Malpua - Sweet Indian pancakes in syrup

Amidst all the Christmas festivities and the numerous cakes and desserts to be seen at this time of the year, there are days when I crave something totally ..well, "Desi"! By 'desi', I mean Indian. There are so many amazing desserts and sweets that we make during our festival season, that I am finding myself craving for so many of those these days!
Malpua - a sweet pancake dipped in syrup, and served with milk pudding(kheer), is one of my favourite dishes that my mom makes on some special occasions. The way we make it at home is way too cumbersome for me, and yes, I have tried it a few times, and failed on every occasion :-)
So I took the shorter route, and I can proudly say that it has been successful in each attempt. This one uses condensed milk. Here is the recipe

For the pancake
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk (200 g/7 oz)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup semolina. (You can substitute it with all purpose flour if you can't find semolina)
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup water
a pinch of salt
oil for deep frying
pistachios/nuts for garnish

For the syrup
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup water.

Prepare the syrup by bringing sugar and water to a boil. Keep it aside. I don't make my syrup too thick. Most people recommend a single thread consistency for this syrup. But I like it to be thin, and don't soak my pancakes in it for longer than a minute either. The condensed milk adds sufficient sweetness for my taste.
For the pancake - mix in all the dry ingredients. Then add the condensed milk, and water to form the batter. Deep fry these pancakes in hot oil for a about a minute each side - until they turn golden brown.
Dip these in syrup for about a minute. Serve them on a plate and garnish with pistachios.
These are served with milk pudding, but I didn't make any. So I served it with ice-cream. Vanilla ice-cream would be just perfect with these babies. Share

Happy Thanksgiving

Don't we all love the holidays? Never mind the stress of getting the perfect gifts, arranging dinners, making the perfect turkey etc, but just the festiveness all around, with shops all decked up, gift sets all around, christmas tree decorations, pies and stollens, candles and tea-lights, wrapping papers and bows, ..ah! I love it all.

A visit to a chocolate shop, a good ol' confectionary, hell, even a grocery store reminds you how it is time to be shopping, celebrating and MOST importantly, - eating!

So when I saw this colourful Lindt Chocolate Boutique at the airport duty free, I urged the hubby to take a picture. So inviting, and full of ..bling!





To all those who celebrate it - A very happy Thanksgiving! (Although I am sure if you do celebrate it, chances are you are busy in your kitchen rather than reading this!).

For the rest, let's just feast our eyes...No, no girls, I am not suggesting to go check out those boys in the cafeteria, rather just watch, enjoy and eat all this food and festivity. Well, you might as well check out those guys while you're at it :D Share

I am back!

So how are you all doing? It's been very long since I blogged here..not that I have not been seeing the new comments and subscribers - but just that I haven't had the time to update it with new posts. Just saw my drafts - and I had started writing one on 1-Nov, but never got around to posting it. November is when I get to celebrate my birthday, and unlike a lot of others, I am kinda getting the urge to make some resolutions now. The year seems to have flown by so fast! Anyways, more on that later.

So what have I been upto? Well - crazy busy at work to start with, and then a wonderful vacation in Greece! I had been wanting to visit it for so long - finally managed to make it there. We spent a few days in Santorini (one of the islands), and some days in Athens, and also in Prague. Yes, a lot of places - which means a lot of new pictures, new food items, and new recipes.

And much like any other city we have visited - the inevitable happened. While walking down the main streets in Prague, searching for a nice place to grab a bite, we stumbled upon ...
..
Häagen-Daz !


But of course!.
And as you can guess, we had one of those waffles with sinful dark chocolate ice-cream, thick chocolate sauce and some fresh fruits!
For any of you wondering why I go ga-ga over spotting a Häagen-Daz, well, as you would know, some of the ice-creams are to die for, and hence are one of the omni-present items in our freezer. But other than that - it's the waffles! Warm, soft and slightly crispy at the same time, I get hungry just looking at them. These babies are quite hard to find in Zurich, and I don't own a waffle iron. So I almost pounce upon any chance of grabbing them wherever I can spot them - Häagen-Daz being one of my favourites.

I will have a few posts on our Greece trip, and this time I wouldn't be gone too long! :-) Share