Prep your own candied dry fruits and nuts for a yummy fruit cake

How about making your own Christmas or New Year fruit cake this year? You think it is complicated? Not at all. You think it's too late to start ? No, again. Read on for an easy way to prepare your own dry fruit n nut mixture that tastes great even with a minimum 12 hour soaking period. What's more? Make a little extra and stow it away in the refridgerator for next year's baking.


Assorted chopped dry fruits and nuts - 3 cups (I used dates, apricots, golden raisins, jumbo raisins, walnuts, cashewnuts, prunes)
Orange peel - 1 medium sized orange's rind with the white pith scraped out (cut into small pieces)
Rum (use any spirit you have at hand) - 2 cups

Put everything together in a skillet and toss on low flame till warm, and an aroma emanates. Close lid and let stand overnight. In the morning, place this in the fridge and let stand for another 10 hrs or so. Bring to room temperature before using in the cake.

For an equally easy Fruit cake recipe with your candied fruits and nuts,
click here.

Learn how to make paneer (cottage cheese)at home

Starting on your first culinary expedition? Here's help. Do let me know if you require anything specific.
Cheers!

Boil 1 litre of full cream milk. Add a dessertspoon of fresh lime juice and a teaspoon of sour curd into the milk while it's still hot. Keep stirring as the milk curdles and seperates into paneer and whey. Place a thin muslin cloth over another vessel and pour this mixture through it so as to filter out just the paneer. Now, tie up and hang the cloth with the paneer inside so as to drain all the whey. Let stay for an hour or more.Place the paneer on a flat surface and place a heavy object on top so as to flatten it out. Let stay for sometime. Now, open cloth and cut paneer into cubes.
PS: If you want a low fat version, use 1 litre low fat milk and 1/4 litre full fat milk.
PS: The whey is rich in nutrients. It can be added to soups or used in the gravy in which you make the paneer.

How to make Idli/ dosa batter?

Starting on your first culinary expedition? Here's help. Do let me know if you require anything specific.
Cheers!
Raw rice - 4 cups (if the quality of black gram is not fluffy enough use 3 cups rice)
Black gram (urad dhal/ uzhunnu) - 1 cup (without skin)
Fenugreek seeds (methi/uluva/vendayam) - 1 teaspoon (5 gms)
Gingelly oil (sesame oil/nallennai) - 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Cooked rice - a handful (optional)

Wash and soak the raw rice and black gram seperately for 4 hours with water sufficient to immerse them. Soak the fenugreek seeds along with the black gram.
Grind the black gram adding water little by little into a smooth fluffy paste. You can use the wet grinder blade of a mixer or the wet grinder for this. Grind the rice likewise and add to the bleack gram paste. Add salt to taste along with the gingelly oil. Blend everything together very well and allow to ferment overnight.

PS: Adding the right quantity of water is key to the quality of the batter. For idlis the batter should be of a thicker consistency. To make dosas with the same batter just add a little more water.

NOTES:  I've had reader queries regarding alternatives to raw rice. Here they are:

• Parboiled rice
• Idly rice (this looks like par boiled rice and has teh same texture but is sold for a higher price in my part of the world)
• Basmati rice (during our stay at Lebanon this was the only type available in the neighbourhood supermarket, they work well too)

You can use these solely or in combination with the raw rice. Browse through the Idli and dosa section for many more options.