Things have not been going well laptop-wise at our place.

We exchanged our old laptop for a new one. We had an older laptop which is now repaired/serviced and has entered reluctantly back to my service now.

My old-new laptop hates me. It times it’s pranks perfectly! It waits until I start typing a mail or a post and before it’s saved, it decides to switch off. Just like that!!

So I have resorted to feigning indifference and ignoring it totally. In moods of revenge, I take out our new laptop and place it right next to the old on, as if to say,”See, I am better off without you!”

I just hope the old one doesn’t find out that the new laptop hates me even more.  It feels too foreign and I am quite lost with it. It doesn’t have any of my food pictures, no bookmarks..

The laptop has a number pad which gets a bit of getting used to. In place of the backspace button, you have the ‘plus(+)’ button. So now, my mails have not only the things I wanted to erase in the first place, but also a lot of +++++ signs!!

And it has Windows 8!! I am gaping with my mouth open half the time. Sometimes I feel if I lean close and listen, I can hear the machine whispering,”I am too complicated for you, right?”  with the right amount of sarcasm laced in.

With so much of complications, it’s not surprising that I am lagging behind. This microwave mysore pak, which I made for Diwali is coming up only now. It is part of this month’s Kid’s Delight – Festival Sweets special.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other participants.

This mysore pak was much easier to make as it’s the Microwave version. I made deep fried mathris too for Diwali this time.

Recipe Source: Chitra Vishwanathan

Ingredients:

• Besan/Gram flour                 :       1 cup
• Ghee ( melted)                        :       ¾ cup
• Sugar                                           :  2 cups
• Water                                          :   ½ cup

Method:

1. Fry the besan for a minute to remove the raw smell(optional step).
2. Heat ghee and mix it with besan. Keep aside. Grease a steel plate or a 8″ square cake pan and set aside.
3. In a big MW proof vessel, mix sugar and water. MW for 2 minutes.
4. Stir and MW again for 2 minutes. Repeat stirring for every 2 minutes until the sugar is dissolved completely. It took about 6-8 minutes in my MW.
5. Add the besan-ghee mixture to the melted sugar. MW again for 2 minutes. Remove and stir again every two minutes. It takes about 4-6 minutes. Mine was done in about 6 minutes.
6. Immediately pour over the  greased plate, shake and level the top.
7. Let it cool and then cut into small pieces.

Mathri

Makes: about 20

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour         :           1 cup
• Sooji                                  :            2 tbsp (I didn’t use)
• Chili powder                  :            1/2 tsp
• Pepper powder             :            1/2 tsp
• Amchoor powder        :            1/4 tsp
• Roasted cumin pwd    :            1/4 tsp
• Salt
• Omam/Ajwain/Carom seeds :   1/4 tsp
• Ghee/Oil                          :             2 tbsp
• Warm water, enough to make a firm dough
• Oil to deep fry

Method:

1. In a bowl, add the flour, sooji the spice powders, salt, carom seeds and mix.
2. Add the ghee and mix. Slowly add the warm water and form a soft, but firm dough. Let it rest for 30 minutes, at least.
3. Heat oil for deep frying. Divide the dough into smaller balls. Roll out the balls (I used oil for rolling out, not flour), and cut out small circles using a cookie cutter or a sharp lid. Prick the small rounds with a fork.
4. Fry till golden brown, in medium flame. Take them out and let it rest on a kitchen napkin to drain the excess oil. When cool, store in an air tight container.