Rabri

A sweet condensed milk dessert known for its taste and texture.Rabri sits lightly on the tongue and fills you up in a few spoonfuls. This crave-worthy dessert will take your taste buds through a milky melody!

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I really don't know why I blog certain dishes versus the others. I guess, I do it if I feel like it! But there were couple of things about this dessert that nudged me into blogging it.

First time I made Rabri for a family gathering, everybody loved it. To every party and potluck I take this dessert, it always receives compliments and pleases even the pickiest of eaters. I realized this dessert had a lot of potential and decided to make this for the Holiday dessert bake–off at work. To my surprise, it was voted as the best dessert. Yay! With all these accolades, it would be unfair not to blog this star dessert and share it with everybody.

Rabri is a sweet condensed milk dessert. It is milk in its purest essence and is known for its taste and texture. Milk is thickened by evaporating on low flame and then sweetened and flavored. The delicious small pieces of solidified milk cream come along in every spoon with a nice aromatic flavor of saffron and cardamom. It is rich, creamy, and perfectly perfect!

Sweet, and rich, rabri sits lightly on the tongue and fills you up in a few spoonfuls. This crave-worthy dessert will take your taste buds through a milky melody!

Rabri

Makes - 4-6 Servings

Milk	– 1/4 gallon
Cream	– 1/4 gallon
Sweetened Condensed Milk	– 1 14oz can
Pistachios	– 1/2 cup chopped
Saffron	– few threads
Cardamom	– 2 - 3 pods(optional)

Heat milk and cream together in a heavy bottomed pan

Take 2 tbsps of warm milk in a small bowl and soak saffron threads. Keep it aside

Bring the milk in the pan to a boil stirring frequently to prevent milk from scorching the bottom

Then, simmer and let it cook for 15 – 20 minutes

Now, pour the can of condensed milk and continue boiling till the milk reduces to half the quantity

Adjust sweetness as per your taste.You can reduce the quantity of condensed milk if you want it less sweet.

As it cooks you will see layers of cream forming on the top and sticking to the sides and bottom of the pan. Keep stirring the milk, pushing the layers to the side and scrapping the sides and bottom of the pan. These little pieces of milk cream gives this dessert it's taste and texture.

When it has reduced to half, add saffron milk,cardamom and pistachios. Let it cook for few more minutes

Remove from heat and cool. Place in refrigerator to chill

Garnish with pistachios and serve chill

Minestrone Soup - Cold weather, Hot soup!

Perfect cold weather fare that warms up and satisfies the soul on a chilly day. Packed with vegetables, quick-to-fix and nutritious, this soup is a meal in itself!

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What cold weather fare comforts and warms the soul more than soup? It's the perfect belly-warmer for the chilly days, and just holding a hot bowl of soup thaws out chilled hands.

Brimming with a harvest of vegetables, minestrone soup is a quick-to-fix soup fresh-tasting and nutritious. The tomato-based broth is full of everything from carrots and celery to beans and elbow macaroni. It is a versatile recipe that you can alter to fit whatever's in your pantry. Make it hearty or light; keep it vegetarian or not -- it's up to you. Just sauté the veggies, add broth, tomatoes and season with your favorite herbs and spices and simmer until the vegetables are tender.

I always make a big pot of this easy minestrone soup because it’s simple to put together and the flavor is so wonderful.I could eat it for lunch and dinner all week long, and I usually do. Packed with vegetables, beans and pasta, this soup is a meal in itself.

A hot bowl of minestrone soup is both mouth-watering and soul satisfying.

Minestrone Soup

Makes - 4 servings

  

Carrots	- 1 cup chopped		Bay leaf	- 2
Green Beans	- 1/2 cup chopped		Garlic	- 2
Celery	- 1/2 cup chopped		Salt	- to taste
Onion	- 1/2 cup chopped		Pepper	- to taste
Cannellini Beans	- 1/2 cup		Parmesan cheese	- 1 cup (optional)
Elbow Pasta	- 1 cup cooked		Olive Oil	- 1 tbsp
Diced Tomato	- 1 cup
Tomato Paste	- 1/4 cup
Chicken/Vegetable Broth	- 4 cups

In a large pot, heat oil over medium high heat.

Add garlic and onion and cook until translucent.

Add broth, tomato paste, celery, carrots, beans, bay leaf, and tomatoes and cook for 20 to 30 minutes, until vegetables are tender.

You can use vegetables of your choice and quantity. Sometimes, I like to add cabbage, zucchini, spinach and additional seasoning like parsley, oregano or basil to the soup.

Add cannellini beans, pasta and simmer for another 20 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper.

Ladle soup into bowls and serve with Parmesan cheese sprinkled over the top.

Honey Walnut Cream Cheese Spread

Looking for a perfect spread for breakfast?Honey Walnut Cream Cheese spread is a natural partner for bagels, breads and muffins. It is creamy,crunchy and just sweet that it will melt in your mouth.

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I love to start my day with a crispy toasted bagel but sometimes the question arises what am I going to spread on it today?

Cream cheese and bagels are a classic breakfast choice and my favorite. You can always buy cream cheese at your grocery store, but what if you want something more gourmet, something more flavorful? You can make homemade cream cheese spread of course!

This luscious Honey Walnut Cream Cheese spread is a natural partner for bagels, breads, muffins and more. Softened cream cheese is whipped together with honey and dash of walnuts.The sweetness of the honey mixes perfectly with the cream cheese with the nuts adding a little crunch.The creaminess, hint of sweetness and the crunch together make a melt-in-your-mouth combination.

Honey Walnut Cream Cheese Spread

Makes - 8 Servings

Cream Cheese	- 8oz, softened
Honey	- 3 - 4 tbsps
Brown Sugar	- 2 - 3 tbsps
Walnuts	- 1/2 cup chopped

In a bowl, combine softened cream cheese, honey, brown sugar, Whip together using an electric beater or hand blender until smooth and fluffy. Alternatively, you can blend in a food processor.

Add the chopped nuts and mix.

Chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Baklava

Layers of delicately crispy phyllo pastry and sweet nut filling, kissed with honey syrup that is perfectly sticky and sweet.A bite of baklava will take your taste buds on a journey through several layers of eternal bliss from the delicate crispy buttery crust followed by chewy nuts held in place by thick syrup and a final layer of moist pastry.

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Light, flaky layers of crust and a sweet nutty filling, kissed with honey syrup. It is a piece of ambrosia dropped straight from heaven to the plate! Baklava truly is the dessert of the gods.

Baklava, a rich sweet made with layers of paperthin dough smothered with butter alternated with chopped nuts drenched in fragrant infused sugar syrup and baked to perfection. All those layers and layers of delicate crusty pastry, perfectly sticky & sweet honey syrup with the nuts is a heavenly treat.

I absolutely love the Baklava experience; from making to eating! While baking, I love the sweet aroma of the butter, sugar and nuts, it is so inviting. The crackling sound when pouring the syrup over hot golden brown Baklava hints to me that the pastry is soaking in the syrup and I am almost there! When it is cooled and the syrup soaked in, I lift a piece to my mouth and pause to savor the fragrance. Finally, I pop it into my mouth and the baklava experience is complete as the flavor pervades the palate.

A bite of baklava will take your taste buds on a journey through several layers of eternal bliss from the delicate crispy buttery crust followed by chewy nuts held in place by thick syrup and a final layer of moist pastry.

Baklava

Makes - 10 Servings

Phyllo Dough	- 1 packet
Butter	- 1 - 2 sticks melted
Honey Syrup		Nut Filling
Sugar	- 2 cups	Pistachios	- 2 cups
Honey	- 1/3 cup	Almonds	- 1 cup
Water	- 1 cup	Sugar	- 6 tbsps
Cinnamon	- 1" stick
Rose water/orange peel /lemon juice	- 1 tbsp (optional)

Thaw phyllo dough to room temperature.

Pre-heat oven to 350 F

Honey Syrup

In a pan combine sugar, water, honey and cinnamon. Boil on medium heat, stirring till the sugar melts and the syrup thickens. Remove from heat and let it cool.

You can add rose water or orange peel or lemon juice to the honey syrup for fragrance infused syrup.

Nut Filling

Place nuts and sugar in a blender or food processor and pulse it till the nuts are coarsely chopped. Keep aside.

Baklava

Trim the phyllo dough sheets to the size of 9 X 13 baking pan.

Brush the bottom and sides of the pan with melted butter; lay down a sheet of phyllo and brush with melted butter. Repeat this step 9 more times for a total of 10 sheets of phyllo.

Spread 1/2 the nut filling evenly over the phyllo sheet.

Layer 8 more sheets of phyllo with butter in between them.

Spread remaining nut filling over the phyllo sheet.

Top with 8 more sheets of phyllo, brushing each sheet with melted butter. Brush the top sheet with butter.

Using a sharp knife, gently cut phyllo layers into 2" squares or diamonds.

Bake baklava for 35- 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove baklava from oven and immediately pour the honey syrup over the baklava.

Allow it to cool for few hours and soak up the syrup.

Cut a piece of Baklava and enjoy the heavenly sensation!