The East Indian Community

Christmas cake

Ingredients:

240 gms flour (maida)

200 gms sugar

4 eggs

120 gms butter

1 tsp. baking powder

360 gms raisins

100 ml rum

few drops vanilla essence

150 gms lemon peel

50 gms walnuts

30 gms crystallised cherries

Method:

Grease the cake tin and sprinkle a little flour on the surface. Place a sheet of paraffin paper on the bottom. Cut the cherries, walnuts and lemon peel into small pieces and immerse them along with the raisins in the rum. Cream the butter and sugar along with the vanilla essence. Add in the eggs gradually mixing all the while. Fold in the flour and baking powder. Mix in the rum with all the ingredients soaked in it. Pour the cake batter into the tin and bake at 160° C for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Navries (Karanji / Shingoli)

Ingredients:

Filling

250 gms semolina (rawa)

150 gms icing sugar

2 tbsp. ghee

50 gms raisins

50 gms cashew nuts

1/4 cup poppy seeds (khuskhus)

1/2 tsp. cardamom (elaichi) powder

1/2 tsp. cinnamon powder

salt to taste

Method:

Chop up the cashew nuts, poppy seeds and raisins and roast them in a little ghee and keep them aside. Then heat 2 tbsp. ghee in a frying pan and roast the semolina and the icing sugar in it till golden brown with a pleasant fragrance. Add in the roasted cashew nuts, poppy seeds and raisins as well as the cardamom and cinnamon powder. And your filling is ready.

Dough

500 gms flour (maida)

3 tbsp. ghee

milk (sufficient to make dough)

Knead the flour, ghee and milk together into dough. Roll out the dough into a sheet and slice into strips. Then knead each strip into a small ball and roll each one out into small circles. Flatten the small circles into special newrie moulds. Put in enough, but not too much, filling. Close the mould and seal the edges. Now deep-fry the newries on a medium flame until light golden.

Kulkuls

Ingredients:

2 kg flour (maida)

½ kg ghee

½ kg sugar

6 eggs

Method:

Grind the sugar well. Beat up the eggs.

Mix the ghee, the sugar and the eggs with the flour. Then knead it into a soft dough. Cover with a damp cloth and leave for half and hour. Take portions of the dough and roll it out into a flat sheet. Then cut into small sections.

Flatten each section on the kulkul comb and then roll neatly into thin cylindrical shapes. Make sure the kulkul is not more than an inch to one and a half inch long.

Press the ends slightly so that they do not open out while frying.

Heat oil in a kadai and deep-fry the kulkuls on slow fire one handful at a time. Remove the kulkuls onto newspaper to drain out the extra oil. Leave to cool. Then transfer the kulkuls into airtight containers.

REKAEJAO

Ingredients:

200 g almonds     1 Ltr. Milk made to curd

400 gms fine sugar

3 egg white beaten stiff

Method:

Boil the milk. Squeeze juice of 1 sour lime, boil a little longer. Strain with muslin cloth. Tie up the cloth and hang for 12 hrs. approx. Grind the almonds with a little rose water. Add curds, sugar and egg whites and mix well. Cook on slow fire, constantly stirring till the mixture leaves the vessel. Put the mixture on a butter tray and flatten. When partially dry, cut into pieces.

Boros

Ingredients:

1 Coconut – ground fine

300 gms. Fine sugar

30 gms. Butter

300 gms. Sojee

3 eggs

½ tsp. rose essence

Method:

Beat the whites of the 3 eggs and 1 yolk, add sugar to it, mix well then add sojee and lastly the ground coconut. Mix all this overnight, next morning make small balls, flatten them and place them in a ray with flour sprinkled on it and bake.

Rose de coque

Ingredients:

1 kg flour (maida)

½ kg rice flour

750 gms sugar

12 eggs

Milk of 3 medium coconuts

Method:

Grate the coconuts and put the grated coconut in boiling water. Soak for a while and strain out the coconut juice. If needed, repeat this till all the juice is strained out. Keep it aside.

Mix the sugar and the eggs until the sugar dissolves. Add a little of the flour, rice flour and coconut milk. Keep stirring and adding everything slowly. Add in ½ to 1 tsp. baking powder at this time. The mixture should be a thick but pouring consistency. Keep aside.

Heat oil in a deep-frying pan. Then place the rose cookie mould in the pan holding the handle so that the mould gets really heated. Take out the mould and the excess oil and dip it into the batter. Then put it back into the hot oil. The batter will come out in the pan in the mould shape. Fry till golden brown.

Marzipan

Ingredients:

1 kg sugar

½ kg cashew nuts

White of 8 to 10 eggs (depending on size)

30 ml water and 2 to 4 ml rose essence or 30 ml rose water

3 to 5 ml almond essence (optional)

Method:

Grind the sugar, nuts, water and egg white into a thin paste in a blender.

Put the mixture into a thick bottomed pan on slow flame. Stir continuously. Increase to a medium flame very slowly if you can manage.

Bring to a bubbling boil to melt the sugar. Then reduce the flame but don't stop stirring. Cook till it starts leaving the sides of the vessel. Run a spatula through the mixture.

If the mixture takes a second or two to follow your spatula, you know it's done. Pour into a flat thali. Spread out the mass to cool otherwise it will keep cooking with the heat inside. Then add a little almond essence. Divide the marzipan into portions and colour each portion as you please. Then mould the marzipan into attractive shapes with a mould.

DOUGHNUT

Date rolls

Ingredients:

200 gms flour (maida)

100 gms butter

60 gms ground sugar

200 gms dates (de-seed and cut into strips)

200 gms walnuts (cut into strips)

1 egg

Method:

Beat the butter till fluffy. Add the sugar and beat till fluffy again. Add one well beaten egg and beat again. Fold in flour and mix till well blended. Knead lightly till it forms a smooth dough and roll out into ¼ inch thick chapatti. Cut into 2 inch squares. Put two strips of walnut and date in and roll. Apply water to seal the edges. Place on a well greased baking tray leaving sufficient space between each.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes at 160° C.

THALI SWEET

Ingredients:

18 Eggs

600 gms. Sojee

3 full coconuts ground fine

100 gms. Almonds ground fine

600 gms. White butter

1 Kg. powdered sugar

1tsp. essence of rose

Mehtd

Mix the yolk of eggs, then add the whites beaten to a stiff froth, to this add the fine sugar, butter and sojee and keep overnight. Lastly put the finely ground coconut, almonds and the essence of rose in the mornings. Then put the mixture in the Thalies and bake.

Snowballs

Ingredients:

600 gms ghee (not pure)

1 tsp. powder salt

500 gms castor sugar

800 gms flour (maida)

crystallised cherries (cut into small pieces)

Method:

Cream the ghee well and add the castor sugar little by little along with the salt and mix till foamy. Stir in the flour gradually kneading with the hand all the time. Cover with a wet napkin and keep overnight. Form small balls of dough and place a bit of cherry on the top of each snowball. Place at well spaced intervals on greased tray. Bake in a moderate oven at 300° F for 10 minutes.

Chocolate walnut fudge

Ingredients:

1 tin condensed milk

1 tin water (same measure as the condensed milk)

1 1/2 tablespoon of cocoa

¾ tin sugar

½ cup crushed walnut

50 gms butter

Method:

Empty the condensed milk, water, sugar and cocoa in the vessel. Stir continuously over slow fire.

Please be sure to stir continuously otherwise it will stick to the bottom of the vessel. Once it bubbles put the butter and stir. When the paste is half thickened add walnuts. Stir continuously.

When the mixture starts leaving the sides of the vessel grease a plate with butter and pour mixture. Allow it to cool and then cut.

Milk cream

Ingredients:

1 litre fresh milk

600 grams sugar

100 gms cashewnuts - grated or ground coarsely in the mixer

2 tbsp butter

¼ bottle of vanilla essence

Method:

Boil milk and sugar till the milk thickens. Add the cashewnuts. Stir till it further thickens. Add the vanilla essence and butter. Stir till it leaves the sides (another half hour). Pour onto a greased thali.

Cut as desired or put into moulds while still warm.

Jujups

Ingredients:

50 gms gelatine

200 gms sugar

Food colouring of your choice

Method:

Soak the gelatine. Boil sugar and 3 cups of water until it becomes a sticky syrup and about 2/3 the liquid you started with. Add in the soaked gelatine without the water and boil.

Put in the colouring. Boil for 15 minutes or so and pour into a dish. Put it in the refrigerator and let it set. Cut into cubes. Then roll the sticky cubes in crystal white sugar.