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.

Earchi Achar / Meat Pickle

This is my favorite pickle. And the recipe is a family recipe passed from my mother to me. I love eating it with hot rice or paratha.  Always a saver when there is not nonveg at home.

 

Ingredients

Tender beef/mutton - 1 kg (cut in small pieces and washed)

Ginger – 1 tbsp. (cut lengthwise)

Garlic – 15  (cut lengthwise)

Mustard seed – 2tsp cup

Fenugreek seed – 1 ½ tsp

Turmeric powder – 1tsp

Red chilli powder – ½ cup

Vinegar – approx 1 ½ cup

Salt as per taste

Curry leaves – about 20 leaves

Oil for frying -

Method

1.     Pressure Cook meat along with 2 tbsp of vinegar, 1tsp salt and ½ tsp turmeric powder for 1 whistle and 5 min.  remove the access water after it cools.

2.     Heat about 1 cup oil in and pan and fry the meat still it is crisp brown from outside. 
3.     Dry roast mustard seed and fenugreek seed.
4.     Coarsely grind the roasted mustard & fenugreek seed.
5.     Heat 2 tbsp. oil. To this add ginger & garlic and fry till is light brown. Add curry leaves and saute. 
6.     Remove the pan from the heat and add turmeric powder, red chilly powder, salt, ground mustard and fenugreek.  Mix well.
7.     Get the pan back to heat, add the fried meat pieces and mix well.
8.     Now add ½ to 1 cup of vinegar (according to the thickness of the gravy you want).
9.     Boil the mixture for 2 min.
10.    Remove from fire, cool and bottle it.