Meenal Jhala

December 8, 2019August 2, 2020Breaking Bread With series Curries

Breaking Bread With Ruskin Bond

While most of us run a rat race to catch the fast train to nowhere, try to get a seat next to the latest hotshot, and keep up with the Joneses, Ruskin Bond is perfectly content to have Friends In Small Places (the name of one of his books). And, so charming is his world in the hills of small town Dehradun that he has us all bowled over.

Are they true or just a figment of an immensely fertile imagination, these stories that enchant and capture the imagination of his audience, both young and old? He keeps us guessing. No guns and violence for this Bond though. For one thing’s for sure, he is the James Bond of tender feelings. His stories treat us to the fresh, cool air, simple ways of life, quirks, and delights of the people of his home in the hills. Ordinary folks, sometimes with extraordinary hearts filled with kindness. Or does Ruskin Bond spread wonderful vibes around him wherever he goes?

He must be a keen observer of human nature because he has so many stories to tell of everyday people around him. His dad who he adores, his wayward uncle Ken, murderer uncle Bill, the Lafanga tongawalla who is actually delightfully sweet to him, his aayaah, not to forget the maharani who lives on the very top of a palace and is in love with the humble gardener.

Bond has written more than five hundred books, beautifully bringing to life the spirit of life in the hills. He still writes at the grand old age of 85. He’s written his autobiography which is a must read. It’s called Lone Fox Dancing.

One of Ruskin Bond’s favorite dishes is kofta curry. Most probably he eats a non vegetarian kofta curry. Most probably too, he downs a beer or two with his kofta curry meal. Since I’m vegetarian I’m posting a recipe here of a vegetarian bottle gourd kofta curry adapted from a recipe by Tarla Dalal. It’s heart healthy and tasty too.

Bottle gourd Kofta Curry

This delightfully tasty kofta curry, is heart friendly too, with the koftas dunked in the curry with only shallow frying them. Eat them with hot parathas or plain rice.

For the koftas

1 1/2 cups grated bottle gourd
1 1/2 cups mashed potatoes
1/2 cup bengal gram flour
1 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped green chillies
1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
1 teaspoon chaat masala
Salt to taste
Oil to shallow fry

For the curry

1 teaspoon oil
1 teaspoon roughly chopped ginger
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon coriander cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon chilly powder
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon cornflour dissolved in 2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
Some finely chopped fresh coriander

Squeeze the grated bottle gourd of all its water. Keep aside the bottle gourd water to add when making the curry.
Put a pan on the fire. Put all the ingredients for the koftas into the pan and mix well and stir till the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and a cooked aroma emanates.
Remove the bottlegourd mixture from the pan and let it cool for a few minutes. Then divide the mixture into 14 to 15 oval shaped koftas.
Heat oil in a flat pan for shallow frying. Put in the koftas and shallow fry on all sides. Keep aside.
Put the teaspoon of oil in the pan and put on the stove. Add onions and fry till golden brown. Now add the tomatoes, turmeric powder, coriander cumin powder and chilly powder and stir till the tomatoes are mushy. Let cool.
Now make a paste of the onion-tomato mixture in the food processor.
Put the two tablespoons of oil in a pan and put on medium heat. Put the cumin seeds into the oil. When they begin to sputter put the onion-tomato paste into the pan. Add the bottle gourd water and 1 1/2 cups more water and let the curry come to a boil. Now add salt and cornflour-milk mixture and cook for one minute. Add garam masala.
Gently put in the koftas into the curry one at a time. Heat for not more than a minute. Sprinkle finely chopped fresh coriander. Serve hot.

October 22, 2019August 2, 2020Breaking Bread With series Sweets and desserts

Breaking Bread With Deepa Narayan

Reading Deepa Narayan’s book CHUP-Breaking The Slience About India’s Women started a fire in my belly. I travelled to my village while reading the book and I wanted to rip apart the orthodox customs there. Many women in my village still practice purdah or the custom of covering their heads and faces in front of men folk. My family doesn’t endorse this hypocritical tradition.

That doesn’t mean Indian towns and cities fare better. The descrimination is as bad here. I’ll never forget what my hotelier boss in a prestigious hotel told me when I made my point of view. He said it was his job to think, not mine. What a jerk!

CHUP is a bomb. It explodes in your face. It slams you in the centre of your forehead. It shows you a mirror and you won’t like what you see. However old or young you are the book has something for you. It voices every woman’s frustrations with the patriarchal system. You will recognize with hard facts, figures and examples how Indian women are trained to habitually blame and self flagellate themselves.

Deepa Narayan is a strong and forceful writer. I love the way she uses Hindi words in her sentences, and in the title of one of the chapters in the book, Body: Women Don’t Have Bodies, Besharam or in another chapter called Isolation: I Am Alone And Afraid, Keep Women Apart, Akeli Hoon, Darti Hoon. She shows us how women are isolated and trampled upon. How families and society plot and design to oppress women in the name of izzat, respect and morality.

It was not always like this. There’s an example in the book of her grandmother who would have laughed if she knew that today’s women must wear undergarments below their clothing. True. None of our grandmothers were bound by their dress. The figures of statues in ancient temples are beautiful, voluptuous and nudity was perfectly normal and natural. We still worship Goddesses but it’s a sham.

Look how society owns women’s bodies. You must sit properly with legs crossed. You mustn’t wear sleeveless dresses. You must look thin, fair and pretty at all times and afcourse you must shut up and silently put up with marauding relatives.

One of the books she recommends caught my eye. The Body Adorned: Dissolving Boundaries Between Sacred And Profane In Indian Art. This one I must read. Also, Nice Girls Don’t Get The Corner Office.

So I made voluptuous banana and chocolate muffins, the recipe of which comes from Nigella Lawson that cooking diva, and feminist in her own right.

Chocolate Banana Muffins

Bite into these moist, dark beauties, and thank Nigella and me!

3 very ripe or overripe bananas
125 mililitres vegetable oil
2 large eggs
100 grams soft light brown sugar
225 grams plain flour
3 tablespoons good quality cocoa powder, sifted
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C/ 400 degrees F/ gas mark 6. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper cases.
Mash the bananas with hand or a fork to a pulp. Continuing to mash the bananas add the oil, eggs and sugar and mix.
Mix the plain flour, cocoa powder and soda bicarbonate.
Now add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, beating gently and lightly.
Fill the mixture into the muffin cases upto 3/4 level and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the muffins are well risen and are a lovely brown colour.
Cool for a few minutes and remove from the muffin pan.

September 20, 2019August 2, 2020Breaking Bread With series Sweets and desserts

Breaking Bread With Shanta Gokhale

Shanta Gokhale’s writing is effortless, flowing like rich smooth cream and fresh as the scent of lemon. I don’t know why I didn’t discover her sooner. I’m making up for precious lost time. I read her book without a break. It was unputdownable.

She was born a few years before both my parents, in 1939, and lives in the grand old city of Bombay, where my parents grew up and went to school and college, before my dad left to join the Air Force and then married mom.

I love her simple writing style. She writes with finesse. A woman of the world.

One of the author’s favorite dishes, Bombay Bhelpuri.

She’s original. She’s written about her life through her body and she treats us to exquisite pirouettes (she’s learnt Indian dance, among her many talents) with her life. She’s courageous. She’s had more than her fair share of ups and downs with two unsuccessful marriages, illness, shortage of money and bringing up two children all on her own. Still she is honest, sensitive and witty. The lady is a tough cookie!

She’s lived life on her own terms, not hankering for fame or fortune. And she’s written this book at the age of 78 and remembers names and incidents from her childhood!

I didn’t know that TV personality Renuka Shahane was her daughter, before I read her autobiography.

I’m thirsting for more of Shanta Gokhale’s writing, what a massive contribution she has made to the performing arts with her voluminous writings in both Marathi and English and her translations from English to Marathi and vice versa.

In her book she writes about a trifle pudding she had many many times as a navy wife during her first marriage and when she was being courted. I think she has bittersweet memories of the pudding. Perhaps, I’m reading too much into her writing.

I looked everywhere for a tasty Indian Navy trifle pudding recipe but I couldn’t find one so I asked one of my good friends who is married into the navy if they still make trifle puddings like they made all those years back. She reasoned that the English influence has been overruled and the current crop of Taj and Oberoi trained cooks and chefs do make a favorite trifle called Trunk of Tree.

Here is a delicious trifle pudding recipe that I’ve adapted from Kikky Sihota’s book The Ultimate Army Cookbook: A Memsahib Cooks. She calls it Boozy Trifle because it contains delicious amounts of rum in it, but her trifle contains no fruit, like the usual trifle pudding. I changed some of the ingredient quantities and added dry fruits to it. I used less cake and less cream. Turned out yum.

Here’s the recipe.

Boozy Trifle

This recipe turns out yum. Go ahead and add more cream or whipped cream to the recipe and more sugar too, if you will.

450 gms sponge cake
5 tbsp jam
4 tbsp rum
3 heaped tbsp custard powder
3-4 tbsp sugar
2 cups milk
2-3 heaped tbsp cocoa
2 tbsp rum
1/2 cup butter
200 ml fresh cream
1/2 to 3/4 cup mixed nuts and raisins

Cut the cake into 1/2 inch cubes.
Mix the jam and 4 tbsp rum and heat till it melts.
Now lightly mix the cake pieces with the rum jam mixture.
Mix the custard powder, sugar, and milk and cook till thick. Remove from heat.
Add the cocoa powder, 2 tbsp rum and butter and mix well.
Gently mix the chocolate custard with the cake and jam without breaking or mashing the cake pieces. Fill this into a mold and freeze it for 4 hours.
Remove and put in a serving dish.
Cover the trifle completely with the cream.
Now sprinkle nuts on the layer of cream and cake.
Chill and serve.

September 8, 2019August 2, 2020Breaking Bread With series Sweets and desserts

Breaking Bread With Jerry Pinto

Living life with a mentally ill person is difficult, especially if she’s so close, esepcially if she’s your mom. Jerry Pinto’s autobiographical novel, Em and the big Hoom is about suffering, it is endearing and touching and funny too.

It sure takes courage to write about it. People talk, they say all sorts of things. How could you write about a loved one for the money? How could you write about ‘shame’? But perhaps it’s a kind of catharsis, this writing. It saves you and heals others.

Not in the whole wide world is it easy to imagine the trauma that a mentally ill person and their family members go through. The mentally ill are stigmatized and society disclaims them as mad or retarded. If only we’d realize that this is an illness like any other, like diabetes or osteoporosis. It’s nobody’s fault, especially not the one who suffers. Anyone, you, me or somebody else could fall prey.

This book of stories edited by Jerry Pinto about a loved one with a mental illness.

Your serotonin and dopamine levels play havoc and no one, least of all you know what to do about them. Sometimes family and friends think you’re ok and all is well, but then disaster strikes.

But I can also tell you that sometimes, love wins the day. It is difficult, but love and care and support do win the day.

Does the illness creep in through your genes or is the devastation caused by environmental factors, or both? Depression, bipolar disorder, autism, schizophrenia, doctors say they’re genetic but.. a hundred questions, science still doesn’t have answers.

In the book Em and her family drink tea by the gallons. Em, the mom has a sweet tooth. She loves to douse her tea with spoonfuls of sugar and eat chocolates and mithai.

These very chocolatey muffins are made in memory of Em. She would have delighted in the loads of chocolate in them.

The recipe is adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking, From My Home To Yours.

Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Muffins

You can call them muffins or cupcakes, whatever you like, and anytime is a good time to eat these full of chocolate muffins, at breakfast, tea, or maybe even as a sweetdish.

3/4 stick unsalted butter
150 gms bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 cups all purpose or plain flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbspn baking powder
1/2 tspn baking soda or soda bicarb
1/2 tspn salt
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 tspn vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter the muffin molds in the muffin pan or fit them with paper muffin cups.
Mix the butter and half the chocolate in a thick bottomed pan and melt over a saucepan of simmering water. Or, melt in a microwave.
In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a medium sized bowl whisk the egg, buttermilk and vanilla extract until well combined.
Pour the liquid ingredients and the melted chocolate and butter onto the dry ingredients and mix lightly and quickly. Don’t worry if there are some lumps in the batter. But don’t overmix the batter.
Stir in the remaining chopped chocolate. And divide the batter equally between the 12 muffin cups.
Bake the muffins for about 20 minutes or until a knife or toothpick inserted into the muffins comes out clean. Remove the muffin pan from the oven, transfer to a rack, cool for 5 minutes and then remove the muffins from their molds.

This beautiful song then, True Colours, for God’s specially loved ones.

August 14, 2019August 2, 2020Breaking Bread With series One dish meals

Breaking Bread With R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan’s books are a delight to read. There is an endearing simplicity and innocence about his writing. A sweetness and an earthiness. He managed to be innocent and yet an astute observer of people at the same time. The beauty of Natayan’s writing was that his humor was gentle and he rarely ever came across as nasty or mean, just like his younger brother R.K. Laxman, the eminent cartoonist. He also chose to write on many subjects other than the man woman relationship.

I’ve been reading Narayan’s autobiography, My Days. He was born in 1906. At the age of three or four he was sent to live with his maternal grandmother in Madras because his mother was too delicate to look after the entire brood. Here in his grandmother’s house he had a pet monkey and peacock. With such great flair does he begin his autobiography, writing about the antics of his two pets, that whatever your age may be you’ll be enchanted.

As a child Narayan didn’t like going to school and hated drill and examinations. Poor Narayan, at one stage, after he had finished his studies, and with no luck on the job front, he was made to take up a teacher’s job….and teach drill and mathematics! and how he hated both. He walked away from the teaching assignment never to return. Thank God, for what a loss it would have been for readers all over the world had he not become a writer. He also went against the grain about the education system all his life. He said he learnt more from books outside than the ones he was forced to read in school and in college.

In his early days most people poked fun at him for wanting to be a writer and thought he was being irresponsible by not taking up a job and supporting his large family when his father had just retired.

But he did become a writer, and how stylish, magnificent and priceless is his writing. He won many accolades for his brilliance, among them The Sahitya Academy award for his book The Guide, and the A.C Benson Medal by the Royal Society Of Literature in 1980. He was made an Honorary Member of the American Academy And Institute Of Arts And Letters In 1982. He was honored with the Padma Bhushan in 1964 and the Padma Vibhushan In 2000. He died in May 2001 at the age of 94.

In her book Tiffin, which I loved reading, Rukmini Srinivas reveals that Narayan was vegetarian. He liked eating curd rice, ulundu vadai or deep fried, spicy, split black bean batter vadais which she often made for him. He also loved his filter coffee. And his packet of scented betel nut which he kept with him at all times.

One of Narayan’s favorite dishes on his visit to America, curd rice.

Here is the recipe of ulundu vadai or deep fried, spicy, split black bean batter vadais, as I have adapted it from Rukmini Srinivas’s book.

Ulundu Vadai

These delicious deep fried vadais were among Narayan’s favorite food when he met Rukmini Srinivas and her husband in America.

2 cups urad dal or split black beans, soaked for two hours and drained
1 tspn salt, or to taste
2 finely chopped green chillies
6 coursely ground black peppercorns
8 curry leaves, torn in pieces
1/4 tspn asafoetida powder
1/4 cup grated fresh coconut
1 tspn grated fresh ginger
1/4 cup water
2 cups oil for frying

Grind the split black beans in the food processor to a thick, creamy batter, adding approximately 1/4 cup water while grinding. Remove in a vessel and keep aside.
Add the salt, green chillies, black peppercorns, curry leaves, asafoetida, coconut and ginger. Mix well.
Heat the oil in a frying pan to medium heat, not smoking hot. With wet hands make balls out of the batter, flatten each slightly, then make a hole in the centre and drop them one at a time into the hot oil. You can fry approximately 5 or 6 vadais in one batch depending on the size of your pan.
Initially the vadais will sink to the bottom and as they fry they will rise to the surface. Gently separate them if they stick to each other. Fry them on all sides to a golden brown color.
Once done, remove them with a slotted spoon and drain on absorbent paper. A well done vadai will be crisp on the outside and soft and spongy on the inside.
Serve hot with onion coconut chutney.

And finally this wonderful music from the title track of Malgudi Days which enthralled us when it appeared on television many years ago.

August 4, 2019August 2, 2020Breaking Bread With series Dals

Breaking Bread With Rahul Pandita

The pain and loss are heartrending. An entire community exiled in its own country. The anguish and the hurt, but no mention of this chapter of our recent history. Of brutality and savageness inflicted on Kashmiri Pandits whose only fault was, there was nothing to fault in them. Of human and political callousness at its worst. Targeted and hounded as infidels. Our Moon Has Blood Clots is shocking. It is the true story of Rahul Pandita, now a renowned journalist, the Kashmiri Pandit community, his parents, extended family and his cousin Ravi, his hero.

History forgotten is bound to be repeated, and Rahul Pandita is brave in his writing. His father is my hero. In the toughest of situations in his childhood he guided the author to stay on the right path. His mother is brave, struggling on a daily basis to keep the family going, when they are driven out of their huge home that her husband built with every penny of his savings, and have to live as refugees, shunted from room to room. Her health deteriorates. There is so much trauma. In happier times she used to hum a lovely song from the film Awaara where Nargis wishes that the moon would turn its face away so that she could love Raj Kapoor.

I’m posting a recipe of Chana ki dal from Krishna Prasad Dar’s book Kashmiri Cooking. He is the father of cartoonist Sudhir Dar. They are Kashmiri Pandits too.

Krishna Prasad Dar writes, Kashmiri Pandits prefer to use asafoetida and curd in their cooking as opposed to onions and garlic. But with outside influences, people today do use onion and garlic too. In this recipe he keeps the onion optional, but I did add an onion to my dal and it tasted very good. Have this dal with a vegetable dish, Indian breads, a curd dish and a sweetmeat to make a full meal. The Kashmiri Pandits, although they are Brahmins are great meat eaters.

Before I go on to the recipe, I’d like to let my readers know that this post is inspired by Valerie Stivers’s blog from the Paris Review. I found it stimulating.

Here is the recipe for Yellow Split Lentils or Bengal Gram or Chana ki Dal

Chana ki Dal or Bengal Gram Dal

This recipe is adapted from Krishna Prasad Dar’s recipe in Kashmiri Cooking.

150 gms bengal gram or chana dal
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 inch piece fresh ginger, crushed
1/4 tsp ginger powder
10-15 gms ghee or clarified butter
1 onion finely chopped (optional)
1/2 tspn sauf or fennel seeds
2 cloves
A pinch of asafoetida
Some fresh or dried mint leaves, finely chopped if fresh
A little jaggery
Salt to taste

Soak the bengal gram dal in water for an hour or two.
Drain the water from the dal and put it in a pressure cooker. Add salt to taste and pressure cook for two to three whistles. When you open the cooker the dal should still have grains but they should be soft. Most of the water should have evaporated.
Add about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of water to the dal. Add the turmeric powder, crushed fresh ginger and ginger powder and slow cook for a few minutes.
In a frying pan, heat the ghee. Add the chopped onions and fry till golden brown. Add the cloves, asafoetida and fennel seeds. Fry for a few seconds.
Overturn the fried onions with the ghee and spice tadka onto the dal. Sprinkle the mint leaves and add a little jaggery. Stir the dal. Serve hot.

There are many versions of the song Imagine but this particular version by Eva Cassidy strikes a heart touching chord.

July 31, 2019Snacks

Stuffed Green Chillies

At last the rains are here in Ahmedabad. I’ve waited so long for them. It’s delightful to open my window and smell the frangrant wet earth after a parched summer. Feel the rain bearing winds upon my face and skin. See the trees shining as if they are brand new, all dressed in vibrant chlorophll green. See peacocks dance their shimmery dance. See the trees, and the birds and the animals dance the dance of life.

I think to myself, this is the best time to start something new. So, dear friends, from now on with my blog posts, I will post a music video. What’s the connection between the food and the music video? Maybe some, maybe not. Just that I love cooking, music is close to my heart, and reading gives me a high. Do you see the connection now?

Potato stuffed chillies are a delicious tea time snack or can be had with an evening drink. These are made with the large, plump and chubby Bhavnagri or Pepsi chilly variety. These chillies aren’t necessarily spicy by themselves. It’s the stuffing or the filling with chilly powder and other spices which makes them masaledar and chatpata. Of course you can reduce the pungency if you wish by adjusting the spices in the potato filling. But it adds that extra zing.

Here is a lovely song to enjoy. This the original, you must know is sung by Louis Armstrong. I will post some of my favorite music, both Hindi and English, in my posts from time to time. I must agree wholeheartedly with Vikram Seth the author when he says, music to him is dearer than speech.

The recipe of Stuffed Green Chillies.

Stuffed Green Chillies

Spicy and slightly sour, these potato stuffed chillies, fried in a gram flour batter are simply heaven eaten during the monsoons. They’re made in most homes in India, with a slight difference of spices, but taste just as delicious.

10 Bhavnagri or Pepsi chillies
500 gms boiled, peeled and mashed potatoes
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 tspn carom seeds
1/2 tspn turmeric powder
1 tspn raw mango powder
A handful of chopped fresh coriander
Salt to taste
2 finely chopped green chillies
Oil for deep frying

For the batter

1 cup gram flour
1/2 tspn chilly powder
A pinch of soda
A pinch of asafoetida
Salt to taste

Slit the chillies vertically.
Mix the mashed potatoes, crushed garlic, carom seeds, turmeric powder, raw mango powder, chopped coriander, green chillies and salt well and then divide this mixture into 10 equal parts.
Stuff each chilly with one part of the mixture.
To make the batter, mix the gram flour, chilly powder, soda, asafoetida, and salt with about 1/2 cup water. The batter consistency must be thin, not too thick.
Put a deep bottomed pan on the stove with oil. When the oil is hot dip the chillies one by one into the batter and drop them in the hot oil and fry until golden brown all over. You may have to adjust the heat while frying so that the chillies don’t burn.
Remove and drain on absorbent paper.
Serve hot with tomato sauce or a chutney of your choice.

June 24, 2019May 7, 2020Sweets and desserts

Sweet Dough Lemon Loaf

I had forgotten how tasty this loaf is until our next door neighbor in the village brought us a whole bunch of juicy lemons from the lemon tree in his garden. Seeing the lemons brought back memories of this lemon loaf that was my first bake from the book Home Sweet Home by Tarek Malouf. I haven’t baked too many cakes from Tarek Malouf’s book yet but I’m sure that if the recipes taste as good as this cake I’ve baked, then I will try more recipes from his book.

Tarek Malouf has a fantastic bakery in London called Hummingbird Bakery. I’ve visited the branch in the Dubai Mall in Dubai and tasted some yummy goodies there.

So here is the recipe.

Sweet Dough Lemon Loaf

Lemon cakes and lemon loaves are too tempting to resist and this one is extra special because it has yeast in it. Eat it fresh. It gets stale if kept too long.

For the dough

75 ml luke warm whole milk
60 ml tepid water
1/2 tsp salt
50 gms caster sugar
2 1/4 tsp dried active yeast
350 gms plain flour, plus extra for dusting
55 gms unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
2 large eggs, beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract

For the filling

60 gms unsalted butter
100 gms caster sugar
Grated zest of three lemons

For the topping

90 gms full fat cream cheese
40 gms icing sugar, sifted
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp whole milk
Grated zest of 1 lemon, plus extra to decorate

Grease the loaf tin and dust with flour.
In a small bowl, mix the warm milk, water, salt, 1 teaspoon of sugar and the dried active yeast. Set aside for 30 minutes or until a foam forms on the surface.
In a large mixing bowl mix the flour and remaining sugar. Make a well in the centre.
Melt the butter in the microwave or in a pan on the stove. When the yeast liquid is ready add the eggs, vanilla extract and melted butter to the yeast mixture.
Pour the liquids into the well of the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula to form a dough. Put the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for approximately 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth.
Place the dough in a lightly floured bowl, cover tightly with cling film and allow to prove in a warm place, for approximately 45 minutes or until the dough doubles in size.
While the dough proves, make the lemon sugar filling. Melt the butter in the microwave or in a pan on the stove. In a medium bowl mix the sugar, lemon zest and melted butter together. Set aside in a warm place so that the butter doesn’t solidify again.
Once the dough has proved remove it from the bowl. Gently knock the dough back. Roll it out on a lightly floured surface until it is 12 x 15 inches. Cut the dough lengthwise into 4 equal strips with a sharp knife.
With a pastry brush coat each strip with the lemon sugar filling. Carefully lift the strips and pile them on top of each other. Cut the pile of strips into 6 equal square stacks. Carefully lift each stack and place it in the loaf tin, cut side facing up. Place each stack next to each other in the tin, packing them to form a loaf.
Wrap the tin in cling film and set aside the dough to rise again for 45 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius, 325 degrees Fahrenheit, Gas mark 3, and bake the loaf for approximately 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Keep aside to cool slightly.
To make the lemon cream cheese topping, with a hand held electric whisk or a free standing electric mixer mix the cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth. Add the lemon juice, zest and milk and mix well until smooth.
Once the lemon loaf has cooled slightly, remove it from the tin and top with the lemon topping and lemon zest. Serve warm.

May 17, 2019May 7, 2020Sweets and desserts

Date And Split Gram Lentils Halwa

It was my birthday the other day and I didn’t want to bake a cake for a change. Actually, I wanted to try out a new recipe that I’d read about in this little book by Nita Mehta called Taste Of Hyderabad.

Ahmedabad is a cauldron in the summers. On my birthday too, the temperature soared. We didn’t feel like stepping out in the sun, so we didn’t eat out, or shop, but instead I cooked a feast for family and friends. I made date and split gram lentils halwa, mango ice cream, paneer kulchas and sambharia, a mouthwatering Gujarati stuffed vegetable dish. Those who have eaten it will vouch for its yummyness and I’ll post its recipe on my blog one of these days. But first, the recipe of the delicious halwa.

I’ve adapted this recipe from Nita Mehta’s recipe, as I said. However, I used 500 gms seedless dates instead of 500 gms seeded dates in the recipe and it came out delicious. You may want to adjust the quantity of sugar in the recipe though.

Date And Split Gram Lentils Halwa

This sweet dish tastes delectable. Make it and your guests will drool!

500 gms seedless dates
1 1/2 cups split gram lentils ( channe ki dal)
1 1/2 litres milk
1 1/2 cups clarified butter (ghee)
2 drops screwpine (kewra) essence
15 almonds blanched, peeled and slivered
A few pistachios chopped
1 tspn cardamom powder
1/4 cup sugar or to taste

Was the split gram lentils or chaane ki dal and put them in a heavy bottomed pan. Add the milk and once it begins to boil cook on a low flame for about 20 minutes or until the lentils are tender and the milk has dried up. Stir every few minutes to ensure the mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Keep the milk and lentils mixture aside to cool. Grind the mixture to a paste.
Wash the dates and boil in 1/2 cup of water for 5 minutes or until slightly softened. Remove from fire and let cool. Mash the dates with your hands.
Mix the mashed dates with the lentil paste.
Heat the ghee in a clean heavy bottom pan. Add the dates and lentil mixture and fry well. Check for sweetness and add sugar if required.
Add the kewra essence and cardamom powder and stir. Decorate with slivered almonds and chopped pistachios. Serve hot or warm.

May 13, 2019May 7, 2020Sweets and desserts

Whole-wheat Flour Ladoos

When my 9 year old nephew was younger, he loved watching Chota Bheem (Chota Bheem which literally means little Bheem, is an animated TV series that focuses on the adventures of a boy named Bheem and his friends in the fictional kingdom of Dholakpur. In this series, Bheem and his friends are usually involved in protecting Raja Indravarma, the king of Dholakpur, and his kingdom from various evil forces. Sometimes they also help other kingdoms. It is one of the most popular animated series for children in India- Wikipedia). Chota Bheem loves ladoos and therefore so do all little kids who watch it, I don’t know of a single kid who watches Chota Bheem and doesn’t demand the energy giving ladoos that he eats. My nephew must have ladoos, the owner of the beauty parlor that I go to, her grand daughter must have ladoos too!

So this time I’m posting a recipe of ladoos made from whole-wheat flour that my nephew loves. We make ladoos from many different ingredients in India but atta or whole-wheat flour ladoos are delicious and easy to make.

Ladoos are also served as an offering to Lord Ganesha. He just loves them.

These whole wheat flour ladoos are popular among the Sindhi community in India.

You can buy whole-wheat flour and the other ingredients required to make these ladoos at any Indian store.

Here’s the recipe.

Whole-wheat Flour Ladoos

Kids and adults alike will love this Indian sweet.

1 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup ghee or clarified butter
1/2 cup ground sugar
1/2 cup chopped mixed nuts and raisins

Melt ghee in a heavy bottomed pan on a medium flame. Roast the whole-wheat flour in the ghee on a slow flame for about 10 minutes or until it turns golden brown and a nice aroma emanates from it.
Remove from the stove and spread the roasted flour on a tray to cool.
Add the ground sugar and chopped nuts and raisins to the flour, mix well, and make table tennis sized balls with the mixture. You might need to apply some ghee on your hands to make the balls. There you go. The ladoos are ready to eat!