Year End 2021 Salad

Lets begin blogging this year on a healthy note. This salad I made at home on New Year's Eve. All the other food was ordered from a bakery on Swiggy. For evening tea we had deliciously filled crisp veg puffs. So fresh that it was as if they were made for us.  Dinner was a creamy and lipsmacking Spinach and corn Lasagne. Dessert consisted of Dutch truffle pastry and German chocolate cake. To set off that richness in the evening I thought a salad would be lovely. Here is how I put it together. 

Ingredients

few large leaves of Iceberg lettuce

1 cup colourful cherry tomatoes

5-6 dried apricots

5-6 walnut halves

2 tablespoons mixed seeds

a splash of honey and 

a splash of Balsamic vinegar

Take a salad plate. Layer the iceberg lettuce. In the centre pile the cherry tomatoes. Layout the walnuts and dried apricots. Sprinkle the mixed seeds. Splash the balsamic and honey. Serve the beauty at the table.

Toss it up before serving a portion to eat or just pick it up from the shared plate with a fork and dip the veggies in the juices and enjoy the mouthful of freshness.

My cousin sister was there with me for the New Years eve though we had expected more people. Yet the two of us enjoyed our evening together. 

After dinner we watched Atrangi Re. Here is our brief review.

Watched Atrangi re on Disney hotstar with Charu. The name is frivolous. It sends out a wrong expectation. We expected some hilarious time. That it wasn’t. But the movie does not disappoint. The twist n turns kept us engaged. Loved Sara, Dhanush and actually the Atrangi in the movie in Akshay kumar. The direction is over the top at times. The main subject is edgy. I could not find anything comedy except some little light heartedness. When you have lived around a person with mental disorder you cannot laugh at the switches between the reality and hallucinations. Nevertheless loved the movie’s handling because only popular culture can drive awareness. Like today we saw a girl tapping her heart few times and mumbling. I pointed out to Charu that this was the “All iz well” effect.

Chasing Away Sinusitis With Ukala

It is that time of the year when you cuddle up in the rocking chair with Ukala and Sweet bread with a blanket on the knee and book in hand. The book has been replaced by the iPAD now but the warm fuzzy feeling is still derived from the Ukala. I think this wonderful drink is magic also due to the aroma therapy of the volatile oils from the spices.

It is the time of the year when your Sinuses play havoc. One nostril is blocked and the other is warm. I don't like sprays, sniffies and other sinus gear. What I like best is twice a day of this Ukala that makes you warm inside out. The blood rushes caused by the spicy heat from the Ukala gives you that fuzzy feeling you desire most in the cold winters. I like to hold my large cup in both my palms and move it across my forehead while it is still hot. Pure therapy, as I sip on my Ukala the slightly thickened milk slides down my tongue and the heat from the spice hits my throat. The brain senses the nice smoothness and brightens the mood. I have never been a milk lover but this Ukala is an excuse to enjoy it once in a while. The Tryptophan is strong enough to make me doze off peacefully when had just before bedtime.

Ingredients  

Ukala Masala

3 tablespoons Black Pepper Corns

1 tablespoon Cardamom pods

2 tablespoons Jyeshtha Madh/ Mulathi powder

1 tablespoon Cloves

2 sticks Cinnamon

In a mortar and pestle powder all the ingredients. Store it in a jar in a dry place. Use 1/4 or 1/2 teaspoon of this Masala for your Ukala.

Note: If you do not like fresh ginger or cannot avail it you can include 2 tablespoons of dry ginger powder in this masala, mix well and store.

I use fresh ginger most times so add it to the boiling milk.

300 ml Milk (I like to use Goodlife since it is thicker than other brands)

1/4 teaspoon of the Ukala Masala

1/4 teaspoon Dry Ginger powder
OR 1/4 inch Fresh Ginger

 2 teaspoons of honey

In a clean pot boil Milk and this Ukala Masala, till your milk gets a little thick or gets a faint pinkish tinge. Boil it down to 200ml. Strain, pour into your favorite cup, add honey and mix well. Enjoy the fragrant warm sip.

Many of my friends have come to Blr. for work from warmer places of their birth and the cold here puts them down. Nimmy, Pinka, Jyoti and Aditya this post is for you. Say Cheers with Ukala! 

Tip: This same masala can be used to make a spice tea when boiled with water. To get your strong Masala Chai just add the tea leaves along with this Masala to hot boiling water, brew to your taste and add a splash of milk for the perfect cup.

Polka Dots Cake For The BC Fighters

To cheer the two fighters V Aunty and P Aunty. One fighting for last 8 months and other for last 2 months. Women who have the attitude to beat the Bad C, this one is for you!

This Sunday evening was planned to be a counseling session for P aunty by V aunty. I had promised to pick up V aunty from her home. So I decided to bake something to cheer them up. Something high protien and with a Wow factor.

These two women have pampered me many times. One rushing to feed me breakfast at 7 am with hot Jackfruit leaf idlis and packing special treats in her hand bag and handing them out to me in unexpected places. The other has cooked hot meals many a times for me when I have visited her on a whim. I would do anything to make them gleeful. Both have been mentioned many times on this blog.

I had seen many of the bloggers create beautiful upside down cakes

Nupur's Ginger-Pear-Saffron Cake

Sailu's Pineapple Upside down Cake 

and Saee's Sunny side up that I keep dreaming about !

OK so I fell for the upside down thing. I am a little scared of using fresh fruits when I am presenting a cake to someone lest it is not consumed when fresh. Dried Anjeer/ Figs in my pantry sounded purffecto!

I designed my cake in my mind like a true genious! It will be Polka dots when upside down. On cutting it will show the marble effect of chocolate and out will fall the richness of dryfruits...

So I went and pulled out all my dryfruits stock. The figs were submerged into the water while I did other things. The butter was kept out to be in semi molten state since last night so that I could rub it into the flour. 

Oops let me tell you what you should keep ready before we proceed coz I know you are baking with me after drooling at the pictures.

Ingredients

14 roundels of dried figs/ Anjeer

1 cup all purpose flour/ maida

1 cup of almond flour (homemade)

1/8 cup of coarse ground pista

1/4 cup Cadbury's cocoa powder

5 black date chopped fine

handful of golden raisins

50gms of Amul butter

2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup milk approximately

1 inches of cinnamon bark

2-3 cloves

2 cardamoms

3/4 cup sugar 

First grind sugar along with the spices, cinnamon, cloves, cardamoms to a fine powder. Keep aside. 

Then prepare the tin. I used 5 inch hexagon. Grease with butter and dust with flour. Tap the upside down lightly over your mixing bowl to remove excess flour. Set aside.

Before starting to mix the batter. Switch on th oven and preheat it at 180 degree celcius. You will need 15 mins to mix the two batters. Meawhile the oven will be ready to take the cake in its womb.

Now take 2 mixing bowls. One for chocolate batter the other for white batter. 

First in the Chocolate batter bowl put the almond flour, coarse pista powder, chopped dates, cocoa powder, raisins. Add 1 teaspoon baking powder. Now scrape out about 10 gms of butter into it. Rub the butter into the mix. Finally add 1/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup above sugar n spice powder. Mix well and swiftly. To get a slighty frothy choco dryfruit mix. Keep aside.

In a different mixing bowl add the flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 3/4 cup sugar n spice powder. Rub in 40 gms of butter. This will make the cake really light and fluffy. Mix swiftly while you add the milk. You may use up 3/4 cup of milk and need a little more. Since this is flour batter you will need to make sure the consistency of the batter is foldable. That means the batter must fall in folds when dropped from slight height into the mixing bowl.

Remember we had soaked the figs in water only till your batters get ready. Remove them from water and line the up at the bottom of the pan. Now pour the white batter first. spread it evenly with a spatula. Then pour the chocolate batter over it. Swirl a knife in the batter to give it a marble effect when baked.

Now is the time for the cake to go into the oven. In about 10 mins time I just checked the cake and saw that it had already formed a crust but was jiggly inside. I inserted a knife and it came out with powdery white tip and gooey chocolate. From my experience in baking I thought it smart to cover the cake tin loosely with aluminium foil. Then it took almost 25 mins to bake till inserted knife came out clean.

After cooling it for 5 mins I turned the cake out onto a colorful tray. Let it cool and then covered with the same foil tightly and draped a nice little napkin over it and carried it over like a buttler to V aunty's home. This one went to V aunty and P aunty got one shapped like a loaf as there are more people in her home.

After delivering the cake at V aunty's and picking her up we drove to P aunty's. After the intial akward talks and seriousness we were enjoying ourselves. While I had baked the cakes Dad had made our famous Rolled and sliced Kothimbir Vadi. He had steamed the rolls which we carried over and shallow fried at P aunty's  to serve hot of the tava.

I felt happy both women felt a little lighter sharing their experiences with each other. My heart was smiling inside to see the tensions diffused for just a while.

Request to all Ladies: 

Get the Mamogram done the moment you find an unusual lump in the breast, even if it is not painful or if you find any of these symptons. Irrespective of your age. Early diagnosis will give better control over Breast Cancer. It has more chances of cure than internal cancers. Be prepared if you have to fight it than being ignorant about it because it is very common.

Request to the Men:

Remind the ladies in your life, wife, mother, sister, sister-in-law to check periodically. Educate them if they are not aware. You are the Men of today, show you are sensitive to the ladies in your life.