Thursday, October 25, 2007

Real Junnu & custard

Sumptuous Junnu.


Oh!! what a delight to eat real junnu here in US. Yes the pic you see is not a immitation of junnu made from eggs or china grass. But it is real 24k junnu!! Well, I am blessed to live close by an Amish farmer who sells raw milk. I usually get my milk from him(i don't use the store brought kind). I asked him if he could sell me colostrum, the first milk after a calf is born.... The lady at the farm stopped me the other day to check if i would want some junnu milk. Did I say yes? oh I was delighted to say, ofcourse why not!The colostrum, is rich with antibodies and immune factors. One of my friend who is an American is a Natural health practitioner. I one time saw some tablets at her place called 'Transfer Factor' made from colostrum of a cow, to increase immunity. I ended up using that for my family when ever we were sick. Then I realized that , what we call as a dessert made from Junnu palu back in India is actually a healthy and nutritious food. As I was enjoying the melt in mouth junnu, I felt big and strong with my immunity levels racing :-), no guilt what so ever. I would encourage you to check if you have any farmer close by your place for your dairy needs. Who knows, you may end up making junnu one day.The recipe here is a rough measurement from my mom.

Junnu -kadambu paal in tamil, cheek in hindi, kharwas in marathi ...

Junnu or custard:

junnu milk - 1 cup
plain milk - 1 cup
jaggery to your taste (I added 1/2 cup powdered jaggery)
pepper corns - 1 tsp
dry ginger( sonti) - 1 tsp
Elaichi or cardamom - 3

Take the dry items in a blender and grind them into coarse powder. Mix all the ingredients, Pour the mixture into individual custard bowls or a baking dish and place it in a pan of hot water and set the pan in a 325 F oven. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until set. you can also do it on stove top but i prefer it this way. A knife inserted comes out clean. Cool slightly and serve warm or chilled.

I am also giving a recipe for custard with eggs

Basic Baked Custard:

eggs - 4
honey - 1/4 cup
milk - 3 cups
salt - 1/8 tsp
vanilla - 1/2 tsp
pinch nutmeg

Beat eggs. Beat in honey, milk, salt & vanilla. pour the mixture into an ungreased glass 1 quart baking dish and sprinkle nutmeg. place it in a pan of hot water and set the pan in a 325 F oven. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until set. A knife inserted comes out clean. Cool slightly and serve warm or chilled with granola or just plain.

Be Nourished!!!





34 comments:

Swaruchy said...

Swaroopa....I am jealous of u....U have an Amish farmer nearby and u get milk from daily...WOW...I call this a luxury in US. Junnu is one of the sweet dishes I would die for.....Its my fav....Now u tempted me with this pic.......Wish u were near my house otherwise I would have barged into ur home for it :-)))
Nice one dear...looks very tempting ...very nice.....bahut dil dukhaya hamara aaj Swaroopa...dekh lenge....haaan :-)))))

FH said...

WOW!! Real Ginnu(in Kannada) in US! Cool!! Looks great, enjoy!:))

Padmaja said...

Swaroopa, You reminded me of home now. I remember whenever we used to go from hostel, my mom used to tell our milkman to get that first milk. It was simply divine and ican't stop looking at your junnu

Rina said...

Swaroopa, please if there is an;y means to send it here to toronto I be so happy. Junnu is my fav. I mean yes the real one. I long for it. Good for you girl . Enjoy it.

Unknown said...

roopa
i m so jealous that u prepared ur own junnu.enjoy cheyyi.
my family got so excited seeing the pic of junnu and u just reminded my mom telling the milkmaid to get the first milk after a calf is born
u r blessed to live in ur place

Unknown said...

Looks good.

bee said...

lucky you to get raw milk from the source.

sra said...

How lucky you were, Swaroopa! Even in India, this is becoming rare nowadays - and highly prized.

Sia said...

how lucky to have amish farmer nearby. enjoy that junnu girl :)

Richa said...

yummmmm :)
reminded me of the endless bowls of chik/kharwas i had during Ganpati fstival, wherein we used to be perched on the roadside for the procession for long hours :)

Unknown said...

Swaroopa... like sirisha... even I am jealous of u.... Its so mouthwatering.. we too have farms here, in germany, but i just dont know how to ask in German...Dont want to embarass myself :)

Bindiya said...

Yes Swaroopa,
It is indeed very healthy, great recipe!

Anonymous said...

Swaroopa!wow!real junnu is tempting.My mom makes this all the time when we go home.miss junnu a lot here.

Laavanya said...

I'm trying to remember if I've ever tasted this but reading about this on the blogosphere has made me want to try this atleast once. :) It's so cool that you get fresh milk like we get in India.

S said...

wow swaroopa...i like ur junnu and i know how u felt while having it..hmm good...i went through ur blog and found the recipes that i never saw before...but they r very nutritious......

Seena said...

Swaroopa,
I have heard abt this before, we have one dish like this, but didn't understand what junnu means. let me check..

looks soo tasty..

sagari said...

your junnu looks delecious

Anonymous said...

Hey Swaroopa first time visiting your site and what a treat, great delicious dish. Lucky you to get fresh milk here in US.

indosungod said...

Swaroopa, that is fantastic that you got colostrum milk. Looks good.

Dori said...

Just stumbled on your blog, it looks amazing...lots of goodies! I have to take colostrum in pill form...my mom goes nuts trying to find raw milk. This must be very healthy :) Looks great!

Raks said...

Hey , making everybody feel jealous of you...;D
looks good ....:))

Suma Gandlur said...

Cool. You get real milk + junnu in US. I bet you enjoy them.
BTW, Where do you live girl? :))

Anonymous said...

sonti is new to me in junnu
looks great though

Anonymous said...

oh! I love junnu. I envy you girl.

Anonymous said...

Oh ! i can kill to get a piece of that Junnu...I love it so much and havent had in years as i have not gone back to India in many years :(
I am haapy that you stopped by my blog, now sad that i didnt get Junnu ;) :(

Anonymous said...

Swaroopa,

Its good that you enjoyed this dish, and from the comments I can see that this is common in southern India. However, the colostrum is truly meant for the poor new born calf...it's his mom's (and nature's) way of providing the much needed anti-bodies to boost his lifelong immunity. To take it away from the little calf and prepare a sweet dish does seem a bit selfish, dont you think.

I dont mean to be critical here, just wanted to share my thoughts.

Swaroopa said...

hey anonymous.....thanx for sharing your thought. I sure do appreciate your concern, but i just want to add a few thoughts here. I am sure the farmer would be more concerned about the calf because it is more profitable than selling me colostrum for few bucks. but the point here is , the cow has more than enough colostrum for the calf to digest. that is the reason, a calf is taken away from his mother....lest he might get indigestion & die due to drinking more than required milk. so the farmer sells remaining milk to customers like me...so that we might enjoy the goodness. so here no body is at a lose. its a win -win situation... cow, calf, farmer & customer. hope u go my point.

Unknown said...

Such a lovely dish you have here:) and a blog too:) I liked the writing on junnu :) lucky to have a amish farmer nearby:) .....I liked the recipe you gave for baking egg custard:)

Anonymous said...

Swaroopa,

Thanks so much for replying to my previous post :-). Here are my thoughts: I know that new born calfs are taken away from the mother since too much milk is not good for them. The cow/buffalo typically produces much more milk than is good for the calf, as you mentioned, hence the abundance for human consumption.

However, there is a slight difference between colostrum and milk. Colostrum is not milk, it is the yellowish fluid which the mother produces just after childbirth and before the production of milk starts, and is in very limited quantity (actually, this feature is similar in humans and bovines). It is rich in antibodies, and as I mentioned in my previous post, it is natures way of giving lifelong immunity to the child/calf. So, it is not the same as milk, which is produced in abundance and which is not good for the calf in large quantities.

I am aware that in many places, including India, humans take the colostrum as it so full of goodness. And farmers are willing to sell if they have a market for it. I was just questioning if it was fair to the poor calf, specially since this is being enjoyed just as a dessert!! (Also, as you saw from other posts, getting this is pretty rare even in India, as most farmers are not willing to sell this even for a profit...something to think about, huh?!).

btw, sorry abt the long post. Just one of my pet peeves. Your blog is otherwise excellent and very thoughful! :-)

Unknown said...

Hi Swaaroopa,
While searching on internet, i stumbled on your sight.I am a strong believer of Sally Fallon and keep looking for indian recipes which i can do by weston price tradition method .Is it possible for you to post where do you get your whole grains from and Jaggery from.
Also, one other thing if you could clear, when we soak our grains for cereal like oat cereal...do we throw away water or use it.

Shweta

Amy said...

I just found this awesome raw recipe from nutritionals Rose Cole for an eggnog substitute. I can’t believe how good it is, and it’s sugar-free, dairy-free, and RAW! http://ow.ly/BN0C Just thought I would pass it on.

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Anonymous said...

Swaroopa...lol! Actually what anonymous said was right....colostrum is not plentiful!!! So...u might not be aware of this till now(ofcourse not knowing the facts isn't ur fault);)...So buddy why dont u remove this post n show people other ways of making junnu n savouring it!!!It's upto ur conscience :)

Andreas said...

I make pudding of rawmilk in sweden, but we only put milk and cinamon to mix with the rawmilk :-)