Saffron Sandesh Recipe | Saffron Sweet Cheese Fudge Recipe | How to make Bengali Saffron Sondesh

Spring is here and so are all the New Years that’s celebrated in all different regions of India. This recipe is the quick method to make these popular sweet fudgy cheese treats or ‘Shondesh’. ‘Sandesh’ or ‘Shondesh’ is a popular sweet treat from eastern India (Bengal) and comes in a variety of flavors. The main ingredient is milk. That’s made into fresh cheese which is then cooked with flavors to make different types of ‘shondesh’. My recipes for making these sweet treats is here:
Recipe for cheese for ‘shondesh’ is here. 
Recipe for Rose Sandesh is here.

Organic ‘Chhena’ or Fresh Indian Cheese Recipe (Homemade Paneer Recipe)

This is freshly made paneer or ‘chhena’  ( a.k.a. ‘chhana’) or fresh Indian cheese. The texture of this cheese is slightly firmer than ricotta cheese, the latter being very creamy.  However, if you knead it well, this ‘chhena’ becomes very smooth and creamy, too. Also, the process of making ricotta cheese and ‘chhena’ are the same. Even though an internet-search shows paneer is ‘cottage cheese’, the texture of the two are very different. Cottage cheese is loose with curds while paneer or ‘chhena’ is not loose.  

‘Chhena’  can be easily made at home and stored in an airtight container, mixed with sugar and other flavors to prepare sweets or desserts during the Indian festive season!  

Indian Goat (mutton) Curry with Spicy Yogurt Sauce + Sweet Rice Pulao Recipe

Happy Father’s Day and it’s Sunday!

It is Sunday! And It’s Father’s’ Day. How perfect. What better recipe to share on Father’s Day than of Goat Curry (for the non-vegetarian dads, of course) Want to treat Dad with a meal worth remembering? Try this rich, spicy and finger-licking-good goat curry and pulao dish which complements the meat perfectly. 

Mangoes and cute little things!

Summer months automatically mean mangoes. Mangoes flood the Indian grocery stores here. You would also find them at Trader Joe’s, Whole Food etc. AB and I try the varieties that you get here and this year we have been especially lucky to have found these excellent ones in one particular Indian store here. The taste of those mangoes takes me straight back to Kolkata when I would relish the ‘Langra’ variety while my entire family would go for ‘Himsagar’ without batting an eyelid.

Dal Palak ~ Indian Spinach Lentil Soup

 Dal Palak ~ Indian Spinach Lentil Soup

Health is Wealth, my love. So, let’s have something nutritious now, shall we?
Now, majority of my family is in India. As far as the temperatures are concerned at the moment, in summer, it is Not agreeing with anyone! And the mercury is rising here as well. To deal with the heat (and usually as a part of our regular diet) I made this particular Dal, which turned out to be not only great but quite different than other ‘dals’ that I make (if that makes sense?) This was a good, simple dinner.

Chicken Curry Recipe (Canteen Style)

This takes me back to my days in University!

Canteen is a restaurant or eating place provided by an organization like an educational institution (school, college, university), military camp etc. In India we refer to them as ‘canteen’, probably taking after the British who ruled the country for almost a century. In America, ‘canteens’ are better known as ‘cafeterias’. So what has it got to do with this recipe?

Tandoori Chicken

Tandoori Chicken for the Indian camper’s soul

My husband loves camping. Come March, AB (why write the name as one initial when you can have two?) is deep in research, looking at all the camping sites available nearby. He cannot imagine letting go off spring and summer without going for at least one camping trip. California, fortunately, has tons of really good places for this, depending on what sort of camper you are. I play no role in planning these trips, but, of course, the food. We cannot simply grill some hamburgers or hot dogs, put them in buns and eat them with chips and coke for dinner (although they are perfectly viable options), camping food should be something we would like to look forward to, right? So this post is dedicated to the Tandoori Chicken I made for our last weekend’s camping trip. Tried and tested before, we absolutely love this tandoori preparation as it involves a charcoal grill.