Hello,
"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" isn't it the most quoted line from the Bard's famous love story?
Was sorting my Picasa albums yesterday and came across one holiday album, loaded with pics of not only roses of varied hues, but many flora & fauna in all it's glory. Despite being as different as 'chalk n cheese', of the few common things hubby & me share is the thrill of travel. We rang in this year 2015 in our favourite holiday destination - Singapore, where these rose pics were from.
Singapore; a city we just can't have enough of. This time a new addition in our itinerary was the 'Gardens by the Bay' a nature park around the Marina. The conservatories - Flower Dome & Cloud Forest; were the place we went absolutely shutter crazy at the magnanimous display of flowers & breathtaking display of plants. A piece of advice visit the conservatories in afternoon so that you get to see the display of lights by evening too. Of course the most spectacular section is the 'Supertrees Grove' - tree-like structures which serve a home to variety of ferns, creepers & flowers and function as a mini ecosystem. The highest ones are about 160 ft high and the icing on the cake is the Sky walk connecting two of the tallest supertrees, which is a thrill not to be missed. Sigh that was one amazing day spent; surrounded by nature & a loaded SLR with 100+ pics of just roses :D
All this talk of roses, made crave for something, anything rose flavoured. Rummaging through my kitchen cupboards, came across this disaster of Basmati rice, grudgingly picked as our regular brand was out of stock. Once the regular brand was available this impostor was shelved conveniently to be used for 'other purposes' what? was not sure, till yesterday. The plan was to make Rose Phirni, satiates my urge for the pretty flower & most importantly use up the rice, well not all of it, but at least some of it.
'Hotel Rajasthan' (no relation whatsoever to serving Rajasthani cuisine) is a Mohammedan restaurant in the suburbs of Mumbai close to where I grew. Their 'Kheema Pav' is my all time favourite dish, but is their 'Phirni' is my all time favourite dessert. With that happy childhood memory, began making my version of 'Rose Phirni'
Makes 4 cups of Phirni, take a little more that an hour to cook.
1) Soak 1/4 cup rice in water overnight or minimum 6 hrs.
2) Warm about half liter of milk (NO low fat or skim varieties) with half cup of sugar, 2 tbsp of condensed milk (optional) and 3-4 crushed cardamoms.
3) While the sugar is melting, pulse the rice for about 1 min in a mixer, make sure the rice is not completely ground, it should be consistency of fine granules (thicker than semolina but finer than dalia/broken wheat)
4) Add to the warm milk. As the rice cooks the mixture will start thickening, Keep flame low.
5) The phirni is ready when the mixture is thick enough to coat a spoon without falling off immediately.
6) Add 1 tbsp of almond powder (optional), 1tsp of rose essence & 3-4 tbsp of Roohafza or thick Rose syrup. I use Roohafza as thick gives a lovely pink hue to the phirni.
7) Pour in glass bowl or earthen bowls (as it is traditional served) Garnish with slivered pistachios & rose petals.
I'm back to sorting my Picasa albums, dunno what old memory will trigger a new food recipe :D Have a lovely day folks & drop in a comment/feedback about the recipe.
Cheers!!!
P.S. After exalting so much about the 'Gardens by Bay' couldn't resist leaving you with a few snaps of the place. Enjoi :)
"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" isn't it the most quoted line from the Bard's famous love story?
Was sorting my Picasa albums yesterday and came across one holiday album, loaded with pics of not only roses of varied hues, but many flora & fauna in all it's glory. Despite being as different as 'chalk n cheese', of the few common things hubby & me share is the thrill of travel. We rang in this year 2015 in our favourite holiday destination - Singapore, where these rose pics were from.
Singapore; a city we just can't have enough of. This time a new addition in our itinerary was the 'Gardens by the Bay' a nature park around the Marina. The conservatories - Flower Dome & Cloud Forest; were the place we went absolutely shutter crazy at the magnanimous display of flowers & breathtaking display of plants. A piece of advice visit the conservatories in afternoon so that you get to see the display of lights by evening too. Of course the most spectacular section is the 'Supertrees Grove' - tree-like structures which serve a home to variety of ferns, creepers & flowers and function as a mini ecosystem. The highest ones are about 160 ft high and the icing on the cake is the Sky walk connecting two of the tallest supertrees, which is a thrill not to be missed. Sigh that was one amazing day spent; surrounded by nature & a loaded SLR with 100+ pics of just roses :D
All this talk of roses, made crave for something, anything rose flavoured. Rummaging through my kitchen cupboards, came across this disaster of Basmati rice, grudgingly picked as our regular brand was out of stock. Once the regular brand was available this impostor was shelved conveniently to be used for 'other purposes' what? was not sure, till yesterday. The plan was to make Rose Phirni, satiates my urge for the pretty flower & most importantly use up the rice, well not all of it, but at least some of it.
'Hotel Rajasthan' (no relation whatsoever to serving Rajasthani cuisine) is a Mohammedan restaurant in the suburbs of Mumbai close to where I grew. Their 'Kheema Pav' is my all time favourite dish, but is their 'Phirni' is my all time favourite dessert. With that happy childhood memory, began making my version of 'Rose Phirni'
1) Soak 1/4 cup rice in water overnight or minimum 6 hrs.
2) Warm about half liter of milk (NO low fat or skim varieties) with half cup of sugar, 2 tbsp of condensed milk (optional) and 3-4 crushed cardamoms.
3) While the sugar is melting, pulse the rice for about 1 min in a mixer, make sure the rice is not completely ground, it should be consistency of fine granules (thicker than semolina but finer than dalia/broken wheat)
4) Add to the warm milk. As the rice cooks the mixture will start thickening, Keep flame low.
5) The phirni is ready when the mixture is thick enough to coat a spoon without falling off immediately.
6) Add 1 tbsp of almond powder (optional), 1tsp of rose essence & 3-4 tbsp of Roohafza or thick Rose syrup. I use Roohafza as thick gives a lovely pink hue to the phirni.
7) Pour in glass bowl or earthen bowls (as it is traditional served) Garnish with slivered pistachios & rose petals.
I'm back to sorting my Picasa albums, dunno what old memory will trigger a new food recipe :D Have a lovely day folks & drop in a comment/feedback about the recipe.
Cheers!!!
P.S. After exalting so much about the 'Gardens by Bay' couldn't resist leaving you with a few snaps of the place. Enjoi :)
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| Supertree Groove |
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| Cloud Forest |
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| Flower Dome |
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