Carrot Halwa Cheesecake - No Bake

The long weekend has heralded a hopefully long winter in Dubai. The winds are chilly and my hands are invariably reaching out to the woolens. The sky is clear and occasional clouds pass by as I look up and pray that at least one would sprinkle showers as they go by. I have not been that lucky yet! It is that time of the year when we reach out to those soothing hot drinks and soups. Yet the crazy part in each of us would want to grab hold of an ice cream or something chilled. ( although the angel in your head would speak of possibilities of falling sick - the devil in you doesn't care)

The call for making a cheesecake has been there since the last mango season. The season passed by and no cheesecake was made. While discussing the menu for Christmas, Shibin was quick to suggest a cheesecake and since mango is not in season now, I was left pondering on the flavor. I was quickly taken back to one of the episodes of Dhe Chef - a Malayalam channel cooking reality show where one of the contestants happened to make a carrot halwa cheese cake.  So there it was done!!

The cream cheese I have used is homemade - I picked up the recipe from the blog - Sharmispassion . I increased the quantity of lime juice added to 3 tbsp as against the 1.5 mentioned in the blog to get the desired consistency. Why do you need to buy cream cheese, if you can make it at home!! It is cheaper and not so tedious. Head over to her blog, if you want to give it a shot and below is my cheesecake recipe.

Ingredients

For Carrot Halwa

1. Carrot - 1 and half cup grated
2. Sweetened condensed milk - 100 ml
3. White sugar - 2 tbsp
4. Ghee - 4 tbsp

For cheesecake

1. Digestive Biscuit - 8 -10
2. Butter - 3 tbsp melted
3. Cream cheese - 1 cup
4. Thick cream - 1/3 cup
5. Sugar -1/4 cup powdered
6. Rose essence - 1 tsp
7. Salt - 1 pinch

Method

Carrot Halwa

• Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a saucepan and add the grated carrot. 
• Add the condensed milk and combine. Let it simmer on low flame till the raw taste of the carrot goes and the milk content reduces by 80%.
• Add sugar and remaining ghee. Stir till it combines well and the moisture content dries up.
• Set aside to cool

Cheesecake

• Put the digestive biscuits into a ziploc bag and crush it using a rolling pin till coarse
• Combine this with melted ghee. Layer the bottom of 4 glasses with this mixture and press down using spoon. Let it refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
• Whisk the thick cream until peak is formed. Add in the cream cheese and combine well.
• Add in the sugar, salt and the essence and combine.
• Add about 3 tbsp of the carrot halwa to the cheese mixture and fold this in.
• Scoop spoonfuls of the cheese mixture into the glasses. Gently tap down the glass on tea towel to level the cheese layer.
• Refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour.
• Finally, top the cheesecake with carrot halwa and refrigerate for about 2 hours.
• Serve chilled.

Orange Iced Tea

Seems like we are past the peak of the summers.The weather still varies between hot/ dry and hot/humid and I hate the later of the two. Such days requires an extra boost of energy to keep you pumped up. On one such day, we walked into a café – Papa Roti and the Passion Fruit Iced Tea was the much needed refreshing punch we got.

Ever since, I have wanted to try this at home. The only Iced Tea I had tried earlier was the one marketed by Lipton and I stopped having it the moment I learnt about the sugar content that goes into it.

Orange and Lemon with a dash of mint seemed to be the perfect combo for the refreshing Iced Tea and there it was decided.

So here is my recipe for the summers.


Ingredients
(Serves – 4)

1. Water – 3 and ½ cups
2. Tea bags/ tea leaves – 3 bags/ 3 tsp
3. Fresh mint leaves – a handful
4. Orange Juice – ½ cup
5. Lemon juice – 2 tbsp
6. Honey/Sugar – 6 tbsp/ 3 tbsp
7. Ice cubes

Method:

Boil 3 cups of water and add the tea bag or tea leaves. Set aside covered for 3 minutes before removing the tea bags or straining the tea leaves. Let it cool for 15 minutes.

Mix the lemon juice along with orange, the remaining water and honey in a jug. Transfer the tea when cooled into the jug. Stir in well.

Lightly crush the mint leaves with your hands and toss into the jar. Leave it to chill in your refrigerator for about an hour. Serve it with ice cubes which adds to the final boost.

You may also note –

1. Iced Tea retains the freshness up to a day when stored in a refrigerator.
2. You may choose to strain the iced tea or serve along with the orange pulp and the mint leaves as is.
3. You may choose to replace honey with sugar.

Green gram Cooler

I can imagine the reaction of most of you when you hear the name of this cooler. I was witness to a similar reaction from my husband and cousin. I never attempted this cooler before although I was fully aware that something like this did exist. This one is very refreshing and provides the cooling effect you need most in the scorching Dubai summers. 

My love affair with this cooler dates back to my camping days in college. We had a mandatory 10 days camp every year where the first half of the day was spent in Sramadan - were we dug up and leveled grounds or dug up drainage around the local school areas. We started off at sunrise breaking for breakfast once and then again for juice at 11 am before we winding up at 1:00 pm. One amongst the hot favorite for the juice break was definitely the green gram cooler - which gave us much needed energy and enthusiasm to work harder.

In the ancient times, it was made using the traditional stone mortar and pestle, adding ingredient by ingredient, scooping out the juice and adding water to reach the desired consistency. 

Takes more time but the results are much more better than the one using the juicer.

Stop wondering if a cooler like this exist and take a look at the recipe below - 

Ingredients

(serves - 6)

1. Green gram - 1 cup
2. Jaggery - 1/2 cup grated (alter as per your preference)
3. Coconut - 3 tbsp heaped
4. Green Cardamom - 5

Method

• Dry roast the green gram on medium flame for 5 minutes to remove the raw taste. Soak this in water for 1 hour.
• Clean and drain excess water. Blend this to a paste along with the cardamom and 1 cup of water to a smooth paste.
• Add the coconut and jaggery and blitz it once again till combined.
• Now add the remaining water and mix it well. Sieve it to get rid of bigger particles.
• Chill for an hour and serve.

You may also note -

1. Be careful while roasting the green gram - do not burn it.
2. You may refrigerate it, stays good for 4 - 5 days.