" An apple a day keeps the doctor away"
Ah but of course the season of apples in India is almost getting over. My fruit-seller told me that the best of the lot is done with. The crispiest, reddest and crunchiest ones usually start making their appearance by end August and by November you have the second grade stock. With everyone in a mad frenzy to make apfelstrudel, apple pies I was flabbergasted when I was scared for the first time. Scared of pies? Yes. My mind asked me the reason, ;but you have made pies before?" yes but what about my exercise and the healthy regime? All these pies and tarts and cakes are delicious but well how does your waistline feel? What about that mounting mountain on the back.
Yes, yes I gained quite a bit of weight post marriage and was finally tired of the "butt" jokes (quite literally).So had started an intense regime and well it worked, praise the lord it worked but that does have a few conditions, while I may bake a cake or two and quickly distribute it what do I do when there are enough apples in the refrigerator and a desire for dessert. Ah I worked out a plan. "hee hee hee"
Of course planning was easy, while executing it my hands shivered , dreading failure.
So you see the flat bread we have in India, the whole wheat chapatis are not just used for savoury items in my household. When I was a child and virtually refused most dishes cooked at home my impatient mother would often sit me down with hot fluffy chapatis and some condensed milk, sometimes honey and come winter it was always the "new jaggery" from Bengal. Ah I used to take such delight in that. While my grandmother (the both of them) were astonished as how a mother could be so casual about her child's dinner my mother's motto being, 'too much attention is the reason for spoiling and when she feels hungry she will eat" I actually enjoyed my chapatis with sweet condiments way too much than those dreaded days when either of the grandmother's depending on whose house I was staying in would coax and force feed me a full meal of rice, pulse, fish etc.
So back to 2013, have lost a lot of weight, need to stay fit, craving dessert. I get to work. I make this soft dough with water and whole wheat flour. Keep it aside wrapped with wet muslin cloth for about 4 hours.
What a day it is with easily hailing a cab to go to British Council. Calcuttans will know why this delight in hailing a cab. Their refusal is a daily notorious affair . Delighted at being able to borrow Mrs. Beeton's cookbook from the library.
In the meantime I grate apples, cook them in honey with 1 wedge of lemon and cinnamon. Drain my curd to make thick curd. A bit of dry roasting the thinly rolled out dough, stuffing with hung curd mixed with honey, the beautiful apple filling, a bit of baking at 180 C for 30 to 40 minutes (I use a convection. Damn things take too long) , a bit of sprinkling with toasted ground almonds and la la la la la I satisfy my sweet tooth and waistline, hips etc.
You need
Wheat flour
Water which is a little less than half the content of wheat flour
Stuffing
250gm yogurt drained of whey by hanging it in muslin cloth
1 grated apple (since this is supposed to be healthy I did not core it)
5 to 6 tablespoonful of honey
2 good pinches of tsp cinnamon powder
I will be honest here. I made the dough with 300gm of whole wheat flour and 140ml warm water, sprinkled it for quite a long time and made the dough as soft as possible but then I used most of this for breakfast. So I cannot tell you the exact amount of whole wheat flour that went in. I used the dough which was roughly enough to be thinly rolled out to fit a normal household round rolling surface.
Started by first hanging the curd. It stay hung for 5 to 6 hours. Grated the apple, added lemon and 1.5 tablespoonful of honey and cooked it . halfway through added the cinnamon leaving a little for sprinkling when serving. Cooked this till it was well cooked. Mixed the thick curd with 1 tablespoonful of honey. Now I spread out the dough and heated tawa and cooked it so that it was still soft enough to roll but the raw taste was gone. Quickly spread the curd honey mix and then the cooked apples. Rolled. Had already preheated oven to 180 C and baked this for about 35 minutes to 40 minutes. I use a convection oven, so those using other ovens would require less time. Once done served it warm with a sprinkling of toasted ground almonds.
Happy me , happy hips :)
