Chinese Toffee Banana

I happened to watch this recipe on some food channel. It seemed so easy and yummy that I immediately set about doing it. Lucky I had all the ingredients in hand.

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 2 bananas, cut into thick diagonal slices
• 50 grams self raising flour (Use 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt with 1 cup flour for homemade self raising flour)
• 25 grams corn starch + some for dusting
• 90 ml water
• 1 tsp oil
• Oil for deep frying
• 120 grams sugar
• Black and white sesame seeds for sprinkling
  
  
  
  
  
  

Preparation

• Mix self raising flour, corn starch and water into a smooth batter. Add a tsp of oil and mix it well. (The oil is supposed to make it puffy.)
• Heat oil in a deep pan
• Dust the banana slices in corn starch, dip them in the batter and cook them in the hot oil in batches until crisp and golden brown.
• In a heavy pan, add the sugar over medium heat and keep stirring it till it just forms a caramel (just as it turns brown). Switch off immediately and remove from the stove.
• Toss the fried banana slices one after the other to coat them completely in the caramel and drop them immediately into a large bowl of ice water. This will set the caramel. 
• Almost immediately, drain them and sprinkle with black and white sesame seeds.
• Serve hot immediately or with ice cream.

Note

It is very important to coat the bananas immediately in the caramel before the caramel hardens.

Ras Malai

I tried this for the first time for my sister-in-law who loves these. Recipe from indianhealthyrecipes.com

Makes 8 ras malai

Ingredients

For Malai/Rabri

• 3 cups milk 
• saffron threads, a few
• 1/2 cup sugar (I used sugarfree drops)

For Chhena/Indian Cottage Cheese

• 5 cups milk
• 2 to 3 tsp lemon juice or vinegar

For Sugar Syrup

• 3 cups water
• 1 cup sugar
• Pinch of cardamom

For Garnish

• Almonds, chopped
• Pistachios. chopped

Preparation

• Bring 3 cups of milk to a boil in a heavy bottomed vessel on medium flame. Add saffron and keep stirring it often.
• Add sugar and continue to stir. Keep moving aside the cream that forms on the top. Continue to stir till the milk is reduced to half the quantity. Switch off and set aside.
• While the malai is being done, bring 5 cups of milk to a boil in another vessel. Add vinegar or lemon juice and keep stirring till the milk curdles completely. Add more vinegar or lemon juice if needed. Switch off and add ice cubes into the vessel.This keeps the chhena soft.
• Strain it through a muslin cloth and tie up the ends. Squeeze out the excess water and hang it for an hour or 1 1/2 hours. (I kept it hung for about 2 hours)
• When the water is completely drained, knead the chhena for about 3 minutes. (You can watch how to knead chhena here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5OATz9GyRQ)
• Divide it into 8 portions, make balls and flatten them. If the edges crack, smoothen them gently. Set aside.
• Bring water and sugar to a boil in another vessel. Add cardamom. When the syrup begins to boil rapidly, add the flattened chhena. Cover and cook on moderately high flame for 8 minutes. They would have doubled in size.
• Take them out one by one, cool and squeeze out the syrup by placing them between 2 spatulas.
• Add them to the malai or rabri.
• Add pistachios and almonds and simmer for about 2 minutes to allow the chhena to absorb the milk. 
• Refrigerate, preferably overnight and serve.

Kaju (Cashew) Pista Roll

Ingredients
For Kaju Dough

• 1 1/2 cups cashew, dry roasted lightly, about a minute and powdered
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp warm water

For Pista Dough

• 1 cup pistachio, dry roasted lightly, about a minute and powdered
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2 to 3 drops pista essence
• 1 tbsp water

Preparation

• Lightly warm sugar for a minute.
• Mix the cashew powder and sugar in a bowl. Add the warm water, one tsp at a time. Mix well to make a thick cashew ball.
• Mix the pistachio powder and sugar in another bowl. Add the pista essence and warm water and mix well to make a pistachio ball.
• Place the cashew dough on a grease aluminium foil and roll it into a rectangular sheet. 
• Then make a pistachio roll of about 1 inch diameter and equal length as the cashew sheet.
• Place the pistachio roll on the cashew sheet and roll so that the cashew sheet will cover the pistachio roll. Using a sharp knife, cut into pieces of desired length.

Chocolate Milk Roll

Recipe is my experiment from Chocolate Pista Roll recipe!

Ingredients

• 1 cup khoya (mawa), recipe below
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 drop rose essence
• 1 tbsp Cocoa powder

Recipe for Instant Khoya

Ingredients

• 1 cup full fat milk powder (I used Amul Dairy Whitener)
• 1/2 tbsp ghee (Clarified butter) 
• 1/4 cup milk 

Preparation

• Take milk powder in a bowl.
• Heat milk and ghee in a small pan till it comes to a boil.
• Add this hot milk-ghee mixture to the milk powder. Mix it with spoon. It should look like crumbled khoya. If it still looks dry you can add more milk 1 teaspoon of milk at a time.
• You can shape it while it is warm. As it cools it will hold that shape and it will harden. After that it can be grated or crumbled as needed.

Preparation

• Take khoya and sugar in a pan. Turn the heat on medium and stir continuously till the sugar is dissolved and all the moisture goes. Switch off after the mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan. Divide the mixture into two equal parts.
• Add two drops of rose essence to one part. (This step is optional - you can use any essence of your choice)
• Add cocoa powder to another part.
• Mix each part well.
• Shape them while it is warm. (If the mixture cools completely, it will be hard to give them a shape. Grease your hands with a little ghee or oil and place the cocoa mixture on an aluminium foil. With a rolling pin make an even rectangle of 6 inches x 3 inches. Next make a mawa-rose essence roll of 6 inches long and 1 inch diameter.
• Then place the mawa roll on the cocoa sheet and roll so that the cocoa sheet will cover the mawa roll evenly from all the sides.
• Now roll it back and forth with your hand to seal the joints and to make the roll tight. Then cover it with aluminium foil and chill in the refrigerator till it becomes firm (about 20 minutes).
• Then using the sharp knife cut into pieces. (Clean the knife in between to make clear cuts.)

Note:

The cocoa sheet must be at least 1/2 inch thick.

Chocolate Pista Roll

Ingredients

• 1 cup khoya (mawa), recipe below
• 1/4 cup sugar 
• 2 tbsp pistachios, chopped
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder 

Recipe for Instant Khoya

Ingredients

• 1 cup full fat milk powder (I used Amul Dairy Whitener)
• 1/2 tbsp ghee (Clarified butter) 
• 1/4 milk

Preparation

• Take milk powder in a bowl.
• Heat milk and ghee in a small pan till it comes to a boil.
• Add this hot milk-ghee mixture to the milk powder. Mix it with spoon. It should look like crumbled khoya. If it still looks dry you can add more milk 1 teaspoon at a time.
• You can shape it while it is warm. As it cools it will hold that shape and it will harden. After that it can be grated or crumbled as needed.

Preparation

• Take khoya and sugar in a pan. Turn the heat on medium and stir continuously till the sugar is dissolved and all the moisture goes. Switch off after the mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan. Divide the mixture into two equal parts.
• Add chopped pistachios to one part. (I also added two drops of pistachio essence and green food colour - optional)
• Add cocoa powder to another part.
• Mix each part well.
• Shape them while it is warm. (If the mixture cools completely, it will be hard to give them a shape. Grease your hands with a little ghee or oil and place the cocoa mixture on an aluminium foil. With a rolling pin make an even rectangle of 6 inches x 3 inches. Next make a pista roll of 6 inches long and 1 inch diameter.
• Then place the pista roll on the cocoa sheet and roll so that the cocoa sheet covers the pista roll evenly from all the sides.
• Now roll it back and forth with your hand to seal the joints and to make the roll tight. Then cover it with aluminium foil and chill in the refrigerator till it becomes firm (about 20 minutes).
• Then using the sharp knife cut into pieces. (Clean the knife in between to make clear cuts.)

Note:

The cocoa sheet must be at least 1/2 inch thick or it might break.