Semolina Orange Pudding Cake
Not meeting deadlines seems to have become an integral part of my identity. Not that I had planned it that way, but certain factors are beyond control!! Agreed??
Similarly these taste-buds at time come on their own, reclaiming their freedom to crave for food that seems untimely yet can't be battled out. Somehow this kinda battles on which you being the only soldier gives me a sense of the gallant glory wars that history books have been known for injecting into our minds ever since school days. Me being a great sucker for all those gold and charioteers and grandeur, have always seeked refuge in taking a quick dip into the era of imagination, every now and then.
What I wanted to talk about today was Nostalgia. Accept it or not, the potency of nostalgia can never be undermined. The memories of Childhood can shape you become a serial killer or the superhero Bose, I meant Netaji ( you are not going to ask me who is that!! Are you??). And the fascinating stories of nostalgic childhood is often inspiring!!
The recipe that I am going to talk about today is honestly inspired from that, not a part of mine, but have been hearing about it from others, a lot: PUDDING. I somehow never liked it in those days, as a result mom never made puddings or custards for us. But couple of days back all of a sudden my grey cells wanted to travel back into time. And this recipe somehow seemed to make sense, a lot of it actually. Yes, it's a bit about baking for sure, but nothing tiring and no hardwork et all!! Infact it's not wrong to call it almost a child's play. The ingrediants building this cake is equally easy and inexpensive. Me thinks, it's more like rummaging your kitchen wardrobe, and you find everything in there. No shopping trips, no extensive shopping lists- I promise.
I promise you a comforting begining. Warm up some dark rum ( don't boil, just warm) with few cloves, 1" cinnamon stick. Once it has warmed up enough, take it off the hob. Add in 100 gm golden raisins to this warm boozy concoction. You will see in almost no time, the shriveled skin of these babies turn plump, as if getting injected with a good dosage of botox! Cool it, an pour in a container of choice ( I prefer airtight), and store in fridge. Job done. This needs to rest or at least 12 hours, if not more.
1. Start by pouring 500 ml milk ( I used full fat, you can stick to skimmed and all of that. I am pretty sure, taste will vary. Remember, fat is flavour!!) in a pan of choice. Add 4 crushed green cardamom & 2" cinnamon. Also half a tsp orange peel needs to go in. Put it on gentle heat and bring it to a boil.
2. Once you see bubbles appearing on the surface, with the help of a slotted spoon, remove the whole aromatics. Discard the husks and in the cardamom pods, back to the milk.
3. It's time to add in 65 gm semolina to the milk now and keep whisking to avoid lump formation & to save it from sticking to the pan. Constant whisking with a balloon whisk for 5 mins ensures good biceps for sure, This information is just for motivation!! Once thickend, take it off the hob.
4. Add in 1 tbsp butter to the mix and allow for it to melt ( A minute is good enough). Add in some 95 gm jaggery powder & 50 gm ground almonds, and give a good mix. Keep this aside for about 15-20 mins, till it relatively cools down.
5. Preheat the convection of your oven to 180 degree C. Also this could be a good time to grease & line your baking tin.
6. Strain the soaked plump sultanas and coat them with some flour. 3/4th tbsp should do it!!
7. Break 2 eggs in a small bowl and lightly whisk them with a fork. Once the above mixture has relatively cooled down, add in the beaten eggs and mix till well combined. Throw in the flour coated sultanas into the mix with the couple of tbsp of the soaking liquid ( flavoured dark rum I mean). And it's done.
8.Top it with some flaked almonds and put in the oven, Bake for 45 mins at 180 degree C.
9. Once it comes out, cool it or a while in the tin itself. Remove after that and dust it with some icing sugar. Serve.
NOTE:
1. I baked it at 175 C for 55-60 mins.
2. Once the mixture cools don, you might notice a weird texture of the batter. Nothing to get alarmed for sure, It will all come together, as soon as you add in the beaten eggs, trust me.
3. Though the rum soaking is just a matter of few minutes, I prefer to do it quite a few days back. In fact, I always have some rum soaked raisins in my fridge. You can do the same. Tastes great with some plain vanilla ice-cream .
4. The last time In ran out of orange peel, I added in a half a tsp of orange extract. Surprisingly, that worked better for me, I suppose. The choice of course is yours.
5. In my tryst to make it sugar free I added in jaggery. Let me confess, also because I wanted to finish my jaggery powder ( LOL!!), you can of course use 65 gm brown sugar, if you have that at home.
6. I urge you to be generous with the flaked almonds. You can't believe how much crunch it provides to this otherwise soft delicate pudding cake.
After you have made it, I am sure you will weep with pleasure for getting to experience that trip down the memory lane. Time machine isn't much of a viable concept, but a spoonful of this will transport you to those summer afternoons, when mothers and grandmothers have feed you the woobly custard. Memories and food are to the shared, I feel that's one of the basic and practical method to welcome people into your home and lives. And once you know how to mix both, what comes to your table is something memorably. After all the hard truth: the last second you spent, has also become a memory.
Enjoy life. Don not just go through life, grow through life.
Similarly these taste-buds at time come on their own, reclaiming their freedom to crave for food that seems untimely yet can't be battled out. Somehow this kinda battles on which you being the only soldier gives me a sense of the gallant glory wars that history books have been known for injecting into our minds ever since school days. Me being a great sucker for all those gold and charioteers and grandeur, have always seeked refuge in taking a quick dip into the era of imagination, every now and then.
What I wanted to talk about today was Nostalgia. Accept it or not, the potency of nostalgia can never be undermined. The memories of Childhood can shape you become a serial killer or the superhero Bose, I meant Netaji ( you are not going to ask me who is that!! Are you??). And the fascinating stories of nostalgic childhood is often inspiring!!
The recipe that I am going to talk about today is honestly inspired from that, not a part of mine, but have been hearing about it from others, a lot: PUDDING. I somehow never liked it in those days, as a result mom never made puddings or custards for us. But couple of days back all of a sudden my grey cells wanted to travel back into time. And this recipe somehow seemed to make sense, a lot of it actually. Yes, it's a bit about baking for sure, but nothing tiring and no hardwork et all!! Infact it's not wrong to call it almost a child's play. The ingrediants building this cake is equally easy and inexpensive. Me thinks, it's more like rummaging your kitchen wardrobe, and you find everything in there. No shopping trips, no extensive shopping lists- I promise.
I promise you a comforting begining. Warm up some dark rum ( don't boil, just warm) with few cloves, 1" cinnamon stick. Once it has warmed up enough, take it off the hob. Add in 100 gm golden raisins to this warm boozy concoction. You will see in almost no time, the shriveled skin of these babies turn plump, as if getting injected with a good dosage of botox! Cool it, an pour in a container of choice ( I prefer airtight), and store in fridge. Job done. This needs to rest or at least 12 hours, if not more.
1. Start by pouring 500 ml milk ( I used full fat, you can stick to skimmed and all of that. I am pretty sure, taste will vary. Remember, fat is flavour!!) in a pan of choice. Add 4 crushed green cardamom & 2" cinnamon. Also half a tsp orange peel needs to go in. Put it on gentle heat and bring it to a boil.
3. It's time to add in 65 gm semolina to the milk now and keep whisking to avoid lump formation & to save it from sticking to the pan. Constant whisking with a balloon whisk for 5 mins ensures good biceps for sure, This information is just for motivation!! Once thickend, take it off the hob.
4. Add in 1 tbsp butter to the mix and allow for it to melt ( A minute is good enough). Add in some 95 gm jaggery powder & 50 gm ground almonds, and give a good mix. Keep this aside for about 15-20 mins, till it relatively cools down.
6. Strain the soaked plump sultanas and coat them with some flour. 3/4th tbsp should do it!!
7. Break 2 eggs in a small bowl and lightly whisk them with a fork. Once the above mixture has relatively cooled down, add in the beaten eggs and mix till well combined. Throw in the flour coated sultanas into the mix with the couple of tbsp of the soaking liquid ( flavoured dark rum I mean). And it's done.
9. Once it comes out, cool it or a while in the tin itself. Remove after that and dust it with some icing sugar. Serve.
NOTE:
1. I baked it at 175 C for 55-60 mins.
2. Once the mixture cools don, you might notice a weird texture of the batter. Nothing to get alarmed for sure, It will all come together, as soon as you add in the beaten eggs, trust me.
3. Though the rum soaking is just a matter of few minutes, I prefer to do it quite a few days back. In fact, I always have some rum soaked raisins in my fridge. You can do the same. Tastes great with some plain vanilla ice-cream .
4. The last time In ran out of orange peel, I added in a half a tsp of orange extract. Surprisingly, that worked better for me, I suppose. The choice of course is yours.
5. In my tryst to make it sugar free I added in jaggery. Let me confess, also because I wanted to finish my jaggery powder ( LOL!!), you can of course use 65 gm brown sugar, if you have that at home.
6. I urge you to be generous with the flaked almonds. You can't believe how much crunch it provides to this otherwise soft delicate pudding cake.
After you have made it, I am sure you will weep with pleasure for getting to experience that trip down the memory lane. Time machine isn't much of a viable concept, but a spoonful of this will transport you to those summer afternoons, when mothers and grandmothers have feed you the woobly custard. Memories and food are to the shared, I feel that's one of the basic and practical method to welcome people into your home and lives. And once you know how to mix both, what comes to your table is something memorably. After all the hard truth: the last second you spent, has also become a memory.
Enjoy life. Don not just go through life, grow through life.
Mouth-watering!👌
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