Mango and pistachio cheesecake

Seasonal fruits should always be utilised to make fruit based desserts. Never use artificial colour. This is a quick recipe and packed with natural flavors. I have tried to attempt this with easy to buy ingredients- yogurt, cottage cheese, milk etc.

What you need

For the base:
Digestive biscuits, 12-15
Salted butter, 1/2 cup, melted

For the cheesecake filling:
2 cups, grated cottage cheese/paneer
1 1/2 cup hung curd
2 1/2 cup mango puree (I used fresh mangoes)
1 1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup condensed milk
1 cup powdered sugar
1 heaped tbsp cornflour
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp gelatin
A handful of chopped pistachios
1 roughly chopped mango

1. Grind digestive biscuits and melted butter into a sand like mixture. Put this mixture in a pie dish and line the dish with this mixture. Refrigerate until you get done with the cheesecake filling.

2. Heat milk, condensed milk in a heavy bottomed pan. In a small bowl mix cornflour with 2-3 tbsp cold milk to make a smooth mixture. add this drop by drop to the simmering milk. Stir at all times on a low flame. Once this milk mixture starts to thicken (spoon coating consistency), keep it aside to cool.

3. In a large bowl, mix Grated cottage cheese, hung curd, mango puree, vanilla essence, the milk mixture and powdered sugar. If mangoes are too sweet you can reduce the amount of sugar or increase accordingly. Transfer the contents to a mixer and mix until you get a smooth mixture. Don't fret, you will get a smooth mixture.

4.In a different bowl, mix the gelatin with piping hot water until the gelatin is incorporated completely. Keep it aside to cool. Add the gelatin mixture to the cheesecake filling you made earlier. Add chopped pistachios and mangoes, mix well. Transfer the contents to the biscuit base you made earlier. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours and let it set. Serve chilled.

Good old fashioned Kadhai Paneer

Unfortunately, I get to cook full fledged only when I'm back home. There is no facility in the hostel. Sometimes I get lucky in landing myself in a kitchen at a friend or relatives place. Anyway, I'm home when I can cook freely. This recipe of "kadhai paneer" is a favourite at our house. The same recipe could be used for chicken as well. I'll do another post on that. Don't get intimidated by the length of the recipe, most of it are tips to help. It is a 3 step recipe. I've tried to reduce the calorie intake with the use of olive oil in this recipe but couldn't resist adding butter somewhere. I don't believe in cooking healthy, any food cooked at home is healthy.

What you need:
500 gm paneer or cottage cheese, cut into cubes
6 medium sized fully ripened tomatoes, blended to a puree
1/2 cup store bought tomato puree
4 tsp garlic paste, preferably freshly ground
4 tsp ginger paste, preferably freshly ground
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 medium sized onions, cut and separated into wedges
2 tsp ginger juliennes
3 whole dried red chillies
3 heaped tsp coriander seeds (saboot dhania)
1-2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
2 tbsp butter
3-4 tbsp refined oil or olive oil (I used olive oil)
4-5 tsp garam masala
1 tsp roopak kashmiri masala (optional)
1 green chilli, chopped finely
1 cup milk
1 tsp sugar
Chopped coriander leaves
salt to taste

1. Dry roast whole red chillies and coriander seeds on a heavy iron griddle or what we call in India a 'Tawa". Keep on tossing with a spoon because the coriander seeds tend to brown very quickly. Once browned, grind this mixture in a grinder until you get a coarse masala powder. Keep it aside.

2. In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the butter and saute the bell peppers and diced onions with a pinch of salt at a high flame. It's essential to maintain the crunchiness of these vegetables, hence do not saute for a long time. 2-3 minutes at the maximum. Take these out in a bowl and keep them aside.

3. In the same pan, heat some oil and add the cumin to it. Add ginger-garlic paste and green chillies and saute for 1 minute. Now add both home-made and store-bought tomato puree to the pan. The reason i use store bought tomato puree is solely for the colour. it gives a rich red colour to the gravy.

4. Add coriander and red chilli powder that you made in the first step, salt and kashmiri masala to this mixture. Its important to taste at all times. Don't add the entire coriander and red chilli powder at once, add some in the start and then maybe some in the end. The mixture will start bubbling so put a lid on and leave it to simmer on a medium flame for 20-25 minutes. Stir it every 5 minutes. Simmer it until the oil starts separating from the sides. Add the sugar and Pour in the milk. Let the mixture simmer till the milk is incorporated. You can add more milk if you want more gravy.

5. Once you pour in the milk. the flavours tend to mellow down.It is important to maintain the balance since the cottage cheese or paneer will also soak in some spices. Therefore, taste and add more spices if you wish to. Finish off by mixing in the garam masala.

6. Add  Paneer or cottage cheese, sauteed bell peppers and onions to the tomato mixture. Garnish with julienne of ginger and chopped fresh coriander leaves.

Note: You can also add fresh cream to give it a more rich flavor.