Strawberry Cheesecake Falooda,Get Your Recipe Published

Strawberry Cheesecake Falooda
Don’t you just love the feeling you get when you’re in a
restaurant and your waiter or waitress appears from the
kitchen with your order? And also hate it when you think it’s
yours but it’s really for the table next to you?
I guess it just affirms that we’re all big kids just waiting
to be fed at heart.
When I think of Falooda I think of my dad and the big smile
that emerges on his face whenever he rumbles the fact there’s
something sweet on the menu. We’re two peas in a pod.
When I was little he used to take the whole family to a
favourite restaurant in either Leicester or Bradford on a
Sunday afternoon and we’d have the most memorable family
meals. Mum would order something classy and simple, Dad would
get the thali and my brother and I would squabble over whether
they put coriander in the daal or not.
Regardless of what Ravi and I were arguing about, Dad would
always diffuse the situation by asking me the golden question.
That cheeky smile would spread across his face and he’d say
one word, ‘Falooda?’
And that was all it took. I’d be content without coriander in
the daal and no samosa starter because I knew I was getting to
drink what is practically a dessert with my main meal. Happy
days.
What the fudge is Falooda, I hear you ask?
A rose-flavoured milkshake with rice noodles, basil seeds,
milk jelly diamonds and a couple of scoops of ice cream.
If you love ice cream sundaes, this will be your kryptonite.
I’ve been a bit playful with my version and tweaked what is a
very classic Indian Falooda into what can only be described as
a bloody delicious deviation. Meet the Stawberry Cheesecake
Falooda – a hybrid between two separate ends of the world. A
bit like me, I suppose.
Imagine this; all the gorgeousness of classic Falooda with the
fruitiness of strawberries to compliment the delicate rose
flavour, a hint of malt from the biscuits, the creaminess of
light Italian mascarpone cheese and some strawberry cheesecake
ice cream to top it all off.
This one’s all for you, Pops. Don’t tell Mum.
Strawberry Cheesecake Falooda
(Serves 2)
Ingredients for the milk jelly:
240ml milk
5g agar agar/China grass strands, snipped into small pieces
3 tablespoons sugar
200ml warm water
Few drops pink food colour
Method:
1. Soak the agar agar in warm water for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, gently bring the milk to the boil. Squeeze the agar
agar to remove any water and mix it into the boiling milk.
Stir continuously until completely dissolved. Add the sugar
and keep on stirring for a few minutes.
2. Lightly grease a steel plate and pour in the milk. Allow to
cool to room temperature, then place into the fridge until
set. When set, cut the jelly into diamond shapes. Refrigerate
until needed.
Ingredients for the rest of the Falooda:
280ml milk
50ml rose syrup
4 large strawberries
1 tablespoon mascarpone cheese
2 Rich Tea-style biscuits, crushed
1 tablespoon takmaria (basil seeds), soaked in cold water for
20 minutes (you can get these in South Asian grocery shops or
online)
60g rice noodles, cooked according to packet instructions,
then soaked in 1 tablespoon rose syrup
4 scoops strawberry cheesecake ice cream
2 strawberries to garnish
Method:
1. Place the milk, rose syrup, strawberries and mascarpone
cheese in a blender and blitz until smooth. Pour into a jug,
cover, then chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.
2. Grab yourself two ice cream sundae glasses or other tall
glassware. Divide the takmaria and noodles between the
glasses, then add a few pieces of milk jelly and the crushed
biscuits. Pour over the strawberry and rose milkshake, leaving
some room for the ice cream.
3. Top with two scoops of strawberry cheesecake ice cream and
garnish with a sliced strawberry. You’ll need a spoon and a
straw, too!
Serves as a dessert – or if you’re a bit like me, as a drink
on the side of a spicy meal.
Get Your Recipe Published!
As I gear up to post a brand new recipe this weekend, I’d just
like to share an amazing opportunity with you. You can get
your very own recipe published in a book!
If you have a baking recipe you’d like to see alongside the
likes of Ina Garten, Nigella Lawson and Delia Smith, you need
to submit it today.
It’s also worth noting that the book is in aid of The Ben
Kinsella Trust, a charity working to raise awareness of knife
crime and fighting to eradicate it and its devastating
consequences. My lovely readers, this is truly your chance to
shine and also show your support for a great cause.
A couple of years ago I had my recipe for Melt in the Mouth
Paneer Kofta published in the Foodista Best of Food Blogs
Cookbook; it was an incredible feeling and also great
motivation for my career in food writing. Seeing your little
work of art in print alongside great food writers is such a
privilege and also pretty damn exciting. Plus, you get
bragging rights which is always a great ego booster.
So if you’ve always wanted to experience what it feels like to
have your fifteen minutes of fame, here’s your chance.
Enter now
If you need a bit of inspiration, take a look at my five tips
for writing a great recipe.
Good luck – I look forward to seeing your name in print!
Kashmiri Dum Aloo
There’s nothing more comforting than meltingly-soft potatoes
enveloped in creamy, spicy-sweet sauce – even when it’s dinner
for one at the Modha residence.
Nobody likes cooking for one, do they? For me, it’s a tedious
task knowing I’m the only one who will get to sample my
efforts. I’m a feeder – I come from a long line of feeders who
taught one another to feed others until they could eat no
more. Like my mum, I’ll make dinner by the bucket load
regardless of whether I’m feeding one mouth or ten. It’s most
definitely in our blood.
I understand this is the case for lots of Indian girls who are
told from a young age that finding the perfect husband
involves filling his belly with spicy food, carbs and sugar.
Either it’s the way to a heart or the way to heart problems –
I forget which one.
That’s not to say I started cooking to find a fella. Hell, I
started cooking because I was an eight-year old chubster with
a penchant for pasta. It just so happened that the future Mr
K.O (yes, I got engaged!) loves eating as much as I do. In
fact, Kashmiri Dum Aloo was one of the first dishes we shared
together in my favourite Indian restaurant. And anyone who
knows how to feed me, the Feeder, is a keeper.
Enough about me, more about the food
This dish should be slow-cooked with a lid on. An old school
trick to stop any steam escaping is to seal the lid with a
ring of wheat flour dough. This type of cooking is known as
dum cooking. Dum simply means ‘warm breath’ to connote the
steam inside the pot. Once cooked, the dough seal is broken
and the beautiful aromas are released – of course, the bread
is eaten along with the curry. However, if you don’t fancy
doing that, you can use a cartouche to lock in any moisture. A
cartouche is just a round lid made of greaseproof paper that’s
placed directly on top of the food in the pot to slow down the
reduction of moisture in cooking.
The balance of spices in this dish will depend on your taste
and varies from recipe to recipe. My version mainly uses dried
red Kashmiri chillies, ground fennel seeds, ground ginger and
green and black cardamom. This deep combination of spices is
balanced by the use of tomato purée and either single cream or
yoghurt. Don’t hold back on seasoning this with plenty of salt
and sugar – they truly bring the spices to life.
Kashmiri Dum Aloo
(Serves 4)
Ingredients
450g new potatoes (I used Jersey Royals), leave the skin on
1 tbsp oil
2 tbsp concentrated tomato purée
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
270ml water
1 tbsp grated ginger
3 large cloves garlic, crushed
3 tsp sugar
3 tsp salt
300ml single cream or whisked plain yoghurt
2 tsp honey
Oil to deep fry the potatoes
For the spices:
½ tsp green cardamom seeds, ground
2 tsp fennel seeds, ground, plus 1 extra tsp for adding at the
end
4 dried red Kashmiri chillies, ground (don’t bother soaking
them)
½ tsp black cardamom seeds, ground
½ tsp cumin seeds, ground
1 tsp coriander seeds, ground
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cinnamon
Chopped coriander, ground fennel and Kashmiri chilli flakes to
garnish
Method
1. Wash and soak the potatoes in cold, salted water for 15
minutes. Drain and pat dry.
2. Heat enough oil to deep fry the potatoes in a large wok to
around 180°C. Fry the potatoes until golden all over. Don’t
worry about cooking them all the way through at this point.
Drain on a piece of kitchen paper and set aside.
3. In a large casserole dish, Dutch oven or pan with a tightfitting lid, gently heat 1 tbsp oil. Add all of the ground
spices, concentrated tomato purée, fresh ginger and garlic.
Cook on a medium/low heat for around 5 minutes, stirring all
the time. If you find it’s sticking, add a little hot water
and continue to cook until the water has evaporated away and
the spices are aromatic.
4. Add the tin of chopped tomatoes, 270ml hot water, salt and
sugar. Stir. Add the potatoes and mix again.
5. Make a cartouche or cut a round of greaseproof paper to the
size of the inside of your pan. Sit it directly on top of the
curry and put a lid on top of the pan.
6. Turn the heat down to the lowest it can go and cook for at
least 30 minutes or until the potatoes are meltingly tender.
7. Once the potatoes are cooked, remove the lid and cartouche.
Turn the heat off and allow the curry to cool for 10 minutes.
Add the honey and cream or yoghurt, stirring quickly and all
the time until it’s fully combined. Stir in the extra 1 tsp
ground fennel seeds.
8. Garnish with chopped fresh coriander, ground fennel and
Kashmiri chilli flakes.
I like to serve this with Saffron Golden Sella Basmati Rice
(I'll post a recipe soon!) and either Peshwari Naan or
chapattis.
This is great if you’re planning on satisfying and impressing
lots of hungry tummies, or in need of comfort when cooking for
one (scoff any leftovers the next day).
Love Sanjana