GREEN APPLE & GREEK YOGURT - CINNAMON FLAVOURED SHRIKHAND and poached fruits in spice syrup!

First of all Seasons Greetings from Mj’s kitchen to all my dear foodie friends and every other visitor at Cardamom Hills!!! Up above is my little personalized wishes to all of you!!

I had put on my ‘lazy hat’ from last couple of days which I think has been reflecting on my blog too....but today something inspired me totally to go and give a nice stir-up to my dear kitchen who’s been missing me messing it up J and the result is a yummy dessert...yup, that’s what I have for you today. This main dessert will also be accompanied by a side dessert - poached fruits in spice syrup.

 So before we get on with our main recipe for the day, I’ll share my poached fruits. Kiwi, plum, watermelon and mango, now isn’t that a unique combo?

I’ll recommend putting the diced pieces of water melon in a pre-heated oven at 180⁰C for 2mins. Leave it inside till oven cools. Thus, melon pieces will lock the water in it, preventing your syrup from getting soggy when you put them in. Now dice all the other fruits up. In case of quantity of fruits, you could use a wee bit of your own brains and decide...hehe...

Grind a petal of star anise, ½ inch piece of cinnamon, 2 cloves and 2 cardamom pods into fine powder.

Into 1 cup water, add ½ cup sugar and 1 teaspoon of grated ginger. Mix ½ a teaspoon of our spice mix. Stir well. Boil till sugar dissolves and the syrup’s thickness is such that it sticks to the back your spatula. Add fruits and mix. Off the heat and serve warm.

Now, for our main recipe of the day - Shrikhand is a cool and light Indian dessert made from hung curd or Greek yogurt. A purrrrfect dessert for the health conscious variety J.

Ingredients: (serves 4 to 5)

Hung Curd/ Greek yogurt - 4cups chilled

Fresh Green apples - 5 deseed and use (2 chopped; 3 sliced finely)

Condensed milk - 2 tablespoons

Butter - 1 tablespoon

Cinnamon stick - 3 inches stick

Sugar - 1 cup (increase for more sweetness)

Method:

1. Finely powder sugar with 1 inch piece of cinnamon and keep aside.

2. In a pan melt butter and toss in leftover cinnamon stick.

3. Add finely sliced apple pieces and sauté till the apple cooks well. Remove cinnamon stick.

4. Mix condensed milk into the apples. Cook till the water content evaporates and apples become mushy.

5. Switch off and chill in refrigerator till mixture is cold.

6. Mix the yogurt and powdered sugar into smooth mixture and chill.

7. In serving dish, layer apple mixture first and yogurt second. Garnish with chopped apples. Or you could just mix it all up like I did! Opt for the first one if you have guests.

What you see in the picture, is my first (lousy) attempt to try a hand in spun toffee and some sugar artJ. I did waste a tons of sugar for this and land up with a messy kitchen...but it was fun! If you don’t know how to make spun toffee, here is a link on how it's done. Be patient and watch it till the end or you won't find spun toffee in there. This video surely helped me a lot. The malformed heart in the pic is the result of pouring hot sugar into a cookie mould and then distorting it in an attempt to pull out an arrow...I know, cheesy me!...hehehe.... but overall it’s a fun thing to do as long as you are careful not to burn yourself with hot sugar J Have fun!!!!

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