A Recipe from Heaven

This recipe takes me back to X'Mases past, when I was five or six, a slightly chubby kid in messy braids, denim jumpers, and red framed glasses which I hated but had no choice but to wear. One of my favorite christmas rituals was the exchange of Christmas goodies with our equally enthusiastic neighbours. We called them 'Kuswar' - a collective term for a variety of Christmas sweets prepared and exhanged among Goan and Mangalorean catholics all over. If I close my eyes and reminisce long enough, I can still get a faint whiff of the heavenly scents emanating from my mother's kitchen as she rushed to prepare her share of the christmas fare a few hours before the midnight mass- her delicious plum cake filled with plums, dates and nuts, those light-as-cloud cardamom flavored Nankhatais and last, but not the least, my favorite Milk Toffees (those caramel colored, cashew enriched squares of goodness), while I stuffed my face with store bought Marzipan. Usually, this (originally Sri-Lankan) recipe takes about 30-35 minutes to make and requires careful vigilance, as it involves the preparation of a sugar syrup, before adding the other ingredients. Waiting too long could cause the sugar syrup to over-crystallize, giving the toffee a brittle texture which would be hard to shape into squares- not what we are going for. 

However the recipe I use does not require as much vigilance and takes less than half the time to make. And what's more, you can make it in your microwave and it tastes just as good, perhaps better since the texture is softer and caramel-ier..;)...I actually needed just 8 and a half minutes to make it but the times may vary depending on your Microwave Power..

So here goes:

Ingredients:

I can condensed milk (not the fat-free variety please, that does not work and tastes...blecch)

2 Tablespoons of butter (Some recipes recommend using a whole stick of butter-I would rather you not, it just takes longer to set and gets too buttery tasting) 

3-4 cardamom pods crushed to extract the seeds (Optional, I personally prefer the cardamom flavor)

Cahew nuts or Almonds (Chopped or powdered, I like them chopped for that definite crunch)

1 cup sugar (350 g)

2-3 teaspoons brown sugar or cocoa powder  (This is completely optional, I just like my toffees to get that darker color, just to add to the decadence!)

Method:

In a Microwave safe bowl, mix the can of condensed milk, butter, sugar and cardamom seeds thoroughly to form a thick mixture. If you add the cocoa powder or brown sugar, the mixture will get this yummy looking marbelly brown tint which is awesome as well :). Place a lid on the bowl to prevent splattering, put it in the microwave and set the timer for 2 and a half minutes. You need to microwave it for short periods of time to ensure that the mixture does not boil over. 

Take the bowl out carefully, using oven mitts if you have them (It will be hot I promise) and stir the mixture. Put it back in the microwave for another two and a half minutes, and take it out again to stir. At this point, the mixture will be smelling and looking delicious but resist the urge to taste it if you don't want to scald the insides of your mouth (I've been there too many times, thanks to my impatience!)..Put the mixture back in for the third time and for 2 minutes and 30 seconds again. 

After the third spin in the microwave, you will notice that the mixture has almost reached the brown color seen in the picture above. It will also be very hot. Stir it carefully, add the slivered or powdered nuts now, cover it and put it back into the microwave, but for not more than 1 minute. Anything more and the mixture will get burnt. You really don't want that, unless you like the taste of burnt caramel. My advice would be to microwave it for 30 seconds first and if the mixture does not look like its sputtering/over boiling, put it in for another 30 seconds more so it finally gets that perfect brown toffee color. I don't think you need more time than that, but trust your intuition on this. If you want it a little darker, you could try for 30 seconds more, but do so at your own risk. As you stir the mixture, it should appear sticky and semi-solid, almost like a thick paste. If the texture still appears fluid like against your spoon, heat it for 30 seconds more. Either way, it will solidify as it cools down. Transfer the mixture to a buttered tray, cover it with a foil, and leave it undisturbed for atleast 10 minutes.

So to summarize: 3 spins in the microwave for 2 and a half minutes each, making sure to stir all three times,  fourth spin for not more than one minute, before which you add the chopped nuts. Then, set aside for about 10 minutes to cool. 

At this point the mixture has probably hardened to a delicious looking caramely mass and you can cut it into pretty little squares/diamonds with which you can impress your friends. Or if you are like me and don't feel the need to share, you can give in to your inner fat girl and just scoop it off the tray with a spoon (or a shovel) and indulge in its nutty-caramely goodness. It tastes delicious either way! :)

If you have the patience of a saint and don't mind toiling over your stove, you can follow this recipe:
http://www.infolanka.com/recipes/mess4/286.html...I personally prefer the shortcut!

Happy Early Christmas! ;)

The Power of the Fake Phone Call

I was on my way to my local grocery store a few weeks ago to pick up a few necessary items when I heard someone call out from somewhere to the right of me,  “Hey girl, let me be your daddy”. Oh boy, I thought gritting my teeth, here we go again. It was 11 am for Gods sake!…From the corner of my eye, I could tell it was a middle aged man in shabby clothing carrying a laundry (?) bag ..I kept walking, neither acknowledging nor looking at the source of this highly unflattering attention…He, being the persevering soul that he was, tried again, in a voice that sounded like he was drunk/stoned, “C’mon baby girl, give me a little smile, pretty please”, eliciting an almost involuntary eye-roll and grimace from me...Bad idea, as this not-so-subtle reaction only served to incense him..”Hey, don’t you be rollin' your eyes at me” he called out, in a menacing tone of voice. Uh-oh..That’s when I reverted to a familiar old habit, my favorite coping mechanism during those moments of anxiety that arise when I am forced to attend a necessary social event where I don’t know anyone, or when I am talking to my crush at a party and we suddenly run out of things to say: Answering the fake phone call or even composing the fake text just to make myself appear preoccupied….As frivolous as it seems, my phone has been my savior during such situations. So, I whipped out my cell phone like it was a weapon and pretended to answer a silent vibrating phone ring knowing that he was too far away to tell if my phone had really rung or not…”Hey! Yup I am on my way… will see you in a minute” I  paused, before continuing in panic, trying to sound normal…”btw did you remember to bring the QA report from last time?…I think it will be a good form of reference…Sure I have that with me...”  loud enough to be heard but not too loud so as to sound unnatural...I was basically blabbering nonsense, but how the hell would he know?…He muttered something about educated folks and kind of faded away from my line of vision in a few minutes, as I continued walking and fake talking till I was sure he was not around anymore..

Since then, I have found myself resorting to this method everytime I am accosted by a persistent cat-caller on my way to class, grocery store, work, anywhere…and it actually works…In fact it works better than simply ignoring them as some of them simply don’t seem to give up…The fake phone call gives me a good excuse to ignore them, as it seems like I am not paying attention since I am apparently too engrossed in my fake conversation to hear them…So they stop trying. In fact my intuition in this regard has become so fine tuned, like most woman having to face this situation everyday, that I whip up my phone atleast a second or so before I am about to encounter a potential cat-caller, so my sudden phone call seems natural and not manufactured in reaction to them...

So ladies, if you are tired of the especially persistent eve teaser who does not seem to get the message, and you want to look for creative ways to make him leave you alone, the fake phone call does the job beautifully..Of course, I would advice you to make your necessary grocery store trips in the day time, when its well lighted, rather than in the late evening hours or have your friend drive you instead..but you know, it never hurts to have a few tricks up your sleeve, when there is no choice at the time but to walk alone…and ofcourse, have your pepper spray ready in your purses just in case.