Category saffron

50/50 Week 31: India Rasmalai

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This recipe takes a few steps, but its well worth it in my opinion 🙂

I took a shortcut with the rabri and used sweetened condensed milk.

Rabri Ingredients:

  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1/8 tsp cardamom powder
  • a few saffron strands
  • chopped pistachios and almonds for topping

Chenna/Paneer Ingredients:

  • 5 cups whole milk
  • 1-2 Tbsp lemon juice or vinegar
  • a handful of ice cubes

Sugar Syrup Ingredients:

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 1/2 cups water
  • 1/4 tsp cardamom powder

Start out by making your Rabri. Combine your condensed milk and whole milk over medium heat and stir until it all comes together. Add your cardamom and saffron, then set to lowest heat and simmer while you get your other ingredients together.

Time to work on your chenna/paneer. This was super cool for me because while cooking is definitely a science, this is the first time it felt like doing an experiment. Anywho, bring 5 cups of milk to a boil and then turn off the heat. Add lemon juice and stir until your milk completely curdles. If you’re having issues curdling, add some more lemon juice. Add a handful of ice cubes and let sit for a couple minutes so it’s not too hot to handle. Line a colander with a muslin cloth (in a pinch, a nice kitchen towel works..just not the fuzzy kind) Pour your curdled mess into the colander and rinse with cold water to make sure you get the lemon juice off. Pull all your corners of your cloth together and squeeze out as much liquid as you can. If you’re able, tie it as tight as you can and hang it over your faucet so it can continue to dribble out cheese water. mmmm cheese water

After about an hour you should be good to go with your Chenna. There should be no more dripping and it should be moist but not super sticky.

Time to be a kneady bitch.

Transfer your chenna to a plate and knead for about 3-5 minutes. There’s no exact time on this one you’re doing it all by feel. Knead it until it’s smooth and non-sticky. Make 12 even sized balls and flatten gently to form discs. If you have any cracking, just roll the sides gently. No one needs to know. How are they gonna know?

We’re almost done, I promise. Now to make the sugar syrup! Boil 3 1/2 cups water with 1 cup sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves and then add cardamom powder. When syrup begins to boil rapidly, gently add your chenna discs and cook covered for 9-10 minutes. Remove from heat and keep lid on for 20 minutes. For 20 minutes, pretend they don’t exist. You’ll know they’re ready when they sink to the bottom of the pan. Remove from syrupy grave and let cool briefly.

Time to assemble this sweet mouth potpourri!

Gently squeeze excess syrup out of your discs by lightly pressing between your palms. Add these to your rabri- make sure to remove from heat- and let rest for 3-4 hours. I never said this was a quick process.

Garnish with your nuts..heh

You can serve warm or cold.

I learned the hard way that my wife doesn’t like pistachios. I don’t know how I never found this out. Don’t worry, we’ve reconciled and the divorce has been postponed. More pistachios for meeee!!!

50/50 Week 21: Morocco Seffa Medfouna

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A literal mountain of food! Delicious, delicious food.

For the Seffa:

  • 2 pounds of dry broken vermicelli
  • 3 Tbs vegetable oil
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup golden raisins, soaked in water for 20 minutes
  • 4 Tbs butter
  • 1 cup powdered sugar

For the Saffron Chicken

  • 1 whole chicken, disassembled
  • 2 large onions chopped
  • 1 Tbs ground ginger
  • 1 tsp white pepper
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 2 small sticks of cinnamon
  • 1 tsp saffron threads, crumbled
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 1/2- 2 tsp salt- to taste
  • 4 Tbs butter
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Toppings

  • 1/2 – 1 cup almonds (blanched, fried & ground)
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 Tbs ground cinnamon

I will warn you that this is time consuming. Not a casual weeknight meal, definitely a special occasion- lots of people over- type meal.

I bought an instant pot for this haha If you have a steamer, you’re good. I’ve had so many recipes that require a steamer and I made due, but for this recipe in particular, I knew I needed to bring out the big guns.

Fill the base of your steamer with salted water and proceed to steam the broken vermicelli 4-5 times (add the raisins for the 4th steaming)

For exactly how to do the steaming process, go here: https://www.thespruceeats.com/how-to-make-seffa-medfouna-2395009

Mix the chicken, lamb or beef with the onions, spices, butter, oil and cilantro in a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot. Gently brown the chicken over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Cover the pot and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the meat is very tender. This will take about 1 hour. When the chicken has been cooked, reduce the liquids until a thick sauce has formed. Discard the cinnamon stick, and taste for seasoning. If desired, remove the chicken from the bones.

To Serve:

Gently toss the steamed broken vermicelli with the butter and powdered sugar. Place about 1/3 of this mixture on a very large serving dish. Arrange the chicken in the center, and cover with the sauce. Pile the rest of the vermicelli on top of the meat, using your hands to shape a dome.

Decorate the mound of seffa in a vertical pattern with the cinnamon, ground almonds and powdered sugar. Serve immediately, with small bowls of powdered sugar, ground almonds, and cinnamon on the side.

50/50 Week 20: Egyptian Jalebi

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Batter

  • 3 cups AP Flour
  • 2 cups plain greek yogurt (original recipe calls for hung curd, but greek yogurt is a good substitution)
  • 1/2 cup ghee
  • 1/2 cup corn starch
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda

2 cups of oil for frying

Syrup

  • 3 cups sugar
  • 3 cups water
  • 5 strands of saffron
  • 1/2 tsp cardamom
  • 4 drops rose essence

So first things first, this isn’t a one day recipe. You need to let the batter ferment over night. Mix AP flour, cornstarch, and baking soda together in a bowl. Add ghee, food coloring, yogurt, and water. I didn’t list the water in the ingredients because you’ll add it little by little until you reach a slightly flowing consistency. Cover the bowl in a towel and let sit for 8-10 hours on the counter.

For the sugar syrup, heat water in a pan over medium heat. Add sugar and stir until fully dissolved. Simmer the syrup until it reaches one string consistency. ( I didn’t know what this means so I messed up this step and had to redo it) One string consistency is reached when you put a little of the syrup between your fingers and there’s a “string” when you pull your fingers apart. Remove from heat and add saffron, cardamom, and rose. Stir well

Now time to fry!

Heat your oil over medium heat until you’re about 350-365F

Put your batter in a ziplock bag and snip a small hole in the corner. Moving from the inside-out you want to make concentric circles in the oil with your batter. This will take a few tries to look right. Practice makes perfect and all that.. Fry a few minutes on either side until they’re crisp and golden.

Your syrup should be warm, but not hot. When your jalebis are done frying, soak them in the syrup for 2-3 minutes and place on a foil lined tray. They should be served warm or at room temperature.

I will warn you that this makes A LOT of batter. The good news is that it freezes well.