Chenna Poda/Chhena Poda

Indian Cooking Challenge, a monthly Event where Srivalli, picks up a traditional dish belonging any part of India and we the members try to recreate it in our Kitchen. This Month ICC Challenge is to recreate Chenna Poda aka Burnt Cheese, a Cheese dessert from the State of Orissa/Odissa.  It was easy to make this Dessert and the taste of it was awesome. No Baking powder, no Baking Soda, but it sets so wonderfully, nice and creamy!!!!!  Hubby was amazed, wow really,  a traditional dish that too, baked !!!! Thanks to Srivalli for choosing this and also to Shibani of Any One Can Cook and Nikki of Titillating Tastebuds for sharing the recipe.

A Little Intro about the Dish:Info Courtesy:Wiki

Chhena poda is usually made at home during traditional festivals in Orissa, such as Durga Puja. It is also served in small traditional roadside stalls and confectioneries throughout the state along with other delicacies such as rasagolla. Since the mid-eighties, it has gradually found its place in restaurant menus across Orissa. After losing out to another traditional Oriya sweet, rasagolla to West Bengal, the Orissa Milk Federation is investing heavily in mass producing and popularizing this delicacy, determined not to let this happen again.

Ingredients

1 Cup Paneer/chenna, Freshly curdled

3 tbsp Sooji/Rawa/Semolina

1 tsp Cardamom Powder.

1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar 

2 tbsp Raisins

Cashews/Almonds for Garnishing

Method To Make Paneer/Chenna

• Boil 1.5 litres of Milk. Add juice of half a Lemon. Reduce the Flame and Keep Stirring the Milk, till it curdles and Whey separates.

• Add 1/2 Cup Ice Cubes to it and Switch it off.
• Drain the Paneer in a Cheese Cloth. The Whey water can be used to make Roti's.

To Make Chenna Poda

• Preheat the Oven to 180C/350F.
• In a big bowl mash Paneer/chenna thoroughly using your hands. Add rest of the ingredients except Garnish and Mix well.
• To get a caramalized effect on top, Add a tsp of ghee to the Baking pan and sprinkle little sugar.
• Show the pan in flame, till the sugar melts. Spread the melted sugar evenly. This sounds easy, but i couldn't spread it!!1 The sugar set so fast, it got stuck to on place on the pan!!!! :(

• Spoon the Chenna/Paneer Mix to the pan, Garnish with almonds/cashews on top and Bake for 50-60minutes.
• To do the tooth-pick test to check the doneness.
• Cool it for sometime and Turn it on to a plate and Serve.It stays fresh for a Week in refrigerator, but no need to keep it that long, half the Chenna Poda got over the same day and rest got packed to my Hubby's office!!!!

Sending this to I Love Baking #3, happening @ Tickling Palates and to Bake Fest #6, happening @ Summe's Culinary Bites, Event by Vardhini of Zesty Palette/Cooksjoy

சோள இட்லி

My close relative gave me this recipe. Even that time, I have not expected that I will make such a soft idli with jowar. I was amazed at the result. It is as soft as the usual idlies we make with the boiled rice. Any kara chutney would make a nice accompaniment for these idlies.  

JOWAR IDLI

Ingredients: 

Jowar - 1 cups

Par boiled rice ( idli rice) - 1 cups

Urad dhal - 1 cup

Enough Salt

Oil 

Preparation: 

 Mix jowar, rice & urad & wash well.

 Soak in enough water for 8 to 10 hours.

Jowar needs at least 10 hours to soak while rice and urad dal only need 4 hours to soak.

 Grind to a fine batter adding enough water.

 Add salt, mix well and ferment the batter for 10 hrs .

Now you have a nice batter for steaming idlies!

 We can prepare tasty dosas with this batter.

Once the batter is spread on hot tawa, pour just a few drops of oil over it, cover & cook.

 Turn over & cook for just a few seconds.

 Serve with sambar or any chilli chutney. 

NB:

When grinding the jowar, it takes a little more time to get a fine batter.

So it is a nice idea to grind the soaked jowar in a mixi and then add at the last stage of grinding the rice and urad dal.

Waldorf Salad

Wow! what to tell about this salad...awesome! :) I came to know about this recipe from my neighbor/grandma/friend. When we were talking and I said I don't really eat fruits as whole, but would like to mix up with something or make recipes out of it and eat it that way. So she said about this recipe. First she thought it might sound weird to me, cos when she tried this for the first time, her family felt it was weird. But as soon as I heard about the ingredients, it really sounded interesting to me and a good way to include fruits. I tried two ways of making the salad, one was the exact ingredients she told me, next one I tried adding an extra ingredient to it, which was my own and that was awesome too. So here is the recipe and I hope u all will like it too! 

Ingredients:
------------
1 Green Apple chopped to small pieces (If you don't like the skin, you can peel it, but I kept the skin)
2 Bananas chopped
1/2 Black Raisins
1/4 -1/3 cup Mayonnaise
1 tbsp Sweet Pickle Relish (Optional)

Method:
---------
1. In a bowl add mayonnaise and sweet pickle relish, mix them well.

2. Wash the raisins, add the mayonnaise, apple and banana, gently mix all the ingredients well, make sure the banana is fresh and does not change color and make sure you don't over mix, as the banana would get mushy.

3. You can serve it cold or in room temperature. I like to keep it for few minutes and then serve it, as the fruits will absorb all the flavor of pickle relish and mayonnaise.
4. Enjoy this wonderful salad as a dessert or a light n sweet salad.

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