Milky sweetness for a healthy dessert

"At last we meet!" told he to the bowl in front of him. Filled with a creamy syrup, it hosted little white sponges. What were they made from? "Cheese", somebody said.
The history of me and this sweet, rich Indian dessert dates back to at least two years ago when exploring the meanders of a virtual video gallery, I stumbled upon this video from "Show Me The Curry":

Friendship is sharing: a wrap that crosses the Oceans

Few weeks ago Aparna asked me if I was willing to write a guest post for her, my answer was naturally yes! Apart from being this an honour to be featured on her blog My Diverse Kitchen, how could I say no to a friend?
Once fixed the time details, I just had to think about a yummy vegetarian recipe to contribute.
You might remember that last month Velveteers’ challenge pivoted around the Sicilian caponata; Aparna loved it so much that I promised myself to show her more examples of the fine art of Sicilian veggies.
Last year in one of my visit back home, I bought some little booklets that collect various recipes from Sicilian culinary tradition from the different areas and cities of the island. I started reading the vegetables volume to find out that almost one third of its recipes feature eggplants; they are indeed one of the most beloved vegetable in Sicily. I already delved deeper into the gastronomic history of this fruit in my Caponata post but let me just remind here how it was considered at first as a poisonous "apple" and then relegated as food suited only for Jews.
Curious for more? Let's head over to Aparna's.

Indian Kebab with Roasted Hazelnuts and Dried Apricots

The past week-end I was invited for a friendly dinner at friends place. Since they just came back from a trip to India, the theme of the night were: Indian Kebabs. I made a batch of meat mixture to bring along, here there is the recipe.

Ingredients:
(make roughly 30 kebabs)

• 125g chickpeas flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp salt
• 500g mixed minced meat
• 4 black cardamom
• 1 handful of green cardamom (ca 15 pods)
• 4 cloves
• 1 tsp caraway
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• Ca 20 hazelnuts, roasted
• 5 dried apricots
• 1 carrot, grated
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 1 tsp red chilli flakes
• 50cl brandy
• 2 pinches of freshly grated black pepper

How to:
Using a spice grinder or a mortar, grind the spices together: the seeds from the cardamoms, the cloves, the caraway seeds and the cumin. Crush the hazelnuts in small pieces but not to flour.
In a bowl put all the ingredients together and mix well to combine. Let the mixture rest in the refrigerator for 1h.
When ready to grill your kebabs, oil a bit your hands and form elongated patties with the meat mixture. Grill till ready and the outside is nice and browned.