464. cardamom chocolate fudge

December 22, 2014

Disasters in the kitchen!

Many recipes that food lovers come across on other blogs, the internet, recipe books, magazines, television, etc tempt them to save it and try it out some fine day. I too have saved, bookmarked, copied recipes and try them out as and when I can. Many have turned out to be disastrous. While some can be saved or consumed, others have had to be binned and I hate that. I've had nankhatais where the photos portray lovely dome shaped cookies and when I baked them they were flatter than a pancake! Caramel custard that sank as soon as it come out of the oven as the recipe called for whipped eggs and high temperature! Dhoklas which refused to rise.However the photos depict a perfect preparation looking smooth as silk, delicious, spongy, well risen, beautiful colour etc etc. Now and then such disasters occur. Now I actually research different recipes of that particular dish and check out for the similarities. Many times I have posted comments on how the recipe turns out and I find that if I mentioned that the recipe was a disaster, my comment is not published and neither am I asked what went wrong!
Recently, I joined 4 different groups that challenge us to prepare a dish every month. Recipes are provided and we can use that or another one but at the end the basic dish should meet the requirements of the challenge. One such challenge was from the International food challenge, which gives its members recipes from different cuisines of the world. Last month we were challenged to some Afghan dishes. Out of the bolani, biryani, veg dish and the sweet one I decided to try out the sheer payra. A milk fudge, made with milk powder and sugar. The preparation in the photo provided looked perfect and tempting. So one fine day with loads of enthusiasm I started preparing the sheer payra. I also wanted to take this for our picnic with other members of my Lions Club. I had already reduced the sugar from what was required in the recipe. It instructed to boil the sugar syrup till it thickened. However after adding the milk powder, it was still very runny and I had to add more milk powder. I put it in the tray to set. Next day, I cut the pieces and tasted one. Oh no! Its just too sweet. My hubby asked if I had put a kilo of sugar! I hate wasting expensive ingredients and throwing food in the bin. I was disappointed as I didn't have time to make something else for the picnic and I couldn't take this extra sweet fudge. All the nuts and spices in it. I put the sheer payra away and took up the newspaper to do a sudoku. That normally helps me to take my mind of something that bothers me. Then halfway through the sudoku I had my eureka moment. Added some cocoa to balance out the sweetness and to give it a more barfi like consistency. The total makeover was a hit. I loved it and so did the members of my club. I loved the cardamom flavoured fudge. I have made this recipe thrice then.

Share your thoughts :
Have you been able to save a recipe that has turned out distastrous?

CARDAMOM CHOCOLATE FUDGE
Makes about 28-30

1¾ cup full fat milk powder
1 cup sugar
½ cup water
½ cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp cardamom powder
1 tsp rose water (optional)
½ cup chopped mixed nuts (almonds, pistachios, cashew nuts, hazel nuts etc)
¼ tsp salt

Some soft butter for greasing
finely chopped nuts, sprinkles or coconut or cocoa for decoration

Sieve the milk powder,cocoa and salt to remove the any lumps.
Add cardamom powder and chopped nuts to the milk powder and mix well.
Put the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat.
Stir till the sugar melts.
Let it simmer for 4-5 minutes till the syrup is a bit thick. It should be of one thread consistency.
Add the milk powder mixture and mix well.
Let the mixture cool down completely.
Grease your hands with a small pat of butter and roll a teaspoonful of the mixture into a ball.
Roll it in whatever you are using for decoration.
Repeat steps 8 and 9 with the remaining mixture.

Tips: