Indian desserts

[Episure]

If you all are referring to Toshe/Tosha, it is made from wheat kneaded with ghee, sugar and cardamom. This is fried to form small cylinders say thumb size.Sometimes this is crumbled fine and is called 'kootti'.

The same is also made in round form and called by different names all over the country.

Another version is without sugar and instead they are dipped into sugar syrup to form a sweet opaque coating.

Edited April 21, 2004 by Episure (log)

[Rushina]

What about Laddoos??

Beasn, Atta, Bajra, they all contain ghee though...

Besan or Maghas laddoo are my fall back when my son does not eat. a couple of laddoos and a glass of milk and I am reassured that he has a full tummy.

My husbands nani makes these amazing atta laddoos with raising and slivers of Almond... MMM

Rushina

[Vikram]

One that has been missed out is the ubiquitous Kaju Katri which is made from Cashewnut paste, sugar and flavouring agents. I find it highly overrated  and can't imagine how it's become so popular, give me roasted Cashewnuts any day.

Kaju Katlis, which are simply cashew marzipan, are made so bad so often, and stored till they are dry and tasteless, that I would have agreed with Episure if sometime back I hadn't eaten a fresh one and it was BRILLIANT! It was at a tiny shop really deep inside Bhuleshwar where my sister insisted I buy pedas to send home to Madras. The pedas were OK, but the freshly made kaju katlis - they were rolling out the paste for more when I went in - are amazing.

BTW, Episure, I found some peppered roasted cashewnuts in Crawford Market today. Not bad.

Vikram

[Episure]

BTW, Episure, I found some peppered roasted cashewnuts in Crawford Market today. Not bad.

Vikram

There are black peppered, chat masalafied, red chillied and chocolate coated too.

Ahh... Crawford market.. I miss it and I am sure they miss me too. Many of the shop owners would phone me up for explanations and valuations for any new stuff they would come across.

Some rare gems that I have bought from there at a steal over the last two decades simply because I knew what it was:

Truffle oils

Wasabi

Nori sheets

Norwegian smoked salmon

Godiva chocolates

Aero chocolates

Serrano Ham

They dont sell these cheaply any more, I have taught them too well.

[Rushina]

Episure Please share the contact details of said supplier. I want a couple of those.

Rushina

[Episure]

Rushina, there is no fixed shop, you have to do weekly chukkers. Most of this rare stuff comes from ships that are docked in the port and the enterprising Kutchis have some barter system with the quartermasters.

Go to Rustom's at Colaba, decide what you want and then go to Crawford market with the formers benchmark prices.

At one time I was the only buyer for such exotic ingredients, today there are many. I had once cornered some 400 cans of Schweppes tonic at Rs 5 each, cant see that happening now.

In Bangalore I am 'exploiting' the local markets for Fresh Reef Cod and Red snapper at only Rs. 50 a kilo, while the rest of the populace is stuck on Pomfrets, Seer and Surmai at 3 times the price.

[Peppertrail]

Anil Kishore Sinha's "Anthropology of Sweetmeats" tries to do a classification of Indian sweets, in fact it does multiple classifications based on different criteria and at the end of it, it all seems almost as confused as when it started. But here briefly are the parameters he looks at:

Vikram

Vikaram:

Thanks for writing about Anthropology of Sweetmeats. Your reference and summary was so Intriguing, I ordered the book from Amazon. I find food history fascinating. I have K.T.Achaya's books. I would appreciate any other suggestions on Indian food history books.

Ammini Ramachandran

[Vikram]

Ahh... Crawford market.. I miss it and I am sure they miss me too. Many of the shop owners would phone me up for explanations and valuations for any new stuff they would come across.

Crawford Market is the best, especially for international foodstuffs, but I've also been discovering the delights of the Dadar and Santacruz/Parle (E) markets. Dadar has lots of small shops with really interesting masalas, pickles, preserves, papads and sweets - all the lesser known Maharashtrian and Konkani ones. Its a bit of a problem, since the most interesting shops are Marathi speaking only and I don't, so I'm never quite sure what I'm buying. Recent purchases have including excellent Kolhapuri and Goda masala, fresh Alphonso jam, pineapple murabba, ragi papads and a couple of other things I am still not quite sure about. Santacruz and Parle markets are similarly interesting for Gujarati foods. I thought the Bandra-Khar markets would have interesting Goan and East Indian stuff, but I'm actually finding more interesting Sindhi foods. Most of the Goan and East Indian stuff still seems to be done through homes and word of mouth sales.

Vikram

[Vikram]

Murrabas- I have a book from my great grandmother that has age old recipes of these. maye I wil try a few and then post them

Monica have you tried making these murabbas? And how would you classify them? They're normally spoken of as Indian versions of jams, which technically I guess they are, since they use sugar to preserve fruits.

But they are also spiced, so they approach pickle territory and in some cases at least they seem to be of more medicinal use than as a confectionary. Achaya corroborates that by describing them as springing from the Unani system of medicine and that the term itself is Arab for 'preserved and domesticated'.

I admit I have a particular reason for being interested in this, since I'm researching an article on people making quality jams in India (the two I'm looking at in particular are an English lady settled in Himachal who makes excellent apple juice based jellies and other jams, and a Swedish woman in Auroville who makes awesome jams, in particular a tamarind jam that it totally something else).

All these jams have Western connotations, so I'm not sure where the morabba tradition fits into this. How do most people eat morabbas - as a pickle, a sweet or a medicine? Is Achaya's etymology of the name correct and, if so, are there still equivalents in Arab cooking? Or, since Unani derives from Ionian and means Greek influenced, are there equivalents in Greece and the countries of the Levant?

In my mind this medical connection comes from amla (Indian gooseberry) morabba which is quite widely made for its reputed tonic benefits. It would have to be tonic, since I can't imagine people eating this voluntarily - amla is, to me, a totally vile substance. I recently had to eat fresh ones as part of a diet and I just had to stop since I'd throw it up at once. This is perhaps a childhood flashback since our family doctor would routinely recommend a tonic of his own connoction that, I recognise now, was heavily amla based, and getting me to take it, and to keep it down, was always a major exercise.

This is probably why I didn't have much to do with morabbas in general - amla being the most easily available one at least here in Bombay. (Its also more of a north Indian thing in general, I guess). Its only recently I've started to discover their virtues, like the pineapple murabba I bought in Dadar market. It seems to include pepper, which had an odd, but quite good effect. And just when I was wondering how unique this is, I pick up a copy of The Essential Mosimann and find a recipe for peppered pineapple icecream.

Anyway, that apart, any insights into morabbas would be appreciated,

Vikram

[mongo_jones]

Ahh... Crawford market.. I miss it and I am sure they miss me too. Many of the shop owners would phone me up for explanations and valuations for any new stuff they would come across.

Crawford Market is the best, especially for international foodstuffs, but I've also been discovering the delights of the Dadar and Santacruz/Parle (E) markets. Dadar has lots of small shops with really interesting masalas, pickles, preserves, papads and sweets - all the lesser known Maharashtrian and Konkani ones. Its a bit of a problem, since the most interesting shops are Marathi speaking only and I don't, so I'm never quite sure what I'm buying. Recent purchases have including excellent Kolhapuri and Goda masala, fresh Alphonso jam, pineapple murabba, ragi papads and a couple of other things I am still not quite sure about. Santacruz and Parle markets are similarly interesting for Gujarati foods. I thought the Bandra-Khar markets would have interesting Goan and East Indian stuff, but I'm actually finding more interesting Sindhi foods. Most of the Goan and East Indian stuff still seems to be done through homes and word of mouth sales.

Vikram

can we also hear it for the i.n.a market in delhi? is it still a place where anything can be procured as long as you describe it to the shopkeepers?

[rajsuman]

The best known of these are probably achappams or rose cookies, which are lovely to look at and not hard to make, but you do need a special mould which is used to dip into the batter and put it in the hot oil. I googled for a pic of the mould, but can't find one - its like a flower shaped design made from metal which is attached to a long handle. You dip it in the batter, put it in the oil and the achappam crisps up and floats loose.

I love achappams! I bought the mould a couple of years back - haven't had much success with making the cookies though. I tried a couple of times, then gave up. Must try Das Sreedharan's recipe this time. Has anyone tried it? Is it good?

Sorry the handle is missing, but you get the idea...

Suman

Edited April 24, 2004 by rajsuman (log)

[mongo_jones]

is it me or does that look like a mutant phallus?

[Episure]

I thought the Bandra-Khar markets would have interesting Goan and East Indian stuff, but I'm actually finding more interesting Sindhi foods.

Check out Ochi Pasari near Khar station, one of the only two old world Sindhi Grocers in Bombay. He sells Vadis, Dhingri, Gucchi, Lotus stems, Lotus Buds( look like Shower heads), dehydrated young drumsticks, drumstick flowers......

[jw46]

Suman,

That mold for the rose cookies looks very much like a Rosette Iron

It is used in a similar fashion, dipped into batter then fried in oil

These irons come in many shapes, the daisy pattern toward the bottom of

http://www.ccwsupply.com/cookie/rosette.asp

looks pretty much like your mold.

Edited April 25, 2004 by jw46 (log)

[rajsuman]

Suman,

That mold for the rose cookies looks very much like a Rosette Iron

It is used in a similar fashion, dipped into batter then fried in oil

These irons come in many shapes, the daisy pattern toward the bottom of

http://www.ccwsupply.com/cookie/rosette.asp

looks pretty much like your mold.

That's very interesting jw46. What's the batter made of? I wonder if the two have the same origin?

Suman

[jw46]

That's very interesting jw46. What's the batter made of? I wonder if the two have the same origin?

I believe that rosettes are of scandinavian origin...

Rosettes

Batter:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup milk

1 large egg

Optional: 1 teaspoon or to taste sugar, salt or vanilla extract or all three

For frying:

Oil for deep frying

Confectioners' sugar

Combine all ingredients for batter; mix until well combined.

Heat oil to 360 degrees. Sit iron in oil for 10 seconds. Dip hot iron into batter, being careful not to allow batter to go over the top of the iron. Dip battered iron into hot oil. Lift iron; pastry will drop into oil. Lightly brown; turn over; place on brown paper bag. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

[jw46]

is it me or does that look like a mutant phallus?

As Sigmund Frued once said..."Sometimes, a Cigar is just a Cigar"

[Episure]

A long awaited Ladoo from Tirupati, arrived yesterday, sigh!

[rajsuman]

That's very interesting jw46. What's the batter made of? I wonder if the two have the same origin?

I believe that rosettes are of scandinavian origin...

Rosettes

Batter:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup milk

1 large egg

Optional: 1 teaspoon or to taste sugar, salt or vanilla extract or all three

For frying:

Oil for deep frying

Confectioners' sugar

Combine all ingredients for batter; mix until well combined.

Heat oil to 360 degrees. Sit iron in oil for 10 seconds. Dip hot iron into batter, being careful not to allow batter to go over the top of the iron. Dip battered iron into hot oil. Lift iron; pastry will drop into oil. Lightly brown; turn over; place on brown paper bag. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

Thanks jw46! The batter you mention is very similar to that of achappam. Hmmmm... from Scandinavia to Kerala...that's a long way for a dish to travel! I also love the cardamom-scented Scandinavian breads and cookies. Is there a connection I wonder? I can understand if the Dutch used cardamom in their cooking (colonial connection and all that), but I doubt it. So how did the Scandinavians (and Germans) come to use it?

I'm really curious now,so I'm going to post this question on the Europe forum. The Oxford Companion to Food doesn't have the answer, nor did Google show any satisfactory results.

Suman

[Yasmin]

Sooji Halwa made with ghee (shortening can be substituted) water, cardamom, saffron, and sugar is also a very popular Indian sweet, specially offered as prasad in all the mandirs here.

[Monica Bhide]

Sooji Halwa made with ghee (shortening can be substituted) water, cardamom, saffron, and sugar is also a very popular Indian sweet, specially offered as prasad in all the mandirs here.

Is there a way to use less ghee to make this Yasmin?

[Yasmin]

Sooji Halwa made with ghee (shortening can be substituted) water, cardamom, saffron, and sugar is also a very popular Indian sweet, specially offered as prasad in all the mandirs here.

Is there a way to use less ghee to make this Yasmin?

You can use as little ghee as you like, or as I mentioned before use shortening instead, any "light" brand of margarine or unsalted butter can be substituted also but then we are back to the "what is considered Dairy" controversy

[Episure]

Rose Achapams and Jangiri

[tryska]

question? how is a jangiri different from a jalebi? (other than the shape i mean)

[Guest nimki]

That jangiri looks like what is called an 'imarti' up north. or it could be vice versa.

i used to like imartis once upon a time. though now i can't quite recall why.