Shrikhand (strained yogurt) with strawberries macerated in Port wine

Shrikhand is a popular western Indian dessert. It is a staple sweet dish in Gujarati and Maharashtrian cuisines. It is actually quite simple to make, especially when you can buy good quality yogurt from the supermarket. Traditionally it is made with curd made with full cream milk. The curd is then hung in a muslin cloth for a few hours or even overnight. The whey drains out leaving behind a thick creamy curd. This is the time consuming part of this dessert. Thankfully, you can shave off a few hours by using a Greek yogurt of any kind - full fat, low fat or even fat free, personally preference being low fat.  Once the desired consistency is obtained, all that remains to do is to sweeten and flavour the curd. Cardamom and saffron are the more common flavourings. Other variations add mango pulp to make the popular Amrakhand.

My variation uses vanilla as the base flavour. I have used a 500g tub of Greek yogurt which makes 2 servings. I have also steeped the strawberries in reduced Port wine and used this as a topping and sauce. This, infact makes a good topping for ice creams as well.

500g low-fat yogurt
2-3tbsp sugar
1 tsp good vanilla extract
Muslin or cheese cloth

For the topping
4-5 strawberries
4 tbsp good quality Port wine
11/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

To prepare the topping

•  Boil the Port wine along with the sugar and vanilla in a small pan. Reduce it to a syrupy consistency. It should just start to coat the spoon. 
•  Allow this cool. It will thicken slightly as it cools.
• Meanwhile, hull and quarter the strawberries. Add the strawberries to the reduced Port and mix well.
• Allow this to marinate in the fridge for at least half an hour.

To prepare the yogurt

• Line the inside of a large strainer with the muslin. The muslin the strainer should be big enough to hold the quantity of yoghurt. Place this over a large bowl in order to collect the whey that drains out. 
• Pour the yogurt into the muslin lined strainer. Bring the ends of the cloth together and tie it lightly at the base.
• Place a small plate of top of this and place some kind of a weight on top. A tin of tomatoes or something equivalent will do nicely.
• Keep this in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours or overnight if you like . If a lot of water collects in the bowl, you may have to drain it in between. The curd will form a solid mass but will feel very creamy to touch - not unlike slightly softened ice cream.
• Transfer the curd to a bowl and beat in the sugar and vanilla extract. The sugar quantity I have mentioned here is just a ball park figure. You can add as much or as little as you like.
• Transfer this into serving bowls and chill in the fridge for another 20-30 minutes to allow the sugar to dissolve fully. 
• Add the topping when ready to serve and serve chilled.

As mentioned, the above quantity makes 2 servings. 

Carrot and badam(almond) kheer

40 whole almonds
21/2 cups milk (semi-skimmed or 2% is fine)
1/2 cup carrot, finely grated
3 tsp ghee (clarified butter)
1/3 cup + 1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cardamom powder

Garnish
5-6 raw unsalted cashew, cut in half
10-12 golden raisins

• To prepare the almonds, blanch them in hot water for a few minutes until their skin softens. Peel the skin and keep aside.  
• Heat 11/2 tsp of ghee in a small pan. When it hot, add the grated carrot and 1 tbsp sugar. Cook the carrot till it's raw flavour disappears and starts to come together. It takes between 5-7 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat the milk in a nonstick sauce pan till it just starts to boil. Turn down the heat and allow to simmer.
• Take about  half a cup of milk out and use this to grind the almonds to a paste in a blender. The paste should be just a tiny bit coarse to touch.
• Add this back to the simmering milk along with the remaining sugar and simmer till the milk thickens and reduces a little. This will take about 20-25 minutes on a low flame. Keep stirring occasionally so it doesn't catch at the bottom.
• Finally add the cooked carrot and mix well. Continue to simmer for another 5 minutes. 
• Turn off the heat, add the cardamom powder and mix well.
• Heat the remaining ghee in another pan. When it is hot, add the cashew and stir till it begins to turn golden brown. Add the raisins and continue to stir till the raisins plump up. Mix this into the prepared kheer. 
• Cool and refrigerate for 2-3 hours. 

This tastes best when it is served cold. This makes about 2 generous servings or 3 regular ones.

Tip: Rinse the sauce pan in cold water before adding the milk. This mostly stops the milk from catching at the bottom.

Seven cup cake or burfi

Just like a pound cake contains a pound of each ingredient, this sweet also contains 7 ingredients each of the same measure. Hence the name! It doesn't necessarily have to be a baking cup measure. Just ensure what ever you use,  you use it to measure all the ingredients.

It took me a about 45 mins from start to finish on a medium flame.

1 cup chickpea flour (besan)
1 cup grated coconut ( dessicated coconut is fine too)
1 cup clarified butter or ghee
3 cups sugar
1 cup milk

• Mix all of the above and pour into a pan.
• Keep stirring this mixture over medium heat till the mixture thickens to a slightly runny  peanut-butter-like consistency and starts to leave the sides of the pan. This can stick to the bottom and burn quite easily toward the end of the cooking time, so make sure you keep stirring.
• Spread this evenly into a greased baking tray and while it is still warm score the surface with criss cross lines so you eventually end up with diamond shapes. When it is fully cooled, cut along these lines. It is easier to cut when it cools down if you have done this. 

Chocolate cake

Whilst organising the cupboards in my kitchen, I came across a tin of unopened cocoa powder that I had bought a couple of years back with the intention of using it in a cake. Since it was nearing its best before date, I decided to use that as an excuse to bake. There goes my diet out of the window but who cares, right?!

I have only ever baked a chocolate cake once in my lifetime. This was when my parents had first bought a microwave. Microwave was still new in the Indian market and every cookery programme at the time was trying to cook anything and everything under the sun using this appliance. This was about the time I started to discover my love for cooking. Knowing my propensity for "accidents" this just seemed like a safe tool to experiment with! One of the more successful experiments then was a chocolate cake. The best part of that cake was that it was incredibly moist.

So when I decided to bake one this time, I started searching for a recipe that would for one use cocoa powder ( duh, that's what started this whole thing remember!) and would be as moist as the one I first attempted.  I found this one from AllRecipes that ticked all the boxes (follow the link for the original recipe).

I had to make a few adjustments as I didn't have the exact ingredients. I had self raising flour instead of plain, so that's what I used. The cake batter I thought was a little too runny (I read somewhere that american cake batter is  usually wetter than british ones, but I might be wrong). Anyway, I used half of the boiling water quantity recommended. I don't think it took anything away from the cake. I didn't  have the amount of icing sugar that the buttercream frosting required. I had a 500g pack and that's what I used by adjusting the amount of liquid I added. I still found it a tad oversweet, so I'll probably reduce that the next time as well.

 For the cake
225g self raising flour
375g caster sugar
65g cocoa powder
11/2 tsp baking powder
11/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
125ml vegetable oil
250 ml milk (easier to work with when closer to room temperature)
2 tsp vanilla extract
175ml boiling water

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg Celcius. 
• Rub two 23cm cake tins with butter and dust with cocoa powder.
• Place the sugar in a large bowl and also sift together flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and bicarb soda. Whisk the milk and egg together and add to this along with the oil and vanilla. Mix this for about 3 minutes with an electric mixer. 
• Add the hot water to this and mix using a wooden spoon. The mixture can be quite runny.
• Spread the batter evenly between the two cake tins and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer or knife comes out clean.
• Cool on a rack for 10 minutes before removing from the tin.

Frosting
175g butter ( at room temperature )
125g cocoa powder
500g icing sugar
about 150ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

• Whisk the butter in bowl until softened and light.
• Add the icing sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla and 100ml of milk. Mix well with an electric mixer starting at a low speed till it comes together and forms a creamy and spreadable mixture. Add the remaining milk in small quantities if needed.  

Split each cooled cake in half. Stack them one over the other after covering the top of each layer with the frosting. Use the remaining frosting to cover the outside of the cake.

I found the amount of butter cream I made was more than what I needed. That was probably because I only had a layer of cream in between the two cake layers. It will probably be needed if you split each cake and end up with 3 layers of cream.

Grape and amaretti layered dessert

A refreshing dessert that is low in calories. This has oodles of taste with no guilt associated... what more can a girl ask for! The crushed amaretti biscuits brings texture to this dessert. The grapes can be substituted with other fruits as well. I especially like cherries and I think strawberries will also work well, although I haven't tried that myself.

300ml creme fraiche
300ml greek yoghurt
3-4 tbsp icing sugar (adjust this according to your taste)
1 tsp vanilla extract
6-10 amaretti biscuits crushed coarsely
450g black or red grapes halved

• Mix together the creme fraiche and the yoghurt together in a bowl and blend in the icing sugar and vanilla into this mixture.
• Place a small portion of the crushed amaretti mixture into a serving glass to form a thick layer at the bottom of the glass. 
• Top this with a layer (1-2 tbsp) of the yoghurt and creme fraiche mixture. 
• Next, add 1-2 layers of the grape halves and sprinkle a layer of crushed amaretti over the grapes.
• Top this again with 1-2 tbsp of the yoghurt and creme fraiche mixture.
• Add another layer of grape halves and sprinkle a think layer of the crushed biscuits to finish this off.

Tip: Crush the biscuits by placing them in a zip loc bag and running a rolling pin over it.
This will serve 4-6 people.