Oops it already started melting…..

To begin with, it’s my Better Half’s Birthday today , So Happy Birthday Dear Hubby (Even though you dislike publicly displaying affection and all those mushy sentiments..still….).

Then comes the rantings (Ahh that’s my favorite part of blogging..lol). It is a long Weekend here in India and me and kiddie were really looking forward to celebrate this day, since from past many months we hardly had got some FAMILY TIME to relax and enjoy just being together, chilling out with our kid, having fun roaming around, going on vacation…the desires are innumerable, the wishes, unending.

But its hard for me to understand why the corporate world need to be so ruthless and insensitive . Instead of enjoying this day with his family, parents, friends etc, he is working (though it being a National Holiday..Mahatma Gandhi’s Birthday ). Worse still…. rest of weekend and maybe next weekend too, for whatever reasons  office people give.

I can understand the issues they have at workplace, still I am furious . I just can’t stand all this and wish I could do something about this.But helpless as I am, I am doing what I am capable of….Rant at my blog, take out all the frustrations , breathe in and breathe out and head on towards the recipe of the day…Kesar pista Kulfi (Saffron Pistachio Ice cream)  ! But something more to share before that

I longed to bake a cake, but since I am yet to decide upon Oven Vs Microwave, I hunted for a recipe to make a Cake using pressure cooker. I finally found one recipe, but it called for eggs. Nothing for Veg. option. So without having any other option(I was desperate to make one at home) I opted for Pillsbury Cooker cake mix and made the chocolate cake.It was good, came out well, tasted nice, but I really do not like to use such mixes for cooking anything.I love my food freshly made and not with anything having preservatives. But now that I am through with Baking ?(Huh?) , I guess I should wait till I got some Oven or find some  good recipe for COOKER CAKES  from scratch before baking another one.

Ok, I know you just want me to switch over to the recipe, so without annoying you anymore here is the Kesar Pista Kulfi , pure , fresh and pleasantly sweet.

The recipe is adapted from here and I hardly made any changes, except that I had less pistachios in my pantry , so used whatever I had instead of  1/4 cup as mentioned in the original recipe.Also I guess I added more than required saffron, since the colour  looked pale while cooking.But after setting, it turned out to be Deep Yellow, but Who is complaining ? It tasted just perfect.The  texture was smooth and creamy and the taste….Yummm.

Also I didn’t had any Popsicle so I went ahead and freezed the mixture in a plastic airtight container.

Thanks Ramya for a lovely recipe !

So Enjoy the spread of Chocolate cake, Kesar pista kulfi and Rasberry Jelly, while I wait here for Hubby dear to come back home.

So this one goes for the Click event~Heirloom

This is a Recipe which remained in Drafts for the longest period, the reason being that store brought Gulabjamuns are so convenient to find here and also , these do  not cost a bomb. Moreover I find making sweets too unnecessary , since we hardly eat sweet stuff and  those in family who love sweets are “barred” from even looking at these, leave aside  eating , obviously due to health reasons.

But then, I do occasionally give in to the temptation of some appreciation , from  the followers of my blog, when I share a particular recipe they keep asking for. Besides, the CLICK event is a huge driving force in itself, so when Jai and Bee asked for Heirloom…here I am with an old cherished Recipe of most cherished  Sweet(Mithai) of  Indians, with some cherished memories of my childhood(Oh No..Not Again !).

Amongst many memories of past , and most of them related to food, one scenario that still lingers around my mind is of a frail, elderly man, always dressed in white, come rain or sunshine, with his aluminum ,wide mouthed container, lined up with stacks of thin, elongated(yes elongated..almost like a finger) hot, perfectly browned, perfectly sweetened , melt in mouth gulabjamuns. Sundays were most cherished days of all, since it used to be a day when whole family sat in front of  Television to watch popular serials like Ramayana and Mahabharta, waiting for that elderly man to give a shout ”Radhey Ja Garam Jhamuh” roughly translated as Hot Gulabjamuns  of Radhey..yes the man was called Radhey !

All the kids around, made sure that they get their share of gulabjamuns and saved their petty pocket money to buy the hot, fresh, straight from the stove(a mobile stove, which burnt on low flame,that kept jamuns hot to the core) each piece costing 25 paise (1/4 of an Indian Rupee…don’t ask me to convert into pence /penny/ paiso..go figure it out). So a Rupee  used to fetch us four of those yummy sugar bombs , lined on a paper with a dash of sugar syrup. Enjoying those with family watching our favorite Tv. serials(At those times there were only handful of them being aired, that too mostly on Sundays…Ahh what a bliss it was !) was a feeling equivalent to being in Heaven..I swear !

For years we enjoyed his home made gulabjamuns in winter and monsoon, while some really creamy, garnished with pistachios , Kulfi was a Hot (Cool) favorite in summers. Yes , the Gulabjamuns used to give way for Kulfi in summers and till this date we are unable to figure out how did he managed to sale such a good quality stuff in pennies.

It was during that wonderful period of  my life that visiting maternal  side Grandparents was a regular affair in vacations. The memories of spending time with cousins and aunts , uncles and Naana Naani( grandparents) still moisten my eyes , everytime I think about it. My Maasi ( Mother’s Sister) always made sure that we kids thoroughly enjoyed our stay at grandparents home, by taking us out to playgrounds, gardens, Beaches, temples, Movies etc. religiously everyday of our stay there, year after year.

My Grandparents residing in Chembur, another Sindhi Populated area in Mumbai, the Jhama Store was at stone throw distance from their home. This particular Sweets shop is famous all around the place for its mindblowing Gulabjamuns, though bit costlier but good to taste at.

So no visit of ours would be called off without some of these brown sweets, and everytime someone visits us from Chembur, its almost mandatory that Jhama’s Speciality…huge Gulabjamuns are on their way, about to reach our homes to fill our minds with the sweet memories of our childhood as we sweeten our taste buds with huge bites of  soft spongy, hot and fresh , the one and only one…Gulabjamun……

UPDATE: Here is what I found about Jhama Stores….thought to share with you all

Jhama’s >>> Chembur
It gets its name from proprietor Jhamamal Lulla, a Sindhi refugee from Karachi who set it up in 1950. “Our family lived in the refugee camps nearby,” says 30 year-old Ravi, a third generation Lulla. His grandfather’s culinary skills and reputation for using ingredients of the highest quality, brought him regulars. Close to six decades later, Jhama’s has seven branches across the city but the Chembur branch is still patronised by Sindhi families.

Staffer for fifteen years, Naresh Chawla says a lot of movie stars are regulars. Amitabh Bachchan once named Jhama’s Gulab Jamuns in a list of his 7 favourite things. Then there’s Salman Khan, who picks up sweets while driving down to his Panvel farmhouse.

How to get there: The wide, red signboard cannot be missed on CG Road, near Chembur colony and Basant Cinema. Open from 11 am to 1 pm, Mondays to Sundays.(Source: Mid-Day )

So here they are , soaked in lots of sweet musings , Home made gulabjamuns…Enjoy !

There are number of recipes of Gulabjamun , easily searchable on internet , and as far as the recipe I follow, it  is easy breezy one , of course, only if you have some Mawa handy.

The recipe is divided in two parts, one is making BALLS of flour and frying them. The other is making sugar syrup, not too thick nor too thin(sounds tricky, learn more  about sugar syrups here)

For sugar syrup:

Ingredients:

• 500 gms of sugar( Though we found it bit too sweet for our taste, so adjust accordingly)
• One and half cup of water(bit more or less)
• 2-3 Cardamom pods
• One spoon of milk (optional)
• Few threads of saffron (optional)
• 2-3 drops of rosewater(optional but highly recommended)

Method:

• Mix about 500 gms of white sugar in one and half cup water and keep it for boiling.
• Add a spoonful of milk to remove the impurities (impurities if any , will form a scum on surface)
• Add 2-3 green cardamoms also in syrup for strong flavor, and a tad of saffron strings  (optional)
  
• Boil until you get just a tad sticky syrup.Gulabjamun syrup is not very dense nor too dilute as in Rasgulla
• Strain the syrup, add rosewater when syrup is  slightly cooled . Always remember two things while using rose water, do not add it while syrup is bubbling hot or on fire, and be particular about the quantity mentioned in every recipe, since even few drops of excess rosewater could lend a bitter taste to the final product.
  

For Gulabjamun:

Ingredients:

• 250 gms of unsweetened Maawa (khoya-the condensed milk thickened till it turns into moist dough, preferably made from cow’s milk, also known as Hariyali mawa)
• 1 1/2-2 tsp All purpose flour
• 1tsp Cornflour
• 1-2 crushed green cardamom
• Oil for shallow frying

Method:

• Mix all the ingredients, in a a wide mixing bowl or Thaal ,until soft textured dough is obtained (keep mixing until it is really soft)
• Make very small sized balls (bit larger than pebbles) coz they swell up after frying and soaking in syrup
• Make sure that the surface of  dough balls is  really smooth (no cracks please).In case the cracks refuse to go away, slightly wet your palms with water and roll the flour till absolutely smooth
  
• Now take little oil for frying in preferably flat bottomed pan, and heat the oil. But gulabjamuns are to be fried on LOW FLAME or else the surface will be browned while the core will remain uncooked. Some prefer to place an unsalted pistachio in the center of every gulabjamun while making balls, that way the core of gulabjamun is not left uncooked .
  
• Fry one or 2 gulabjamuns at a time and always remember to STIR THE OIL with slotted spoon AND NOT TO TOUCH GULABJAMUNS , which means keep swirling the oil without tossing or turning gulabjamun .
  
• Fry till light brown in colour, remove on tissue paper and repeat the procedure with rest of dough
• Now soak these in COOL syrup for few hours.They will surely swell up
• These can be stored in the same syrup till consumed
• If there are cracks in the balls before frying it will burst open while frying, in that case adding a bit of cornflour will surely help
• You can enjoy it hot or cold ,either way it is delicious

These are regular Gulabjamuns, in case you like Black Gulabjamuns then here is what you need to know:

Gulab Jamun gets its brownish red color because of the sugar content in the milk powder or khoya. In other types of gulab jamun, sugar is added in the dough, and after frying, the sugar caramelization gives it its dark, almost black colour, which is then called kala jamun, “black jamun”.

Note: Making mawa from scratch is not difficult but time consuming
Four cups of whole milk will boil down to about 6 ounces of mawa milk fudge (Source..wiki)

For some really helpful videos and tips for alternative way of making gulabjamuns, in case you reside outside India where Khoya is not available, do check out the following links :

http://www.gurudwara.net/punjabirecipes/recipedetail.aspx?id=350

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPFDtXSEVqA

And care about kinetics of  Gulabjamun…I don’t , but you can surely check this out !

Shifting to a new Home is no mean task, and it did take away all my time and energy , so much that I was neither cooking anything great nor clicking anything to show off. I almost gave up the hope of turning to Blogging again, since I neither had any enthusiasm to cook something different nor the patience to dust off the camera for the photo shoot.

But it is really hard to stay away from lovely bloggers and sweet visitors who kept dropping Emails and messages , asking me ,when will I be back. No matter how cliche this may sound, but I am really touched. I have so much to share with you all, about our new home, about  family, my kid, his new school, about the new places I visited in past few months, new friends I made (Both online and In person), the ups and downs of life , the roller coasters of emotions I went through…so much to share and so little time to pen down my thoughts in words.

Yes, right now I am in great hurry to move ahead , since in all the hustle bustle of life, I failed to realize that the deadline to participate in Click -The food photography event hosted by jugalbandits,  is just round the corner. So without any further delay , here are some pictures of Gulabjamuns that I made few days back.

The Recipe is coming up in next post..promise…. I know its too late for asking this, but can you all help me in deciding which one to send for Click. I have only one day to decide, so would appreciate a quick response.

This month Jai and Bee came up with a wonderful theme…Heirloom, and I guess Gulabjamun, an Oh-so-popular sweet delicacy from India, fit the bill, isn’t it?Moreover the bowl that is holding these Jhamu (As we call it in Sindhi) is a sweet gift from my hubby’s Grandmother, passed on to us as a token of love on House warming Day, when we shifted to our new place. More about this Deep fried flour ball, soaked in rose watery sugar syrup, in upcoming post. Right now just look around the pictures of this sweet bomb and help me decide about the most suitable entry of the lot.

For those who are fed up of the same picture  staring at you since past few weeks, whenever you visit Sindhirasoi (This means I am expecting some of you to drop in few times just to check..lol), here is something different to look at to

Dear Friends, Visitors, Well wishers and lurkers , Thanks for being around and keeping in touch . I owe so much to all of those who kept writing to me and updated me with all the happenings around. I am flattered with the Emails and Chats , comments and Face book  and Twitter messages and wish this never ends.

Regarding updates, then Hey , our new Home is almost done, and its just matter of few days ,when we will be  finally able to settle down (Keeping Fingers Crossed). And it goes without saying that I am super excited about the shifting, though it would mean more work for us, but I am geared up for that.

On that note, I take your leave now, hoping to be charged up to start blogging again soon.Wish me luck !

And before I sign off for the day, let me share with you this Typical South Indian Food.Am sure majority of you simply love eating this..what say huh?

Idli Medu Wada and Coconut chutney

And a more closer look…

Medu Wada

My version of making Meduwada is here at  Beyondcurries, A Blog I am Proud to be associated with