Pepper Plastic Chutney....

As chutney is a part of a Bengali meal, here is an unique type of Bengali chutney which is served in functions and ceremonies with papad bhaja. 

  It's a very easy and simple recipe with the two main ingredients - green raw papaya and sugar. It's called plastic chutney because of it's looks. The papaya after cooking in sugar syrup turns translucent and looks like plastic. 

Ingredients

2 cups Kacha Peppe / Raw Papaya sliced into small thin pieces like chips

1 tbsp Raisins

3/4 cup Sugar

1/4 tsp Salt

2 tsp Lime juice

1 1/2 cup Water

Method

Take a pot or a pan.

Add water and the papaya chips.

Let it simmer on low - medium flame for 10 minutes.

Add salt and sugar.

Let it continue to simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the raisins.

Let till continue to simmer till the papaya chips become translucent and the syrup thickens.

Add the lime juice and simmer it for another minute.

Switch of the flame.

It's ready to be served.

Chanar Pantua

It is a traditional Bengali sweet made from cottage cheese and khoya, which is kneaded into a soft dough, divided into small equal portions and deep-fried. It is then dipped into sugar syrup.

Pantua is a Bengali version of Gulab Jamun.

For Sugar Syrup

Ingredients

2 cups Sugar

1 1/2 cup Water

2 Green Cardamom

Method

Add all the above ingredients in a pot and let the sugar dissolve and simmer till it becomes into a one string consistency. Remove it from the flame and keep it aside.

For the Pantua

Ingredients

Cottage Cheese made from one liter Cow Milk
approximately 150 grams 

100 grams Khoya

3 1/2 tbsp All Purpose Flour

A pinch of Salt

2 pinches of Baking Powder

1 tsp Milk if required 

1/4 tsp Ghee

Sugar Syrup

Oil for frying

Method

Drain the whey from the cottage cheese. The cottage cheese has to be dry, but moist. Add the cottage cheese, khoya, all purpose flour, salt and baking powder into a plate. Mix and knead all the ingredients together. If you fill the dough is hard, then add the milk otherwise not need. It has to be a soft smooth dough. Add ghee and knead it well. Divide the dough into equal size round balls or you can give it an oblong shape if you desire. Heat the oil. On a low flame fry the pantuas till golden brown in colour. Keep stirring the pantuas while frying to obtain an uniform colour. Directly dip the pantuas in sugar syrup. Let it soak for 15 minutes before serving.

Eggless Beetroot Brownie...

This is my daughter's one of the favorite dish. Very often there is a request to make it.

 It's an ideal lunchbox recipe for children or a tea - time snack recipe.

 I have used Whole Wheat Flour, Almond Flour along with All Purpose Flour. I have added fresh Beetroot juice to the batter. That makes it a bit healthy.

Ingredients

3/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1/4 cup Almond Flour

1/4 cup All Purpose Flour

1/2 cup Chocolate Chips

2 tbsp Walnut chopped

1 tsp Baking powder

1/3 cup Caster Sugar

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1 cup Beetroot Juice

1/4 cup Curd

1/4 cup Oil or Melted Butter

Method

Line an 8 inch square pan with parchment paper and keep it aside. Mix the whole wheat flour, almond flour, all pupose flour, baking powder and salt together. Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave and stir it till the chocolate chips melts properly. Take a mixing bowl, add the melted chocolate and oil. Whisk it. Add the brown and caster sugar. Whisk it till the sugar dissolves properly. Add the curd and whisk it once again. Add half of the flour and half of the beetroot juice. Whisk it well, now add the remaining flour and juice. Whisk it once again. Pour the batter into the pan, sprinkle chopped walnuts on top.

Bake it for 30 to 35 minutes in a preheated oven at 180 degrees celsius. When done,insert a tooth pick to check. It should come out clean. Cool it for 15 minutes, before removing the brownies from the pan. Cut into pieces and serve.

Aloo Cha Phadphada or Aloo Che Patal Bhaji...

This is a traditional Maharashtrian dish, which is made on special occasion. It's a very old and simple dish. This dish is made with Colocasia leaves which is also known as Taro leaves. These leaves are easily found during monsoon. This dish can be prepare in various ways.

Ingredients

12 medium sized Colocasia Leaves and stems chopped

2 Green Chillies cut into halves

4 to 6 Curry Leaves

1 tbsp Coriander Chopped

1/2 cup Raw peanuts soaked in water for 30 minutes

1/2 cup Split Bengal Gram soaked in water for 30 minutes

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder

1 tsp Goda Masala 

1 tbsp Tamarind paste

1/4 cup Ground Coconut paste

1 tbsp Jaggery

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

2 tbsp Oil

Method

Take a pressure cooker. Heat oil. Add the mustard seeds and allow it to crackle. Add the curry leaves and green chillies and sauté it for few seconds. Add the colocasia leaves, peanuts, split bengal grams, salt, turmeric powder, goda masala and Jaggery. Stir the vegetable. Add 1 1/2 cups of water. Cover the lid and let it give 3 to 4 whistles. Let the pressure release. Add the tamarind paste and coconut paste. Let it boil for 5 to 7 minutes more. Add coriander leaves and serve it hot.

Honey and Apple Bundt Cake....

This is an eggless tea time cake. Honey and apples are the key ingredients. It's healthy and good for children. It can be served as evening snacks or packed in lunch boxes. This recipe is with love from my kitchen. Please do try it out and share your reviews with me. 

Ingredients

2 Apples peeled and grated

1/2 cup Honey

150 ml Milk

2 tbsp Vinegar

1 tsp Vanilla Essence 

3/4 cup Oil

2 cups Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1/4 cup Caster Sugar

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Soda bicarbonate

1/2 tsp Cinnamon powder

1/4 tsp Nutmeg powder

1/4 tsp Salt

Method

Grease the Bundt pan with oil and keep it aside. Sieve cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder, baking powder, soda bicarbonate and flour together. Take another bowl and add honey, oil, vanilla essence, vinegar and milk together and whisk it. Add brown and castor sugar and whisk it again till the sugar dissolves.

Gradually add the dry ingredient little at a time and whisk the batter well. Add the apples and mix it. Pour the batter into the bundt pan, fill the batter only upto ¾ level of the pan. Tap the pan gently. Bake the cake at 180 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes. Insert a toothpick deep into the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is done. Cool the cake for 15 minutes and gently remove it from the pan. Cool it further before frosting.

For Icing

Ingredients

1 cup Icing Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla Essence

1 tbsp Milk

Method

Sieve the icing sugar into a mixing bowl. Add vanilla essence and milk into the icing sugar. Whisk it till the icing is thick in consistency.

Pour the icing into a disposable piping bag. Cut the tip of the piping bag and pour the icing over the cake. Allow icing to dry completely before slicing and serving.

P.S. If you don't have a bundt pan then you can use any other baking tin.  

Chicken Kachori....

Kachoris are very popular as snacks and can be enjoyed with hot tea. The stuffing can be anything of your choice and the outer cover is made with All Purpose Flour. It is deep fried and it is served with sauce or green chutney. 

Here I have stuffed the Kachoris with chicken mince.

For the stuffing

Ingredients

150 grams of fine Chicken mince

1 Onion finely chopped

1 Green Chilli chopped

1 tbsp Coriander Leaves chopped

1 tbsp Mint Leaves chopped

1 tbsp Ginger - Garlic - Chilli paste

Salt to taste

1 tsp Garm Masala powder

(1/2 tsp of Cumin seeds, 1/4 tsp Coriander seeds, 1 small Cinnamon stick, 2 Green Cardamom, 2 Cloves and 6 Peppercorns - ground together )

2 tbsp Oil

Method

Take oil in a wok, let it heat. Add the onion. Let it sauté till translucent. Add the ginger - garlic - chilli paste. Stir and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the chicken mince. Mix it and cook for 2 minutes. Add the salt, garam masala powder, chopped chilli, mint leaves and coriander leaves. Stir and cook till the liquid from the chicken mince has dried up. Keep it aside.

For the Dough

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour

1/2 tsp Baking powder

Salt to taste

1 Egg

2 tbsp Oil

Method

In a mixing bowl - add the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix it. Add the egg and little water at a time and knead it. Add 1 1/2 tbsp oil and further knead it into a medium hard dough. Apply oil on the dough, cover and keep it for 15 minutes. Knead it once more.

To make the Kachori

Ingredients

Stuffing

Dough

Oil to fry

Method

Heat the oil in a fry pan. Take a big lime size portion of the dough. Apply oil on the rolling board and pin. Roll it into a small 
disc. Add a tbsp of the stuffing. Bring the edges to the middle over the filling and pinch them together and seal the edges together, roll it once more into a small disc. Fry the Kachoris on a low flame till golden brown on both the sides. Serve it hot with tomato sauce or chutney.

Karela Yakhin

This recipe is adapted from a Kashmiri cook book I own from many years called Kashmiri Kitchen. The bitter gourds are cooked in curd gravy with out onion, garlic, turmeric powder and chillies. I absolutely love this recipe. Believe me the dish is absolutely scrumptious to have it with hot steaming rice.

Ingredients

6 to 8 medium size Bitter gourds

1/2 cup Curd beaten

2 Cloves

2 Green Cardamom

Pinch of Asafoetida

1/2 tsp Ginger powder

1 tsp Fennel seed powder

1 tsp Garam Masala

Salt to taste

1 cup Oil to fry

Method

Scrape the outer skin of the bitter gourds and give a slit on them. Remove the seeds of the bitter gourds. Apply salt on the bitter gourds and keep it aside for 5 minutes. Wash and drain out the excess water from the bitter gourds. Heat oil in a wok. Lightly fry the bitter gourds in the oil. Remove the bitter gourds and the excess oil from the wok, leaving 2 tbsp of oil in the wok. Add the cardamom and cloves in the oil. Let it crackle, add the asafoetida. Stir and add the curd. Stir it for a minute. Add the salt, ginger powder, fennel seed powder and garam masala powder. Stir and let it simmer for a minute. Add 1/2 cup water. On low flame, let it simmer for 2 minutes. Add the bitter gourds. Let it simmer till the bitter gourds have cooked and the gravy has thickened. Serve it hot with rice.

Langcha

On the way to Shantiniketan in West Bengal, you will cross Shaktigarh. This place is known to be the birth place of Langchas.

Langcha is a sweetdish which is made with cottage cheese mixed with other ingredients. It is long cylindrical in shape. It is deep fried till a darkish brown crust is formed and then it is  dipped in sugar syrup till it becomes soft and juicy. 

I have used a food processor to blend the ingredients together, but the actual process is to knead it with the help of your palm.

Thin Sugar Syrup

Ingredients

1 cup Sugar

2 cups Water

Method

In a pot add the sugar and water, let it simmer till the sugar dissolves. Keep it aside.

Thick Sugar Syrup

2 1/2  cups Sugar

1 cup Sugar

Method

In a pot add the sugar and water, let it simmer till the sugar dissolves. Let it boil and switch off the flame just before the one string consistency. Keep it aside.

To make the Langcha

Ingredients

300 grams Cottage Cheese

100 grams Khoya / Mawa

1/4 cup Rice Flour

1/2 cup All Purpose Flour (AFP)

1/4 tsp Nutmeg powder

1/2 tsp Cardomom powder 

2 tsp Sugar

1/2 tsp Soda bicarbonate

1/2 tsp Ghee

Thin Syrup

Thick syrup

Oil to fry the Langcha

Method

Add the cottage cheese, khoya, rice flour, apf, nutmeg powder, cardomom powder, sugar and soda bicarbonate in a food processor and blend it till all the ingredients are blended well. Remove the mixture on a plate and knead it. If you feel that the dough is too soft to handle then add a tbsp of apf or more and knead it. Apply ghee on your palm and knead it, till a soft dough is form. Divide the dough into equal portions. Take a portion, apply oil on the palm and give it a long cylindrical shape. Take oil in a wok, heat it. On a low flame fry the langchas till darkish brown in colour. Keep stirring the langchas while frying to get uniform colour on the langchas. Remove the langchas from the oil and drop them into the thin syrup and let it soak for 20 minutes. Then remove the langchas and soak them in the thick syrup for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes serve it. 

Seyal Murgh...

It's a Sindhi dish. The chicken is slow cooked with lots of onion and spices. It's a semi dry curry dish. It's served for lunch or dinner. For a twist, I have added a handful of Spinach leaves. 

Ingredients

750 grams Chicken 

2 large size Onions finely chopped 

1 large size Tomato finely chopped

1 tsp Ginger paste

1 tbsp Garlic paste

4 Green chilies chopped 

A handful of Spinach Leaves finely chopped 

A handful of Coriander leaves finely chopped

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder 

1 tsp Coriander powder 

1 tsp Red Chilli powder 

1 tsp Garam Masala powder 

1/4 cup Oil

Method 

Heat the oil in a heavy bottom pot. Add onions, sauté the onions till it is brown in colour. Add the ginger and garlic paste. Sauté for a minute. Add the chicken and sauté it until the chicken changes it's colour. Add the powder spices and salt, stir once. Cover the pot and cook for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes,spinach leaves, coriander leaves and green chillies. Stir and cook further till the chicken has cooked. In between add 1/4 cup of water. Serve it hot with pav or rice. 

Kashmiri Dum Aloo...

There are many variations of making Dum Aloo. Some of the different states in India has their unique way of making it. In Kashmir, the dum aloo looks rich and vibrant due to the Kashmiri chilli powder used in it, which gives colour to the dish. Apart from the colour, the dish is flavorful too, as the fennel seed powder and ginger powder is also used in it with the other spices. 

The medium size of potatoes are boiled and pricked with a tooth pick. It is deep fried in oil and then the gravy is made. 

I was inspired by Chef Sanjay Raina's Dum Aloo Video and I had to make this dish which was in my bucket list. 

Ingredients 

12 medium size Potatoes boiled 

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

1/2 tsp Saha Jeera

1 Cinnamon stick

2 Green Cardamom

2 Black Cardamom 

3 Cloves

2 Bay Leaves

1 1/2 tsp Kashmiri Red Chilli powder 

2 tsp Fennel powder

1 pinch of Asafoetida

1/2 tsp Ginger powder 

1 tsp Garam Masala powder 

Salt to taste 

3 tbsp Curd beaten 

Mustard oil to fry the Potatoes 

Method 

Prick the potatoes all over with a toothpick. Take the mustard oil in a wok. Heat the oil well till the smoking point. Reduce the heat and fry the potatoes well till golden brown in colour. Remove the potatoes from the oil and keep it on a paper towel. Remove the excess oil from the wok, leaving 2 to 3 tbsp oil in the wok. Add the whole spices and sauté it for 2 minutes. Add the red chilli powder into the wok and stir well on a low flame. Add  2 tbsp of water, so that the chilli will not burn. Add the curd and stir. Add all the spice powder and salt. Stir and cook all the ingredients together well till the oil separates from the masala. Add 1 1/2 cup of water. Let the gravy simmer for 2 minutes. Add the fried potatoes.  Cover the wok and cook for 20 minutes till the gravy thickens a bit. Serve it hot with rice. 

Lasuni Palak Pav...

Baking bread at home is a more healthier option rather than buying it from the store. All of us are regularly kneading dough at home everyday to make rotis, chappaties or Paratha. But when it come to making bread with yeast we are a bit sceptical about it. Believe me, it's a very easy task. Only thing you have to keep in mind is that you have to give the dough time to rise. Proofing is very important. 

To make it more nutritious, you can add grated or chopped vegetables while kneading the dough. You can add spices as per your choice to make it more flavorful. Serve it as snacks or eat it during breakfast with chai - maska or enjoy it with any side dish like egg omelette, keema or vegetables. 

Ingredients 

500 grams All Purpose Flour 

1 small bowl of Spinach 

4 Garlic Cloves 

2  Pickled Tomatoes or 2 Sun dried Tomatoes 

1 tsp Pickled Red Chilli slices or Red Fresh Chillies 

11 grams Dry Active Yeast 

10 grams Sugar

5 grams + 1/4 tsp Salt

240 ml of Water

50 ml Oil

Method

Chop the garlic, spinach, Tomato and chillies. Take a pan, add 1 tbsp oil. Heat it. Add the garlic, sauté it for few seconds. Add the spinach, pickled tomatoes, chillies and salt. Stir and sauté till the water from the spinach has dried up. 

Take 1/4 cup lukewarm water, add sugar and yeast. Stir it and let it rise. Add the rest of the salt to the flour and mix it. Add the yeast water and the remaining water to the flour. Add the spinach mix and start to knead it. After 5 minutes, add 1 tbsp of oil and knead for another 5 minutes. Add another 1/2 tsp of oil to the dough. Cover the dough and keep it to rise double in size.

Apply oil on the palm, punch the dough and knead the dough on a flat surface for 2 minutes. Divide the dough into equal  portions depending upon the size you want. I weigh the dough as it will be of the same size. Take a rectangular baking tray. Grease it with oil. Roll the dough and place it on the baking tray. The dough should be touching each other. Apply oil on your fingers and gently flatten the dough from top. Cover the dough and let it rise double in size. Spray water on the dough. Bake at 190 degrees celsius for 20 minutes or till brown in colour. Remove it from the oven. Brush the pav with butter. Let it cool completely before eating it. 

Shami Kabab...

Shami kebabs are popularly eaten as snack or appetizer throughout India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. It is made from beef, chicken or lamb. It is made by boiling the meat,dal, whole spices, onion, ginger and garlic, salt and turmeric powder till the meat has cooked. Then it is ground into a smooth paste. Coriander leaves, mint leaves and green chillies are added to the paste. It's given a shape of a patti and it's shallow fried in oil. 

It's garnished with onion,lime and mint leaves. It is served with green chutney made out of coriander and mint leaves.

Ingredients

250 grams boneless Mutton pieces

1/4 cup Split Bengal Grams / Chana dal soaked for an hour

1 Onion chopped

4 to 6 Garlic cloves

1 small piece of Ginger

2 to 3 or more Green Chillies chopped as per requirement 

2 tbsp Mint Leaves chopped

2 tbsp Coriander Leaves chopped

1 Black Cardomom

1 Green Cardomom

2 Cloves

1 small piece of Cinnamon

6 to 8 Pepper corn 

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

1/2 tsp Coriander seeds

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder

Salt to taste

1 Egg

Oil for Frying

Method

Take a pressure cooker, add the mutton pieces, chana dal, onions, garlic, ginger, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cinnamon, black cardomom, green cardomom, Cloves, pepper, salt, turmeric powder and 1 1/2 cup water into the pressure cooker. Close the lid and let it whistle 4 times or till the mutton has cooked. Let the pressure release, open the cooker and if any water is remaining, dry it up. Let it cool down completely. Then add the meat and the dal into a food processor, add egg and blend it until it turns into a smooth paste. Add the coriander leaves, mint leaves  and green chillies. Add salt and chillies if required. Blend it once more. Take a tray, grease the tray with oil. Apply oil on your palm. Take a lime size ball from the mixture. Roll it and flatten it a bit. Place it on the tray. Keep it in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Take a fry pan. Add oil. Shallow fry the kababs very gently till golden brown on both the sides. Remove them on a paper towel. Serve them hot with green chutney, onions, lime and mint leaves.

Achari Machli Bhappa...

This is a fish preparation, very easy to make, spicy and scrumptious. You can serve this dish as a starter or have it as a side dish with hot steaming rice. The fish is marinated in fresh homemade achari masala. We all have left over oil from the pickle, and we discard them, but I use it up in creating other dishes, so here I have used achari oil from the pickle which gives extra punch to the dish. 

Ingredients

1 medium size around 500 grams whole Fish - Indian Salmon / Rawas,  Barramundi / Bhetki or Snapper / Rani Machli

2 tbsp Garlic and Green Chilli paste (4 Garlic and 3 Green Chillies)

6 Garlic cloves crushed

Juice of 1 Lime

1 small Tomato for Garnishing

Few Coriander Leaves chopped

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

1 tsp Coriander seeds

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

1/2 tsp Fennel seeds

1/2 tsp Carom seeds

1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds

6 Red Chillies

1 1/2 tsp  Turmeric powder

Salt to taste

2 tbsp Pickle Oil

 

Method

Clean the fish well, the fish has to remain in 1 piece. Give 3 slits on the fish. Keep the fish on a foil paper. Apply salt and 1tsp turmeric powder on the fish and keep it aside for 10 minutes. Meanwhile add mustard seeds, coriander seed, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, carom seeds, fenugreek seeds 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and 4 red chillies into a grinder and grind the seeds into a powder. That makes our achari powder. In a small mixing bowl add the achari powder, lime juice, garlic - chilli paste and oil, mix it and let it stand for 5 minutes, apply the achari paste properly all over the fish, push the crushed garlic into the cuts of the fish and add 2 dry chillies. Cover the fish with the foil paper. Leave it to marinate for 30 minutes to an hour. Steam the fish in a preheated oven for 20 minutes at 200 degrees celsius or you can steam it in a steamer till the fish is cooked. Garnish it with coriander leaves and tomato. Serve it hot.

Dhuska

Since it's raining continuously here for last 2 days, I was craving for something fried, but at the same time, lazy me wanted to be a couch potato. So here is a simple recipe to satisfy my soul....

It's a traditional dish of Jharkhand. It's made during festivals and can be had for breakfast and snacks. It's a fried savoury pancake. Easy to make with few ingredients. Rice and lentils are soaked in water and made into a smooth batter with garlic and ginger.  Cumin seeds, chopped chillies, green peas, coriander leaves, salt and turmeric powder are added to the batter and it is deep fried. It's serve with ghugni or aloo rassa. 

Ingredients

1 cup Rice 

1/2 cup Split Black Gram / Urid dal 

1/4 cup Split Bengal Gram / Chana dal

2 tbsp Green Peas - optional 

2 Green Chillies chopped 

1 tbsp Coriander Leaves Chopped 

2 to 3 Garlic cloves 

1 small piece of Ginger 

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder 

1/4 tsp Cumin seeds

Oil to fry 

Method 

Wash and soak the rice and the lentils separately for 5 to 6 hours or overnight. Grind the rice and the lentils along with the garlic and ginger in a grinder into a smooth batter. The batter should be of thick dropping consistency. Add the salt, turmeric powder, cumin seeds, chopped chillies and coriander leaves. Mix the batter well, for the air to incorporate well, let is stand for 10 minutes. Heat oil in a pan, add a ladle of batter and fry it till golden brown on both the sides. Serve it hot with Aloo Rassa..

Incase if you don’t want to fry, add little oil on the skillet and pour the batter on the skillet. Spread it a little and cook it until done.

Aloo Rassa...

You can follow the recipe here 👇🏼

http://www.suskitchenbysumitra.com/2017/06/aloo-rassa_28.html?m=0

Aloo Rassa

Aloo Rassa

It’s had with dhuska, puri or Paratha. It’s one of the vegetarian dishes from Jharkhand 

Ingredients 

4 medium size Potatoes boiled and crumbled

1 large tomato chopped

1/2 tsp Ginger paste

¼ tsp Fenugreek seeds 

Salt to taste

¼ tsp Turmeric powder 

½ tsp Red chilli powder

1/2 tsp  Cumin powder 

1 tsp Coriander powder 

1 tsp Fennel powder 

1/2 tsp Dried Mango powder 

1/2 tsp Garam masala powder 

Pinch of Asafoetida

2 tbsp Mustard Oil

Method 

Take a wok, add oil. Add the fenugreek seeds, sauté for few seconds. Add coriander powder, cumin powder, fennel powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and asafoetida. On a low flame stir for few seconds. Add little water and keep stirring, or else the masala will burn. Add the ginger paste and tomatoes. Sauté it till the tomatoes become mushy. In between keep adding little water. Once the tomato are mushy, add the potatoes, stir add salt and add a cup of water and let it simmer for some time, add garam masala powder and dried mango powder. Stir and let the curry simmer for sometime until it thickens. Once the curry thickens add Coriander leaves. Serve it hot with pooris or paratha.

Aish El Saraya...

Eid Mubarak to all...

May you be blessed with joy, peace and happiness.

Aish El Saraya...

It means bread of the royal palace. It's a Lebanese dish. Aish El-Saraya is made on special occasions.

Sweet sugar syrup is drizzled over the toasted bread and covered with thick cream on top. It is garnished with chopped pistachios and rose petals. It is served chilled. 

With love from my kitchen....

For the Syrup

Ingredients

1/2 cup Sugar

1 tsp Lime juice

2 tsp Rosewater

Method

Add sugar, lime juice and 1/2 cup water in a saucepan. Stir and let it cook on low heat until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat and bring it to a boil and switch of the flame. Stir in rosewater. Cool for 10 minutes.

To make Aish El Saraya

Ingredients

8 slices White Bread,sides cut and toasted

1 1/2 cups of Milk

1/3 cup  Sugar

1 cup Fresh Cream

3 tbsp Cornflour

1 tsp Rosewater

Sugar Syrup

1/4 cup chopped Pistachios

Few dried Rose petals

Method

Take a baking dish. Place 4 slices of toasted bread slices into the dish in a way that no gap should remain. Pour 1/2 of the syrup on the bread. Top with remaining bread. Drizzle with remaining syrup. Keep it aside. Add milk, cream, sugar and cornflour in a  sauce pan. Stir it till the cornflour has mixed well. Cook, stirring it constantly, until mixture boils and thickens. Switch of the flame. Stir in rosewater.Pour over the bread in the dish. Sprinkle with pistachio. Set aside to cool. Refrigerate until it sets. Serve.