Rushina Munshaw-Ghildiyal is the brain behind the successful food consulting biz – A Perfect Bite – and runs the APB Cook Studio in Powai, Mumbai, where she initiates wannabe chefs of all ages into the art and science of culinary expertise.
She and her daughter Natasha, five years, demonstrate five festive goodies from her repertoire of kid-friendly recipes that you and your tot can make together this month…
Coconut Laddoos
(Makes 45-50 small laddoos)
You need: 400g desiccated coconut, 400g of condensed milk, 1/2 tsp cardamom powder, 75g desiccated coconut (for decoration), a few drops of organic food colouring (optional), chopped pistachios (for decoration)
You must: Pour the condensed milk into a large vessel. Add the desiccated coconut to the condensed milk. Gently mix the mixture with a rubber spatula or your hands till the mixture comes together and the laddoos can be formed easily. Do not over mix as the mixture will become oily. Make small balls of the coconut mixture. You can add in a few drops of food colouring to the coconut meant for decoration and roll the laddoos in it. Garnish each laddoo with chopped pistachios and serve.
Chocolate Pedhas
You need: 4.5 tbsp cocoa powder, 12 tbsp milk powder, nine tbsp almond powder, nine Marie biscuits, boiled milk (or as needed to make the dough), castor sugar for rolling, chopped walnuts to garnish
You must: Mix all the above ingredients together and make a soft dough. Rub a little oil on your hands and roll the mixture into desired shapes. You can even roll them in castor sugar for additional flavour. Garnish with chopped walnuts and serve.
Nutella & Fruit Cups
You need: 30gms Nutella, 50 gms bananas/strawberries/kiwis, 10 gms almonds, 20 gms sponge cake, a few Gems or M&Ms to decorate, a small bottle/disposable glasses to assemble
You must: Chop up the sponge cake, almonds and fruits into little pieces. Take small disposable glasses and put a few pieces of the cake into the base. Top it with Nutella, some fruits and almonds. Repeat all the layers again till you get a yummy dessert. Garnish with a few colourful Gems or M&Ms.
Fruit & Chocolate Skewers
You need: 10-15 black grapes (halved), 1/4 musk melon (cut into balls or cubes), two bananas (peeled and cut into chunks), ½ green apple (cut into chunks), ½ red apple (cut into chunks), ½ kiwi (cut into chunks), 250 gms cooking chocolate or chocolate sauce, 15-20 skewers
You must: Thread the grapes, red apple, musk melon, banana and green apple pieces alternately onto skewers, placing at least two pieces of fruit on each skewer. You can even use a choice of fruits you like. Place the cooking chocolate in a microwave-friendly bowl and microwave for 30-60 seconds or till the chocolate melts. Arrange the fruit skewers decoratively on a serving platter, top with the melted chocolate and serve immediately. To give it a festive touch, you can even garnish it with silver/gold warq or edible dust.
Saffron & Cardamom Shrikhand
You need: 1 ½ cup hung yoghurt, one cup icing sugar/powdered sugar, two tbsp strawberry crush, three-four fresh strawberries to garnish (if available), 10 pistachios (chopped)
You must: Mix the hung yoghurt and sugar in a bowl and keep on stirring till sugar is totally incorporated into the yoghurt. Fold in the strawberry crush and garnish with the pistachios and fresh strawberries. Serve cold. M&B
Words Sahana Bhandari
Visuals Akshay Kulkarni
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