Carrot cake with raspberry cream cheese frosting

My maiden entry for Rosie and Maria's Sweet and Simple Bake blog was a delight to make not to mention it was literally sweet and simple. I used store bought raspberry cream cheese frosting instead of the one M & S had on their blog. Mainly because my 3 year old eats with his eyes and as I thought he did like the purple frosting. Not to mention the M&Ms I put on top. Tushar and Jr. finished off a slice each in no time and were ready for more!
If you want the recipe for traditional cream cheese frosting, visit Maria and Rosie's blog.


Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups self rising flour
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 cups shredded carrots
2 eggs
5 oz vegetable oil (I used corn oil)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp of cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
4 oz raisins
4 oz chopped pecans

Method:

Beat the eggs and combine the oil, sugar, carrots, raisins and pecans. Sift all the dry ingredients and mix with the wet ingredients.
Preheat the oven to 300 degree. Oil and line with parchment paper a 9 by 5 loaf tin. Pour the batter into it and smooth the top.
Bake for 40 – 50 minutes till a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Frost with store bought raspberry cream cheese and your choice of sprinkles or in my case with M&Ms.

I am getting ready to go for a vacation with a dear friend in Atlanta. I will be back in a week. Till then stay cool and have fun.

The space between us and mint chai

I was on hold for a while for Thrity Umrigar's The Space Between Us and got the book yesterday. Since I was already past the deadline to submit this review I stayed up late to finish off the book. Well, the delayed deadline was not the only thing that kept me up. The book grips you with the trials and tribulations of two women from different strata of society.
Sera Dubash, a Parsi upper middle class housewife, is haunted by the demons of her tumultuous marriage with a physically and mentally abusive husband and an equally "monster" of a mother-in-law. The aging Bhima, has worked for the Dubash's for a long time and is not only trusted with cooking and cleaning the house but is also a confidant of Sera.

The two women live in worlds as apart from each other as a silk sari and a torn, faded cotton one. But they share an inexplicable bond over cups of mint tea which Sera likes light and milky and Bhima prefers strong and sugary.
Thrity weaves a beautiful tale of the two women who have been betrayed by the men in their lives and their only hope and reason for living is their progeny. For Sera it is the promise of a grandson her daughter, Dinaz, is carrying inside her. Bhima's light at the end of the tunnel is her intelligent college going grand daughter, Maya, who, hopefully, will escape the squalor of the slums.

The story comes to a head when 17 year old Maya gets pregnant with the handsome but callous Feroz, Dinaz's husband. Bhima's and Sera's loyalties towards each other and their families are tested when the secret comes out in the open.

Thrity shines a bright light on the arrogance of the rich, the tenacity of the poor, the sense of entitlement that comes with money and the desperation of having no money.

Is it any wonder the book kept me up till I finished reading it? A couple of cups of mint tea helped along the way. Now, if only I had the batata vada with chutney on the side to go with them. Hmmm...

I had never made mint tea before but gave it a try and here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cups water

1/4 cup milk

4 tsp sugar (or to taste)

2 tsp tea leaves (i used a mix of Vagh Bakri and Brook Bond Red Label)

4-5 mint leaves

Method:

Combine all the ingredients except the mint leaves. Boil till the sugar dissolves and the bubbling liquid turns a reddish brown color.

Add the mint leaves and boil for another minute. Turn off the heat and strain into tea cups.

Sip the minty goodness.

PS: I would like to nitpick just one tiny point. For a talented writer like Thrity I did not expect to read the word 'unconscious thought' when she meant 'subconscious thought'. There is a huge difference between the two words. The former means comatose or passed out while the latter means intuitive. And she used the phrase not once but twice.

Christmas in July

And my 50th post!

I received my first Christmas present at the age of 28, eight years ago. My dear friend Erin and I had met earlier that year at a memoir writing course at the local community college. We had kept in touch after the completion of the course and by the time Christmas arrived that year we were good friends. She had been to dinner at our apartment a couple of times and had noticed we didn’t have any cloth napkins or napkin rings.
I, of course, knew about them but did not realize their importance in American table etiquette. I was used to the ‘eating with your hands and washing them under the tap’ kind of etiquette. But that cold, December morning when I opened Erin’s carefully wrapped box, I was delighted to find four pretty Moroccan napkin rings and four maroon cotton napkins to put them in.


I don’t get a lot of occasion to use them (maybe three or four times a year) but I cherish them with all my heart. They are not only pretty but the thoughtfulness behind them is so characteristic of Erin. She has since then always given the most thoughtful presents not only to me but to my son with whom she has a special bond. I only hope the presents I give her every year for her birthday are as thoughtful.

Erin’s birthday, incidentally, comes in July and this time round I think I found the perfect present for her. While waiting for a friend in nearby downtown Main Street, I came across a cute little shop whose owner made custom necklaces and pendants. I came across a silver leaf pendant that said “I belong to Erin.” The shop owner strung a wire on the pendant and put it in a pretty little silver box.
My 50th post along with the pendant goes to Erin. Wishing you a happy birthday Erin and hoping the rest of the year turns out as great as the first half.

Potting around the garage - II

In my earlier post I mentioned one of my goals was to go back to potting or throwing pots . I miscalculated my potter's guild meeting and reached there a week early. I can't wait for this Wednesday to go and meet all the wonderful artists that comprise the guild.
Meanwhile, I cleaned out the tandem garage space we had decided for my studio. There were lots of cobwebs on the walls and some twenty dead bugs on the window sill. I cleaned all that up and took stock of my clay supply.
I had two 25lb bags of clay in a hard cheese state. Early on, when I started taking pottery lessons, the whole class was taught the basics of how to reclaim clay. Bone dry clay is easier to reclaim. You just have to immerse it in water and let it turn to mush. After a few days, dry out the excess water from the mush by slapping it on plaster boards.


Cheese hard clay, which I had, is a little bit trickier to reclaim. You have to cut the block in lots of layers, poke holes in them, layer them on top of each other while spraying water on each layer. The layers thus reassembled have to be wrapped up in plastic and left to marinate and soften for at least a week or two. Which is exactly what I did with mine.
Next week I go to Atlanta to spend some time with one of my best friends, S. When I come back the clay will be waiting for me and I for the clay.

Whole Wheat Herb Triangles

I reached the TPSG meeting place and found plenty of parking. I had reached a week early. The meetings are held on last Wednesday of the month and not on third as I had thought. I felt a bit stupid but hey, that is not the most stupid thing I have done in my life.
On my way back, I decided to tackle Madhuram’s Whole Wheat Eggless Baking challenge on reaching home. The recipe for these whole wheat Herb triangles is from The Low Fat Cook’s Companion, a Hermes House publication.

The measurement of the ingredients is simple enough to be halved, which is what I did.

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
½ cup flour
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp cream of tartar
½ tsp chili powder (I used 1 tsp)
1/8 cup of soft low fat margarine (I used butter)
2 tbsp chopped fresh herbs (I used mint, rosemary, and cilantro)
½ cup skim or 1 % milk
½ tbsp of sesame seeds

Method:

Put the whole wheat flour in a mixing bowl and sift the remaining dry ingredients.
Rub in the soft butter and add the herbs and milk. Mix quickly to a soft dough and transfer to a lightly floured surface.
Knead briefly or the dough will become tough.
Roll out to a 6-in round and place on a lightly greased baking sheet.
Brush lightly with water and sprinkle evenly with the sesame seeds.
Carefully cut the dough round into 8 wedges, separate and bake in a 425 degrees preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.
Transfer to a wire rack to cook. Eat fresh out of the oven with butter or cold with some soup.

Potting around the garage

Four months ago when I started this blog, it was not only with the intention of writing down moments of my life as a mother, a cook and a homemaker but also to chart my progress as a potter (it says so in my blog description).
I started throwing pots (that is ceramic jargon for making pots not breaking them) about eight years ago. It started as a hobby class in the local community college but I loved the process of creating pots and bottles and vases out of clay so much I never stopped throwing till three years ago. My adorable son was born and between raising him, two long trips to India and my soccer mom schedule, I never really got around to sit on the wheel.

Last year Tushar bought me a potter’s wheel and we set it up in the garage. A neighbor helped us put up shelves and tidy up the place, but it was either too hot or too cold to work in the garage. Somehow a year has passed and I am writing this post with the intention that by next month I will start throwing again (Fingers crossed).

Today, I dragged out from the garage two boxes filled with my earlier pots and decided to photograph them, as an inspiration/ reminder that I need to start potting (throwing) again.
Tomorrow, I attend a Texas Potters and Sculptures guild meeting and get to meet fellow potters. They are a creative bunch and some have been potting for years. Hopefully with the encouragement, guidance and support of these like minded people, I’ll start potting within the next month.
Will keep you updated.

Sol Kadhi for the soul

My earliest memory of sole kadhi is of my Kaki (aunt) squeezing the coconut milk out of grated coconut while kokams soaked in warm water in a bowl. She was born and brought up in Bomaby and to this day she makes the best sol kadhi and fish fry in our family. I remember drinking glass after glass of it when we went to her home for dinner.
Years later, as a single girl working in Bombay, India, I found another outlet for seafood and sol kadhi – Gomantak or seafood restaurants. For a couple of years, our Indian Express offices moved to Lower Parel (W) and we had a couple of hole in the wall Gomantaks in its maze of alleys. Since Lower Parel has a lot of mills and advertising agencies, these Gomantaks were frequented by the mill workers and a lot of junior level advertising employees. And once we moved there, my colleagues and I too became regulars at the nearby Gomantaks.
For me, given a choice between a thali and a fried Bangra, I always chose the bangra accompanied by at least two glasses of sole kadhi. It cost me about Rs 25, about 12 years ago and it was a bargain even in those days.

After coming to the US, sole kadhi slowly slipped out of my mind, mainly because it is hard to find fresh Bangra or good quality kokam. Four years ago when my in-laws were visiting from India, my MIL was fascinated with the ready availability of coconut milk, even though it is canned. In fact, she liked the thickness and taste of it better than going through the process of extracting it from grated coconut. We decided to make sole kadhi as a surprise for my FIL, who had grown up drinking it on the coastal town of Honavar but had not had it in years since moving to Gujrat. Here’s the recipe we came up with and it is pretty close to my Kaki’s as well as the Gomantak’s recipe.

Ingredients:

1 can coconut milk
1 can water
5-6 kokum
1 clove of garlic
1 tsp of cumin powder (optional)
1-2 green chillies
Sugar to taste
Salt to taste

Method:

Soak the kokum in ¼ cup of warm water for at least 30 minutes. The water will turn a lovely lavender color. Squeeze the kokum out and retain the water.
In a blender, combine the kokum pulp with the rest of the ingredients and blend. The kadhi will assume a pink hue* especially if the kokum is fresh.
Serve chilled.

*The only kokums I am able to get in the US are dry and so I never get the lovely pink color in my kadhi.

I am sending this sol kadhi for the soul to PJ's Go Nuts event and also to RCI -- Udipi and Manglor event.