The Making of Gujia, Handcrafted to Imperfection

I essentially followed Soma’s Gujia recipe and some of her measurements for this one. I also added khoya which Soma had chosen not to add in her recipe. Meanwhile, I grabbed hold of one of my childhood friends from New Jersey on an instant messenger window and sought more handholding on “moulding” these sweet empanada-like Indian fried pastries. I knew from her Facebook update she had made Gujias for Teej a few weeks ago.

I had made the khoya last night, which made life easy. It was a Sunday, which meant P was around to break a coconut for me. A quick call to my Mum in India on how to handle khoya, and I had more confidence bubbling inside of me. I believed I was set to make Gujias for the first time. After all, I had three very experienced people backing me up. And the fourth, a curious but a rather inexperienced one when it came to Indian sweets was peeping down my shoulders. I could never let all these people down. Now could I?

Ingredients for Gujias are:

For the pastry dough:
One and half cup all purpose flour
3-4 heaped tablespoons of ghee
1-2 teaspoons of powdered sugar
Pinch of baking soda

For the filling:
1 cup khoya
1 cup grated fresh coconut
4 tablespoons powdered sugar
Handful of chopped cashew
Handful of skinless, slivered almonds
Few raisins
Half teaspoon cardamom powder
Pinch of dry ginger powder (Soma particularly insists on this)
1 tablespoon ghee

For deep frying:
Ghee

In a bowl, mix flour, baking soda and ghee with your hands. When they become crumbly, add water and knead a smooth dough. Keep covered with a damp piece of cloth.

Heat one tablespoon ghee in a pan, add the nuts and almonds, sauté for a few seconds and add the khoya.
Mix everything well before adding the grated coconut. Cook for a couple of minutes, add the cardamom and dry ginger. At last add the powdered sugar, give it a quick stir and turn off heat. Let the mixture cool down before you use it to fill in the pastries.

Heat ghee in a wok for deep frying the Gujias.

Roll little puris / little discs with the portions of the dough. Place a tablespoon of the filling at the center of the disc, fold making it a half-moon. Use water on your fingertips to seal the pastry. Pinch an ear of the pastry right at the top and crimp your way to the bottom, or use the tines of a fork make little patterns on the edges.

Gently release the Gujias into the hot ghee and fry on both sides till they look scrumptiously golden brown. Place them on baking racks to cool completely.

My Gujias looked they were hand-crated by a first timer. But I am sure you will do a much better job.

These quantities made about 14 Gujias. Oh wait, there were 16 actually, adding up the two P and I ate, piping hot, straight out of the fryer.

Keep the Gujias in an airtight box, till you have just one left, and four people to share it with.

Baking Equinox With Fudgy Walnut Chocolate Cake

The highlight of this week has been the Maple Crème Brûlée. I watched P finish off the last of the ramekins yesterday night after he was struck by hunger again because of an early supper. Gluttony never looked so pleasant, especially when you are witness to your calorie-conscious husband licking off a dessert you so cautiously treaded to make.

I’ll admit, I do feel invigorated from that success. But I think I will take some time to have a Crème Brûlée encore. I have learnt from Lalit Modi’s present plight never to abuse success! There is nothing more damaging for a novice like me than a baker’s hara kiri.
I’d say, somewhere there is a lofty feel-good factor for me to see eggs and sugar and syrup and flour turn into luscious desserts. It was on a whim today that I started off with this Cake, the recipe for which I found scribbled behind a phone bill. Yes, in my own handwriting. 

Ingredients for the Fudgy Walnut Chocolate Cake are:

1/4 cup oil
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tablespoon vanilla essence
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
A pinch of salt
3/4 cup flour
2 eggs

Pour oil (you can even use olive oil) into a mixing bowl and add sugar, stirring frequently until sugar is fully dissolved. Add cocoa powder, baking powder, vanilla, and the pinch of salt. Mix well with a spatula.
Beat in the two eggs, then mix in flour by hand.
Fold in the chopped walnuts to the batter and spoon into a greased  loaf pan. I used a one pound pan.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake until a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean. It took my cake about 50 minutes.

Cool in pan for five minutes, then invert and unmold onto a rack. Serve warm with tea or coffee. 
Gooey, chewy and very, very divine, I finished a slice while the kettle took its time to boil water for my tea!

Achy Breaky Heart And Samosas Over Chai

We live and we die. And in between that living and dying, we also LOVE. I had my first share of a painful heartbreak as a six-year-old. I “fell in love” with my father’s friend – a pediatrician who I visited since I was a baby. He chose a gorgeous doctor from London over me and moved on. Now, how could I compete with that? All I could do then was sob silently. When done crying, I would urge my Mother to play You Are My Sunshine on her record player. Over and over again, till Doris Day lulled me to sleep.

I lived to love and get my heart crushed…again! I found shoulders in friends to cry on till I finally met the man to hold hands forever, that same someone who diligently “edits” my blog posts and samples my cooking. Everyday.

A heartbreak story unfolded today too. Not mine, but a friend’s, who has been battling the break-up blues on her own. She finally managed to take some time off her work and meet me. I suggested my place for privacy sake only, and not go to any coffee shop, in case she decided to be all teary-eyed and sniffy-nosed.

I wanted to make her something soothing, like a soup. But a quick check at the daytime high and I decided against it. Purely from experience I knew, that breakups are also a time for a little indulgence. One look at the potatoes and the leftover cauliflower made me make up my mind on Bengali Samosas for J.

J arrived a little before time, trying to hide behind large Jackie O sunglasses. I had never met The Boyfriend, sorry, ex boyfriend, who apparently was a jerk to have dumped J for another. Yes, its the same story of that Bermuda Triangle (of Love)!

While playing a good host, a therapist, a healer, and friend, I was also left to cautiously deep fry the samosas I had already done the stuffing for and kept aside.

After five scrumptious samosas or shingara as we say in Bengali and a cup of chai (with extra sugar to mend the broken heart), J seemed more bearable of her own heartache. I knew food medication worked, but to see the results so soon in front of my eyes was another thing.

Licking the left corner of her mouth of any last trace of the tamarind chutney she was so happily dipping her samosas in, J took her Blackberry out. I thought she was going to make that one last call to the The Ex and tell him how happy she was enjoying the afternoon sun and miniature samosas. But I was wrong!

She looked at me with a better-than-ever look in her eyes and said, “Pree, give me the recipe for these samosas, I will save it on my phone.” Who was I to deny my girl friend a road to recovery en route the culinary course.

Move over Doris Day, Samosas are here to stay!

Ingredients for Bengali Samosa / Shingara are:

For the filling:
4-5 potatoes, boiled and skin removed
One cup cauliflower flowerets
Quarter cup green peas
1 inch ginger grated or minced
Few green chilies chopped fine
Handful of coriander leaves, chopped
Few cashew nuts, chopped
Handful of raisins, chopped
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2-3 teaspoons bhaja moshla (dry roasted cumin-coriander seeds coarsely ground)
Pinch of turmeric powder
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Salt

For the pastry:
One and half cup all purpose flour
Half teaspoon nigella seeds
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Pinch of baking powder
Pinch of salt
Enough oil for deep frying

Blanch the cauliflower and peas and drain all water. Cut or break the boiled potatoes in uneven shapes and sizes. In a wok or pan, heat one tablespoon vegetable oil and add the cumin seeds. Sauté for a few seconds and add the cashews, raisins and green chilies. Fry till the nuts and raisins turn golden brown.
Now add the boiled potatoes. Keep frying till everything mixes well. Add the blanched cauliflower and peas along with the grated ginger. At this time, add all the spices like the dry roasted ground cumin-coriander mix, turmeric and salt. Fry all the ingredients till traces of moisture go.
Now add the chopped coriander and give it a nice mix. Be gentle with the mixing as all the vegetables are already cooked. Let the filling for the samosa come to a room temperature.
Knead flour, nigella seeds, one tablespoon oil, baking powder and salt with some water. Make a dough and keep aside for 30 minutes, covered.
Divide the dough into small, ping-pong ball-size portions.
Dust flour on your kitchen counter and start rolling small discs of dough (puris) and cut from into halves.
Now fill the potato-cauliflower filling into triangle-shaped pastries and smear the ends with water on your fingertips. Seal the ends pressing gently with your fingertips. Make samosas and keep on a baking dish/ non stick surface.
Heat enough oil for deep frying in a wok. Start adding 2-3 samosas at a time and fry them till golden brown. Drain out excess oil on paper towels. Serve piping hot with chutney or tomato ketchup.

Sensational Cricket & Some Home Baked Cake

So, I was craving some homemade cake. And what better way to enjoy it than for a double celebration- B&P’s second wedding anniversary and Superman Sachin’s first double century in ODI cricket.
I had to celebrate it with the perfect ingredients for happiness: flour, eggs, vanilla, and sugar. The result: phenomenal! This cake tastes of vanilla and is studded with walnuts and raisins.

Here are the ingredients and the recipe:

1 cup flour
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups castor sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 extra large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
50 gms coarsely chopped walnuts
50 gms raisins

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan. In a bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs till they are fluffy. Add the flour and mix well. Alternate mixing dry and wet ingredients. Next to add is the vegetable oil followed by sugar. You can also use a regular blender or cake mixer. Add the vanilla extract. Mix well. Scrape the cake batter into the prepared pan. Dust the walnuts and raisins with some dry flour. Top them on the cake batter. Bake for approximately one hour.

To check if its done, insert a knife or a toothpick in the cake. If the center comes out clean you know its done.
There is nothing better that the aroma of fresh baked cake filling up your kitchen and house…and your tummy!
 On that note, I hear a little voice inside me saying- Give me another slice! I guess that voice is only going to get louder and louder from here…