Ragi Manni (ragi halva)

This is a Mangalorean dessert packed with nutrition. It is also a coolant and easy to digest. So in the south of India, it is often a baby's first solid food, but now this power food is gaining popularity and I have seen that everyone is at least aware about ragi. Having my origins from Karnataka, I have seen my mom make ragi mudde (ragi balls made by cooking in boiling water), ragi rotti, ragi dosa and ragi manni. In the sweet form, ragi can be made into kheer, pudding or halva depending upon the consistency of the finished product and the amount of ragi flour used in the recipe. I think if you are watching your weight and want to have something sweet, ragi manni would be the answer to your dilemma. It is low in fat and just adjust sweetness, make it milder and you will do good to your body.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup finger millet flour/ ragi flour
• 1 cup jaggery/ sugar or brown sugar (can reduce the amount to half if you do not mind less sweet)
• 1 cup coconut milk or 2 tbsp coconut powder
• 1 cup milk (optional but manni will be more creamy)
• 2 cups water (if not using milk increase it to 3)
• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
• Chopped nuts (almonds, cashewnuts- if making for babies omit or grind the nuts and add) 

Directions:

• Mix ragi flour and water. If your flour is in fine powdered form you do not have to strain it, but if you see husks strain the mixture before using. I skip this step as I get very fine ragi at my local grocery store.
• Now start heating this liquid ragi in a thick bottomed, non-stick pan. Add coconut milk and milk and keep stirring on medium flame. When it start getting thicker add jaggery and ghee and mix.
• Ensure that there is no settling at the bottom and keep on stirring. Try to keep it smooth, mixing lumps when formed.
• Keep on cooking till the mixture is thick like halva. At this stage mix nuts and cardamom powder, mix well.
• Remove from heat and pour it into greased casserole or Indian thali. Garnish with nuts if you want.
• Let it cool completely, cut it into desired shape and serve, or refrigerate and have later. It tastes good warm or cool.
• Enjoy!

Baked Flan

I made this special treat for our seventh wedding anniversary, gosh we have put up with each other for seven years now. I think that was only possible because of the friendship we share. I like the fact that I have the chance to spend my life with my closest friend, with whom I can share anything, fight anytime with no hard feelings and most importantly be myself. I can never handle a pretend relationship where you have to try to please everyone. I had read somewhere, " It is better to be hated for what you are, than being loved for what you are not." So knowing each other really well and letting each other just be, rather than trying to change each other is key to any relationship. If you are in a pretentious relationship no matter how happy others are with you, you will never be at peace. So I thought this special friendship deserves a special treat and I decided on the flan.

My husband and I- Our headbobbles

Well the flan was apt for many reasons, last year, this time we were in Puerto Rico celebrating our anniversary. This time we were spending it at home but the flan revived the memories of our vacation last year. We had tried flan in the restaurant of our resort there. Also the flan is creamy, smooth, rich and sweet, so I just hope this dessert adds its qualities into our relationship!

Let me warn you that it is a rich dessert so do not consume if counting calories. I think it is a good food for young kids as it has all the protein, calcium, iron and fat that they need at their age. Most of my flan is definitely for my daughter, I will try to keep self-control with that yummy thing lurking in my fridge. When I made flan I thought it came quite close to caramel custard but was more creamy and richer than it. I just did a bit of reading to find similarities or differences between all the desserts of this family. This is what I understood from my readings:

• Custard- It is basically made with milk, eggs and sweetener.  Eggless versions may use cornstarch or flour as thickeners. It can be made on stove top or baked in oven with a water bath, as making a custard is temperature sensitive, if the temperature gets too high it can get overcooked or curdled.
• Creme brulee- The name has French origins and this again is a custard base with hardened caramel on top. I think it will be nice to have that torch as a toy and burn sugar on top of the custard, gives you that childish excitement to do that!
• Flan- I would say flan is a rich custard made with condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream or milk. I think that is why it comes out much creamier than regular custard. It has caramel added to the bottom so that you get nice caramel sauce on top when you invert it after it is done. Flan is generally associated with hispanic countries.It is sometimes baked in a shortcrust pastry shell.
• Cheesecake- Cheesecake, although it has cake in its name, is a form of custard which uses cream cheese or ricotta cheese as it's chief ingredient. The cream cheese one is NY style while Italian versions use ricotta. It can be made in wide variety of flavors and it's not so sweet taste makes it a favorite.

I think there are others like pudding, Bavarian cream, mousse and maybe many more that use similar ingredients, resulting in similar texture. I love dishes with creamy texture and subtle sweet taste. So the flan that I made, naturally made my and my husband's day. I adapted a recipe for the flan from Allrecipes by Beth. Here it goes..

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup milk (I used 1% fat reduced and it still came out great)
• 5 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
• Heat sugar in a non-stick pan on medium heat. This is bit tricky if you are making caramel for the first time. Medium heat is important and patience is important, low heat will not melt sugar just brown it and crystallize it and high heat will burn it and cause it to taste bitter. So on medium heat let the sugar melt and resist the temptation to stir too often, rather swirl the pan to distribute heat. Once the sugar starts melting be on top of it till it is smooth brown liquid, else it will burn.
• Pour the liquid caramel into a glass or ceramic one and half quart casserole. Please be quick at pouring and swirling to coat the bottom evenly or the caramel will cool and harden before you coat the bottom completely. I used an 8" x 8" glass bake ware, you can use a round one and I think that looks prettier for a flan. Use whatever you have in hand.
• Blend all the remaining liquid ingredients in a blender (be careful it is a lot of liquid so ensure that you have the lid on well before you whirl it) or use the stand or hand mixer. Blend for a minute.
• Pour the mixture over caramelized sugar.
• Put this casserole in a larger baking pan with one inch of hot water in the outer pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 60 - 90 minutes.  Mine took almost one and half hour. The center should feel set when you put a knife inside. It should not come out all liquid.
• Remove from oven and water-bath and let it cool for an hour. Then put it in the refrigerator to cool and set completely, at least 4- 5 hours.
• run a knife on the edges of the baked flan. Put the platter in which you intend to serve the flan over the casserole and invert it. You will get your beautiful flan with caramel around it.
• Slice and serve with spooned caramel and fruits of your choice.
• Enjoy!