Theratti Pal - Made easy in Microwave

Theratti pal is a traditional sweet which is prepared with two ingredients - milk and sugar. The milk is boiled over low flame till it is reduced to a curdled mixture and is sweetened with sugar. Its an integral part of bhakshanam for any ritual in a Brahmin household, especially marriage. In the olden days, it was considered an exotic sweet and a tiffin box of this home made theratti pal will be invariably given to the daughter by the mother when she goes back to her in-laws home after her first visit to her maternal home post marriage. I guess the sweet is held in such high esteem, because of the patience and effort involved.  Now, what I am posting here is an instant version, which gets done in 5 minutes, in a microwave oven. 

You need

• Milkmaid - 1 tin (400 gm)
• Curd - 2 tspn
• Ghee - 1 tspn

Method

Take all the ingredients in a  microwave safe bowl. Make sure you take a big bowl else it might spill over while cooking. I used 1.5 litre bowl and it almost reached the brim . Microwave high for 5 minutes. After every two minutes, give it a stir. This will ensure it doesn't spill over. At this stage, you may find some liquid. 

But after a standing time of 3 minutes, it will set well. Scoop and enjoy the delicious sweet.

I am taking this to the MEC-Potluck hosted by Srivalli.

Check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked for Day 2

Eggless Mango Souffle

Regular readers of this blog might have noticed that I have been posting summer coolers for the past 5 days. As part of the blogging marathon, I have been making various frozen desserts to suit the Summer Cooler theme. For today, its mango souffle. I adapted this recipe from Nita Mehta's Eggless Desserts. In the original recipe, mango drink (Fruity) in tetra pack is used. I have used fresh mango pulp and also scaled down the ingredients to make two servings.

You need

• Mango pulp - 1 cup
• Sugar -1/2 cup
• Fresh cream - 1/2 cup
• China grass/Agar agar - 5 gms
• Hot Water - 1/2 cup

Method

Take a big mango, which is not fibrous.  De-skin and chop into pieces.  Pulse the pieces and add the sugar to it and blend once.  Take the mango pulp and sugar mixture to a bowl and heat it to get a saucy consistency.  Take half cup of  water and add the agar agar to it. Heat on slow fire to dissolve the agar agar. Gradually add the dissolved agar agar to the mango mix. Make sure you add the solution while hot. Else the china grass will start to set.  Leave the mix to cool. 

Take the cream in a bowl and beat till fluffy. Fold in the whipped cream to the mango mix. Beat well till smooth. Transfer to a serving dish or individual serving glasses. Refrigerate for 3 hours. Garnish with chopped mango pieces and serve.

This mango souffle is joining the event- Kids Delight-Cool Comforts, hosted by PJ, an event started by Srivalli


Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me 

Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Triple Chocolate Ice Cream

Ice creams are available in stores under various brands in numerous flavors. And consumers are really spoilt for choice. And top with, majority of brands comes with attractive offers. So when one has too many options to choose from, why would you go for a home made ice cream. As for me there is some satisfaction when you make your own than buy it straight from the shelf. Not that I don't buy them at all. But when you are making it at home, you are free to play around the flavors and the ingredients that go into it. This chocolate ice cream is a result of one such experiment. I started with the idea of adding cocoa powder for the chocolate flavor. While I took out the ingredients, the chocolate bar inside the fridge caught my attention. That also went in to the ice cream. And finally added the chocolate chips for the extra flavor. There isn't like too  much of chocolate, isn't it.

You need

• Milk - 1 cup
• Fresh cream - 1/2 cup
• Sugar -1/2 cup
• Chopped chocolate - 1/2 cup
• Cocoa powder - 1 tblspn
• Corn flour - 2 tspn
• Chocolate chips - 2 tblspn

Method

Take the chopped chocolate in a MW safe bowl. MW for 1 to 2 minutes. After a minute, check if it is melted fully. Keep in intervals of 30 seconds. If melting it on stove top, do it using the double boiler method. Add the cream to the melted chocolate. Whisk well to blend chocolate and cream.

Make a paste of the corn flour with few tablespoons of milk. Boil the remaining milk. When the milk starts boiling, add the corn flour paste and cocoa powder. Stir well to prevent lump formation. Finally add sugar. When the sugar is fully dissolved, remove from fire. Add the chocolate+ cream to the milk mixture. Whisk to blend everything well. Cool and transfer to shallow freezable container. Make sure the height of the liquid is not more than 1 1/2 inch in height. This will ensure easier setting of the ice cream. 

Once the ice cream is slushy, break the ice crystal with a spoon or fork. Leave it to set again. Repeat it for 2 more times. When you are leaving  it for the final setting, stir in the chocolate chips.  Ice cream will set in another 3 hours.  The ice cream is enough to serve 3 large servings. 

Note: Once you have the final liquid mixture ready, you can pass it through a fine sieve to filter out the undissolved chocolate particles, if any. Though this is optional, this will give a more finer texture to the ice cream. I skipped this.

I am sending this chocolate ice cream to the Kids Delight-Cool Comforts, hosted by PJ, an event started by Srivalli


Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me 

Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Pineapple Yogurt Fool

Fruit fool is a British dessert which is a mixture of pureed fruit, whipped cream and sugar. In this recipe, whipped cream is replaced by hung curd for a low calorie dessert. This recipe is from Sanjeev Kapoor's Chill Out, which is a collection of summer treats. Thanks Veena for the book, which she had sent along with the Arusuvai secret ingredient. 

This dessert gets done faster since there is no freezing and other steps as in ice cream/sorbet. Its very creamy and makes a quick and light dessert. Hung curd can be replaced with thick yogurt too if you don't have time to prepare the hung curd.

You need

• Fresh Pineapple Slices - 10 nos
• Sugar - 3/4 cup
• Hung curd - 3/4 cup
• Cinnamon - 2 nos of  1" stick

Method

Combine chopped pineapple, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Microwave for 6 minutes till the pineapple turns soft. You can cook it on stove top too, on medium heat. It will take more time.

Remove the pineapple pieces  from the syrup. Blend it to a puree in a mixer grinder. Add the hung curd. Pulse to blend thoroughly. Chill and serve.

While serving the you can drizzle the left over syrup topped with  finely chopped pineapple cubes. There is not much syrup left and it can be added to milkshakes or fruit salads for a subtle pineapple flavor. This yogurt fool is similar to our own shrikand.

This goes to the Kids Delight-Cool Comforts, hosted by PJ, an event started by Srivalli

Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me 

Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Mango Ginger Sorbet

Mangoes are in season. To some extent, the presence of mangoes makes the summer bearable.  During my childhood days, ripe mangoes were eaten as it is. Those days, all that I knew was mangoes were either cooked in a gravy or eaten. At home, no one bothered to make milkshake or juice out of it. We enjoyed eating one full mango on our own.  As we grew up, milkshakes, jams and concentrates followed. And after I started blogging, I got many more ideas to use mangoes in. Also got to know more about different kind of frozen desserts till then it meant only ice creams. Sorbet is one of them.

Sorbet is a frozen dessert made from sweetened water flavored with fruit (typically juice or puree), wine, and/or liquer. (Source: Wikipedia) 

Recipe  source: Tarla Dalal. 
You need

• Mango puree - 2 cups
• Water - 1 cup
• Sugar - 4 tbspn
• Grated ginger - 1 tspn
• Lemon juice - 1 tspn (Optional)
• Lemon rind of one lemon (I used candied orange peel)

Method

Boil sugar and water for about 5 minutes to get a thin syrup. Remove from heat. Add grated ginger and lemon rind. I used candied orange peel. When the syrup cools, add in mango puree. Whisk to blend well. Transfer to a shallow container and freeze. Once it is slushy, break the ice crystals with a fork and freeze again to set.  To soften the sorbet, before serving, move the container from the freezer to the refrigerator. 

I had second thoughts if I should strain the sugar syrup to filter the grated ginger. I was doubtful how it will be if we bite into the pieces. Anyways I decided to go ahead. The grated ginger was not felt while eating the sorbet. The ginger and citric flavors compliments the sorbet very well. 

Scoop and enjoy the light and delicious sorbet, subtly flavored with ginger and orange.

                        

I am sending this sorbet to the Kids Delight-Cool Comforts, hosted by PJ, an event started by Srivalli


Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me 

Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli