Over to you dear  friend…

 I often talk about food and memories, the flashbacks of what was eaten years ago and replicated once again now. But I think I hardly share with you about our daily happenings. How the real life is. How it gets pretty mundane yet hectic at the same time. How important each moment is, especially with the young one as I try to catch every ounce of memories into the ‘bank’. Let’s talk in present tense, and how my daughter loves her whisk with cupcake knob and my stainless steel bowl, day in day out pretending to make cakes in her fancy kitchen. Or how she converts our dining table into her make-shift oven and gives running commentary of what should go next into her cake batter.

Most days, I let her imagination runs wild and let the empty pots speak back to her with overflowing milk or runny egg yolk, imaginary that is. But some days I would be generous and let her run the show, with real egg, really good unsalted butter and cups of flours for her to muck about.  And create something magical to be baked in real oven. 

  Which she did. My role is just a spectator, with hands gently nudging on right direction. A wee bit more cornflakes, surely you love that in your cookies? Raisins or chopped cherries, or both? What’s cooking in my kitchen is usually inspired by what my daughter wants, so when Humi, the lovely friend behind Gheza-e -Shirin invites me to guest post at her space, my mind rivets to what my daughter was doing at that moment-and I am inspired.

Truth be told, I love cornflakes cookies. Eid in Malaysia, which is what I knew most of my life, is all about celebration at the end of Ramadan, and that means plenty of cakes and jars of cookies. As I deliberately took longish annual leave during the last leg of Ramadan, it feels so good to be home bonding with my daughter with no pressure of work, waiting eagerly for Eid, or what we call Hari Raya. I am so glad that this year, my daughter and I do our baking together, making enough jars of cookies to bring home for my parents.

These corn flake cookies were really meant to be cut cookies but as my daughter hijacked the dough off my hands and started making small balls, I followed her will and took out small petit four cases. Make them into truffle instead, with pretty zigzags of chocolates! Either way, these are delicious and festive.

In keeping with Humi’s guest posts for Ramadan, here is a sneak peek of what’s happening in our kitchen during the last few days of this holy month. Ramadhan and Eid are never the same without gatherings of family, lots of religious rites, the joy of pre-dawn meals, and late night baking all in the spirit of the festive season.  

Thank you Humi for giving me this opportunity to celebrate Ramadan with a new stream of readers. I am highly honoured and would like to wish you all “Ramadan Kareem” !

This version of Kheer which I am going to present today, is one of those which was a bit on the luxury side and was called Malayi ki Kheer. My friend loved it, and so did I. Hence, when Humi asked me to bring in something for Ramadan, I instantly knew I had to make something from that lot. This Kheer uses half milk and half cream, instead of just milk and no condensed milk at all.

  But the taste was amazing and it complimented the overall flavour very well. Its optional and you may not need to use it, instead you can use rose water for extra flavour or no essence at all. Recipe is very simple and quick to make, unlike the Rice Kheer and the taste is very different from the usual kheer since we are using heavy milk fat here which is rich and sweet in itself. Beware, it’s very dense in calories. But then, its Ramadan and you need energy to keep up the fast, don’t you 😉

1. Heat ghee in a pan and roast vermicelli on low flame for about 4-5 minutes, it should just turn light brown and nothing more.  Keep stirring it to avoid burning, keep aside once done
2. Soak cashews in 2 tbsp milk for 1 hour and then grind it to a fine paste. Keep aside.
3.  Now heat milk in a big pan and bring it to the boil, add cream and sugar and simmer it just till sugar dissolves. This will take another 3-4 minutes.
4. Now add cashew paste,  roasted vermicelli and Sago pearl to it and cook on a low-medium flame till it swells up and get thick. This will take around 10-12 minutes.
5. Just check the softness of both Sago and vermicelli and if its cooked, add the essence of your choice turn off the flame. If you cook any further, this will get very thick and you may have to add more milk to it.
6. Serve hot or chilled, depending on your choice. It tastes delish in both forms J

• You may replace some of the milk with water, if it gets too thick
• Adding Essenceis purely upto you, it’s only for extra flavour and nothing else.
• You may add more nuts to it, I just like to keep it simple