An Apple Cheese Affair ( Apple Paneer Mishrimava)

Africa and Cooking have at least something in common; they both bewilder you. Africa stuns you with its unrivaled beauty and then sometimes shocks you with the on-road high-crime-rate, and no less is Cooking which can win you medals unexpectedly and then pull you down sometime without any socks-on. But as it is said, there's no fun without adventures and there's no success without blunders, so Africa and Cooking, don't worry, I still love you both. :)

Now you must have estimated that something definitely must have went wrong in my kitchen that I was thought-provoked to write all this, right? Well, yeah, it did.

I think you all know by now that I have a sweet tooth along with my hubby and little angel, and know it or not, Ras Malai is my favorite sweet. So, here I was, ready with everything required to make it, along with the focused mind last weekend. I had curdled milk, the Cottage Cheese/ Paneer was hanging up in the sieve ready to be used, the 'Ras' was ready after I had reduced the milk to half, but but but, where was Sugar???

Oh Gosh! This was possibly one of the biggest blunders I made that while going for a sweet, the sweet sugar was not enough...hufffff.... and then I urgently called my hubby who was in the office and it was 8 in the evening so almost all stores were closed. My doll was sleeping so I had no option to run out and bring it, and wow, my hubby could not find it too while returning on Saturday eve, so now I am all set with my darling paneer, 'Ras' with the flavors added, but not much sugar. I had only that much of sugar which could either help me in steaming the paneer balls or preparing the 'Ras', so options were way too limited. I went a little mad at first because I could take my mind off Ras Malai and then knew that can't make it too, so the Cerebrum started calculating for the best available options, and no wonder it helped me finding a new recipe. Now this version was surely healthier than the previous one because I would be using less sugar, and then I would be adding apples to it.  It reminds me of the saying, 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away' but my poor husband just can't keep himself away from me even after having a dozen of apples...hehe..now that's the side-effect/disadvantage of getting married to a doctor, you see. ;)

Without much ado, here comes the recipe:

AN APPLE CHEESE AFFAIR (APPLE PANEER MISHRIMAVA)

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Serves: 4-6

Health Meter:

• One apple has 5 grams of fiber. They’re also fat, sodium and cholesterol free. 
• Don’t peel your apple! Two-thirds of the fiber and many of the antioxidants are found in the apple peel.

Did you know?

• Apples are a member of the rose family, along with pears, peaches, plums and cherries.
• Fresh apples float because 25% of their volume is air (thank goodness, or none of us would have ever experienced bobbing for apples!).

Ingredients:

1. Red Apple: 1 (peeled and grated)

2. Milk: 1 litre

3. Cottage Cheese/ Paneer: 1 cup (approximately prepared from 1 litre of milk)

4. Saffron strands: a few

5. MTR Badam Drink Mix: 3 tbs (optional)

6. Cardamom powder/ Elaichi: a pinch

7. Slivered almonds

8. Sugar: 6 tbs or as per taste 

Method:

1. Prepare fresh cottage cheese/ paneer at home by curdling milk with curd/lemon juice. This will be very soft so will give a better texture to the dessert.
2. Wash the paneer well before hanging to let out any tangy extract from lemon juice or curd.
3. Hang it in a muslin cloth or keep in a sieve for an hour to let the excess water run out. 
4. On the other hand, keep milk for boiling in a thick bottomed pan. Simmer it and keep stirring till it reduces to half.
5. Add MTR Badam Drink mix, saffron strands and cardamom powder and sugar to it.
6. Take the grated apple and add half a cup of milk to it. Boil/ Microwave this separately to make sure the whole milk does not get curdled because some apples are sour and can cause curdling. 
7. If the milk does not curdle on boiling/microwaving, add this to the flavored milk followed by the fresh crushed paneer and take a boil. 
8. If you see the milk curdling on adding apple, keep this separate.
9. Add paneer to the flavored milk then and take a boil/ microwave for 3 minutes. At last add the boiled/microwaved apples when the milk cools down. This will avoid curdling of the flavored milk.
10. Let it cool and then refrigerate for 2-4 hrs or overnight.
11. Garnish with almonds, saffron strands and enjoy the apply-cheesy flavor.

Suggestions:

1. While reducing the milk to half, be careful that it does not stick to the bottom.
2. Instead of boiling on a gas stove, you could actually prepare the whole thing in a microwave, but be sure to use a really big bowl to avoid any kind of spilling while boiling.
3. It's always better to use the sweet red apples or the Fuji ones. The sour ones will spoil the taste.
4. If the flavored milk curdles even after all your efforts (chances are less than 1 %), don't panic; it's nothing else but cottage cheese/paneer which can still be used creatively.
5. You can variate the texture by addition of milk. If you want it slightly runny, add more milk and if you want it thick and granular, add more of paneer.

The recipe flies off to:
My event: Cooking Made Easy With Cheese/Paneer
My event: Cakes, Cookies and Desserts 

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