Chocolate and Malai Peda for Holi/Five Minute Chocolate and Milk Fudge

Here's wishing all my readers a Very Happy Holi. Have fun, stay safe and healthy. This past weekend we were out on a road trip on a little vacation driving around the state to the usual vacation spots. Took some time off of the early part of spring break as well. By the time we got back yesterday, just in time for Holi, I already had several ideas crawling in my head for what to make for the festival of which - like most festivals - food is an essential element. Holi is all about having fun, painting each others with colors, spending an hour in the shower to get all the paint off you and then having some wonderful food from the kitchen. Coming back from our trip yesterday you would think I would take some time and relax but instead I went right to the kitchen (yes I did stop at the grocery store on the way). Since it was late at night, did some basic prep work and starting this morning  over a few hours put together five dishes. This sweet dish is one of them which in fact was easier of the five. You may find several versions of these Pedas out on the web that use almost similar ingredients. They are all done pretty much the same way with minor differences based on personal preference. I tried to put together the general concept of the dish together with my love for chocolate. A fine dessert to serve with an exquisite meal or a casual candy to have around and to pop in when you please.

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No bake tiramisu cheese cake (gelatin 'n egg less)

My first encounter with Tiramisu was at our local Olive Garden. Hubby completely loves it so he ordered it promising it would be absolutely wonderful. To be honest I liked the idea of the dessert but kinda did not like the strong raw egg taste and the rum soaked ladyfingers (but I still pretended to like it :) So I decided to make it at home without the components I do not like. I did try it some days back. It turned out great. I will post it soon. The other thing among popular desserts that I don't like is cheesecake (not much of a dessert person now am I!). So you might think it is funny for me to make this cake which combines Tiramisu and cheesecake. The other drive for me was to make a cake that does not involve baking (go figure). Believe me, it really tastes as great as it looks. It is a very light but decadent dessert that combines the taste of Tiramisu and cheesecake without the gelatin or eggs. If it is any indication, we finished half the cake within fifteen minutes of having made it.

Here's how I made it-

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Paneer Bharvan Bhindi (Paneer stuffed Okra)

Humble okra gets a  glamorous makeover with this recipe and gets a "WOW" from whomever you are serving it to. A very innovative and always popular recipe from my mom's cook book (the best there is). This recipe came to existence one day when some special guests arrived and mom had only bhindi in the fridge... which is not always considered the best vegetable to offer to special guests at our home. So she made some paneer added some masala in it and stuffed the okras and boom... okra got a makeover. Guests loved it. My papa became its biggest fan and now he always asks mom to make these whenever we have guests over. In fact if we were out of bhindi, he would go and get some from the market. He just loves it :). Mom used to fry the bhindis first then stuff them then saute again with the masala in a makhani kind gravy (which I will be posting soon). I use my microwave for this and it becomes so quick and easy. It is great for lunch and dinner when paired with either rice or roti..have served as an appetizer too.

Here goes the recipe (see notes for the 'microwave-only' version) -

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