Hello Friends,
After a long time, an attempt to re-initiate the flow of my posts on my blog. I cannot believe it has been such a long time. But, I really appreciate all my readers' continuous encouragements and wishes to see me back int he blog world.
Recently, I had the fortune to connect with Rinku Bhattacharya one of our bloggers and an author of the book , The Bengali Five Spice Chronicles.
I had a wonderful opportunity to receive the book as part of a giveaway and review it. I am sure all of you already must be familiar with my Bengali connections (I was born in West Bengal) and my love for Bengali food. Here was an opportunity to review a Bengali Cook book which I simply could not turn away from.
I have to tell you that the book was more than what I expected. To tell you the truth, when you normally think of a cook book, you think of all those complicated, not usually made at home recipes, but this is just so different. I have to tell you sincerely that most of the recipes are so close to my heart and my cooking style. They are the ones that I can just make any day without thinking twice. You need some basic spices and you are ready to cook off recipes from it.
The best part of the book is that it is divided based on the spices that are used in the Bengali cuisine, which makes it unique. So, you can actually choose a spice and explore it to your heart's content. And, last but not the least, it has those yummy Bengali sweets (the ones made with milk or milk products), so having such a sweet tooth, I had to pick a dessert.
Here is my try of making a famous Bengali Mithai (sweet) from this book.
Coconut and Cardamom Fudge - Narkol and Khirer Borfi
Ingredients
Khoya (Milk Solids) - 1.5 cups (12 oz or 341 gms)
Fresh (or Frozen) Shredded Coconut - 1 cup (8 oz)
Sugar - 1 cup
Green Cardamom - 1/2 tsp (crushed)
Sliced Almonds - as you may like to sprinkle on top or even to mix with the fudge
Preparation
- If you are using frozen Khoya (khoa) instead of fresh one, just nuke (microwave) it for about 1 min. and then add it to a non-stick pan. You can use normal pan too, non-stick is just better as it won't get stuck to the bottom.
- Let it become softer in consistency (make sure your gas is in the lowest settings of heat)
- Once soft, add coconut (if frozen, soften it in microwave) and sugar.
- Mix well and cook on medium heat till it becomes soft and kind of starts leaving the sides and forms a ball shape (kind of sort of)
- Grease a pan with enough ghee (clarified butter) and pour the hot mixture in it to any size and height you may prefer your fudge to be in.
- Let it come to room tempertaure, before cutting it into shapes
- Wait even more for it to completely cool down, before digging into it :)
- I felt @ one point, that I could even make them into balls instead of cutting them like barfis
- Now, what do I tell of the taste. My husband called it a variety of Mawa Mishri / Milk Cake (for people who are familiar with these names).
Serving
Mine came out just melt in the mouth. I cut it way too soon (couldn't wait) and I will recommend waiting little more before cutting into it to get nice, firm pieces.
You can buy this book online almost from any big online store. But, here is the best part. Do you want to get a copy of this book and start enjoying Bengali Cuisine? If so, without further delay, go to my Blog's Facebook Group, join and MUST leave me a comment on this post. You only have till end of December 9th to participate. I will do a random choice and you never know, you may win the book :)
THE CONTEST IS ONLY OPEN TO US AND CANADA RESIDENTS.
Take care till next post !!!
