While my mother was alive, I was an absolute brat. I gave her incessant grief about many things-the prerogative of the pampered. I cribbed about her cooking. And now that she is no more, I find that she was an amazing chef! With very little at hand and in the hardest of circumstances she could turn out the most mouth watering dishes.
Like many women of the time (I'm sure this is true even now), a lot of her interactions with friends involved cooking and other household tips. It was from one such session with a very sweet lady that Amma got a recipe for what she called Fudge.
At that time, we were using a coal stove as backup. We had gas but we had to make it last for ages-it was a luxury, We had a kerosene stove which was also rationed fuel for us in those days and now we had a chullah. It was on this, with its slow fire, that Amma made the most yummy ever fudge.
Whenever I asked her for the recipe she just said:
1 cup sooji (semolina)
1 cup sugar
1 cup ghee
1 cup khoa
1 glass milk.
And I tried and I tried but I think the secret lies in the slow fire. However, even if I find that slow a flame, it's not as if I will acquire my mother's patience to sit over a hot stove and stir and stir and stir. I'd go stir crazy!
Anyway, I tend to add cocoa to the mixture towards the end and a lot of ghee oozes out but my family seems to love that which emerges.
This is the only sweet I made this Holi and I made do with some leftover rabri instead of khoa. I am now going to use up the ghee that oozed out to make another batch.
Like many women of the time (I'm sure this is true even now), a lot of her interactions with friends involved cooking and other household tips. It was from one such session with a very sweet lady that Amma got a recipe for what she called Fudge.
At that time, we were using a coal stove as backup. We had gas but we had to make it last for ages-it was a luxury, We had a kerosene stove which was also rationed fuel for us in those days and now we had a chullah. It was on this, with its slow fire, that Amma made the most yummy ever fudge.
Whenever I asked her for the recipe she just said:
1 cup sooji (semolina)
1 cup sugar
1 cup ghee
1 cup khoa
1 glass milk.
And I tried and I tried but I think the secret lies in the slow fire. However, even if I find that slow a flame, it's not as if I will acquire my mother's patience to sit over a hot stove and stir and stir and stir. I'd go stir crazy!
Anyway, I tend to add cocoa to the mixture towards the end and a lot of ghee oozes out but my family seems to love that which emerges.
This is the only sweet I made this Holi and I made do with some leftover rabri instead of khoa. I am now going to use up the ghee that oozed out to make another batch.
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