Now for something to go with that cup of tea, or coffee!

Of all the times I spent around my grandmother in her kitchen, I loved the afternoons best of all. While the adults retired to snooze after a heavy lunch, and older cousins ganged up and loitered over music, magazines and books, I would be gathering spoons, bowls, eggs, sugar, bananas, and whatever grandmother instructed me to fetch and carry as she set about making “something for tea”.

No task was too small to this eager helper. Peel and mash those bananas? (I’m on it!). Fetch a sheet of newspaper to drain the fried foods on? (Race to the pile outside the store room and back in a flash!). Butter from the fridge? (Faster than greased lightning!).

This was the most wonderful time spent in her company – the afternoon sun lighting and warming the kitchen, grandmother quietly mixing batter, rolling pastry or pouring pancakes, with the occasional instruction aimed in my direction.

Grandmother was quite a tough task master, not given to indulging shoddy work in the kitchen or handing out easy words of praise. So, like all apprentices, you started at the bottom! I know now that she was much more indulgent of her grandchildren, but to my young mind, it seemed quite a long time spent simply fetching and carrying, watching her at work, before gradually being allowed to help with simple aspects of actually preparing food.

One of the things she made quite often was sweet puffs – deep fried pastries filled with fresh coconut and granulated sugar (similar to karjikai, but without the sesame and cardamom).

Graduating to being allowed to scoop coconut filling on to the rolled casings, folding them into crescent shapes, and carefully making crinkled edges with a fork, (or with that delightful freewheeling pastry tool – the spoon with a serrated disc at the base) was sweeter than the first bite of a hot sweet puff!

Try them, they’re delicious, and really easy to make. Add toasted brown sesame and ground cardamom to turn them into karjikai.

Sweet puffs (or karjikai)

For the pastry:

• 400 gm plain pastry flour
• 50 gm ghee, melted
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup water (as needed)

For the filling:

• 100 g fresh, grated coconut*
• 100 gm granulated sugar
• 4-5 pods of green cardamom, seeds only, powdered
• 10 gm brown sesame, lightly roasted

• Oil for deep frying.

Sift the dry pastry ingredients together, then add the melted ghee. Rub the ghee into the flour until it is evenly mixed and holds together in fine crumbs.

Add enough water to bring the mixture together and knead to a smooth dough. Divide into two equal parts and set aside one.

Combine the coconut and sugar (and the other ingredients, if using) in a bowl.

Shape the dough into a log and divide it into small, even portions. (This amount should allow you to make approx 24 small puffs or 12 larger ones).

Roll out the pastry into thin rounds, then spoon portions of  the coconut mixture onto them.

Dampen the edges with a little water, and press together to seal. Use a fork to crimp the edges together and make a nifty pattern.

Heat the oil in a kadhai or wok and fry the puffs gently, for about 6 minutes, or until they take on a light golden colour. For perfect crispness, dredge the puffs halfway through frying and hold them out of the oil for a minute, before returning them to the heat.

Drain on absorbent paper, and serve them up at “something for tea time”.

And hold on to that other portion of dough. 🙂

* For karjikai, roast the coconut lightly for a drier filling.