As I write this post,I am biting into a yummy nankhatai that I made yesterday.Years ago,when we were young kids(5-6 yrs old),my mother used to have a round oven with a glass top manufactured by Paramount and which came with a recipe book.The first thing that she made was Nankhatai.And I can never forget its melt in the mouth texture and taste.The taste of that nankhatai still lingers in my mind and recently it started enticing me even in my dreams!so much so I had to make the nankhatai instead of just dreaming about Mummy's nankhatai.But I did not have that particular recipe which used butter instead of ghee.So I had to search for an authentic recipe.Vaishali's recipe came to my rescue.I made a few modifications though,so here is the recipe:
Ingredients:1 cup all purpose flour
1 & 1/4cup wholewheat flour(chapathi atta in plain terms)
1 &1/2 tsp baking powder
12 tbsp ghee
1 cup sugar
Seeds from 12 pods of green cardamoms
Method:Grind the sugar along with the cardamom seeds in a food processor until very fine.
Mix the two flours,ground sugar and cardamoms and the baking powder.Mix well with a fork or a whisk so that the baking powder is distributed evenly.
Now add 5-6 tbsp of solidified ghee to the flour mix, and mix with your hand to form a mixture with the texture of fine breadcrumbs.
From this point on,add ghee by the tablespoon,judging how much would be needed to make a pliable soft dough that holds together.The dough should hold its shape and not look dry.
At this point,what I did is to shape small balls out of this,about 1 inch in diameter and arranged them on lined baking sheets,spaced atleast 2 inches apart.I also flattened them a little.Then while the oven was getting heated,I put them in the fridge for about 15 mins.I baked them directly from the fridge.By this time,they were cool enough to hold their shape well in the heat of the oven and yet puff up like buttons.
I baked them at 350F/180C/Gas Mark 4 for 20 mins until they were lightly browned at the edges.
My Notes:These tasted so yummy ,that by now I have gobbled up atleast 15 of these little beauties in a matter of two days!
Now for the Meme that Sunita tagged me for:
- Mathematics as for so many if us, is not my best subjects.I was never good at it and infact,was quite ashamed of the fact as long as I was in school.Only when I was in class Tenth,I was lucky enough to get a very good teacher who gave me the confidence to try my hand at maths.But I never ventured into that after my High school finals.I chose to do what I was good at-Literature.
- I was afraid of the dark until I was almost 17 yrs old.As a child I had a bad attack of measles and psychologically as well a physically took very very long to recover from it.I used to feel that there is a huge lion which is going to pounce upon me from behind whenever I went into the dark.A lot of self discipline finally helped me overcome it,but it wasn't until recently that I read that severe illness can cause these fears and phobias too.
- I used aspire to be a writer some day.I remember there used to be broadcast a teleserial by famous Marathi actor and director Amol Palekar which had 3 sisters as the main characters.I used to identify myself a lot with the second of the three as I am also the second of three girls, and like that girl in the serial,loved reading.I used to dream that I would have a big library of books which I would read all my life.
- I was not mentally prepared to marry until I was 25.I had always wanted to study and get a good job.I also wanted to stay back and look after my parents.But right then,my dear hubby stepped into my life and boy,has my life changed since December 2000!
- I never had much confidence to do all those co-curricular activities when in school.My sisters were both quite good but for some reason,I preferred to hide my face behind books.
- I used to hate regular study as a school girl(I know,not a good example at all for my little one, and wouldn't want to tell her until she finishes her education hee hee).So I would borrow lots of story books from our school library and hide them in my history and geography as well as science books.And read them slyly.
- I am very independent by nature and do not like anybody telling me how to do things .I prefer to learn to do things on my own.I think that is the best way to learn.I learnt reading like that, and cooking too.I started baking on my own when I was in class ninth, about 13 yrs old.My parents also somehow treat me a little different from my sisters.The one thing I am proud of is that everyone in my family thinks that I am much stronger(mentally and emotionally) than anyone else.I have always been bugged by the fact that I was never good at maths and never got a good teacher to teach me the right way.But then,we all have our regrets and God gives us other powers to compensate for what we do not have.I believe I have proved myself amply by determining to learn things that I always wanted to do-cooking gourmet dishes, and most important,cake decoration.I cannot remember for how long I have had the desire to do an exquisitely iced cake.I have not reached that point yet but I am sure I will do it.And all this without any formal classes.I finally feel proud that even though I could not do better at maths,God has given me the ability to learn things on my own.
