Cinnamon Cookies & the misadventures in the making...

I guess the title tells it all....but here goes the whole long tale...

Cinnamon Cookies

There was a story which we had heard when we were young, do not remember it properly - but it goes like this - a monkey ( or maybe a kid  who knows ) was given a banana - and asked to split it equally and give it to two children. 
He peeled it and broke it in half - the halves were not equal - so to make it equal - he took a bite from the bigger half...and then he saw that the other half was a bit bigger - so then he bit from that one...and so on...
You can guess how this one ends...lol !!!

My misadventures was sort of like that story - I did follow the recipe as mentioned...but somehow found that my dough was a little dry ...to counter that I added some ghee (Indian clarified butter) - and that made it too soft and moist...so added some maida ( all purpose flour) - and then felt the sweetness was less, so the final batch was rolled in some sugar/cinnamom powder. (Now I am not sure if my story matches the one above...it just somehow bought that one to my mind)

Nyways...I made a batch with every alteration - so have some 5 different varities of the cookies...with just the one dough. :-). 
See below pictures...                                                                                                                                                                                                     

All 5 varities

Different textures of the cookies

Kansar - Sheera with Fada - Broken Wheat pudding - Daliya Sweet Dish

Kansar or Fada Sheera

This month was very hectic - in terms of the no. of visitors we had - generally our home could be likened to a very sleepy village or town - but the past few weeks you could compare it to a bustling metropolis....

I guess, visitors from the fair climes prefer to come when it is a bit cool here for them (winter for us here in Mumbai) - it makes their stay more comfortable - but this year it seemed that everyone we knew - friends & relatives had come at the very same time...

While it was fun to meet up with all - and we had rollicking parties every second day [as much as our creaking bones would allow :-)] - the biggest question was what do I prepare for each one of our visitors...what are their preferences ...likes, dislikes....

Yesterday T's b-i-l was to arrive in Mumbai...so some of his favourite veggies, dhebra, etc were planned ...and for dessert, I decided to make a sheera  from fada - that is broken wheat - or daliya as it is called, the actual name for this dish is Kansar -  pronounced like kasar...I think the 'n' sound is silent...but anyways when I looked up the net - I saw it was spelled as kansar...so that is what I have put up on my title...though I prefer to think of it as fada sheera.

Ok - so coming back to this dish - I have seen while it was being made in A'bad, by our very talented cook B...and read a few different recipes for the same - but I made it slightly differently...and I think it turned out pretty good (so did T's bil ), so I decided to post the recipe.

Sabudana Kheer / Sago Pudding

Sabudana Kheer

Normally on the 1st of Jan - as a sort of celebration (New Year Day ! )  I make something sweet - or at least have been doing so for past some years now.

During a chat about what we had the previous year, and what we should make for this year, Mom came up with kheer ( which is like a sort of pudding - but without the egg )....and I got to thinking. Years ago, one of Mom's favourite kheer was the sabudana kheer...which like so many of her regular dishes was sort of forgotten as we discovered & adopted new recipes from others around. So thought let me surprise her with this kheer this year.

So as always trolling the net ( get a lot of ideas from there ) - and having some idea of how Mom used to prepare it - and having  had a fair bit of idea myself from all the different kheers that I have since prepared ...and thus armed with all the gathered intel...went about making it...
It was an eye opener - I had totally forgotten how amazing this kheer turns out - so smooth - so melt in the mouth...it can be had hot or cold ( though I prefer it cold, it becomes better the longer you keep it - say the next day... ) - the starch in the sago (sabudana) makes it yummy - that you just cannot stop at one bowl. It is like a comfort food...like a good soup...or chocolate - you get a long and lasting pleasure when you have it...

Nyways - so back to present day...why did I go down memory lane...cause we were expecting my hubby's friend to come over for lunch - and while planning the menu, and since he has a sweet tooth - decided to make this kheer (since it had been bought back to our notice this year)....
So within a span of a month I was back to boiling and reducing the milk, soaking the sabudana, frying the cashew & raisins, crushing the cardamoms....and this time managed to get a few pictures taken...so that this blog could be complete...with text & the pictorials..