Our very own 'The famous Malabar Parotta'

Hey friends, this recipe is from my younger daughter who is very interested in experimenting new dishes in her kitchen. She enjoys cooking and I appreciate her determination to keep trying out new dishes till she attains perfection. The credit of this recipe goes to her :):) Now, upto my younger daughter's recipe as narrated to me.

During my childhood days, I used to visit Kerala quite often during the  summer vacations. I cherish the numerous road trips along the Western Ghats travelling in Tata Sumo filled with the chit chat and the bantering of a group of cousins, all of us almost of the same age group. This was one of the last vacations before my marriage that I spent time with my folks there. Within the first couple of days after reaching Trivandrum, I made sure to stop by at my favourite roadside stall to savour the most amazingly freshly made parotta alongwith korma.  Usually, I would think that the side dish is the 'star' but this was one time when  the soft and flaky parotta was the 'star'.

Here is my first attempt at making the Parotta and korma. The vegetable korma that is coming up is my mother-in-law's recipe. I wanted to go the authentic way and pair it with Malabar parotta. Here is the recipe and this needs a little patience and the results are delicious and definitely worth it.

Maida (All purpose flour) - 2 cups

Milk - 1/4 cup

Oil - 1/4 cup

Water as needed.

Step 1: Mix in the maida and the warm milk and make it into a soft dough by adding just enough water. Work the dough for five minutes until it has a smooth texture.

Step 2:Apply oil to the entire surface of the dough. Cover it with a clean cloth and allow it to rest for ten minutes.

Step 3: Break the dough into balls of a big lemon.  Roll each ball and apply oil to the surface of the balls. Cover it again with a clean cloth and let it rest for five minutes.

Step 4: Flatten out the dough to the size of your palm. Apply oil uniformly to each of the flattened surface and let this rest for ten more minutes.

Step 5: Roll out the flattened dough very thinly (Almost like a tissue paper).

Step 6: Cut this diagonally and roll each section starting from the center.

Step 7:Twist the diagonal sections into concentric circles. Cover this concentric circles in a muslin cloth until you are ready to make the parottas.

Step 8: Flatten out the concentric circles to the size of your palm.

Step 9:Apply oil on the tava and cook the parottas on medium heat.

Step 10: Use your fingers to apply some pressure on the parottas to bring out the flakiness.

Yummy flaky parottas are ready to be served. Korma recipe to follow soon.

A cup of hot coffee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I am sipping my morning coffee, I am drifted back to Chennai. The best coffee I have ever had is of course brewed by my mother. We had a traditional manual, metal coffee grinder attached to a wooden shelf. Amma used to buy 'A' and 'P' raw coffee berries and store them. Daily evening, she used to roast these berries in dry kadai and cool it for grinding. I cannot express in words the aroma of the roasting  bean. It used to be my daily job to dry grind the coffee powder for the next day.

There was no storing of milk in the fridge as we do nowadays. Early morning, the milkman used to come with a couple of cows and buffaloes. He will start milking after showing the container to us. It is assumed that the container does not have any water inside. Within 10 minutes, we can get frothy fresh milk which goes into a vessel for boiling. Meanwhile, the coffee powder goes into a filter and hot boiling water is poured into it. If we need thick decoction, less water has to be put. Within 15 minutes, thick first decoction is obtained.

Coffee is prepared in a vessel by adding milk, little water, sugar and the decoction. The prepared coffee is poured in stainless steel tumblers which is kept on a small bowl called 'Davara'. This 'Davara' serves as a bowl to cool the coffee and drink if someone finds it very hot.  Then hot water is again poured into the filter to obtain the second decoction which is slightly a diluted version. Sometimes, when we have many guests, Amma used to take out her big brass coffee filter which used to accommodate around 200 gms of powder at one time.

Not a day goes by, without a guest at home coming around in the morning for Amma's coffee.  I remember my Appa's friends who just drop in to say 'Hello' and have a cup of coffee and leave. Those were the times when guests could drop in at any time of the day.

No matter what the temperature is in Chennai, we do not mind a hot cup of coffee in the morning. I have my traditional filter here and get a Kilo of ground coffee powder from 'Coffee Day' and store it and would enjoy filter coffee till the powder gets over. Then, over to Maxwell!!!!!

My coffee in the ceramic mug has become cold, let me go and heat it up in the microwave :(:(

Yummy Pumpkin cup cake

New Year and Pongal wishes to you all, although a bit late.  I was flooded by relatives and family over the past month and was extremely busy with the guests. Felt very guilty at neglecting the blog site but literally could not find time. This one was drafted last month and hope you all enjoy it. This is my elder daughter's recipe and the credit goes to her. Since,she could not post it, I am doing on her behalf.

It is a big trouble to keep thinking what to do with the Halloween pumpkin.  Usually the carved and lit pumkin would adorn my porch for sometime till it had to be discarded. But, this time with the addition of my second one and keeping pace with his crawling, it was difficult to cut and carve. Hence, the pumpkin was lying unattended. Only the costumes and the sweets came to the forefront. Not wanting to waste it, was looking out for some nice recipe to bake a pumpkin cake. Found this one here and was an easy preparation. The taste was amazing and this is the fourth time I am baking this cake since Halloween :):) A big thanks to Diana for her recipe. I send them  to my daughter's class and the surprise look at tiny tots' faces was unforgettable. I came to know from the teacher that everyone loved these and wanted a second one. This is the perfect verdict..

Here goes the recipe:

All purpose flour - 2 1/4 cups
Sugar - 1 1/3 cups
Butter - 1/2 cup (at room temperature)
Cooked/canned pumpkin - 1 cup
Eggs - 2
Milk - 3/4 cup
Baking powder - 1 tbsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon powder - 3/4 tsp
Nutmeg powder - 1/2 tsp
Ginger powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp

Sift the dry items and transfer into a bowl.  Mix butter and sugar until  light and fluffy.  Beat the eggs and add to the butter sugar mix.  Blend the mashed pumpkin to this mix. Add the dry ingredients alternating with milk into the butter-sugar-eggs-pumpkin batter blending well after each addition. Spoon the batter in greased cups.  Bake at 375 deg for 25 minutes.

Yummy cup cakes are ready to devour.

Got this as a fwd, found it very interesting - From a child's point of view

Hey friends, got this mail as a forward from my cousin, the author unknown. This is a well-written piece and thought of sharing with you all. Thanks to the unknown person who wrote this and his message is acknowledged. Hope you enjoy too.

WHEN YOU THOUGHT I WASN'T LOOKING



When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you hang my first painting on the refrigerator, and I immediately
wanted to paint another one.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you feed a stray cat, and I learned that it was good to be kind
to animals.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you make my favorite cake for me, and I learned that the little things can be the special things in life.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I heard you say a prayer, and I knew that there is a God I could always talk to, and I learned to trust in Him.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you make a meal and take it to a friend who was sick, and I
learned that we all have to help take care of each other.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you take care of our house and everyone in it, and I learned we have to take care of what we are given.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw how you handled your responsibilities, even when you didn't
feel good, and I learned that I would have to be responsible when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw tears come from your eyes, and I learned that sometimes things
hurt, but it's all right to cry.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw that you cared, and I wanted to be everything that I could be..

When you thought I wasn't looking, I learned most of life's lessons that I need to know to be a good and
productive person when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I looked at you and wanted to say,’ Thanks for all the things I saw when
you thought I wasn't looking.'

A simple pound cake

These pound cakes are perfect for all occasions. Tea time, picnic, guests or if you are just bored, you can gulp in a piece of this cake.  This recipe is good and the outcome satisfying. One can understand that if the outcome is good, the tin gets emptied in no time else we would have to keep reminding or maybe serve our family members to get it finished. It has happened many times in my  household too. I have a beautiful cooking range with grill and gas oven. Since my baking and other recipes were done in the microwave, did not bother much to utilise the gas oven. Instead, that portion of the cooking range served as an instant storage. When searching for a good pound cake recipe, came across a lady who had baked in a gas oven to perfection. I wanted to give this a try and succeeded, now planning to give microwave baking a respite.

This recipe is adapted from  Rosa Levy Beranbaum of Cake Bible. I found her recipe very interesting as it does not follow the usual butter sugar mix. A very simple way of mixing the dry ingredients with the wet ones and the end result is amazing.

Ingredients:

Self raising flour- 1 1/2 cups
Eggs - 3
Butter -185 gms.or 13 tablespoons
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Milk - 3 tbsp
Baking powder 1 tsp
Salt -1/4 tsp
Vanilla extract - 1 1/2 tsp

Preheat the gas oven for 15 minutes. In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt and the baking powder) and keep aside. In another bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla and keep aside. To the dry mix bowl, add the butter and one third  of the egg milk mix. Blend well. Gradually add the egg mix in two additions beating the mix well in medium speed after each addition. Spread on a cake pan and bake for around 45 minutes in gas oven. I kept in the middle tray which avoided burning of the top layer and ensured uniform baking. Timing of baking would differ in the  normal oven. If the toothpick comes out clean , then the cake is done. Cool it well before slicing. This would help you get very clean slices without the cake crumbling.

Enjoy this simple cake, can add nuts and raisins too to enhance the flavour.