Chaler Payesh - Rice Pudding

 

Chal'er Payesh

A comforting and deeply satisfying end to a meal, rice pudding is a favourite with young and old alike.

Gajar (Carrot) Halwa

Gajar ka Halwa

Carrots are naturally sweet, so this dessert needs just a little added sugar. To get all the Indian flavours, Gits Kulfi Mix added at the end works wonders. I've also used Gits Rasmalai Mix with good results. Make your own at home by combining Carnation Instant Dry Milk with sugar to taste, cardamom powder, ground almonds and a few drops of Kewra Essence (extract from pandanus flowers) or 2 teaspoons of rose water.

Tomato Chutney

Tomato Chutney

Our neighbours and friends grow beautiful blemish-free tomatoes during the summer and we are blessed with their bounty. The 6 yr-old boy next door with the help of his friend set up a little table by the curbside, giving away the cutest home-grown cherry tomatoes. They were free, we were told, with the only stipulation that only 8 tomatoes were allowed per person. They provided the ziploc bags and the two boys had the time of their lives, waving down passing cars and neighbours taking a walk.

Another friend invited me over for lunch and filled up a whole bag with plum tomatoes that looked like mini-roma tomatoes. Yet another friend grew regular-size roma tomatoes, so all this bounty resulted in a delicious chutney.

Mum made this chutney on festive occasions which is where the recipe is derived. I used a quarter pound of date jaggery (khejur-er gur in Bengali) which gave the chutney a depth of flavour that is almost impossible to achieve with plain sugar. The jaggery combined with very thin slivers of ginger, diced tomatoes and raisins were all that were needed to make this chutney. 

It was easy to make and basically cooked on medium-low heat with little intervention. Served as an accompaniment to any Indian meal, this chutney gives a festive air to a gathering of friends to celebrate the fall season.

Meetha Sev - Sweet Vermicelli Dessert

Meetha Sev

This dessert reminds me of Khan, our cook in Bombay in the early 1970s. He was an excellent cook who went to the market early each morning and based our menu on what was available that day. His food was in the Mughlai style and quite rich. This was his way of preparing toasted vermicelli and was quite unusual for us because we were used to the milky payesh that Bengalis generally make.

Toasted Vermicelli

Toasted vermicelli or sev is available at Indian markets. If it's not available in toasted form, it adds a step to making desserts because it has to be toasted in butter or ghee until golden brown. Coating sev with butter keeps each strand separate and prevents it from becoming mushy.

Baked Apple Delight

Baked Apple Delight

The smell of porridge in the air meant that it was a weekend in winter or spring in Darjeeling. This resort town in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains, sits at an elevation of 6,700 ft. above sea level. It's backdrop is Mt. Kanchenjunga which is among the world's highest peaks.

During weekdays, our kitchen was the domain of Kanchi who arrived in the wee hours of the morning so she could make us breakfast before we left for school. The weekends were always special because Mum took over kitchen duties. Winters were spent in Calcutta, but we returned to the mountains in the early part of March while it was still pretty cold. Porridge made from old-fashioned oatmeal was a favourite part of breakfast because it warmed us up and was filling to boot!

Fast forward several decades to a time when consuming sugary desserts are a no-no so this combination of porridge and apples is a welcome addition to dinner. So easy to prepare, the memories of my childhood evoke images of my mother's nurturing nature, with the creation of this all-time favourite.

Vegan 3 Ingredient Rum and Raisin Ice Cream

Vegan Rum & Raisin Ice Cream

Here's another banana-based ice cream and it's Rum & Raisin this time. To make this vegan dessert that requires no cream, sugar or ice cream maker, I used a teaspoon of rum and some raisins I'd pre-soaked to soften and plump them up. Today I brought out my immersion blender which is what I'll stick with from here on because it worked the best for making this type of ice cream. It cleans up the easiest, compared to a blender or food processor.

For a non-alcoholic dessert use rum extract instead of dark rum.

Slow-Cooked Apple Raisin Oatmeal

Left: Apple Raisin Oatmeal in Crock Pot
Right: Plated Apple Raisin Oatmeal

This is the easiest ever crock pot recipe for downright delicious oatmeal! The only problem is that I have to manually turn on and off my crock pot, so had to stay awake until midnight the night before to turn it on. It cooked for 8.5 hours overnight and it's so hard to describe the incredible aroma that permeated throughout the house this morning.

Oatmeal has always been a favorite breakfast item going all the way back to our childhood in Darjeeling, India. The weather in Darjeeling was often cold and damp and the luxury of having a hot bowl of oatmeal was an infrequent affair because it was reserved for uneventful weekends which were few and far between. 

Mum always salted her oatmeal as it was cooking that adds a special touch to this dish. I left the peel on the Fuji apples which cooked down to a super soft consistency and yet managed to retain some texture and shape. The raisins absorbed as much liquid as they could and came out plump and juicy. And there's no describing the texture of the oatmeal which was soft and totally delicious! 

It's so easy to do that there's no excuse not to cook oatmeal this way from here on out and you can look forward to a most aromatic oatmeal breakfast the next morning.

Tomato Date Chutney

Festive Bengali meals end on a sweet note, usually a chutney of which Tomato Date Chutney is the most common.

Ingredients:

6 large tomatoes
8 dates, deseeded and chopped
1/4 cup golden raisins
2 Tbsp. fresh ginger root, cut in julienne strips
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, or to taste
1 small lump jaggery (gur)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (or white)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. panch phoron *
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Cut a shallow + on the base of each tomato and submerge in boiling water until skin peels at +.  
2. Allow tomatoes to cool, peel, chop and set aside.
3. Heat oil, temper panch phoron, cinnamon stick and star anise until seeds begin to sputter.
4. Add remaining ingredients and cook for about an hour on medium heat until liquid evaporates.
5. Serve warm or chilled at the end of the meal.

* Panch phoron is a Bengali 5-spice mixture which comprises the following seeds in equal proportions:

• Fennel 
• Nigella  (Kalo Jeera/Kalonji)
• Cumin  
• Mustard 
• Fenugreek (Methi)

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