

How to prepare:

1. Put the yoghurt in a muslin cloth, wrap it tight and squeeze it slighly. 
2. Hang it and let all the water strain out.
3. Keep it hung overnight or for atleast 7-8 hrs so that all the water is strained and you are left with creamy yoghurt. 
4. Then put the hung curd in a bowl add powdered sugar and whisk it with hand blender / mixer till it gets creamy. 
5. Add kesar, almonds, pistachios and cardamom powder and mix well. ( Feel free to use any other nuts if you like).
6. Sprinkle saffron strands and garnish with sliced almonds & pistachios.
7. Serve chilled. 

Variation: 

If you like you can add mango pulp, apple pulp, strawberries - pulped or chopped, to give it that fruity flavour. I just like it plain !! 

Joy of baking

I am by no means a cook although I find cooking as one of the creative outlets and like to do something new everytime. and Baking ? I have always been skeptical of baking ...

...never understood the pleasure of baking. I always saw it as a messy, mammoth and difficult task. Recently, like many other beliefs - this belief is slowly changing too. 

I guess there is a certain beauty in procedures involved in baing ~ mixing, turning and estimating ......and then 'being patient' to experience the delight of the sweet in the oven.

Beauty in the wait, anticipation, eagerness to taste. Beauty in perfecting the art. 

I spent today baking cookies and cake - not the most perfect in shape but spectacular in taste and ....eggless . Yup ~ eggless chocolate and oats cookies and eggless chocolate cake. 

 I found a great idea for a gift too. 

Simple recipes made with lots of love. 

Cooking with Love

I have discovered over time what matters most in cooking is NOT the recipe but how much love the food is prepared with.

And just a slight different sequence of adding the same spices makes the whole dish so different in taste. I am discovering so many exciting new spices and blends in south Indian cooking from my friends.

 I am practising more conscious cooking and cooking with compassion because I read somewhere 'You are what you eat'.

Eat with love. Cook with love.

Garlic - medicine and spice

Most indian spices are used to delicately enhance the flavour but most of them have therapeutic properties too. I love using garlic in all my dishes....

Put in some onions, garlic and turmeric and you can enhance anything by just adding these three ingredients...!! 

Garlic is an antiseptic, cleanser of the digestive system, fights against various infections, and is even believed to prevent cancer. 

What are some of the integral ingredients in your cooking ? I'd love to know.....