Chitoi Pithe

I dedicate this post to my Dida (my granny). I always wanted to cook any types of Pithe and this is my first time.Though the commonly known pithe's are Patishaptha and Doodh Puli , I am sharing the recipe of Chitoi Pithe in thickened milk gravy which is my favorite and not at all time consuming to prepare.

Whenever I think of pithe I always remember my childhood days were my granny use to prepare many kinds of pithes during Makar Sankranti. I never came across  the same taste, in my memories the taste was saved somewhere. I really miss my granny , it has been almost 16 years we have lost her. Chitoi pithe is one of my favorite which Dida used to prepare.
My family really enjoyed this preparation specially my mom and aunt reminisced Dida's pithe. One thing I could not help think is the effort Dida had to make in those days with minimal or no appliances. We are thankful to technology that which help us to reduce a lot of time and energy. That's why I wanted to dedicate this post to my Dida.

Simply Orange Cake

A big Hiiiiiiii to everyone... Resuming after a long refreshing India visit. I do have couple of recipes in store and will share soon :)
Today I prepared the delicious and juicy ORANGE CAKE. Sometime last year while having a Sunday Brunch at Theobroma in Mumbai, I had stumbled upon a mouth watering piece of orange cake, which I crave till date. So it inspired me to try and have a go at this recipe. The piece of cake should be super soft and melt in your mouth instantly "just Yuuumm", though the best feature, I feel, is the strong citric aroma, so one smell will drive you to have a bite instantly. It is not very difficult to prepare, just needs eye on details.

Rasmalai (Rashomalai)

We just completed our second marriage anniversary in April ,on this occasion we invited few friends to our house last week for a small get together. Was a very enjoyable night and all of us had lots of fun. Since a Bengali feast is incomplete without the touch of a sweet dish in the end, I planned to prepare rasmalai for dessert.

Rasmalai is another Bengali dessert made with soft cottage cheese(paneer/chhena) balls immersed in creamy milk which is then served chilled. The beauty of the dish is that it just melts in your mouth and the sweetness of the cream complements the soft and spongy rasgullas extremely well.

Rasgulla - Rashogolla

Rasgulla or Roshogolla however you want to call it... Rasgullas are always a favorite dessert among Bengalis and is also very popular throughout India and other parts of South Asia. Since childhood I always brought rasgullas from my nearest sweet shop,never ever thought I would ever prepare it at home and it will turn out so good. It was only after moving out of India and non availability of good rasgullas in local Indian restaurants (or canned ones in some Indian grocery stores) made me take a shot at preparing them at home for the first time.To be precise Rasgullas are made from ball shaped cottage cheese dumplings cooked in light sugar syrup.Just follow the the below mentioned steps rasgullas will really come out well.Believe me preparing rasgullas are not at all difficult.