Railway Engineeing ..edible style !

well..this is a pretty old one..done almost 2 years back for our eldest son's 6th birthday. But..being his all time favourite..thought would just make a post on it.

  

of all that i have prepared for the boys, this was the one that really got the kids off. It was instant "like" (to be read as..instant "attack" !)

There's absolutely no baking..its all store brought stuff, but..you do need a quite a bit of it.

You need

For the rails   : Potato sticks

The rubble     : Rice crispies

The sleepers : Kit-kat or any similar wafer chocolate

The base grass effect :  Dessicated coconut

                                   Green food colour

 

For the base :
Take a clean flat tray or any surface which you need to use.
Melt some jam in the microwave to just flowing consistency and apply onto the base.
Mix the coconut with green food colour.

     

 

Step 1 : Line the potato sticks in two lines parallel to each other. Thats the rails.

Step 2 : Fill the gap between the rails and a little on the outer sides of it as well, with rice crispies to resemble rubble.

Step 3 : Now fill the entire base platform / tray with the green coloured dessicated coconut.

(yeah, the train is passing though lush green fields obviously...)

 

 

 

Step 4 : Break a kit-kat finger into half and align it as the sleepers onto the potato rails.

Repeat till the entire winding railway track is done.

 some serious edible Railway Engineering works going on !

  

aah..green fields...train...and whats that comes first thing to mind ??

Thujae dekha...tho yeah...jaana...

Shahrukh, Kajol....!!!! <3

 

alright..alright..!
(I'll get back to you, Shahrukh !..let me just finish off the train first )

 

 just had few bits and pieces of the Ben 10 toy train set so used the same for the cake. You see the engine ? Atleast, got something of reasonably the same scale.

 

For the bogies....you need cake rolls (i have used the store brought ones with vanilla filling inside) and any kids eatables (mini sized) - jellybeans, chocosticks, mini biscuts, M&M's....etc...

 

Step 5: To load the bogies - slice a small portion of the top of the cake roll as shown in the picture above.

 

Step 6 : Apply some whipped cream/frosting to the top of the sliced roll (ref. picture above again). This is to make the "loads" hold on to the "bogies".

 

my little porter at work

 

 Step 7 : Get ready with all the luggage that you want the train to carry and get going...start loading one item per each bogie - the roll.

 

...jelly threads, stick prestels (to resemble wodden logs), mini biscuts, chocoloate coins (thats treasure!)...anything thats sure to attract the kids.

 

 Step 8 : Using some whipped cream, glue some ring shaped wafer chips to the cake sides  - the wheels...and ..you are almost there!

 

"..mamma..what's those white round balls in there??"

well...they are boulders ..part of the landscape design, my dear ;)

 

 

 and that's your Happy Birthday candles on top of the hill

 

something similar

 

that's my Big baby with his all time favourite Birthday Cake !

 

 and for Mr. No.2..it was obviously the candles that attracted him...which he terribly misunderstood to be burning lolly-pops! He was definitely not pleased.

 

 

Indian railways....kuwait edition ;)

 

and thats when the hi-jackers left...

Can even the worst terrorist group plan something as disastrous as this !

 I doubt.

 

alright..now that i have made the post...so..back to Mr. King Khan....

 

 

 

 welll !!!!

 

and so..now, its your turn .

1. leave your comment so that i know how it went

2. move straight on to "pick quicks" my other world..have got something interesting there as well . Don't forget to be a follower there too...lets stay connected :)

 

cheers,

Sona

 



Unakka Kappa Puyukku and a city to country side alliance

The story revinds back to about 9 years. The city girl gets married to the country side..all green...plantations...cattles...paddy. Wasn't she simply excited just being this close to things which till then , she had just watched on tv. Even a walk amidst the rubber trees seemed super duper cool!.(you get it right?..whom i am speaking..oops, writing about. i, me and myself...actually)

 

 After wedding, its customary that we pay a visit our new relatives, starting the very next day. It was one of those visits and my grand mother-in-law was with us as well. She takes me for a walk round the house...explaining about the different plants..their medicinal benefits..how their generation would live entirely on foods cultivated on their own land. Absolutely nothing purchased so..so..

 

 

Finally, the tour ends up near the stable and she starts on and on about cows....milking...kind of analysing by herself how this particular one would have reduced its milk output.

 

There i was ..not getting something right. My husband joins us and silently i asks him...."why is she speaking about milking this cow?? how in the world can male-cows give milk ??? "

 

His one look and i knew that i was upto some blunder.

 

"what makes you think that this is male and it cannot milk?" - "HE" asks..

 

Not wanting his grand mother to listen and definitely a bit cautious of what she would feel of the newly wed bride...silently whispers ...

 

..well it has horns!!! so, it should be a male....is it not ?? (elephants with tusks are males..so, cows with horns should be males as well....so i believed)

..oopps...!!!

 

years past...i am all used to their surroundings, foods..and this is one staple preparation from that part of the state (kottayam).

 

Unakka Kappa Puyukku

 

Unakka kappa is Tapioca peeled, washed, sliced or diced, boiled and dried in sun. This can be stored for years and when cooked gives out a totally different flavor. Dry tapioca kuzhachathu is prepared in the same way as fresh tapioca kuzhachathu but the taste is entirely different. It goes well with fish curry or red chilly chutney.

Ingredients:

Dry tapioca/Unakka kappa: 3 cups.

Coconut: 1 cup.

Kaantharimulaku: 6 - 7 (the mini red cillies which are super hot)

Garlic: 5 - 6 cloves.

Shallots:4-5.

Turmeric powder: 1 tsp.

Salt.

 

For the seasoning:

Coconut oil: 2 tbsp.

Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp.

Shallots: 3.

Dried red chilly flakes.

Curry leaves.

 

 

Method:
Wash thoroughly the dry tapioca and soak them in water overnight.

Grind coarsely coconut, dried chilies, garlic, shallots, and turmeric and keep aside.

Cook the tapioca in pressure cooker for about 2-3 whistles. Release the pressure by keeping the cooker under cold running water. Open and drain. Again put the cooker on low flame and mash the tapioca well and put in the coarsely grinded coconut and salt. Mix well.

 

 

Season with coconut oil, mustard seeds, red chilly flakes,  shallots, and curry leaves. Mix well.

 

 Serve hot with fish curry or chutney.

 

need some more glance into this city-village bond ???...

in here....@pick quicks

PICK QUICKS - on the go!

alright, now that PICK QUICKS is out too...but apart from what was mentioned in the previous post...it luks not like a twin blog to Quick Picks..but rather, just portraits my two sides.

 

The cooker version in Quick Picks and the writer version in Pick Quicks.

 

http://pickquicks.blogspot.com/

 

Hope to see you all there too !

 

Cheers - Sona, for QP and PQ.

 

Quick Picks, introducing its sister blog

Hey friends!

 

Just want to let you know that my Quick Picks blog is currently under maintainance..some face lift kind of..and getting ready to welcome its sister blog -

 

PICK QUICKS

i know..i know..the name sounds a bit wierd...well....its

QUICK PICKS x PICK QUICKS

Dont get me??

Quick Picks - is all about cooking and recipes
and so..
Pick Quicks - will have nothing to do with eatables ! (the opposite!)
..just my random thoughts, kids (definitely)..family...so so...


 

"Edible Terrarium" - the making - tutorial

You need :

Glass containers

Cooking chocolate (dark or semi sweet)/chocolate spread

Granulated sugar

Desiccated coconut

Food colours – green, red

Icing pen – white colour

Marshmallows

Tooty-fruity (green ones)

Store brought chocolate cake mix (which is the most easiest way). I used the eggless chocolate cake recipe from MariasMenu, the same that i had used for my "Gangnam Style" cake.
 

How to:

 

If you are using store brought chocolate cake mix, then prepare it as per packet instructions.

Pour the mix carefully into the glass containers, just to about an inch or less. Its best to pour the mix using a funnel so that the glass stays clean , but I just scooped in few spoonfuls. Bake at 180 degrees till done.

Take granulated sugar in a bowl and add few drops of green food colour .

Mix thoroughly , not to forget ..have your hand gloves on.

Take the marshmallows, cut at edges..just roughly to make it resemble boulders.

Roll the marshmalows in the green coloured sugar till they are well coated with the sugar.

 

Using marshmallow fondant (click “here” for the detailed post on how to make the fondant), make mini toads.

 

 

Take some desiccated coconut and add few drops of green food colour. You needn’t mix it thoroughly, as its visually more appealing to have the different tones of green – dark, light..you got it?.

Now, melt some dark chocolate in the microwave, or using a double boiler and apply on top of the cooled chocolate cake in the glasses. This is just to make a base for the grass (green coloured coconut) to stick on to the soil.(the cake). You can very well use some melted chocolate spread, nutella or even fruit jam.

Sprinkle the green coconut and a bit of the green coloured sugar on top of the cake..well..i will call it soil.

Carefully insert the toad , the boulders, (big and small ones using a tweezer) in..and few daarrrk green coloured tooty-fruities. Just about anything that you feel will bring about the wild forestry effect. (I have used Dr. Oetker icing pen to do the white dots on the toad heads).

Well..you are just about there !

 

Wrap and decorate …. your  fancy. I personally prefer to have a mini greeting card too along with such gifts tied around the neck of the glass jar. Think it has become customary for most of the gift items that I prepare. (Few similar ones in "this" post…not edible thou).



Hope you liked it! :)

 

LoR - 04: Stuff your (kids) omlett with junk !

(update - well..only after posting this remake, did i notice that the date was April 1st!!!..so, here you go with a perfect snack pack for the "fool-around" day....! )

 

 

Kids are so innocent during their early ages..and at times, you do tend to exploit or take advantage of it. Well mothers have all right to it, is it not..if its for their own good ? Agree ??

One of the favorite dinner of my kids is chapatti-egg roll. And when you are sure that they wouldn’t say “no” to it..then ..well…you know…the “exploitation” factor gets working.

These remakes work great for me in two ways. To finish off the leftovers..and…get into the kids tummies all that they are not willing to have at the moment.



Any leftover  vegetable..any…be it  steam or cooked …plain or curry…just mash it , mix with egg and off to the pan and fry.

 

To the kids, it still their favorite egg-roll..but few additions inclusive. And here, it’s the “Tom N Jerry “ show that’s running on TV during dinner time..so with their eyes glued to the  television, they just wouldn’t bother to dissect and examine what exactly are they being fed. (its not  a gud idea to be watching tv while eating..but during these days of fooling the kids…I wouldn’t mind..at all)

Just showing two sample omelet make over’s –
Once, it was the leftover “cabbage-carrot” thoran and mashed potatoes that went in..

Next time..
It was cooked moong dal mashed and mixed with the egg and with a dash of tomato ketchup.
 

Of course, the omelet will definitely taste different..but as I said..with Mr. Tom busy chasing Jerry….they just wouldn’t notice ;)