EaSY Rasmalai

I know you're already lip smacking and you better be! this stuff is real good and goes out to all those friends who've been unsuccessfully trying to follow a diet hehe. rules are meant to be broken pal. the presentation was done by my mum. she's damn good at it. i'm no less but she's better.

milk powder (sweet)-11/2 cup
baking powder-11/2 tsp
milk-11/2 cup
condensed milk (sweetened)-1/2 cup
egg-1
cardamom powder-to flavour (about ¼ tsp)
rose petals for deco

Sieve the milk powder and baking powder. Add the egg and mix gently to make a smooth dough by oiling your palm. Take care not to make the dough tough coz the malais become tough too. Make small balls (not too small) and press each ball to resemble the malai. Boil the milk and condensed milk in a wide thick bottomed pan. Once it boils turn on sim and put the balls one by one gently into the milk. You can do it in two batches to avoid crowding the pan. The balls swell in five mins. Keep a little while more. Take it off the flame and garnish with cardamom powder and rose petals and TRY making it look something like this :)
Cool, chill and serve.



The malais tend to stick to each other slightly after a while once it’s ladled into the dessert bowl. If you have a problem with that (I didn’t) serve it into a wide dessert bowl before refrigerating it. The ras of the malai may seem too thin initially but acquires the right consistency once refrigerated. use only less than half a cup condensed milk if you don't want it to be rasmalai sweet! This measure makes 22-23 balls.

A Bit of New Zealand and Lots of Happiness

We come from a middle-class family. never had silks and satins all along but enough food on plate, cottons to absorb the Indian sweat (!!), resources to develop our skills, parents kind enough to make sure the best possible education for us and too much sunshine, too much rain, and some clouds in it. my mum has been gung ho about abroad goodies but never had enough of it. so when my bro flew down from NZ with a masters in information management and a swell job with Deloitte it was nothing less than a carnival at home.

Happy colours, beaming faces, hugs and kisses et cetera. my parents were so them...capture the moment if you coulproud to show off all the NZ knick knacks and gummies. and i had to record d call it. bear with these repeat photographs but my bro really didn't bring a loot from NZ. ha ha.

One Lovely Blog Award

Cardamom Hills and eatgreek have given me this award. thank you so much. i love the way in which this close-knit community of foodies continue to inspire each other!



I in turn pass it on to blogs of my choice. what i choose is not offhand. i REALLY LIKE my choices!

Apricosa (I love your recipes, all right. and i love your pre-recipe jingles to bits. you have the flair and strength to tempt us to your delectable recipes.)

Art Food and Travel Chronicles (The one and only reason i have: break that diet vow and happy blogging!!)

bostonfoodrules (For some of the best photography skills i've come across; and for mixing black and white and looking at money)

bigfatbaker (For the pumpkin delights and more)

Cardamom Hills (I CANNOT help but roll it back to you. you deserve multiples of this award!)

eatgreek (There's nothing nobler than turning to roots!!)

everythingsherbed (Ela, i love the rustic feel that i miss even in my own blog!)

feishannie (For leaving behind your profession to housekeep and blog!)

Hopie (I've been quietly following your neat and warm entries. also for being buddies on Shelfari!)

IndoChine kitchen (For the excellent colourful recipes)

intotheflames (For the brilliant versatility and the richness of your blog. man, the napa valley entry!)

yesim (For introducing turkish recipes uninhibited!)

yin (For the balanced variety of dishes and the interesting gadgets strewn all over your blog!)

yearonthegrill (For the originality and the authentic love of food your entries exude!)

squirrelbakes (For being a compulsive baker like me and being therapied by it!)

You can accept it pass it on to fifteen other bloggers of your choice.

Pineapple Jam Squares

I picked this straight out of Vanitha Magazine. i should say this mag has given me some of my best recipes along with a rich roster of thoroughly informative articles. i highly recommend this mag to all south indians.
I know that pineapple and coconut and chocolate and coconut is a great combo for desserts. and i didn't hesitate in trying this out. it turned out great. it reminded me of the pastries available in the local bakers! well, the photograph sports a pineapple jam rectangle but that was the first piece i cut for the photograph. you have to trust me; the rest are/were all squares :)

margarine or vanaspathi-1/2 cup
powdered sugar-1/2 cup
egg-2
maida-11/2 cups
baking powder-3/4 tsp
pineapple jam-3-4 tbsp

powdered sugar-1/2 cup (again)
grated coconut-1 cup
milk-1-2 tbsp
vanilla essence-1 tsp

Beat the margarine and half cup powdered sugar till smooth. beat the eggs separately and pour into the sugar mix and stir for consistency. after sifting the maida and baking powder, hand-mix (you don't have a choice!) it with the egg-sugar mix. spread this into the bottom of a greased cake tin evenly. it's not a smooth job as the dough is quite tough. then apply the pineapple jam as one consistent layer atop this dough. mix the final set of ingredients (powdered sugar, grated coconut, milk and vanilla essence) separately in a small bowl. watch out when you add milk and ensure the mixture is not watery; it should be about a sprinkling consistency or like a paste but not beyond that. toss it on the surface layer of the batter and bake to perfection. you can let the sides turn really brown which gives those particular pieces a caramel taste (mine happened by mistake by the way but i loved it!!).

If the top layer mix is watery the baking time exceeds as the water has to be absorbed first for the baking process to start. so take care there as i already mentioned. do NOT opt for butter as you cannot follow the recipe: if you use butter the bottom layer becomes soft whereby you cannot spread the jam. this is an excellent dessert if topped with pineapple/vanilla ice cream. it got over in my house before i could try this combo but i can predict the taste.

Apple Date Cake

It seems i've only been baking and it's actually true. i'm off the run-of-the-mill dishes for the next two months more! isn't it lovely to have a cook who takes care of your daily humdrum in the kitchen wherein you focus on the cakes and bakes and grills and dandy cooking! well i find it lovely. anyway the following recipe is a sure-fire success as it's the famous tried-and-tested Nita Mehta recipe. to this i added a dash of my daring trial and the outcome was fabulous. my mum couldn't stop eating it and she's generally not generous with compliments. she said it was fantastic. here i go

Nita Mehta recipe

2 large apples-cored, peeled and chopped
1/3 cup or 85 gms softened butter (unsalted)
1 cup powdered sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
13/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup stoned and chopped dates

Blend apples to a puree with 4 tbsp water. Sift flour and baking powder and keep aside. Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Alternately add eggs and sieved flour to the butter. Add the apple puree and mix. Keeping aside 1 tbsp of walnuts and dates for the top, add the rest to the cake mixture. Grease a 11” X 9” cake tin and pour the batter in it. Bake at 180 degree C for 45 min to 1 hour. Cool, cut and serve.



You can religiously follow this recipe and can come off with a beauty. to add some zest to it and as i'm into cake-recipe-skewing i had to do the following gimmick.

2 tbsp condensed milk
3 tbsp gooseberry wine sweetened with jaggery (i happened to have only this. any liquor will do; if it's rum or brandy stick to the 1 cup sugar)
1/2 tsp vanilla essence



I used only 3/4 cup powdered sugar as my wine was too sweet. instead of walnuts i used chopped cashewnuts as usual but added some chopped red cherries and chopped orange peel to fill half the cup cashewnut. i soaked the dates and nuts and cherries in the wine for just one day at room temperature with half a tsp of soda bicarb to soften the dates. i added the condense milk and essence in the final mix and baked to delight! i recommend nambisans unsalted butter for south indians. it adds a distinct unforgettable flavour to the cake.

Easy Fruit Cake

Christmas is bobbing in and it's only a month away...no two months away! the first image that pops in our mind when we picture our Christmas table is the fruit cake-with those generous amounts of delicious noble fruits steeped in the volatile liquor. i've been baking the traditional sherry-sozzled Christmas cake for the past two years and i wanted a change. i'm almost always giddy with my family responsibilities and personal career moves and i almost know that i'm biting more than i can chew. but i'm gonna chew for a while more. and i cannot sham on my fruit cake. and i suddenly remember variety is the spice of life. so i begin this daring move of fruit-cake-recipe-skewing and glide in with this easy yum yum fruit cake! my mum-in-law says the basic go-go for a fruit cake is a 2:1 ratio for the fruits:maida, i. e., 500 gm fruits for 250 gm maida and i decide to believe her!

maida-250 gm
sugar-200 gm (powdered)
butter-200 gm
eggs-5
vanilla essence-1/2 tsp
tonovin or grape essence-1/2 tsp
powdered nutmeg and cinnamon-1 tsp each
baking powder-11/2 tsp
soda bicarb-1 tsp

The dry fruits and wine proportion was totally a by-default decision based on the random availability of stuff. i fortunately fulfilled the required ratio.

currants-60 gm
cherries-50 gm
almonds and cashewnuts-100 gm (together)
dates-100 gm
orange peel-20 gm
fresh apple-1/2-1
homemade grape wine-11/4 cups

All the dry fruits were chopped fine and soaked together in one cup wine in a glass container for a week at room temperature. a day before i baked the apple was chopped fine and soaked in 1/4 cup wine and left outside.

Sift maida, baking powder and soda bicarb. beat the butter and sugar till soft. add the eggs one by one (i think i added two by two!!) and continue beating. mix in the flour till well-blended. add the essence and the soaked fruits and hand-mix nicely. place the batter in a cake tin and bake till a toothpick inserted comes out clean. cool, cut and hog away...

It's better to use a spring form pan with a removable bottom or oil your butter paper and place in the cake tin and bake. use rum or brandy if wine not available but reduce the quantity to half cup.

Eggless Plantain Muffins/Cake

Fantastic is the word for it and honestly this is no self-promotion. my gran too loved these muffins. it's much more appealing than the photographs!! sorry for those. i bake under a modicum of pressure which means i have my little girl pulling me from behind; i run to feed my alice; phone calls to attend; guests turning up. so i don't stand like anna olson in that beautiful joint of hers and bake like she shoots for the asian food channel. what i'm driving at is i made the batter quickly but then the interruptions started. and by the time i finished baking the muffins in the individual muffin moulds in my mum's oven it was dinner time! i had to click these sad-looking photos quickly before rushing to put aby to bed.

maida-11/2 cups
butter (softened)-1 cup
castor sugar-1 cup (or a little less than a cup)
ripe plantains (big)-2
walnuts or cashewnuts-1/2 cup
vanilla essence-1 tsp
baking powder-1 tsp
soda bicarb-1/2 tsp
salt-1/4 tsp
milk-3 tbsp
condensed milk (sweetened)-2-3 tbsp

Sieve the maida, baking powder, soda bicarb and salt. keep it aside. deseed the plantains and run them in the grinder to get a non-bumpy mass. crush the nuts using a mortar-pestle. beat the butter and castor sugar till soft. add the mass of plantain and beat again. dump the maida in moderate quantities and keep beating. add the milk, condensed milk, vanilla essence and crushed nuts and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon or hand-mix it. pour in the muffin moulds or the cake tin and bake till a toothpick inserted comes out clean. enjoy with a hot cup of frothy coffee! my...i can have it right away!!! these muffins don't rise much.