L: Lamington cake #AtoZChallenge

In college in Pune, we were a hungry lot. Good food was expensive and depended largely on our budgets. More often than not, we were broke and survived on Maggi Noodles and bread and eggs. One of those "I am hungry but am broke" days, a friend got us some Lamington cakes from Spicer College Bakery. We greedily lapped it up, it was like the best thing we had eaten in days!

Years later, pretty recently in fact, we went somewhere and I saw Lamington cakes and promptly got some for my girls. The spouse did not care for it much, "too much coconut," he said. The girls were okay with it and I found it wasn't half as exciting as it had been, years ago. I remembered those college days and the friendship we shared. I found myself thinking of how it would have been a treat for us in those days.

Hunger is such a wonderful thing.

And you? Is there any memory of any food you would have greedily lapped up when you were broke but would not care for now?
Hunger is such a wonderful thing.

K: Key Lime Pie #AtoZChallenge

I had my first slice of this little bit of heaven as a teenager when we were visiting Florida. I had obviously ordered something full of gooey chocolate while the rest of the family decided to try the key Lime Pie, which is a speciality of Florida as it uses limes found in the Florida keys. (I'm sorry, no offense meant, but I do think the Indian tart limes work just as well. In any case one must make do with whatever is available!) Needless to say, even chocolate faded in comparison. I must mention that as a child I did not dislike chocolate as much as I do now. Maybe this was the beginning? 

Anyway back to the dessert: Key Lime Pie is made of lime juice, egg yolks and sweetened condensed milk in a biscuit crust, yes like a cheesecake. The original Bahaman native version also adds meringue topping so the egg whites are not wasted. 

During mixing, a reaction between the condensed milk and the acidic lime juice occurs that causes the filling to thicken on its own without requiring baking. Many early recipes for Key lime pie did not require baking the pie, relying on this thickening to produce the proper consistency of the filling. Today, because consuming raw eggs can be dangerous, pies of this nature are usually baked for a short time. The baking also thickens the texture more than the reaction alone.

Despite its tart center, the top juxtaposes it adding more sweet flavors in some pies.

If you check online, there are tons of recipes for this this. Here is my favourite by Martha Stewart. 

Key lime pie Recipe here

A few tips: 

• Digestive biscuits are a great substitute for graham crackers. 
• If the meringue part looks scary (I have friends who are petrified) omit it. It tastes great even without it. 
• Do not try this in the hot summers, wait till it's cooler. The humidity in the air makes everything go flat. 
• If you are making the meringue and you do not have a blowtorch (I don't) bake in the oven for about 10 to 12 minutes (180 degrees C) , it will have a similar effect.
• All the best. Do let me know how it goes! 

J: Jelly #AtoZChallenge

Ah, jelly. When we were very young, those jelly packets were hard to come by in India. My aunt who stayed in Sunderland used to bring them for us. the one she got wasn't like the powdered gelatin and flavour mix you get these days, it was a wobbly concentrated chunk that came in squares and looked much like a small waffle. Anyone remember those? I do not know if those are still available, but they used to come in amazing flavours like black-currant and black cherry and raspberry and used to be delicious. I often stole the cubes, (much to my mother's chagrin) and could not wait for it to be "cooked" (as in melted and set). Yes, jellies were always a favourite and my daughters love them too. I remember every birthday party they had as kids used to see me making piles of jellies for them and their friends. Nowadays they make their own jelly (from packets) and sometimes set it in the ice tray so they have little cubes of jelly to have! The other day my sister-in-law was making jelly for her two year old twins and that's what I told her too do! 

Here's to the wobbly dessert loved by the kids, add some fruits (except pineapple because there's something in it that prevents gelatin from setting), have it with custard or icecream, make it into a trifle...whatever. Jelly always disappears fast in our house! 

I: Ice-lollies #AtoZChallenge

No matter how old I get, on a hot summer's day in Calcutta, one of the few things that I love to have are ice-lollies. Remember the orange lollies in school that left an orange stain on our uniforms and our tongues? Yes, that. 

And also the Bombay Chowpatty style lollies made of crushed ice stuffed into a glass with a stick and then covered with syrup? That too. 

I tried to make them at home when I was young. We used to have trays of orange squash (with a little sugar, otherwise it will not freeze nicely) and odd bowls and glasses with old ice-cream sticks in them sitting in the fridge. My mother used to be complaining that half the kitchen napkins were ruined because I was forever making crushed ice (I would put the ice cubes in the cloth and hammer away at it with a pestle!)  and making a mess! In fact, during our holidays, on hot summer afternoons, when the rest of the house was sleeping, ice-lollies provided a lot of fun, pleasure and entertainment as far as I was concerned!

I remember in Ranchi, my grandmother used to cut up watermelon, sprinkle a teeny bit of sugar on it and freeze. It was one of the most awesome things ever; fresh, natural and delicious. And that is still my favourite way to have watermelon.  

It's 37 degrees Centigrade here today, right now. My cellphone tells me the real feel is 44 degrees. Time for an ice-lolly, don't you think? 

H: Honey #AtoZChallenge

My mother was from Ranchi, so as a child we spent a lot of our time in Ranchi. My grandparents had a lovely house in Kanke, a little outside the main town and the grounds were big enough for us to get lost in all throughout the day. There were all kinds of trees: litchi, tamarind, black jamuns, guava, papya... you name it. There even was a well which we were forbidden to go near. I remember many many happy unstructured hours playing in the fields. There was a river nearby that we would visit in the afternoons and there were n number of neighbours whose houses we would run to and who would always welcome us with orange squash and fresh fruits from their trees. 

And yes, there were flowers, there were bees and often beehives hanging off the trees. 

In fact I remember the first time I saw an apiary. It was at a corner of the neighbour's garden and there was a man with heavy gloves extracting the honey. It was fascinating, all the more because we were strictly ordered to stay away. And later on the neighbours sent us jars of fresh golden honey. 

My grandmother used to make the most amazing pancakes. She called them pancakes and that's what I grew up thinking they were but now I know that what she made were actually crepes. We used to love them. We had no Nutella or fancy sauces, but had it with sugar and fresh lime. It was lovely. 

And we had the fresh honey. In fact another favourite dessert of mine as a child used to be a slice of fresh bread lathered with home made white butter and honey dripping off the sides. 

I can still taste it even as I write this. 

And that is me with my grandparents with the Ranchi house in the background. This picture would be early 1971, I guess! 

G: Gajar ka halwa #AtoZChallenge

Can a series on desserts ever be missing the gajar ka halwa? Impossible, I thought. Who could ever imagine that carrots could be so tasty. Yes, Gajar ka halwa is made out of carrots. My mother used the dark purple carrots (when they were available) in winter but it works just as well with the orange ones too.
One word of warning: It is rich! And time consuming if you have to make the Khoya (evaporated milk) at home like our mothers used to.

First, the khoya: 1.25 litres milk
1. Pour the milk in a large thick bottomed pan and bring milk to a boil.
2. Lower the flame and simmer the milk, stir at intervals whilst the milk is simmering.
3. The milk will froth many times, while it is simmering. Scrape the milk solids from the sides of the pan and add to the milk.
4. The milk will continue to reduce and thicken as its being simmered on a low flame.
5. Continue to simmer and stir till the milk thickens and has reduced to such an extent that you can see bubbles bursting in the reduced milk. keep stirring continuously as the reduced milk can burn or become too brown.
6. When the bubbles stop, switch off the flame and scrape the sides of the bowl and add it to the khoya. Let it cool.

This process will take about 2 hours.

Or, you can buy the khoya from a sweet shop. I know of someone who used milk powder instead of khoya. Please don't, it is NOT the same thing.

Once the khoya business is sorted, making gajar halwa is pretty simple!

You will need;

2 kg carrots (red or purple or orange)
500 ml cold milk (warm milk tends to curdle while cooking with carrot)
250 g khoya (the above recipe is for 250 g)
Sugar to taste
1 tbsp ghee

• shred carrots
• Boil the milk and shredded carrots together
• Simmer. When the carrots are halfway cooked, add sugar (about 3/4 tbsp, you can taste and see that it is to your liking) and ghee. 
• Cook till the water from the milk dries completely, the carrots should be fully cooked. 
• Simmer some more and add the khoya. 
• If you wish, you can add a handful of raisins and cashew at the end. 
• Serve hot.