Sangom Kheer- Manipuri Cusine

 For this January 2019 Ssshhhh secretly  cooking, we are making dish from Manipur. I had manipuri classmates during my undergraduation . I had tasted the store bought snacks which my Manipuri friends bring after the summer vacation  like salted sunflower seeds and mango candy . Other than that i heard of them eating a lot of dry fish. 
      I was paired with Sujata Roy  of . She gave me Cardamom and bay leaf as my secret ingredients. I decided to make this delicious kheer Sangom Kheer. In Manipuri , sangom means Milk and Kheer generally means Indian Style Pudding.

 Though , the milk kheer is made commonly around every state of India , I find adding bay leafs , edible camphor makes this kheer different from other counterparts. 

 I followed the recipe from here pusphita's chakhum.

Requirements :

A lit  of cow's milk 
A handful of aromatic Gobindo Bhog / Basmati / Rawrice 
3 cup of sugar
4 tbs milk powder
2 bay leaf
6 whole green cardamom
A pinch of edible camphor ( Pachai Karporam in Tamil )
2 tbs cashew
2 tbs raisins
1 tsp ghee 
Half cup of freshly grated coconut

Method : 

Wash and soak rice for 30 minute.

Boil the milk in a thick bottomed pan. Then let the milk simmer with the Bay leaf and cardamom till it reduces to 3/4 th of its original volume.

Add the soaked rice into the milk and cook on slow flame with stirring in between . 

When the rice grains are boiled , add the sugar and milk powder and mix well.

Add the cashew , raisins , edible camphor , grated coconut and ghee , mix well and take off flame.

Let the kheer cool down.
Serve the kheer with silvers of almond and pistachios as toppings.

If the kheer is very thick after cooling you can add boiled milk to get the desired consistency.

Gurur Sandesh #HappyDiwali

                                  Happy Diwali 2017........

 For this diwali we made this milk based sweet for Akshara as she liked storebought peda , we want to make one for her in home. This was a simple and easy recipe.

Requirements :

Whole fat milk 2 lit
Lemon Juice 4 tbs
Palm Sugar 1 cup
Corn flour 2 tbs
Cardamon powder 1/2  tsp


Method :

Making of Chenna :

Roll boil the milk in a thick bottomed pan.
Add in the lemon juice and stir for five to ten minutes .Milk will start curdling.....
Drain the whole content into the muslin cloth. Milk solids will stay on the cloth and the whey water will drain down.

Wash the milk solids in water and hang for half a day to drain the water completely. g of

Making of Sandesh :

In a bowl add the milk solid / chenna and knead for few minutes with the knukles of your hand. This will make the chenna smooth and soft from its grainy texture.

Add in the corn flour and knead again.

To this add the Palm sugar and cardamon powder , knead again.

In a thick bottom pan , add the chenna and stir for ten minutes in a slow flame. The whole content firt starts to melt a little and solidifies later.

Take off from flame and let it cool.
Make desired shape or use sandesh mould.

I made as round balls and flattened little and used tooth pick to make lines on top.

Nuts can be used to decorate on top.

Referigerate before serving.....

Gurur Sandesh is ready to serve........

Bee Hive Buns / Honeycomb Buns / Khaliat Nahal - Eggless #BreadBakers

  For  this month’s bread bakers gave us the theme to bake sweetened yeast bread for Christmas or Holiday season.

  This Bee Hive buns was the bread which was chosen  for another bread baking group We Knead to Bake in which I was a member. I didn’t bake this bread during that time. But this bread was in my to do list for a long time.

  When this month’s theme was announced I immediately decided to make this bee hive bread.

This bread is easy enough to make and what is unusual is that it is filled and then covered with a sugar syrup/ glaze ,which is typical of Middle Eastern confectionery.

Khaliat al Nahal (also known as Khaliat Nahal) translates as Bee’s Hive in Arabic. This is because the buns are baked close to each other in a round pan where they form a honeycomb like pattern. They’re traditionally made sweet and glazed with honey flavoured syrup, though savoury versions are also made.

This recipe makes 15 small buns, and if you want fewer you can halve the recipe to make about 9 or 10 buns. For half the recipe, use a 6” or 7” round cake tin to bake the Honeycomb Bread. 

   You can also bake them individually in muffin tins if you prefer, except they would not have their characteristic “honeycomb” pattern.

Traditionally, the filling used in this bread is a small piece of plain cream cheese but here choice of filling is entirely up to you. You can make it sweet or savoury. I used sweet coconut filling. I used fresh grated coconut , you can use dessicated coconut if it is not available.

Here’s a good video to watch in case you think you need it. http://xawaash.com/?p=6593#sthash.WYkAg0DL.dpbs

Khaliat Nahal (Honeycomb Buns or Bee’s Hive Buns)

For the dough:

Ingredients:

1 cup lukewarm milk

1 1/2 tsp instant yeast

1 tsp sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

40gm butter, melted

2 tbsp milk for brushing the dough

2 tbsp white sesame seeds for sprinkling on top (optional only for savoury bread)

For the filling:

1 cup Grated coconut

1 tbs clarified Butter

10 cashew

10 Raisins

¼ tsp Cardamom powder

¼ cup sugar

Other options for filling :

Savoury - cream cheese OR crumbled feta cheese OR crumbled paneer/ cottage cheese, flavoured according to your choice. You can also use any other savoury filling that you want. I used a combination of crumbled paneer, herbs, chilli flakes, a little garlic and chopped spring onion.

Sweet - cream cheese (traditional filling), or any other filing of your choice like chocolate, dried fruit like dates, raisins, chopped nuts, chopped fruit , sweetened coconut filling, etc.

Sugar Syrup/ Glaze:

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

A pinch of saffron

1 tbsp honey

1 tsp lime/ lemon juice

Method:

Make sure your melted butter has cooled down a bit before using it. Put 2 cups of the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a bowl and mix well.

Combine the milk, sugar and melted butter  and add this to the dough mixture and knead until you have a smooth and elastic dough which is not sticky.

      Add as much of the remaining 1/2 cup of flour as you need to get this consistency of bread dough. I used all of 2 1/2 cups of flour for mine.

Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a well-oiled bowl, turning it to coat completely with the oil. Cover and let it rise till double in volume, for about an hour.

Turn the dough out onto your work counter. You won’t really need to flour it as the dough is quite manageable as it is. Cut it into 2 halves. With your palms, roll out each half a “rope” about 9” long. Cut each rope into 1” pieces so you have a total of 18 pieces.


Coconut Filling :

Add the butter to a sauce pan and melt . To this add chopped cashew along with raisins  and fry.
Add  the grated coconut and saute for a minute and take off flame.
To the above add the cardamom powder and sugar , mix well. 
Let the mixture cool.

Shaping the Buns :

Take each piece and flatten it out a little and place half a teaspoon of filling in the centre. Pull up the sides and wrap the dough around the filling, pinching it closed at the top. Smoothen it into a round ball. Place this in a well-greased round 9” cake tin. Repeat with the remaining 17 pieces and the filling.

Arrange the filled balls of dough in concentric circles, filling the base of the cake tin.

Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rise for about 30 to 40 minutes. Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle the sesame seeds over this. Don’t use the sesame seeds for sweet bread, only for the savoury Filling .

Bake the buns at 180*C (350*F) for about 25 – 30 minutes, until they’re done and a nice golden brown on top.

Let them cool in the tin for about 5 minutes and then on a wire rack.

Sugar Glaze :

If you’re making the sweet version, make the sugar syrup/ glaze during the first rise of the dough. For this put the sugar, water and saffron in a small pan and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and let it simmer for a few minutes until it starts thickening a bit. Take it off the heat and add the honey and the lime/ lemon juice. Mix well and let it cool. Keep aside till needed.

When the sweet buns come out of the oven, pour the syrup all over the top of the “Honeycomb”.  The bread should be hot and the syrup/ glaze should be cool. 

If you want your Honeycomb Buns to be less sweet, just brush the syrup/ glaze over the top.I brushed the syrup as the filling was so sweet.

Let it sit for a while for the syrup/ glaze to set a bit. Serve them warm with tea/ coffee.

American-Style Panettone from Passion Kneaded

Apple Cinnamon Rolls from Sizzling Tastebuds

Beehive Bread from Sara's Tasty Buds

Candied Fruit Sweet Rolls from Cindy's Recipes and Writings

Chestnut Roll Wreath from Food Above Gold

Chocolate Cherry Brioche Buns from Baking Sense

Chocolate Swirl Babka from Cook's Hideout

Cranberry Orange Breakfast Braid from Kylee Cooks

Cranberry Sweet Rolls from Food Lust People Love

Cranberry, Pistachio, and White Chocolate Panettone from A Baker's House

Estonian Kringle from I Camp in my Kitchen

Finnish Nissua Bread from Gayathri's Cook Spot

Fruit & Nut Sourdough from What Smells So Good?

Ginger Orange Stollen from Spiceroots

Holiday Wreath with Sweet Nut Filling from Hostess At Heart

Indian Inspired Holiday Wreath from Herbivore Cucina

Julekake from A Shaggy Dough Story

Kugelhopffrom Ambrosia

Marzipan Stollen from Palatable Pastime

St. Lucia Buns from Karen's Kitchen Stories

Stollen Bread from Sneha's Recipe

Sweet Milk Dinner Rolls from A Day in the Life on the Farm

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Mini Jangiri – Diwali special 2014 #IniyaTamilPuthandu

   Happy Tamil Newyear  Iniya Tamil Puthandu .............
   These jangiris I made for 2014 diwali , couldn't post at that time. As this is the new year , I want to start the year with sweet........

    This mini jangiri will be suitable for kids , as they love to eat these cuties. Check my other  jalebi and jangiri recipes.

 Diwali the festival of lights will be celebrated with home made sweets in our family. We won’t buy sweets. Homemade sweets are good for our health.

 Jangiri / jalebi as we call in Tamil nadu is a important sweet for diwali.

   I planned to make mini jangiri for 2014 diwali as it was akshara’s first diwali 2014…….

 For the cute angel cute  jangiris……….

Requirements :

Whole Urad dhal – 2 cup

Raw Rice / Pacharisi – 2 tbs

Orange food color – a pinch

Oil for frying

Sugar syrup :

Sugar – 4 cup

Water – 3 cup

Orange food color – a pinch

Rose essence – few drops

Cardamon Powder – ½ tsp

Method :

Soak urad dhal and rice for 30 minutes.

Drain and grind with little water to a smooth batter.

Make sugar syrup by combining sugar and water.

Bring to boil and keep stirring till sugar mixes well.

When the syrup reaches one string consistency , add the cardamon powder , food color and rose essence.

Keep the flame in low flame , let the syrup simmer.

Heat oil in a pan.

Fill the piping bag with round nosil /  funnel cake maker / the thick cloth with a hole in center.

Shape mini jangiris in the pan , cook in low flame.

When cooked , add to the sugar syrup and soak for 2 – 3 minutes .

Take out and arrange in plate.

Sprinkle the almond flakes on top.

Mini jangiris are ready to serve.

Indian Maize Pudding / Corn Payasam

  This was my first post in this Shhh secretly cooking . Mayuri patel mailed me whether I am interested in joining , I immediately said Yes .

   Pallavi purani  was paired with me  for this March. She gave me two secret ingredients – Maize and Cardamom.

  The term maize derives from the Spanish form of the indigenous Taino word maiz for the plant. It is called as Maize in united kingdom and Ireland , where it is called now as sweet corn.

  We usually buy the maize as a whole – corn on cob and steam cook and have it. It is a common snack in our home.

  Dried corn has the antioxidant activity , which reduce the chance of heart disease and cancer . Dried corn is a good source of many nutrients like thiamine ( Vitamin B1) , Pantothenic acid (Vitamin B5 ) , folate , dietary fiber , phosphorous and manganese . Its effect in heart health lies not just in its fiber , but in the significant amounts of folate that corn supplies .

 I thought of making some other recipe and bought dry corn but finally made the  payasam with the fresh corn.

  I boiled the whole corn with the cob and shreeded the corn .

Requirements :

Shredded corn from one whole corn cob

2 cup Milk

½ cup sugar

2 cardamom

6 cashew

One tbs clarified butter ( Ghee )

Method :

Dry roast the cardamom and grind into fine powder.

  I shreeded the corn from the whole boiled corn cob. Then grind the corn with little milk to a fine paste.

Melt the Ghee in a pan , add the grounded corn and sauté for two minutes .

Add in the milk and let it boil on the medium flame.

After around 15 minutes of boiling , add the sugar and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Add in the cardamom powder and cashew and mix well.

Serve warm or cold .

Indian Maize pudding is ready to serve.

Note :

I didn’t add any other flavouring other cardamom  , if you wish to add can add rose water.

The payasam was so flavourful and tasty.

Sending  to here.