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

Makai Paka / Corn on the cob in Coconut Sauce

This is an East African dish.  Makai = corn.

Ingredients
3 sweet corn on the cob; cut into 4 pieces each
salt to taste
1 400ml tin of coconut milk
1/2 tablespoon ground peanuts or almonds
2 cloves garlic; crushed
1-2 green chillies; minced
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
a little water is neccessary
juice of half a lemon
3 sprigs coriander; chopped fine

Method
1. Boil the corn in a water and salt, drain and place in a saucepan.
2. Add coconut milk, ground nuts, garlic, chillies and turmeric.
3. Bring to boil for 20 minutes, add the lemon juice
4. Garnish with coriander leaves

Sufro for Chandraat - 2

Makai Paka

Date Halwa

Sufro for Chandraat - 1

Bateta Champ / Mashed Potatoes stuff with spicy meat

Chikki / Peanut Brittle

Ghosh Pilau / Lamb Pilau

Vegan Carrot Halwa

2 cups grated carrots

1 cup ground almonds

2 cups hot water

1 tablespoon raisins

½ teaspoon ground cardamom;

¼ teason grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon saffron

½ cup sugar

2 tablespoons sliced almonds

1 tablespoon sliced pistachios

1.     To make almond milk, mix the ground almonds with the hot water and leave for two hours.

2.     Place the almond milk in a saucepan and bring to boil, add the carrots, raisins, cardamom, nutmeg and saffron and simmer for 30 minutes or until almost all the liquid has been absorbed.

3.     Add the sugar, almonds and pistachios (reserve some nuts for garnishing), mix and cook for 5 minutes

4.     Serve hot or cold.  Great with ice cream.

Murgh Makhani / Butter Chicken

Butter Chicken apparently originated in a restaurant called Moti Mahal in Delhi in the 1950s. The chef had some leftover chicken tikka which was too dry to serve to the customers, so he made a tomato based buttery sauce and voila Butter Chicken was born!

4 chicken breasts; cut into 2-inch chunks)

Marinade

1 lime; juiced

½ cup yogurt

1-tablespoon oil

2-teaspoon paprika

2 inch piece of ginger; grated

4 garlic cloves; minced

1 or more green chilies; minced

1-teaspoon kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)

Salt to taste

Sauce

2 tablespoons butter

1 table spoon oil

2 medium onions; chopped fine

1 400g-can plum tomatoes; blended

1-teaspoon tomato puree

2-tablespoons cashew nuts; ground

3-4 cloves garlic; minced

2-inch piece ginger; grated

2 chilies; minced

2 teaspoons coriander powder

1-teaspoon cumin powder

½ cup cream

½ teaspoon garam masala

Method.

Mix the marinade ingredients

Marinade the chicken for at least two hours (overnight if possible)

Grease a large baking tray; place the chicken on the tray and cook in the oven at 220^oC for 15 minutes

Meanwhile fry the onion in the butter and oil mixture until translucent.

Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, garlic, ginger and green chilies; stir and cook until you can see the butter.

Add the cashew nuts, mix well

Add the cumin, coriander powders.

Add the chicken and cook for about 10 minutes; add the cream

Add garam masala

Serve with nan bread.