Simple yet tasty Nankattais

This is one of the best Desi version cookie and am sure everyone would have their own recipe. I found the recipe of Suja of Kitchen Corner very easy and perfect. Thanks Suja for your recipe. This recipe calls for just simple basic ingredients and can be prepared in a jiffy.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 cup
Corn Starch - 2 tsp
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - a pinch
Salt - a pinch
Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup
Butter - 1 stick
Cardamom powder - as desired.

Pre-heat oven to 200 deg.F. Combine the flour, corn starch,baking powder, baking soda, cardamom powder and salt and keep aside. Mix butter and sugar till the batter is light and fluffy.

To the batter, add the dry mix and combine well till it forms soft lump-like texture. Make into small balls and flatten it a little. Grease the baking tray and arrange them with enough gaps between them as they expand while baking. Bake for 15 minutes and allow it to cool completely.

You can add nuts and dry fruits according to ur taste. Yummy nankattais which would disappear as fast as it is baked is guaranteed.

Anjaneyar vadai for Vada Maalai

We are ardent devotees of Lord Anjaneya, in fact literally talk to Him about our problems and believe it or not, either the worries are totally dissolved or there arises a solution instantly. We, as human beings are flooded with worries and dissatisfaction. We would like to have a smooth life sans problems, hurdles and disappointments. But, this is not possible and hence we look up to the Supreme for solutions. Such is the belief in Lord Anjaneya and have experienced many a miracles in our lives.

In Chennai, the Anjaneyar temple in the Alwarpet Co-operative bank is very popular. A daily visit to take the blessings of the Lord is a must, just to admire the 'Alangaaram' done by the priests with great love. Some days it used to be just butter and red cherries on it whereas other days Lord is adorned with fruits and we can keep gazing at Him without time limit. I always wanted to make the special vadais and make the Maalai myself, so decided to go on with the preparation. After browsing the web for a good procedure, I found Shanthi Krishnakumar's recipe very simple. . So, decided to go on with the same and finally made this vada maalai with great love to my Lord. A big thanks to her for publishing this recipe. The result was amazing. Here, goes the recipe. Vadai in stages

Contents
For about 108 + vadais, I used Urad dal - 2 lbs (To be soaked for only 20 min and ground coarsely. I used my dosa maavu grinder.)
Urad dal (raw) - 1/2 cup
Pepper corns - 2 tbsp
Curry leaves Salt

1. Soak urad dal for 20 min and grind it coarsely with salt and pepper in a grinder with very little water. Water should be added constantly in very small measure to keep the grinder moving. I ground the mix for around 20 minutes.


2. Add curry leaves and raw urad dal to the mix.


3. Grease a plastic sheet and make small flat vadais with a hold in the centre.


4. Deep fry the vadais in medium heat till it turns golden brown.

More than making the vadai, I enjoyed making the garland with those vadais and a divine moment when Lord Anjaneya of Livermore temple was adorned with it.

Jai Anjaneya!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations Team India,you made us proud !!!!!!!!!!

Hearty congratulations to Team India and captain M S Dhoni for having won the World cup.  It was a joyous moment to watch the proceedings, ball by ball.

My family and me followed all the matches at close encounters  with prayers in our lips for every match .  Cheering the 'fours' and the 'sixes', feeling low with the fall of wickets, all along it was  emotions swinging up and down with the performance.  It was a wonderful journey and lifting the cup was the icing on the cake.

Congratulating fellow Indians worldwide and special wishes to the Indian team for making us proud :):):):)

A beautiful forward which is worth reading.

I received this forward from a friend and was overwhelmed as to how a beautiful message being conveyed through a dialogue between a pencil and an eraser.  This is a must read and am sure many of you must have received it already.  Anyways, am sure all of you would enjoy this.

Pencil: I'm sorry....

Eraser: For what? You didn't do anything wrong.

Pencil: I'm sorry cos you get hurt bcos of me. Whenever I made a mistake, you're always there to erase it. But as you make my mistakes vanish, you lose a part of yourself. You get smaller and smaller each time.

Eraser: That's true. But I don't really mind. You see, I was made to do this. I was made to help you whenever you do something wrong. Even though one day, I know I'll be gone and you'll replace me with a new one, I'm actually happy with my job. So please, stop worrying. I hate seeing you sad. :)

I found this conversation between the pencil and the eraser very inspirational.

Parents are like the eraser whereas their children are the pencil. They're always there for their children, cleaning up their mistakes. Sometimes along the way... they get hurt, and become smaller (older, and eventually pass on). Though their children will eventually find someone new (spouse), but parents are still happy with what they do for their children, and will always hate seeing their precious ones worrying, or sad.

This is for all parents out there.....

Moist marble cake with semi sweet chocolate morsels

I had wanted to bake a marble cake for quite sometime and today decided to bake it, but on checking many recipes, I found that it required cocoa powder too.  Unfortunately, I ran short of the same and began my hunt to bake a marble cake with chocolate morsels and found one which was very easy and believe me, this was a hit straightaway.   The cake had its chocolate tinge but the original vanilla flavour was evident and was not overtaken by the chocolate flavour. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cups
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Butter - 1 1/2 sticks (room temperature)
Eggs - 3
Semi-sweet chocolate morsels - 50 gms
Yoghurt - 1/4 cup
Milk - 1/4 cup
Baking powder - 1/4 tsp
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Pre-heat oven to 375 deg.F

Melt the chocolate in the microwave for 30 seconds and make into a smooth paste.

Mix the baking powder,baking soda and the salt to the all purpose flour and sieve it well.  Mix together butter and sugar till it is soft and fluffy.  To this add eggs one at  a time beating well after each addition.   Once the eggs are well incorporated, slowly add the dry mix alternating yoghurt and milk. Add the vanilla extract and fold the mix. 

Grease the baking dish and pour this mix into the dish and even it with a spatula.  Now, pour the melt chocolate over it and spread it out evenly with a fork.  Once you start spreading with the fork, the design automatically appears and gives the cake a beautiful design. 

Bake this in the oven for 35 minutes.   Cool thoroughly before slicing it.  Try to click the cake immediately else will be 'gone in a few seconds'.

'A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes he has the biggest piece'. - Ludwig Erhard