A Bunch Of Light Whole Wheat Grapes! (Bread, Actually)

Just the other day I came across a blogger (sorry, don't recollect who it was) saying that she was a "carbs" person. I really know what that means. My favourite food group is carbohydrates (think rice, wheat, pasta, bread….) and if I stay away from them for too long, I actually get severe "carb cravings"!
So you will understand that one of my favourite things is the aroma of bread baking in the oven and eating bread, warm from the oven, without any other accompaniment but a cup of hot tea! Of course, I am not likely to refuse an offer of bread with a dab of butter (no jam please!), or cheese or peanut butter.

I just realized that I hadn't made bread in a very long time and it was about time I did something about that. Now the easiest type of bread to make that I know of is No Knead Bread. You just mix everything together, refrigerate it overnight and bake it in the morning.

But what if you want to go beyond this, but would prefer to put in as little effort as possible yet make good bread? You could try Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francis. I did!
There was a time about a year ago, when reviews about this book (referred to as ABin5 from now onwards) were all over the net. I couldn't get the book here so got my sister to bring it down when she came on vacation early this year.
I have made bread successfully, quite a few times from the book yet never got around to mentioning it here.

If you think you can make bread in 5 minutes, then you are fooling yourself. What this book does, however, is to ensure that you can make the dough with minimal effort. Rest the dough at room temperature for about 2 hours and then refrigerate the dough. This means that whenever you want fresh bread, you take the dough out and shape it (the 5 minutes in the title), let it rise and bake it.

You can find more about this on the ABin5 site.

This time I used the Light Whole Wheat Bread from ABin5. I am normally quite organized, but occasionally I have these "disorganized" days. So just as I started out to mix the dough for my bread I discovered I didn't have enough all purpose flour required by the recipe in the book.
So I increased (and made up the deficit) the amount of whole wheat flour quite a bit. This probably means that this bread no longer qualifies for "Light Whole Wheat"!
It, however, turned out to be an excellent bread with a crackly, crusty exterior and was soft on the inside with great texture. It wasn't dense at all as I was worried it might become.

Here is my adapted version of the recipe from ABin5. Please note that this is also a halved version and this amount of dough makes 2 medium sized loaves.
So for this bread, I used half of the dough I made. I also decided to shape the dough to look like a bunch of grapes, just for fun. I remember seeing a picture of bread like this somewhere and had always wanted to try that.



Ingredients:


1 1/2 cups warm water

3/4 tbsp dry active yeast

3/4 tsp salt

1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

corn meal for dusting the pizza peel/ tray



Method:


Mix the yeast and salt with the warm water in a 3 L food container which has a lid. Mix in the remaining ingredients. You may use a food processor/ stand mixer with dough hooks but I did this by hand.
I initially mixed everything using a wooden spoon and incorporated the flour in two batches, using wet hands to mix the dough after the adding the second batch of flour.

Cover the food container with the lid loosely (not airtight) and allow the dough to rest at room temperature for about 2 hours, till the dough rises and collapses on itself.
The dough can be used right away for making bread or be refrigerated (do not close the lid and make the container airtight) and used over the following 14 days.
When you are ready to bake bread, dust the surface of the dough with flour and cut off about half the dough.

Pinch off small portions needed to shape the bunch of grapes. Dust each portion with more flour and quickly shape into small balls by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.
Remember to have one portion a bit elongated for the stalk at the top of the bunch.
Place all the pieces on a baking tray (I don't have a pizza peel) to resemble a bunch of grapes, leaving a little space between the pieces. As the dough rises and bakes, the spaces will get filled.
Let the shaped bread rest, covered by a kitchen towel, for about 30 to 40 minutes. Brush the dough with some milk and bake at 230C for about 35 minutes till brown and firm.
Cool on a rack before eating.


This lovely bread is my contribution to BBD #24 where this month's edition is being hosted by Idania with the theme "Mixed Breads".

My bread is also being YeastSpotted!

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Stir-fried Yard Long beans And Chickpeas (Indian Style)

This stir-fry is one of my "original" recipes. Actually, it's less of a recipe and more of a "develop as you go along" set of directions! What I mean is that this is one of this dishes where you add what you think would go well with yard long beans and chickpeas to make it into a dish you would like to eat.

I haven't been keeping very well this past week or so thanks to a very persistent bout of flu, and frankly speaking, food and cooking were the last two things on my mind. However, if one has a stomach, it will grumble at periodic intervals and the grumbles have to be appeased.

One particular morning, having cooked the rice and some lentils in a gravy, I needed to make a dry side dish too to complete lunch. The only things in the vegetable bin in my fridge were some yard long beans (which we call "payar" or "achingya" in Kerala) and a couple of bunches of rather sad looking spring onions.

The only place for those spring onions was the bin and the beans weren't enough to cook as one dish. They needed to be supplemented with something else. Further investigation in the fridge revealed some chickpeas I had cooked and frozen a couple of days earlier.
So I put the two together, added a little of this and that and cooked up a stir-fried something which took me about 15 minutes in all to cook! I used coconut oil which lends to the taste of this preparation. If you do not like the taste of coconut oil, or cannot find it, please use whatever you have on hand.

I just thought that I would mention that we get a couple of varieties of yard long beans here. Right now it is the season for these beans. One variety is shorter (much longer than French beans), dark green in colour and on the thinner side. This is what I used in this dish.
The other variety is a little thicker, varies from pale to dark green in colour and seems to go on forever (I exaggerate but they are quite long) in length!



Ingredients:


1 1/2 cups yard long beans, cut into 1" long pieces

1 1/2 cups boiled and drained chickpeas

1 1/2 tsp coconut oil (or oil of choice)

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp chilli powder

a pinch asafetida powder

a sprig of curry leaves (optional)

salt to taste



Method:


Heat the oil in a pan. Add the asafetida powder and the yard long beans and stir fry, over medium to high heat, till the beans are almost done. This should take about 5 to 10 minutes.
Now add the chickpeas, curry leaves, turmeric and chilli powders and the salt. Stir well, turn the heat down to medium, add a splash of water and allow to cook for another 3 to 5 minutes till no water remains.

Take the pan off the heat, and remove the stir-fried vegetable-chickpes to a serving bowl. Serve warm as a side alongside rice.
This recipe should serve 3 to 4 people.


This stir-fry is going to Susan's MLLA whose 17th edition is being hosted this month by Sra.

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Another Year, Some Sandbakkelser (Almond Cookies), And A Giveaway!

A first birthday is more of an event than a second one is, I agree, but a birthday is a birthday, I say. After all, it's not everyday that one gets to look back and see how far one has come while feeling good about the changes in oneself.
I thought someone, maybe one or two of you, would remember that I've been around here for a just a bit over two years and wish me a happy birthday. If we're getting down to the brass tacks, I am now two years and three weeks old. Yes, my second birthday celebrations are overdue by three weeks!!!
Then again, I guess I am expecting too much when even the lady who writes here seems to have forgotten all about it.

Last birthday, she made a lot of noise about my turning one, and had party with lots of sweet goodies. This year……………….
I'm sorry, the sadness of it all got to me and I couldn't go on. I did some investigating and discovered that all is not yet lost as far as my birthday goes. The lady who writes here hasn't forgotten my birthday, after all. True, I do remember her mentioning it on and off a couple of times, now I come to think of it.

Turns out she was planning a surprise and then before she could get down to it a vacation happened! Flimsy sounding excuse, if you ask me. She didn't forget her vacation, did she now?
Hey, the one and only chance I get to say what I feel here, and SHE's back and taken control! Oh well, I'll let her get on with what she has to say, not that I have a choice…..



Oh, Oh, I'd better get in on this act before it gets out of hand. That's my blog letting off a bit of steam and getting carried away!
True, this blog turned two a couple of weeks ago when I was away on vacation. I had planned to write this post as soon as I got back, but that didn't happen. The flu decided to pay a rather unwelcome visit and then over stayed its welcome (not!).
Now, I couldn't let a birthday here go without mentioning or celebrating it, even though a bit belatedly.

Two years, over 300 posts and more than 200, 000 visitors - these are just statistics. These numbers do not tell of the numerous mails I have received with good words and wishes for my blog. They do not tell of just how closer the world has come to me, with so many of us connecting over good food.

These statistics can never begin to describe the wonderful, helpful and supportive community that I am proud to be a part of. In the past two years, many in this community have become very good friends.
The funny thing is that I have never met most of them, though I hope I can and I will meet them (outside the virtual world) some day.

This blog has ensured that I explored the world of good food a whole lot more than I would ever have if I hadn't started blogging. I must say, it has also given me a voice that I didn't really know I had.
I can now bake a decent loaf of bread, bake and decorate a cake using basic skills. I have to confess that the "macaron" and "French bread" still has me stumped, though I'm sure I will conquer them both some day (I hope!).

Now, birthdays are no fun without food. There is this almost special connection between birthday celebrations and cake. For a change, let's get a bit adventurous and celebrate with some "Sandbakkelser"!

Sandbakkelser (also called Sand Tarts because of the ground almonds, I understand) are small Scandinavian almond cookies or tarts. These are crumbly, hollow almond cookies are baked in 2" fluted sandbakkel tins/ moulds. They are usually served as they are (as cookies) or can be filled with fillings like fruit, whipped cream, etc as for tarts. Whichever way you serve them, they are the perfect bite-sized dessert, though from what I have read about them, it seems these cookies are traditionally a Christmas time treat.

I had bought some small fluted tart tins/ moulds sometime back, thinking they would be got to make tartelettes for appetizers. It now turns out that they are perfect for sandbakkelser!
I also had quie a bit of ground almonds left over from making macarons and this seemed a great way to use that up too.
I used half this recipe from "Petite Sweets: Bite-Size Desserts to Satisfy Every Sweet Tooth" by Beatrice Ojakangas. Below is my halved version, from that recipe. My sandbakkelser are a little different from Ms. Ojakangas' recipe.

The original recipe requires 3/4 stick of butter for the halved recipe. Here I get 100gm slabs of butter so I used 3/4 of that which is a bit less. I didn't blanch my almonds and ground them skin and all so my sandbakkelser are specked with brown.
The original recipe suggests filling the sandbakkelser with berry preserves and whipped cream. My cookies didn't last long enough to be filled with anything!



Ingredients:


75gm butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup blanched almonds, pulverized or ground

1/2 tsp pure almond extract

1/2 a large egg, at room temperature

1 cup all-purpose flour



Method:


In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until well blended and light. Blend in the almonds, almond extract, and egg. Stir in the flour to form a dough.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly until it forms a smooth ball. Add a bit more flour if needed to make a stiff dough. Gather the dough into a ball, wrap, and chill for 30 minutes.

Lightly butter or coat with nonstick spray 2 dozen fluted sandbakkel tins or tart tins. Pinch off parts of the dough and, using your thumb, press into the tart pans to make a thick, even layer.

Place filled tins on a baking sheet for easier handling. Bake at 190C for 12-15 minutes or until the sandbakkelser are golden. Remove from oven and allow them to cool in the tins. To remove the tins, gently tap the tin until the tart comes out.

Serve unfilled (upside down on a serving plate to reveal the impression from the pan), or invert the tart shells so that the cavity is upright. Just before serving, spoon the chocolate mascarpone mousse into the tart shells.
This recipe makes 24 sandbakkelser.



Now to the next, final and perhaps most exciting part of this celebratory post.
Last year, I decided to have an event to celebrate a birthday here. This year, I thought I'd do something different from that.

Variety is always fun and an event means everyone would have to cook something, take pictures, post, link here, e-mail entries……….! And then I would have to go through everything, do a round-up. It seems to me that that's too much work all around.

So this time, I'm going to give away a copy of Petite Sweets: Bite-Size Desserts to Satisfy Every Sweet Tooth by Beatrice Ojakangas (from which the sandbakkelser were made).

That's right, no hard work at all but there's a catch (haven't you all realized that there's always a catch to everything somewhere?).
All you need to do is to leave a comment at this post telling me what you like about this blog. Only one comment per person, please.

I know, I know, it's a very sycophantic thing to do but tell me, honestly, who doesn't like to hear something nice about themselves (That's my blog talking, by the way!) and if this is the one way of doing it………..
Actually, criticism is welcome too, but rudeness shall not be tolerated. Tell me what you don't like about this blog or if there's something you would like to see that is different or improved and maybe I can do something about it, if it is within my scheme of things.
You have till the 30th of November (that's 10 days from today) to leave comments here, after which date I will randomly pick one lucky person who shall take home this lovely book.

All those silent readers who visit this blog, this is open to you too, whether you have a blog or not. So please do come out and have your say and who knows, Lady Luck may be on your side.
I will be happy to send this book anywhere in the world.
Please make sure to enter your email address in the appropriate field so that I can contact you should you win.

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The BloggerAid Cookbook: Helping To Change The Face Of Famine

Early this year, in March to be precise, I had written about BloggerAid Changing The Face Of Famine and their Cookbook Project.

"BloggerAid is a growing group of international food bloggers determined to make a difference in aid of world famine. The love of food and community that brings them together drives the compassion of its members to reach out to the world to help those less fortunate. Banded by a mission of helping to make a change in a world where starvation affects such a profound number of people, they will raise money and awareness for the hungry in communities both at home and abroad."

The first project was the BloggerAid Cookbook which was creating a cookbook to raise funds for the School Meals scheme of the United Nations World Food Programme. The idea was to invite food bloggers to contribute recipes to be published as a cookbook where 100% of the proceeds target children and education through the School Meals scheme.

I am very happy to tell you all that the BloggerAid Cookbook has been published and you can order your very own copy now.

This cookbook is a collection of recipes from the kitchens of food bloggers in over 60 countries and you can also find my "Savoury Cashewnut Masala Cookies" in the book.

So please lend us, and the children who need it, your active support by buying one (or more) copies of this book. We at BloggerAid would also very much appreciate your support if you could spread the word on your blogs.

And here's a visual preview of the recipes you could be cooking up once you get your copy of The BloggerAid Cookbook.

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My Kitchen Café #3: People from a Bus in London: Urad Dal, And A Recipe

My Kitchen Café is open again for this month and I am very happy to introduce yet another good friend of mine, Ganga who writes at A Life (Time) of Cooking. I cannot remember exactly when I first discovered her blog, but I remember that her beautiful pictures were very vibrant and full of colour. The other thing that stands out in her posts are the simplicity of her recipes for very tasty vegetarian food.
Ganga has been blogging about the food from her kitchen on and off since the early 1990's, even before blogs were common place.

Ganga, a vegetarian for nearly a decade, says "her favourite foods come from the regions that stretch between Italy and India". An Indophile, she discovered an exciting cuisine that is naturally nutritionally balanced for vegetarians, on her first trip to India in the 1990's.

Let me leave you to enjoy her writing, pictures, and a simple and tasty recipe for lentils.



People from a Bus in London, Urad Dal, and a Recipe!

 

I love people.
I don’t mean that gushing, over extroverted, always hugging love for people. I’m a bit of an introvert myself. But I do mean that amazing joy that comes from the diversity that has been given to us in the people that have been put on this earth.

I love the complexities of people. I love their spark. I love the uniqueness of each person – there is no-one else anywhere who is just like this person.

It wasn’t always this way. I was a pretty shy child, and people scared me a bit. But one day I decided that I would find something fascinating about every person that I met. And I found that it is really quite easy. Everyone has a spark, an internal glow that is worth discovering.

What I love so much in life is the mix of people who inhabit my world. Like spices, they are fabulous on their own, but the combination of those people in my life, and the spark that each one brings, is like a well-blended spice mix.

Turning to Food

Urad Dal has an inner character as well. Most often used in spice blends, tadkas or in combination with other lentils, its inner nature remains well hidden. Often dusty, once rinsed and washed it shines with a beautiful nature that goes so well with ginger, tomatoes and cream.

I first came across Urad Dal because I loved the look of it, and as with so many things, bought it on the strength of that. Without any preformed assumptions about the use of this shy and retiring dal, I looked for ways to cook with it.
Since then I have been exploring Urad Dal, placing it as the starring role in many a dish.

My latest find is this Urad Dal with Cream and Spices, a gentle dal that is perfect to serve with a hot spicy fresh chutney.


Urad Dal with Cream and Spices


Ingredients:

Spice Paste

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

5 cm fresh ginger root

1/2 – 1 green chilli, depending on size and personal preference. If unsure, start with half a chilli.

1 cup urad dal

1/4 cup ghee

2 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp ground coriander

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp chilli powder

1tbsp Garam Masala

2/3 cup cream


To serve

a few cashew nuts, crushed

a little green coriander, finely chopped 



Method:


Rinse the urad dal well. Then place the urad dal with 6 cups of water in a large saucepan, bring it to the boil and simmer for 1 hour or until the dal is cooked. Drain the dal, but reserve the liquid.

Meanwhile, make the spice paste. Blend the onion, ginger, garlic and chilli. When the urad dal is cooked, heat the ghee in a frying pan and fry the paste, stirring continuously, over high heat until it is golden brown.
Add the cumin and coriander, stir and fry the spices for another 2 minutes.
Now add the drained urad dal, chilli powder and garam masala. Add approx. 300ml of the reserved cooking liquid to the pan as well. Bring the dal back to the boil and simmer for another 10 minutes to allow the spices to meld.

Just before serving, stir through the cream and simmer for 2 minutes to reheat the dish. Sprinkle some crushed cashews and chopped coriander on top and serve with rice and a fresh herby chutney. Enjoy!

The copyright for this post and photographs rests with Ganga of A Life (Time) of Cooking, and are reproduced here with her permission.

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Spiced Green Tomato Bundt Cake

Green tomatoes in a cake? That was I thought when I first saw Paula Deen's "Green Tomato Cake" on the Food Network. If you give this cake some serious thought, its isn't as surprising as at first glance. If one can make cake or bread using carrots, pumpkin or zucchini, why not with green tomatoes?
I didn't bookmark the recipe, but that cake was the first thing I thought of when I saw the first lot of this season's green tomatoes at the market!
If you follow this blog religiously, you'll know we love our green tomatoes. I have previously posted Green Tomato And Onion Curry, Green Tomato Pickle, Green Tomato Khorma, Green Tomato Relish and the journey is far from over yet. Right now it's thhe turn of green tomatoes in cake.

I trawled the net looking for a recipe that called to me and didn't really find one. Most recipes (including Paula Deen's) seemed to call for a lot of butter, sugar and eggs! So I just went along with my intuition and came up with one where the ingredients were okay for me.
I put together the ingredients for a smaller cake, for one thing. You may double these ingredients if you want a larger cake.

I reduced the butter and used just 1 egg (you can try leaving this out or substitute for it if you wish). I also used some light brown sugar but if you want your cake to have a whiter colour, please use all granulated white sugar.
Since green tomatoes are acidic, it seemed a better idea to use baking soda. I left out the walnuts as our daughter doesn't like them and instead of the usual nutmeg and cinnamom found in most recipes, I decided to use "chai/ tea masala".

My sister gave me this idea. Indian chai masala consists of a variety of spices which would be complementary to this type of cake.
I also chose not to add a frosting or glaze but duted the top with powdered sugar mixed with about 1/4 tsp of chai masala. Don't be tempted to go heavy on the masala or you could end up with a "spicy" cake instead of a "spiced" one.

When the cake is done, and you serve it, very few people will be able to tell you that what they just ate had green tomatoes in it! Surprisingly, unlike other cakes with vegetables or fruit in it, this cake is not at all dense. It is quite light, spongy and moist.


Ingredients:


1 cup chopped green tomatoes

1/4 cup Iranian green raisins (or golden)*

50gm salted butter (unsalted is also fine) soft and at room temperature

1/4 tsp salt (only if using unsalted butter)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp chai masala powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)



Method:


* Iranian green raisins are small with a greenish colour and delightfully sweet. The Indian green raisins are also pretty good. Otherwise use golden raisins or what you have on hand.
Do chop up the tomatoes rather small or you'll end getting a "crunchy" salad feel to your cake.

In a bowl, beat the butter and sugars with an electric mixer, for a couple of minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat well. Sift together 1 cup of the flour, baking soda, baking powder and chai masala powder.
Add this to the mixture in the bowl and beat, on medium speed, till well mixed.

Take another bowl and put the chopped tomatoes and raisins in it. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of flour and mix, using a wooden spoon, till the flour has coated the tomatoes well. Add this mixture to the batter in the other bowl and fold in till well mixed using a wooden spoon. The mixture will be quite thick.

Scrape this mixture into a greased and floured bundt/ tube pan (mine is small - a 4 cup bundt pan) and smoothen the top. Bake at 180C for 40 to 50 minutes still a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Cool at room temperature for about 10 minuted and unmould the cake. Cool on a rack. Cover with glaze, dust with powdered sugar and leave plain as the cake has enough flavour to not want any further additons.
This cake serves about 4 to 5.

This delicious cake goes to Meeta for her Monthly Mingle: Brunch

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Persimmon Milkshake With Vanilla Ice-cream

Apparently the Greeks thought that the persimmon was a fruit of the Gods. I never even knew of this fruit till a couple of years back when I saw it at the market here. I assumed it was one of those imported types of fruit which are now available here and invariably sold at exorbitant prices.
Then last year, I bought a couple of persimmons (as I knew what they were now, thanks to blogging) to see what they tasted like. Let's just say that I regretted my decision to buy them!

In the meanwhile, I discovered that certain varieties of persimmons tend to be astringent and quite unpalatable until they're ripe and almost bursting. So when I saw persimmons at my market again, last month, I decided to buy a few and see if they tasted better when fully ripe. I also discovered that persimmons are native to and grown in India in the hilly regions of northern India. My fruit vendor told me the persimmons are called "Amarphal" and his lot of fruit came from Kashmir.

If the persimmon is a something new to you, as it was to us, here's some really useful information. It seems there are two commonly available varieties of persimmons, the Fuyu (looks somewhat like a slightly flattened tomato and not really very astringent/ tart; can be eaten when ripe but still firm) and Hachiya (looks more like an acorn and is very astringent/ tart; can be eaten only when very ripe and somewhat soft).

I didn't know what variety my persimmons were, but on closer inspection I came to the conclusion that two were Hachiya and the other two were Fuyu! It looks like both the varieties are sold together as one lot of fruit!
If you look at my persimmon picture, you can see the persimmon in front is sort of squat looking, while the two in the background are more elongated. The way they looked and tasted after ripening also bears out my conclusion!

Anyways, I waited until the persimmons were ripe and cut one up. After my family did a trial tasting with that, there were no takers for the remaining fruit!
Now this was just before we took a break, so I didn't have too much time to spend searching for a recipe and executing it, so I took the next best and easiest way to use up the persimmons. I did what I usually do with most fruit, and that was to make a milkshake.
I find this method very useful especially when it comes to making my daughter eat fruit she doesn't like. In this case though, I think the ice-cream in the milkshake helped a lot!



Ingredients:


3 persimmons (I used both Hachiya and Fuyu varieties)

500ml milk (2% fat)

3 to 4 tbsp honey

3/4 tsp garam masala

vanilla ice-cream to serve 4



Method:


Skin and deseed (if there are seeds) the persimmons. Put the persimmon pulp, milk, honey and garam masala in a blender and blend till smooth. Refrigerate till ready to serve.

To serve, put a scoop of the vanilla ice-cream in a tall glass. Top up with the milkshake (stir the refrigerated milkshake before pouring into glass). Garnish with chopped nuts or grated chocolate, if preferred.

You can also blend the ice-cream with the rest of the ingredients if you prefer. This recipe makes 4 milkshakes.

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Thengaipodi a.k.a Chammandhipodi (A Spicy Coconut Chutney Powder)

My two weeks away from home meant that I did no cooking at all. Now I am back, I still haven't got back into my routine like it used to be before the vacation happened. I cook, and we eat but I haven't been taking pictures to blog about it all.
There a lot of little things (nothing earth shaking, or a matter of life and death) that just need to be done first. I shall do my best to keep posting here regularly and answering mail, but it looks like it is going to take me a little bit longer to get back to visiting your blogs.

Now onto the matter of this post. As I have mentioned many times before, I come from coconut country. This definitely one way to describe my home state, considering one can see coconut trees almost everywhere one goes in Kerala. So naturally coconut tends to be omnipresent in our cooking.

Every Keralite (a person belonging to the south Indian state of Kerala) worth his salt, in those days, would have a few coconut trees (if not a whole grove) around his house and having to buy a coconut would probably be classified as one of the worst things that could happen to a person.
No, I am not joking. I remember my mother-in-law being quite upset that we (who lived in Mumbai first, and Goa later) had to buy coconuts from the market while they got theirs from the backyard!
My maternal grandfather was equally passionate about the coconut trees (and banana plants) in his back yard . He used to personally tend to the coconut trees ensuring excellent coconut yield, until he was in his mid-80s.

Now things have changed a bit, at least in the cities, with many people living in high-rise apartments here, growing one's own coconut trees is an impossibility. I mean, who can grow a coconut tree on the 3rd floor? If it ever does happen that this (growing coconuts on the 3rd floor!) becomes possible, I can bet you that it would be a Keralite who discovers how this could be done!
Even today, anyone in Kerala who has a little bit of soil within the walls of his compound is bound to have at least 2 coconut trees growing there!

One might then wonder what people did with all the coconuts they got from their trees, apart from cooking with them.
Well, some would be given as offerings in the temples, some given away to neighbours and friends or occasionally sold to anyone who came asking to buy coconuts, while many people used the more mature coconuts for extracting fresh and pure coconut oil.
And if you still had coconuts which had crossed the stage where you could cook with it but not quite dried out (yes, there are different stages of coconut maturity, each good for different dishes), you sometimes made thengaipodi/ chammandhipodi.

As an aside, when coconuts are harvested they are stored as they are and not de-husked. This ensures they keep longer. Even when they are de-husked, a small conical portion of the husk is left over the "eyes" of the coconut to ensure they don't go bad.

"Thengai" means coconut and "podi" means powder. Thengaipodi is another Palakkad Iyer preparation, this time borrowed from Kerala where it is known as "Chammandhipodi" (this means chutney powder). A lot of chammandhi podi recipes include shallots and some have garlic as well, but a typical thangaipodi will not have either.

You will find a variety of thengaipodi recipes in cookbooks and on the internet. This is how I make mine. As an improvisation, I sometimes add curry leaves (if I have them in excess, along with the red chillies) but this is not done traditionally.


Ingredients:


1 1/2 cups fresh grated coconut

3 tbsp split black gram lentils (urad dal)

4 to 5 dried red chillies (increase or decrease to suit taste)

small bit (about size of a grape) of tamarind

1/4 tsp asafetida powder

salt to taste

1 tsp oil



Method:


Put the coconut into a wok/ pan and toast over low to medium heat, stirring frequently, till the coconut is quite brown. Take care to see it doesn't burn.
Just before the coconut has browned and is ready to take off the fire, add the red chillies. Ensure the chillies don't darken or burn while sautéing. Keep aside.

In the same wok/ pan, heat the 1 tsp of oil. Add the lentils and sauté till golden brown in colour. Add the asafetida powder, stir a couple of times and take the pan off the heat. Cool to room temperature.

Put the toasted coconut, red chillies, browned lentils and asafetida powder, salt and tamarind into the jar of your mixer/ grinder/ blender and grind to a slightly coarse powder. When done, the coconut will become finer with a slightly gritty feel from the lentils.
Bottle and store at room temperature (will keep for a few days) but refrigerate if keeping for longer.

Serve with warm rice and ghee (mix a couple of spoons with rice and ghee) or with yogurt and rice (this is my absolute favourite way of eating this chutney powder). You can also serve it alongside idlis or dosas, mixed with a little oil, instead of milagaipodi.

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Monthly Mingle – High Tea Treats: The Round-up

Last month, it was my turn to host Meeta's Monthly Mingle and I decided to have a High Tea party. Let me just say that I was pleasantly surprised at how many of you decided to join us for tea with a whole lot of the most gorgeous variety of food. Even the Queen would have struggled to maintain her composure out of sheer delight at the spread on the tea table!

I was supposed to have done this round-up much earlier, but like I explained, I was away on a short vacation. Now I am back, its time for the round-up.

We had quite a few guests at tea (with a total of 80 submissions, you can imagine what a grand affair this gets to be) and if you scroll down you can see just what they all brought with them. The tea time treats have been presented with the savoury first followed by the sweet.

1. Veggie Puffs - Deepthi (U.S.)

2. Paneer Pakoda - Preethi (India)

3. Murukku - Renu (India)

4. Gougeres - Simran (India)

5. Baked Nipattu - Preethi (India)

6. Egg Sandwiches on Homemade Whole Grain Croissants - Natashya (Canada)

7. Cucumber Sandwiches and Cream Stuffed Strawberries - Dee (U.S.)

8. Mung/Moong Pakode [Mung Dal Fritters] - Kanchan (India)

9. Paneer Puffs - Lavanya (U.S.)

10. Chakli - Manisha (U.S.)

11. Potato Beetroot Patties with Garlic Cream Cheese - Preethi (U.S.)

12. Canapes - Samahitha (India)

13. Broccoli Puff Pastry Wraps - Yasmeen (U.S.)

14. Tea Sandwiches with Egg - Vijitha (U.S.)

15. Sago Cutlets - Shubadha (India)

16. Broccoli Pakora/ Bajji [Broccoli Fritters] - Renu (U.S.)

17. Four-Way Finger Sandwiches - Lassie (U.S.)

18. Savory Spiced Shortbread - Cham (U.S.)

19. Bread-Plum Zwetschgendaschi - B (U.S.)

20. Vanilla and Rosewater Madeleines - Arfi (New Zealand)

21. Lemonade & Wattleseed Scones - Anna ( Australia)

22. Cream Scones - Abhirami (U.S.)

23. Saffron Sablés - Adele (U.S.)

24. Cinnamon Cookies - Lavi (India)

25. Date Fall Cake - Bindiya (India)

26. Saffron, Lemon and Coconut Cupcakes - Anushruti (India)

27. Dates & Nuts Spice Cake - Asha (U.S.)

28. Home-made Calisson - Dhanggit (France)

29. Fruity Apple Spiral Swirls - Deeba (India)

30. Dark Chocolate Mini-Bundt Cakes with Chocolate Whipped Cream - Jamie (France)

31. Zebra Cake - Divya (U.S.)

32. Apple and Olive Oil Cake with Maple Icing - Hilda (U.K.)

33. Butterscotch Chip Scones - Aparna (India)

34. Sachertorte - Happy Cook (Belgium)

35. The Ultimate Caramel Apple Pie - Ivy (Greece)

36. Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies - Jayasree (India)

37. Chilli Chocolate Muffins - Janaki (India)

38. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Scones - Joanna (U.S.)

39. Walnut and Quince Thumbprint Cookies - Johanna (Australia)

40. Eggless Fruit Cake - Lata (Ghana)

41. Apricot Prune Tea Cake - Madhuli (India)

42. Banana Oat Muffins - Mary (U.S.)

43. Elegant Apple Tart - Muneeba (U.S.)

44. Eggless Nutty Tutty Fruitty Cake - Muskaan (U.S.)

45. Orange Cake - Lissie (India)

46. Chocolate-Kissed Walnut Cookies - Mansi (U.S.)

47. Red Current & Marzipan Squares - Meeta (Germany)

48. Carrot Cupcakes with Maple-Cream Cheese Frosting - Muneeba (U.S.)

49. Charlotte aux Framboises (Raspberries) - Pamela (France)

50. Eggless Nutritious Oats Fruit And Nut Scones - Muskaan (U.S.)

51. Banana-Butternut-Pecan Bread - Liz (U.S.)

52. Peachy Keen Brown Butter Bars - Muneeba (U.S.)

53. Vi's Fruit Pastry - Nathan (Malaysia)

54. Dual Coloured Baby Cakes - Quinn (Australia)

55. Caramel Macadamia Cheesecake - Petra (Germany)

56. Pumpkin Tea Cake - Mark (Phillipines)

57. Chocolate and Walnut Cake - Nuria (Spain)

58. Double Decker Fudge - Priya (U.S.)

59. 1-2-3-4 Nutmeg Cake with Mocha Ganache - Ria (India)

60. Cantuccini - Ramya (Germany)

61. Dry Fruit & Nuts Tea Cake - Priya (France)

62. Fresh Fig and Spiced Rum Upside Down Cake - Sala (U.S.)

63. Custard Biscuits - Sheba (India)

64. Swirly Chocolate Walnut Cake - Sandhya (U.K.)

65. Almond & Cranberry Scones - Soma (U.S.)

66. Orange Cream Tarts - Sudha (Malaysia)

67. Fluffy Scones - Simone (Netherlands)

68. Home-made Biscuits - Saraswathy (Singapore)
69. High Tea Cupcakes - Steph (U.S.)
70. Jammy Biscuits - Sweatha (India)

72. Classic Carrot Cake - Sonu (Australia)
73. Mixed Berry Scones - Shri (U.S.)

74. Blueberry Bundt Cake - Astra (U.S.)

75. Pistachio Cardamom Cake - Ann (U.S.)

76. Guava Tarte Tatin - Claudia (U.S.)
77. Lavender Madeleines - Cakelaw (Australia)
78. Vanilla Choco-Chip Pound Cake - Divya (India)
79. Kamut Biscuits with Rosemary - Graziana (Italy)

And finally a Scottish High Tea from Ozoz (Netherlands). I kept for the last to present separately because Ozoz really took to the spirit of High Tea and cooked up a spread worthy of the name. Her High Tea included Salted Chocolate Caramel Shortbread, Rhubarb and Yoghurt Pots, Raisin Scones with Lemon Thyme Curd and Cream and 'Blooming Tea'!

I have included here all the entries I received. If by some chance, I have left your entry or you find there has been some mix up, please leave a comment at this post and I will do the needful at the earliest.

I would also like to thank all of you who joined Meeta and me at this delightful mingle. Meeta is hosting the next Monthly Mingle on her blog so please join her for "Brunch".

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Muthusaram (A Traditional Savoury Snack)

Diwali, to those who celebrate it, conjures up images of lit up oil lamps at dusk and enthralling fireworks displays in the dark sky. It also means plenty and plenty of sweets! In Palakkad Iyer homes, we also make traditional savoury snacks like murukku, pokkuvadam, thengozhal, muthusaram, etc.

This Diwali, my choice of a savoury snack was muthusaram. Muthusaram (also referred to as “mullu murukku” by some) is made from a rice flour-chickpea flour dough which is pressed out through a special press (called naazhi) with a plate with star shaped holes. The dough is pressed out into hot oil by moving the press over the oil in circular clockwise motion leading to nest shaped muthusaram, and fried till a golden brown. To my mind, muthusaram resembles an intricate Rajasthani turban.

When we were children, many of these sweets and savouries were made only during festive celebrations or our school summer vacations. Summer vacations meant kids in the house, who were always hungry.
Those were the days when families meant large number of people at home unlike nuclear families of today. It also meant that appliances like mixer/ grinders, fridges and all those appliances that we take for granted today, didn’t exist in our grandmothers’ kitchens.

I remember how rice flour was powdered in my maternal grandmother’s kitchen. I must have been about 11 and back then, powdering rice to make flour took up the better part of day. My grandmother’s “Woman Friday” was a lady called Kamalam, and she usually helped out with the household chores.

First of all rice would be soaked for a couple of hours, drained of all the water, and then spread out on cotton cloth, for a couple of hours more, to dry some more.
Then a small amount of the rice would be place in the hollow of large granite mortar called an “Ural” which was placed on the floor. This was pounded using a pretty heavy wooden pestle (amost as tall a person) called an “Ulakka”.
The pounding would be done by dropping the pestle into the hollw of the mortar, with one hand, with enough force to crush the rice. As soon as the pestle hit the rice, it would be picked up with the other hand and then dropped again in a synchronized and repetitive motion, till the rice was crushed enough.

Then the powdered rice would be sieved to separate the fine flour from the coarser grain. The coarse grain would go back to be pounded or be used for dishes. As a kid, there was something very exciting about all this activity with a rhythmic muted “whoomph” of the pounding in the background. It was equally fun trying to be a part of all this without getting scolded for complicating the process with my attempts to "help"!

It is only now that I am older, and have the options of powdering my own rice flour in my mixer/ grinder in about 10 minutes or buying it readymade from the store, that I truly appreciate how much effort went into those snacks/ sweets that we demanded and enjoyed so much. I think I also now understand why they were made only during special occasions!

This recipe for muthusaram is one that my mother used, which she got from her mother. In fact, I wrote down this recipe, along with some other traditional recipes, during one of my visits to my grandmother. She found it amusing that I wanted measures in “cups and spoons”, as she used to cook by intuition rather than by measuring like most women of her generation.



Ingredients:



2 glasses fine rice powder

1 glass chickpea flour (besan)

2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, lightly crushed

1/4 tsp asafetida powder

salt to taste

sunflower/ rice bran oil blend for deep frying



Method:


Mix all the ingredients (except the oil) with just enough water to make a dough that is more stiff than soft. This dough will not have the elastcity of dough made with whole wheat or all purpose flour. Too much water will result in a lot of oil absorption during deep frying, which is undesirable.

Heat the oil in a deep and somewhat flat bottomed pan. In the meanwhile, lightly coat the plate (with star shaped holes) and the inside of your press with oil. Put a portion of the dough into the press.

When the oil is hot, turn the heat down to medium and press out the dough directly into the oil in a circular clockwise motion about three or four times. This ensures that the dough falls in circles, forming a sort of bird's nest shape.

Let the "muthusaram" cook for about a minute, then slowly turn it to the other side with a slotted spoom, ensuring the it keeps its shape. Fry till golden brown on both sides. Drain the "muthusaram" on paper towels.

Store in an airtight container. Before serving, break up the "muthusaram" into smaller pieces. This recipe makes enough for quite a few people to munch on with tea/ coffee.

This pot is off to Manisha for her IFR: Memories.

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