Snacky- snacky!!!

It has been a surprising winter for us in L.A.. we had lots of rain!! While others are snow bound, we L.A'ites have none of that winter wonderland, so once in a while when it rains and the temperatures dip, we make the most of it!

If there is one thing I miss here, it is the monsoon season.. the gentle pitter-patter of rain, the rumbling thunder, that brilliant flash of lightening and yes, the occasional flooding which brings life to a stand still!

The happiest days of my child hood were when it rained cats and dogs, the streets would flood and those were the days I was VERY keen on going to school!! Wild horses could not keep me away! To traipse in the water logged streets, tear pages out of the Math notebook and float boats, squeal with laughter when a bicycle went by splashing water and finally find the school gates closed! Going back home to a hot Dettol bath and warm food and then spend the day watching the rain come down with a plate of snacks and a heap of comics ... Utopia!

Of course the favourite snack was pakodas, but when you are not old enough to be trusted with handling match-sticks, you have to be content with a bag of chips and everything else that you can lay your hands on! Even as a child I was very fond of 'kela wafer' or plantain chips and loved to munch on these when curled up with a book.

So when rain lashed the window pane , the flood of memories also brought a craving for plantain chips. It was a matter of minutes , I had one large plantain which I rapidly peeled and sliced thin on the mandolin. While this was happening, heat oil in a kadhai/ wok. Once the oil is hot, deep fry the chips to a crisp. Remove onto a paper towel to absorb excess oil, lightly sprinkle and toss with salt . Grab a plateful , open the book , read and munch!!

After having munched and munched on the chips, we really did not have too much space for a proper dinner, something light and not too much fuss seemed to be the solution. Glancing thru the snacks section of Chandra Padmanabhan's Dakshin, I came across this 'Potato Dosa' , this was an instant dosa and that always is a hit with me! No fermentation!

For the Dosa:

2 Large Potatoes
1 cup Rice Flour
1/2 cup Yogurt
1-2 Green chillies minced
fistful of finely chopped Cilantro
Salt to taste
Oil to make Dosa

Cook the potatoes ( pressure cook or microwave them). Peel and mash them. Add all the remaining ingredients, mix thoroughly using sufficient water to make a regular dosa batter. Heat a tawa/ skillet. Make dosas !!! Serve hot with chutney .

Though this dosa makes a nice snack, the only difficulty I had with it was flipping it.. some broke / tore halfway, not that I am complaining!

To end on a sweet note, I made this dessert on Sunday. Basically anything that requires the oven, is frankly intimidating to me. Where the Daring Bakers turn out these WONDERFUL things, all I can do is gape! I was looking for something minimalistic and manageable. Now when I am bracing myself for an adventure like this, I like to read a few recipes which sound simple but more importantly have portions that are small too, small enough to experiment. Googling for a Caramel Custard recipe I came across Nupur's version and she made it sound like I could do it! It sounded soooooo good!

Can I? Can't I?? You see, there was this one time, my cousin and I in a fit of enthusiasm and ignorance, tried making this dessert, but that was with a ready pack with simple sounding instructions, so simple that we thought it was idiot-proof! To cut a long story short, the caramel custard looked as bad as it tasted and when set on a plate expired there with a 'glooop', needless to say, we had a hushed up funeral for it and later dug noisily into cartons of ice-cream, scraping the bottom with the wodden scoops.
So this time around, when the husband was in the office (on a weekend, mark you, it is so annoying when all problems crop up on a saturday and the boss calls you in for an hour or two), I tackled this recipe. I followed every word and every step...right down to even taking the picture the way Nupur did, I was that nervous! One wrong step and it would go 'glooop' was a warning that buzzed my ears! But... but!!!! check it out folks!!!

Yes, Yes, Yes!!! Ta-Dah!! I did it!! Jai ho!! Nupur ki jai ho!!!! This is one recipe I am going to hang on to!!! Perhaps the caramel could have been a shade darker, but as the recipe warned, there is a thin line between caramel and charcoal, I was very careful!

M loved the caramel custard!! Not too sweet, just how he likes it!! In fact this was all that was left for the photograph! I cannot wait to try it again!!

On a more serious note: Thank U all for your concern over my previous post. Looks like honesty is not the 'in' thing these days.. sadly the thief in concern has not removed my picture, she first claimed that her son was unwell, so she was busy, but since them she has had time to make a few more videos. It is sad that a woman should 'use' her small son to shield her dishonesty. Don't know what the world is coming to, I no longer feel so bad about the stolen picture, but more so for her son and the wrong ideas he will grow up with.

That's it for now!! Take care you all! Keep warm and SMILE!!!

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