Rose Cham Cham#Foodieextravaganza

Festival season is on and you will find varieties of Indian desserts, mithais or sweets confectioners in all textures, shapes, and color. All these colorful decadent treats are irresistible. I have already posted a Rasgulla recipe on blog check the recipe.

Today I'm posting a new flavor of Cham Cham which is a stuffed sandwich, has a Rose flavor and color. Cham Cham or chom chom is a Bengali delicacy. These pink cham chams are delicately laced with the flavor of cardamom and rose water.

What's the difference between a Rasgulla and a Cham Cham?

Rasgullas are round and fluffier they are not stuffed. While cham chams are oval/ rectangular in shape and are stuffed with a filling. The outer covering /raw materials are identical though, its all about how you make them. Traditionally most Bengali sweets the basic process of making are the same. The state of West Bengal in India is famous for its milk sweets like Rasgulla, Sandesh and other curdled milk mithais.

Serves 5 
Ingredients

For The Chena / Soft Paneer / Cottage Cheese
1 Liter Full Fat Milk
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice or White Vinegar
For the Sugar Syrup
1 Cup Sugar
3 Cups Water
1 Teaspoon Corn Flour or All Purpose Flour
For The Filling
To Make The Homemade Instant Mawa / Khoya
½ Cup Full Fat Milk Powder
1 Tablespoon Milk
4 Teaspoons Condensed Milk
1 Tablespoon Desi Ghee
2 Drops Rose Essence
A Drop Red Food Color

Method
To Make The Chena/ Fresh Paneer

Boil whole milk in a heavy bottom pan, stirring continuously so that the milk does not stick at the bottom of the pan. Once it comes to a boil, switch off the flame let is rest for 2 - 3 minutes.
After two to three minutes. Add lemon juice gradually and keep stirring and let the milk curdle. Let it cool down and allow the milk to separate.
Place cheesecloth on a mesh strainer and strain the water. Rinse it under running water to remove the sourness of lemon juice and squeeze off the excess liquid. You can also hang it so that all the excess water drains off. Then take the chena in your hand and squeeze out remaining water slowly.
Let it sit until we make the sugar syrup.
To Make The Sugar Syrup

In a large pan mix sugar and water. Allow the sugar to dissolve and bring to a boil.

As the syrup is cooking let's work with the Chena.

Take the chena into a plate and add the corn flour, knead until smooth for 5-6 minutes. 

Make it lump free and smooth dough, the small piece of dough when roll should be crack free. So knead it really very well.

Divide this dough into 5 equal parts/balls 

Make rectangular shape / oval shape cham cham. You can also make any other shape you like. Roll this well first and then shape it rectangular.
To Cook The Cham Cham 
Once the sugar syrup boils and the sugar melts.

Gently slide in the prepared cham cham to it, cover and cook for 8 minutes on high flame.
After 8 minutes open the pan, flip each cham cham and cover and cook again for another 8 minutes on medium high flame. After 8 minutes, switch off the flame and let it rest with the lid on, cool it down completely. 

Let the cham cham remain in the sugar syrup for about an hour or more. They should cool down completely before you fill them.

To Make The Filling / To Make The Homemade Instant Mawa / Khoya

Check the recipe of the traditional method of making Mawa / Khoya on this blog.

Mix all the given ingredients well together. 

In a heavy pan add the prepared mixture and cook it for 2 -3 minutes on medium low flame. Keep stirring continuously till it thickens and start to form a ball.

It should be soft so do not cook it too long. Remove this into a plate and let is cool down. 

Add the rose essence, food color and mix well to get a uniform color. Our filling is ready now. Divide this into 5 equal parts, roll each into a rectangular shape smaller then the cham cham.

Remove the cham cham's on a wire mesh place it on a large plate to catch all the sugar syrup or else the counter top will become messy. Let all the syrup drain for about 5 minutes.

Take each cham cham and slit it halfway through lengthwise. Fill in the stuffing and decorate with sliver warq or nuts or glazed cherries. Rose Cham Cham are ready.  

Serve & Enjoy! Rose Cham Cham taste best when chilled. It can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
My Notes

Use full-fat milk for this recipe
If you have ready store bought mava/khoya then grate - a100 to 150 grams of it this well just add 2 - 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar and mix well, taste for sweetness add more according to your taste, add essence and food color. 

Labels: Sweets & Desserts, Indian, Festival Sweets, Foodie Extravaganza Party, Paneer, Mawa, Homemade

For Foodie Extravaganza our theme this month is Simply Desserts!

Food Lust People Love: Clementine Pistachio Upside Down Cake 

Karen’s Kitchen Stories : Butterscotch Pots de Creme 

Sneha’s Recipe: Rose Cham Cham 

Magical Ingredients: Dried Fruits and Nuts Roll 

A Day in the Life on the Farm: Pumpkin Parfaits

Bread Rasmalai#SundayFunday

Bread Rasmalai is the quick version of traditional Rasmalai. Instead of paneer, bread slices are used for soaking in saffron flavored thick milk. It's then garnished with chopped nuts. You will love this version of quick Rasmalai like we don, it's become one of our favorite sweets for a quick dessert.

Ingredients
4 Big Bread Slices
3 Cups Milk
1 Teaspoon Desi Ghee
3 Tablespoons Condensed Milk
¼ Cup Sugar
2 Tablespoons Each Almonds & Pistachios - chopped
¼ Teaspoon Saffron Strands 
½ Teaspoon Cardamom Powder

Method

In a pan add the condense milk and milk, cook on medium flame till milk is reduced to half and is thick, add saffron to the boiling milk, keep stirring then add sugar, keep stirring, till the milk has thickened. To this add in the cardamom powder, switch off the flame. When cooled pour the rabri into a bowl and chill it in the refrigerator.
In a another pan heat a teaspoon of desi ghee, fry the almonds and pistachio till slightly toasted. Keep aside.

Take bread slices, cut small circles from the bread slices.

Just at the time of serving take a bowl /plate, add a little of the prepared rabri just enough to soak the bread slices, place the cut bread rounds. Let them soak for few minutes.

Arrange the soaked bread gently into the serving platter. Pour the chilled rabri, garnish it with chopped pistachios and almonds.

Enjoy!!  
Labels: Sweets & Desserts, Bread Slices, Instant Mixes, No Bake Desserts, Sunday Funday  

For Sunday Funday- theme is Desserts  
Alle Balle Recipe by The Mad Scientists Kitchen
Berry Galette by Karen’s Kitchen Stories
Bread Rasmalai by Sneha’s Recipe
Classic Eton Mess by Food Lust People Love
Patriotic Jello Bars by A Day in the Life on the Farm
Strawberry Glaze Pie by Palatable Pastime
Strawberries And Cream by Mayuri’s Jikoni
Whisky Barrel Cake by Amy's Cooking Adventures

Come y Bebe (Ecuadorian Fruit Salad)#EattheWorld

Come y bebe, which translates to “eat and drink”, is an Ecuadorian fruit salad made with fresh diced fruits and orange juice. You can eat it with a spoon or drink it straight from a glass, it’s perfect as a breakfast, snack, and even dessert. It's delicious and so easy to make, this is a very refreshing drink or dessert for the summer!

You can customize it however you’d like, just use your favorite combo of fruits: mango, pineapple, oranges, mango, berries, banana or papaya. The riper the fruit, the sweeter the Come y Bebe will be.
You also have the option of adding a sweetener, but I left it out as my fruit were sweet and the juice of oranges were sugar-sweet. I also topped it with non dairy sweetened whipped cream.

Serves 4 -5
Ingredients
2 - 3 Cups Fresh Orange Juice
½ Cup Papaya peeled and diced
1/2 Cup Diced Apple
½ Cup Pineapple, diced
½ Cup Strawberries - chopped
½ Cup Cape Gooseberries - chopped
Non Dairy Sweetened Whipped Cream - as required

Method

If you are making fresh orange juice,  juice the oranges first.
Add all of the diced fruit into a large bowl and pour over the orange juice. Set aside.
Mix and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour. Pour it into serving glasses, top it with whipped cream.

Serve & Enjoy!!  
Labels: Vegan, Gluten free, Dairy Free, Fruit Salad, Ecuador, Dessert, Summer Fruits, Eat the World, Sweets & Desserts

 

Each month a group of us join Evelyne of CulturEatz as she travels to different countries to Eat the World.

Check out all the wonderful Ecuadorian dishes prepared by fellow Eat the World members and share with #eattheworld. Click here to find out how to join and have fun exploring a country a month in the kitchen with us! 

 Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Ecuadorian Lentil Stew with Rice (Arroz con Menestra de Lentejas) Magical Ingredients: Tortillas de Verde 

A Day in the Life on the Farm: Fritada de Chancho 

Sneha’s Recipe: Come y Bebe (Ecuadorian Fruit Salad) 

Pandemonium Noshery: Fritada - Ecuadorian Pork 

Kitchen Frau: Pescado Encocado (Fish in Coconut Sauce)

Marble Stuffed Coconut Pancakes -East Indian#SundayFunday

These stuffed and rolled sweet pancakes, is prepared with coconut, sugar and flour as the main ingredient. These are mainly made East Indian on pancake Tuesday, at must in every household. I made these with three different colors and gave a marble effect to the pancakes. They are soft, luscious and delicious, assure you, that, you can't stop at one.

Ingredients
For The Kesar Filling
1 Big Coconut - grated
1/3 Cup Cashew nuts chopped
¼ Cup Rasins
A pinch of Kesar color
2 - 3 Drops Kesar essence
¼ Teaspoon Cardamoms powder
½ Cup Granulated Sugar or adjust to your taste
1 Teaspoon Ghee
For The Pancake Batter
1½ Cups All Purpose Flour
2 Small Eggs
Water or Milk - as required to make a thin batter
¼ Teaspoon Vanilla essence

Method
For The Kesar Filling

Cook the grated coconut with sugar & color on low heat till the sugar melts. Add raisins, cashew nuts and cardamom powder. Cook till the coconut mixture is semi dry, there shouldn't be much moisture in it.

For The Batter

Beat the egg lightly. Mix the flour, milk or water to a fairly thin pouring consistency. 

Divide into 4 portions add the yellow color to one and the green color to the other, third one pink and rest white.
To Make The Pancakes

Take a 6" dia non stick pan. Smear it with oil and wipe it clean. Pour small spoons of different color batter's in the center and swirl the pan so that the batter covers it evenly, any excess batter take is out so that you get a thin pancake.
Cook for a minute or so and then turn it over on a board. (Repeat the process till all the batter is used).

Place  1 - 2 tablespoons of the filling. Fold the sides then roll up the pancake tight or u can even seal edges & roll.

Enjoy!!

My Notes

I have divided the batter into different colors and gradually added a small spoon of each while and swirling the pan.
Labels: Pancake, Stuffed, East Indian, Egg, Coconut, Marble, Sunday Funday, Sweets & Desserts, Festival Sweets

Sunday Funday

Mardis Gras & Fat Tuesday 

• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Cajun Nachos
• Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Muffuletta Sandwich
• Cook with Renu: Homemade Baked Donuts
• Food Lust People Love: Pecan Praline Cookies
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Cajun Stuffed Mushrooms
• Palatable Pastime: Bourbon Chicken Wings
• Sneha's Recipe : Marble Stuffed Coconut Pancakes

Atola - East Indian#SundayFunday

Atola is a traditional East Indian rice pudding that it made with newly harvested rice. This is basically a vegan, gluten free, no sugar, no oil , no ghee or butter, it has just 3 basic ingredients i.e. new rice , coconut milk , jaggery as a sweetener and is flavored with cardamom powder. It's delicious and creamy.

This is made only once a year with rice from the new harvest, on All Souls Day. The rice should be new as new rice is sticky and this is what we want. But if you don’t have rice from the new harvest then use any other rice.

All Souls’ Day, is a day dedicated to the dead and it is observed on 02 November every year. As per the Catholic church, it is the day of Commemoration of All The Departed Souls. Masses are offered for the dead. People also visit and decorate the graves of their loved ones.

Serves 4 - 5
Measurement of 1 Cup = 200Ml
Ingredients
¾ Cup Rice
1/3 Cup Chawli/Black Eyed Beans
1 Liter Thin Coconut Milk -Homemade
250Ml Thick Coconut Milk ( first extract)
160 Grams Jaggery - I used organic
½ Teaspoon Cardamom powder
¼ Teaspoon Salt
Method
Wash and soak the black eyed beans for 6 -8 hours.

In a deep vessel/pot add the rice, chawli beans, salt and

the thin coconut milk, bring it to boil and cook until the rice and chawli beans are soft ( keep stirring in between since this will stick to the bottom of the pot and get burnt).

Once the beans and rice are cooked this will thicken,

now add the jaggery , keep stirring it till the jaggery melts (taste, it if you want it sweeter than add more jaggery accordingly, for us the sweetness is just right) and the pudding comes to a boil. 

Add the cardamom powder and the thick/first extract coconut milk, let it come to a slight simmer. Switch off the flame.

This will thicken as it cools.

Enjoy this warm. Super yummy & delicious!!

Labels: Rice, Homemade, Coconut Milk, Jaggery, Cardamom Powder, Pudding, Sweets & Desserts, East Indian, Sunday Funday,  Vegan, Gluten free, No Oil Or Butter

Today for Sunday Funday Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla, has chosen this theme for us Día de los Muertos - which is The Day of the Dead. 

Atola- East Indian by Sneha's Recipe
Caldo Tlalpeño by Food Lust People Love
Dia de Los Muertos Sugar Skull Cake by Amy’s Cooking Adventures
Enfrijoladas de Pollo by A Day in the Life on the Farm
Fiambre Rojo for Día de los Muertos by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
Pan de Muerto (Mexican Day of the Dead Bread) by Karen's Kitchen Stories
Pan Seared Tilapia with Shrimp by Palatable Pastime
Taco Casserole by Making Miracles
Vegetarian Tortilla Soup by Mayuri's Jikoni

Mango Pudding - A No Bake Dessert#SundayFunday

I love mangoes and enjoy eating them they are so good. Using them to make any dessert or cake feels like as though you’re punishing them if you try to make something out of it. But any way my hubby wants a sweet dish after every meal. If no sweet dish,then,  he will have chocolates. Since mangoes are in season  kuch meetha bhi bana chhaye. 

So here is a refreshing and cool Mango Pudding...you will love it.

Makes around 8 - 10 shot glasses/glass verrines
Ingredients

For the Mango Pudding 

80 Ml Milk 

½ Teaspoon Gelatin
1 Tablespoon Water 

2 Tablespoon Level Sugar 

100 Ml Fresh Cream 

1 Teaspoon Sugar 

½ Cup Mango Puree 

For the Milk Pudding 

150 Ml Milk 

1 Teaspoon Level Gelatin
1 Tablespoon Water 

2 Tablespoons Heaped Condensed  Milk 

For the Mango Sauce 

1 Cup Mango Puree 

40 Ml Water  

½ Teaspoon Gelatin  

Method
First - Make the Mango Pudding 

Soak the gelatin in water for 5 minutes to bloom. Heat the milk till hot, do not bring the milk to a boil, add the soaked gelatin to the milk, keep stirring till the gelatin dissolves, take off the flame and add sugar and keep stirring till sugar melts. Strain this mix.

In a another bowl add sugar and cream and whisk till it form soft peaks add the mango puree and mix well. Now add the gelatin mix to the pudding and mix well. 

Pour it on to the serving bowl or glass and tap to remove any bubbles keep it to set in the refrigerator.

Second - Make the Milk Pudding 

In a tablespoon of water add the gelatin , set it aside for 5 minutes to bloom. Heat the milk till hot, do not bring the milk to a boil, add the soaked gelatin to the milk, keep stirring till the gelatin dissolves, take off the flame and add the condensed milk and stir. 

Strain this mix, then pour this over the chilled / set mango pudding layer and refrigerate till this sets.

The Top Layer - Mango Sauce

In a sauce pan add the water and the gelatin and it aside for 5 minutes to bloom . Heat the water and gelatin till it melts do not bring this to a boil. 

Let it cool for 3 to 4 minutes then add mango puree and mix it well, then pour this over the pudding and swirl it till the edges. Refrigerate.

Serve this chilled, garnish it mango pieces or blueberries.
This is a perfect summer dessert! It's so refreshing and cool.
I used shot glasses/glass verrines to make these, but, you can use one big serving bowl to set this pudding.

Labels : Shot Glass Desserts and Verrines, Sweets & Desserts, Mango Sauce, Mango, Party pleasers, Kids delight, Sunday Funday

For our event called Sunday Funday, wherein we share recipes our families will love to enjoy on a Sunday. Our host for this week's event is Stacy of Food Lust People Love.
Sunday Funday: " No Bake Desserts".

• Carlota de Limón from Food Lust People Love
• Drumstick Dessert from Palatable Pastime
• Oreo Icebox Cake from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Mango Pudding - A No Bake Dessert from Sneha's Recipe
• Nutty Cracker Jack and Pretzel Treats from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pineapple Mousse from Mayuri's Jikoni