Orappam

What is Orappam?
I don't know how to describe it. Once when we had lots of extra coconuts at home, Ammachi made orappam for me and the process was long. She had to manually squueze the coconuts to get the milk, manually pound the rice to get the flour and as she didn't have an oven and she had to burn coconut shells and place them on top of the pan to bake the Orappam. I have only eaten it once as a child.
I have modified Ammachi's version of Orappam. I don't have the patience to manually squeeze coconuts or make molasses syrup. Instead I use canned coconut milk and brown sugar.
Ingredients
2 cups of rice flour
2 cups of brown sugar
2 eggs
I can of coconut milk(400ml)
2 tbls spn ghee
2 tbl spn coconut oil
1/2 t spn cake Jeera/caraway seeds
1/2 t spn cardomom powder
1/4 tspn nutmeg powder
10 cashews broken in to pieces

Take 6oz of of coconut milk and add 2 oz of water to it and boil it along with the broken cashews for 10 minutes.

Beat the egg and add the rest of the coconut milk, brown sugar, rice flour, spices and the ghee. Mix well. Add the boiled coconut milk along with the cashews.

In a thick bottom pan, heat the above mix on medium heat, stirring often. It will get lumpy as you cook and that is ok. Once the mix forms a thick lump( ie, there is no more liquid) put in to a 7 inch buttered cake pan. Level the top with a spoon.

Pour the coconut oil on top.

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees F( 170 C). bake it for about 20 minutes till the top is golden brown
Take it out of the oven and cool for 10 mints. Cut it in to slices and serve

Boiled fruit cake

Didn't get time to soak the fruits in rum? Still want to bake a Christmas cake?
Well this is my favourite, easy fruitcake.. where you get to boil the mixed fruits!!

Ingredients
150gm butter or margarine
175 gm sugar
1/3 cup water
175 ml milk
250gm raisins
125 gm sultanas
125gm dates(chopped)
50 gm mixed peel( optional)
250gm plain flour
1/2 tspn cardomom powder
1/2 tspn cinnamon powder
1/4 tspn cloves powder
1/4 t spn nutmeg powder
2 eggs
1/2 tspn sodium bicarbonate

In a sauce pan, boil the sugar with the water. When the sugar has melted, add the butter/margarine, milk and the fruit, heat slowly till the butter has melted, continue heating on med heat for abt 10 mints.( the fruits now look plump and cute!!). remove from fire and cool

Sift the soda, spices and the flour together.( honestly, I never sift the soda and the spices with the flour, I just add that in to the cooled fruit mix and mix it well..I don't have a sieve!.)

Once the fruit mix is cooled, add the flour, and the eggs and mix well.

Pour in to a lined( outside and inside) 7 inch pan

Preheat oven to 150 degrees C(300F)
Bake for about 1 hr, till a tooth pick inserted in to the center of the cake comes out clean.( cooking time varies, according to the type of the oven).

Hint; If you are using the convection part of the microwave to bake a cake, keep a plate (oven proof) full of water under the turn table. This ensures that, the cake will remain moist, during baking

Christmas cake icing

I have been wanting to update my recipe blog, but I never get the chance to do so.. I wish a day had more than 24 hours!

I just finished icing my christmas cake today. I haven't made the rose flowers yet.!!( will upload the photo later)

The process of Icing a cake sounds a lot complicated. In reality it is one of the easiest thing to do.

I usually use marzipan as a base coat and Royal icing as a top coat.

Marzipan( Almond icing)
100gm almonds ground
1 cup icing sugar
3/4 cup castor sugar(fine)
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp lemon juice

In a bowl, mix the lemon juice and the egg yolk, add the rest of the ingredients and knead well till it feels smooth and nice. Sprinkle icing sugar on a kitchen board and roll the almond icing to 1/4 inch thickness( I find it easier to roll the icing, when I sprinkle some icing sugar on top of the almond mix and then roll).
I do cover the whole cake with the almond icing, so it is easier for me to do the royal icing. But you don't have to do it. You can cover just the top of the cake and not the side
Some people apply 2 to 3 spoons of apricot jam over the cake, before placing the almond icing, so the almond icing would stick to the cake. I hate apricots!


Next layer is the Royal icing. It is one of the easiest icing.. this is how you do it
1 egg white
1 tsp lemon juice
2 to 2 1/2 cup icing sugar

First thing to do is sift the icing sugar.. so that there are no lumps

In a fairly big bowl, mix the egg white and the lemon juice using a fork. ( you don't have to beat it so much.. just simple mixing will do)
Now add the icing sugar one spoon at a time (do not add too much of sugar at one time, you will get a lousy icing..I am telling you that from experience!!), in to the egg lemon juice mix and keep stirring, keep adding the icing sugar till you get the fairly stiff icing..
(I dip a spatula in to the icing and lift a bit of icing up and check if the icing forms a peak).
Apply the icing on top of the marzipan layer and smoothen the surface.

See, I told you, it is simple!!

The cake above was the one I baked for my daughter's birthday.The top coat is royal icing and the dancing girl was made with Plastic icing..