MM Mithaiwala - Indian Sweets and Snacks : recipes

Recipe - Anjeer Burfi

Ingredients:-

Anjeer - 1 1/2 cups
Dates seedless - 1 1/2 cups
Almonds - 25-30
Cashew nuts -15-20
Pistachios -15-20
Ghee - 1/2 cup
Cardamom powder
Saffron
Silver vark

Method:-

Soak anjeer in boiling water for 10 mins. Drain and puree them in a food processor.
Combine the anjeer puree, dry fruits (Dates, Almonds, and Cashewnuts), ghee, cardamom powder & saffron.
Cook for 2 mins with continuous stirring in medium to slow flame.
Keep stirring and cook mixture for a minute or until everything comes together.
Spread evenly on the greased tray & flatten it evenly. Garnish it with finely chopped pistachios & keep it at room temperature for 2 hours to set.
Cut in square or desire shape & serve.

Happy Hogging :)

A TREAT - both visually and gastronomically!

Prep Time: 15-20 minutes (For boiling milk, curdling and straining) 6-7 hours of chilling
Cooking Time: 25 minutes if cooking in open vessel or 8 minutes if cooking in pressure cooker
Makes: 7-8
MM Special Tip : Milk Products are best consumed within 24 hours.

Ingredients:
For Chenna Paneer:
1 lit of milk (Use milk with atleast 2 % or above fat content)
Few spoons of lime juice or citric acid (To curdle milk)

For Sugar syrup:
2 and 1/4 cups of sugar
About 5 cups of water
Few Cardamons crushed
Few drops of Rose Essence(Optional)

For making Sandwich :
Chenna Paneer
1/2 to 1 tsp of Sooji/rawa/semolina
A pinch of baking powder

For Stuffing:
1/2 cup of Sweet Mawa/ Khoya/ Malai/ Rabri
2-3 tsp of sugar (Or as per taste).You can also use icing sugar
A pinch of saffron soaked in a spoonful of milk (optional)

Yellow or pink colour ...Few drops ( Highly optional, Not used in this recipe)

For Garnishing :
Some unsalted pistachios sliced finely

Procedure:

For making chenna, first boil the milk in thick bottomed pan.
When it reaches boiling point, lower the flame & slowly add few spoons of lemon juice . Keep stirring , if needed add few more drops of juice until the milk curdles properly & whey is separated. Strain through Muslin cloth.

MM TIP : Do not discard this Whey, use it to add nutritional value to Dal or use it for kneading dough for Roti/chapati.

Squeeze out excess water, and hang the cloth for 5-8 minutes to completely separate the whey from paneer.But do not let it rest more than 20 minutes.
Now knead this chenna paneer along with 1/2 tsp of semolina and a pinch of baking powder, for 5-8 minutes till a very smooth dough is obtained, that is easily rolled into a ball without any cracks on surface .
Pinch very small piece of this dough & roll it into small, smooth Square shape. Repeat the procedure till all the dough is used up.
In the meantime, take a pressure cooker (or any thick bottomed vessel) and add sugar & water along with crushed cardamoms & let it boil till sugar dissolves.
Carefully drop all the chenna paneer squares in the boiling syrup & close the lid of pressure cooker (or cover it with a lid if making in open vessel).
Wait for 1 whistle (or boil for 20-25 minutes in open vessel). Lower the flame and cook for 1-2 minutes more.
Put off the flame and let the pressure release from cooker. Now you should have soft spongy, sweetened, double the original size and squares of paneer.
Transfer the cooked paneer squares along with the syrup into a bowl and let it cool till it room temperature. Later, Refrigerate for 6-7 hours in same syrup to chill.
Now take the stuffing that you are using ,add powdered or icing sugar and mix well . At this stage you can mix the soaked saffron to enhance the flavors.
Now slice horizontally in the center each square of paneer, and place a spoonful of stuffing on one of the slice, and cover it with another slice, pressing gently. Instead of completely slicing apart, you can cut the square till 3/4 th, leaving the ends joined with each other. Repeat the process for all the squares.
Garnish it with some finely sliced(slivers) pistachios and Varq (Optional)