Watermelon Rind Barfi / Tarbuje ka Chelka ka Barfi

In this lock down state we should try to keep our mental state healthy, the best way is to keep ourselves busy and work on hobbies we love. We also have to eat proper food, since the whole family is at home, we need to make some delicious dishes that our family will enjoy.... Keeping in mind that simple ingredients which are easily available should be used, zero wastage policy should be taken into consideration. Try to use the complete vegetable including the vegetable peel and transforming the leftover meals into delicious recipes. 

There are many vegetable peels that can be eaten and can be made into delicious snacks or vegetable or sweets... like we can make Chutney out of the peel of bottle gourd, pointed gourd, ridged gourd, raw banana, water melon rind, peas etc. In Bengal we have many types of bata / mash  that are made with different vegetable peels like raw banana, pointed gourd, cauliflower stem etc. 

Some delicious fritters/ fry can be made with peels of bottle gourd, potatoes, water melon rind etc. Some sweet dishes too can be created with the peels of watermelon and green peas like candy, Halwa, barfi or kheer. Today we will make water melon rind Barfi... 

Ingredients 

Grated Watermelon Rind from 1 medium size Water Melon 

1/2 cup or as required Sugar

1/4 cup Water + Juice extracted from the grated Watermelon rind 

1/2 cup Milk 

2 Pinch of Salt 

1/2 tsp Cardamom powder 

2 tbsp Milk Powder

2 tbsp Almond and Pistachio flakes 

Few Saffron strands

Method 

Squeeze out the juice from the water melon rind. Add water, juice of grated water melon rind and sugar in a pan. In few minutes add salt and let the liquid simmer for a minute. Add 2 tbsp milk and continue to simmer. Strain the liquid out and pour the liquid back into the pan and let it continue to simmer until one string is formed. Add the water melon rind into the sugar syrup and continue to cook on low flame until the ingredients changes it’s colour to golden brown. Add the milk, cardamom powder, milk powder, few saffron strands and 1 tbsp of almond - pistachio flakes into watermelon rind. Continue to stir and cook on low flame until all the ingredients form into a lump. Pour in the mixture into a greased square mould, level the barfi evenly. Sprinkle the remaining saffron, almond and pistachio flakes. Leave the mixture to cool down. Cut the barfi into square pieces and serve them.  

Pyar Mohabbat ka Sharbat

It’s extremely hot... only way to cool yourself down is to have a cool summer drink and to get back into life. This is a very unique drink originally found in the lanes of Old Delhi during summers.. but now sold in many places. it’s also a popular drink during the month of Ramadan... 

This drink is an ideal drink for summer.

 This drink is a sweet rooh afza flavoured milk and adding watermelon pieces makes the milk more flavourful. 

To make a glass 

Ingredients 

1/2 Glass Milk

2 tbsp Rooh Afza Sharbat

2 to 3 Ice Cubes 

2 to 3 tbsp small Watermelon pieces 

Garnish with Dried Rose petals

Method 

Add rooh afza sharbat into 1/2 glass milk, stir the milk, add the ice cubes. Then add small pieces of watermelon and garnish it with dried rose petals and a cube of watermelon. Enjoy this drink with your family and friends... 

Home Made Healthy Cookies

This healthy cookie is not only delicious in taste, but healthy too. These can be enjoyed not only with a hot cup of tea, but you can munch on at anytime of the day. Hope you will enjoy this recipe. 

                  

       

Ingredients 

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour 

1/2 cup Jaggery Powder 

1/2 cup Clarified Butter / Ghee

1 tsp Chia Seeds

1 tbsp Almond Flakes 

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Nutmeg Powder 

1/2 tsp Cardamom Powder 

1/2tsp Baking Powder 

1/2 tsp Ginger Powder 

1 tbsp Any Vegan or Cow Milk

Method

Sieve the wheat flour, jaggery powder, salt, nutmeg pd, cardamom pd, baking pd and ginger pd together. Add the almond flakes and chia seeds and mix all the ingredients together. Add the ghee and knead the ingredients into crumbs. Take small lime size portions and try to make small balls. Incase it does not bind, add 1/2 tsp of milk and mix the ingredients again. Take a greased baking tray. Take small portion of the crumbs, flatten the ball and press it gently from the center. Preheat the oven at 190 degrees celsius. Place the flatten balls on the baking tray, leaving little gaps between the two cookies. Bake the cookies at 190 degrees celsius for 15 - 20 minutes, depending upon the oven temperature. Once done remove the tray, leave the tray above the hot oven until the tray cools down... don’t worry if you still find the cookies soft at this point... by the time the tray cools down the cookies will be done.

To bake the cookies in the wok, place a cooker stand on the base of the wok. Cover the wok and preheat the wok for 10 minutes on medium flame. Open the lid and place the baking tray, close the lid. Bake the cookies for 25 to 30 minutes on a low medium flame. Once done open the lid, switch off the flame and leave the baking tray in the wok until the wok cools down completely. Remove the cookies from the tray once the cookies cools down completely.

Cool the cookies further for another hour or two. Enjoy the cookies with a hot cup of tea. 

Healthy Whole Wheat Bread Loaf

Basic Healthy Bread can be made with ingredients that are easily available in your kitchen. One key ingredient Whole wheat flour is always there in your kitchen pantry. Yeast can be made at home too if time permits, or else dry yeast is easily available in shops. It’s more healthy when you bake a bread at home. Do try this recipe and enjoy this bread with jam or Chutney.

Ingredients

4 cups + 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 cup Oats

1 tsp + 1 tsp Mix Seeds (Sunflower, Watermelon, Flaxseed, Sesame, Pumpkin Seeds)

1/2 tsp Chia Seeds

1/4 tsp Salt

1/2 cup Lukewarm Water

1 tbsp Dry Active Yeast

2 tsp Honey

1 cup of Water

2 tbsp Oil

1 tbsp Milk + 1/2 tsp Honey 

Method 

Take the honey and mix it with the lukewarm water, mix the yeast little at a time into the lukewarm water. Leave the yeast to rise. Mix all the dry ingredients together, except for 1 cup of whole wheat flour and 1 tsp of mix seeds. Add the yeast water, mix the ingredients well, add a cup of water, mix and knead the ingredients into a dough. At this point the dough is a bit sticky. Add a tbsp of oil and knead it. Cover the bowl and leave it aside for 2 hours. After 2 hours, open the lid. Add the remaining flour little at a time and knead the dough. Take the dough on to a flat surface. Add oil, knead and roll the dough into a long cylindrical shape. Place the cylindrical dough into the greased bread loaf mould. Cover and let it proof for an hour. Meanwhile preheat the oven at 190 degrees. Brush Milk + Honey on the bread and sprinkle some mix seeds on the bread. Bake the bread at 190’ degrees celsius for approximately 25 - 30 minutes. Every oven temperature differs, so please adjust the time accordingly. Once done, remove the bread. Let the bread cool down for 10 minutes, remove the bread and let it cool on a cooling rack. Slice the bread once completely cool. 

Fish Tikka

Tikka is a dish that can be eaten as starter or appetiser. Tikka can be made with meat, fish, panner or vegetable. It’s a popular dish of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. 

 The meat or fish is marinated with spices and lime or curd. The marinated meat or fish is skewered and cooked on a tandoor.  The pieces are brushed with butter or ghee at intervals. It is served with Coriander Chutney, Onion and Lime. 

Today I have made fish tikka. You can use any boneless fish. I have used Tilapia fish.  

Ingredients 

500 grams Any Boneless Fish Pieces 

Juice of 1/2 Lime 

1 tsp Ginger paste

1 tsp Garlic Paste

1 tsp Kashmiri Chilli Powder 

1/2 tsp Cumin Powder

1/2 tsp Garam Masala powder

Salt to taste 

1 tbsp Butter 

Method 

Take a bowl, add lime juice, chilli powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder, salt to taste, ginger paste and garlic paste. Mix all the ingredients together. Add 2 to 3 tbsp of water. Mix the ingredients again. Add the boneless fish pieces and marinate the fish for an hour or two. Take a skewer, insert the fish pieces into the skewer. Place the skewers on the tandoor. Apply butter on the fish at intervals and cook the fish on both the sides. Garnish with onion, tomato and lime wedges. Serve with green chutney.