Mumbai meri Jaan!!!

Home trip preparations : Mumbai is home, and a trip there gets me excited, much before the travel date ! I had been so looking forward to this vacation for various reasons :
1. It had been long i had taken a break and travelled somewhere.
2. The Delhi heat was really getting on to me, and i very much wanted to experience rains.
3. Home is where the heart is : Visiting parents means getting pampered to the full. In fact, i got so used to getting the ready-made morning coffee and breakfast, that after i came back, it took some time to go back to the kitchen :)
4. Was so looking forward to eat home cooked food and of course, the street food of Mumbai!!! ( I have been having vada pav and pav bhaji cravings since the time we booked tickets for this trip ! )
5. There's something about Mumbai...i feel super energetic there...Have you all visited Mumbai? And is there any specific reason you like or don't like it? Yes, there's a lot to not like in Mumbai too... the traffic jams, the smell of sea/fish, humid climate, slum areas...but for a true Mumbaiite like me, these things doesn't matter. The smell, the sight, everything seems like a part of us...

A Food- trip : Food-oholic as me and hubby are, this time we decided to make our Mumbai- Pune trip a "Food-athon". Since there were no functions or ceremonies to attend this time, we could devote a lot of time at home and exploring some old-new places to eat. They may not be a new-find for a lot of people, but the newness existed for us, as we had never visited them before. We actually had a list planned of "Places to go" to eat !!! A few changes here and there, we followed it to the full. And so were we engrossed in our own trip, that we didn't get time to meet some relatives and friends ( So i want to say sorry to them ), and the next time, we will make it a 'Friends-trip' for sure:)

I actually started preparing for the trip just a day before, as i had my pet sitting bookings till then. I particularly want to mention about this Mango-fanatic cute little angel i pet-sitted for about 31 days!!! He would go crazy seeing mangoes and his jumps were adorable to see :)So he did taste a few of my summer mango recipes- a bit of Mango Kulfi and a spoon of Mango Shrikhand !!! Alvin, as his name is , is one sweetheart and gave us lot of enjoyable moments when he was with us :)

So a hurried visit to the beauty-parlour, removing the bags, packing clothes and goodies, and making chai-masala as ordered by my father ( He loves the chai-masala i make...In case, you haven't seen the recipe, here it is...  http://cookininpajamas.blogspot.com/2013/11/homemade-tea-masala-ek-garam-chai-ki.html ) and making sure that everything else is in order - All this happened in almost half a day! We always worry about our fish tanks and plants ( especially since it's summers) when we go out, but some or the other friend always comes to rescue. And this time one of hubby's friend Romi made sure that we have a stress-free vacation by visiting our home every alternate day :) Special thanks to him !

We had time at hand, so we travelled by train. And to be honest, i enjoy travelling by train more than flight...the journey actually gets exciting. There is so much to experience while on a train journey...People haggling with the coolies, the bored expressions while waiting for the train, the food stalls buzzing with customers and especially the kids demanding chips and chocolates, the fight to keep the bags under the berth and so on... Technology at it's best, these days people spend their journey time talking on phone or internet and we see laptops and i pad's being kid's toys. In earlier days, friendships used to happen overnight in trains, and people used to bond over food, sharing tiff-ins and talking about politics. There used to be fun and laughter and sharing jokes over playing cards and singing songs. But nevertheless, i still enjoy the train journey, as it somehow gives a satisfaction of having "travelled".

Rajdhani is one of the fastest express train in India introduced in 1969. Rajdhani means "capital" in Hindi. According to Google, the first Rajdhani Express left New Delhi station for Howrah station to cover a distance of 1,445 km in 17 hours 20 minutes. Fully air-conditioned train, they give the best facility possible. Though of late, i feel their food-quality has dropped down as compared to earlier. But, the comforts are worthwhile and the staff super friendly :)

So, there we left for our food trip from New Delhi railway station... Wait to read more :))

Christmas Cake

"Jingle all the way" : Its the month of Santa, Christmas tree, candles, decorations with stars and lights and lots of ornaments. People even decorate the outside of their homes with snowmen, sleighs and other Christmas figures. And the age old tradition of hanging a stocking and waiting for Santa ( Saint Nicolas ) to get us the wanted gifts...

My brother who stays in US, always decorates his home with Christmas tree and lighting his backyard and home with candles and lights..Here is how he welcomed Christmas this year... It looks terrific, doesn't it?

Christmas celebrations are in full swing in India just as abroad. We see a lot of people hosting Christmas parties, markets selling Santa's red and white caps and even Christmas trees. This year, we got the tiny Santas and candy cane and some ornaments ( just to decorate my cake :))

And so not to forget, It is also the month to bake cakes, cookies and biscottis :)
Its such a pleasant feeling when your kitchen has aroma of the freshly baked super spongy cake...This year i wanted to try my hand at baking the Christmas plum cake, and hence i soaked in the dry fruits almost 15 days before in rum. I have added Cherries, different coloured tutty-fruity, cashews, raisins and black raisins. You can add any dry fruits of your choice like walnuts, almonds, prunes, dates, orange zest etc. but raisins are a must!!! After all it's rum and raisin cake :) For people, who like it without alcohol, you can just boil the dry fruits with water and little sugar for 5 minutes at the time of baking the cake. If you don't like rum, you can even soak the fruits in beer or red wine or a mixture of wine, rum and beer. Anything tastes just great.
Here is how my soaked fruits looked like :

Every day is an occasion : The cake turned out so yummy that it was finished by hubby and his friends ( who had come over for Christmas) within hours! I feel i shouldn't wait for Christmas to bake and eat this one...Any day is a celebration and i am surely going to bake this one again :)

Recipe adapted from : Swapna Mickey

Ingredients :

Mixed dry fruits : 350 gms ( i used cherries, different coloured tutty-fruity, cashews, raisins, and black raisins )
Rum - 1/2 cup ( Can also add brandy, wine or beer )
Butter - 3 tbsp ( heaped )
Ghee - 3 tbsp ( heaped )
Powdered sugar - 150 gms
Eggs - 2
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Sugar - 2 tbsp ( to caramelize )
All purpose flour/ Maida - 120 gms
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Spice powder - 1/2 tsp ( i used my chai masala powder - Recipe uploaded earlier - You can also use mix of clove, cinnamon and nutmeg powder )
Milk - 1/8 cup
Lime juice - 1 tbsp
Sugar - 2 tbsp

Recipe :

Soak the chopped dry fruits in Rum as early as you can/want. I did it for 15 days, but some even do it for months or a year in advance.( the more u soak, the tastier it is). Soak it in a clean , dry glass bottle or air tight container. Make sure you stir the fruits once a day. Soak them for minimum 1 week in advance.

On the day of baking the cake, transfer these dry fruits into a steamer and steam them for 5 minutes. I did it in idli maker in microwave for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and allow the fruits to cool.

The most important thing to make a plum cake is to caramelize the sugar. It is not that tough at all ! Just take 2 tbsp sugar in a pan and heat it stirring continuously till it becomes dark brown. Meanwhile, boil 1/2 cup of water and keep. Now add this hot water to the sugar. Keep stirring till it becomes thick. Keep it aside.

Add 2 tbsp sugar to 1 tbsp lemon juice and keep aside.

Sieve together ( preferably twice ) maida, baking soda, baking powder and spice powder. Toss in the steamed and cooled dry fruits into this flour, so that the dry fruits are coated properly. This is just to avoid the dry fruits from falling to the bottom of the cake when baking.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees for minimum 15 minutes.

Beat Butter, Ghee and sugar together till light and fluffy. Add eggs one by one and keep beating. Now add the vanilla essence and caramel syrup and mix well. Now add the flour-dry fruit mixture and milk alternatively, finishing with the flour mixture. Mix it all well with a spatula. Lastly, add the lemon juice mixture.

Grease and Dust the cake tin with butter and flour respectively. Add in the cake mixture and bake the cake at 180 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes. Check after an hour if it's done and add more time if required.

Let it cool for 10 minutes in the tin after removing from the oven on a wire rack. Now remove from the cake tin and let it cool completely.

Store in an air tight container. You can also pour in rum on top while serving or inject rum inside the cake with a syringe :) Tastes yummm....

Happy Baking :)))