Out of circulation for 2 weeks!
Reason was a trip to Satara.
Satara is approximately 124 Km from Pune and nestled in the western ghats.
The weather is similar to Ooty and Kodaikanal. Mahabaleshwar is just 47 Kms from Satara. Mahabaleshwar is a hill resort and famous spot for bollywood shootings. But we could not go there due to constant drizzle.
Besides a cool climate, this place is blessed with fresh air. I loved the just-plucked fresh vegetables from near by farms, brought to the market only towards evening each day. You just had to put the knife and the vegetables would get cut like it were a piece of butter! That tender each one was. I went crazy cooking most vegetables I could lay my hands on, as our family was put up in a company guest house with full kitchen facilities. The cow's milk was good. Its Ghee was even better. So was the malai paneer with which I made some of our family's favorite dishes like aloo-gobi-paneer, paneer-methi, stuffed paneer paranthas and mutter-paneer. It was sad that I found out about fresh paneer too late otherwise, it would have been paneer this or paneer that, all through our stay. Thank God the family escaped the paneer over-do punishment!!
The view from our first floor rooms was too good. Each morning we would wake up to the sight of misty clouds floating over lush green mountains. There would be drizzle but never a heavy down pour. The few minus about this place was that no tar roads are laid except the main thoroughfares resulting in too much slush all over. On top perhaps due to the cold weather, everybody would spit freely on the roads, anywhere and everywhere!!
The area is full of greenery and trees housing parrots, pigeons, sparrows, etc., which could be seen from close quarters. We shot some pictures which I am going to share.
My elderly cousin from Hyderabad gave me a hint to visit the Chinna Chidambaram, the famed Nataraja Temple built by the Maha Periyavaal, Sri Chandrashekhar Swamigal of Shankara Madom, Kanchipuram. I was fortunate to visit it and also recite the Lalitha Sahasranamam as an offering on a Friday to the Divine Mother.
My wish to visit the famed Kolhapur's Mahalakshmi temple also came true and I could sing the Mahalakshmi Ashtakam in HER divine presence inside the premises which was another high for me. Lesser crowd than usual made it possible.
Having left my elderly mother alone for a full 13 days was indeed worrisome, yet all of us sisters kept talking to her on the cell. I had also made arrangements with my neighbour to visit her at least twice a day. She did that wonderfully well because I and my husband have never hesitated to help her whenever there was a chance to help them. The servant also never let me down. My mother has always been the independent type and she must have loved to be on her own and do her things her way for 2 weeks! In fact when we arrived, she prepared crisp dosas with very good chutney and sambar. It was heaven to be back home and see mother. I have never been away from her for longer than 1 or 2 days at a time.
Mahalakshmi.
Showing posts with label Ghee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ghee. Show all posts
Monday, August 15, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Learning To Make Sweet Poli
Soon after my marriage I used to watch my mother-in-law in action in the kitchen. She would be in-charge. I loved whatever she cooked. Especially the sweet polis were a melt-in-the-mouth.
For special occasions I would assist her in preparing this sweet dish. I did learn about the ingredients, the process, the finale, etc., but the polis would never turn out as soft as hers whenever I tried it on my own. Its edges would be thick.
But after many years I did manage to learn the secret from her.
Now for that incident followed by her recipe!
Once my mother-in-law was visiting us and wanted to have polis. So I started the process while she simply watched from the sidelines. When the first one was ready, I proudly gave it to her for tasting and saw her actually frowning!
It was thick. I tried the second, the third, the fourth and still she kept telling me,
"Roll it thinner than that". I got so wild with frustration over her repeated comments, that I just put the rolling pin down. I wanted to walk away from the kitchen!
She must have sensed my displeasure and quietly took charge and started rolling the poli while it was my turn to watch her. It was as if she was coaxing it to spread thinner and thinner until it was almost the size of a thick paper!! She was persistent about that.
She shallow fried them one by one. I tasted one of hers and knew why she had frowned. They were such wonderful delights and soft, melt-in-mouths that no one could stop with just one!!
That day I learnt what it was to know something really well. In fact this is what expertise in 'anything' is all about.
That moment she was not the mother-in-law nor was I her daughter-in-law. It was the teacher and the taught. It was one among my most beautiful learning experiences.
As always, I appreciated and thanked her for showing me how to make them much better. Both were happy to have shared this deep bonding that day. Earlier too I had learnt to make so many dishes from her.
It is a combination of the right ingredients, the process, the tips which are more important for a dish to come out well. The patience to perfect it with practice until one gets it right also helps.
Now for the recipe: (try a smaller quantity first. Can try larger quantities when one feels confident by trying it out several times. I know this advice is misplaced in these days of diabetes, calories, etc!)
Now for the recipe.
For the dough:
100gms refined flour.
A pinch of salt.
A pinch of turmeric powder to get the yellow color.
50ml of gingely oil.
2 to 3 teaspoons of water (strictly optional)
Mix all the above except water and ply into a soft dough. (Keep it covered and leave it alone for at least 3 to 4 hours. Your fingers may get very oily but never mind, as its the grease which will make the polis softer when it is shallow fried later.
For the Filling:
1. 10 cardamoms, de-skinned and powdered.
2. 100gms sugar or jaggery. (Jaggery will mean, melting it in less water, filtering the scum, sand, etc.). I prefer sugar as its less messy and more tasty.
3. 100gms of bengal gram dal.
To dry roast the dal until it gives out an aroma and turns golden brown. Wash and soak in water for 20 minutes. Then pressure cook until soft. When cool, drain all the water and blend only the cooked dal into a thick even paste. Now add the sugar 'n' spice and blend all of them well.
Heat a thick bottomed kadai and thicken this paste until it turns dry or turns into a dough-like consistency.
Make equal sized balls from the dough. About 10 to 12 of them.
Make as many from the filling also and keep it separately.
Take a plastic sheet, grease it with oil, place a portion of dough in the centre, cover it with a transparent plastic sheet, spread the dough with fingers (or rolling pin if possible). Slowly peel off the upper plastic sheet and place a portion of the filling in the centre and fold in the edges, covering it from all sides. The filling should not be visible to the eye at all. Place the plastic sheet and flatten it to, as thin a poli as possible. This is by far the 'trickiest' and most difficult part.
One can use rice flour as dust to help roll it thinner on a clean, dry flat surface like the granite kitchen slab, if one is not comfortable using greasy plastic sheets.
Heat a hot plate or tawa and cook it by gently turning it both sides alternately and quickly. Remember a poli cooks very fast. When light brown spots begin appearing, spread ghee over the surface and edges. When done, fold it and serve hot or cold.
Has a shelf life of more than 2 weeks if water is not used at all to make the dough.
Tastes heavenly and could be very addictive.
Enjoy.
Mahalakshmi
For special occasions I would assist her in preparing this sweet dish. I did learn about the ingredients, the process, the finale, etc., but the polis would never turn out as soft as hers whenever I tried it on my own. Its edges would be thick.
But after many years I did manage to learn the secret from her.
Now for that incident followed by her recipe!
Once my mother-in-law was visiting us and wanted to have polis. So I started the process while she simply watched from the sidelines. When the first one was ready, I proudly gave it to her for tasting and saw her actually frowning!
It was thick. I tried the second, the third, the fourth and still she kept telling me,
"Roll it thinner than that". I got so wild with frustration over her repeated comments, that I just put the rolling pin down. I wanted to walk away from the kitchen!
She must have sensed my displeasure and quietly took charge and started rolling the poli while it was my turn to watch her. It was as if she was coaxing it to spread thinner and thinner until it was almost the size of a thick paper!! She was persistent about that.
She shallow fried them one by one. I tasted one of hers and knew why she had frowned. They were such wonderful delights and soft, melt-in-mouths that no one could stop with just one!!
That day I learnt what it was to know something really well. In fact this is what expertise in 'anything' is all about.
That moment she was not the mother-in-law nor was I her daughter-in-law. It was the teacher and the taught. It was one among my most beautiful learning experiences.
As always, I appreciated and thanked her for showing me how to make them much better. Both were happy to have shared this deep bonding that day. Earlier too I had learnt to make so many dishes from her.
It is a combination of the right ingredients, the process, the tips which are more important for a dish to come out well. The patience to perfect it with practice until one gets it right also helps.
Now for the recipe: (try a smaller quantity first. Can try larger quantities when one feels confident by trying it out several times. I know this advice is misplaced in these days of diabetes, calories, etc!)
Now for the recipe.
For the dough:
100gms refined flour.
A pinch of salt.
A pinch of turmeric powder to get the yellow color.
50ml of gingely oil.
2 to 3 teaspoons of water (strictly optional)
Mix all the above except water and ply into a soft dough. (Keep it covered and leave it alone for at least 3 to 4 hours. Your fingers may get very oily but never mind, as its the grease which will make the polis softer when it is shallow fried later.
For the Filling:
1. 10 cardamoms, de-skinned and powdered.
2. 100gms sugar or jaggery. (Jaggery will mean, melting it in less water, filtering the scum, sand, etc.). I prefer sugar as its less messy and more tasty.
3. 100gms of bengal gram dal.
To dry roast the dal until it gives out an aroma and turns golden brown. Wash and soak in water for 20 minutes. Then pressure cook until soft. When cool, drain all the water and blend only the cooked dal into a thick even paste. Now add the sugar 'n' spice and blend all of them well.
Heat a thick bottomed kadai and thicken this paste until it turns dry or turns into a dough-like consistency.
Make equal sized balls from the dough. About 10 to 12 of them.
Make as many from the filling also and keep it separately.
Take a plastic sheet, grease it with oil, place a portion of dough in the centre, cover it with a transparent plastic sheet, spread the dough with fingers (or rolling pin if possible). Slowly peel off the upper plastic sheet and place a portion of the filling in the centre and fold in the edges, covering it from all sides. The filling should not be visible to the eye at all. Place the plastic sheet and flatten it to, as thin a poli as possible. This is by far the 'trickiest' and most difficult part.
One can use rice flour as dust to help roll it thinner on a clean, dry flat surface like the granite kitchen slab, if one is not comfortable using greasy plastic sheets.
Heat a hot plate or tawa and cook it by gently turning it both sides alternately and quickly. Remember a poli cooks very fast. When light brown spots begin appearing, spread ghee over the surface and edges. When done, fold it and serve hot or cold.
Has a shelf life of more than 2 weeks if water is not used at all to make the dough.
Tastes heavenly and could be very addictive.
Enjoy.
Mahalakshmi
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Laddoos Of All Kinds!
During my childhood a laddoo would bring the image of boondi laddoo only and never of any other kind.
By and by when we began seeing different colors and makes in the same shape we knew laddoos can be made with many different ingredients tasting so very different from each other. The occassional ghee roasted cashew bits and raisins sent us into a dizzy. The laddos would melt in the mouth while the dry fruits would offer the crunchy surprise to the experience of eating a laddoo.
To name just a few laddoos quickly which came to my mind just now are:
besan ke laddoo, atta ka laddoo, maalaadu, mohan laddu, rava laadu and one more which I tasted in Mansukh, a Gujju-Rajasthani restaurant in T.Nagar. That was good and I could make out that they had combined the boondi laddu with some maava/khoya and the combo was just fantastic. What was more surprising was that the laddoo was moist and piping hot which is never the case with the other laddoos which are cool and stored dry in bottles.
The boondi laddu is the most complex to make, process-wise. The others are fairly simple and quick to make. And equally tasty. Some are healthy too.
I had the opportunity of seeing different kinds of laddoos being made at a function called 'pethi urundai' (meaning on behalf of {pethi=grand-daughter, urundai=laddoo} in Tamil). Let me talk about this function later in another blog perhaps and not now.
My co-sister is very good in making laddoos. Since she knew the process for each and every laddoo, she assumed the role of a leader while my other co-sister and me assisted her in making them. By observing and participating we learn a lot. I myself learnt to make laddoos very easily and on my own after that.
She made the rava laadu, maalaadu, payatham laadu on that day.
I saw a sikh devotee make the atte ka laddu on some TV channel. She sang verses from the gurbani while she was preparing them. I hear the halwa at the gurdwara is also made this way. Quite interesting. It reminds me of our singing or chanting the shlokas while cooking meals for our families. Then such a saadam (food) becomes a prasaadam (a divine offering to god) for the whole family to partake.
Now for the glossary of laddoos!
Besan = bengal gram dal flour
Payatham = moong dal flour
Rava = fine wheat semolina flour
Maalaadu = roasted bengal gram dal flour
Boondi = besan flour batter is deep fried in oil or ghee and then processed
Khoya or maava = milk reduced to solid state by constant boiling and stirring
Atta = wheat flour
Ghee = clarified butter.
Now they use all kinds of ingredients to make laddoos. Like the ones made of malai. Dry fruits and nuts. All these promoted in the name of health.
One simple rule to follow in making most of these laddoos is to take equal quantities of ingredients. For eg., for Atte ka laddoo if you take 250gms of atta, then line up 250gms of powdered sugar (castor sugar) and 300gms of clarified butter or ghee as it is popularly known as.
The atta is in raw form and needs to be heated/cooked or processed.
So what we do with atta is to heat the ghee and then tip in the atta. Care should be taken to saute it continuously until the fragrance of both pervades the entire kitchen. Then allow it to cool off in a safe place where ants or other eager creatures don't fall into that mixture. Then add bits of roasted cashews or some sultanas/raisins and perhaps a half teaspoon of elaichi (cardamom) powder. Just mould them into balls by greasing your palms.
The same procedure is followed for besan laddoos also.
Rava laddu and maalaadu don't need the flour to be sauted. The rava and sugar are mixed well. ghee is heated and cashew bits/raisins are roasted and poured over the mixture, all mixed thoroughly to spread evenly and immediately after portions are made into balls by touching the palm with milk to help in moulding the laddoos.
If by chance the ghee is not sufficient then you may heat a little more quantity of ghee, add the same and mould it into balls.
Thats for today folks!
Enjoy!
Mahalakshmi
By and by when we began seeing different colors and makes in the same shape we knew laddoos can be made with many different ingredients tasting so very different from each other. The occassional ghee roasted cashew bits and raisins sent us into a dizzy. The laddos would melt in the mouth while the dry fruits would offer the crunchy surprise to the experience of eating a laddoo.
To name just a few laddoos quickly which came to my mind just now are:
besan ke laddoo, atta ka laddoo, maalaadu, mohan laddu, rava laadu and one more which I tasted in Mansukh, a Gujju-Rajasthani restaurant in T.Nagar. That was good and I could make out that they had combined the boondi laddu with some maava/khoya and the combo was just fantastic. What was more surprising was that the laddoo was moist and piping hot which is never the case with the other laddoos which are cool and stored dry in bottles.
The boondi laddu is the most complex to make, process-wise. The others are fairly simple and quick to make. And equally tasty. Some are healthy too.
I had the opportunity of seeing different kinds of laddoos being made at a function called 'pethi urundai' (meaning on behalf of {pethi=grand-daughter, urundai=laddoo} in Tamil). Let me talk about this function later in another blog perhaps and not now.
My co-sister is very good in making laddoos. Since she knew the process for each and every laddoo, she assumed the role of a leader while my other co-sister and me assisted her in making them. By observing and participating we learn a lot. I myself learnt to make laddoos very easily and on my own after that.
She made the rava laadu, maalaadu, payatham laadu on that day.
I saw a sikh devotee make the atte ka laddu on some TV channel. She sang verses from the gurbani while she was preparing them. I hear the halwa at the gurdwara is also made this way. Quite interesting. It reminds me of our singing or chanting the shlokas while cooking meals for our families. Then such a saadam (food) becomes a prasaadam (a divine offering to god) for the whole family to partake.
Now for the glossary of laddoos!
Besan = bengal gram dal flour
Payatham = moong dal flour
Rava = fine wheat semolina flour
Maalaadu = roasted bengal gram dal flour
Boondi = besan flour batter is deep fried in oil or ghee and then processed
Khoya or maava = milk reduced to solid state by constant boiling and stirring
Atta = wheat flour
Ghee = clarified butter.
Now they use all kinds of ingredients to make laddoos. Like the ones made of malai. Dry fruits and nuts. All these promoted in the name of health.
One simple rule to follow in making most of these laddoos is to take equal quantities of ingredients. For eg., for Atte ka laddoo if you take 250gms of atta, then line up 250gms of powdered sugar (castor sugar) and 300gms of clarified butter or ghee as it is popularly known as.
The atta is in raw form and needs to be heated/cooked or processed.
So what we do with atta is to heat the ghee and then tip in the atta. Care should be taken to saute it continuously until the fragrance of both pervades the entire kitchen. Then allow it to cool off in a safe place where ants or other eager creatures don't fall into that mixture. Then add bits of roasted cashews or some sultanas/raisins and perhaps a half teaspoon of elaichi (cardamom) powder. Just mould them into balls by greasing your palms.
The same procedure is followed for besan laddoos also.
Rava laddu and maalaadu don't need the flour to be sauted. The rava and sugar are mixed well. ghee is heated and cashew bits/raisins are roasted and poured over the mixture, all mixed thoroughly to spread evenly and immediately after portions are made into balls by touching the palm with milk to help in moulding the laddoos.
If by chance the ghee is not sufficient then you may heat a little more quantity of ghee, add the same and mould it into balls.
Thats for today folks!
Enjoy!
Mahalakshmi
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
