Badam Pak / Almond Fudge

Ingredients
1 lb butter
1 lb semolina
1 lb Almonds; roughly ground
2 tins condensed milk (405gm each) (I used carnation nestle)
8 oz whole milk powder
8 oz desiccated coconut
1 teaspoon roughly ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 big pinch saffron
handful of Sliced almonds and pistachios nuts for garnishing

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the semolina and cardamom, fry until golden brown. It should a yummy aroma.  Take it off the heat. (important else you will get burnt pak)
2. Add all almonds and condensed milk, saffron and nutmeg and mix well
3. Add the rest  of the ingredients and mix well.  It is quite hard to mix as there is a lot of it.
4 Put back on very low heat and keep stirring until everything gels together, about 8 minutes.
5. Place the mixture on a greased baking tray, flatten and smooth the surface.
6. Decorate with the sliced nuts.

7. Cut the pak into squares, and leave until completely cold, remove each piece gently. Place in an airtight container to store.

Crispy Bhajia - Maru Style

The secret of crispy bhajia is not adding any water.  That's right NO water.  The trick is to add salt to the sliced potatoes or any other vegetable, this releases the water from the potatoes.

Ingredients
1 large potato; sliced finely
1 aubergine; sliced finely
1 courgette; sliced finely
1 romano pepper; sliced finely
1 onion; sliced finely
3-4 mild green chillies; sliced length way
2 teaspoons garlic / ginger paste
1-2 green chillies; minced
salt to taste (I used 1 teaspoon)
2 tablespoons chopped coriander
1 tablespoon chopped methi leaves
1 cup chickpea flour
1/4 teaspoon ajwain
1/4 teaspoon sodium bicarbonate
Oil for deep frying

1. Mix all the sliced vegetables, with garlic, ginger, chillies, coriander and methi.
2. Add salt, mix and leave for 1/2 hour to release the water.
3. Add the flour and sodium bicarbonate and ajwain seeds, mix well.
4. Fry the flour coated vegetables in hot oil
I served with groundnut chutney