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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recipe of date and nut bars with kunafe crust | no added sugar for a scrumptious dessert

Dates are delicious little desserts manufactured and packaged very effectively by mother Nature. That dates are packed with nutrition is no new knowledge. Packed with micro nutrients and minerals, the sweetness of dates is so complex that eating just a couple of dates relishing them slowly gives you much more satisfaction than eating a whole wedge of cake.

Dates are the best example of efficient calories as I say, each calorie carries essential Vitamins and minerals to nourish the body. Read about health benefits of dates here.

I often use dates to sweeten desserts and make a laddu with dates and seeds or nuts, this time I wanted a fancier shape and decided to bake square bars of dates and nuts with a kunafe crust. I used thin vermicelli called sevaiyan instead of kunafe but it works really well as both are the same technically and using local products makes better sense.

I bake another dessert with sevaiyan which is closer to savaiyon ka muzaffar and we love that recipe too. This time we had a family get together for Raksha Bandhan and since my dad is a diabetic I wanted to make something suitable for him. He does eat small servings of such desserts as the glycemic index is lower when table sugar is not used and there are enough nuts in the recipe.

Moreover, serving such desserts to a get together is a great way to know whether everyone likes them or not. I had made 2 more desserts, one was the black sticky rice and mango pudding and the other was a traditional white rice kheer with loads of raisins and shredded coconut. So there was enough variety for everyone.

I am glad everyone just loved these date and nut bars, of course we loved them too and I feel these are tasting better after 3-4 days (stored at room temperature).

The recipe is easy but it takes a bit of time chopping the nuts and dates first (use a cleaver or a food processor) and then the other steps. But the time taken is well worth. You would need about an hour of dedicated time to bake these date and nut bars.

ingredients 
(makes 25 squares)

soft dates seeds removed and chopped 250 gm
mixed nuts (I used almonds, walnuts and cashews) chopped 250 gm
thin vermicelli (sevaiyan) 150 gm
milk powder 80 gm
ghee 15 gm+15 gm
water 60 gm (writing by weight as I weighed everything on the kitchen scale as I kept adding ingredients)
saffron a few strands
8x8 inch baking pan (non stick or lined with silpat, loose bottom works better)

procedure 

I have used raw nuts and I recommend strongly about using raw nuts for this recipe. The taste is just perfect for this kind of recipe which will be baked briefly to get the crust browned a bit.

The nuts must be chopped and 'not powdered coarsely'. Chopping lends a bite to these bars, you can use a food processor with a chopping blade attachment.

Add the 15 gm ghee and saffron to the dates, dump the chopped nuts too in the sticky mass and knead using your hands. The dates are soft enough to make a dough.

Now gather this date and nut dough and roll into a flat square the size of your baking pan. You would need a silpat sheet to roll out this date dough or use a parchment paper as you have to transfer this sheet on the baking tray later.

Now crush the vermicelli. Add the milk powder, 15 gm ghee and water (60 gm or just enough to make the vermicelli moist) and mix with your fingers well.

Spread half of this vermicelli mix on the base of the baking pan, now transfer the rolled out date and nut dough over the base and then cover it with the other half of the vermicelli mix.

Roll out the surface once again to press down the layers using a greased rolling pin.

Now bake at 170C for 20-25 minutes or till the vermicelli layer starts looking golden.

Take it out of the oven and remove the rim of the tray if it is a loose bottom tray or invert the tray over a wooden board quickly. Cut into squares and let the bars cool down.

Store in an airtight container. It stays well for 3-4 weeks at room temperature.

The taste of dates and nuts and the crunchy crust works really well for this dessert that is actually a finger snack too. Most Indian mithais are served like finger snacks and most of them are loaded with sugar. These dates and nuts bars can become one of those Indian yet healthy treats for family and friends, all the better because these can be stored just like our laddus and barfis.

Trust me these bars are filling too, just have one with a glass of full fat milk in the morning and see how full you feel. Overall quite calorie efficient for a dessert.

No I wont do the calorie count for them, but having a rough idea of the calories helps. If the calories consumed pack some nutrition it helps better.

Try these dates and nuts bars with kunafe crust, trust me you will be baking them frequently.

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black, purple and red rice varieties of India | recipe of black sticky rice and coconut cream pudding with mango

We have such a tremendous variety of produce in India thanks to the geographical an climatic diversity through the length and breadth of the country. And I am one of those mad people who collect such produce from wherever we travel.

I often bring even fresh produce in my hand baggage but the suitcases are stuffed with varieties of rice, lentils and millets many a times. A few millet grains tumble out of one of my suitcases whenever I open it for the next travel, thanks to a torn packet once.

But I am also lucky to get many of these produce at the India International Trade fair stalls here in Delhi. I make it a point to go to the state stalls and buy as much as I can carry. And I can carry a lot trust me. In the trade fair grounds you have to carry whatever you buy, a classic shop till you drop situation. The black and purple rice from North East I always get from there.

I got many queries about rice varieties and their availability when I posted this picture last week on Facebook. Thankfully we have started getting these varieties in organic shops almost all around the country, sourcing them locally is the best bet though.

The white rice in the picture is a short grain aromatic variety called Kala namak in eastern UP, the same rice is called Gobindbhog in Bengal and probably Ambe Mohar in Maharashtra. The top right is black rice, bottom right is purple rice and bottom left is red rice from Tamilnadu. The kerala red rice looks a bit different.

Here I am sharing about the black and purple rice varieties from north east India. Both varieties are mostly available hand pounded as these are not industrially produced. The black variety is so rich in pigments that the taste is quite complex due to that. The concentration of anthocyanins in black rice is the highest found in food (higher than blueberries) and it is rich in essential amino acids too.

This is how one of my pigment rich meals looks like. Here I have served the purple sticky rice with beetroot tzatziki, boiled eggs and sauteed spinach with garlic and chillies. Both beets and spinach were homegrown in this meal that I shot 2 years ago.

Apart from such meals my favourite way of using these black and purple rice varieties is to make desserts with them. The rice gets nice and creamy when overcooked and combined really well with both milk (dairy) and coconut milk or cream. The black rice pudding made with coconut cream is the one I love the most. The rice lends a nutty and creamy flavour to the pudding that combines really well with mangoes.

Sometimes I add just enough coconut cream to make a thick setting pudding and sometimes I add more coconut cream to make it creamier to coat the fruit cubes.

Here is how the well set black rice pudding looks like, over a bed of cubed mangoes and some toasted coconut chips.

The creamier version looks like this. Moreish and indulgent, very delicious pudding that you can't resist. I make it without any added sugar and it has never disappointed me. The natural sweetness of the rice and coconut cream combines to make a heavenly dessert.

I even make this pudding with the white short grain rice pictured above, the inspiration of this dessert comes from Thai Mango sticky rice and I have been making several versions of it for so many years.

Black or purple sticky rice just makes it so much more value for each calorie consumed. I wouldn't tell you how many times I made this dessert this season. I tried it with all the mango varieties we could lay our hands on and it tasted great with each one of them.

This creamier version I served to my extended family when we all met this weekend and everyone loved it. I had made two more desserts and only one of them (rice kheer) had little sugar in it and my dad who is a diabetic lapped up the 'no added sugar desserts' happily.

The basic recipe remains like this Thai sticky rice with mangoes, the black or purple rice need about 3 times water to raw rice and I prefer it overcooked. If you keep the rice grains just cooked you might feel a slightly bitter aftertaste which disappears once you overcook them.

Once cooked, just stir in coconut cream (25%fat) and adjust thickness as you wish. For 1 cup cooked rice I usually add 200 ml coconut cream to get a set consistency (after refrigeration). For the creamier pudding I add 500 ml coconut cream to 1 cup cooked sticky rice and whisk well till uniformly mixed.

No sugar is required to sweeten it but you can add if you wish, just take care to preserve the natural sweetness of the rice and coconut cream in this dessert, you wont like sugar to hit your palate first in this case.

Try it without any sugar for the first time and see if you want it sweeter. Trust me you wont feel like having any added sugar in this dessert. May be the mango to sticky rice proportion can change if you want it to be more fruity and that is quite good too.

Thai sticky rice and mangoes gets a new lease with black sticky rice trust me.

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my column for Exotica magazine | a lime and lavender posset recipe served with lime and lavender butter cookies

I know I am terribly late in sharing about this column I am doing for Exotica magazine. Seeing my interest in unusual ingredients, exploring new recipes with them and also my column at Down to Earth, I was asked by Exotica to do an ingredient based recipe each month for the magazine. The ingredients that we are growing in the country are great quality most of the times but don't get their due respect as most of us are unaware about them.

The biggest shock of my life regarding this lack of awareness about ingredients was when I heard a very senior cardiologist say that flax seeds are imported and not grown in India. This was about 6 years ago and I decided something should be done to correct such a lack of awareness, a lot of us are actually forgetting what our older generations used to grow and eat.

Not only about the traditional and native ingredients, there are many fruits and herbs that were 'introduced' by the settlers all across India and made it's own, so much so that we don't even realise the potatoes, the chillies and even the mango was not native to India once. India being so varied in the terrains all across the country, anyway has a very rich flora and fauna, type of food cultivation and food habits so there is always something new to explore in the far away corners of the country. I am hoping to explore some such native and 'introduced' ingredients and foods through this column of mine at Exotica. Suggestions from you are also welcome, I learn every day interacting with all of you too.

The first ingredient to be highlighted was Lavender, a bright violet that we had once seen growing in Palampur and had experimented with the aromatic flowers a few times, I was developing a Lime and lavender butter cookie recipe for Mittal Teas back then and decided to pair those cookies with a nice refreshing posset. Read my piece (verbatim) that was published in March issue of Exotica.

Lime and Lavender: a fantastic pairing of flavours for a delicate dessert

A mention of lavender brings thoughts of calmness as it is known for inducing sleep and relaxing the nerves. As if Lavender has borrowed it’s colour from Mother Nature to carry on the same vibe through visual senses too. The violet-purple haze of Lavender fields looks heavenly, like connecting the dots with all its beauty of visual, aromatic and flavour profile, the gift of God to soothe the nerves and bring tranquility to the face of Earth.

Adding lime to the mild aromatic flavours of lavender makes the lavender energy zingier, ready to seduce anyone who takes a whiff. Enjoying a dessert made with these flavours would be a perfect foil to wrap a meal with loved ones.

Lavender grows in Himachal Pradesh and is available fairly easily in India now. Many farmers are growing exotic flowers in the foothills of Himalayas to cater to domestic demand and Lavender is grown mostly for essential oils to be used in perfumery and aromatherapy. Recently I was talking to Mr. Vikram Mittal from Mittal Teas who uses Himachal grown Lavender for his tea blends and got to know this locally grown Lavender is as fragrant as imported blossoms. He gave me a fragrant sachet of Lavender to experiment with and I infused these beautiful aromatic blossoms in my tea that day quite predictably. Then I started thinking about some nibbles to be enjoyed with tea and promptly did a trial batch of Lime and Lavender cookies and the resultant flavours seduced everyone who tasted.

Later the same flavour bouquet was used in a simpler easy to cook posset with the same flavours to be served with the cookies. The Lime and Lavender cookies will be available very soon at all Mittal Tea outlets, the posset can be made within 10 minutes at home for a quick but delectable dessert.

Posset is a traditional British drink that was made by mixing hot milk with herbs and ale to curdle it and was served warm. Posset used to be a homemade potion for common colds and to induce good sleep in older days, lavender does absolute justice to that traditional way of having posset before bedtime.

Interestingly, Lady Macbeth used poisoned posset to knock out the guards outside the Duncan’s quarters in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It must have been a much desired drink to be used like this.

Later the posset became popular as an easy yet fancy set dessert to be served warm or chilled. This balmy lime and lavender set posset would definitely induce good sleep and would bring tranquility after a long day.

Ingredients

4-6 servings

Double cream 300 ml

Sugar 40 gm

Lime juice 20 ml

Dry lavender flowers 1 tbsp

Lime peel zested in large curls from one large lime

Method

Simmer the cream along with lavender, lime zest curls and sugar for about 6-7 minutes. Strain it and mix with the lime juice when it is still warm. If you want a creamier posset you can mix the cream with lime juice when completely cold, pour in serving glasses and refrigerate till set.

Adding the lime juice to cream mix while the cream is still warm results in a slightly grainy posset with a little bit of syrup in the bottom.

Serve with plain vanilla butter cookies or lime and lavender cookies to reinforce the flavours in this minimalist dessert. 

This posset is so easy to make you might like to combine rose or other aromatic flowers or herbs to make this, if lavender is not your favourite or not available to you.

April issue of Exotica is out too, will share the next story soon with all of you. Stay tuned please.

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