Fix M. Fast - Recipe's for Sweet Tooth.

The massive extent of what we presently take for granted was captured by the late Carl Sagan, famed scientist and astronomer, who wrote the book Contact that later became a movie starring Jodie Foster.

"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch....You must first invent the universe"

Typically, we think scratch means, what? Organic apples from farmer's market, right? There's so much more necessary to have a mere, lone apple, before even getting to the pie crust! All of which is given to us, as if miraculously, without effort.

- So Says Mike Dooley in his book "Playing the Matrix " ; chapter "Understanding Miracles"

Keeping aside the fact that Miracles happen to us every moment and we fail to notice/understand it - including ourselves, let's get back to the food, no, I am not here to give the recipe for apple pie as it is not a Fix.m. Fast.

We need to preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C),melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in flour to form a paste add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer. Place the bottom crust in pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft. It takes almost 1.5 hours to be done, with one hour of cooking. OMG.

Circumstances required that sweets be served, by 6 am in the morning, freshly cooked. Icing was one was not supposed to taste it. An interesting challenge for a novice. Not just one day - 4 consecutive days. Thought it advisable to pen them down, as a ready reference for future needs. So below were some of the Fix.M.Fast tries:

1) Rava Kesari (Sheera): {There could be subtle differences between the two viz. Milk being used for Sheera and water for Kesari and at times the quantity of sugar being lesser for Sheera although the lines have blurred with different versions and many cooks}

Fry the required dried fruits (cashews/raisins) in ghee keep aside and roast 1 cup rava in the same ghee, it should not become brown. In parallel take 3/4th cup sugar in a sauce pan, add saffron if available, add 2.5 cup water, heat sugar solution to rolling boil. Carefully pour the sugar-saffron solution in the ghee-rave mixture in a steady stream and slowly, break lumps. When the mixture starts thinckening, add fried dried fruits and cardamom powder. Keep it covered for 5 minutes to allow it to steam.

2) Carrot Halwa:

Mix well and pressure cook 500 gms grated carrot (4 to 4.5 cups) 2 cups full fat milk, half cup sugar, 4 tablespoon ghee, 1 tablespoon raisins (kishmish), sliced or chopped dry fruits on a low flame for one whistle, and keep it till pressure settles down on its own. Remove the lid, stir the mixture and begin cooking again till the mixture thickens adding half teaspoon cardamom powder.

3) Sweet Pongal: Fry the required dried fruits (cashews/raisins) in ghee keep aside and roast 1/2 cup rice and 1/3rd cup moong lentils in the same ghee, it should not become brown.Pour 3 cup water and pressure cook for 5 whistle. Once pressure settles add brown sugar or powder jaggery , crushed cardamom+clove powder and roasted dry fruits. Pongal will thicken as it cools down, so if the mixture looks thick add hot water.


4) Semiya Kesari: Fry the required dried fruits (cashews/raisins) in ghee keep aside after roasting 1 cup Vermicelli till it becomes golden brown. Now to the same kadai add 2 cup water , 2 table spoon saffron water, once water starts boiling, add roasted semiya and stir well till it gets cooked, add half cup sugar to this and mix well and continue to cook for further 5 minutes; add in 1/4th tsp cardamom and roasted cashew and raisins. Mix well.

5) Green Gram (Moong) Sweet Sundal: Dry fry half cup green gram till its colour changes slightly and nice aroma comes out. Soak the fried gram in water for 6 hours/overnight; wash the soaked gram and cook it in a pressure cooker with 1.5 cup water for two whistles; drain the excess water; add half cup jaggery powder, a pinch of cardamom powder, coconut gratings and mix it well. Remove from stove.

6) Sweet Aval/Poha: In a strainer, rinse 1/2 cup poha in water for a couple of times, strain very well; add one chopped banana, 1 to 2 tablespoon, jaggery, 1 tablespoon grated coconut. We can also add warm milk.

7) Kozhukattai /Modak/Steamed Rice Dumpling: Boil one cup of water with salt. Add the boiled water to one cup rice flour and mix it with a wooden spatula/spoon. Knead until it forms a smooth dough. Keep it aside for 5 minutes or till it is warm enough to handle. Knead the dough and make it into a soft ball. Melt 150gms jaggery with ¼ cup of water and strain it. Add the coconut to the filtered jaggery & mix well. Add ghee and cook till the liquid is dried up. Add crushed cardamom clove and remove from fire. Make medium size balls out of the dough. Take one ball at a time and place it in your palm. Press it with the other hand and make it thin. Start folding it inwards in such a way that you get a cup shape. Place 1-2 tsp of the filling, cover it and roll it back into a ball. Repeat the process with the rest of the dough and filling. Steam the kozhukattas in appachembu/steamer for 9-10 minutes on medium flame. Keep it covered for 1 more minute. Serve warm.

By the grace of Almighty and blessings, it indeed was a miracle that they turned out Yummy.