This isn’t some crazy joke… I’m not kidding.
Yesterday, the god with aplomb – Ganesh ji – arrived with pomp, song and dance, at many households. In my home, he doesn’t arrive, he’s just there! Seated in several spots… Ganesh in photo frame; as art d’objet; on a Majolica-style decorative plate; as an acrylic painting … he’s settled in, oblivious to the dust settling on him. You know, Ganapati, as we refer to him endearingly, is a family member of sorts; although very fond of him, I play no special music in his honor.
However, it was his birthday – in a manner of speaking – so I decided to make his favorite dessert – laddoos. Except, that I just got lazy about rolling them into little spheres; instead, poured chickpea batter into a flat, deep steel plate (a thaali) — basically, chickpea flour roasted on low heat with dollops of Ghee warmed first in a heavy-bottomed pan; stirred continuously until the aroma fills your senses (but before it burns, naturally); then allowed to cool… then sugar & cardamom powder added, stirred in well. This then poured in thaali, as I started out to say… note this entire viscous batter is still rather hot. This birthday boy is young; we take care of the cooling while he cools his heels.
Once cool enough to eat, we then cut the ‘cake’ into cubes… nah, no candles required. If he tries to blow the candle, who knows what would happen… you see, Ganpati has an elephant-head with a trunk (yeah, he’s not exactly the normal boy from next-door… he’s special)! So… here’s the recipe for it… if you’re really interested in learning the detailed “how-to” in English, holler… if not, just enjoy the pix. Have fun… I assure you, this is made from chick-pea flour… Yummy… utterly, butterly, delicious… ummm Amul (Ghee)!
Words-n-Motion 