Noodles yummy

Maggi:

Maggi has been a mainstay in Indian market for a long time now. Maggi and Noodles are synonymous. So much so that competing brands named their noodles something else. I know of people who will swear by Maggi. I used to love Maggi myself, but IMHO Top Ramen tastes better. There are many flavors available and “Atta” and “Rice” noodles are available too. I don’t remember how “Atta” noodles tased, but the “Rice” ones are definitely bad!! Stay away from them. They may even make you vomit.When I was a kid, Maggi meant a lot more than noodles. They had a Maggi Club (Whatever happened of that) and I used to be a member. I even have the membership cards somewhere I guess. The funda is you sent them empty Maggi wrappers and got board games and stuff in return for free. Pretty cool concept eh ? Another thing was the “Maggi quiz“. Though I never won the Maggi quiz, it was always memorable. I still have the participation certificates form my 4th and 5th grade. I made it to the finals twice, but never won!! (The story of my life.)

One of the things I am bad at is cooking. While bachelors my age can probably cook a decent meal, all I can cook is instant noodles. :D (I shall expect my prospective wife to be good cook, or maybe just hunt down a good and affordable restaurant. I know girls probably expect their husbands to be a good cook these days and write the same in their blog. I am not visiting such blogs.) Maybe I can boil eggs or make an omelette’s. I can definitely toast bread in my toaster. What more do you need ?

But I must say that I cook noodles pretty decently. Not that there is anything to cook there. Just put it in boiling water add the seasoning, let it simmer for a while and then eat it. (Transferring it to a plate is optional. ;) ). Some of the popular brands in India are:

• Maggi Noodles. (Probably the oldest.) Instant 2 minute noodles.

• Top Ramen Smoodles

• Wai-Wai Noodles

There are other local brands available, but I don’t like them. I tried it once or twice and didn’t like it at all. (They don’t come with the masala or seasoning.)

tips noodles:

• In most cases, the garnishing is never enough. So you can add a pinch of pepper and salt for taste.

• Never add too little or too much water. It makes it bad. Never pour less water first and then pour some more later. It messes things up bad. (It tastes like….well it doesn’t taste of anything then really)

• If you are a novice and think of adding the vegetables they show you on the cover, you better add very little quantity, boil them before you get started with the noodles (or the vegetables won’t get cooked) and add some more salt and pepper.

• Best vegetables to add would be onion and carrot. (Easily cooked.) Beans and Peas take a longer time to get cooked. (Although cabbage is added in restaurants, I normally don’t use cabbage in my noodles.)

• Make sure the water is boiling before the noodles is in it. Then follow instructions.

• The seasoning powder is tricky. It’s supposed to be added at the end. What normally happens is when you put the powder in, it forms globules and gets attached to localised regions in the vessel. (I am an Engineer ;) …what it means is that, its not uniformly mixed. So its always a better idea to put the powder in a glass, add a little water to it and mix it before pouring the same into the already cooking noodles.

• Water makes a huge difference. I learnt this the hard way. Even if you get everything else right, unless the water is soft, the noodles will end up bad. (Don’t ask me why. I don’t know.) So I always use water from the water filter.

Gulab Jamuns

I made Gulab Jamuns today all by myself. Quite an achievement I say. And a definite upgrade from cooking. Agreed this was ‘Instant Gulab Jamun’. Yet, man!! the amount of work you have to do is really laborious. Here I was assuming just because I can cook noodles, I can cook anything else that says ‘Instant’. Man was I mistaken or what ?
The Instructions on the pack was very simple really.

• Add 1/4 measure of water to 1 measure of mix and kneed the mix gently into a dough. Set aside for 5 min.
• Make small balls and fry in hot oil/ghee over a low flame until golden brown.
• Soak the Gulab Jamuns in hot sugar syrup until they completely absorb syrup and serve.
• Sugar Syrup: Add equal measure of sugar and water and boil for 15 min (this pack needs 1.2 kg of sugar.) Add rose essence or cardamom powder if desired.

(Yea, it had the same instructions in Hindi, Tamil and a couple of other languages that I am guessing were Telugu and Kannada.)

Part of the reason I even ventured out into making it was because the instructions sounded really simple. Bachelors beware. Don’t be tricked into that one. It’s never as easy as it’s printed especially if you have had no prior experience with cooking whatsoever.

So I started with the simple task of mixing 1/4 measure of water to 1 measure of mix. I tried to kneed it gently as the pack suggested and all I has was powder flying in all directions, and the water no where to be seen. I was sure I had made some mistake with the measuring. How on earth was I to kneed it into a dough it I just had powder. This is where I made the first mistake. I added a little more water than necessary I guess. I thought what harm could come from adding just a little water. I mean now I could mix the powder with the water, but whoa!! how do I make this into a dough ? This is where I am glad my mom intervened and said ‘I told you not to experiment. I was sure you would screw it up’and asked me to add more powder. (Since this was my experiment, I did not intend on using the entire pack. That was my 0th mistake but at-least it came to my aid with the 1st mistake.) Now after trying really hard, I actually did make it into a dough.

Next issue was rolling it into balls. How easy it sounds again. Ad there it was sticking onto my hands refusing to come away form my hands let alone be rolled. Again I managed this somehow after a long time trying.

The frying part was quite easily accomplished for I have experience with frying paneer, and even bread. (But my mom tells me the Jamuns weren’t cooked on the inside-which means I did not do this well either. )

The sugar syrup was what I royally screwed. First I thought I had done enough but the syrup wasn’t syrupy. Looks like I over compensated in keeping the burner switched on for a tad too long. It became almost solid. The Jamuns aren’t absorbing the syrub. My mom again helped me by asking me to pour some hot water in it and I was thankful she did.

Finally the Gulab Jamuns came out pretty decently. They were not as good as they should have been, but with instructions like those and a cook like me, they could have ended up disastrously.