Soulful Creations

T'was Ganesh Chathurthi yesterday- the only bright star was this baked gulab jamun I made. Pretty simple actually- (this is a consolidation of recipes, temperatures and times from many blogs) Ingredients 1 pkt Gits Gulab Jamun mix 1/4 cup milk 3 tsp oil a few tbsp water a few tbsp oil For the raw sugar simple syrup (recipe adapted from here ) 1 cup water 1 3/4 cup raw sugar 2 tbsp rose water 1 tsp ground elaichi (cardamom) a pinch camphor Method Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with silicone mat Knead the gulab jamun mix with milk and oil adding water in small amounts (like a tbsp at a time) until everything is mixed Grease your palms and make small rounds of gulab jamun. Place them on the baking sheet (1 inch apart). Bake for 15-20 min (in retrospect might have been a bit too hot for a bit too long- note to self for next time: reduce temperature and time) The jamuns will be light brown in color unlike their fried cousins For the sugar s...

Plantains are something that I grew up with. Although, I never liked the ripened version much- my mom or grandma would eventually have to force it down my throat (well, I would eat it myself once they have uttered their few choice words :D). But the raw plantains, now that is a different story... If you do use bananas and plantains interchangeably- then you would be wrong, because they are different. You can find the differences between these cousins here . The key difference is that plantains have more starch content than their sweet cousin (I read somewhere that you should think of bananas as the dessert wine). I remember my peeps telling me how everyone should have at least one of these herbs in their backyard (that is right, it is an herbaceous plant). My mom would tell us how every part of this plant is useful, it got compared to the kamadhenu (the cow that keeps giving)- you can eat the stem (வாழைத்தண்டு), the flower (வாழைபூ, I never liked this either except when cooked as a ...