Homemade Bounty Truffles / Coconut Truffles

I grew up in coastal Odisha where there are plenty of coconut trees and the use of coconut in cooking is also extensive. Especially sweet dishes called "Pitha". So I have a strong liking for coconut and use it liberally in my cooking. Because making Pitha needs patience and perfection I hardly venture into that area. I like things that are simple to make and where the scope of going wrong is minimal. Due to my love for coconut, I became a big fan of the Bounty chocolate the first time I tasted it. I can gobble half a dozen of it in a go. Kind of crazy, if you can say so. 


I don't think there would be anyone in this world who doesn't love chocolates.The richness of chocolate and the nutty coconut flavor makes me crave for it. I always wanted to replicate the same in my kitchen. And after a few experiments I nailed it.  The ingredients can be easily found in one's pantry and the process extremely simple. Even an amateur in the kitchen can make it. Making this with your kids is a great activity. And the best part, it can be done in no time.



Ingredients

Dessicated coconut (dry) - 2 cups
Condensed Milk - 1 cup (I use Amul)
Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp
Dark chocolate shredded - 1/2 cup (packed)
White Chocolate (Optional)



Method of Preparation

Dry roast the dessicated coconut in an open pan on minimum heat for a minute. Add condensed milk and vanilla essence. Mix well with a wooden spatula till condensed milk and the dessicated coconut get incorporated.
Remove from heat. Grease your hands with a little butter. Take a little of the mixture and roll it between your palms to make smooth balls.Once all the balls are done, cover and keep it in fridge for fifteen minutes.



Next, Take the shredded dark chocolate in a double boiler and melt it to a smooth liquid. Else you can melt it in microwave too.
Take the coconut balls out of the fridge. Dip in the chocolate to coat it on all sides. Remove and keep it on a parchment paper. Repeat till all are done. Again keep it back in the fridge till the chocolate becomes firm.
Next melt a little white chocolate and drizzle on the balls (optional)
Your home made Bounty is ready.

Rasmalai .... An Indian Delicacy !

I have not been in the best of health these days. The flu and fever have taken a toll on my health. There are many things that I want to do but the energy levels are so low that I hardly can. Like a ritual I logged into the social networking sites ...... and I could see posts on "Earth Day" and slogans like "Reduce Recycle Reuse .... blah blah blah". Earth Day .... Really !! Like I had the choice of going and living in another planet. It is not about one particular day, rather about what choices we make everyday. I am not against spreading awareness but it is about how much we practice the same.

So one day when the milkman left me few extra packets of milk I decided to make rasmalai from it. It was the first time that I was going to try it. Rasmalai is a very popular indian dessert made from soft cottage cheese and dunked in flavored saffron milk. These are easy to make that if you make it once you kind of get addicted. 

Ingredients 

Milk - 3 liters

Vinegar - 3-4 tsp

Sugar - 1 cups (You can add more sugar to the milk syrup per taste) 

Saffron for garnishing 

Dry fruits for garnishing (Optional)

Method of Preparation 

1. PREPARING THE CHEESE/ CHENNA 

Boil 2 liters of the milk in a heavy bottomed over medium-high heat, stirring frequently making sure that the milk does not burn on the bottom of the pan.

As the milk comes to a boil, add vinegar slowly and stir the milk gently. The cheese will start separating from the whey, turn off the heat.

Once the milk fat has separated from the whey, drain the whey using a strainer line with cheesecloth or muslin cloth.

Wrap the cheese  in a muslin cloth, rinse under cold water, and squeeze well. This process takes out the sourness from the vinegar. To take out the excess water squeeze the cloth, or press the wrapped paneer under a heavy pan for about one hour. Taking the right amount of water out of the paneer is the most important part of this recipe.

To check if enough water is out of the paneer, take a little piece of paneer on your palm and rub with your fingers. After rubbing the paneer for about 15-20 seconds, you should be able to make a firm but smooth ball.

If the paneer is too dry, add a few drops of water, using the water squeezed from the paneer.

Once the paneer is drained, place on a dry, clean surface and knead the paneer for 3-4 minutes until the paneer is almost rolls into smooth soft dough.

Knead the paneer by dragging the palm of your hand hard on the paneer. Keep scooping it back to together and knead more. Your palm will be little greasy.

2. MAKING THE RASMALAI

Divide the dough into 12 equal parts and roll them in smooth balls (It can be more or less depending on the size of the patties you make)

To make the balls apply some pressure at the first and then release when forming the balls, lightly press to make about 3/4″ patty shape. 

Mix half cup of sugar and water in a pressure cooker on medium high heat and bring to a boil.

Add the paneer balls and close the pressure cooker. After the pressure cooker starts steaming, turn the heat to medium and cook for about seven minutes.

Make sure the cooker is large enough to accommodate the finished rasgullas patties, as they will expand to about double in the volume while cooking in the syrup!

Close the heat and wait a few minutes before opening the pressure cooker. Pour cold water over the cooker before opening.

Take out the patties from the syrup and squeeze them lightly,and keep aside.

Boil the remaining 1 liter milk in a frying pan on medium heat until the milk reduce to half. 

Make sure to frequently stir the milk as the milk burns easily in bottom of the pan.

Add the saffron and remaining sugar to it. Stir well.

Add Rasmalai patties in milk. Let it cook for few minutes.

Garnish with sliced almonds and pistachios (Optional)

Ghee/ Clarified Butter ....... Home made from scratch

Certain things clearly intimidate me ..... one such thing was making ghee/ clarified butter from scratch. But finally I overcame my fear by facing it.I grew up in a kitchen where everything was made from scratch. I fondly remember my grandmother making ghee in an era when there was no hand blender or mixer-grinder. Those days she used a wooden hand blender called "Gholona" in odiya. Making ghee from milk cream was more of a ritual those days. There was a special vessel which was strictly used to making ghee, an old discolored aluminum pan. The aroma of freshly made ghee would fill the entire house and sometimes the neighbor's too. I remember scrapping the light brownish color milk solids from the bottom of the pan. Aai (Grandma) and myself loved this residue called "korua". We would take a generous helping of the korua and mix it with a bowl of puffed rice with some sugar. It tasted delicious to say the least. I have not had this for a very long time. 
Ghee is widely used in Indian cooking.The use of ghee in Indian cooking has been well documented in Ayurveda. 

Food Facts

Ayurveda recommends one teaspoon or less ghee per meal.Ghee can actually help to increase HDL, the good cholesterol.  Some additional reasons to use ghee when preparing your food are:

• Digestion (helps absorb and assimilate nutrients)
• Improves memory
• Helps increase flexibility by lubricating the connective tissues
• Carries the medicinal properties of herbs into tissues (yogavāhi)
• Stimulates the liver to produce fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K

Ingredients 

Milk cream - 2 cups

Curd - 7-8 tsp

Making Ghee from Scratch

Making ghee from scratch, begins with the collection of milk cream. When milk is boiled and cooled down, a layer of milk solid called cream/ malai is formed. You need to collect this for about a month and keep it refrigerated till you collect a decent amount (about 2 cups).

Day -1

When cream is collected, remove the cream from the refridgerator a night before and keep it in room temperature. Mix about 7-8 teaspoons of curd to the cream and blend well till curd and cream is incorporated evenly. Let it sit in room temperature for a day. The curd will help ferment the milk solids. 

Day -2

Now take about 2 cups of water (not very cold but room temperature) in a tall mixie jar. Add about 4-5 teaspoons of the cream n curd mixture and pulse it for few seconds. You will notice the butter floating on the water. Extract this butter and keep in a heavy bottom Kadhai/Wok. Repeat process till you extract all the butter. 

Now switch on the flame and keep the wok on medium flame. The butter will start melting and forming a foam. After about 20- 25 minutes you will see golden color ghee separated from the solids. Switch off flame and let it cool down completely. 

Strain the ghee to separate the milk solids. Store in a clean n dry bottle/ can at room temperature.