Baked Rosogolla | Baked Rasgulla -- Diwali sweet treats

Baked Rosogolla | Baked Rasgulla

Baked Rosogolla is a delicious and easy twist to the classic Bengali Rosogollar Paayesh where the Rasgullas(Rosogolla) are baked/broiled in a thick caramelized sweet milk. The broiling in the oven gives a nice caramelized surface to the roshogollas. I had first tasted it from the sweet shop of Balaram Mullick few years ago and I find the easy homemade version is very close to that taste. This comes together very quick and is a super easy Diwali sweet to take for your Diwali potluck

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First a  Disclaimer: Although I celebrate Diwali with as much merriment as any other, I do not usually make sweets on Diwali. 

Preparing sweets for Diwali is not a tradition I grew up with. Very practical too, as we are done with our sweets like naru and sondesh making first for Bijoya Dashami, then Lokkhi Pujo and now we are prepping to make more for Bhai Phota. In between is Diwali, when we light up candles, enjoy some fireworks, do Kali Puja, eat bhog prasad and enjoy sweets gifted by other people!!!

So this post is for you. Not me. 

I will eat grilled vegetables, no-oil chicken curry, light Diyas and try to lose 10lb of my hard earned Pujo weight while you won't.

Happy Diwali

If you are still searching for Easy Diwali Mithai Recipes here you go

Microwave Besan Mithai | Besan Laddoos

It has been 8 years since I first made these laddoos for Diwali🎆. 8 years back making *besan laddoos in the microwave* was a novelty and I had learned it from another blogger.

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I feel ancient even saying that how much internet & social media has exploded in these last 8 years. Now if I search a recipe, there is such data deluge that I don't know which one to pick. So thankful that I knew Supriya and had got this recipe from her blog back then.

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Else you know my Diwalis would be sweetless.

For if you have known me even for t-e-n nanoseconds you would know that when there is a microwaveable-done in twenty minutes- besan laddoo versus stovetop-arm twisting- back aching-one whole hour-besan laddoo, I will choose the former.

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If you are the kind who will go for the latter, more power to you and a Happy Diwali in the kitchen. Others, please follow the recipe link and say sweet things about me😜.

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I had added a little more ghee by accident and couldn't make those round laddoos. So put them in cupcake liners, stuck a chocolate chip and voila there were besan laddoos that doubled as Diwali Diyas.

Microwave Kalakand | Chocolate Kalakand

In the fag end of 90s and early 2000s, we were new to this country. Fireworks were not sold in NJ and only allowed during 4th of July celebrations. No stores sold special mithais or namkeen for Diwali.

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Come Diwali, we however diligently strung fairy lights on the porch, lit 14 candles for choddo prodeep, trekked to the only Kali Pujo in some high school and then got our movie tickets for the rare treat of a Bollywood movie in a far away theater.🎬. Yes movie tickets!

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For in those days, Diwali was the time when KJo movies with all the bling, drama, Kajol, Rani and SRK would be released. A group of us friends would go together and the sole theater showing Hindi movies would be brimming with people. Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gam, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kal Ho Na Ho...Ahh those were the days. 

And in one of those early days, totally a novice in cooking anything at all, I had learned to make Kalakands in the microwave from my friend R. It was probably the first dessert or meetha I had learned to cook! And it was so easy. I was thrilled with the result. Later I even added a chocolate layer to make chocolate kalakand for my kids.

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It is still a sweet that reminds me of those days -- the Diwalis that glittered with whatever little we had, twinkling fairy lights dancing in cold fall evenings and romance, drama, bling unfurling in a big movie screen. 🎆🎇

Chanar Jilipi | Chhanar Jilipi

Chhanar Jilipi (or Paneer Jalebi) is a typical Bengali sweet which holds its place is a few ranks above the Ledikeni, which in turn is again a rank above Pantua. All of them are kind of similar except for the shape. They are made of  maida (all-purpose flour), chhana (or Ricotta Cheese), deep fried and dunked in syrup.

Here is  easier recipe with Ricotta and Bisquik which I am sure you will love.

Sondesh | Bengali Sandesh | Shondesh

Sandesh is a popular Bengali sweet made from fresh chhana/chenna aka home made paneer also known as curdled milk solids. The chhana is kneaded with sugar and different flavorings to make different variety of Sondesh. Different kind of kneading from smooth to grained, leads to different types of sandesh.  Other than making the chhana, it is not a very difficult dessert to make. Try it this Diwali

Khejur Gur Rosogolla | InstaPot Rosogolla

Roshogolla or how it is famously known as Bengali rasgulla needs no introduction. There was a time before internet and micro-cuisine, when people from different regions of India had little idea about what other Indians ate, spoke, wore; and yet when faced with a Bengali they would say "Rasgulla Khaabe?" That is how cliché it was. Rasgulla aka Roshogolla == Bengali. 

Of course then come the the whole war about whose-Rasgulla-is-it-anyway and GI tags and now I am not even sure to call it Odiya Rasgulla or Bengali Roshogolla or Cheese Balls Dunked in syrup!!! Anyway if you want to make it this Diwali -- there are two methods that I have on my blog a. Instapot Rosogolla and b. Rosogolla in Pressure Cooker or a Regular Pot.

Lobongo Lotika

The Lobongo Lotika is  a delicate square shaped parcel of flour, stuffed with kheer, the flaps of which are secured with a lobongo or clove,and then dunked in a sugar syrup. This is a sweet that I love immensely. At the end of the sweet sensation, biting into that clove brings about a fresh, pungent and spicy burst of flavor. A very different and refreshing note to end the sweet journey. I used to be a bit weary of the lobongo as a child and wished mine didn't have any. I would always eat around it. But as I grow older, I have come to appreciate the innovative mind of the sweet maker who first came up with this sweet and used a clove to tie up the loose ends. What brilliance!

TikTok Salmon Bowl | Honey and Soy glazed Salmon Rice

TikTok Salmon Rice Bowl | Honey and Soy glazed Salmon Rice

This leftover meal commonly eaten in Japanese and Korean households became viral when a Tik Toker Emily Mariko shared a video of her version of this dish. A delightful dish with a lot of umami, this Salmon Rice Bowl is very easy to cook. I learned it from my thirteen year old daughter and while she goes the whole Korean route eating it tucked in seaweed wrappers, I prefer to eat it more like a Bhorta. After all if you step back and look at it with your Bengali eyes, you would call it a Japanese/Korean Salmon Bhorta -- Rice, Flaked Salmon, topped with ingredients common in Korean or Japanese Kitchen!! 

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It is amazing the kind of things you learn from your thirteen year old.

Like recently she keeps using the word "Kapow" to declare, that the food that I have just cooked, after toiling for hours over a coal stove with soot in my eyes, is lacking something!!

Last week I had made Motor Dal. It was really good, fragrant with Hing and generous drizzles of Ghee. My mother would have been proud. Even my Mother-in-law would have been proud.

But my all-knowing gourmand said, "But Mummy, it doesn't have something".

"What thing?"

She threw around her hands as if she was a magician sprinkling fairy dust and said "It doesn't have KAPOW!!!"

I rolled my eyes. 

So when this thirteen year old avid Tik-Tok watcher declared she would make a salmon bowl and needed seaweed wrapper, I nodded my head and continued doing what I was doing. I did not want anything ka(n)pa-kapi in my kitchen. Also this is my usual tactic to many of her pleas, which are mostly peppered with requests for Snapchat, iPhone etc etc.

But this was serious. She begged for one chance to make this dish that she saw on TikTok. It was healthy and had salmon as well as rice -- what is there to not like, she argued. Though I do not have blind faith in TikTok like she does, over the last year LS has become quite the chef so I trust her culinary skills.

The weekend that her sister was home, she coerced the older one to get not only seaweed wrappers but also something called Japanese mayo. And then she made the salmon. I did not think much of this TikTok recipe and stayed away from the kitchen. 

However, one taste and I was hooked. It was such a delicious Salmon Rice Bowl. The salmon itself was so tasty. A burst of flavors. 

Umami. 

Total KAPOW!

Now this has become a favorite at our home and is often made by LS.

It is also a very versatile dish. If you do not want the whole shebang, you can just have the salmon, rice and salad.  In that case you need only the salmon, cooked rice and the marinade ingredients.

But at least once you should have the whole rice bowl in the way it should be had. I am sure you will love it.

Potol er Dolma | Potoler Dorma | Stuffed Pointed Gourd

Potol er Dolma | Potoler Dorma | Stuffed Pointed Gourd

The word Dolma, from the Turkish verb Dolmak, means to be filled and refers to all kinds of stuffed food in the Ottoman cuisine, the most popular being stuffed grape leaves. The Persians call it Dolmeh. The Bengalis call it Dolma or even Dorma. Potoler Dolma or Dorma is a very popular Bengali dish made with the summer vegetable potol or pointed gourd. It is believed that dolma came to Bengali households holding the hands of Armenian families who were originally from Persia and had followed the trade route to finally settle in Chinsurah, near Kolkata. While the original Dolma was stuffed with minced meat and rice as mentioned earlier, the fusion potol’r dolma in Bengali households was stuffed with minced meat, fish and even a vegetarian stuffing of paneer and coconut.

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Potoler Dolma is the kind of dish that always, always reminds you of your grandmother and her kitchen. A slightly hunched figure, sitting on the kitchen floor, on a raised wooden plank called pinri, her gnarly fingers expertly stuffing hollowed out potols (pointed gourd) , which would then be lightly fried and simmered in a gravy. I don't know how my Dida felt about making Potol er Dorma or where she learned it from. It was not really an easy task and since it was always made when there was a house full of people, there were lots of Potols to scrape and stuff. She cooked happily, tired but satisfied, and we thought it was given that she would make Potol er Dolma for us.

My Mother prepping Potol

More than the potol or pointed gourd, I loved the stuffing that went in it. My Dida's standard stuffing for Potoler Dorma would be made with fish. Fish filet was not easily available in North Kolkta in those days and my Dida steamed pieces of Rohu, deboned them patiently and then made a delicious stuffing with the fish. Usually when she was making a large batch of Potoler Dorma for the whole family, my mom or one of the aunts was delegated to make the stuffing. But rest of the Dolma was always hers and hers alone.

Ma stuffing the Potol. This stuffing was made of Ricotta as I was too lazy to make Chhana

Unlike my grandmother, I never ever make Potol er Dorma when there is a house full of people. I want to hold on to my lyaad-quuen crown and cooking difficult stuff for a crowd doesn't get you one!

So it is always made in small quantity for the family and then depending on the availability of the right size Potol(Pointed Gourd) in our Patel. I think I made it multiple times a few years back in 2019, while writing "Those Delicious Letters" as there was a chapter around this dish. This summer I made it once more. My mother was surprised and couldn't believe her eyes that I was doing such a thing !!

Now what I have realized is with a dish like this if you can break it down into smaller tasks, it is much easier to do. 

1. Day 1/Task 1 -- Make the stuffing. Depending on your choice you can make a niramish stuffing with chhana/paneer or  amish stuffing with fish or keema. Refrigerate and make sure no one eats it.

2. Day 2/Task 2 --  Make the base for the gravy/curry. Scrape the potol, Peel in alternate strips, hollow it out, wrap it in a damp cloth and refrigerate.

3. Day 3/Task 3 --  Fry and stuff the potol. Finish the gravy. Simmer the potol in the gravy. 

There are two things I do to make stuffing the potol more easy

1. I first sauté the potol, cool and stuff. In the original recipe, the raw potol is stuffed and then fried. There is a chance that the stuffing might come out if you do this so I do the sauteing first.

2. I try to make my stuffing with a very smooth texture, so that it kind of sits nicely inside the potol and doesn't  spill out. My Dida would securely tie the potol but I don't do that and so far it has been fine.

Hope you make this dish at least once to see what a star Mr. Potol Babu can be too. I have shared the recipe for both the vegetarian Paneer stuffing OR the Fish stuffing, you can use either.