Inji Curry

 

Ingredients

Ginger – 100gm

Tamarind – lemon size
Jaggery – 2 tbsp
Chilli powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric  – ½ tsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Fenugreek powder/seed – ½ tsp
Green chilli – 2 finally chopped
Curry leaves – 1 spring
Whole red chilli – 2
Hing/ Asefatadia – ¼ tsp
Coconut oil – 3 tbsp
Salt to taste

  

Method

1.  Clean the ginger and cut them into small pieces.
2.  In a medium heat, fry them in oil till it becomes light brown.
3.  Crush or grind the fried ginger coarsely when it is cool.
4.  Make tamarind pulp.  Soak the tamarind in 1cup of water for 15min. mix well and strain the pulp.
5.  In a kadhai/deep cooking pan heat the oil ( oil remaining after frying ginger can be used).
6.  Add the mustard and let it crackle, then add the curry leafs and whole red chilli.
7.  Switch of the flame and then add red chilli powder, turmeric powder, fenugreek seed powder.
8.  Then add the tamarind pulp and mix well.
9.  Now start the flame and bring the pulp to boil.
10.  Add the crushed ginger, mix well and lower the flame and cook for some 1 min.
12.  Now add the jaggrey, salt & hing. At this point if you want to add water to adjust the consistency. Cook for 5 min.
13.  Note : The consistency will thicken when it cools down.

Christmas Plum Cake

A traditional plum cake recipe which pass passed on from my mother to me. She never used spices but I have tried with the spice and like it. There no Christmas, without this cake. This year I made about 20kgs of plum cakes and still it is always less.

It’s too late to put this recipe, but I had to pen it. Every year I think of posting it and due to festivity and lack of time, its push it to next year. And it never comes up.  So here I go………… 

 

Ingredients

For Soaking:

Mixed dry fruits of your choice - 3 cups/ a jar full ( I have used candied orange and lemon peel, sugared ginger, raisins, cashew-nut, dates, tuti-futi, glanced cherrys)

Rum/Brandy – about 1.5 cups/ till it cover the fruit in the jar (I used old monk dark rum)

• Chop all the dry fruit to equal small size. You can use dried fruits of your choice.  
• Fill it in a glass bottle and pour rum till it socks the fruits till the top. I sock it about a month back.

For Caramel:

Sugar - ½ cup

Warm water - ¼ cup

• Place the sugar in a pan and heat a pan (I prefer a deep pan). Heat it & let the sugar melt.
• When the color of the melted sugar becomes dark brown, remove the pan from fire & add ¼ cup warm water to this. You need to be very careful at this stage since the water tends to splash & can cause burns.
• Bring it back to the heat & boil for a few more mins, till the water mixes and melts completely.
• Remove from fire & let it cool completely.
• You can prepare the caramel in advance and store it in a dry glass bottle.

 

For Spice Powder:

Cloves powder– 1 tsp

Dry ginger powder – 2tsp
Cinnamon powder – 2tsp
Nutmeg powder – 1tsp

• Mix all together and store it in a dry container.  Use as per required.

 

For Cake:

Castor sugar – 250gm

Unsalted butter – 250 gm
Egg - 5
Plain flour (maida) – 250gm
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Vanilla essence – 2 tsp
Socked Dry fruits -  ½ cup
Caramel – 2tbsp

Note :  all ingredient should be in room temperature.

 

Method

1. Preheat the oven @ 180 C for 10-15 mins, before baking.
2. Swift the flour, baking powder and spice.
3. Beat the butter for about a minute till it becomes smooth.
4. To this add sugar and beat again for a min.
5. Now add egg one at a time a beat it as you are adding.\Now add the vanilla essence and the caramel and mix well.
6. Fold in 3/4th of the flour.
7. Toss the socked fruit in the remaining 1/4th flour. (This will prevent the fruits from sinking to the bottom of the cake and would be evening spread).
8. Fold the tossed fruits to the cake mixture.
9. Grease a 9inchs baking dish with butter and dust the entire dish with dry flour and tap of the access flour.
10. Pour the batter to the prepared dish.
11. Bake for 50 min at 180degree C or until the skewer inserted comes out clean.
12. Remove and cool it completely, before tossing it of the tin.

 

Til Gur Ladoo

Lots of childhood memories are attach to the festival of Markar Sankrati. As childhood was spend in Maharashtra, all memories are also based from there.  This season was the time of kite flying, crushing glass to make manjaa (sharp thread), kite flights etc. Evening were time for haldi-kunku (literally meaning turmeric and vermillion) where the married women were invited to one house. The lady of the house would apply small bindi’s of haldi and kumkum on every women’s forehead, who is visiting her house and would give handful of goodies which include a peas, ground nuts,  popcorn, and a small utensil (like a steel spoon, steal box, etc). We as kids would accompany our mothers and wait for our turn.  The excitement was all about the gifts which normally was a handkerchief, hairclips, hairbands etc.

 People and traditions were so simple those days.  I miss all of this in today’s metro life.

Finally we were served til gud’s ladoos the highlight of this festival. Small ball made of crushed til and jaggury, with a flavor of cardamom.  The ladoos melted in the month. It felt heavenly. I have tried to make it in a similar ways but no comparison to those maharastrain aunties (kaku).

 Ingredient
White til/ sesame seed – 200gm
Gur/ jaggery – 150gm
Cardamom powder – 1tsp

Method

1.     Roast til it is lightly brown in a low heat. And cool it.
2.     Grate the gur.
3.     In a mixture coarsely grind til and keep adding little gur at a time so that it mixes well.  ( I mix it in a vegetable cutter, it mixes perfectly)
4.     To this add the cardamom powder, mix well.
5.     Take lemon size portion and bind it into small balls.
6.     Make similar ladoo’s with the rest of the mixture
7.     Note: if the mixture is not binding together, you can just heat the mixture and shape it. Don’t over heat the mixture and the jaggury will melt.

Jaathikka Chammanthi / Nutmeg Fruit Chutney

Pleasantly aromatic, nutmeg is actually seed kernel of fruit-nutmeg.  We always use the nut and the mace of this fruit.  In my childhood my grandfather’s house had an old Jaathi (nutmeg tree) near the family well. I would tag along with him every morning  to collect the fallen nutmeg fruits. During these walks I have tasted the fruit but never liked it.  These are few of the summer vacation memories I have.

I never knew that we could make such taste chuttney out the nutmeg fruit. Thanks to my cousin's husband who mentioned it and i went hunting for the recipe.  So, this year’s visit to Kerala taught me this new recipe. It’s my Grandmothers special recipe. Thanks to her I have found one more traditional recipe.

So now try to find this fruit and make this chammanthi and ENJOY!

 Ingredients

Jaathikka fruit/Nutmeg fruit – 2

Grated coconut – 1 cup

Green chilli – 2 – 3 (according to your taste)

(Note : I prefer kandari chilli / birds eye chilli if it is readily available)

Shallots/ sambar onions – 5

Ginger – small piece

Garlic – 3 piece

Salt – according to your tast

Curry leave – 10 finely cut

  Method

1.     Break the Jaathikka into half and remove the red inner coat (mace) and the nut.

2.     Now roast the fruit directly on the gas flame/stove till the out layer burns and the inside cooks. ( authentically it done in a hearth/chulha)

3.     Peel of the burnt outer skin, clean  the remaining with a dry towel and cut it into small piece

4.     Grind all the ingredient except the curry leave into a smooth paste.

5.     Mix the finely cut curry leaves.

6.     It’s ready to serve.