24th December, 2018

“Food, like a loving touch or a glimpse of divine power, has that ability to comfort.”-Norman Kolpas

The true meaning of eating is to feed your soul and satisfy your emotions, rather than just filling your stomach. It’s very essential to build a connect with the food you eat, and one such dish in my life, with which I connect a lot is Mithe Seviyan.

Mithe Seviyan, translated as “sweet vermicille” is laced with memories. It’s brown colour, speckled with small bits of khoya and briefly toasted cashews are a pure delight to my eyes. It’s taste still lingers in my tastebuds.

I share a very deep and emotional relation with this dessert. It’s solely because of the tons of love my naana ( grandpa) poured into Mithe Seviyan, while making it.

Every Ramadan(a month when Muslims fast for 30 days) naana would make this rich sweet, irrespective of his health and old age.  Naana and naani ma( grandma) would sit together and prepare a list  of ingredients to be bought. They do so only a day before,  in order to ensure the ingredients are as fresh as they could be. They would roughly calculate the ratios of vermicille, khoya, and sugar, as they did not have a well written recipe. They preferred going with their intuition. After all it’s their creation.

The next day, naana would himself sit and fry the fresh vermicille in some hot oil, until it turned deep brown. In a huge pot, he would pour a good amount of pure cows ghee-from our local market, and toss in vermicille and khoya. Meanwhile, naanima would prepare Sheera(sugar syrup), to be added into the pot.

The hard part of the process kicks in now. Stirring a pot full of solild-semi solid ingredients is no where close to easy. Yet naana would himself do this, ignoring his arms cries. But, as years passed, he handed over this job to mamma. However, he’d stand there to check if the flavours are right, and the pot’s off the flame. He completed his part of making Mithe Seviyan, when we broke our fast. Right after a glass full of water and a bite of dates, I’d straight away grab a bowl of the sweet. As soon as I take in the first bite, with a gentle smile he’d ask me,“Kaisa hai bete?”(How’s it my child). And the beam would only get bigger when I replied,“Accha hai naana!”(It’s good grandpa).

Today, no Swiggy or Zomato can deliver this dessert to me. That’s because the precious hands of the person who make it are no more. Surely no person can imitate the love he put into it. My hearts gets heavy to realize that my upcoming Ramadhans will be devoid of my naana and his very old Mithe Seviyan.

How I wish I could have my naana around, and relive the moments of eating his Mithe Seviyan. How I wish……

-Shaziya Begum

 

Little little penny in the pocket and big big craving..?

Rock fort temple sits with it’s head high in the middle of  the busiest streets of Tiruchirapalli. The days are steaming hot.Climbing around 300 steps to worship the deity is not an easy job. After the amount of hard work and stamina spent sweat trickles down the skin like pearls of water and the pleasure of eating ice cream is heavenly. The best spot for cheap yet delicious ice cream?-MICHAEL’S.

In the midst of the busiest streets lies the two busy branches of Michael’s. You can clearly see a Trichy native going nostalgic towards this ice cream parlor. Why? Because trust me or not you can gulp down ten ice creams with just hundred bucks in your pocket. The price starts at Rs.7/- and ranges up to Rs.12/- per scoop without a compromise in it’s quality. The homemade ice rests  in steel cup served with steel spoon making  it a plastic free zone.

And my personal favorite is fruit salad( made with fresh seasonal fruits) topped with vanilla  ice cream. These ice creams constitute a major part in my childhood memories. The scoop will definitely bring a smile on your face once it touches your tongue. So make sure you check it out!

– Sanjanaa Madhan

 

23rd December, 2018

“Cheesecake will always taste like love”- Shonda Rhimes

Little moments make memories. Luckily I have been able to live some amazing moments, and gather fond memories with the very old Cheesecake. Be it from school carnivals to monthly excursion trips; from farewell parties to birthday celebrations, cheesecake has always been there as an important guest.

The three distinct layers of the cheesecake that I have usually eaten are simple, yet bag loads of flavour. The cheese layer is sandwiched between a buttery biscuit base, and a tangy topping. The center layer is usually made using cream cheese, but the one I’ve had was made using paneer- a cheaper and tastier alternative. It’s usually sweet and creamy, with a little sour taste. The biscuit base adds a hint of salt(from butter), balancing the flavours from the layer above.

The key to getting a perfectly set, yet a wobbly cheesecake, is to add heaps of love, and maintain patience. Yes, patience throughout the course of making it. Enough time needs to be given for each layer, to take its sweet time, and set in the refrigerator.

Memories

I still remember the day when my friend had first introduced a cheesecake to me. She had topped it with strawberry jelly (from Weikfield), and that is the best topping in my eyes. Soon later, all my classmates began experimenting with cheesecake. The hype grew so much, that in every school carnival there was someone selling this delicacy. One of my teachers had sold perfectly set, cold cheesecakes, in transparent dessert cups. They all looked like a piece of art, with an eye captivating blueberry compote topping.

Days passed, and even I decided to try making a cheesecake. Unfortunately, my first experience with it was not what I had expected. In a haste to finish making it, I had popped it into the freezer, instead of the refrigerator. That had left my first two layers frozen. Due to this, the strawberry layer began to bleed and stain the creamy layer beneath it. It all went sloppy, and looked no where appealing.

However, one blue moon, my cheesecake turned out just right. My brother has always been a great fan of Strawberry Cheesecake. Hence, I decided to secretly prepare one on his birthday. The struggles behind keeping a secret hidden are real, but it was all worth it in the end. My family thoroughly enjoyed it.

I am eagerly waiting when the inside of me would switch to “cooking mood”, and get going to prepare a yet another spectacular cheesecake- Hopefully.

“July 30th is National Cheesecake Day”

-Shaziya Begum

“Laughter is brightest, where food is best” -Irish Proverb

All festivals arrive with the scent of happiness, thrill and prosperity. Above all, they arrive with a ton of sweets. Yes, sweets! Gulab jamuns, jalebis, sandesh, halwas; the list never seems to end. However, the one I crave for is Sheer Kurma. Every Eid, there is downright excitement, as I eagerly wait for the hot pot of Sheer kurma to come off the flame, so I could slurp it all in.

Be it as an early morning breakfast, after returning from Eid prayer, to an evening snack, when all relatives and friends arrive, Sheer kurma is well enough to be eaten all day.

When it comes to the best Sheer kurma, hands down the one that my mamma makes is incomparable. Maybe, the secret behind it being so special is the golden recipe, that my great grandmother handed over to my mom. I sincerely hope to master it, and maybe even carry down the recipe, proudly.

Having its roots coming from Afghanistan, Sheer Kurma is literally translated as “milk with dates” in Persian, but trust me, it is not JUST milk with dates. It’s a bowl full of goodness, topped with heaps of love. From the soft vermicille, squishy raisins, and vibrant pistachios, all swimming in thickened milk, to crispy dessicated coconut and thinly sliced dates, sautéed in ghee, Sheer kurma is delicious in every dimension.

Keeping aside the magical taste, this “Eid Special” dessert is packed with nutrition too.  One bowl of it is good to keep me going even for the whole day, from dawn to dusk. It in itself is a complete meal.

Sheer kurma anyone?

Date fruits have been present in the Middle East and Nothern Africa as a local food for more than 7000 years!

-Shaziya Begum

“Tis the season to be jolly fa la la la la la.”

It is that time of the year when most weddings and other festivities take place. No guest leaves a Hindu wedding without a bag of tambulam in his hand. And if he is a close relative of the bride or bridegroom, that bag is sure to contain a laddu and some other sweets and savouries.

I’m sure you would have tasted a different kind of laddu during every festival. In fact, there are over twenty kinds of laddus. I recently came to know that til ke laddu which is made from sesame seeds and jaggery was the first kind of laddu made and that it served as an Ayurvedic medicine in olden days!

One of the first questions that anyone who has just returned from a pilgrimage to Tirupati is asked is whether he bought any laddus. Everyday, thousands of laddus are made there and offered to Lord Venkateshwara before being sold to the devotees at a small price. These world-famous Tirupati laddus are unique to Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam and have been barred from being sold anywhere else. No matter how many ever times you try to make those kind of laddus, I can guarantee you that you will never get the same kind of taste. No wonder there are long queues every time at only the laddu section in the prasadham counter at Tirumala.

Remember Shashi aunty – the maker of laddus from the movie English Vinglish? Her laddus were sought after by both Indians and foreigners. And yes, we have our very old Tuntun aunty from the cartoon series Chota Bheem, who was renowned for her laddus. Oh my! Kids have started eating a lot of laddus nowadays thanks to Bheem and his unbelievable power got from gobbling up her laddus. Well, I can tell you this…

Even if you don’t get any superpower, ignore the calories and relish the experience of eating laddus!

– Sanjana Suresh

After a meal and a shopping it’s time for a cold dessert. After a long time shopping with my family we went to a ice cream shop called milky way. Like the name suggests that place is decorated with lots of color. Planets like crafts made out of paper was hanging all over the shop. It provided the feeling of a milky way galaxy. Coming to the dessert I ordered a falooda with vanilla ice cream with a chocolate topping. Falooda is made with milk,rose syrup, vermicelli and basil seeds. It is often served with ice cream and nuts. Falooda can not be only served as a drink but also as a meal. The main ingredients in falooda apart from milk and vermicelli, the basil seeds provides the cooling effect to the body. It is now a major part of Pakistani culture also served on several occasions and also on Islamic holidays. Falooda is originated in Indian subcontinent but it’s foundation goes back to Persia like kulfi. The present form of falooda was developed by the Mughal Empire. When I tasted my falooda the first thing I noticed was that it was different from ice cream. It has a different taste and it is a quite stomach filling dessert .

– Roshini S