Dear All,

I am thinking about having an Indian-style Christmas dinner this year as it is my turn to choose (my husband likes to have roast pork as that is what his mother used to cook, but I find it very inapproriate for our hot summer weather, though I'm fine with it in cold weather). I am thinking of one of Mamta's Tandoori-style legs of lamb, butterflied and cooked on the barbecue, with salad-style veggies. I have just found the recipe for samosa-style sausage rolls and I am thinking of these made with chicken as a starter. (Less work than samosas and as we all really like both samosas and sausage rolls, it looks like a winner.) But what would be a good dessert? I haven't made many Indian desserts, only kulfi, which was good but took hours boiling down milk, not my favourite activity in hot weather.Is there a kulfi short cut? I have seen one made with tinned evaporated milk, does anyone know if this tastes OK?

Any suggestions welcomed.

Heather

Hello Heather

If you have a BBQ weather, you must be from the Southern hemisphere.

Lamb on a BBQ will be great for Christmas. Try this recipe for Tandoori leg of Lamb . I have never made it butterflied, but why not? Actually, you could take a few pictures and show us all how to butterfly it and then cook on a BBQ :-). I for one would love to learn that.

Samosa sausage rolls are great and so much less fiddly to make than actual samosas. If your pastry layer is going to be thicker than the actual samosas pastry, make sure to spice up the filling a bit more.

We Indians like Carrot Halwa very much. You could shape it like a cake and then cut it into slices for serving. It is good with vanilla ice-cream when served hot. I usually microwave heat it for a minute or so before serving. I have never tried serving it with some liquor like Brandy or brandy butter, but you could try. If making for Christmas, you could add a few more raisins and nuts, or even try making it with mixed fruit.

Another popular Indian dessert is Moong dal Halwa, almost all north Indian wedding banquets serve it. It is wonderful when served steaming hot with vanilla ice-cream. I love it but can?t have it often, it is quite rich with ghee and sugar.

Whatever you make, have a wonderful Christmas BBQ.

And, I will say what I always say these days; please take lots of lovely pictures and send them to me. I am trying to get pictures on all recipes, and can use all the help I can get. So far, I have managed picture on 728 out of a total of 1306 recipes.

Mamta

Thanks very much for the great suggestions Mamta.

So far as the lamb goes, I did the butterfly and barbecue thing about six weeks ago when we got our new (Webber) barbeque - it has a cover so is good for larger pieces of meat. I used your No 2 recipe that time. Butterflied it cooked in just over an hour and it was delicious. That time I did butterfly it myself but usually I try to get one from the butchers. I live in Canberra (in Australia) and people barbecue a lot here in the summer, so butchers cater for it. It is really not hard to do yourself though. I will see if my daughter will take some photos and if they come out OK I will send them to you.

Thanks for the great desert recipes - I will have a look at them and make a choice. The halva appeals and I have never made it so it would be fun.

I saw a recipe for kulfi (which my daughter loves) on the Spices of India site - http://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/acatalog/Kulfi-Recipe.html which does not involve boiling milk down, and though it is very rich that is perhaps OK for Christmas.

As it is Christmas I might make both, though not to serve together.

Heather

Hello Heather

The Kulfi recipe on the site you mention should work. It has used ground rice like it is used in Phirni milk pudding. That should give it the slightly gritty texture of Kulfi. You have time before Christmas, why not try it out now. If it is good, it will be fine in the freezer until then. Otherwise, you can serve it as a chilled milk pudding/kheer/phirni. If it comes out well, let the guy at the Spice of India know, he will love to hear from you, I am sure :-).

I will look forward to your pictures.

Mamta

Hi Heather

I'll be doing these as part of an entree:

http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/recipe_display.php?id=13504

They sound great. Oh and im in Canberra too!!!!!!!

Cheers

Steve

Hi Steve,

yes, I saw the chicken wings recipe and thought I would try it, but not in my case for Christmas. My daughter is flirting with becoming a vegetarian and doesn't like anything too anatomical, if you know what I mean. But I am betting that she will find Mamta's sausage rolls with samosa-style flavouring fairly irresistible, even if they have chicken mince in them. And as she won't eat the Tandoori style lamb I am going to cook on the barbecue it will be nice to make something she likes (apart from dessert). Yes, I know it's silly, but there you are.

However that still leaves three of us who like chicken wings, so another time we will certainly have them.

Yes, I noticed that you are in Canberra too. I hope the chicken wings are a great hit. Let's hope it isn't too hot.

Heather

I was slightly confused for a moment...there are two Steve's here, one in Canberra and the one on the recipe (me)

Steve