Double ka Meetha- Kuch Meetha ho Jaaye (for the Boys in Blue)

Double ka Meetha is a Hyderabadi cousin of Shahi Tukda. The dessert gets its name from bread or what is also called “double roti”. There really isn’t much difference between the two except that in Shahi Tukda the fried bread slices are soaked up in rich rabdi or condensed milk and for Double ka Meetha the fried bread slices are soaked in hot milk. 

Shahi Tukda  is something I am not very fond of and I don’t know if it’s the amount of sugar I used or because I made it at home for the first time, but going by the way my Double Ka Meetha tasted, I would take that over Shahi Tukda any day. In fact this is one of the few Indian desserts I really enjoyed eating and would happily make another batch soon. This recipe is also from Neeta Mehta’s recipe book with suggestions and inputs from my friend’s mother who, as I have heard, is a fantastic cook. 

And we’ve just won the India v. South Africa ICC World Cup Match as I type this post and that too by a whopping margin so my post is dedicated to the boys in blue! #WontGiveItBack.

This recipe serves 20 as I had prepared it for mum’s potluck.

Ingredients:

White bread slices- 20 (trim the edges and cut each slice into half diagonally) (Note to Readers: The slices I used were small in size. If using big slices of bread you may want to restrict to 15 in number.)

Milk- 1kg

Fresh Cream- 1 cup

Sugar- 1 ¾ cup

Water- 1 cup

Saffron- a pinch

Rose Water- 4 tbsp  (Soak the saffron in rose water and keep it aside)

Almonds- 20- blanched and sliced

Pistachio- 20 sliced (Note to Readers: You may use a larger quantity of the dry fruits as per your liking)

Oil/Ghee- For shallow frying the bread slices

A few sheets of Silver Leaves or Chandi ka Warq (optional)

Preheat oven to 180° C for at least 10 minutes

Method:

• In a medium sauce pan boil the milk. Once the milk has come to a boil reduce the heat and cook on medium heat for about 15-20 minutes till the consistency is reduced to almost half. The reduction also depends upon the type of milk used. If using full cream milk the reduction should be almost ¾th of the quantity used and if using regular toned milk then the reduction should be ½ of the quantity used. Once the consistency has reduced, add cream and cook for a minute. Keep aside.

• Boil sugar in half cup water and make a syrup. You want a one wire or “ek taar” consistency for the syrup. Keep this sugar aside to cool. Once cooled slightly, mix the saffron infused rose water to this sugar syrup.

• Heat ghee/ oil in a pan to shallow fry the bread slices. The traditional method for any sweet will almost always ask you to use ghee only but because it makes the dessert a tad too heavy and rich, I used half ghee and half oil. The bread slices have to be shallow fried till light golden on both the sides. Ensure that you do not fry more than 2-4 triangles in one go (depending on the size of your pieces).  Please note that the bread slices will soak up all the ghee/ oil in the pan. Some recipes even suggest that the bread slices can be toasted till slight golden. This will definitely be a healthier option but somewhere you might end up compromising on the taste. But do whatever suits you best.

• Layering- Grease a baking tray with ghee or oil. Place the bread slices in the tray and pour one tbsp of the flavoured sugar syrup over each slice to soak it completely. Next pour the creamy milk over the slices. Then sprinkle chopped dry fruits on the slices. Allow the bread to soak in the liquids.
• I had enough slices to make three layers in my dish. I repeated the procedure for each layer. Do not worry about the slices sticking to each other because you will scoop out the dessert and serve it. The second layer gets all gooey and that tastes fantastic.

• Bake this in a pre-heated oven in the middle rack for 15-20 minutes till the liquids almost dry up.

• You may want to decorate this with silver leaves.

• You can serve this warm or chilled. This one was served warm and it was loved by all!

Achaar ke Aaloo: Hyderabadi zone

As everyone knows I love food, eating out especially, and recently I have tried to actively enter the cooking zone as well. End of last year, a friend of mine, who is also an ardent food lover, gifted me a recipe book on my birthday (best gift ever, right?). I have been in the mood for Indian cooking for a while and this recipe book seemed as a great way to kick start the journey. It’s a book on Hyderabadi cuisine by Neeta Mehta and I set down to prepare a few dishes (3 to be precise) for a dinner when we were hosting some family friends at home. 

Today I shall give you the recipe for one of those dishes that was prepared- Achaar ke Aaloo or Potatoes in a Pickle Sauce. The dish was perfect, soft potatoes and proper achaari tangy mirchi vaala taste. Goes well with hot phulkas.

Serves 6

Ingredients:

Potatoes- 700 gm, boiled and cut into 1” pieces

Onions- 5 medium sized, ground in a mixture to form a fine paste

Ginger paste- 1 ½ tsp

Garlic paste- 1 ½ tsp

Red Chili powder- 1 ½ tsp

Turmeric powder (haldi)- ½ tsp 

Salt- to taste

Oil- for frying

Mix Together

Vinegar – ¼ cup and Sugar- 2 tsp

For Tempering

Oil- 2 tbsp

Nigella seeds (Kalonji) 1 tsp

Mustard seeds (Rai)- ½ tsp

Cumin seeds (Jeera) or Coriander seeds- 1 tsp

Dry whole Red Chilies- 8

Method:

• Take a kadhai and heat oil for frying.
• Deep fry the potatoes till they give a slight golden brownish colour. Keep the potatoes aside.
• In another kadhai or pan, heat 8 tbsp oil. Add the onions on medium flame till they turn golden brown.
• To this, add the ginger paste and the garlic paste and fry for about a minute.  Then add the salt, turmeric powder and red chili powder and mix well.
• Add the fried potatoes to the onion-ginger-garlic paste mixture and mix well gently.
• Add about ½ cup water and cook on low heat for about 5 minutes till the spices are well blended and some gravy remains.
• Remove this from the fire and add the sugar and vinegar mixture. Mix well gently and then transfer to the serving dish.
• For tempering- Heat 2 tbsp oil. Add the dry whole red chilies, mustard seeds, coriander seeds or cumin seeds (Note: The recipe originally calls for cumin seeds, however I tried a twist with the coriander seeds which I felt made the temper crispier).  After these add the nigella seeds. When the mustard seeds begin to splutter and the red whole chilies begin to darken pour this baghaar over the dish.
• Serve hot with garma garam phulkas and enjoy!

After eating delicious cupcakes, sweets, chocolates and various desserts on the occasion of valentine’s day and India winning the India-Pak ICC World Cup match, I am sure everyone must be craving for some chatpata and tangy flavor. Cook this Achaar ke Aaloo and satiate those cravings!