Oct 18, 2008

Sweetiepie I love you sooo!

God has blessed me with 32 sweet tooth out of which 1 has already been removed thanks to cavities! But God forgot to bless me with an infinite capacity to burn those extra calories that come as a big thick string attached to all those sweets I gorge upon. I ask Him for the Nth time “why are the best things in life illegal, immoral and fattening?” Maybe He wants to teach me that nothing in life is for free; that for every benefit there is a cost; that I must keep on my toes always like all other animals on this planet!

OK enough of digression! Like I was saying, I have been too fond of sweets ever since I set foot on Earth. I can hog plates and plates of gulab jamuns; to the extent I won an informal gulab-jamun-eating competition while in college ;) I start consuming mysore pak right off the pan even before it is poured on the plate to be cooled and cut into bars. I start drooling even while the cake is getting solidified inside the oven; its smell making me float like Tom of the Disneyland! There is no boundary when it comes to sweet for me. From West Bengal to Gujarat; from Kashmir to Kanyakumari; anything with a dash of sugar or jaggery can woo me easily. Whether Jalebi or Jangiri, Roshogulla or Besan Ladoo, there is hardly a sweet I can say NO to. Why, I even go international! As long as there is no raw-egg-smell, I am fine with it. Cakes, pastries, doughnuts are great mood-lifters! I can eat chocolates even when woken up from sleep.
But now comes the twist in the tale! Though a good eater of sweets, I can hardly make them ;) My first attempt at cake made it too powdery (I guess too much of soda!) The second got itself burnt! There are 2 sweets which over the years have resigned to me unable to bear my constant nagging attempts. Let me share them with all those looking for such quick fixes.

One is called Cooker Payasam. Very very simple, I say.
1) Pour some water in the (pressure) cooker.
2) In another vessel (preferably a little tall one), pour half a litre of milk and add a handful of rice.
3) Put this vessel inside the cooker and let the cooker blow one whistle.
4) Reduce the flame and let the cooker be on low flame without removing the whistle for 20 minutes.
5) Let the cooker cool down. Remove the vessel, add sugar as per your taste and let it boil directly for a minute.
6) Add garnishings in the form of fried cashewnut and cardamom powder.
Your kheer is ready J Cool, isn’t it? No need of constant stirring and your kheer comes out thick and pink!

The second sweet is called 7-cup-cake. Please do not misunderstand this as sponge and baked cake. By cake, generally, we Tamilians mean sweet bars. Anything in the shape of cuboid :) So heres the simple recipe!
1) The 7 cup adds as 3 cup sugar (gulp! Oh its OK, we will go for 1 hour walking everyday for the next 365 days ;) + 1 cup besan (gram flour) + 1 cup ghee + 1 cup milk + 1 cup grated coconut
2) Mix all the above ingredients and put the mixture on the pan.
3) Keep stirring the mixture until the mixture thickens and leaves the side of the pan (this should take appx 1 hour)
4) Pour the mixture on a plate waxed with ghee
5) Allow the mixture to cool, cut it in squares and invert the plate on a piece of paper.
And you are done! For added taste, you can roast the gram flour before adding other ingredients.
So, THIS is going to be the sweet I plan to make this year( AGAIN !!!!) for Diwali. The rest are going to be ordered. Krishna (Sweets) saves all damsels in distress, you see! So, it might be jangiri or maybe badusha or maybe rava laadoo or teratti paalu or sigh, maybe all of them ;) Me and my sweet 31!

13 comments:

Just Like That October 18, 2008 at 7:27 PM  

sweetie pie, I can make a mean semiya payasam, :-D when u coming????

couchpapaya October 19, 2008 at 5:19 AM  

i'm sure u know by now i share ur affliction. loved ur payasam recipe, i hate all that stirring .... somedays i'm glad i'm here, i cant eat too many pastries at a time, while rasgullas/gj's/jalebis can be consumed by the dozen. the point being that there are no places like krishna sweets to tempt me hehehe thank god!!!

Avionic Spanker October 19, 2008 at 9:59 AM  

I like Gulab Jamoon too .. Every time I go home, I make sure there is loads of it available .. Hmm, think I should remind mom again

Fuzzylogic October 20, 2008 at 1:18 PM  

*Images of plates of piping hot gulab jamuns in a tub of sugar syrup singing and seducing Whatsinaname "Aaja aaja,mein hu pyar tera..allah allah,inkaar teraa.* LOL!

Artnavy October 20, 2008 at 2:14 PM  

add some milk maid codensed milk as well for a thicker more sinful feel to the cooker paysam

the seven cup cake sounds good

Prats October 20, 2008 at 5:18 PM  

heheh....its ok na...thats what all these sweets selling stores came out for...let them do their business and let us rest our feet well :D
And yes!! that 7 cup cake is made very regularly in my inlaws home too

WhatsInAName October 20, 2008 at 9:12 PM  

JLT :p muuuuaaaah in advance for that mean semiya payasam! I am coming right over :P

CouchP :) oh what would we radhikas do without our krishna!

Spanky :) Do that. We only live once. Why worry about petty calories and stuff!

Fuzzy :) Tumne bulaya aur hum chale aaye, tongue ko hatheli par le aaye re :P

Artnavy :) Thats a wonderful suggestion. I have done that too. Infact my bhabhi makes lovely choclate cakes just with the help of condensed milk!

Prats :) You betcha. Whoever started the profession of a "halwai" deserves kiss on his hand from me ;)

Smita October 20, 2008 at 10:31 PM  

Aha!!!! one area where we differ like chalk n cheese :D

Me n sweets nah!!! never!!! gimme perk any day ;)

Anonymous,  October 21, 2008 at 9:37 AM  

Oh my god! Talk about being a sweet-tooth! LOL...

WhatsInAName October 21, 2008 at 12:38 PM  

Smit :) Yeah I know I know! So, you can pass to me all your boxes of sweets which you get from your friends, right?

Nikhil :) gee * blush * :D

Mama - Mia October 22, 2008 at 1:44 PM  

just now i was booking a Krishna Sweeys activity for Mumbai!! :D

i didnt know they were famous n all!

me, you know, cant cook anything to save my life!! mom is sending me the faraal like every year!! :D rather we need to go and pick up the parcel today!! :D

diwali starts early! hehe!

cheers!

abha

aMus October 23, 2008 at 6:46 AM  

that was indeed a sweet post...me love it...its been ages since i tried that 7 cup barfi...must try it soon...

Usha November 11, 2008 at 3:46 PM  

outsourcing is the mantra these days - so why worry when Krishna sweets can give you a better mysorepak. So much the better. hope you had a great diwali.

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