Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Pista Choco Squares

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Pista Choco Squares
I am back from my holiday. Relaxed and charged up. Contradictory? Maybe...but that is how I feel right now. :) Because I had a great holiday. Short, yet very very sweet. Will write more about it in the next post.
In this post, I must write about the sweet that I made using the low-fat, quick-to-make Khoya. I have promised it to Vineela, and she must be waiting for me to send this post to her, so that she can finish doing the round-up for JFI. Sweet of her.

Now about the dish. I made it using a recipe for Pista Choco Roll by Tarla Dalal. The recipe looked rather uncomplicated to me, when I began. I was looking forward to shaping the sweet in rolls. However, when I actually started making them, I observed a few things. Like
a) it was very difficult to shape the dough, let alone making dainty rolls out of it. Perhaps it was because of the homemade Mawa that I used. Or perhaps the recipe lacks something. As a result, I had to make squares out of it.
b) Also, I am quite sure, that food colour has been used in it to make it look as attractive as it does in the picture on Dalal's website. I have seen this sweet in Mithai shops in India, and there too it looks much darker in colour. Since I am not really in favour of using food colour, I did not use any. So, my preparation looks somewhat paler.
However, it has all the taste that can make your tastebuds rock. ;-) More while explaining the recipe.

Recipe for Pista Choco Squares

Ingredients:

1 cup grated Khoya (Mawa)
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp cocoa powder (I used grated chocolate instead, but I would recommend cocoa powder.)
2 tbsp chopped pistachios (I powdered them.)
+ a couple more pistachios, chopped, for garnishing
2 drops rose essence (I used a few drops of pure rose water.)

Method:

1. Combine the Khoya and powdered sugar in a heavy bottomed pan and cook on a slow flame, while stirring continuously till the sugar has dissolved and the moisture has evaporated. However, please make sure, that it does not become too dry and crumbly to handle.

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Khoya, after roasting with powdered sugar
(I think, 'real' Khoya will look much smoother and more shiny once roasted.)

2. Cool it completely. Then add the rose essence/water, and divide the mixture in two portions.
3. Add the cocoa powder to one portion and mix well. Add the chopped/powdered pistachios to the other portion and mix well. In case the mixture has become too loose, add a few drops of ghee or milk to tighten it.
4. In a shallow dish/Thali, press the portion with cocoa powder and even out the surface. Then press the pistachio portion on it, and even out the surface again. Press the chopped pistachios set aside for garnishing on it.
5. Let the dish/Thali rest for 15-20 minutes. Then cut the sweet into squares.

Serve as dessert. I think, it will be appreciated most, if offered to children as a surprise treat. Maybe when they come to your place to scare you for Halloween? :)

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perfect timing...I still have some khoya in my refrigerator, after trying Kala Jamun with it. Never tried any kind of burfis till now. Let me see how it turns out with 'real' khoya :).

Menu Today said...

Hi Vaishali,
Your "Pista Choco Squares" looks perfect. I will try this during diwali. Thanks for sharing. Good 3rd entry for JFI......

Prema Sundar said...

Hi Vaishali,
Pista choco squares looks nice. I think my daughter will surely love this.. thanks for the recipe.

Anonymous said...

Hey Vaishali - you're back with yet another decadent dessert! Chocolate and pistachio are two of my favorites... I think yours looks much better *without* the color enhancement :)

Neelu said...

Vaish .... Why dont u open a mithai shop there .... I am sure not only desis but evrybody is gonna love what u make ..... Lovely barfi .....Do u know hwo to make sev barfi ? Looks like this diwali u are going to have a range of items for faral :)

Vaishali said...

Shilpa, I must have got this message somehow that you are looking for something to make with the leftover Khoya. Is this telepathy? :)

MT, with Dussera and Diwali around the corner, I am sure everybody is looking for recipes with sweets.

Prema, do let me know whether your daughter likes it.

Linda, thanks. I really don't fancy artificial colour in food, you know.

Neelu, Mithai shop is a good idea. However, I don't know how much I'd be selling coz I have a sweet tooth (or better still 'sweet 32 teeth' :)). As for Sev Barfi, I don't know about it. Maybe time for a 'search'? :)

Anonymous said...

Vaishali , ur recipe looks fantastic, even though u couldn't make the rolls. A must try. Maybe the reason y u couldn't make the roll would be the texture of the mava. There are three types of khoya textures explained by this site http://www.indiacurry.com/dairy/d006khoya.htm.

The milk powder khoya might have been the danedar one (its my assumption, have made khoya traditional recipe and its more so the chikna khoya). Nevertheless ur burfi looks and must have tasted awesome..

FH said...

Looks very delicious, sounds easy to make!! Will try next time..

We are not allowed to give any unpackaged candies on Halloween to children!! Parents here peek into the bag to take a look at what we dropped in since 9/11 and banned all kids from eating candies on the way until they reach home, checked by parents!!.. Sigh...all the fun is gone !!!!

Krithika said...

Looks delicious ! I love pistachios. Thanks for sharing this recipe

Anonymous said...

Vaish, this comment is completely unrelated to this post.
Will you please help me in collecting lunchbox recipes?. Thanks in advance.

Anupama said...

Vaishali, the Barfi looks yum. By the way Devu was watching your post with me and he has demanded that I make it asap. So there you are.

indianadoc said...

Vaish! when will I reduce my burgeoning fat!!This time JFI is going to spoil me terribly and the next JFI-ghee will fix me up totally!!As it is a very spoilt child I am,why do u still torture me with all those wonderful choco squares?Hmmmmm...lovely squares indeed!! :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Vaishali,
Yummy Barfi! Hey, chuck food colors, ur's looks loads better.
BTW, why hv u removed ur snap? that was a cute one!

Deepa Culinary World said...

Hi Vaishali,

The Pista Choco Squares likes very good.I will definitely give a try.thanks for sharing.

Nabeela said...

Hi Vaishali, I tagged you for a meme!

Vaishali said...

Annu, thank you so much for all that info. Thanks for the link too. I think you are right in your assumption. I wish I knew all that before I wrote the post. Thanks again.

Asha, thanks a lot for that piece of info. This is something that I wouldn't come across on CNN. What a shame that we can't give children what we'd like to.

Pistachios are very very likeable, Krithika. :)

I'll try and post some more 'tiffin' recipes, Shilpa. Thanks for doing that for all the mothers out there.

Anupama, maybe you want to make sure that your son isn't around when you are blogging? I mean, just an idea... :)

Oh, Indo, it is indeed tough to get rid of the 'cushions', isn't it? I hope, WeightWatchers start giving discounts to food-bloggers some day. :)

Thanks for the nice words, Manasi. I took the photo off, because I thought you Guys might have got bored of it now. :)

I think, this is your first time here, Deepa. Thanks for stopping by. I visited your blog. It's great.

Thanks for tagging me, Nabeela. I'll try and come up with something nice.

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Sangeetha said...

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