My Encounter with Edibility

No No. I am not a bad cook at all. Anybody who had eaten my preparations will certify this. Even my Father-in-law had once claimed to my husband that he has got a wife with good culinary skills like his wife (that is Mother-in-law - MIL). Oh! I hear you saying “Ok. Ok. Enough of self-praise. Come to the point.”


 


Every year I never miss preparing wheat Halwa, Okkarai, Mixture, Lehiyam and a new sweet, in spite of my Dear Husband's entreaties not to trouble myself. My strong hold is typical Thirunelveli Halwa, never wanted to be under-whelmed by not making it this year.


This Diwali 2012 my parents-in-law are here. My MIL is an expert in making Halwa as she used to make it in a jiffy once in every six months as a custom during her ceremonies with jaggery instead of sugar. First day I made mixture. It met my desired level of satisfaction. Even I was able to fry peas to perfection without it testing our dental strength. Before going to bed, soaked specifically bought samba wheat. Next day before starting the routine cooking schedule, spent half an hour to grind and extract wheat milk. Kept the wheat milk undisturbed still we finished our brunch. Separated thick milk which measured two and half cups. The sugar proportion being 1:3 took seven and a half cups of sugar in a heavy bottomed vessel to dissolve. My  also pitched in to help me as this was going to be a long process. So I was confident enough. Then, after the sugar was dissolved mixed the thick milk of wheat, went on stirring. Things went on fine. My MIL also lent her hand in stirring to avoid any lumps. Diwali is one festival where we can taste the preparations as it is being done. The halwa had the right sweetness. All was well till that stage.


After at least forty minutes of stirring in low flame, added melted butter ladle after ladle. I never bothered about consistency as my MIL was nearby. I was expecting the Halwa to ooze out the ghee but it started frothing. Suddenly MIL became panicky, told me to take a big steel tray and coat with ghee. Did as she said without any question (I am an abiding daughter-in-law you know). She declared that we missed the consistency, we need to spread it in the tray and cut it like mysore pak. Did as she told. She was very disappointed. When my hubby and son arrived at the scene after purchasing crackers, I told them we made this new sweet and named it as Wheat pak (like mysore pak). As usual my hubby said it tasted good (boon of my good karma). Actually it tasted as sugar crystal and no trace or flavour of Halwa but was edible. My son commented “Don’t say you made it, you ended up making it”. Now the image of two culinary experts was tarnished. I mumbled even elephants would slip (yaanaikkum adi sarukkum).

The next immediate thing was to pacify my MIL. Made coffee gave her along with mixture. She was repenting that once before also she ended up doing the same thing when she was young as me. You all know my perseverance through "The Lengthiest lesson learnt in my life". I could not let it go. So what I did….

Was smashing my head figuring out what and where it went wrong. (note: not where we went wrong). It suddenly popped up in my mind, in our previous attempt of making Halwa together, nine years before we ended up making unbreakable candy bars. So definitely it wasn’t the wrong combination of ingredients, but unmatched combination of two experts. When I was young, my neighbor Anglo-Indian uncle used to say “Two tufts can be tied together but not two buns” (Rendu kudumiya onna sekkalam aana rendu kondaiya onna sekka mudiyaadhu”

Upon logical thinking after a hot coffee, it struck me, the sugar syrup reached the consistency beyond it was needed. Asked (pleaded) my MIL to take rest. Took four pieces of what we called “wheat pak” in a microwave safe bowl, added quarter cup of water, heated it in microwave for two minutes stirring it vigorously in between. What a relief. It came out as shiny translucent stuff as it should be, oozing out ghee. Immediately distributed that to all. On approval of MIL I decided to transform the whole lot of “wheat pak” to Halwa. Do you think this is end of my encounter?? Not at all. This marked the beginning of my encounter with edibility.

Took a bigger bowl with all the pieces and some water, heated in microwave for five minutes. After all we need to learn through mistakes, this was the thing running in my mind when I took out the bowl. EEEK!!! It wasn’t a mistake but a blunder. There were lots of lumps in a mushy solution. Oh! God! Help me. I have to justify myself for 250 gms of wheat, 750 gms of sugar, 500 gms of butter, the time of toiling for more than an hour. Muttered “Sarvam krishnaarpanam” took a stronger ladle started to break the lumps by heating it often. In between it was time for preparing dinner. Kept the “half-done thing” (I couldn’t give any name at that time) in the microwave and did not let anybody open it. I could have used mixie, but then I would have ended upon hearing various suggestions right from throwing it in the bin to drinking it as a milkshake. Kept on struggling for another one hour to regain my confidence. Finally made the mixture smooth, again stirred it on the stove for some time till I got the desired shiny slippery smooth look with ghee oozing out. I thanked all the Gods of the universe, transferred the real Halwa to a big thambaalam (decorative plate) to cool it.

You know what!! That Halwa was the first sweet which got to the bottom of the vessel on Diwali day itself. Now I got the indent of “do it again next week as this is the best Halwa you ever made”. Now the dilemma is whether to find out really where it / we went wrong to do the same again, then do the blunder to finally get the same best Halwa or should I just make my mother-in-law to give me company, so that I can end up doing all over again naturally.
  

My Encounter with Edibility

No No. I am not a bad cook at all. Anybody who had eaten my preparations will certify this. Even my Father-in-law had once claimed to my husband that he has got a wife with good culinary skills like his wife (that is Mother-in-law - MIL). Oh! I hear you saying “Ok. Ok. Enough of self-praise. Come to the point.”


 


Every year I never miss preparing wheat Halwa, Okkarai, Mixture, Lehiyam and a new sweet, in spite of my Dear Husband's entreaties not to trouble myself. My strong hold is typical Thirunelveli Halwa, never wanted to be under-whelmed by not making it this year.


This Diwali 2012 my parents-in-law are here. My MIL is an expert in making Halwa as she used to make it in a jiffy once in every six months as a custom during her ceremonies with jaggery instead of sugar. First day I made mixture. It met my desired level of satisfaction. Even I was able to fry peas to perfection without it testing our dental strength. Before going to bed, soaked specifically bought samba wheat. Next day before starting the routine cooking schedule, spent half an hour to grind and extract wheat milk. Kept the wheat milk undisturbed still we finished our brunch. Separated thick milk which measured two and half cups. The sugar proportion being 1:3 took seven and a half cups of sugar in a heavy bottomed vessel to dissolve. My  also pitched in to help me as this was going to be a long process. So I was confident enough. Then, after the sugar was dissolved mixed the thick milk of wheat, went on stirring. Things went on fine. My MIL also lent her hand in stirring to avoid any lumps. Diwali is one festival where we can taste the preparations as it is being done. The halwa had the right sweetness. All was well till that stage.


After at least forty minutes of stirring in low flame, added melted butter ladle after ladle. I never bothered about consistency as my MIL was nearby. I was expecting the Halwa to ooze out the ghee but it started frothing. Suddenly MIL became panicky, told me to take a big steel tray and coat with ghee. Did as she said without any question (I am an abiding daughter-in-law you know). She declared that we missed the consistency, we need to spread it in the tray and cut it like mysore pak. Did as she told. She was very disappointed. When my hubby and son arrived at the scene after purchasing crackers, I told them we made this new sweet and named it as Wheat pak (like mysore pak). As usual my hubby said it tasted good (boon of my good karma). Actually it tasted as sugar crystal and no trace or flavour of Halwa but was edible. My son commented “Don’t say you made it, you ended up making it”. Now the image of two culinary experts was tarnished. I mumbled even elephants would slip (yaanaikkum adi sarukkum).

The next immediate thing was to pacify my MIL. Made coffee gave her along with mixture. She was repenting that once before also she ended up doing the same thing when she was young as me. You all know my perseverance through "The Lengthiest lesson learnt in my life". I could not let it go. So what I did….

Was smashing my head figuring out what and where it went wrong. (note: not where we went wrong). It suddenly popped up in my mind, in our previous attempt of making Halwa together, nine years before we ended up making unbreakable candy bars. So definitely it wasn’t the wrong combination of ingredients, but unmatched combination of two experts. When I was young, my neighbor Anglo-Indian uncle used to say “Two tufts can be tied together but not two buns” (Rendu kudumiya onna sekkalam aana rendu kondaiya onna sekka mudiyaadhu”

Upon logical thinking after a hot coffee, it struck me, the sugar syrup reached the consistency beyond it was needed. Asked (pleaded) my MIL to take rest. Took four pieces of what we called “wheat pak” in a microwave safe bowl, added quarter cup of water, heated it in microwave for two minutes stirring it vigorously in between. What a relief. It came out as shiny translucent stuff as it should be, oozing out ghee. Immediately distributed that to all. On approval of MIL I decided to transform the whole lot of “wheat pak” to Halwa. Do you think this is end of my encounter?? Not at all. This marked the beginning of my encounter with edibility.

Took a bigger bowl with all the pieces and some water, heated in microwave for five minutes. After all we need to learn through mistakes, this was the thing running in my mind when I took out the bowl. EEEK!!! It wasn’t a mistake but a blunder. There were lots of lumps in a mushy solution. Oh! God! Help me. I have to justify myself for 250 gms of wheat, 750 gms of sugar, 500 gms of butter, the time of toiling for more than an hour. Muttered “Sarvam krishnaarpanam” took a stronger ladle started to break the lumps by heating it often. In between it was time for preparing dinner. Kept the “half-done thing” (I couldn’t give any name at that time) in the microwave and did not let anybody open it. I could have used mixie, but then I would have ended upon hearing various suggestions right from throwing it in the bin to drinking it as a milkshake. Kept on struggling for another one hour to regain my confidence. Finally made the mixture smooth, again stirred it on the stove for some time till I got the desired shiny slippery smooth look with ghee oozing out. I thanked all the Gods of the universe, transferred the real Halwa to a big thambaalam (decorative plate) to cool it.

You know what!! That Halwa was the first sweet which got to the bottom of the vessel on Diwali day itself. Now I got the indent of “do it again next week as this is the best Halwa you ever made”. Now the dilemma is whether to find out really where it / we went wrong to do the same again, then do the blunder to finally get the same best Halwa or should I just make my mother-in-law to give me company, so that I can end up doing all over again naturally.
  

My Encounter with Edibility

No No. I am not a bad cook at all. Anybody who had eaten my preparations will certify this. Even my Father-in-law had once claimed to my husband that he has got a wife with good culinary skills like his wife (that is Mother-in-law - MIL). Oh! I hear you saying “Ok. Ok. Enough of self-praise. Come to the point.”


 


Every year I never miss preparing wheat Halwa, Okkarai, Mixture, Lehiyam and a new sweet, in spite of my Dear Husband's entreaties not to trouble myself. My strong hold is typical Thirunelveli Halwa, never wanted to be under-whelmed by not making it this year.


This Diwali 2012 my parents-in-law are here. My MIL is an expert in making Halwa as she used to make it in a jiffy once in every six months as a custom during her ceremonies with jaggery instead of sugar. First day I made mixture. It met my desired level of satisfaction. Even I was able to fry peas to perfection without it testing our dental strength. Before going to bed, soaked specifically bought samba wheat. Next day before starting the routine cooking schedule, spent half an hour to grind and extract wheat milk. Kept the wheat milk undisturbed still we finished our brunch. Separated thick milk which measured two and half cups. The sugar proportion being 1:3 took seven and a half cups of sugar in a heavy bottomed vessel to dissolve. My  also pitched in to help me as this was going to be a long process. So I was confident enough. Then, after the sugar was dissolved mixed the thick milk of wheat, went on stirring. Things went on fine. My MIL also lent her hand in stirring to avoid any lumps. Diwali is one festival where we can taste the preparations as it is being done. The halwa had the right sweetness. All was well till that stage.


After at least forty minutes of stirring in low flame, added melted butter ladle after ladle. I never bothered about consistency as my MIL was nearby. I was expecting the Halwa to ooze out the ghee but it started frothing. Suddenly MIL became panicky, told me to take a big steel tray and coat with ghee. Did as she said without any question (I am an abiding daughter-in-law you know). She declared that we missed the consistency, we need to spread it in the tray and cut it like mysore pak. Did as she told. She was very disappointed. When my hubby and son arrived at the scene after purchasing crackers, I told them we made this new sweet and named it as Wheat pak (like mysore pak). As usual my hubby said it tasted good (boon of my good karma). Actually it tasted as sugar crystal and no trace or flavour of Halwa but was edible. My son commented “Don’t say you made it, you ended up making it”. Now the image of two culinary experts was tarnished. I mumbled even elephants would slip (yaanaikkum adi sarukkum).

The next immediate thing was to pacify my MIL. Made coffee gave her along with mixture. She was repenting that once before also she ended up doing the same thing when she was young as me. You all know my perseverance through "The Lengthiest lesson learnt in my life". I could not let it go. So what I did….

Was smashing my head figuring out what and where it went wrong. (note: not where we went wrong). It suddenly popped up in my mind, in our previous attempt of making Halwa together, nine years before we ended up making unbreakable candy bars. So definitely it wasn’t the wrong combination of ingredients, but unmatched combination of two experts. When I was young, my neighbor Anglo-Indian uncle used to say “Two tufts can be tied together but not two buns” (Rendu kudumiya onna sekkalam aana rendu kondaiya onna sekka mudiyaadhu”

Upon logical thinking after a hot coffee, it struck me, the sugar syrup reached the consistency beyond it was needed. Asked (pleaded) my MIL to take rest. Took four pieces of what we called “wheat pak” in a microwave safe bowl, added quarter cup of water, heated it in microwave for two minutes stirring it vigorously in between. What a relief. It came out as shiny translucent stuff as it should be, oozing out ghee. Immediately distributed that to all. On approval of MIL I decided to transform the whole lot of “wheat pak” to Halwa. Do you think this is end of my encounter?? Not at all. This marked the beginning of my encounter with edibility.

Took a bigger bowl with all the pieces and some water, heated in microwave for five minutes. After all we need to learn through mistakes, this was the thing running in my mind when I took out the bowl. EEEK!!! It wasn’t a mistake but a blunder. There were lots of lumps in a mushy solution. Oh! God! Help me. I have to justify myself for 250 gms of wheat, 750 gms of sugar, 500 gms of butter, the time of toiling for more than an hour. Muttered “Sarvam krishnaarpanam” took a stronger ladle started to break the lumps by heating it often. In between it was time for preparing dinner. Kept the “half-done thing” (I couldn’t give any name at that time) in the microwave and did not let anybody open it. I could have used mixie, but then I would have ended upon hearing various suggestions right from throwing it in the bin to drinking it as a milkshake. Kept on struggling for another one hour to regain my confidence. Finally made the mixture smooth, again stirred it on the stove for some time till I got the desired shiny slippery smooth look with ghee oozing out. I thanked all the Gods of the universe, transferred the real Halwa to a big thambaalam (decorative plate) to cool it.

You know what!! That Halwa was the first sweet which got to the bottom of the vessel on Diwali day itself. Now I got the indent of “do it again next week as this is the best Halwa you ever made”. Now the dilemma is whether to find out really where it / we went wrong to do the same again, then do the blunder to finally get the same best Halwa or should I just make my mother-in-law to give me company, so that I can end up doing all over again naturally.