Diwali is the Indian festival of lights, and is symbolic for the victory of good over evil. Having grown up in northern India I have experienced Diwali in all its pomp, not so common in my native land Kerala where Diwali celebrations are rather low key. Diwali for me means hot oil baths, smell of deep fried goodies, and great times with friends and neighbours. My mum has a couple of diwali staples, one was nei appam – deep fried dumplings made of a batter of rice flour, mashed bananas, and jaggery, delicately spiced with cardamom, and slivers of coconut hidden between bites. She liked to make these because I think she secretly considered nei appams on a culinary scale higher than the milk based, sugary, fudge like sweets of the North. My brother and I on the other hand waited for Diwali and such for mouthwatering trade offs. Our nei appams for a dabba full of assorted sweet, fudgey barfees. Those days heaven was in a box full of sweets wrapped in yellow cellophane.

The other family tradition was making Kalkal during Diwali. Kalkal is a festive tradition in the Army mess. Its usually made during Christmas – is perhaps a Portuguese legacy, considering Goans make them as well – and is served alongside fat slices of plum cake, ginger wine, or rum punch. But my mum used to make these for Diwali as well, maybe because we loved Kalkals, they really are great fun to make and eat. Following my mother’s culinary legacy I make Kalkals for Diwali and Christmas. Most often these are made with the addition of castor sugar in the flour, but my mum’s way has plain Kalkals rolled in syrup. I think she might have come up with this version because my father’s diabetic, so she could keep some sugar free ones aside for him and roll the rest in cardamom infused syrup. So addictive! And my daughter rolled most of these… so happy making memories.

Ingredients for Kalkal

4 cups AP Flour
1/4 cup semolina
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup oil
1 cup water
Oil for frying

For the syrup:

2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 tsp cardamom powder

Method

1. Add the salt, and semolina into the AP flour and mix well. Add the oil and mix until you get a bread crumb like texture. Then adding a little water at a time knead into a tight dough. Continue kneading till the dough is smooth. Cover and let the dough rest for 20 minutes.
2. Grease a baking sheet, or a couple of plates.
3. Pinch little bits off the dough and roll into tiny marble sized balls. Place the rolled ball onto the reverse side of a fork and roll, so you get a nice patterned cocoon. Place on your greased tray.

4. Once all the dough is used up, heat oil in a wok and deep fry these goodies. Set aside.
5. Make a syrup by boiling sugar, water, and cardamom, till the sugar is completely dissolved and the sugar reaches a thick syrupy stage.

6. Drop in the fried kalkal in batches coat in the sugar mixture and set aside. Enjoy a delicious and sweet filled Diwali!!

The people at Down to Earth Organic – a new brand of organic products in the UAE – are kindly sponsoring a Diwali giveaway for my Dubai readers. Down to Earth has just opened its first organic store in Jumeirah and the company also provides delivery within Dubai. For more information you can click here. Down to Earth Diwali hamper is a great way to check out what the product is all about.

The Diwali hamper contains:
Organic Wheat Flour
Organic Basmati Super Fine Rice
Organic Fenugreek
Organic Cowpea whole
Organic Black mustard
Organic Salted Cumin cookies
Organic sweet semolina cookies
Organic Chilli powder regular
Organic Cumin Whole
Organic Channa Whole in brine

This Diwali gift is open only to my Dubai readers. All you have to do is leave a comment, tweet about it (and let me know), and/or ‘like’ me on Facebook. This giveaway will close on 26th October 2011 (Diwali day). Happy Diwali all

I am little worried about translating Pradhaman to mean something in English, this has two reasons, firstly ofcourse the obvious, there are no desserts in the West that compares to the Pradhaman, even the rice pudding that the West enjoys gets a little fluidity and a different set of flavours when made in the sub-continent. Secondly, Pradhaman is eaten without the pinky up and preferably without a spoon, five fingers diving in straight into a brown puddle right at the centre of a bright green banana leaf, grabbing whatever it can and transporting to the mouth which then sucks, slurps, and licks, and that is the only way to enjoy this classic dessert. Now that must sound appetizing. Anyway back to what I was saying, the closest Pradhaman comes to a western dish in terms of consistency is porridge, except that pradhaman is eaten at the end of a meal, as a dessert. Here I must add that the Pradhaman is similar to payasam or kheer in its consistency and status in the Indian meal, but the similarity ends there.

Pradhaman is 100% vegan. It is always made with jaggery and coconut milk. And this attribute itself makes Pradhaman a little elite in the company of the common milk based Indian desserts. Pradhaman is not a pan Indian dessert, but is indigenous to Kerala where a place of pride is reserved for this delicious dessert. In Malayalam Pradhaman means “the first one” – and is always the first dessert served at a feast. Just saying “there’s Pradhaman” puts you in a special category of hosts who take pride in serving only the best at a gathering, and set the bar high for the rest.

There are several kinds of Pradhaman, depending on what is the chief flavour ingredient, but the popular ones are Chakka Pradhaman (made with Jackfruit preserve), Ada Pradhaman (made with a rice pasta, rice paste steamed in strips of banana leaves), and Parippu Pradhaman (made with roasted mung dhal). In Parippu Pradhaman, the roasted mung dhal gives the very nutty and wholesome flavour that is so unique to this dessert. While making Pradhaman is generally a long drawn process, there are simple ways to achieve a similar success thanks to modern intervention. Here’s one:

Ingredients for the Mung Dhal Porridge/Parippu Pradhaman

1 cup yellow mung dhal, washed, and dried
1 tin coconut milk/cream
Upto 1 cup jaggery, shavings
1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
Fresh coconut slivers chopped into tiny bits (optional)
2 tablespoons coconut oil/or ghee if you’re not vegan

Method

1. Roast the dhal on a skillet until golden brown, Pressure cook the dhal with 2 cups of water. (3 whistles on high flame, or reduce flame to low and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, after the first whistle on your cooker.)
2. Make jaggery syrup by boiling jaggery shavings with 3/4th cup of water, strain to remove any impurities.
3. Transfer the cooked dhal to a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium flame, add the jaggery syrup to taste, stir, and let it come to a boil. Reduce flame.
4. Pour in the coconut cream/milk, and stir. Let the Pradhaman heat gently, add the cardamom powder and mix.
5. In another saucepan, heat the ghee and fry the coconut bits till uniformly fried, this should look dark brown. Pour this into the Pradhaman.
6. Take off the Pradhaman off the flame and let it sit for a bit before your serve.

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. They challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake from a recipe found by Jamie from her dad’s collection of hand-written recipes from the 1970’s.

Around the last week of every month, ovens around the world dole out delectable victuals to feed their blogs. I have often salivated lustfully at luscious creations from these magical kitchens… and have been apprehensive if I could ever rise to such exacting standards considering that baking isn’t exactly one of my fortes. I only just get by – but ofcourse I dream big – and so I joined the ranks of the Daring Bakers and this Yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake is my first challenge.

I didn’t fool around with the proportions as I was unsure of the results, but couldn’t help playing around with the fillings. So in the end I made two of these cakes, one with a filling of chocolate and coconut, and the other, inspired by middle eastern breakfast called Knefe bel-Jeben, I filled with rose scented middle eastern semolina cake called Basbousa. The results were lovely, delicious fresh out of the oven and even better the next day. The version with Basbousa was a bit dry but I poured some extra syrup right before eating and it was fine.

Recently I have been very busy, shifted into a new home and all that goes with it. At the time of the challenge there was a lot of packing and reorganizing going around and I was hard pressed for time, so I prepared the dough the previous day and refrigerated it, next day as I put it out on the counter to come back to room temperature while I went about preparing the basbousa, and meringue. The rest is all about assembling.

Ingredients for Meringue Coffee Cake

(Makes 2 coffee cakes, if you want just one cake, halve the amounts)
4 cups flour
¼ cup sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
7 g active dried yeast
¾ cup whole milk
¼ cup water (doesn’t matter what temperature)
¼ cup ghee/clarified butter
2 large eggs at room temperature

For the meringue

3 large egg whites at room temperature
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup sugar

For the chocolate coconut filling

1 cup coarsely chopped chocolate
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Icing sugar for dusting cakes

For the basbousa filling

1 Basbousa cake
Rose water syrup

Method

1. For the dough: In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 ½ cups of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast.
2. In a saucepan, combine the milk, water and ghee and heat over medium heat until warm.
3. Gradually add the warm liquid to the flour/yeast mixture, using a wooden spoon, beat until well blended. Add the eggs and 1 cup flour and beat to blend for about 2 minutes.
4. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that holds together. Turn out onto a floured surface (use any of the 1 ½ cups of flour remaining) and knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is soft, smooth, sexy and elastic, keeping the work surface floured and adding extra flour as needed.
5. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise until double in bulk, 45 – 60 minutes.
6. Prepare your filling: get together chopped chocolate, dessicated coconut, and cinnamon powder for Coffee cake with chocolate meringue filling.
7. Prepare the Basbousa cake, once cool crumble and keep aside.
8. Once the dough has doubled, make the meringue: In a clean mixing bowl – ideally a plastic or metal bowl so the egg whites adhere to the side (they slip on glass) and you don’t end up with liquid remaining in the bottom – beat the egg whites with the salt, first on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high and continue beating until foamy and opaque. Add the vanilla then start adding the ½ cup sugar, a tablespoon at a time as you beat, until very stiff, glossy peaks form.

Recipe for Basbousa

This is so incredibly simple to put together, I was very happy to have got around to making this semolina cake, next time I plan to bake this as is and not stuffed into anything – it does deserve a special place on the table.

Ingredients

1 cup semolina flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup yogurt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 tablespoons dessicated coconut
1/2 tablespoon baking powder

for the syrup

1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon rose water

Method

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the semolina flour, sugar, yogurt, oil, coconut, and baking powder. Set aside for 30 minutes.
2. Prepare the syrup: in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stir together the water, sugar, and rosewater. Bring to a boil, and boil for 3 or 4 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside to cool to room temperature.
3. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C. Spread the semolina batter into the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking pan, lined with baking paper.
4. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until light brown. Cut into squares, and pour syrup all over the cake. Let the cake absorb the syrup and cool down before crumbling it for the filling.

Assembling the Coffee Cakes

1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Punch down the dough and divide in half. On a lightly floured surface, working one piece of the dough at a time (keep the other half of the dough wrapped in plastic), roll out the dough into a 20 x 10-inch (about 51 x 25 ½ cm) rectangle. Spread half of the meringue evenly over the rectangle up to about 1/2-inch (3/4 cm) from the edges. Sprinkle dessicated coconut, chopped chocoloate, and powdered cinnamon over the first rolled out dough. (I added some instant coffee into the remaining meringue batter and baked coffee flavoured meringue drops)
3. Roll out the remaining dough in a similar fashion, spread rose flavoured syrup over it, and top with crumbled basbousa.

4. Now, roll up the dough jellyroll style, from the long side. Pinch the seam closed to seal. Very carefully transfer the filled log to one of the lined cookie sheets, seam side down. Bring the ends of the log around and seal the ends together, forming a ring, tucking one end into the other and pinching to seal.

5. Using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife (although scissors are easier), make cuts along the outside edge at 1-inch (2 ½ cm) intervals. Make them as shallow or as deep as desired but don’t be afraid to cut deep into the ring.

6. Cover the 2 coffee cakes with plastic wrap and allow them to rise again for 45 to 60 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
8. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until risen and golden brown. The dough should sound hollow when tapped.
9. Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper off the cookie sheets onto the table. Very gently loosen the coffee cakes from the paper with a large spatula and carefully slide the cakes off onto cooling racks. Allow to cool.
10. Just before serving, dust the tops of the coffee cakes with confectioner’s sugar as well as cocoa powder if using chocolate in the filling. These are best eaten fresh, the same day or the next day.

Been meaning to this post earlier, but been busy with one thing or the other. The climate’s changing in Dubai and the seasonal flu has been visiting us as well, it was the lil one last week now its the husband. Just hoping I’ll be spared its merciless whip! Next week on 2nd Dec. its not only UAE National Day but also lil one’s 4th birthday – and ofcourse now that she knows what a birthday party is, we’re sure having one! Will be posting about that soon! For now enjoy this Orange Marmalade Cake – simple to put together, only mildly sweet, it tastes great with tea. It has been modified from a Women’s Weekly book on Cakes.

Ingredients
125 gm Butter
2 teaspoons finely grated orange rind
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons orange marmalade
1/3 cup mixed peel
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1 1/2 cup self rising flour
1/2 cup milk
1 orange peeled and sliced thinly

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180 degree C.
2. Grease and line a loaf pan.
3. In a small bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and rind, until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, and transfer the contents to a larger bowl, and stir in the rest of the ingredients – marmalade, and mixed peel, and then, coconut, flour, and milk.
4. Line the base of the tin with thin slices of orange. Pour the mixture into the loaf pan, and bake for an hour, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
5. Let it stand for about 5 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool. Invert back so that the orange side faces up.

I start this post by dedicating it in the memory of my grandma, she passed on peacefully Saturday morning (25/09/2010), looking as radiantly beautiful as she always was.

Muthy, my grandma, had lived to 103. Her life’s journey has been a marvelous one in all aspects. Born in a nondescript village in southern India, the eldest girl in her family, she was essentially the primary caregiver to all the siblings that arrived after her – her own mother was busy with pregnancies and deliveries year after year. She married my grandfather when she was 17 or 18, he was undoubtedly her first and only love, much older than her, once married, a handsome, blue eyed man. She married defying all conventional traditions of her family. Post marriage, life was far from easy. She and my grandfather broke away from the much in common joint family system of those days, bought a plot of land (where our family home still stands) and settled down in a small one room hut. And she became mother to a large brood of children (born and unborn). Years later, after grandpa passed away, she chose to move in with her fifth child – my mother. And the next chapter in her life started just in time for my birth. My life’s journey so far would be incomplete without her inspiration, her buoyant personality and her unabashed passion for cooking and feeding. In the last 40 years of her life that she lived with us, in our nomadic household (my parents served in the army and moved every three years or so) that travelled the length and breadth of India, my grandma carried with her the culture and cuisine of her rural home, deep in the south – nestled between the Arabian Sea and the hills and valleys of the Western Ghats.

Even with her experiences and wealth of knowledge my grandma was never proprietary or proud, she always worked her way around any situation or possibility life put forward to her. She always lived in the present moment and never moaned about what she never had, how much I still have to learn from her! I remember spending my afternoons on her lap, her glasses perched firmly on her nose as she read out to me the exploits of Unni Aarcha – a legendary warrior princess of Malabar. As she read, the scenes of Unni aarcha’s long journey would unveil, bandits, warriors, and lovers. For a girl of 12, my grandma had opened up a world were a woman could get a hold of her own life, if she chose to. I miss you… but I also know, knowing you, that you’d want me to get that meal on the table, on time!

Thanks to all those who thought my blog was worthy to make it to the round 2 of PFB. For my second challenge I am looking at the American South. I was introduced to Truman Capote’s writings when I was at university and he has by and large influenced my reading habits since. He’s also responsible for my curiosity and love for New Orleans, a place I hope to set foot on one day. I love to read travelogues and stories set in the American south, and while its kind of hard to say how a vegetarian like me is going to survive in the place, I would like to believe that love, music, and beignets, would help.

I searched a lot on the internet for what could comprise a classic southern dish, that’s also vegetarian, and something that I could conjure up with what I already have in my kitchen. And finally decided to make biscuits and gravy, and sweet potato cobbler. Quintessentially southern, no?

for the biscuit

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup vegetable shortening, chilled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3/4 cup buttermilk

Method
1. In a mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients together using your fingers. Cut in the shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center and add buttermilk. Quickly fold dry ingredients into buttermilk with your hands until a sticky dough forms.
2. Turn dough out onto floured surface. Gently fold the dough over itself 3 or 4 times to create layers. Roll dough out to 3/4-inch thick. Cut with a 3-inch biscuit cutter. Transfer dough rounds to a sheet pan. Gather scraps and repeat. Make a dimple in the center to help the top rise evenly. Brush with butter. Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated oven at 200 degree C until golden brown.

VERDICT: My biscuits didn’t rise sky high as they should have, I probably got a couple of things wrong – an ancient bottle of baking powder, not so deft hand with the cookie cutter and I think I over kneaded the dough. I saw two tutorials here and here, but too bad that I saw them after making my biscuits. But I think I got the drift now, and if you ignore the fact that they didn’t rise and split, they were indeed very tasty combined with the gravy. The gravy is my own take of the original, totally suitable for consumption by vegetarians like me… ta dah!

mushroom and leeks gravy

Ingredients
1 cup mushrooms, washed, scrubbed and sliced
1 teaspoon oil
1/2 cup chopped leek
1 small cube vegetarian bouillon
pinch of salt
pepper to taste
spoonful of chopped leek and celery, for garnish

for the roux:
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk

Method
1. First the roux: place oil in frying pan over medium heat, add flour, stirring constantly, allow to cook until slightly browned. Slowly add milk, on low flame, stir constantly with whisk to remove any lumps.
2. Cook the mushrooms with some oil in another pan, when the mushroom sweats, add the bouillon cube, stir, and finally add the chopped leeks. Lightly wilt the leek.
3. Add the mushrooms and leek to the gravy and mix as it thickens. You might need to add a pinch of salt, and season with pepper as you like.
4. Serve over biscuits, garnished with chopped celery and leek.

VERDICT: Fantasmagoric! Next I handled a cobbler recipe from here.

sweet potato cobbler

Ingredients
for the sweet potato filling:
1 Kilo sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced
1/4 inch thick
3-1/2 cups water
1-1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, cubed

for the pastry:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening (I used ghee)
5 to 6 tablespoons cold water
2 tablespoons butter, melted
4 teaspoons sugar

Method
1. In a saucepan, cook sweet potatoes in water until just right, approx. 10 minutes. Drain, reserving 1-1/2 cups cooking liquid.
2. Layer potatoes in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish; add reserved liquid.
3. Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt; sprinkle over potatoes. Dot with butter.
4. For pastry, combine flour and salt; cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Gradually add water, tossing with a fork until a ball forms.
5. Break of small bits from the dough, roll into balls, press lightly and place over the baking dish.
6. Bake at 200° C for 30-35 minutes or until top is golden brown.

VERDICT: Loved it but it was way too sweet for me… and I must admit I have never used this much butter in any dish ever in my life. I think I could cut back on the sugar for this dish and make it like a crumble next time I do this.

Southern food = very comforting! I can’t say if I have got the dishes right, they did taste superb! But I daresay quite fattening… isn’t it?! Fellow foodies familiar with southern american cuisine do share your views, will really appreciate your feedback. If you like this post please vote for me by clicking on the widget on the sidebar.

Off to India in a day to be with my family. Ciao!

Every Nair family in Kerala has a sacred grove, its a place where family deities along with ancestral spirits live and if generally pleased and affable bestow the tharavadu (the lineage) with blessings and good fortune. The sacred groves have long fascinated me, its a magical piece of land where snakes, yakshi (banshees), goddesses, tree spirits, all commune and conspire to make your life a fortunate incident or a living hell.  A sacred grove must be protected, no trees are cut here, and life in all forms is allowed to live here, unfettered.

In the grove after a special pooja, prasadam, which has been cooked in a makeshift kitchen in the grove, is offered to gods and then to us to partake. Its a simple Sarkara Payasam, but having been slow cooked in an uruli over a wood fire, its mulled over with the scent of smoke. Chunks of candy sugar, coconut, holy basil, and chethi flowers, generously garnish the prasadam.

Sarkara payasam can be easily made at home, and tastes every bit as good as the payasam of the gods.

Ingredients
1 cup rice
about a cup of jaggery syrup (boil 1 cup jaggery with 3/4 cup water)
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup shredded coconut (or chopped fresh coconut)
1 tablespoon clarified butter (optional, vegans can omit this)

Method
1. Wash and cook the rice with 1 1/2 cups water, until its just cooked, but not mushy.
2. Pour the jaggery syrup into the rice and simmer on low heat, until the jaggery is almost absorbed, the mixture would be still wet.
3. Add the grated coconut, give it a good stir and let it cook on sim until most of the liquid is evaporated.
4. Turn off heat, add ghee if using, and keep covered until ready to eat.
5. If desired you can add a chopped banana along with the coconut, gives a nice wholesome taste, I often add one.

copyright 2010 eat.write.think

This recipe was a result of a case of sour grapes, that happened recently. Quite simply I picked up a bunch of green grapes that were a little too tart, so it sat languishing in the fridge where the cold temps was doing nothing to slow down the ageing process. I googled frantically, I knew what I didn’t want:

1. I didn’t want to make a jam or jelly, I’d have to add sugar and I don’t think in the long run it’ll be consumed by anyone other than me. My daughter is not a sandwich eater and neither is B, my husband. And I am, I am!

2. I didn’t want to bake, its too much when you have to cook, clean, do dishes, do laundry and be the primary caregiver of a precocious 3 year old! Welcome to my ‘servantless’ home!

3. I didn’t want to freeze, no ice creams or sorbets, the weather’s just not right and I have been recovering from a nasty cold.

4. I didn’t want anything that took me more than 30 minutes to put together!

copyright 2010 eat.write.think

And so I came upon this interesting Italian dish from a site called italian-food-lovers.com (this link doesn’t work any more, maybe they changed their mind?!), this recipe for Italian grape jelly, is supposed to be a local Italian favorite, if any Italians are reading this do correct me I am just going by what I remember reading at the site which doesn’t open any more. Let me tell you this is a beautiful recipe, you can put it together really fast and Mr. B loved it and found it very ‘soothing to the tummy‘!! I’ve tweaked the original recipe ever so lightly, and added vanilla extract and orange rind, of course we are allowed to improvise. Like they say, “the idea belongs to everybody, but the dish belongs to you”.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups green grapes

2 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2  1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour

Method

1. Wash and de-stem the grapes, and put into a large bowl.

2. Mash the grapes with your bare hands or with a potato masher, mash away till the juices begin to flow. I was surprised when I saw the amount of juice I got from just one bunch.

copyright 2010 eat.write.think

3. Get another large bowl, place a large fine mesh sieve over it, and strain the juice. Discard the skin.

4. Now add the sugar and vanilla essence and whisk the juice, followed by the flour. Add a little flour at a time.

5. Pour the mixture into a medium size stockpot and cook on medium heat, whisking all the while. When the mixture starts bubbling reduce heat to low and continue whisking till the juice becomes thick and custardy. Remember it should be thick but not clumpy, mine could have been thicker by one more degree.

6. While still warm pour into ramekins, or silicone muffin tray (like I have), or small bowls which have been lined with cling wrap. Add some orange rind into each bowl and refrigerate for 4, 5 hours. This will set the jelly.

7. To serve, turn into dessert plates, garnish with fresh cream, mint, and orange rind or fruits of your choice. I really liked the citrus combination. Definitely going to make this again, and I worked at break neck speed, it really took me around 30 minutes to put this together, then shoved it into the fridge.

copyright 2010 eat.write.think

This is our entry for Sugar High Friday: Sweet Comfort being hosted by Kate from A Merrier World.

I remember the Christmas parties at my mum’s unit mess in Dehradun and luscious fruitcakes made by an anglo indian family friend. Chattelier Uncle had a way around cookies and cakes, such a fabulously talented craftsman – carpenter – chef. His specialities were petits fours, marshmallows, nougats, macaroons and cakes of all sort. And for every christmas, birthday and diwali he and wife would dutifully drop off a mixed bag of these goodies at our place. Aunty ofcourse never ventured near the kitchen, and claimed that it was not the place for her ‘lily white hands’. I think my mother secretly disapproved and I remember telling her that her hands were lily white too. I really thought so.

So this christmas I’ve been wanting to make mincemeat pies. A few of mum’s recipe books have found their way to my house and one of them contains a picture of these pies & tarts that I’ve been drooling over for many many years. So first up, tackling the mincemeat. And a little departure from the traditional apple base – here’s a carrot and almond mincemeat recipe from my kitchen. (I had no apples at home that’s why.)

Ingredients

Carrots – 3
Cinnamon – 1 stick
Chopped Almond – 1 cup
Chopped Prunes, dried fruits (figs, dried cherries, mixed berries) – 2 cups
Glazed cherries – 100 gms
Candied peel – 100 gms
Muscovado sugar – 1 cup
Lemon rind – 1 tsp
Rind of 1 large orange
Juice of 1 large orange
Powdered clove – 1/2 tsp
Powdered cinnamon – 1/2 tsp
Grated nutmeg – 1/2 tsp
Butter – 1 walnut sized knob
Whiskey – 4 Tbsps

Method

1. Cut up the carrot in chunks and pressure cook along with a stick of cinnamon – for 1 whistle. Take off fire. Let cool, then remove the cinnamon and excess water and mash the carrots using a potato masher. (I got about 1 + 3/4 cups of mashed carrot)

2. Mix the mashed carrots, dried fruits, cherries, peel, sugar, almonds, orange juice, rinds, melted butter, and spices in a large bowl.

3. Add the whiskey (or sub it with a little more orange juice). Mix again, leave it covered with a tea towel for 24 hours.

4. Mix again – let all the flavours come together – inhale exhale, sneak a bite, pour yourself a drink – feel the glow.

5. Pour into clean, dry glass jars and let rest. Leave to mature for 3, 4 weeks.

The mincemeat tasted FANTASTIC – the carrot gave it a distinct rich, red festive colour, the taste had depth (could it be the whiskey? hic). I decided to use only almonds because I think carrots and almonds make a neat combination.

Now it remains to be seen how long it will keep – the traditional mincemeat keeps for a couple of months, I still have to figure out the longevity of my carrot almond mincemeat. I will update the post in a little while.

Its so much easier to prepare than jam, and I think its totally okay to experiment with flavours.

Muhallabiah is a very simple and yet a rich tasting Rice & Almond pudding from the middle east. Flavoured with rose water or orange blossom water, and topped with pomegranate and nuts, a spoonful of this creamy pudding can send you into throes of ecstacy, if there’s such a thing.

Anna of Morsels & Musings has a wonderfully original and absolutely decadent version of muhallabiah (a muhallabiah mousse) and my version is totally inspired by her. Usually the pudding is made of rice flour and almond meal is added to it, i reversed the order and made a more almondy muhallabiah to go with the chocolate.

Ingredients
for the muhallabiah:
Paste of almonds – 1 cup
White chocolate – 145 gms
Condensed milk – 1 tin
Rice Flour – 2 Tbsp
Almond essence – 1 tsp
Sugar if required

for the topping:
Orange Blossom water – 1 tsp
Pomegranate – 1/2 cup
Peeled Pistachios – 1/4 cup
Almond slivers – 1/4 cup
Pine nuts – 2 Tbsp
Sugar Syrup – 1/4 cup

Method
1. Pour the condensed milk into a saucepan, using the same container to measure add 1 1/2 cups of water into the sauce pan. Gently heat.

I rarely have had any ‘me’ time since the birth of my daughter a year and a half ago. I blog or work on my scripts when she sleeps – basically during the afternoon naptime or late at night when the whole family snores into oblivion. So you can imagine how frazzled I feel all the time. Soon it will be time for juice, tea, dinner, milk, lullaby, sleep, and so on…I had crispy honey noodles with ice cream at a Chinese place close by – I have no way of knowing if the dish is an authentically Chinese dessert in the first place. A friend who’d once visited Shanghai told me that the Chinese ate only watermelon for dessert – again I have no clue. But popular Indo-Chinese desserts include Lychees and Cream and Fried Ice Cream. So when I saw Crispy Honey Noodles with Vanilla Ice Cream – I just had to try it. I liked it so much that I made it at home as well – just playing with what I thought were the ingredients, the result was perfect.

Ingredients for one portion:

Thai Rice Noodles – a bowlful
Honey – 2, 3 Tbsp
Sesame seeds – 1 tsp
A little oil

Method:
1. Fry the noodles in a little oil, drain well and keep aside in a serving bowl.
2. Heat an open pan to medium hot and pour about 3 Tbsps of honey, let it bubble for about 10 seconds.

3. Act fast, take the honey off the flame, scrape and pour all over the crispy noodles.

4. Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on top.

Have it with vanilla ice cream or with some mango puree for a fresh, summery taste.