Spiced Pears (Masaledar Naspati): Recipes by Mridula Baljekar

Spiced Pears (Masaledar Naspati)

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes, plus chilling

Serves: 6

Each serving contains:Kcals: 200; g fat: 3; g saturated fat: 1.8

Ingredients:

7.5cm piece of cinnamon stick, halved (dalchinikidandi)

2 star anise (chakra phool)

4 tablespoons sugar (chini)

250ml low-fat fromagefrais (cream cheese)

2 tablespoons roohafza or 3 tablespoons rose-flavoured syrup (gulab syrup)

A few crystallized rose petals, to decorate (gulab ke pankhude)

Method:

• Peel, quarter and core the pears. Put them in saucepan and add the remaining ingredients, except the fromagefrais and roohafza. Cover and simmer gently until the pears are al dente
• Use a draining spoon to transfer the pears to a dish. Strain the strup into a small saucepanand boil until it is reduced to about 3 tablespoons. Spoon it over so the pears and allow to cool,then chill for 2 hours
• Mix the from age frais and roohafza together and spoon into a small serving dish so thatdiners can help themselves
• Arrange the pears in individual serving dishes and decorate with rose petals if wished