ORANGE PEEL CANDY

While I was browsing through a blog I met with an interesting post. I sat glued to my seat until I read it completely and then tried it in my kitchen immediately. Came back and posted a comment on Kevin's blog ''Closet Cooking''. The original recipe can be seen in the link http://www.closetcooking.com/2011/02/candied-orange-peel.html

This recipe was simple, easy and made out of just 3 ingredients. It's chewy, crunchy and the best part is that the main ingredient of this recipe is orange peel, which is mostly discarded by us.

The original recipe had 3 oranges and 1 cup sugar, but I tried with 1 orange as a tester with the same 1 cup sugar. It was good since the oranges were slightly sour and I didn't want the bitter taste to predominate.

INGREDIENTS
ORANGE ---- 1
SUGAR ----- 1 cup
WATER ----- 2 cups

METHOD

Cut the top part of the orange. Make four slits on the top skin               

Peel the skin and you shall get four pieces

Slice them thin and long

Boil 4 cups of water in a pan and cook the orange slices for 15 mins. Drain and rinse well. This helps to remove the bitter taste of the peel

Mix sugar with 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add the cooked peels to it. Simmer and let it cook tender for another 45 mins


Drain the peels from sugar syrup and roll it in a plate of sugar. The sugar granules will coat the peels. Note to drain the syrup well or else they would soak when rolled in sugar

Leave it to dry for a few hours. Enjoy!

RASGULLA - Syrupy Sweet dish with Paneer/cheese

Yesterday morning while I boiled milk for making my morning delight 'the filter coffee', milk got curdled. On such days, I usually make crumbled paneer masala or use it in some dishes as a filling. This time I tried the tasty Rasgullas with this fresh paneer.

I happened to see an easy recipe in Raks Kitchen and tried the same. It was easy cooking, tasted good and now if milk curdles, I would not mind missing a hot cup of coffee in the morning......!

INGREDIENTS

MILK ----- 500ml

LIME JUICE----- 1tbsp

SUGAR ----- 1cup

WATER ----- 1.25cup

ICE CUBES ----6 to 7

CARDAMOM ----- 3

PISTACHIOS --- optional

METHOD

• Boil milk, use whole fat milk if exclusively making rasgullas. Add 1tbsp lime juice to it.Simmer flame and boil it for a little while more. You can see the cheese seperates from whey. Put off the flame

• Add the ice cubes and mix well

• Pour the content through a muslin cloth, I used a clean kitchen cloth to drain the water

• Place the cloth with paneer under running water, so that the smell and flavour of lime is washed off well

• Slightly press and remove excess water. Now hang the cloth for 30mins and drain the water completely

• Take the paneer out to a plate. They would be in crumbled pieces. Slowly and smoothly knead the paneer for about 10mins. Take time and patience to do this part of the recipe

• The paneer would now be smooth and firm. Pinch a little of this paneer and roll it smooth between your palms and shape it to your desire

• Meanwhile, boil water in a pressure cooker with 1cup of sugar and crushed cardamoms. Let the sugar dissolve completely and water start to boil

• Reduce the flame and drop the paneer balls gently into the hot water. Close the lid and put weight to the cooker

• After the first whistle, put the flame to sim and cook it further for 5mins. Now put off the flame and let the cooker cool down

• Open the cooker lid and you can see the rasgullas doubled in size. The soft and fresh rasgullas are divine!

• Transfer it to a bowl and garnish with broken pistachios or any other garnish that you like. Let it come to room temperature and then refrigerate.
• Serve it warm or cool

NOTE

• Drain water completely from the paneer
• Take care and time while kneading the paneer
• Do not remove the pressure from cooker early
• I could make 10 rasgullas with this measure