Bakesbae

Ingredients: Cocoa powder- 4 tbsp Milk- 1 ½ cups Sugar- ½ cup Flour- 2 tbsp Instant Coffee powder- 1 tsp Vanilla essence- 1 ½ tsp Butter- 1 tsp Water- ½ cup Method:   Boil water and add coffee powder to this and make a strong black coffee. Sieve together Cocoa and flour and add it to a pan. Add sugar to this and mix well. To this add Milk and the coffee and mix well with no lumps.   I strained the mixture to make sure that it is mixed well and there are no lumps. Keep this on low heat and stir well until a custard like mixture is obtained. Remove from fire and add vanilla essence and butter and mix well. Transfer it to a bowl and allow it to set inside the refrigerator for 2 hours. Serve cold.

Ingredients: Ripe Jackfruit paste- 2 cups. Jaggery syrup- 1 cup Cardamom- 2-3 Ghee- 1 tbsp Method: Note: I made a paste of the Jackfruit which made it easy to get cooked fast.  Also I keep a stock of Jaggery syrup in my fridge. If you don’t have a jiggery syrup you can make it by putting the Jaggery ¼ kg in a pan with 1/8 cup of water and strain it to remove the dirt. Heat a heavy bottom pan and add jaggery syrup to this.   When it starts to boil, add the Jackfruit paste and stir well. Keep on stiring until the mixture becomes thick like a halwa and forms a small dough.   Add cardamom powder and ghee and mix well. Remove from fire and store this in an airtight container  when cool. You can eat this straight as a dessert or else can make Kumbilappam or Elayada…recipe will follow.

Ingredients: Tender coconut scrapped- 1 cup Condensed Milk- 1 tin Milk- 2 tin China grass- 5 gms Sugar- 1/4 cup Cashew nut- 1/2 cup Method: Soak china grass in milk for half an hour. After half an hour heat the milk untill the chinagrass dissolves completely in the milk. When it dissolves completely, turn off the fire and strain the mixture well. Add condensed milk to this and refrigerate. Meanwhile chop the tender coconut to fine pieces. Secondly in a pan add the sugar and set on fire. Meanwhile grease a flat board with little butter. When the sugar caramelizes ( remember not to burn it), add cashews and mix well. Turn of the fire and spread on the board. Let it cool and when cool, using a roller crush this. When the pudding is half set, add tender coconut and above that add the caramelized nuts and refrigerate again. Ready to serve cold.. Note: It takes  very little time to set the entire pudding..

Ingredients: Jelly Packet-1 (preferably strawberry/ raspberry) flavor Condensed milk- ½ tin Fresh Cream- 100 gms Method: Make the jelly as per the instructions in the packet and keep in refrigerator for it to set. When done, cut this into cubes and put it into a mixer along with Condensed Milk and fresh cream. Beat this for 5 minutes until the mixture becomes creamy. Pour this to a tray and refrigerate it to set. Note: I prefer Bakers jelly as it sets nicely. Courtesy: Neena Susan Thomas

 Ingredients: Milk- 1/2 Ltr Fresh cream-1/2 Cup Cornflour- 1 Tbsp( heaped) GMS powder- 1 level tbsp CMC powder- 1/4 tsp Sugar-6 tbsp Flavouring essence- As required Food color- if needed Method: To the milk add sugar and cornflour and stir well so that no lumps are formed. Through a seive pass the CMC and GMS powder into the milk and stir well avoiding lumps. If you need chocolate Icecream, add 3 tbsp of cocoa into the mixture and stir well Heat the mixture on a low flame stirring continuously till a custard like consistency is obtained. Remove and cool. Add the cream and stir well. Add essence and color and stir and set to freeze. When frozen and hard, remove and whip well till a soft and frothy consistency is obtained. At this point the mixture will double the volume and will become fluffy and soft. Replace in freezer to set. Garnish with caramelized nuts  Courtesy: Chinnu Aunty

Ingredients- Milk-2 1/4 ltr Water- 2 1/2 ltr Milkmaid-1 tin Broken Brown Rice-1 cup Sugar- 350 gms Cardamom- as required Ghee-2tbsp Salt-a pinch Method: Clean the rice in water and slightly roast the same in ghee. Boil together Milk and Water in a big tumbler. When it is reduced to little, then add the rice and cook it. When the rice is done, the nadd the milkmaid and sugar and stir it constantly. Add a pinch of salt to this. When the mixture becomes little thick,then add cardamom powder. Note: If milk maid is not there, then add only 1 3/4 ltrs of water and increase the sugar to 450 gms. If you need more milk to loosen it, then you can add boiled milk to the kheer.

Ingredients Milk- 1 ltr Vermicelli-1/2 cup Broken Sugar- 3/4 cup Ghee- 1 tbsp Cashews- 1 tbsp Raisins-1 tbsp Cardamom Powder-1/2 tsp Method:  Boil the milk separately in a pan. In another pan add ghee and roast the nuts and keep aside. Add vermicelli to the ghee and roast till slightly brown. Add milk to this and stir it gently till it begins to boil. When it boils,Simmer it and cook for 5-8 mins or till done. Add sugar and stir well till it dissolves completely. Add the cardamom powder and garnish with the roasted nuts. Serve hot Note: You can add Milk maid 1/2 tin and reduce sugar to 1/2 cup. You can also add Sago 2 tbsp along with the milk. If the kheer thickens, always add boiled milk to it before serving.