Choco-Banana Halwa Barfi

This is an adaptation of the banana halwa that is made during Navratris in North India, to break fasts(vrats). The recipe is fairly simple and several variations can be made depending on ingredients you have in the pantry. Skip the cocoa powder and you have a traditional banana halwa. This can be had hot as well like a regular halwa. Nuts to be used depending on availability, though I find that walnuts and cashew nuts go particularly well in this recipe. This recipe makes about 250 gms of the sweet.

Ingredients

1 Cup Chopped Ripe Bananas
1 Cup Grated Khoya(200 gms)
1/2 Cup Coarsely ground nuts(Walnuts, Cashews)
1/4 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
Ghee for greasing

Step 1: Grease a small 6 x 8 straight edged pan with ghee, to be used for setting the barfi. Skip this if you want to have it hot.

Step 2: Heat a tbsp of ghee in a thick bottomed non-stick vessel. Add in the entire quantity of Banana and Khoya and cook on low-medium heat, till ghee oozes out from the mixture. Stir constantly to prevent scorching of the bottom layer. This should take around 5-7 minutes apprx.

Step 3: Add Sugar and coarsely-ground nuts and mix well. Continue to cook and stir for another 10-12 minutes, till the mixture turns brown.

Step 4: Add the milk and cocoa powder and cook till it starts leaving the side of the pan.

Step 5: Transfer the contents into the greased pan from Step 1, level it and allow it to cool. Cut into desired shapes and serve. The consistency will be slightly gooey/fudgy when hot.

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Chanar Payesh (Angoori Rasmalai) Recipe

Chanaar Payesh is a popular Bengali dessert that is easy to make and doesn’t require a lot of ingredients. Chanaar means ‘Made of Paneer’(Cottage Cheese) and Payesh roughly translates to milk-pudding. There are several variations to this dish, including using grated Cottage Cheese instead of round dumplings, or the use of condensed milk to speed things up. This recipe however is closer to the traditional way of making Channar Payesh. It is pretty similar to Angoori Rasmalai.

Ingredients

·       Full Cream Milk 1.5 litres

·       Lemon juice 1 1/2 tablespoon

·       Sugar 1/2 cup

·       Rose Water 1 Tsp

·       Corn Flour or Rice Flour: 1 Tsp

·       Saffron (kesar) a few strands

·       Cardamom Powder  ½ Tsp

·       Almonds blanched and chopped 5-6

·       Pistachios blanched and chopped 7-8

Step 1: Making Paneer/Cottage Cheese(If you have paneer at home, skip to step 3)

Boil 500ml of milk. When it starts boiling, add lemon juice and keep stirring till all the milk curdles.

Step 2: Making Paneer/Cottage Cheese

Strain the whey and tie up the residue(chenna) in a muslin cloth and dip in ice water till it cools. Squeeze out the excess liquid and set aside.

Step 3:

Mash the paneer from step 2, add a dash of corn flour for better binding, and make small dumplings out of it. You can store these in a fridge for 5-10 mins, to make sure they don’t unravel. Also, make sure the dumplings are very small, else the milk will not get soaked till the center, leaving these hard!

Step 4:

Take 50 ml of milk, add Rose Water, Saffron, Cardamom Powder and mix lightly. Set aside.

Step 5:

Taking the remaining milk(slightly less than a litre) in a thick-bottomed deep vessel. Start boiling it on a medium flame stirring continuous, so that the milk doesn’t get scorched from the bottom. Keep scraping the sides of the vessel and add back into the milk. Keep going till the milk gets creamier and the color changes to off-white. (It took me about 25 minutes, but depends on several factors including quality of milk and vessel surface-area)

Step 6:

Add in sugar and the flavored milk from step 4 and cook for 2-3 minutes, while stirring continuously.

Step 7:

Gently add in the dumplings you made in Step 3 and cook for 5-6 minutes.

Step 8:

Turn off the gas and transfer to a container and let it cool. Refrigerate it for at least an hour, so that the dumplings absorb the milk completely. Garnish with chopped pistachios and almonds

Pro-Tip 1: Quantity of Sugar is indicative and will vary depending on the type of sugar (brown, granulated, powdered) used. Also note that milk when reduced acquires a mild sweet taste due to caramelization, so adjust accordingly.

Pro-Tip 2: Homemade Paneer tends to have a slight sour taste, which is essentially coming from lemon. You can used vinegar as well to avoid it. Also, make sure to squeeze out as much of the whey as possible and pour over cold water when straining the paneer.

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