Melting Moments

Christmas Ladoos



This recipe takes me down memory lane..to long forgotten Deepavalli celebrations in neighbours houses and trays of homemade goodies delivered to our house by well wishers and friends. My mother always made sooji ladoos for Christmas and our neighbour Kala’s mum would send these gorgeous melting moments. You can never have enough of them. Cheers Kala wherever you are and in memory of bygone days and childhood friends!

The Recipe

Roasted Gram Dal 1/2 kg
Sugar-1/4 kg
Hot Ghee-100 ml
Black raisins 2 tbsp; 1/4 tsp cardamom powder; red food colouring powder- a pinch.

Blend the dhal & sugar together until fine. Transfer to mixing bowl. Add the cardamom and cashew kernels and mix well. Pour in the hot ghee very slowly and mix to form a loose dough (when you press it in your palm should come together and at the same time break easily). Form into ladoos and arrange on a plate. And continuing with my theme of A Red Christmas sprinkle with red food colouring for that subtle difference. Store in an airtight container. Strictly no sampling.

Steamed Ginger Pineapple Rice

Of Bits & Pieces

Steamed ginger pineapple rice, a perfect use for leftover rice, makes a delicious side dish for shrimp, pork, or chicken. The aroma makes your mouth water and it's amazing how such a simple dish is packed with loads of flavour. Best of all with Christmas in the air, you can throw in any of the remnants from numerous dinners and leftover meals to make a delectable, satisfying dish. Serve plain or with grilled chicken and a curd salad.

The Recipe

2 cups left over rice; 1 large onion sliced fine; 2 inch piece of ginger, minced; 1/2 inch galangal ( Malaysian aromatic ginger), minced; a few spring onions, cut very fine; 1 cup pineapple cubes, completely drained; salt to taste; 2 tbsp olive oil.

Saute onions and gingers till nice smell arises. Add the rice and stir fry gently till dry. Gently stir in the pineapple cubes and mix well, keeping a few for garnishing. Add the spring onions and salt. Give it a quick toss and serve piping hot. Can easily make from scratch for a large party in which case, cook the rice overnight and dry on a flat tray in the refrigerator. Next day follow the above instructions and voila, you have a piece de resistance for your guests!

Seasonal Prelude

A Red Christmas
Christmas is coming and excitement is in the air. The earth is blessed and all because of a baby boy born in Bethlehem many years ago. While we begin to shop for gifts, sing carols and plan our Christmas menu, let us remember the true meaning of Christmas and relect on that glorious message "Peace on Earth and Goodwill To All Men!"

My theme this year is "the colour red", so am making only red eats. Today am including two recipes. The Red Velvet Recipe is Serita's and I have changed it into Red Velvet Fruit Cake and also included a recipe for Designer Coffee Brownies made by Ranita who is fast mastering the art of baking. Her brownies are delicious and there's always someone waiting to devour them or pack them up and take them home. The same goes for the Red Velvet Cake. It looks beautiful and you can't help admiring it before you pop it into your mouth!

Red Velvet Fruit Cake

The Recipe : 200 gms each of flour, caster sugar, green tuitti fruitti, black currants, black raisins, green cherries, white preserved pumpkin and broken nuts, 4 eggs, 250 gms salted butter, 1 tsp. mixed spice powder, ½ tsp. baking powder, 2 tbsp light cocoa powder, 1tsp vanilla, 4 tbsp brandy/rum (optional), 25 ml red food colouring . NB; I prefer salted butter as the taste is more balanced, not too sweet, just right.

Chop fruits and soak in brandy or rum overnight. I always have presoaked fruits ready at hand. Sieve flour, cocoa, spice powder and baking powder into large bowl. Add rest of the ingredients and stir till smooth and glossy. Batter must be a beautiful, rich, dark red. Bake at 150 C for 40 or 45 minutes or untill skewer inserted in centre comes out clean .

Admire their colour and enjoy eating them.

Ranita's Designer Brownies

The Recipe:

250 gms salted butter; 250 gms dark chocolate, chopped; 3 tbsp nescafe (instant coffee) dissolved in 1/8 cup of hot water; 1 cup brown sugar; 4 eggs lightly beaten; 2 tsp vanilla essence; 1 cup self raising flour; 2/3 cup chopped nuts.

Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease and line a 12" by 6 inch rectangular baking tray.

Melt butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, stirring until smooth. Add coffee and sugar and stir until sugar has almost dissolved. Remove from heat and keep aside. Beat in the eggs, vanilla and a pinch of salt. Fold in the flour and nuts. Bake for 25 minutes or until skewer inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in tin and cut into tiny squares. Sprinkle a some instant coffee over the squares and serve as a dessert. Since these brownies are so rich, we skip the topping. Those who have a very sweet tooth can drizzle coffee butter icing or melted chocolate over the cubes. Watch out how many you eat!

Palate Pleaser

Masala Eggs

This is really a palate pleaser . You keep popping them into your mouth and can easily finish a whole platter. That's what I noticed whenever I served them at dinner parties or as a snack to hungry kids. You can never have enough of them. Best of all, this is one easy recipe that suits any occasion. Bring them on!

The Recipe:

6 eggs; 1 tsp curry powder; 1 tsp oil; salt to taste; corriander leaves for decoration.

Boil eggs for 10 minutes. Place in cold water for another ten minutes until cooled. Boil and shell them. Heat oil in a pan and add the salt and curry powder. Turn off the heat immediately and pour over the eggs. Serve at once.

Malaysian Dosai

Roti Jala

This has to be one of the most fascinating things I have learnt in Malaysia. The first time I saw it being made, I was intrigued and decided to try it out at home. Roti Jala means "bread net" and the finished product beautiful and delicate; it is hard to eat such a creative endeavour. Like a dosai, it is yellow, very thin and barely a mouthful, made using a mould ( metal or plastic) that could be bought at the store or made at home using an empty tin or unused plastic cup(just ask your husband to bore holes in the base for the batter to flow through). Children love it and so do adults. Definitely a favourite in our household.

The Recipe

1 cup maida; 1 cup coconut milk; 1/2 cup water; 1 egg; salt to taste; 1/4 tsp haldi; 1 tsp rice flour (this is my secret ingredient for crispiness).

Beat all ingredients together with a wire whisk until a thin, smooth batter is formed. Grease and heat the dosai tawa. Pour a spoonful of the batter into the mould and quickly move the cup over the tawa allowing the batter to drip and form a lovely net pattern. When set (one or two minutes), transfer to plate and gently fold into triangles or rolls. Serve hot with fish or chicken curry. I prefer the chicken.

A Delectable Date

Date And Almond Cake

When the phone suddenly rang late one night, my heart started hammering. Who could it be? I passed the phone to Nehru and it turned out to be his friend who would be visiting Malaysia with his family. I heaved a sigh of relief and forgot all about it. When they arrived, they gave us some delectable date honey. Was wondering what to do with it when I came across an old, old recipe that I had not made for some time. Made a few changes and the cake turned out, moist, aromatic and absolutely delectable. Let the recipe speak for itself.

The Recipe

1/2 cup milk; 1 cup date honey; 1 cup maida/flour; 1/2 cup salted butter; 1 tsp baking soda; few almond flakes to scatter on top; 1tbsp.almond nibs for mixing in cake.

Beat the milk and date honey together. Add butter and mix. to a smooth consistency. Sieve flour and baking powder.Gently fold in the flour, 1 tbsp at a time. Stir in the almond nibs. Scatter almond flakes on top.Preheat the oven to 350F. Bake the cake in a greased and lined 8 '' square pan for 35-40min (or till a knife inserted in the cake comes out clean). Serve for tea or as a mid morning snack. A Delectable Date indeed!

One For The Gals

Ranita's Choice


Ranita and I had a delicious time last month when Nehru went to Bangalore for a wedding. A lazy and relaxing week. Since we both love bread, we had it for every meal and threw in some simple recipes to accompany it. Got an early Deepavalli gift from dear Vicki in the form of luscious seafood and decided to indulge our laziness (translated to mean a super quick recipe). I can't believe we polished off the whole lot.

The Recipe
28 giant prawns, shelled, deveined, washed and ready for cooking; 1 green capsicum, cubed for garnish; 1/8 cup chicken stock; 1 tbsp light soya sauce; 1/4 tsp white pepper; 1 tbsp oil.

Marinade the prawns for 15 minutes in the stock, soya sauce, pepper and oil. Heat a non stick frying pan until smoking and throw in the prawns, marinade and all. Cook on high heat for 2 minutes only and add in the capsicum. Stir fry for a minute until the capsicum is glazed and crunchy and the prawns turn pink. Serve immediately with toasted bread and butter. Relax and watch a movie. Burp!