Melting Moments

I am a big fan of spicyana and her fairy like creations. It is not only that she creates beautiful artifacts; she handles the camera at amazing angles and will make you drool over the fantastic pictures. Her aesthetic sense is amazing.

So when she made ‘melting moments’ last Christmas and packed goodie bags, I so so wanted one of that.

I don’t have Archana near by me so I had to make them myself and lo the right time for these ‘melting moments’ is indeed Christmas.


I liked the part in the recipe where it said, it will keep good for storage and so I could make them ahead.

Recipe Courtesy: Joy of Baking.

Sift one and half cups all purpose flour and 1/2 cup cornstarch and 1/4 teaspoon salt and whisk them together.

Using a beater beat 1 cup of butter and add ¼ cup of powdered sugar and beat them together to a smooth consistency. Add 1 tsp of vanilla for flavor and add the flour to this and mix thoroughly.

If the dough is firm, you can right away make the balls. Or refrigerate to make it firm for one hour or so and then make small balls (one inch) and keep them on a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper. Keep the balls one inch apart as they will expand while cooking.

Preheat oven to 350 and bake them for 10 minutes. Now cool them and then transfer to a surface coated with powdered sugar. Arrange them in a single layer and sprinkle powdered sugar

This is my first batch and I used vanilla flavor. These are so easy to make I am going to try these with different flavors.

Melt them in your mouth moments!

Kerala Rich Fruit Cake

This time I made a lot of cakes all at once, Usually I make them batch by batch so that I could correct in the later batches. I tried my luck this time and took one whole day for baking… it was smelling Christmas all last Sunday and as the cakes sit there waiting to be eaten it sure smells like a Bakery. So Welcome to Ginger and Mango Bakeries.

I am not a good baker and I follow K.M Mathews cake recipes to the dot. I am very reluctant to make any changes to it, since I don’t know the complicated science of baking.

This recipe is from her book, Naadan Pachakarama.

I don’t know whether any part of India other than Kerala has this tradition. Maybe Goa? This is a big tradition of cake baking, rich fruit cake. But let me tell you, I had fruit cake in Italy and I didn’t like it a bit. It was soo hard and chewy. This Kerala fruit cake is a mix between fruit cake and plum cake. It is very soft, has lots of fruit and nuts and will keep well for days.

I multiply the quantities and this time I multiplied them by 8 times. If you want to make just one cake for a smaller family I would say to divide these quantities by 4.

One thing about baking is measurement. Do not guess the measurement like you would do for a curry. You have to buy that measuring spoons, measuring cups and the kitchen weighing machine if you ever think of baking. If the recipe calls for room temperature, yes it definitely means room temperature and you cannot directly mix the ingredients from the refrigerator.

Another thing is the freshest ingredients and these do make a big difference in the quality and the storage of the cakes. I usually buy them only the previous day.

The easiest part of this cake is the soaking.

Black raisins – 150 gm
I buy fruit cake mix dried fruits which come in a single packet – 200gm.
(You can buy different dried fruits and mix them together in proportion.)
Now buy some cheap brandy and soak them. For this quantity of fruits you would require ½ cup of brandy.

See the last post for soaking.

Soak the fruits I would say one week ahead. You can also soak them two or 1 days ahead. Soak them for one week in a non-metallic jar and stir them every day to get them mixed nicely in brandy. Keep them airtight and also in a large jar since the fruits plump up when soaked.

The recipe calls for dicing the fruits before soaking. I have tried that and God it is so much work. So these days I don’t do it since I make this in large quantities. You have to dice a raisin into two if you want to follow the recipe. This is to make sure the cake while slicing won’t have crumbs. Ah! I don’t care, let it crumb, let it crumb, let it crumb! :)

Dice a cashew into four. Like that keep ¼ cup raw cashew nuts ready and soak them in Almond essence and keep aside.

Okay, so soaked them? Now onto the next step, caramalization.

Boil ¼ cup of water. Now take a pan and in low heat, add ¼ cup sugar and keep on stirring, You will see the sugar getting dissolved and changing color. When the sugar is browning and not burning, it produces an instant coffee color. Take from heat and slowly add the hot water and keep it again in the flame. While adding water be extra careful, since it will splash and burn your fingers. Now keep stirring continuously until it forms caramel color syrup. Take from heat and let it cool.
(This time I didn’t brown the caramel as I should have to a deep dark brown, fearing if a small mistake would destroy my entire batter. A little more of browning is good)

Now on to Butter. Please do not use substitutes, you are eating a cake. Unsalted Butter. Make sure it is not salted and yes, do not let your hubby dears do the shopping for this.

So, Butter at room temperature. That means it should not be a stick and rather it should be soft and gooey to touch.

Butter 250 gm. With a hand mixer or in a stand mixer, lightly beat the butter until fluffy.

Now add 300gm powdered sugar to this and beat it thorough until you don’t see any lumps.

Separate 5 eggs at room temperature as whites and yellows. To do this, make a small hole on the top of the egg and pour out all the white and the yellow will stay inside the egg shell.

Add the yellow to the butter sugar mix and beat it slightly until they mix good.

Sift 250gm of unbleached All purpose flour. Yes sifting is important. Make sure you are not buying flour premixed with rising agents etc. This is the plain All purpose flour and unbleached. Add 1 teaspoon of baking powder to this flour and sift.

Now add this sifted flour in small quantities to the egg butter mix and beat it slow. You cannot use a hand mixer now, since the mix is going to be hard. So either use a stand mixer or use your hand. Incorporate the flour into the mix. After this add ¼ cup of fine sooji into this.

Now you can add the cold caramel. Beat the egg whites separate and add to the mixture. Add 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract to the batter. Add one teaspoon of lemon essence and mix.

You are now ready to add the nuts and the fruits. Mix a little flour to the cashew nuts so that they dont sink to the bottom of the cake batter.

Fold the fruits and the nuts into the cake batter and mix with hand slowly.

Now keep aside this batter with a closed lid for 6 hours.

After that you can start baking. Either butter the cake pan or cut wax paper or parchment paper and use it inside the cake pan so the cake wont stick to the pan. What I do is, use butter or margarine and make spots inside the cake pan and then add the wax paper so it will stick to the pan and then pour in the batter

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and when ready, bake the cake. Make sure when you pour the batter, pour only half of the cake pan. Since the batter would rise while baking.

Bake it for on hour or so. Keep checking after 50 minutes by inserting a toothpick into the cake and if it comes clean with no batter, your cake is ready.

This cake needs to age. Yes, at least it would need to age for 2-3 days before you get the real taste. The process of aging is a must for these kind of cakes. So when the cake is real cold after baking, cover it in wax paper and aluminum foil and keep aside in an airtight container.

After 24 days of advent and midnight mass, we would reach home from the church and we all gather around the table for my mother to serve the cake. The cake keeps us kids busy while she heats the curries to break the fasting of 24 days. My mother bakes beautiful cakes in her small electric oven. It was round in shape and would look like a flying saucer especially when it is baking with small red lights. Anyone remembers that small electric oven?

Fruits are soaked!

As every season, I am late by two weeks this Christmas too. I was supposed to soak all the dried fruits two weeks ago and I just did it 5 minutes back.

I have soaked 1200 gm of Raisins and 1600 gm of mixed dried fruits. Poured 1.5 litr of some cheap brandy.



Two days of soaking and I will start my baking.

I am yet to decorate the tree, plan about the snacks, plan about the dinner. I am so busy at work and at home and then there comes Christmas with the extra load. But without all these what is life?

Advent started on December 1st. The 24 day wait for Christmas.

I used to regularly observe advent by giving up two or three favorite food stuff. These days one cannot, since it requires a lot of time and patience, one that I am losing as I age.

So if you havent soaked, soak them up!

Raw Banana Stir Fry (Kaaya Upperi)

Raw banana with smashed shallots and chili, sautéed in some coconut oil… Love to have that with some curd and rice.

Buy raw bananas, any type. Usually in India, we get bananas that are used only for cooking. We call it ‘ponthan kaaya’, they are short and stout and is not good to eat when ripe. That is they are less sweet. So we cook them.

Anyway you can use the same for any raw banana.

Scrape the skin of lightly. Do not take the whole skin. Dip them in turmeric water (a little turmeric powder added to water) to avoid discoloration and to get rid of the sap while cutting.

Cook 3 cups of bananas diced into half inch squares in 2 cups of water with enough salt and ¼ tsp turmeric powder.

Heat 1 tbsp of coconut oil, sauté crushed shallots and a sprig of curry leaves, 4 green chilies, and add the cooked bananas. Sauté them well and smash it lightly. Instead of green chilies, you can add crushed whole pepper.

I have seen some add a tinge of asafoetida. I don’t, so you needn’t :-)

I would say coconut oil is a must for upperi/mezhukkupuratti (stir fry in English) like this, since the coconut oil gives the dish a very unique flavor and taste.

Serve with rice or roti.

why Why why?

I am just testing out this post to see whether it will appear on Taste of India. I wrote three posts this week, scheduled them to be posted on a certain date and time using bloggers new schedule your posts magic. The posts appear or publish at the exact time, but somehow Taste of India never picks it up?

It appears on Reader, if it appears on Reader, why wont the feed be picked up?
hmm......

why Why why

Will this appear?

Tsk Tsk...Oh those readers who will miss this great treasure cove of Ginger and Mango recipes..... It is not about me you know, it is all about you, you, you :) (3 times would make anything sound true) ;)

Mutton Curry

It is very difficult to get good mutton in U.S if you don’t know the right places. The difficulty being most Americans does not eat mutton. Usually Middle-Eastern, or Hyderabadi shops or Muslim shop owners carry good fresh mutton.

Remember the Seinfeld episode where his girl friend feeds him mutton and he chews and puts them into his coat pocket and Elaine being chased by the street dogs?

Mutton is a little harder, chewier and so most Americans dislike them. So you don’t find them in the grocery stores normally and available only at the ethnic stores. Mutton is not Lamb. Lamb is what you normally get here. But once if you are accustomed to mutton, it is a tiny chance you would like lamb and vice versa. Lamb is from the sheep and mutton is from goat – both very different animals.

However there has been an increase in mutton production in U.S, as there has been an increase in immigrant population who prefers mutton. Maybe the stores will start to carry them and you don’t have to go in search of this meat at ethnic stores.

We have goat farms here and we can even choose the goat and they would kill and prepare it for us. So we are lucky to get the freshest of the fresh. I usually buy one whole goat and divide the meat and store it in my freezer.

If you have a choice, buy the leg part of the mutton.

For 4 cups of cleaned mutton, mix 1 cup of coarsely chopped onion, ¼ cup of ginger garlic crushed, 1 sprig of curry leaves, 1 coarsely chopped tomato, 2 tsp of coriander powder, 2 tsp of meat masala powder, 1 tsp of chili powder, ½ tsp of turmeric, enough salt.

Mix well and marinate and keep aside for half an hour and then cook them in a pressure cooker or in a pot. If using pressure cooker, you need to know mutton in U.S takes more time to cook than beef. Usually in India it is the other way, beef takes time to cook. This is what I have normally seen in U.S. It takes the time to cook toor dal in a pressure cooker. Do not add water. The water from the meat will cook the mutton.

Heat 1 tbsp of oil, sauté 1 sprig of curry leaves, sauté and brown 1 cup thinly diced onion, add the cooked mutton and mix and boil in medium heat until the curry thickens to your preferred consistency.

Serve with rice or roti.

Country Style Ribs Fry

Haven’t you seen the country style pork ribs at stores in U.S? Ever bought them? I love them more than the spareribs. They are an easy party dish, cheaper and fattier, more pieces and a party favorite.

Buy country style ribs with the bone and divide each piece into three.

Marinate them in a paste of curd, chili powder, ginger garlic paste, curry leaves, onion, salt, turmeric powder and a little bit of sugar.

Deep fry them in hot vegetable oil. It takes a little extra time to fry them. So make sure you start frying them early.

Serve as an appetizer or side dish.

Mashed Bittergourd and Potatoes

Don’t like bittergourd? Add them to potatoes. Yes, bittergourd and potato is a spectacular combination. Like one big happy family they cling on to each other sharing the sweetness and the bitterness. This is one great way to make all those bitterphobic kids and grownups to have a little iron in their food and to welcome bitter gourd, the nutrient rich gourd into your dinner plate.



Bitter grourd. Deseed and remove all the inner pulp. Cut into one inch pieces – 2 cups

Potatoes peeled and cut into one inch pieces – 2 cups

Boil them together with 2 cups of water, 1 tsp of chili powder, a little salt and ½ tsp of turmeric. When cooked mash the lightly.


Now heat 2 tsp oil, splutter mustard seeds, 1 sprig of curry leaves.
Sauté 1 crushed garlic pod with 1 cup of diced onion and 1/2 cup of diced tomato. Saute well.

Add the mashed potato bittergourd mixture and sauté for 5 minutes.

Serve with rice or roti.

Psst...If anyone asks why the potato has a slight bitter taste, you can exaplin to them that those potatoes are from the mountains of MachuPichu and the soil there turns them a little mineraly richly bitter and that they are having a taste of real MachuPichu…. Oh What all one has to do to get some iron in their food.

Simple Potato Curry

Puris and potato curry for a Sunday brunch, for a train journey, as a friend drops by – it is the simplest and the best.

I am yet to find a pantry that doesn’t store potatoes. With around five thousand varieties, you get them in any part of the World. Imagine a World where there were no potatoes? Well, ask the Irish about the Potato Famine.

Cultivated some 7000 years ago in Peru, they are the quintessential food for many countries. Do you know in some of the old U.S stealth submarines, all they could store were potatoes and the soldiers ate them day after day, night after night which kept them alive.

It is only after moving to U.S, I knew people just eat them as main meal, the baked potato dish. The very first day in U.S, someone at the table ordered potato skins and I was like, Whaaat?? I just pick them up at the grocery like onions without even thinking and put them in everything. And finally when they are too many, I make the ever simple, ever delicious potato curry.

Peel and dice them small like this. 2 cups

3 green chilies
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Onions diced thin – 2 tsp
Turmeric powder -/12 tsp.
Salt
Peas cooked (2 tbsp) – optional

Heat 2 tsp oil, splutter ½ tsp mustard seeds, add the curry leaves, diced green chilies and onion and sauté well. Then add the potatoes, add ½ tsp turmeric powder and add 1 cup of water and cook in low flame. When almost cooked, add the cooked peas. Add salt to adjust taste.

When cooked, mash them lightly if you like it that way.

Serve with puris.

Hurray, a neat win!

No I am not talking about Democratic Primaries, but about my $43.06 this week! :-)


Do you remember me? Yes, I am cash. I know I am not popular around here with that cute little plastic thingie you all carry around to swipe. But let me tell y’all something, I am the real one with a capital r.

So girls, guess what. I just impressed myself. Gave myself a pat on my back! Imagine I cut down my weekly grocery purchase to a $43.06.

How I did it? Read on…

Though I didn’t plan what to make, I thought of buying vegetables that can be made both as curry and as a side dish. Making something in curry form means I can feed more people with less stuff. I asked around and found that the Wal-mart and Publix near the Indian stores are much cheaper than where I live. Also, CVS has a better deal on milk.

I decided I am going to go only to one Indian store this week. Also, I relaxed and took my time to shop around. Otherwise I will be in a hurry and won’t even look what the price is. I have this major problem, i.e. if I see something as $2.99, in my mind it gets registered as 2 dollar. In fact, it is 3 dollars. I just don’t see that extra dollar. So how much ever I calculate, the final bill would turn out to be much bigger. That is what always happens.

I bought vegetables only for one week, planning as I examined at the price of each of them and I had taken last weeks receipt with me, so I had a clear idea what each costs at different stores. For eg; bananas costs lesser at Publix. Green beans cost lesser at Publix. But tomatoes, onion etc cost more at Publix than Walmart. Indian stores carry the red onions which costs much lesser than both Publix or Walmart. This way I made sure I checked the price of each item before buying.

Now I know if I take my credit cards, I would splurge. So I took only 50 dollars with me and left the cards in the car. My plan was to aim for a 40$. I kept the extra 10$ as a buffer. That’s what made this whole thing a success. The cash thing! So I calculated each item before loading the cart. This way, it is much better to keep a check on yourself.

That’s a total savings of $24.34 from last week. Hurray!!!

In recent developments, last week President Bush declared during a speech that it was because Indians are eating more these days, food prices around the globe are peaking. Well Mr. President, I am an Indian living in U.S and I cut down my grocery bill. How about you Sir, cutting down some of that spending?

(Data shows U.S consumes five times more. Well, who cares about statistics and data?)

Why you might ask? Why save a twenty dollar? There is a big reason for me. It will clearly show how much I waste and how much I could save. Remember a 20$ might not be big deal for you per week, but it could feed a child here or here.

Now, dont you girls out there wanna beat me? C'mon. Compare your bills and let us have some fun!

Those forgotten mothers

There are not many lyrics sung in their praises, not many stories, not many artists cared for their love. We all grew up thinking mothers can love only their biological children, the image so implanted into our heads, we start to hate them even before we see them. Yet there are millions of them, million of lovely ladies, million of mothers with so much love you are surprised why they are loathed in every story you read.

I am so busy at work, I never get time to enter into food blog events, yet when I saw Jhiva for Love, I couldn’t resist. For I know a woman, who has served me every dish with love. If my mother taught me how to love, my mother-in-law taught me how to create and serve love, hot and tasty. I have written many times about my mother, it is high time I write about my other mother.

As soon as I saw the event details, it is she who came into my thoughts, for if not for her I wouldn’t even have this blog, for she is the one who taught me to keep the traditions alive even if it is for something as mundane as cooking. Then I read an article in a Malayalam blog about a daughter-in-law missing and loving her mother-in-law, and the author depicted it as a very strange thing. Well, well, well. If we daughter-in-laws don’t speak up now for them, when will we?

When I got married, I was naïve as in n-a-i-v-e. I got married young, very very young if you measure my mental maturity too. I was terrified of the whole idea of marriage, watching Sauson ki Zindagi kind of soap serials where mother-in-laws torture their bahus (daughter-in-law). In India, there is a thriving million dollar industry of soap serials running on just that theme. Take any soap serial and the theme is mother-in-law Vs daughter-in-law, like an India Vs Pakistan cricket match.

Family is the most important thing for me. Hence, I was terrified not in fear of her, but I was worried a small wrong word by me, a misstep by me will never be forgiven and I will destroy the peace of the family I am married into.

It was a completely different World.

The few days I stay with her when we visit home, I watch her cooking up excellent dishes, from the scratch, following the traditions, planning everyday intelligently, serving the dishes right on time, with the right amount of flavors and lots and lots of love. She prepares a huge feast in a short time and she does it like a musician with ease. It is from her I learnt that the finer detail is what makes a dish, a beautiful memory.

One time, the only time when I made a dish at my husband’s house was chicken biryani for one Christmas. Since it was a different type of oven I was not used to, it turned out be a disaster. There were so many guests gathered at the house, and I was at the verge of crying. She just smiled and hugged me. Then she took on the reins, swiftly managed the whole show and just fixed the dish here and there doing her magical tricks.

She runs behind me with a plate laden with food, feeds me urulas with her own hands, when I skip food to catch a train or a bus. She playfully frowns at me when I pout and complains fulllllll touching my belly after a sumptuous lunch. She always sits besides me while I eat, forcing me to have more helpings. Many have mistaken her for my own mother when we are together.

She writes letters to her son, asking him always to help me in the kitchen, share all the work and telling me to make sure he does (It is a whole different story, whether he listens to that or not). She taught all her children to be good human beings first. It is from these mothers men learn to respect women, from them they learn to be a good husband. I thank God everyday for giving me such a kind and a real woman as my other mother.

I am still learning, smaller things, yet so important about life and living, whenever I talk with her. Her prayers, her assurance, her strength and courage is the real light in our small family across many oceans, miles and miles away from her.

I dont have a particular dish to serve for the event except to say,

Mother, I LOVE YOU.

$21.22 - The final bill

Hopefully this is my last shopping for this whole week if not surprised with guests. I do have milk I think will last me through the week and little bit of this and that. I was supposed to do all this on Saturday and didn’t get time on Sunday too. So had to do my usual shopping on Monday and Tuesday.

This shop is a little further away from my home, but a Kerala store where we get Malayalam Films for rent and all Kerala stuff and the shop owner greets you with ‘ah, enthokke undu, kore naalayallo kandittu’ which means, ‘Oh Hello how are you, long time no see’ – even though we go there almost every week :)

I buy frozen grated coconut, fish chutney, snacks etc. from here. For me, it is a whiff of Kerala and a psychological thingie. Until I visit this shop, I don’t feel I have shopped enough :).


So here it is $ 21.22. That’s a total of $67.40 for a week. Remember I haven’t got any stuff like rice, dhals, spices etc. I will just stay this way for next week so I can make a good comparison on such stuff alone.

As an anonymous asked, how many people at home? 4 people at home.

Feeling huh? Read this please.

$29.84 - My next bill

My next stop was Wal-mart for the non-Indian things. Buying Indian ingredients is much cheaper in local Indian stores than the usual stores. After posting about the event, I am a little surprised since even though I said I would do my normal shopping, I am a little cautious I believe. Usually my bills at Wal-mart would be 40$ or so and at Indian stores around 30$. But I already see a difference in the way I shop.

One thing I have noticed is prices are different at different Wal-marts. It depends on the area. If you go to low income living areas, the prices are much cheaper. Anyway I went to the store near my place, will do the comparison next week to be sure.

I have some milk and eggs left over from last week, so it looks like I might not need to buy milk this week. I bought some pear, lime, tomatoes, ice cream, mussels, pineapple, shallots...the ususal stuff. So this is my week’s purchase. I dont go with any planning, since most of the times I just pick up stuff I see and plan only when I see the stuff.



See you with the next one.

Wondering what in the world is going on? Read this please.

$16.34 - First round of shopping

This is my normal routine. I buy vegetables, fruits and other supplies from Wal-mart, Publix and two Indian stores.

Yesterday I got a small supply of vegetables from the first Indian store. These vegetables would last me for 2-3 days. Total bill comes to $16.34

Now I have got to buy milk, eggs, potatoes, tomatoes, frozen coconut etc from other stores.

As others said we all waste a lot of food. I never used to know how to plan it properly. My mom is super efficient in it, she won’t waste even a small inch of a carrot.

I always used to buy in piles to last for 2-3 weeks as if it is war time and there will always be spoilage. Especially since in U.S, you don’t get vegetables that fresh. So a quarter of it always goes to the waste bin. My husband hates to see me wasting stuff like that, so I cleverly put the spoilt vegetables when he is not there and cover it up nicely with newspapers :)

After some time, I started to realize it and now I don’t buy vegetables for more than a week. One advantage I have is, most of the stores are nearby so I can buy on my way to work or so. This method has taken care of a lot of food wastage, which is the first step towards having a good budget for your grocery.

In India, we are lucky; we get fresh vegetables daily, and that too brought by street vendors to your own homes. You don’t have to store anything and this saves a lot of food wastage. You have to only plan for two days at the most.

One thing I noticed is planting your own herbs is a big money saver. Herbs costs a lot in U.S. I have curry leaf plants, mint etc. so that’s taken care of.

See you with the next bill. Do share your experiences on your blog or with comments. Thank you. Let us all learn together.

No idea what is going on? Check this out.

Grocery Bill Event

It is happening. There is food ration even in the U S of A. Look where oil politics have brought this world into. People are struggling in many parts of the World due to this global food crisis. U.S is the most gluttonous nation of all. Even here, the crisis is creeping into our daily lives in alarming rates.

To be prepared, like everyone else the first thing that came to my mind is to check my grocery bill.

I buy my weekly supply of groceries on every Saturday. I am going to check my grocery bill from next week starting Sunday 27 April to next Saturday May 3rd. I will spend like how I do it in normal times. Then I will start the same thing the following week, pinching every penny, thinking about how to get the most of something, looking for cheaper alternatives, planning ways to cut short my grocery bill from Sunday the 4th to Saturday the 10th.

I will compare two weeks bills online on my food blog. I will update most days on what I cooked for these two weeks. This way I can share my tips with you and collect ideas. The intention is simple, this will make me and you and them learn how to live smarter in changing times.

If you want to join me, come along. Or you can just watch the show or do something similar in the following weeks.