Broken Wheat And Nut Dessert ( Halwa )

This Indian dessert was my sister's innovation which I liked it very much and was simple to prepare.It had broken wheat,different nuts,milk and jaggery which makes it nutritious and tasty too! Instead of jaggery, sugar can be used.

This recipe serves six to eight people.

Ingredients	Quantity
Broken Wheat	1 cup
Milk	500 ml
Jaggery or Sugar	½ cup
Soaked Almonds	½ cup
Soaked Cashewnuts	½ cup
Raisins (Kismis)	2 tbsp
Cardamom Powder	1½ tsps
Clarified Butter or Ghee	2 tsp
Soaked Saffron (optional)	1 tbsp
Coloured Tutifruti and Raisins	for decoration

Method

1. Clean and wash the broken wheat and put it in a dish.


2. Add half the milk and half cup water and cook it in pressure cooker or microwave till soft.


3. Make a paste of the soaked almonds and cashewnuts with little milk and keep it aside.


4. Take the cooked broken wheat in a pan and add the rest of the milk and jaggery or sugar and cook together well.


5. Then add the nut paste,cardamom powder and ghee and stir well and cook till the mixture thickens.


6. Transfer the contents into a serving bowl which is ready for garnishing and decoration.


7. Heat ghee in a small pan and fry the raisins lightly.


8. Add this on the dessert and decorate it with coloured tutifruiti.

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Sweet Mango Delight

Since it is mango season now,this dessert has been made from mangoes and milk which the children and the whole family will enjoy. No eggs are used and is extremely easy to prepare.

Serves four to six people.

Ingredients	Quantity
Ripe Mango puree	1½ cups
Crushed Marie or Glucose Biscuits	1 cup
Melted Butter	3 tbsps
Powdered Sugar	1¾ cup
Hung Curd	1 cup
Cream	½ cup or more
Gelatin	1 tbsp
Water	4 tbsps
Cut Mango pieces for decoration	a few

Method

1. Take butter in a small dish and melt it either in a microwave or on the gas. Pour it over the crushed biscuits and mix it well and spread it evenly at the bottom of the serving dish evenly and firmly by pressing with your fingers.


2. Put this dish in the oven for few minutes till the biscuit mixture becomes firm and sets.Keep it aside.


3. Take a blender jar and add the ripe mango puree,sugar and blend well.


4. Then add the hung curd,cream and gelatin dissolved in warm water and blend it again till mixed well.


5. Pour this mango mixture over the biscuit mixture in the serving dish and decorate it with mango slices and set it in the refrigerator for a few hours.


6. Serve cold slices of this dessert.

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Apple Rabbadi

Rabbadi is a very popular milk dessert in India. It is made from whole milk which is boiled to more than half its quantity and garnished with dry fruits. I happened to eat this milk sweet at my friend's place which had grated apple added to it. I felt that by adding the apple, this sweet seemed to be more light and fruity and more nutritious. This sweet is simple to make but takes a long time because the milk has to be reduced to less than half its quantity. So, the milk mixture can be made before hand and the grated apple can be added just before serving.

Serves eight to ten people.

Ingredients	Quantity
Whole Milk	2 litres
Sugar	½ kg
Sliced Pistachios/Almond slivers	2 tbsps or more
Grated Apples	2 cups
Cardamom Powder	1½ tsps

Method

1. Take milk in a large pan and boil it well and reduce it to less than half its original quantity. The milk has to be continuously stirred or else the milk will burn at the bottom.


2. The colour of the milk will turn slightly brown in colour.


3. Then add the sugar and cook for sometime stirring it continously till it becomes thick and semi solid.


4. Add the cardamom powder and remove from heat.Let it cool.


5. Add the grated apple and mix throughly.


6. Transfer the whole thing into a serving dish and garnish it with pista or almond slivers.


7. Cool it well in the refrigerator before serving.

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Chocolate Dipped Dates

Sponge cake pieces or cookies or fruits like strawberries, apple or cherries dipped in chocolate sauce are not only tasty but a quick dessert to prepare. For a change, Dates can be used instead. In this recipe, seedless dates have been stuffed with pistachios and then dipped in cholate sauce. Other nuts can also be used instead of pistas. This is an easy to make and light dessert and is good for the kids.

Ingredients	Quantity
De-seeded Dates	12
Pistachios	¼ cup
icing Sugar	1 tsp
Chocolate Chips	½ cup
Butter	1 tbsp
Water	as required

Method

1. Boil the pistas in water for three minutes in a pan and remove the skin and keep them aside.


2. Dry the pistas in the folds of a kitchen towel and remove the skin. Grind the pistas coarsely with icing sugar and keep it aside.


3. Take one date at a time and make a slit in the center to place the stuffing.


4. Stuff the dates with half a teaspoon of the pista mixture.


5. Take a microwave bowl and add the chocolate chips and butter and melt in the microwave for about 30seconds. Stir in between. If a microwave is not available, can the chocolate chips can be put in a glass or metal bowl and placed over boiling water to melt the chocolate. See that no water gets into the chocolate.


6. Remove the chocolate from the heat and dip each stuffed date into this chocolate sauce till three fourths and place them in a plate till the chocolate cools and solidifies.


7. These dates can be served immediately or kept in the fridge and served later.

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La Mango Dessert

This mango dessert is very interesting because it contains layers of icecream,breakfast cereal and mango fruit pieces. Other fruits or mixture of fruits can be used also. It is easy to prepare also. It is crunchy because breakfast cereal has been used. Here fruit loops have been used. Other varieties of cereal can also be used.Makes one serving.

Ingredients	Quantity
Condensed Milk	3 tbsps
Vanilla Ice Cream	1 medium cup
Breakfast Cereal	1 cup
Mango Puree	¼ cup
Ripe Mango Pieces	from 2 mangoes

Method

1. Take condensed milk,vanilla icecream and mango puree in a bowl and whisk it with a blender well. Keep it aside.


2. To serve,take a tall glass or a goblet and place two tablespoons of the icecream mixture at the bottom,then place a layer of mango pieces and then a layer of cereal{loops}. Repeat this layering till the cereal is the top layer.


3. Sprinkle some fresh mango pieces on top and chill this glass in the fridge and serve it cold.


4. Note:Instead of icecream and condensed milk, whipped cream and sugar can be used.

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Sweet Indian Pancakes

This simple Indian sweet does not take much time to prepare. This can be served as a dessert or as a snack.It is nutritious, as milk and nuts are used and very less fat is used. This recipe makes about six pancakes.

Ingredients	Quantity
Plain Flour (Maida)	½ cup
Milk	1½ cup
Powdered Sugar	½ cup
Semolina (Suji)	2 tbsps
Cardamom Powder	½ tsp
Chopped Mixed Dry Fruits/Nuts	2 tbsps
Honey	3 tbsps
Clarified Butter (Ghee)	3 tsps

Method

1. Take a bowl and mix flour,powdered sugar,cardamom powder,semolina with milk to a smooth batter. The batter should not be very thin.


2. Heat a flat nonstick pan and add half a teaspoon of ghee and spread it.


3. Add two table spoons of the batter in the center and with the back of the spoon spread it into a circle of three to four inches in diameter.


4. On medium heat or slow heat,let it become slightly brown on all the sides.Turn it and cook the other side too.


5. Remove from the pan and make the next one till the batter is finished.


6. To serve, place all the pancakes on a serving plate and drizzle honey on each one of them and sprinkle chopped nuts on them.Fold them into half and serve.

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Semolina ( Suji ) Halwa

Semolina is made from wheat and is easily digestable.In South India, semolina is used in making breakfast foods like "upma" or "rava dosa".It is also used to make,a sweet dish called "suji halwa" which is popular in North India.Suji halwa is soft and is quick to make and is easily digestable.Makes a big bowl of halwa.

Ingredients	Quantity
Semolina (Suji)	1 cup
Sugar	1 ½ cups
Clarified Butter (Ghee)	¼ cups
Water	2 cups
Cashewnuts	10
Raisins	1 tbsps
Tutti Fruiti Pieces	1 tbsp
Cardamom	1 tsp
Saffron (optional)	½ tsp
Milk	2 tbsp

Method

1. Soak saffron in two tablespoons of warm milk and keep it aside.


2. Take sugar and water in a pan and heat it till the water boils and sugar dissolves completely.Add the saffron soaked in warm milk.Keep it warm.


3. Take another pan and add the clarified butter{ghee} and fry cashewnuts till light brown and then add the raisins and fry for a second.Keep a few fried cashewnuts and raisins aside for garnishing.


4. Now, add the semolina and fry in the ghee lightly.


5. Add the warm sugar syrup and stir. Lower the heat.


6. Cover the pan, and cook till the water evaporates.Turn off the heat.


7. Serve hot or cold in a serving bowl and garnish it with fried cashews,raisins and coloured tutti fruiti pieces.

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Saffron Sweet Rice

This sweet preparation is made with ingredients generally available in the house.This is quick and easy to prepare especially for bachelors,single people and ofcourse kids who have a sweet tooth and once in a while like to eat something sweet as a dessert. This is a gluten and casein free recipe and is for five people.

Ingredients	Quantity
Cooked Basmati Rice	1 ½ cups
Sugar	½ cups
Water	¼ cups
Ghee (Clarified Butter)	1 tbsps
Raisins	1 tbsps
Sliced Cashewnuts	1 tbsp
Sliced Almonds	½ tbsp
Cardamom Powder	½ tbsp
Saffron Strings	½ tbsp
Warm Water	1 tbsp

Method

1. Soak the saffron in the warm water and keep it aside.


2. Take water in a pan and add sugar and heat it till the sugar dissolves and forms a syrup.


3. Add the cooked rice and cook it for sometime in the sugar syrup.


4. Add the soaked saffron and cook till the water evaporates but still remains wet. Turn off the heat and add the cardamom powder and mix.


5. Take a small pan and add the ghee and heat it. Add the cashewnuts and almonds and fry them till light brown in colour. Add the raisins and fry them too.


6. Add these fried nuts and raisins to the saffron rice and mix lightly.


7. Serve hot or cold.


8. If basmati rice is not available, normal rice can be used.

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Ice Cream Cake - Be Great Chefs series for kids

Ingredients	Quantity
Ice Cream (Any Flavour)	1 small cup
Cake Piece or Muffin	1
Milk Chocolate	1

Method

1. Take a piece of cake in a small serving bowl.


2. Add the ice cream from the cup and spread it over the cake.


3. Make small pieces of the chocolate and sprinkle over the ice cream.


4. Serve it cold.

More in Be Great Chefs series for kids - Complete List of Recipes

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Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich

This is a quick and easy dessert for kids especially.If you have Marie biscuits,icecream and fruits this dessert can be prepared in jiffy.

This recipe makes two sandwiches.

Ingredients	Quantity
Marie Biscuits/Any Other Cookie	4
Vanilla Ice Cream/Or Any Flavour	1 scoop
Ripe Banana Slices	4
Mixed Chopped Dry Fruits	2 tsps

Method

1. Take two biscuits and place them upside down on a flat surface.


2. Take a tablespoon of icecream and put it on one biscuit.


3. Then plac a banana slice on it and cover it with the other biscuit and press it gently.


4. Repeat with the other two cookies.


5. Quickly place these sandwiches in a plate and keep them in the freezer for some time till the icecream freezes.


6. They can be served as a snack or as a dessert.


7. Instead of vanilla icecream,chocolate or strawberry ice cream with nuts or strawberry can be used.

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Banana Icecream Dessert

To coax children to eat fruits like banana is sometimes difficult. But you can serve it in a different way with icecream of their choice and ultimately eat the fruit.The kids would love to eat this yummy dessert.You can make two servings.

Ingredients	Quantity
Vanilla Ice Cream	2 scoops
Ripe Banana	1
Butter	½ tsp
Brown Sugar/Honey	1 tsp
Almond Slivers	a few

Method

1. Peel the banana and slice it in the center to get two long slices.


2. Take butter in a pan and heat it.


3. Place these banana slices in the hot butter and sprinkle brown sugar or honey and fry till golden brown.Cool them.


4. Take a serving bowl and place a scoop of icecream and beside it the banana slice and decorate it with almond slivers and tuti fruiti.

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Fruit Custard Canapes

This recipe can be served as a dessert and is easy to prepare. The filling can have any fruit of your choice and availability. Here custard has been used but one can use any sweet filling of your choice.Children will love it!

Ingredients	Quantity
Canapes	6
Custard Powder	2 tbsps
Milk	1¾ cups
Sugar	2 tbsps
Chopped Apples	2 tbsps
Chopped Nuts	1 tbsp
Cherries	for decoration
Oil	for shallow frying

Method

1. Shallow fry the canapes and store them in an airtight jar till required.


2. To make the custard filling,take a pan and add about one and quarter cups of milk and boil.


3. Mix in half a cup of cold milk the custard powder and sugar well.


4. When the milk boils,lower the heat and add this custsrd milk mixture into it and
   stir till it becomes thick. Take it out from the heat and cool it.


5. Add the chopped apples or any other fruits and keep it in the refrigerator to cool.


6. Just before serving,fill the canapes with a tablespoon or more of the custard fruit mixture and decorate it with chopped nuts and cherries.This is a good dessert for summer.

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Chocolate Strawberry with Ice Cream

This is an easy and quick dessert to make when strawberries are in season in India.Children will love it! Strawberries can be dipped in the chocolate sauce and placed on a butter paper and kept in the fridge till required.

Ingredients	Quantity
Strawberries	10 to 12
Semisweet Chocolate Chips	1 cup
Cream	3 tbsps
Vanilla or Strawberry Ice Cream	5 to 6 scoops
Grated Chocolate	for decoration

Method

1. Wash the strawberries and dry them between the folds of a kitchen towel.


2. To make the chocolate sauce,take a microwave proof bowl and add the chocolate chips and cream. Place the bowl in the microwave for twenty seconds or till the chocolate melts.The chocolate chips can also be melted by placing the bowl over hot water if a microwave is not available.


3. Dip each strawberry in this sauce and place them on a butterpaper or a plate and keep them in the fridge till required.


4. To serve, take a scoop of your favourite ice cream in a small shallow bowl and place two chocolate coated strawberries and decorate it with a sliced strawberry and grated chocolate.

A splash of tasty colour on Holi - Wishing you all a very Happy and Colourful Holi!

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Orange Cake

Cake made with orange juice and orange rind will ethrall the children because of its colour and flavour.It is different from the regular cake recipe.

Ingredients	Quantity
Plain Flour (Maida)	1 cup
Butter	3 tbsps
Powdered Sugar	¾ cup
Eggs	2
Vanilla Essence	½ tsp
Baking Powder	½ tsp
Fresh Orange Juice	3 tbsps
Orange Rinds (Orange Zest)	1 tsp
Orange Essence (Optional)	½ tsp
Orange Colour	a few drops
Salt	a pinch
Orange Marmalade	2 tbsps
Water	1 tbsp
Whipped Cream	½ cup
Orange Slivers (For Decoration)	4

Method

1. Beat the butter in a bowl with a wooden spoon or an electric beater till the butter is light and stands out in peaks.


2. Add the sugar and beat them together till light.


3. Add the eggs one by one along with vanilla essence and mix lightly.


4. Then add the flour sifted with baking powder and salt to it and mix gently.


5. Then add the orange juice, orange colour, rind and orange essence and mix it.


6. Pour this mixture into a greased and floured pan and bake in a preheated oven for fortyfive minutes at 200 degrees centigrade.


7. Cool the cake and decorate it with whipped cream and orange marmalade which was mixed with water.Decorate the cake wih orange slivers too and serve.

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Banana Sandwich

This simple sandwich is a sweet item and can be given to kids as a breakfast food. Its something different for them and can be made with the items available in he house.Also it can be eaten as a dessert. Brown bread can be used instead of plain bread to increase its nutritive value.Any other fruit can be used instead of banana.

Ingredients	Quantity
Brown Bread	2 slices
Peanut Butter	2 tbsps
Lime Juice	1 tbsp
Brown Sugar	1 tbsp
Honey (Optional)	2 tsp
Banana (Ripe)	4 slices
Butter	1 tsp
Cinnamon Sugar	1 ½ tsp

Method

1. Mix peanut butter,brown sugar,lime juice and honey in a bowl.


2. Take each slice of bread and smear this mixture on both the sides of the bread.


3. Place banana slices in between the two slices of bread and press it lightly to make a sandwich.


4. Take butter in a pan and heat it and place the sandwich in it and heat it till it becomes brown on both the sides.
   
   Remove from heat.


5. Sprinkle some cinnamon sugar on it and serve.


6. To make cinnamon sugar mix a little of cinnamon powder with sugar.

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Sweet Coconut Basket With Ice Cream

In one of my travels to Kerala I came across a simple dessert made with coconut. Hope you will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed it!

Ingredients	Quantity
Grated Coconut	1 cup
Jaggery (Gur or Gud)	½ cup
Cardamom Powder	1 tsp
Plain Flour (Maida)	½ cup
Water	¼ cup
Hot Oil or Ghee (Optional)	1 tsp
oil	for deep frying
Honey	2 tbsps

Method

1. Take a bowl and mix the plain flour,hot ghee and enough water to make a firm dough.Cover it and keep it aside.


2. To make he filling,take a pan and heat it. Pour half a cup of water and and add the jaggery and cook both of them till it forms thick syrup.


3. Add cardamom powder and grated coconut and mix. Remove from heat and let it cool.


4. Make lemon sized balls with this coconut mixture.


5. Take the dough and divide it into seven or eight balls.


6. Roll each ball into a thin circle.


7. Place a coconut ball in the center of the circle and with water wet the edges with little water.


8. Now bring all the sides of the circle to the center and close it to make a basket.Do the same with the rest of the balls.


9. Fry these baskets in hot oil till golden brown.


10. Place one coconut basket in a serving bowl and a scoop of your favourite ice cream and drizzle honey over this and serve.

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Quick Fruit Dessert

This dessert can be made with whatever fruits available in the house. It can also be made with only one kind of fruit like mango, pineapple or strawberry etc to enjoy a single flavour.

Ingredients	Quantity
Apple	1
Grapes	½ cup
Pineapple pieces	a few
Orange	1
Banana	1
Musk Melon Pieces	½ cup
Strawberries	4
Tuti Fruiti (or Vanilla) Ice Cream	6 scoops
Fresh Cream	½ cup
Jelly (Jell O)	1 pkt

Method

1. Make the jello with the jelly crstals as per instructions on the packet and keep it in the fridge to set.


2. Chop the the fruits with a steel knife into small pieces into a bowl.


3. Take icecream and fresh cream in a bowl and whip them together with an electric hand beater well and add the fruits.Mix them lightly.


4. Keep the contents in a serving bowl and keep it in the fridge to chill.


5. To serve,take two scoops of the icream fruit mixture in a dessert bowl and put the set jelly on it and sprinkle some candied sugar.

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Sweet Potato Gulab Jamuns

Gulab jamun is a favourite dish with most. But there are a few who cannot tolerate/digest casein or milk protein and gluten present in traditional Gulab Jamuns. Why should these people be deprived of this delicious dessert? So this recipe came to my mind, which is made with sweet potato and rajgira flour. Sweet potato is easily available and the same with rajgira flour.

Rajgira flour is made from the seeds of Amaranth or Amaranthus. This contains no gluten and is used in baking cakes and breads and for making pastas. Somebody called it 'pseudo grain flour'. When I made it, my granddaughter loved it and wanted more. That made my day! So you can try it too!

Ingredients	Quantity
Sweet Potato (Boiled and Mashed)	1 ½ cups
Rajgira Flour (Amaranth Seed Flour)	3 tbsps
Sugar	2 cups
Water	1 ¾ cups
Cardamom Powder (Elaichi)	1 tsp
Saffron (Kesar)	few strings
Rose Water	a few drops
Pistachios	a few
Oil	for deep frying

Method

1. Take a bowl and combine boiled and mashed sweet potatoes and ragira flour to make a dough.It should not be very soft but firm. If soft a little more of rajgira flour can be added but not too much. The gulab jamuns may become too hard if too much rajgira flour is added.


2. Make about thirty to thirty two balls with the mixture and keep it aside.


3. Make a syrup with sugar and water by boiling it together.Add saffron and cardamom powder to it and remove from the heat. But keep the syrup warm.


4. Take oil for deep frying in a pan and fry these gulab jamuns four or five at a time on low heat till they are golden brown and not dark brown.


5. Put these balls directly into the warm syrup and let them soak for ten minutes.


6. Sprinkle a few drops of rose water and finely chopped pistachios and serve.

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Stuffed Coconut Dessert

Ingredients:

• Plain flour                                                           1/2 cup
• Salt                                                                        a pinch
• Oil                                                                          for deep frying

For the filling:

• Grated Coconut                                                     1/2 cup
• Brown Sugar/Jaggery                                          1/4 cup
• Cardamom Powder                                               1/4 tsp

For the Topping:

• Honey                                                                      1 tablespoon
• Chopped Nuts/Dryfruits                                     As per desire
• Vanilla Ice Cream                                                 6 scoops

Method To Prepare The Filling:

1. Take jaggery or brown sugar in a pan and add a tablespoon of water and cook till it becomes a thick syrup on low flame.
2. Add the grated coconut and cardamom powder and mix it in
3. Cook till it thickens, stirring occasionally.
4. Cool this mixture

Method To Prepare Stuffed Coconut Dessert:

1. Make a stiff dough with plain flour, salt and water, and keep it aside.
2. Divide the dough into six balls.
3. Roll out each ball into circles.
4. Place a tablespoon of coconut filling in the centre of the circle and cover the mixture with a half-fold of the dough circle and shape them into long pieces which are well sealed.
5. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying.
6. Fry the long stuffed pieces in the oil till they are light brown and crispy.
7. To serve, place one fried piece on a plate and a scoop of ice cream and drizzle a little of honey on this. Chopped nuts can also be sprinkled on this.

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