One of our friends, who had helped us in everything for the last 9 months of our stay here, has been admitted to the hospital due to an emergency. It was heart breaking to see him lie down in the hospital. He is a very cheerful and happy-to-be-around kind of guy. We were with him and his family all the weekend and we visit him daily now. So I wanted to take something for him yesterday and I remembered he loved the cakes that I prepare. But instead of cakes, I thought these cookies would be best thing to take to the hospital. He and his family loved it very much. I hope he gets well soon.
Aruna mailed me this recipe many days back. Here is what she has to say about it “These are moist and flavorful like little cakes. This is from the sugar packet I purchased. The product name is Bayview and this recipe was posted on it. Since you received request to post such quick recipes, I thought I should send it to you. What I am writing to you is exactly what is written on the cover. I used half of the proportion they mentioned. It turned out to be excellent. Should stay good outside at least for 3-4 days. My son who is a cocoa fan, and generally does not like things without cocoa, liked it very much. Do give a try. Hope you try in half the quantity, in case they turn out to be more also you can freeze the same and microwave the same at the time of eating.”.
Thanks Aruna for the recipe.
Ingredients: Granulated sugar 1 1/2 cups Shortening 2/3 cup Vanilla extract 1 tsp Eggs 2 Mashed ripe banana 1 cup (3 to 4 medium) All purpose flour 2 1/4 cups Baking powder 2 tsp Salt 1/2 tsp Baking soda 1/4 tsp Chopped nuts (optional) 1 cup Cinnamon powder 1/2 tsp
I prepared only half the quantity. Reduced the banana to 1 because I don’t like the heavy banana flavor. I did not use baking soda. I didn’t use nuts.
Method: Preheat oven to 400 F. Grease cookie sheets. In a large bowl, beat 1 1/4 cups sugar, shortening and vanilla untill fluffy. Beat in eggs, then bananas. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and soda. Beat into sugar mixture. Stir in nuts.
Chill 30 minutes. Drop by teaspoon 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.
Combine 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon, sprinkle over cookies.
Bake 10-12 min or untill lightly browned.
Makes 5 dozen. Preparation time : 10mins (excluding the baking and ‘standing’ time)
Since I like slightly hard cookies, after the first batch, I added 1/2 cup flour and 2 tea spns of sugar to make a thick dough. The cookies became hard(the way I like them).
In the above picture, the left cookies are the one with the above recipe and the right ones are hard(with my twist).
This is one of the most popular Konkani chivda/chooda (In Konkani we call it ‘chudvo’). There is a very popular(but very old) restaurant called ‘Alka’ in Kumta(they also sell munchies and sweets). Their ‘chudvo’ is one of the best and loved by all. During the wedding functions, people make this at home. This is served at the wedding and also served to the guests/relatives before and after wedding. One of the perfect accompaniment with a simple upma . Other times we buy it from ‘alka’. Aayi has stopped preparing it these days, but she would prepare this frequently when we were kids.
I had missed Dasara celebrations as I am very busy these days. But Diwali being one of the biggest festival for us, I don’t want to miss it. So I prepared this ‘chudvo’ yesterday. It requires a lot of patience as the thick poha and other things needs to be deep fried in very hot oil on a very low flame. Though this is not very healthy due to the deep frying, I prefer this once in a while. (Non deep frying version is here ).
The most important thing I miss here is diwali celebrations with lighting of lamps and the crackers. My dad would decorate the house with colored lights, we would light lamps(or candles) in front of the house. We don’t make any specific food on this day, only normal food with some sweets. But the pooja and rituals performed on the 4 days of diwali were so much fun. Here is how we celebrate the 4 days.
– On previous evening of diwali (Thrayodashi) we decorate the water well as well as the vessels (‘kolse’-Konkani or ‘koda’-Kannada or ‘matka’-Hindi) with a creeper called “Karita vali”. “Karit” is a small ping pong ball sized special cucumber with bitter taste. The bathrooms as well as the place were water is filled and heated for bath called as ‘bhan’ are decorated. In the evening, a pooja is done to the water well and then water is taken out and filled in ‘bhan’. This water is called ‘bhangra(golden) udak(water)’
– Next day, Amavasye, is celebrated as “Dhana lakshmi pooja”. Dhana meaning money. This is the pooja of ‘goddess of wealth’ – Lakshmi. On this day, pooja is performed to all the vehicles in the house(“Vahan pooja”). The shopkeepers decorate their shops and a Lakshmi photo. Lots of coins are kept in front of the photo and pooja is performed. Some sweets are distributed after the pooja.
– Next day, Padya, is celebrated as “Dhanya lakshmi pooja”. Dhanya meaning grain, in other words it is a pooja of ‘Goddess of food’ – Lakshmi. This day is also celebrated as “Gopooje” – pooja of holy cow. A sweet dosa called Gandarli/surnali is offered to the cows. They are decorated well and the pooja is done. In the evening, the books are kept in front of the god and pooja is performed. Same time ‘aarti’ is done to small children in the house. All the 4 days, crackers are burnt and lamps are lighted in the night.
Now coming back to the ‘chudva’ recipe. This is my entry to Vee’s Diwali treats .
Ingredients: Thick poha(avalakki or rice flakes) 2 cups Poha masala 2 tea spns Pea nuts 1 tbl spn Split dalia(hurigadale/putani) 1 tbl spn Curry leaves 1 strand Red chilies 2-3 Sugar 1 tea spn Salt 1 tea spn Dry coconut pieces 1 tbl spn Sev 1/2 cup
Peanuts, dalia, coconut and the powders can be increased or decreased according to taste. In India, there are 3 types of poha available. Thin, medium and thick. The thick kind is also called as ‘chooda poha or chudva phovu’. Since I was having only medium thickness poha here, I used the same for this. But the thick poha is best suitable for this.
Method: Mix poha masala, sugar and salt. Keep it aside.
Heat oil. Deep fry pea nuts. Take in a large bowl.
Deep fry dalia and take out. Just for fun, I added few Chana dal also, but it is NOT required.
Deep fry curry leaves, red chili pieces and coconut. Take out.
Deep fry poha, one table spoon at a time. Fry on a very low flame. They before slightly puffed after frying. (If not fried properly, the entire ‘chudvo’ becomes hard).
Add the masalas to the fried poha, sev(mix besan, a pinch of soda, salt with water and press into hot oil using chakli press. Use the disc with many tiny holes to make the sev) and other things and mix well.
When it is cooled to room temperature, store in an air tight container.
Preparation time : 30-45mins
Updated on 25th Oct 2006: Following are the pictures of “Udak bharche”(thrayodashi celebrations – read above) taken at my native Kodkani.
