Veg sweet French toast

My kid said that she wants to eat sweet French toast.As we are vegetarians,I set about searching for an eggless  French toast recipe.I got one @http://www.sharmispassions.com/2010/09/eggless-french-toast-sweet-version.html

I made it & it turned out real good.My daughter simply loved it !

Ingredients : 2 brown bread slices ( white can be used....brown bread is healthier ),1 tsp ghee, 1 tsp sugar,1/2 tsp custard  powder ( vanilla flavour ),a pinch of cainnamon powder,1/4 cup milk.

Method : Boil milk.Take it off from gas stove.Keep aside.

Add custard powder to the boiled milk.Mix nicely so that no lumps remain.Add sugar.Mix nicely.Add a pinch of cinnamon powder.Mix nicely.Keep aside.

Warm a tawa on the gas stove.Spread little ghee on the tawa.

Cut a bread slice into two triangles or even four.This makes it asy to dip them in the milk mixture.

Now ,dip a bread slice in the milk mixture so that all sides of the slice are coated with the milk mixture.Place the bread slice on the tawa. Let it get toasted.Once it has browned a little,turn it over & cook on the other side.It will turn little brown.Take it off the tawa .Serve with maple syrup or just like that.

Repeat with  aforesaid process another bread slice.

Doodhi halwa

I had brought doodhi last week & still had not used it.I also had cream in the freezer- home cream - I remove malai from milk & keep it in a box in the freezer for 9-10 days at a stretch.I thought of making doodhi halwa like gajar halwa.

I googled for the recipe &  was inspired by this recipe at vah re vah !

Ingredients : 1 cup peeled & grated doodhi( bottle gourd ),1/2 cup frozen malai, 1tsp ghee ( optional ),1/2 cup sugar,5-6 almonds -grated or finely chopped.

Method : Clean the doodhi & peel it.Grate the doodhi.Remove the malai from the freezer.Let it attain room temperature.

Take a kadhai & put  on gas.Gas must be on slow burner.Let it warm.Pour the malai on to the kadhai & now put the grated doodhi on to it.Mix both the malai & doodhi nicely.Cook the mix in the kadhai -covering the kadhai with a lid.After 5-6 minutes,uncover the kadhai & mix the contents with spoon.Cover with lid & let it cook again.Repeat this 3-4 times.By this time,doodhi & malai would have mixed nicely & got cooked.Now add sugar.Mix nicely.Cover with lid & let it cook.After 5-6 minutes,uncover the lid  & mix nicely.Repeat once more.By this time ,all water would have evaporated.Add a tsp ghee & mix nicely.It will give a nice aroma to the halwa. Put off the gas.

Serve the halwa garnished with grated almonds or finely chopped almonds.I garnish with almonds as my kid does not like any dry fruits in halwa.Alternately,one can fry dry fruits like chopped almonds,cashews in ghee & add them to the halwa.

Sugarless Mango shake

I loved mango shake as a kid.Hence,during this mango season ,I made mango milkshake with happus mango & asked my kid to have a sip.She loved it !

Mango milk shake is full of fibre,energy ,vitamin A -total nutrition.
Ingredients : 1 mango ,1/3 cup milk.This makes only 1 glass milk shake.

Method : I used Kesar mango ( shown in the snap ).Even happus,dussehari or any mango( on the sweeter side ) can be used.

Peel the mango & take out the flesh of the mango .Puree the flesh in a juicer or mixer.Take milk & try to squeeze remaining fruit pulp from the mango peel .Take the mango seed ( guthli in Hindi ) & try to remove whatever mango flesh is sticking to the seed .Mix all this fruit flesh in the milk.Add this milk to the mango puree in the mixer or juicer.Put the juicer or mixer on & blend the mango puree & milk into one uniform mix.

Pour into a glass .Add ice cubes  to the shake.This shake was sufficiently sweet.For extra sweetness,one may have to add sugar.

Shrikhand

Ingredients : Dahi made from 1/2 litre milk,2 cups sugar, 5-6 elaichi ,kesar( optional).

Method : Take a big sieve ( just like the one used to filter tea ) & pour dahi into that sieve.Leave the sieve with dahi,  suspended, to the edges of a vessel ( patela ).Leave it overnight.Cover the dahi in the sieve with a plate or lid.This is done, so that, all water keeps trickling down.By morning ,there will be a semi solid mass of dahi  left  in the sieve.

Another method is to put dahi on to a thin cotton cloth & tie up the cloth with knot & suspend it from a stand.This helps the  water in the dahi , to get separated from the dahi.

12 hours suspension is enough to drain water -hence keep it overnight.

The water along with a little dahi which has collected in the vessel below the sieve can be consumed  as chaas.

Take this dahi mass & add sugar to it.Mix this nicely.Now add powdered cardamom to it.Take kesar strands & soak   them in milk  & add the kesar also to this mixture.

The shrikhand is ready.Amount of sugar can be adjusted -one may add more or less depending on how much sweetness is needed.Also ,powdered sugar can be used to make mixing easy.