fruit juice Rasgulla and fruit cocktail Rasgulla | Indian desserts made healthy | no added sugar Rasgulla recipe

Rasgulla or Roshogolla is a cottage cheese dumpling soaked in light sugar syrup. It is one of the healthiest Indian desserts and the good thing with this dessert is that the spongy spherical balls of cottage cheese can be squeezed to remove most of the sugar from it and it becomes a low sugar dessert. I have never seen anyone who doesn't like Rasgulla, some people like it lightly sweetened and some like it in thick sugar syrup, I prefer fruity flavour in Rasgulla.

The making of Rasgulla is a little tricky but very simple once you understand how it works. Freshly made cottage cheese is blended very smooth till it becomes cohesive and makes smooth balls when rolled in one's palms. These smooth cottage cheese balls are then poached in a very light sugar syrup till they fluff up and get almost tripled in size. Normally these Rasgullas are served chilled along with some of the poaching syrup without any other flavouring added. But some add a hint of Cardamom or Saffron to the syrup to make it mildly flavoured.

The most favourite way that I like Rasgulla is either the Orange juice rasgulla or on Pomegranate juice. This Anar (pomegranate) Rasgulla makes everyone happy.

The fruity version called Komola bhog or Orange Rasgulla is also made by commercial sweet makers but that is mostly a synthetically flavoured version, although I have made and shared a naturally Orange flavoured Rasgulla earlier. I keep making Rasgullas with fruit flavours and in a few more ways and have always got very good feedback from whoever eats them. One of the most stunning recipe is this fruit cocktail Rasgulla that makes a very nice healthy dessert for family get-togethers.

One thing to note when making Rasgulla with fruit juices is that the Rasgulla which is basically spongy cheese balls, take on the colour of the fruit juice and most fruit juices are a mix of different types of plant pigments. So the colour the Rasgulla soaks may not be the same colour of the juice. It works like Chromatography, only specific coloured pigments are absorbed by different proteins and starches, so don't be bothered if your Rasgulla in pomegranate juice looks brown after an hour of soaking in it. It is perfectly fine. Make a point to use the fruit juice rasgullas within a couple of hours of making and keep them chilled.

Now let's see what is the procedure.

The detailed procedure of making paneer is here, the loose version of the same cheese is called Chhena which is basically cottage cheese. I have shared a basic rasgulla recipe here and have discussed in detail how to make chhenna (cottage cheese) for rasgulla.

To repeat, I must say the raw (I use pasteurized) milk is heated till 90 degree C, then lime juice is added slowly till you see curdled milk solids and clear whey. Strain the cottage cheese, rinse it under cold water, squeeze it and then knead to make a smooth dough. Then make small balls for rasgulla, keeping in mind they double in size and get even bigger depending on milk and cheese quality.

Now make a weak sugar syrup (50-100 gm sugar on 700 ml water) or plain water (as I do), sufficient enough to let the Rasgullas poach freely, boil it in a pressure cooker or a deep pan or stock pot, tip in all the Rasgulla balls one by one and simmer them till you see them doubled.

I generally cover the cooker with lid and pressure cook them shortly (till the first whistle) to ensure the Rasgullas fluff up to maximum.

You can see the Rasgullas have become big and the poaching liquid gets cloudy. This is because of the Casein (milk protein) which leaks into the poaching liquid. If the poaching liquid has enough sugar for your liking you can chill it along with it, else add some sugar or date syrup or even honey and dissolve, then chill to serve as desired.

But if you are like me, you would squeeze the ready Rasgullas lightly and dunk them directly in fruit juice of your choice.

Like in this fruit cocktail Rasgulla I used pomegranate juice infused with a little Thai basil and some cut fruits. The result was spectacular and very mildly sweet that we love. You can add additional sweetener of your choice at any point after this.

For this Anar Rasgulla I sometimes use plum juice along with pomegranate arils to make it look ruby red. This one had wooed many people trust me.

The fruit cocktail gets mixed reviews because some people do not like one of the fruits or some people get suspicious of the Rasgulla getting a tad bit darker when served. Kids get a lesson on Chromatography if they are in doubt.

Wouldn't it be a good way to teach them some science? And about natural plant pigments and how they behave, how beneficial they are for our body as antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents too.

One can always replace cakes when a dessert like this is served for birthdays. Both of us hate the sickening dressed up birthday cakes and will grab any opportunity to make such display of desserts replace birthday cakes.

I know many people, mostly adults who love this idea of birthday special desserts. We can always make our kids learn better and condition them from the beginning. Or one can always have a conventional cake and then a few of these healthy desserts too. At least they start appreciating what is eventually good for them.

Kids make good choices if we provide them with options. If they grow up eating fondant covered neon coloured cakes they would never know there are better options.

Brings the best options home. Let you body and mind have the best of treats for celebrations as well as everyday treats.

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palm fruit or Ice apple, one of the most exotic fruit | recipe of ice apple and mango creamy dessert fit for breakfast

Yes this would be the yummiest gluten free breakfast even if I don't tag it as the 101 gluten free breakfasts. After all it is made of fruits, milk and nuts. No added sugar for me please. Ice apples, ripe mangoes, cashew nuts and milk, these four ingredients can cast a spell in a bowl.

Ice apple or Palm fruits are in season right now and this peak of summer is the short span of time when they appear in markets of some Indian towns. Yes, these are seen only in some Indian towns although the Palm tree (Borassus flballifer) grows almost all over the country. Such a pity. But one of the reasons why it is not avaialble throughout the country could be the absence of the trained people who climb the Palm trees to pluck these and sell them after chopping off the hard shell these Ice apples are enclosed into.

Ice apples are the delicate jelly like endosperm of the Palm fruit (Borassus flabellifer) that is so flavourful one has to eat it to know what I mean. Not sweet like other fruits but mild cooling sweetness that quenches thirst like nothing else. The texture of this jelly like fruit feels almost watery when tender, and starts getting a bit chewy as it matures.

Ice apples are called Taal shash in Bengali, Nungu in Tamil, Thaati munjalu in Kannada Tad gola in Marathi and Tad phal in Hindi. I asked my father and he told that these fruits were once common in the north too but later these were considered fruits for the poor. What a pity. 

I spotted these Palm fruit sellers in Hyderabad 2 weeks ago and could not refrain myself from buying some every time I passed through this road. One has to choose the tender ones because the mature Ice apples are a bit chewy and less sweet. The tender Ice apples have a sweet watery fluid inside it's cavity and the flesh is jelly like.

One Palm fruit encloses three Ice apples (endosperm part of the fruit) inside and each one is enclosed in a thin soft peel. Nature's wonders.

These Palm fruit sellers are quite deft at chopping off the hard shell of the fruit and delicately sliding off the fruit (edible endosperm) into a poly bag. I wish they had leaf bowls to sell these.

But it is a delight to see these Palm fruit sellers do their job. I was wondering if they accidentally cut their own palm while handling such sharp knives on such hard fruits.

And to my shock I spotted this scar later when I was seeing the cell phone pictures I had clicked. This man had actually got a deep cut sometime in his early life may be.

This is how the husk looks like. This would make good manure after it decomposes.

I clicked these pictures while Nirupama, my friend in Hyderabad collected the Palm fruits in a poly bag. She was the one who asked the seller to give us the tender fruits.

We enjoyed the fruits once we reached Bhavana's place. Nirupama told that the creamy white and thin peel of the Ice apples is used to rub on skin to cure summer rashes, the prickly heat.

I asked a few more people if they cooked these Ice apples too or made salads or desserts with these but everyone said they eat them as is. In fact it is very difficult to save these fruits to cook something as everyone just loves eating them as soon as it arrives.

Later, on my way back to airport I asked the cab driver to stop for the 'Thaati munjalu' (telugu name for these) and he kept looking for them. Such a sweet fellow he stopped where a Palm fruit seller was sitting with a huge heap of these. He even asked him to cut only the tender fruits for me. And I got two dozen of these Ice apples packed into my handbag, though I feared these might be seized at the airport.
But thankfully, these are no arms :-)

Back home, both of us enjoyed the chilled Ice apples of Thaati munjalu to our heart's content. I shared a picture of facebook and friends came up with suggestions to have these with chilled milk. Intrigued, I searched the internet and found someone had blended the Ice apples with soaked cashew to make a payasam. I loved the idea as we both love cashew nuts a lot.

And there came our first Nungu payasam.

I made this one with soaked cashew nuts paste blended with reduced milk (evaporated milk) and added chopped tender Ice apples. This was heaven in a bowl when chilled.

Just a dozen soaked cashew nuts blended with a little milk, added to a cup of reduced milk and a cup of chopped Ice apples. I did not add any sugar and the flavours of ice apple in the natural sweetness of cashew and reduced milk was something we will keep craving till the next time we get Ice apples.

And the next day I added some chopped mangoes to the same mix to make Nungu Mango payasam, and had it chilled for breakfast. This is going to be one of the best breakfasts we ever had. We love fruits and we love milk, this combination of milk and fruits is going to be one of the most favourite thing we did.

Clicking pictures was difficult as I kept eating while I clicked and took just 3 pictures to document the recipe.

This Nungu Mango payasam has no such recipe again. A dozen soaked cashew nuts blended with little milk, added to a cup pf reduced evaporated) milk and then mixed with 3/4 cup of chopped Ice apples and 1 cup of chopped ripe mangoes. No added sugar and still so sweet and flavourful. 

No added sugar to kill the natural sweetness of these flavourful fruits.

And remember this dish can be served as a chilled dessert too, you might like to add just a hint of honey to it if you find it bland as per your 'dessert sense'. My dessert sense agrees with the natural sweetness of fruits.

So a larger serving of such a dessert for breakfast is a good idea for me.

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chilled fruit soup for summer | papaya and orange soup with feta cheese and hint of star anise

I know you would say why not a smoothie. But you know a soup is different and this papaya and orange blend makes a real soup with a hint of spice and a tang of kala namak. A chilled soup with fruits makes a nice raw soup, much like Gazpacho but a bit different. You can make gazpacho with whatever combination of vegetables and fruits you like, I often add chucks of papaya or half ripe strawberries to smooth or chunky gazpacho for my meals.

But this soup is totally fruity with a hint of spice. You can add a bit of marmalade for a deeper flavour but it tastes great even without that.

ingredients
(2 servings)

papaya cubes (over ripe is the best) 2 cups
deseeded orange segments 1.5 cups
kala namak (black rock salt) 1/4 tsp
star anise powder a pinch
white pepper powder a pinch
citrus marmalade (optional) 1 tbsp
feta cheese or sour cream to top 2-3 tbsp

procedure..

Chill the fruits before peeling and chopping. Or put them into freezer for 30 minutes if in a hurry.

Blend everything together till really smooth. Adjust seasoning and pour in soup cups, top with feta cheese and serve immediately.

Take a picture if you wish and send it to your parents to tell you are eating your fruits alright. It is important :-)

This chilled fruit soup is a really refreshing meal on a hot summer day. You know it had got a bit hot 2 days back here when I whipped up this soup, but it rained again and the summer heat is gone. I am still using the bathroom geyser and we are eating our hot soup dinners too sometimes, in mid April for a change. There is some serious climatic change to be seen definitely.

The cold fruit soup of Hungry looks interesting too, this cold fruit soup I came across is partially cooked. Making completely raw cold fruit soups or cooking them partially to get more depth of flavours is a personal choice. But be assured this soup is very different from a smoothie though technically it might be a smoothie flavoured and plated differently.

One more way to eat your fruits. Just blend it, pour it, top it with sour cream or feta cheese or even hung curd if you please. And devour in it for a quite lunch staring at the signs of spring in the garden, summer gone totally confused in Delhi.

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mango couscous salad with mint and my contribution to the cover story in Good Housekeeping India

I have been making salads using mangoes a lot, this mango poha and mango salsa have been favourites and I try and create new versions every now and then. More because we hoard a lot of mangoes sometimes and end up rustling up a quick salad for dinner. We used to eat only mangoes for dinner sometimes and still do that occasionally as the husband just loves anything sweet for dinner.

Recently I made a new version of mango poha with coconut milk and it has already been repeated, served to friends and been loved by all. Many friends tried it when I shared the recipe on facebook and instagram.
I am on instagram @sangeetaamkhanna, please follow me to get more updates on my everyday meals and breakfasts.

This is one of those convenience meals that you would always choose over pastas and instant noodles. I bet. Try this mango and avocado salad and see if you like it. One more wholesome and filling salad with seasonal fruit.

Choosing seasonal fruits and using them for optimal taste and nourishment is a trick one must learn. All of us have individual taste and we might like things a little differently hence it is important to find out a way to create tasty meals with easily available ingredients day after day, every single day.

The purpose of this blog is to motivate everyone to cook tasty healthy meals at home and that is why I was glad to share health tips in Good Housekeeping India (July issue). I was elated when Manjira Dutta, the Editorial Director of the magazine complemented me personally to have listed so practical and easy tips to follow. I talked about those everyday habits and ways to build up health quotient every single day in my last post.

Today I am sharing one of the recipe that featured in Good Housekeeping India and that is a mango couscous salad with mint and coconut flakes.

This tropical flavored couscous is a refreshing change from the regular tabbouleh that is a part of Mediterranean meals. This kind of flavours are received well with people from anywhere in the world as the natural goodness of mangoes and coconut never fails to impress. Real natural flavours from fresh ingredients work their charm on everyone.

For this couscous recipe we prefer using sweet and tart mangoes as they provide a wider range of flavours in the dish. Fresh coconut will be great but you can use the dehydrated tender coconut chips too, they soak up moisture from the mangoes and get really sweet and meaty. Few nuts and seeds make this couscous dish quite filling and healthy.

This recipe serves 4-5

Ingredients

Couscous 1 cup

Hot water 1 cup

Butter 1 tsp

Salt ¾ tsp

Lime juice 2 tsp

Cubed mangoes (preferably sweet and tart) 2 cups

Coarsely grated fresh coconut ¾ cup

Chopped almonds 3 tbsp

Sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds 2 tbsp

Red chili flakes 2 tsp

Finely diced red onions ½ cup

Finely chopped mint leaves 1 cup

Procedure

Mix butter, salt and lime juice to the hot water, dissolve well and pour over couscous in a wide bowl. Cover and let it soak for 10 minutes. Fluff up with a fork when it cools. Keep aside.

Mix the mango cubes, onions, mint, chili flakes and the chopped almonds and sunflower seeds together. Toss to mix well.

Mix the mango mixture with the couscous and fold in the grated coconut or the tender coconut chips. Adjust seasoning and serve on a large platter.

Sprinkle some more coconut chips and chopped mint over it to garnish.

This mango couscous and mint salad will be a favourite believe me. Just like the mango poha with onions and coriander greens and mango coconut milk poha this recipe is bursting with mango flavours and is a filling tasty wholesome meal.

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sorbets without ice cream maker | cooling, re-hydrating chilled treats | aam panna sorbet and litchi and lime sorbet

Aam panna is the quintessential summer drink that every north Indian swears by. Especially in the plains where there is abundance of raw mangoes during hot summer months, often fallen off the trees during hot afternoon winds, the raw mangoes are either boiled or roasted and then liquidized with roasted cumin, hint of hing (asafotida), kala namak and loads of mint. Every home has a different recipe for amm panna and we make it fresh or make an aam panna concentrate sometimes to last a week.

I had not been making any ice creams or sorbets for many years, no particular reason but I guess we had lost interest in home made ice creams. May be more because I am not into ice creams so much, give me fruit yogurt any day and I am good. Arvind likes ice creams more but not too crazy about them.

We siblings used to make a lot of ice pops and lollies using fruit juices, mango pulp and what not but then it was different all those years ago. I used to make a few kulfis using mango pulp or sometimes custard apple in the last few years but that's all I did with frozen desserts.

Last year I made a few instant granitas and sorbets and we both loved them. Real fruit granitas and sorbets are fun to have. We conveniently call them granita when the ice is crushed coarse and a sorbet when it is fine and powdery in the blender. Yes I make the sorbets in blender jar (mixie as called in India).

You can call it a sorbet slush if you want to drink it at a slow pace, just like I do. Summer coolers are survival drinks right now with temperatures soaring around 45 C.

Recipe of aam panna sorbet...

For this aam panna sorbet just boil raw mangoes in minimal water and save the pulp. The water can be added to soups or daals or can be made into a sharbat if you wish. The pulp is freezed in a plastic container or ice cubes for convenience.

If you freeze the boiled raw mango pulp in a container, just unmold it on the chopping board and slice like you would slice bread. It is not too hard as it is not pure water frozen to ice which becomes too hard.

Now tip in these slices or mango pulp frozen cubes (if frozen in ice tray) in the blender along with a large handful of mint leaves, some kala namak (black salt), little sugar and blend at high speed, till the pulp gets powdery in the blender. You can add a few ice cubes too if your raw mangoes were too sour.You can also add roasted cumin powder or sprinkle it over the sorbet once done.

Spoon out the sorbet into serving glasses and enjoy.

Recipe of litchi and lime sorbet...

Yes I made a yummy litchi and lime sorbet as well. Not once but around 5-6 times this season. More because I had managed to de-seed a lot of litchi one day and froze them all in 3 boxes. It is very easy to slice the frozen block once you un-mold it on the chopping board.

And then it goes in the blender right away. I added lime juice and lime zest sometimes and lime juice and fresh tender lime leaves some other times. I liked it more with the fresh tender lime leaves but you can always make it using lime juice and lime zest if you don't get lime leaves.

I think I must have made this litchi sorbet 4 times last week and we would sip on this sorbet slush slowly while watering the garden in the evening.

It is just so good that I might do the messy business of peeling and de-seeding litchi soon once again. It becomes one convenient and refreshing evening snack in the heat wave we are suffering right now.

You see you don't need any ice cream maker for sorbets if you don't aspire perfect rounded scoops of sorbet. You can mange that too if you freeze the blended sorbet once again and blend quickly just before serving. But home made goodness is more than the looks and you would love these sorbets for the real fruit in it.

Litchi sorbet is made without any added sugar.

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peach salad with feta cheese, dehydrated black grapes and almonds in a balsamic red chilly flakes dressing

Peaches from the hills are the best thing Delhi gets in summers. Add plums, Apricots, Cherries and green almonds to the list too. And yes, add the occasional rains and cold breeze that comes from the hills so close by. They say Delhi has no climate of it's own and gets affected by everything that happens in the foothills and even higher mountains of Himalayas. When there is a snowfall there, Delhi starts getting colder. Not that it is happening anytime sooner, but talking about colder climate gives some relief from the blazing sun that we are experiencing these days. Thank God I work from home.

So we are enjoying litchis and mangoes from the plains and stone fruits from the hills sitting here in Delhi. The many benefits of living in a capital city. When we go to the hills we don't see any mangoes and litchi and when we go to the plains we don't see any stone fruits. Folks eat more local fruits in smaller towns, more tasty fruits, mostly plucked ripe and juicy though the variety of fruits is lesser. But life is better in many other ways. Think a life without traffic snarls and smog infested air.

In my last visit to Te Aroha, I saw freshly plucked peaches, plums and Apricots being sold on the roadside without weighing them. You get bagfuls of juicy fresh fruits for pittance.

I made plum jam with red wine and everyone loved it. Going to make it again and have decided to bring a huge carton of plums next time.

Most of the times we buy peaches that are quite hard and crisp. While I like fresh crisp peaches too, but can't seem to have a lot of them at a time. And also because we are just two people and I tend to buy more than we can finish normally, the fruits almost always get tested for it's shelf life in the several differently sized fruit baskets that I have. And through this experience I learnt that a few fruits taste better when they get slightly shriveled. Peaches are one of them.

 And the seeds also detach easily from the flesh when the peaches get a little shriveled. So I chop them and make salads because this is the only way we can consume more fruit and make it a meal. See the peach and mint salad I posted 4 years ago and make every season with minimal fuss. A pasta with peaches is also a favourite and we both love it.

This peaches and rucola salad with home made feta cheese is a favourite and I throw in a few cubes of mangoes too sometimes. But mostly it is only the peaches and rucola from the garden. Thankfully, it is only rucola that is doing pretty well in this scorching heat, all other salad greens are long gone and the herbs are somehow surviving, not looking their best with a few leaves blotched in all the pots.

ingredients
(2-4 servings depending on how the salad is served)

10 large peaches cut in bite sized wedges
handful of rucola leaves
2 tbsp sliced shallots (or baby onions)
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red chilly flakes or to taste
20 almonds sliced
20 dried black grapes chopped (or 6 prunes chopped)
150 gm feta cheese

procedure

To make the dressing, mix the balsamic vinegar with salt and chilly flakes. Add the sliced onions and mix well.

Pour this dressing over the peach wedges and toss well to mix.

Add the other ingredients and mix well, adding feta in bits in the very lastso they don't get too crumbled when mixed.

Let the salad soak for about 20 minutes or serve after a good soaking of 3-4 hours. The salad keeps well in the fridge for a day if the rucola is not added.

Add rucola in the end, toss and serve. Don't worry if you don;t have rucola, the salad tastes great even without it.

 All the textures and flavours are interesting and combine really well with each other. The roasted chilly flakes add a mild kick in between and the subtle sweetness of fruit with balsamic vinegar is something you would get addicted to. Home made feta is way better than any feta in the markets here, make at home or get any brand you like. Any other cheese wont be good for this salad.

Apart from this peach salad with feta cheese, dehydrated grapes and almonds in a balsamic red chilly flakes dressing, which is a little complex recipe if you don't get all the ingredients in your part of the world, this peach and mint salad and the pasta with peaches might interest you if you love peaches the way I do and want simpler ecipes. Check them out and try them. And please let me know if you like.

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