Homemade double chocolate ice cream and pantry check

                   
When Nupur of One Hot Stove asks you to check what is lurking in your pantry, you don’t dally. You head straight for the pantry, throw open the door and stare at the mess that greets you. The pantry along with the rest of the house had been neglected for the last three months due to someone’s studies. There were packets of lentils, flour, some sprouting onions, a funky smell from some potatoes that got left at the bottom of the basket.

Ladies and gentlemen, don’t judge me. I am not always like this and I usually clean my pantry every couple of months. I was running a month behind, no big deal. Besides, the first step to solving a problem is acknowledging it, no less on a public blog.

Keep in mind all my kitchen essentials, except my masala dabba, are stored in the twenty square foot space which my dad calls a small kirana store (corner grocery store). Ok, my plates and bowls and glasses and kitchen utensils are also not in there.

Coming back to the sprouting onions and rotting potatoes, which promptly went on a date with the waste basket, the pantry was not as much a mess as it looked at first glance. The big cereal box from Costco was put on the top shelf, dwindling grains and lentils were transferred to cleaned, washed and saved up jam and salsa jars. The larger packets got their due space in bigger containers and canned goods were arranged with smaller ones on top of the larger ones.

Before you think I try to arrange my pantry like Ms. Martha Stewart, let me clarify. I grew up in a house where my mom cooked in a tiny kitchen. The first apartment I lived in after marriage had a galley kitchen so small I could touch the sink and stove with my arms extended. Six years later, when we bought our house, I was excited to have a pantry big enough to keep everything within easy reach.

Decadent Kheer (Rice Pudding)

For me the mere mention of kheer conjures up delicious bowls of sweetened milk laced with raisins, cashews and pistachios. I remember the sweet smell of the cardamom pods being crushed in my mom’s small mortar and pestle. My siblings and I would hang around the kitchen, waiting for my mom to finish her pooja and “naivaidya” (The first offering for the gods), so we could eat the delicious kheer.
In every Indian household, kheer is a popular dessert that is made during religious occasions, for special guests and sometimes if there is too much left over milk. Out here in the good old USA, I don’t get a lot of occasions to make kheer but when I do, I make the much thicker and decadent version of my mom’s recipe.

Ingredients:

½ cup basmati rice
6 cups of whole milk
1 tbsp ghee
½ cup of sugar
¼ cup raisins (I use gold and dark)
1 tbsp cashew nuts
5 – 6 cardamom pods

Wash the rice thrice under cold water, drain the water and keep aside.
In a heavy bottom pan heat the ghee and toast the rice for a few minutes on medium heat.
Add the milk and bring it to a gentle boil. With the heat on med-low, let the milk simmer and bubble. Keep stirring the pot from time to time to prevent the milk from sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning.
In about 30 minutes the milk should reduce to about half. Add the sugar and raisins and stir. Continue to boil the milk till the kheer thickens, another 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, crush the cardamom pods to a powder.
Take the kheer off the heat once the desired thickness is achieved. I like it super thick.
Sprinkle the cardamom powder on the kheer and stir to combine.
Transfer to a serving dish and chill.
Just before serving, fry whole cashews in ghee till golden and garnish on the kheer.

This recipe goes to Meeta's Monthly Mingle hosted by Nags . This month's theme -- Ravishing Rice.

Refreshing Lassi / Yogurt Smoothie

In India lassi is the official drink of hot summer months. A tall glass of icy cool lassi refreshes the body and spirit and gives relief from the hot winds and an even hotter sun.

Lassi is usually made with full fat yogurt but I make my yogurt with 1% milk. I don't think it alters the taste very much but there is no doubt the full fat yougurt lassi tastes better. Of course it is also not as thick. A friend living in Haryana tells me the milk and yogurt there is the best in the world.

Like all things Indian, the method of preparing lassi also varies from state to state and family to family. Some prefer meethi (sweet) lassi, some charkhi (salty) lassi. Some like it so thick you have to scoop it with a spoon. Some prefer a thiner version you can gulp down.

My aunt in Bombay puts crushed ice and vanilla essence in it. My mom always made it with roasted cumin powder, black salt and sugar.

For a spicier version she would add a green chilli and a piece of ginger. One may contest that at this point it stops being lassi and becomes mattha (buttermilk). But as the bard put it so precisely -- "what's in a name? Lassi by any other name is still lassi." And tastes as good.

So here is to tall refreshing glasses of lassi to tide us over the summer months. Cheers!

Ingredients:

1 cup of yogurt

1/2 cup of cold water

2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder

pinch of black salt (optional)

pinch of salt

Blend all the ingredients in a blender for two mins or till frothy. Sprinkle cumin powder on top.

For charkhi lassi

Add 1 green chilli and 1/2 " inch of ginger root

Blend all the ingredients in a blender.