Surviving with a Cricket Fan(atic) and a Recipe for Pan Fried Pizza

My husband warned me recently that he would need to be in control of the TV remote for a few days! He wanted to watch the Cricket World cup, it seems. This did not come as too much of a shock to me, because in a country where cricket is more of a religion than a sport, it is but natural to find fanatics everywhere. And with the ongoing World Cup, there is an increase in cricketing activity everywhere. There are so many kids (even more than usual) on the roads and streets playing the game, with paper or tennis balls, sometimes small boards and writing files instead of proper bats, and wickets made of anything that can stand upright. You are more likely to find your colleague in front of the canteen TV than at his workstation and everyone wants to talk about the players and particularly exciting matches (not necessarily played in recent history). No ball, run or fielding action is spared a detailed post mortem. And isn't it commendable how every product on the market can be linked to cricket/cricketers, right from detergent powders to automobiles?

 I wonder what exactly their expression is supposed to mean? Some of them do look slightly constipated. And why wasn’t Sreeshant chosen here? He seems to wear this expression all the time.

Growing up with my brother taught me that it is not advisable to argue with a fanatic who wanted to watch a series. (I was a slow learner and it was only after several fist fights, kicks and punches that the lesson finally sunk in). The match, the highlights, the repeat telecast of the match, the repeat telecast of the highlights, the analysis of the match by intellectual cricketers and commentators, the awards ceremony are all more important than Friends, Indian Idol, Desperate Housewives, Magic Oven and the Sunday movie. I am of the opinion that my experiences in life have made me something of an expert about surviving with devoted cricket fans, and I will give you some tips for the same. This applies to you only if you do not enjoy the game or if you are a moderate fan, happy to check the score once in a while.

1)  Surrender the TV remote, especially if you belong to the fairer sex. Things could get ugly.

2)  Remember that fans are highly superstitious. If a batsman becomes out immediately after you sneeze or ask for the score, you need to stop doing that. Who is to say, maybe you do possess the power to dismiss a batsman from the comforts of your living room.

3)  Another superstition, if a commentator praises a batsman too much, his innings will come to an end soon. In such situations, do not try to speak reason. You are simply wasting your breath.

4)  Do not show too much interest in the game, unless you want to be bored with the statistics of every game ever played.

5)  If you are in a large company, be assured that there will be people for and against Tendulkar. And if, unfortunately, Tendulkar is dismissed too soon, there are going to be heated arguements about his credibility as a batsman. (Sigh). I remember my uncle telling everyone that the country had many better bowlers than Kumble (at the time Kumble played in ODIs), every time he was hit for a six. Such arguements cannot be helped. But on the bright side, you can be assured that everyone, especially Keralites, will be united in bashing Sreeshant.

6)  Be positive. Consider this as a time you could pursue other interests, such as reading, cooking, music etc.

7)  A totally different approach would be to go along with the tide, and try and enjoy the whole show. But I find it tough keeping up a pretense for too long.

I hope you find my tips remotely useful. Atleast now you know what you are going through is normal, and happens in every other home.

I have my cousin and his family living nearby. While they claim that they like to watch every match at their home (something to do with their TV being bigger and clearer than our TV), I hope I could tempt them to my place with the promise of good food. I have in mind pan fried pizzas with a salami and sausage topping; difficult to resist and easy to make, perfect for the game night.

For the pizza base:
1 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon active dried yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup warm water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
Oil, to deep fry

For the sauce:
400 grams ripe tomatoes, chopped finely
1 onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 green capsicum, chopped finely
1 cube chicken taste maker
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt, to taste
Oil, as required

For the topping:
200 grams frankfurter
14 slices chicken salami
40 grams cheddar cheese, crumbled
Oil as required

Method:

Pizza Base:

Combine yeast, sugar and water in a bowl, cover and stand in a warm place for about 10 minutes or until the mixture is frothy.

Sift flour and salt into a large bowl, stir in yeast mixture, oil and crushed garlic and mix into a soft dough. Knead dough on a floured surface for about 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover and stand in a warm place for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, knead until smooth.

Divide the dough into 14 balls. Place each ball on the palm of your hand, and flatten out into a flat circular disc about 4 cm in diameter by pressing your palms together.

Deep fry in hot oil until browned on both sides.

Sauce and Topping:

Fry the frankfurter in hot oil. Remove from the oil and slice into small circles discs.

Add more oil to the pan in which you fried the frankfurter, if required. Saute crushed garlic till aromatic. Add onion, and continue sauteing till the onion is translucent. Add tomatoes, chicken taste maker, and Italian herbs (a mix of dried parsley, rosemary, basil, sage etc). Cook for 10 minutes, till the water from the tomatoes has almost evaporated.

Add capsicum, salt and sugar and saute till the capsicum has softened.

Top each pizza base with salami, sauce, frankfurter and cheese. Heat in a microwave oven till the cheese has melted.

If you have leftover sauce, it can be stored in the refrigerator, and used in sandwiches, or with chappathis, or even as a chutney for dosa.

The recipe for the pizza base is adapted from Australian Womens Weekly magazine. And this post will be submitted to YeastSpotting.

Best of luck, all you fans out there. Chak De India!!!

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Crazy Love and a Chocolate Cheese Cake !!!

Who that has loved knows not the tender tale which flowers reveal, when lips are coy to tell?

I heard an anecdote that got me pondering about love and the games it plays on its innocent victims.

" A psychiatrist visits his patients at a mental institution he newly joined, while his nurse gives him a brief overview about each patient.

Room 1 is occupied by a man, staring out of the window with a sad and faraway look in his eyes. He repeatedly says Priya, as if it were a mantra that tethers him to life. The nurse explains that Priya was his lover, but he was unable to marry her, and this made him incurably crazy.

Room 2 is occupied by a man who is as violent as a mad man could possibly be. The doctor sees him throw things around, yell and shout, and tear at his hair in anguish. The nurse explains, "Now this man here got married to Priya".  "

I do not know where you belong, but if you are in love, you are bound to find yourself in one of the rooms soon enough (even if it is only for short periods of time). On this happy and optimistic note, let me share the recipe of the chocolate cheese cake I made at home on Valentine's Day, as a special treat for the man who drives me crazy.

You will need:

120 grams chocolate cookies
1/4 cup almonds
45 grams butter
15 grams gelatin
125 ml milk
125 grams sugar
2 eggs
200 grams whipped cream
125 grams cream cheese
50 grams thick curd
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
Water, as required

Method:

Blanch the almonds in hot water for a minute. Wash with cold water and slip the skins off.

Put the cookies and almonds into a plastic bag and and bash with a rolling pin so that you have a coarse mixture. Alternately, you can chop the almonds instead of powdering them. Melt the butter in a pan, and add the powdered cookies and nuts. Mix well, so that everything comes together.

Butter a springform tin well. Fix the base of the tin inside out, to make it easy to remove the cheese cake. Press the cookie mixture onto the tin base.

Mix the gelatin with some water and let it rest for around 15 minutes. Melt the gelatin by double boiling.

Boil the milk, and dissolve the sugar in it. Remove from fire. Once it has cooled down, add the egg yolks and mix well. Heat on a low flame, stirring continuously. Add the melted gelatin to this custard.

Beat the whipping cream, cream cheese, sieved cocoa powder and vanilla essence well. Mix it with the custard and pour into the cake mould, over the cookie mixture. Let it set in the fridge for atleast two hours.

Place the tin on a flat work surface, and remove the ring carefully. Run a knife beneath the cookie base, and the transfer the cake to a serving plate.



I wanted to top the cheesecake with whipped cream, but ran out of it (whipped cream is pretty expensive here). Moreover, the cheesecake will do wonders to your waist line even without the additional cream.

Bye !!

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Valentine's Day - To Celebrate or Not To Celebrate, That is The Question

Beware of sitting together on Valentine's day, you may be inviting trouble. On other days, you are safe....

I was thinking of doing something special this Valentine's Day, maybe a short trip, or a candle light dinner someplace nice. But as I made my plans, it struck me that they may not be in keeping with my cultural values and heritage. After all, don't powerful political and religious groups dedicate a lot of time and energy beating up 16 year olds holding hands, vandalizing shops that sell greeting cards and cuddly teddy bears, forcing couples into marriage or into tying a rakhi (depending on whether they say they are lovers or just friends or brother and sister). Surely, saying "Happy Valentine's Day", or giving a loved one a piece of chocolate has to be a terrible crime, or the aforementioned political groups would definitely focus on other pressing issues - corruption, poverty, women's problems and such? But I am confused which aspect of Valentine's Day endangers the Indian culture -

Is it being in love? But that can't be, because love has been written and sung about in our country for centuries. And come on, love is an emotion as old as time itself.

Is it the teddy bears and the greeting cards? But they are so cute, even the moral police has to agree. And they are sold not only on Valentine's Day, though I guess that the sales might peak at this time of the year.

Is it the commercialization? But then, isn't every major festival commercialized. I no longer check my holiday calendar to find out the date of an upcoming festival; I just have to watch TV for a couple of minutes, to learn about festival dates, offers, sales and discounts in connection to the celebrations.

Maybe it is St Valentine? Then again, various religions have been practiced in this country for years, and no one need have any particular vengeance against St Valentine. And let us accept it; I hardly think anyone planning on celebrating is giving much of a thought to St Valentine. They would be more worried about the flowers and the chocolates and the gifts, and about avoiding the blows and the lathis, should they come across any member of the guardians of our culture and heritage.

Ah, I am unable to find out just how celebrating Valentine's Day would make me "Un Indian" and unpatriotic. But whatever said and done, I want to emphasize that I think the culture and values of this country are strong enough to stand a blow caused by any gift I get on this day. So my dear Valentine, if you are reading (you better be!), I will allow you to gift me something nice, thoughtful and EXPENSIVE, with pleasure.

Chou !!!

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Sweet Ari Pidi - A Gentle Reminder of the Past

“God gave us memories so that we might have roses in December.”

Visits to my mother's house were a fun filled, biweekly affair. We would spend the entire day in the quaint little village (not so quaint now), where each house stands in several acres of land and rubber trees and pineapple plantations dominate the scene. We used to meet up with my aunt and cousins at the bus stop, and the fun started from that point. My mother and aunt would reminisce about their childhood and home, and though we had heard their tales many times, we hung on every word. (Funny how most women are fiercely proud of their ancestral homes, especially after marriage, and nothing else feels so perfect.)

After getting off the bus, we would walk to the house, with my mom pointing out trees and birds, and telling me their names. Having spent many years of my childhood in the gulf, I used to be filled with wonder at the way everyone else could name a bird just by hearing its song, how every family in the area seemed to have hens and even cows, at the crunch of dried leaves beneath my feet and how calm and quite the place was. Even today, the hustle and bustle of the nearby towns has not completely infiltrated this charming village.

There was a long flight of stone steps leading up to my mom's house, and we would announce our arrival, standing on the bottom step, by shouting out for our grandmother or Ammachi. My earliest memory of my Ammachi is of a beautiful old woman (was she always old? I can't imagine a younger version), dressed in a white chatta and mundu (a long blouse and a full length wrap around 'skirt' with pleats at the back). After a few exchanges with her, we would disappear to the kitchen, where amidst preparations for a lavish lunch which included chasing a plump hen for making chicken curry, platefuls of pineapple, jackfruit, guava and banana, lots of stories and gossip were exchanged. Visits to my great uncles' houses were part of the routine, and they invariably complained that we did not visit them often enough :).

Post lunch, we would relax, though Ammachi would already be making plans for tea. It would mostly be boiled kappa (cassava) with a spicy onion and green chili chutney (a relish), or kappa or jackfruit cooked along with grated coconut and red fish curry, or ettakka appam (banana fritters). But sometimes, she would make pidi which was my brother's favourite. My mom and aunt would instruct us kids to help her. So we would settle on the kitchen floor (the luckier ones would get the korandi or low wooden stools) and make small balls with rice flour, while Ammachi would extract coconut milk and do whatever else was required. And what would my mom and aunt do? I don't remember very well, but I think they used to tell us that the balls should not be too big, that we were not making them fast enough, and wondered out loud how we would manage a family once we were married (;))

Those were the good old days which are never to come back, what with most people in my Ammachi's generation gone, and siblings in my generation scattered around the globe. But a few years down the line, I think some childhood memories may be all we have and all we need, which is why I write this post, as a reminder of a bygone era.

The last time my brother came home, my mom and aunt made pidi for him, more for the sake of Ammachi's memory than anything else. I don't know whether it was as nice as the one she used to make, but here is the recipe:

Ari Pidi

Ingredients:

3 cups rice flour (You can use pre packed Idiyappam rice flour)
1/2 cup thick coconut milk and 8 cups of thin coconut milk extracted from one coconut
Sugar, as per taste
3/4 tsp cardamom powder
A pinch of cumin seed powder
Boiling water

Method:
 
1) Make soft dough by pouring boiling water into the rice flour. Add water little by little, and mix well with a spoon, so that you finally have dough which will keep its form when shaped into small balls.

2) Keep aside 4 tbsps of dough. Once the rest of the dough has cooled down, shape it into small balls of around 7mm diameter.

3) Boil the thin coconut milk with sugar. Add the rice balls into the boiling coconut milk, and continue boiling on a low heat till the rice balls are completely cooked. Alternately, you can first steam the rice balls till they are cooked, and then add them to the boiling coconut milk.

4) Mix the dough kept aside with the thick coconut milk, and pour it into the boiling pidi. 

5) Remove from fire and add powdered cardamom and cumin seed.



You can adjust the consistency of the pidi by mixing in more coconut milk (if the pidi is too thick), or boiling for a longer time (in case you find the pidi too runny).

Enjoy !

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