ALMOND CAKE

 It was an accident. I was trying to make maccarons following "Beth's foolproof recipe" and it seemed Beth had fooled me once again.  Even though  I was extra careful, the first step itself went wrong. The egg white sugar mixture failed to produced those stiff peaks as per the recipe.I stopped there, got busy with other chores and thought about the ingredients only after some time. They were on the kitchen table for a long time and had to be cooked immediately.

I had to find a recipe of something with sugar, eggs and almond powder in it I did a google search for almond cake recipes, but none of them seemed convincing enough after the maccaron incident. Finally I  decided on  a recipe of my own and baked the cake. It came out nicely and the taste was divine.

INGREDIENTS

1. Almond flour (not a very fine powder, resembles semolina) - 1 cup

2. Sugar ( powdered) - 1/2 cup

3. Vegetable oil - 1 table spoon

4. Eggs - 3

5. Baking powder - 1 tea spoon

6. Maida - 1/2 cup

7. Lemon zest - 1/2 tea spoon

8.Orange zest - 1/2 tea spoon

9. Salt - 1 pinch

10 Chopped almonds - 6 ( for garnishing)

FOR ORANGE GLAZE

1. Orange juice - 1 table spoon

2. Icing sugar - 8 table spoon

METHOD

1. Beat the egg whites well with salt in an electric mixer. Add the sugar and beat again. 

2. Add egg yolks, almond flour, maida and baking powder in that order and beat.

3. Detach the mixing bowl from the mixer and add lemon zest and orange zest. Mix well by hand.

4. Line a 9 inch round cake tin with parchment paper and pour the batter. Bake at 180 degree Celsius for 10 minutes.

5. Beat the orange juice and icing sugar well and drizzle over the cake. Garnish with chopped almonds.

RICE VADAAM

Arisi vadaam (thick rice pappadam) is a weakness for my husband and daughter and nothing available in the market is comparable to the home made vadaam. When my MIL was alive we used to get a regular supply of vadaam  from home. After that I tried various products available in Tamil stores, but  none was as tasty as amma's vadaams. I knew the recipe and wanted to make it at home , but getting the  vadaam maker was the difficult part. Every time I visited Chennai I looked for it in all major shops and it seemed as if the thing was non existent. Finally I got it ( with an extra set of thattu )from "Sundar Store" in T Nagar.(opposite Thanga Maligai) Chennai last week.

I couldnt wait to give it a try and just 2 days after landing in Kuwait I decided to make vadaam for the first time using amma's recipe.

INGREDIENTS

1. Par boiled rice ( puzhukkalari) - 1/2 cup
2. Raw rice - 1/2 cup
3. Green chilli - 1
4. Asafoetida  (hing or kaayam) - 1 pinch
5. Salt
6. Nallenna (sesame oil) - 1 tea spoon
7. Sesame seeds (ellu) black or white - 1 table spoon
8. Oil - for frying

METHOD

1. Soak the rice ( I used Ponni puzhukkalari and basmati rice, 1/2 cup each) for 4-6 hours

2. Grind the rice well, adding the chilli, asafoetida and salt towards the end. The batter should be similar to that of dosa, easily pourable, but not too runny. Mix in the sesame seeds (this can be done later too) Let it  ferment overnight.

3. Boil water in a steamer, "appa chembu" or pressure cooker.

4. Wipe the vadaam plates dry and apply sesame oil using a cloth. Spread 1 table spoon of batter evenly on the plate Make it as thin as possible. When enough plates are ready put them on the stand and place inside the steamer close and cook for 3 minutes. Do not put the weight if pressure cooker is used.

5. Spread batter on the spare plates

6. Take the vadaam stand out and remove the plates Put the spare set of plates in the stand and cook.

7. Remove the vadaams from the plates without  folding or breaking and spread on a plastic sheet. Vadaam need not be dried in the sun Keep it under the fan for 4-5 hours.

8. Vadaam doubles in size on frying. Make sure there is enough oil in the pan.