Mamta's Kitchen - A Family Cookbook





Nimish

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On 06/08/2013 12:08pm, KevinF wrote:

Sadly no recipe here on Mamta's Kitchen for Nimish - at least that I could find - but we made this on Sunday to the quantities Rick Stein gives in his current Indian series.

450g/1lb double cream

50g/1?oz icing sugar

1 tsp rosewater

pinch saffron strands, soaked in 100ml/3?fl oz warm milk for 15 minutes

Before making it, we Googled to see what other people use - and found a very wide disparity between Stein's version and those of others: the principal difference being in the ratio of cream to milk.

Other recipes require 2 litres (rather than just 100 ml) of milk to 500 ml of double cream, and add a teaspoon of cream of tartar, presumably to make the foam longer lasting.

Can anyone who knows about this glorious, indeed almost transcendently heavenly sweet dish, shed some light on the right quantities?

Thanks!

On 06/08/2013 03:08pm, Mamta wrote:

The recipe you quote in the second half of your post seems to be similar to the one from 'Awadhi Kitchen' by Pushpesh Pant. I have never made it myself, only eaten it. I have asked my family in India if anyone knows how. If I hear from anyone, I will let you know. Meanwhile, how Pushpesh has described is like this;

Combine 2 L raw, unboiled milk, 500 ml cream, 1 tsp. cream of tartar and refrigerate overnight.

Next morning, add 4 tsp sugar and rose water, whisk with a rotary electric beater at high speed. Collect the foam in a tray, using a tea strainer. Keep the tray tilted, so foam stays on one side and milk collects sat the bottom, keep returning the milk to the bowl. When the tray is full, spoon the foam into teacups or clay pots, sprinkling castor sugar between layers and on top.

Continue this until all milk is used up. It will take about 2-2 1/2 hours. Sprinkle pistachios on top and refrigerate.

This is such a time consuming thing to do, I can't see myself doing it!

Hope this helps!

On 06/08/2013 09:08pm, Mamta wrote:

You are most welcome Kevin, it is always nice to see new names here :-).

On 08/08/2013 09:08am, Mamta wrote:

Kevin, here are a couple of links for you that have been sent to me. You may or may not have seen them already. They are from 'old' Delhi, where this dish is called Daulat ki Chaat. Daulat is a man's name, which means 'riches' or 'wealth'. It is possible that it was made famous by someone called Daulat. Chaat means something that is 'finger licking' good. The term Chaat is generally used for spicy street foods of India;

http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/the-delhi-walla/?p=722#more-722

In this one, no sugar is added until just before serving. They have given a recipe from a book towards the end of the page, but not his recipe, though it has been described in the text. I doubt if he will give up his secret so easily to a reporter!

http://eatanddust.com/2009/12/02/daulat-ki-chaat-a-glimpse-of-heaven-in-the-backstreets/

It uses raw buffalo milk, not boiled or pasteurised. Buffalo milk is thicker and has higher fat content. Perhaps that is why Rick Stein added cream to milk. It is too fiddly for me, I don't think I will ever be inclined to make it, but you can have a go.

On 08/08/2013 12:08pm, KevinF wrote:

Thank you again Mamta. The full monty version at 2-2.5 hrs to prepare does sound like a real fag - that's undoubtedly why Stein cut down dramatically on the quantity of milk in his version.

More advise if I may? My Indian cookery journey really began about six years ago when I and a group of friends attended a one-day course run by a young woman by the name of Mamta Bhattacharyya, held at her home near Aldbourne in Wiltshire. Utterly charming - I guess all women called Mamta are this way! - she taught us a number of dishes, prepared as her mother had taught her back home.

Since then, I have hungrily broadened my repertoire via, primarily, this excellent site. The shops in Manchester Road, Swindon stock pretty much everything I've ever needed by way of ingredients, so I've rolled my Indian food out for a great number of friends, relatives and business associates. The problem is, when people ask me "where can I learn to cook like this?", I don't have an answer. Sadly, Mamta B and her lovely family no longer live near here - in fact I wonder if they moved back to India - so I just don't know where to send people for authentic tuition.

If you have any suggestions, I'd be grateful.

KevinF.

On 08/08/2013 09:08pm, Mamta wrote:

"I guess all women called Mamta are this way! - she taught us a number of dishes, prepared as her mother had taught her back home."

LOL! Mamta does mean love after all, a mother's kind of love!!!

I don't know where you can go in your area Kevin. I do occasionally run cookery classes for 3-4 people, 100% of the money raised going to a chosen charity. The last one was in July, a few weeks ago, for someone who had bid for tickets at a hospice fund raiser, to which I had donated a personalised class for two people. If you are interested, let us know via the contact link above, we will see what we can do.

On 24/09/2013 05:09am, homecook wrote:

We used to get these in Bombay when I was a kid -- guys used to come around selling them early in he morning, before the sun rose. We called these doodh-na-puff, or milk puffs. An sunt of mine made them very occasionally at home; yes, it is a tedious task. I never knew they had any other name -- always presumed they belonged to B'bay.

On 18/11/2013 08:11pm, Vibhor wrote:

Hi, I stumbled upon this discussion courtesy Google.

Has anyone experimented in making this dish, or has a detailed recipe to share?

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