Friends United (Meri Dosti Mera Pyar)

Have you heard of the saying - You can choose your friends but not your relations?   Well  - I'll say no more.  A number of my friends, who started off as colleagues are now part of my extended family. We enjoy each other's company so much that we usually get together once or twice a year. 

We got together a couple of weeks at my place where they got to sample some of my cooking.   At these parties we have fun catching up on any gossip, any new additions to the family and also talking about the “good old days”.  I love meeting my friends and we never seem to tire of each other's company. 

We have started referring to these events as “XXXX Magic” and one of them made and decorated this wonderful cake for the day. 

I took a lot of photographs on the day but also forgot to take some as I got busy and distracted at time. Most recipes are on my blog and some need to be written. 

I hope that the menu for the day will inspire some of you to try the recipes.   

My menu was as follows:

Starters-

Papadums — with choice of Mango Dip, Raita, Green Chutney, Salsa

Punjabi Samosas made with peas and potatoes

Spring rolls — Made from moong sprouts, potatoes, carrots and capsicum

Curries

I made sweet corn curry with kidney beans and cooked it with peanuts in coconut milk.

At the suggestion of my younger son - I made mattar paneer in spicy punjabi style gravy. 

I also made moglai potatoes in spicy yoghurt gravy with onions.

For the breads I made masala puris and  Garlic & Herb Naans

For the rice dish I  chose to make  saffron rice garnished with Butter, cardamoms and saffron.

Desserts

We had Fulkhaja/Baklava (Ready made).  These are very sweet puff pastries with honey nut fillings. 

I made the carrot halwa. 

Several friends brought various desserts too.  Too much temptation here with music, masti and maja.

We finished the meal with Tea/Coffee & Cookies.

I really had fun planning the menu and then cooking the food.  Most of all I loved entertaining my friends and can't wait for the next get together. 

The food tasted delicious and I think my friends loved the food too as they were happy to take some of the leftovers  home. 

I wanted t capture that moment and also share the menu ideas hoping that some of you may like to copy my menu suggestions when entertaining over the Christmas holidays. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year friends. Have fun with your loved ones and be safe.

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Carrot Halwa (Gajar Halwa)

Since it was Father's Day, I decided to make carrot Halwa - a dish I have never made before. The recipe was fun to make and I felt good that it turned out great.

Ingredients for 2 servings:

140 grams of freshly grated carrots
1/2 cup milk
1/2 full cream
70 grams sugar ( Try using 60 grams and only add extra if you think the halwa needs to be sweeter.)
4 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter
6 or 7 almonds sliced
1/2 teaspoon ground cardommon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Method:

1.   Pour 2-3 tablespoons of melted butter in a saucepan and stirfry the carrot pulp.

2.   Cook for 6-7 minutes.  The carrots should get soft and slightly darker.

3.   Add the milk and cream and cook this on low heat for an hour stirring occassionally.  You van use milk on its own but adding the cream just makes the halwa creamier.   I rotated my cooking on electric mark 1 and then on 2 until the milk got absorbed. Patience is the name of the game.

4.  Now add the sugar and keep stirring the mixture.

5.  Add the ground cardommon, nutmeg and half the sliced almonds.

6.  Add the remaining melted butter and keep stirring until all the liquid have been absorbed and the halwa starts to leave the saucepan sides.

7.  Remove to a serving dish. 

8.  I posted a picture below with no garnishing so you can see how lovely the halwa looks.

9.     Garnish it with the remaining sliced almonds.

10.   Serve warm on its own or with cream or Icecream.

If you enjoy reading my blog, please click on Follow or become a fan of my page on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

My blog  is also available on Kindle.

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