Kaju Mesuk

Today is Ekadashi: 11th lunar day and Ekadashi after Diwali is celebrated as Dev Diwali. This day is marked as the auspicious day for wedding in Hindu calendar. It begins by a ceremony where lord Krishna (Vishnu) marries Tulsi (plant). This is also one of my favorite festivals, and we celebrate it by making traditional Nav Choki rangoli or nine squares rangoli. Here is a Mythological story of the wedding of Tulsi and Vishnu. Very interesting to read. Festivals and celebrations bring us close to one another. It makes us more social. Away from our country, I received pictures from my mom back home with beautiful decoration of the Tulsi Vivah Celebrations. I will post more Tulsi Vivah pictures on my Facebook page.

 

For this special occasion, I learned to make a traditional sweet. Yes, it is a big deal for me! Being able to learn a traditional recipe is really important. It keeps our culture alive. Mesuk is one of them! I have had mesuk before many many years, and just love it. My aunt makes amazing mesuk, and after getting the recipe, understanding the concept of technique, and discussing the dos and don'ts of this recipe over the phone, I finally nailed it!!!!  This is my same aunt, Lilufui who taught me traditional Chyawanprash. She is a bag of treasures! She explained me the recipe so well that I could picture it happening. And I had to give it a try. I was ready for the failure in the first try. You always learn better after failing, so it is worth it! Normally Mesuk is made with besan/chickpea flour and by adding lot of ghee. After the recipe is made, excess ghee is poured out. But Lilufui gave me the exact measurement...she said that you don't need to add excess and pour it out. And indeed, mesuk was ready in the proportion of ingredients she mentioned.  I also looked up online too. I was surprised to find that our famous Kutchi or Gujarati Mesuk or Mesur Paak is so similar or same as South Indian Mysore Paak. Mesuk is crisp sweet with the porous texture and should melt in the mouth. I tried besan mesul too and will post my recipe soon. Paak is a technique of making sweets using sugar syrup. We make badam paak, pista paak and so many other sweets with it.

Today being Ekadashi fast I tried my aunt, Lilufui's Kaju Mesuk which is made from cashew nuts powdered. The sweet is very delicious, delicate, and melts in the mouth. It is very easy to make but the technique can be tricky, so paying 100% attention is the key to success. There was a science experiment in my kitchen :) In my first try itself, I obtained excellent results. My husband was super happy. He couldn't believe I made this. That made me super happy!! :)

Ingredients to make Kaju Mesuk

1 cup powdered cashew nut
1 cup ghee
3/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp. water
2 tbsp. slivered pistachios

It is very important to keep everything ready before you start. 
1. Keep 1 cup powdered cashews in a bowl.
2. Add sugar and water into a heavy bottom utensil.
3. Put ghee into separate container that can be heated.
4. Keep 2-3 tbsp. slivered pistachios.
5. Grease a thali or a plate with ghee and keep it aside

• Heat sugar and water to form 1 string sugar syrup. This can be tricky so do not add lot of water. You want the syrup to be bubbling and turn transparent. 
• Meanwhile in a separate bowl heat ghee on low heat. The temperature of ghee should be slightly hot and not very hot or smoky.
• Once the sugar syrup is almost done: In a pan, heat 2 tbsp. ghee and roast cashew powder for a minute. Add bubbling hot sugar syrup and mix well for a minute. 
• The main step starts now: Keep cashew mixture on low heat. Add spoonful of hot ghee at a time into the cashew mixture and stir the mixture in one direction. Keep adding spoonful of ghee till the entire ghee is used up. You will notice the reaction here as the hot mixture bubbles and froths up. this will cause holes or porous texture of mesuk. 
• Pour bubbling hot mixture immediately in greased thali and sprinkle slivered pistachios on it. 
• Leave it untouched. Do not spread the mixture with the spatula. Let it set on its own.
• After 5 minutes cut into pieces.
• Let it cool completely before removing each piece.You will get a light top and bottom and darker center. This is perfect shaded Mesuk.

Here is step-by-step pictorial recipe:

Heat sugar and water to form 1 string sugar syrup. This can be tricky so do not add lot of water. You want the syrup to be bubbling and turn transparent.

Meanwhile in a separate bowl heat ghee on low heat. The temperature of ghee should be slightly hot and not very hot or smoky. 

Once the sugar syrup is almost done: In a pan, heat 2 tbsp. ghee and roast cashew powder for a minute. Add bubbling hot sugar syrup and mix well for a minute. 

Add bubbling hot sugar syrup and mix well for a minute.

The main step starts now: Keep cashew mixture on low heat. Add spoonful of hot ghee at a time into the cashew mixture and stir the mixture in one direction. Keep adding spoonful of ghee till the entire ghee is used up. You will notice the reaction here as the hot mixture bubbles and froths up. this will cause holes or porous texture of mesuk.

Pour bubbling hot mixture immediately in greased thali and sprinkle slivered pistachios on it. 

Leave it untouched. Do not spread the mixture with the spatula. Let it set on its own

After 5 minutes cut into pieces.

Let it cool completely before removing each piece.

You will get a lighter color top and bottom, and darker center. 

This is perfect shaded Mesuk!

Dryfruit Milkshake

Last week, I was sitting back and checking my emails and Facebook updates while I hear some noise in the kitchen. Noise as if someone was looking for something...boxes being opened. plastic bag rattling. freezer drawers going in and out. Basically it was my husband looking for something and when I asked him "what are you looking for?" he said, "do we have any dry fruits and nuts at home?"
So I immediately tell him the location. I normally store all dry nuts in the freezer to prevent them from getting rancid.

Next I hear him heat up something in the microwave and that is when I stood up to check what he was up to :) He said, "I am making dryfruit milkshake" I was impressed and I had this broad smile on my face...wow...for a change he was doing everything by himself!!! And I see a bowl full of dryfruits and nuts soaking in a bowl of milk.

So our dessert was a delicious glass of dryfruit milkshake which brought back all the memories from India.

The idea of soaking dryfruits and nuts was great. That made the milkshake more delicious and flavorful!

Ingredients (serves 2 people)

1+3/4 cup milk
2-3 tsp. sugar (or to taste)
2 dried figs/anjeer
5-6 unsalted raw cashews
5-6 unsalted raw pistachios
4-5 unsalted raw almonds

• In a bowl, heat half cup milk and soak all dryfruits and nuts in it for 30 minutes.
• Add soaked dryfruit and nuts into a smoothie jar with remaining milk and sugar.
• Grind them together till it is smooth.
• Serve!

Here is step-by-step pictorial recipe:

In a bowl, heat half cup milk and soak all dryfruits and nuts in it for 30 minutes.

Add soaked dryfruit and nuts into a smoothie jar with remaining milk and sugar.

Grind them together till it is smooth.

Enjoy Chilled Dryfruit Milkshake!

Kulfi

Last weekend I invited my friend over for dinner. Since she is from Mumbai (just like us) I thought of creating Mumbai style menu for her. Sev puri, pav bhaji, tawa pulav. and to top it all with chilled kulfi! These are all juhu beach favorites! :)

Kulfi is an Indian ice-cream. It is not soft and airy like ice-creams, but it is dense and creamy. Kulfi is set in molds or containers and then cut into pieces and served with a popsicle.

I remember an old man with a clay pot on his head walking around in our community calling out Kulfi, Kulfi...which meant that he was a vendor selling kulfi. Weekends we would surely buy few kulfis from him after dinner. That would be our dessert of the day. He would roll kulfi mold in between his palm to loosen it, open up kulfi molds right in front of us, cut into pieces and serve it on a leaf with a bamboo stick. What a natural way of using disposable plates!! The taste and flavor of Kulfi served this way was amazing too. How many of you remember this??

This recipe is the traditional way of making kulfi by evaporating milk. I am not much in favor of using bread or cornstarch or artificial thickeners as they cannot be consumed during fasts and festivals. Simmering well and getting rid of the water content would make kulfi creamier and prevent it from freezing with icicles. Give it a try.

Ingredients for 10-12 Kulfi molds or 10-12 small Matkis:

2 liters (around 1/2 gallon) whole milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup sugar
1/2 tbsp cardamom powder
1 tsp. saffron strands
1/4 cup pistachios (slivered or chopped)
Ice-cream or Kulfi molds or small matki (earthen pots)

To make Malai Kulfi:

1. In a heavy bottom pan boil milk. Simmer for around an hour stirring occasionally for milk to evaporate and thicken. Scrape sides and bottom of the pan removing all stuck, condensed, milk. (do not discard it...this is malai which gives kulfi delicious taste).
2. Use a stick blender to blend all the bits of malai in well. 
3. Add 1 cup heavy whipping cream and sugar to the simmering milk.
4. Add ground cardamom seeds. 
5. Simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat
6. Let the mixture cool.
7. Fill into molds and freeze for 4-5 hours or till it sets.
8. Insert a stick or cut into pieces and serve.

To make Kesar Pista Kulfi:

1. In a heavy bottom pan boil milk. Simmer for around an hour stirring occasionally for milk to evaporate and thicken. Scrape sides and bottom of the pan removing all stuck, condensed, milk. (do not discard it...this is malai which gives kulfi delicious taste).
2. Use a stick blender to blend all the bits of malai in well.
3. Add 1 cup heavy whipping cream and sugar to the simmering milk.
4. Add ground cardamom seeds, saffron, and slivered pistachios.
5. Simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat
6. Let the mixture cool.
7. Fill into molds and freeze for 4-5 hours or till it sets.
8. Insert a stick or cut into pieces and serve. 

 Here is step-by-step pictorial recipe:

In a heavy bottom pan boil milk. Simmer for around an hour stirring occasionally for milk to evaporate and thicken. Scrape sides and bottom of the pan removing all stuck, condensed, milk. (do not discard it...this is malai which gives kulfi delicious taste).

Cardamom powder in my mortar & pestle.

Saffron & Pistachios

My new kulfi molds with a stand.

Since kulfi is my husbands favorite dessert, he wanted to help me fill the molds while I could take pictures :)

Garnish with more pistachios. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze.

Enjoy Chilled Kulfi!!