The Flavor of Holi on my plate- A Refreshing sinful new Taste in sweet

A Fantastic New Recipe for Holi- Coconut Mawa Kismis Khasta Kachori in Orange Coconut Milk Rabri sauce with Golden Spun Sugar  

As the spring vanishes into the waves of summer, the colors of Holi still remind you: it is still spring in the air. Today is Dol aka Holi and outside my home groups of children have gone crazy with colors, I hear their animated voices, their faces completely turned into color palettes, walking with their friends with color balloons n pichkari n perhaps coloring everyone who is coming their way-including the dogs perhaps-well that’s Holi my friends. 

Tomorrow is also Holi, today is celebrated as Dol amongst the Bengali people as today is gonna be the full moon night-Dol Purnima, Purnima means the full moon. I tell you these groups of children won’t settle anytime soon before 2 in the afternoon when their mothers will finally reach their end of patience- and why would they settle! It is so much fun putting colors over others and it comes once in a year where you have the freedom to go crazy with colors with your whole bunch of friends and that group increases as you put colors on strangers. I know what they have in their stock of colors-they have powdered colors of yellow, green, red, pink, violet, orange, they have water balloons filled with colored waters and apart from that they have a special color-which is the craziest one because when they put it on you it won’t get washed away easily until 4/5 days which is totally insane, if your face has been painted with that stupid color which is either deep purple pretending to be black or a horrible shade of green, you are like wasted for the next 4 days, but that’s also the crazy fun for the children who want to do it, so they like to carry the after marks.

The flavors are different in adults, the same spirit as with the children minus the innocence. One thing that is very popular is the use of Bhang- which is an edible thing made from the leaves n buds of Cannabis and it is the official drink of Holi and I tell you it makes people go crazy. It kinda frees up your mind, releases your anxiety and therefore you can enjoy more. With an overdose a lot of different things can happen in the level of craziness- like some people starts laughing like mad cows and they can’t stop until hours, while some starts crying and they can’t stop raining, while some women keeps on chopping all the vegetables she can lay her hands on and still thinks it’s not enough while a man can’t ride on a train in the station because the minute gap between the train n the station seems like a feet long gap…the list is really impressive.

So now I will talk about food, Holi is famous for fun, tough it is religious in its basic structure, that structure is munched away with the crispy snacks, sweets. A lot of different things are popular in Holi-the emphasis is more on bite foods, snacks – so crispy sweets n savory things make the air smell delicious, Gujiya is very popular which is a crispy friend dumpling filled with coconut n milk solids..Chicken is also popular but mostly in the dinnertime.

I love a ‘Mawa kachori’ – a crispy dumpling filled with concentrated milk solids mixed with powdered almonds/ cashew nuts/pistachios with cardamom, it is deep fried in vegetable oil or ghee, then it is soaked in a thick sugar syrup just so that it gets a coating n shine, and that crazy good to eat. So in my version of Holi sweet I wanted to play with it n push the flavors.

So in my version I have introduced the flavors of dry coconut n fresh coconut together, and the flavors of raisins/kismis and khoya/mawa- the use of raisins give that intense rich sweet flavor of the dry grapes with a slight tang to balance all that sweetness and the coconut takes it to a whole different level.

A very refreshing milk sauce provides flavor n moisture for the crispy dry kachoris, the milk is reduced to one third by simmering it slowly- so it almost reaches ‘Rabri’ but not quite, to that I added the fresh aroma of oranges in the form of orange zest and it makes the whole milk sauce sing. Finally I added coconut milk to that sauce to give a subtle depth of flavor and it’s really nice.

The golden embrace from the spun sugar makes it look unbelievable- the superfine caramel threads shine n glisten in the sun hugging the kachori and it makes it look so very special-a golden hug. When we bite into it we get the crispy sweet warm kachori, the chilled milk sauce and the crunchy subtle caramel- oh my god- it is really good an experience to eat that n you have take my word for it. 

I think you should make it so here is the recipe.

For The Recipe: you will need

For the Mawa Kismis Coconut Kachori:

Makes 6/7

For the shell:

All purpose flour- 200 gm

Ghee- 2 tbsp+ vegetable oil-1 tbsp (it can be total ghee or oil also)

Salt- a pinch

Water- close to ¾ Th cup, it varies

Vegetable oil to deep fry- 5 cups

For the stuffing:

Mawa/Khoya- 100 gm

Dry coconut- 1/2 a small dry coconut, cut into strips n brown skin removed, then almost powdered in a blender

Fresh coconut-1/4 Th fresh coconut flesh grated, then blended till smooth in blender

Kismis- 50 gm, soaked in water for 1 hour, then blended till coarse smooth

Sugar- 1 tbsp, powdered

For the Orange Coconut milk Rabri Sauce:

Milk- 500 ml, full-fat, simmered in medium low flame till 1/3 rd remains

Orange zest/peel- ½ orange

Coconut milk- obtained from ¼ fresh coconut, if using from cans use ½ cup

Sugar- 3-4tbsp

Salt- a pinch

For the Sugar Syrup to coat:

Sugar- 100 gm

Water- 50 gm

Green cardamom- 1 crushed slightly

For the spun sugar:

Sugar- 3 tbsp

Palette knife is needed to prepare the fine threads

1.  First let’s make the milk sauce, take full-fat milk  in a heavy bottom wide vessel/kadai/wok and make it come to a boil, then reduce heat n simmer, with a metal spatula or big spoon scratch the sides n bottom of the wok so that nothing sticks to the bottom n side, incorporate the scratched milk solids into the sauce, scratch every 2 minutes, reduce until one third remains in the wok which will take about 25-30 minutes, it is important to use a wide open wok and not a narrow saucepan because in that evaporating the milk will take much longer.

Grate fresh coconut, make 1/3 cup water come to a boil, then soak the coconut in that water for 10 minutes, after 10 minutes pick up and press the coconut as hard as you can to squeeze out as much milk as you can.

When the milk has been reduced to one third add the coconut milk and the orange zest or strips of orange peel cut really thin with a sharp knife which has no white parts, and simmer for 5 minutes, then add sugar, then take it off the heat, when it attains room temp. Chill it in the freeze for an hour.

2. We will make the crispy pastry now, add the ghee n oil to the flour, add the salt and distribute the fat by rubbing with your hands into the flour until the whole things goes lumpy  which will take about 2 minutes, after that add a little water and make the dough come together, add a little more n do the same, add a little more until the dough comfortably comes together, not a tight dough but softer than that, so as the dough just comes together add another 1 tbsp/2 tbsp little more,  because we want the dough to be slightly softer than that, then knead the dough for 2 minutes n it will just begin to go smooth, stop at this point, we don’t want to knead the dough any more , we don’t want to develop the gluten anymore, so cover the dough n rest for 15/20 minutes.

3. In a frying pan on low heat add the mawa and crumble it with your hands, give it 4 minutes on low heat and it will start to get slight brown color, stir the mawa in between, when the mawa has slightly brown bits, add the kismis paste and stir for 1 minute, then add the fresh coconut n give it 1 minute, then add the dry coconut powder and mix well, give it 2 minutes on low heat, the mixture will be slightly wet at this stage, only slightly wet, that’s fine, when this will cool it will dry more, take it off the heat on a plate and let it cool, when cooled add the powdered sugar to make it a little more sweet, don’t make it very sweet, the mixture is already sweet from mawa, kismis, coconut , so add a little sugar about 1 tbsp or less to increase the sweetness.

4. Get back to the dough and divide the dough into 7 equal balls, take one ball n place on a flat surface n press it with your palm to flatten it slightly, pick up n flatten it again in another direction, then pick up and make a depression in the middle with your thumb , then go on expanding that depression as you turn the dough around within your fingers and increasing the depth of the depression as you rotate, we want to give it the shape of a small cup shape where it will hold the stuffing, so when the depression has a diameter of 2/2 ½ inches, take 1 ½ tbsp of the stuffing and slightly press it in that depression , then bring the opposite two sides of the dough cup together n seal them by pressing, then do the same to one side to bring the ends together, then on the other side, then hold all the edges together to completely cover the stuffing and press gently , then rotate to seal  it well, then press the sealed point lightly on the dumpling itself, then place the sealed side down on the flat surface and press gently to flatten it a bit. Prepare all the dumplings like this.

5. Heat the 5 cups of oil in a deep wok to medium hot, the oil should not be very hot but only slightly hot, when you place a little ball of dough in the oil it should drown n begins to sizzle after some 6/7 seconds, the kachoris need to fried at a low temperature to get them crispy and it will take 10 minutes for the whole process, when the oil is ready, take one kachori and place it on your palm then by the side of your other palm flatten it gently, pick, rotate n press again all around, work gently and flatten n increase the size of the kachori gently, you can also pick n press all around within your fingers, the final kachori will have a diameter of 3 to 3 ½ inches, drop the kachori gently one by one, at one time you will be able to fry about 3 /4 kachoris.

The kachori will drown first in the oil, in a minute it will start to float up on the surface, give each side about 5 minute, with a slotted spoon brush the top sides with the hot oil gently as the kachori floats up in the oil, we want each side to be light brown, so when one side is light brown, flip n let the other side attain the same, then drain on a plate. Finish all the kachoris like this.

6. For the sugar syrup, place the sugar n water n cardamom  in a wok and let the sugar dissolve, then bring it to a boil n boil it until it gets to a consistency like honey, which will take about 8-10 minutes, when you place a drop of the syrup on a plate n then you taste it between your fingers it will form one string, it is ready, switch off the flame, place the fried kachoris into the syrup and coat on both sides, then drain n place them on a plate.

7. For making the spun sugar we need to make caramel, so take 3 tbsp of sugar n same amount of water and let it come to a boil n reach caramel stage, we want dark caramel, so when it reaches dark caramel remove from heat and dip the tip of the palette knife into that, drip off the first few drops and flick it quickly over a plate and you will see long hair like caramel thread are forming, flick it really fast.

In each plate place some orange coconut milk rabri sauce; place a kachori on it, then with the spatula produce the spun sugar to coat each plate completely with that. When the caramel solidifies, you again take that back to heat to liquefy, then come back n work quickly with the spatula, flick fast to coat the kachoris on the plate, then pick up all the threads by hand and shape them the way you want. 

Oh my god…you did it…its ready…. they look stunning, don’t they just look so cool? And now after all this hard work achieving this beauty, it is time to taste, with a spoon break one kachori, take some sauce with the kachori and taste it…

Bon appétit. Subho Dol Yatra n Happy Holi.

The Cakey Kiss of an Orange with a touch of Dark Chocolate n Fennel

An intense Orange Cake with layered Orange Curd, fennel flavored whipped cream on top n Dark Chocolate shavings 

The goodbye of the winter comes with the disappearance of fresh oranges slowly from the local market n I never wanna say goodbye to oranges, partly because citrus are one my favorite flavors n aroma and because oranges are oranges n I just love the color orange. In fact my favorite color is yellowish orange which reminds me of the sun at dusk n dawn n fire n off course the oranges themselves. So before the oranges say goodbye I captured them in this cake-hoping this recipe would last forever n please us time n time again.

I have memories of making orange cake before, possibly last year I made them in my sister’s home-orange cupcakes n I have memories of reading about orange cakes from one of my favorite cookbooks-Recipes from a Provencal Kitchen by Michel Biehn n Bernard Touillon n I used to imagine the aroma reading that recipe n the description. But my cake comes from my experience of flavors that go well with orange, in my cake I have used fennel seeds known as ‘Mouri’, ‘Saunf’ in Bengali n Hindi respectively, this spice is aromatic with a soft aniseed flavor n it goes well with both orange n chocolate.

So the cake formed itself in my mind and I was looking for an opportunity to incorporate these flavors into the cake, so I slightly roasted the fennel seeds n pounded them until smooth n I mixed them into the cake batter and later on I used the same powdered form into the whipped cream. I was also looking for opportunities to produce a real soft light cake –that will mean incorporating air into the batter in many ways so the cake comes out light as a dream.

So there are many ways to incorporate air into a cake batter- we can use leaveners, we can use whipped egg whites to give more air, we can use more sugar while creaming the butter n sugar together, we can use heat while beating the eggs to stabilize them holding more air-so in this cake I whip the egg whites to almost stiff peak and then folded them into the batter. I creamed the sugar n butter very well for a good 7 minutes until it became really light n pale.

 I used fresh orange juice in the cake which is an acidic ingredient, so I used Baking Soda to react with that acid n produce air bubbles n therefore making the cake light, I also used Baking powder which reacts in 2 parts, once as it comes in contact with water, second when it goes inside the oven-the heat initiates another reaction producing more air bubbles.

I wanted the cake to speak of orange mainly with background flavors of fennel n dark chocolate, for that I used the orange zest because that has the essential oil n fragrance of orange which is so very beautiful, and how will I make a good orange cake without either the orange zest n the fresh orange juice!

And there is more, the two layers of the cake hold a sweet secret- a beautiful delicious orange curd, rich with egg n butter n orange. It kicks the orange flavor to a new height; at the same flavor it provides moisture.

When you bite into the cake you get this amazing orange flavor, then in the background you experience this subtle flavor from fennel seed and once in a while a little dark chocolate comes n seduces you but you never lose your focus from orange…it’s a beautiful bite-every flavor is in harmony n married to each other.

So now I will take you to the recipe.

For The Recipe: You will need

For the Cake Batter:

Orange juice- 2 medium sized, peeled, seeded n juice extracted

Orange zest- zest of 3 oranges grated on a grater/zester

Butter- 150 gm, at room temperature, unsalted

Cake Flour/All purpose flour-150 gm, sifted

Caster Sugar/Powdered sugar- 150 gm

Eggs- 3 at room temperature, yolk n white separated

Lime juice- ½ tsp

Baking Soda- ½ tbsp

Baking Powder- 1 tbsp

Fennel seed- 1 tbsp, slightly roasted n powdered

Salt- 2/3 pinches, skip salt if butter is already salted

For the Orange Curd:

Orange juice- from 1 orange

Orange zest- from 1 orange

Eggs- 2 medium eggs

Sugar powdered- 30 gm

Butter- 50 gm, at room temperature

For the Fennel Whipping Cream:

Whipping cream Dairy/Soy- 300 gm

Fennel seed- 1 tbsp, slightly roasted n powdered to smooth

Sugar- 40 gm superfine sugar, skip sugar if your cream is already sweetened

Pre-heat your oven at 180 Celsius/350 Fahrenheit

You will also need Dark chocolate shavings- you can do this with a big Chinese chopper, cutting the bar really thin n the stripes roll themselves as you slice them really thin or with a sharp knife scrape along the bar and you will see rolled up shavings coming out.

1. Begin by lightly buttering your 8 inch cake tin n layering the cake tin with baking parchment paper n also butter it, in a big bowl cream together the powdered sugar n soft butter with a big whisk or electric hand mixer or stand mixer, do it for a good 6/7 minutes and the mixture will go light n pale, we are trying to incorporate as much air as we can at this stage.

2. After that add egg yolk no.1 n beat it in really well until the mixture is uniform, then add yolk no.2 n do the same, then add yolk no. 3 n do the same. After that add the oranges zest and mix it in well, then add half of the orange juice and slowly whisk it in until the batter becomes smooth again, then add the rest half and do the same.

3. In a big clean airy bowl take the 3 egg whites n add the fresh lime juice into it, then start beating it with a wire whisk or electric hand whisk or stand mixer with whisk attachment, first it will go to ribbon stage , then it will form soft peaks, then it will go towards stiff peak, when the egg white is at soft peak stage that is when you lift them with the whisk they don’t stand straight , add 1 tbsp of powdered sugar and whisk on, after 1 minute add another tbsp of sugar and whisk, soon they will reach to stiff peak when they will just begin to hold their shape, stop at this stage. We don’t want to reach full on stiff peak stage because after that the egg whites will have no more capacity to expand any more when they go inside the oven. We want our egg-whites to expand further in the heat of the oven, so we will stop just as it reaches stiff peak, just there- this is important.

4. Take the creamy sugar, butter, egg yolk mixture- sift the flour and the baking powder together and mix with the whisk until it becomes a uniform mixture, don’t do it for a long time, just as the batter becomes uniform it is done, add the powdered fennel seed powder and mix it in, then take 1/3 of the egg white and vigorously beat it in the cake mixture to loosen it up for30 sec, then take a silicone spatula and take another 1/3 of the egg white n softly carefully fold it in by going in a rotating motion from the outside of the bowl towards the centre, lifting up the mixture and cutting through when you go in again, rotate the bowl with every lift, do the same with the remaining portion of the egg white. Finally sift the baking soda over the batter, spreading it everywhere as you sift and again mix it well. Then pour the batter in the cake tin, place the tin on a baking tray and put it into the hot oven for about 35-40 minutes.  Every oven behaves in a different way, so keep an eye on the cake, after 35 minutes the top of my cake had no color, so I put the top grill on and I gave it 2-3 minutes more and the top became golden brown, test it with a skewer by inserting it into the cake n it should come out clean, when you touch the cake it will spring back and you will see the sides of the cake shrinking from the metal tin.

This is one of the characteristic of cakes done with folded egg white that when done the cake shrinks from the side of the pan. So now put the cake pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then take the cake out and place it on the wire rack to cool down. The cake needs to cook completely so that we can slice it, once cool the cake needs to go into the refrigeration to firm up for 4/6 hours so that we can slice it in 2 parts.

5. For the orange curd, prepare a water bath, pour water in deep bowl n make it come to simmer, then mix the orange zest n the sugar together in a medium bowl, then add the orange juice n mix well, then whisk the eggs in another bowl then add to the orange mixture n mix well, add the room temperature butter to the mixture and place this mixture  over the simmering water bowl making sure this bowl doesn’t touch the surface of the water, whisk constantly for the first five minutes, then whisk every 1 minute so that eggs don’t scramble, if the heat if becoming too high you feel lift up the bowl n control the temperature, then bring it back n stir often, after 20 minutes this mixture will thicken n go pale, this is orange curd, pour it into a bowl n let it cool.

6. Now we will whip the chilled cream, the cream needs to be chilled so that we can whip it to its full volume, so chill the cream in the fridge for 12 hours before you whip it and chill the bowl n the whisk for 2 hours if you are using dairy cream, if using soy cream you can skip it, so whip the cream until it begins to hold shape which is stiff peaks, then add the fennel powder and whisk it in, set aside in the refrigerator.

7. Now we will assemble the cake, take the cold cake out of the refrigerator, with a sharp big knife give light cut marks along the perimeter of the cake first to devide it in half, then as you rotate the cake cut a little into the cake, in this way you will get a smooth slice of the cake , carefully lift up the top layer and then take the orange curd and smear it generously over the bottom layer with a palette knife, then place the top layer carefully over it, then take the whipped cream and smear it over the surface with the palette knife and then put some of the cream in a piping bag and pipe over the cake into a beautiful pattern-just the way you like it,

Take the dark chocolate shaving and arrange it over the surface-in between the piped designs or just the way you like it, then drop some of the remaining orange curd over the piped cream, finally slice some orange cloves and open them up and place them over the cake and hey there! It seems you are done.

Now you can eat the cake but I will suggest you place the cake in the refrigerator for 1 hour, so after an hour take the beauty out and first show it to everyone, create the anticipation, then gather everyone and keep a sharp knife ready, slice through the beauty with uttermost love and then it approaches your lips...the moment, let it kiss you and then you get the taste, you get the aroma. Sooooo good right! Bon Appétit.

2 Mousse madness, Nalen Gurr n Dark Chocolate Rum n other stories…

Two Amazing Egg less Mousse recipes, minimum ingredients, maximum flavor: Nalen Gurr Mousse, Dark Chocolate with Red Rum Mousse for the Valentine’s day n Saraswati Pujo

Winter days call for food that makes you warm, even if they are cold in temperature themselves and even if they are desert and sweet they will make you warm n cozy in the course of enjoying them. So when I think of winter I think of rum, especially the dark red rum, complex in flavor, almost like a candy with a lot of depth and its affinity with dark chocolate, yes that’s magical n sexy n yet subtle. So they come together in my mousse, hugging each other and dissolving into the whipped cream as I go beating the cream.

Yes the mousse is literally very simple, it is only made with whipping cream n dark chocolate n red rum and Nalen Gurr- Date-Palm Jaggery available in the eastern part of India, in the land of Bengal, only in the winter season and this is liquid gold in my food dictionary.

You can make a mousse with the combination of stiffly beaten egg-whites and whipping cream also, in that case the mousse becomes even lighter n airy as the beaten egg whites bring even more trapped air bubbles into the mousse, I decided to make them eggless this time because the people for whom I made preferred it without eggs. But let it not make you think that the eggless mousse will not melt you as you eat them-they will. They are not as light as it would be with eggs but still they are deliciously light n smooth, singing with the flavors of Nalen Gurr n Dark chocolate n rum.

A mousse literally describes the texture of a food, a food item that includes air bubbles trapped inside it to produce a light and airy texture is a mousse, they can be both sweet n savory. Now depending on the techniques of including the air bubbles into the mousse the final result can be light n fluffy while some can be thick n creamy n denser. The mousse I made is very creamy n thick, whereas if you add egg-whites to them they will be even more airy.

A savory mousse can be flavored with a vegetable or fish or eggs, cheese, herbs. We can attain the light texture by using egg-whites, beating them to get the light n fluffy or cream; sometimes gelatin can be used in stabilizing the foam.

The taste of the Nalen Gurr mousse is absolutely delish, the molten jaggery just dissolves in the cream n unifies itself; it has such a satisfactory sensation attached to it. Like I said Nalen Gurr is a jaggery which is made from the sap of the date-palm trees in the region of Bengal, when the simmering sap thickens at the end of preparing it, it has a flavor unmatched by anything, there is nothing quite like it, liquid gold I tell you.

For a good dark chocolate mousse you need a real good chocolate, the better the chocolate you have the better the mousse will be, I used the one with 50% cocoa content, you can use 70% for an intense dark chocolate experience.

There are so many whipping creams in the market, some are dairy-based while some are soy based, you can use whatever you love, it is only up to you, some of the creams are previously sweetened and flavored with vanilla, if you are using that cream remember that the gurr is sweet itself, so the resulting mousse can be too sweet, in that case adjust the proportion of the gurr in the recipe.

So now I will take you to a sweet n cozy n warm winter evening, I’ll give you the recipe.

For The Recipe:  You will need

For the Nalen-Gurr Mousse:

Nalen-Gurr- 100 gm, grated or broken into small chunks

Water- ½ cup

Salt- a pinch

Whipping cream- 250-300 ml

Lemon/lime juice- 3-4 drops

For the Dark chocolate Rum Mousse:

Dark Chocolate – 150 gm, grated or broken into small pieces

Red Rum- 3 tbsp

Salt- a pinch

Milk (full fat) or cream- 100 ml

Icing sugar-50 gm (if you whipping cream is pre-sweetened then skip sugar)

1. Begin by melting the gurr, for that place the broken or grated gurr in a wok or frying pan or saucepan and add the water, let the flame be on a medium, with a wooden spatula stir the mixture, the gurr will melt in 3-4 minutes, then the mixture will come to a simmer, let it simmer on a low heat now for 4/6 minutes and it will thicken slightly, you will see the whole mixture is filled with bubbles, put the flame off, add a pinch of salt and drops of lime n mix well,  let it come to room temperature.

2. Melt the dark chocolate in a bain-marie, make sure that the water is not touching the bowl of chocolate, stir the chocolate as it begins to melt, when all the chocolate has melted give it a good mix. Warm the cream or milk slightly, make sure that the milk/cream is not cold when you add it to the hot liquid chocolate , add the slightly warm milk/cream  and mix to a smooth consistency, then add the red rum and pinch of salt into it, mix again. Let it come to a room temperature.

3. For whipping the cream, if you are using a dairy based cream, then freeze the bowl into which the cream will be whipped along with the wire-whisk or pedal attachment of your stand mixer, in case you are gonna whip with your hands, open your hands from the elbow and freeze them too……NOOOO! Really! If you are using soy based whipping cream you might skip this part. One important thing is you are using a whipping cream which was frozen to a solid block in your freezer; you have to take it out n keep in your refrigerator for 12 -16hours at least, until it becomes liquid again. So now simply pour the cream in a big airy glass or metal bowl and whisk with either wire whisk, or electric hand whisk or like I did I whipped it all with my hands which took me 15 minutes of solid whisking, gosh I do believe in hard work!

If your cream is not previously sweetened, then you have to add icing sugar to the cream at the stage when the cream begins to transform from soft peaks to more stable peaks. You can always check by tasting if you want your whipped cream to be more sweet or not and you can adjust.

4. With a spatula draw a line over the whipping cream dividing it into two equal portions for the two mousse, then take one third from one portion and beat is vigorously into the chocolate rum mixture to lighten it up. Then add half of the remaining cream and fold it gently into the lightened chocolate mixture, do it by moving the spatula outwards and upwards beginning from the side of the bowl to the centre and rotate the bowl by one quarter with each fold. So in four fold you will rotate the bowl completely, work lightly and then add the remaining cream into the chocolate mixture and fold until combined.

5. Repeat the same process with the gurr. Now you can simply put them into beautiful small glasses or cups by spoon or you can put them in a piping bag and pipe them into small glasses, do whatever you feel like , then place them in the refrigerator to chill for a good 4 hours, yes they will taste better when cold.

So now take them out, sprinkle them with some grated chocolate for the chocolate mousse and for the Nalen Gurr mousse drizzle them with some liquid gurr, gosh look at them! Beautiful! Aren’t they? Delicious! Aren’t they? Now you must share them with everyone around, they keep well in the fridge, so save some for future good times, I know you will make them soon again, and guess what? Bon appétit.

The shade of the color purple in my plate in the sweetest way

Purple Carrot Rice Pudding: with the sweet flavor of the carrots n their wonderful color with Clove, Cardamom, Rice, Screw pine water n Milk with Almond Praline

Carrots n winter goes hand in hand, during the winter the carrots come out from down the earth as if it’s magic and what a beautiful surprise it is! Anyone who has grown carrots in his garden, he will cherish the moments when he/she pulls out the first carrot of the season-a wonderful sight. The seasonal carrots always taste different n better than those we get all year around, so this winter which is now, a week ago I was wandering in the local vegetable market and what a colorful sight it is: shades of red, yellow, green, purple, orange, crème yellow n then I found out the purple carrots! My very first ones!

Interestingly just that week before I had tasted black carrot ice cream by the great chef Gagan Anand , the ice cream was covered with carrot powder and pistachios, after that I was so keen to find the black or purple carrots n I got them where I was not even expecting them to be, life surprises you. When you get your hands on some purple carrot, grab them, their flavor is very similar to the red ones, but their color is what will influence you, inspire you like a beautiful landscape inspires an artist. Let it make you go all purple.

As I sat n thought what should I prepare with them, I had two things hanging in my mind,  Gajrela /Gajar ka Halwa which is a  concentrated carrot fudge and I thought of Kheer with chawal- a rice pudding n I realized I wanted  both of them and I wanted to lift them up with a touch of aromatic spice but only so much so that you can taste the wonderful carrot with all their glory n color.

So I grated the carrot and my chopping board was washed with a purple wave, I simmered the grated carrot with milk and I knew what was coming! But it overwhelmed me… just a wonderful lavender color appeared in the saucepan, so vivid n inspiring that I wanted to dip my hand in it, smell it, paint with it. So I simmered them on a slow heat until the carrots softened, then went inside the soaked rice-basmati in this case and cooked until the rice fluffed and drank all the lavender milk by themselves, then it was time for the spices to take them to a new height and I sweetened them with white sugar, so when the consistency was relatively thick I took it off the heat n add the screw pine water which is kewra water. Then once it cools a little, put them in a blender and blend them only to a coarse consistency, not completely smooth but at a stage before that when it is still slightly coarse, after that when it comes to a normal temperature you have to chill it for at least 4 hours, it will be well chilled n set in that time n it will taste so much better in that temperature.

I served them with an almond praline, you can just serve them with toasted almond flakes and pistachio and it will be wonderful, I always love praline so I will find a reason to make them.  So finally when it is chilled the flavors will be much settled and you can shape them with your spoon and present them beautifully or just don’t bother, sprinkle the praline pieces or toasted almond n pistachio or cashew nut. When you will taste them you will notice it will remind you of Phirni-a great Indian rice pudding where the rice is blended coarsely at the end of cooking, when I had my bite it reminded me of gajar ka halwa n phirni n kheer all at the same time. I think you should give them a try, so here is the recipe for you.

For The Recipe: You will need

For the Carrot Rice Pudding:

Purple carrot- 2 medium

Basmati Rice-1/2 cup

Milk (full fat) - 2 cups

Single cream /double cream- 1/2 cup

Ghee/clarified butter-1 tbsp

Sugar- about 4/5 tbsp, adjust with your taste

Salt-a pinch

Clove- 1

Green Cardamom-1 or 2

Kewra water/screw pine water-1 tsp

For the Praline:

Sugar- 5 tbsp

Water -5 tbsp

Almond- 7/8 sliced, chopped

1. Begin by soaking the rice in water for 30minutes, then start peeling the carrot, then grate them on the bigger side of the grater, then place them in a heavy bottom sauce pan with the ghee and on a low heat toss them for 2 minutes, then add the milk and keep it on a slow flame, add the cardamom n clove,  let the milk come to a simmering point like this and give it 7/10 minutes on a low flame until the carrots soften n cooked, stir in between. After that add the rice and stir them in, from now on give about 15 minutes on low flame until the rice is cooked, stir every 3 minutes so that nothing catches the bottom of the pan, if you are not using a heavy bottom saucepan you have to be more careful, stir every 2 minutes. When the rice is soft you will see the whole consistency has thickened because the rice has absorbed most of the milk, at this point add the sugar, adjust, add more if you like more sweet or less, add a pinch of salt, then add the cream and give it one more minute, then take it off the heat and add the kewra water, stir it in, let the whole thing cool down slightly so that we can blend it.

2. When the temperature has cooled down a bit, put the whole thing in a blender and blend to a almost smooth consistency but not completely smooth, a little coarse within smooth is what we want, semi coarse, semi smooth. Once that is achieved put them in little serving bowls or one big bowl and chill in the refrigerator for 4/5 hours until well chilled. One great option if you can place them into terracotta earthen pots and chill them, it will add another extraordinary flavor dimension.

3. Let’s make the praline; in a saucepan add the sugar and equal quantity of water, put it on high heat n shake the pan until the sugar melts but don’t stir with a spoon. So shake the pan at times and soon the whole bubbling syrup with start to get golden and then deep golden reaching dark brown, add the chopped almond and then pour the whole thing on a smooth marble top or smooth surface. As soon as it cools down it will set, it will take 3/5 minutes, then take them off the surface with a knife in chunks. 

4.  After 4 hours when it is well chilled, spoon the mixture onto a plate into beautiful shapes and place the praline pieces on top of them along with some toasted almond or just sprinkle the toasted almond on the bowl itself and get ready with your spoon.

So now it is ready, you know the thing about sweet things, they absolutely need to be shared, especially when you have made something so beautiful with such a beautiful lavender color, share it with your loved ones and let them love you a little more. Dig in and tell me, isn’t it so good! , the flavor of the carrot, the creaminess, the hint of clove n cardamom, in every spoon, yummy. Guess what! Bon appétit.