Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Choco-dates


We lived in a gated-guarded compound in Bahrain. Since the property belonged to someone from the royal family and The King's secretary resided in the compound we had police security by night. Two policemen took turns to guard at night. One of them was a retired Air force officer of the Pakistan Air Force.
While I distributed Navrathri prasadams to our gardeners and maintenance personnel they used to share it with these officers too. On one such occasion, he had the sarkarai pongal and wanted me to write down the recipe for his wife. I gave him that and made some pongal to send to his family. He was so touched by this simple geature and befriended us so much that to my husband he was 'hamara dosth policeman' and to me Bhai saheb. I was bhabijaan and Niki was Bitiya to their family. On the eve of eid his wife sent me seviyan and when once Niki was home on holiday, they sent a 2 litre icecream box full of Kashmiri pulav.
It is time around eid this year and we just made a call to wish him. I decided to dedicate this post to this man and his family. This is an iftar dish so is an ideal time to post it too.



I made the chocolate fudge and rolled it over dates. These taste excellent but heavy in calories. typically a minute on lips and forever on hips delicacies :(
Ingredients:
Evaporated milk 200ml
Sugar 220 grams
Cocoa powder 2 tablespoons
Butter 12o grams
Dates whole 20 numbers seeds removed.
Mix all ingredients except the dates in a heavy bottomed pan. Place on medium fire and constantly stir until the mixture thickens and leaves sides of pan.
Switch off when the mixture can be rolled in a ball. Allow to cool until. Since you have added enough butter, it will not be necessary to grease your palms.
Take a small ball of the mixture and roll it over one date, completely covering it.
Repeat with the rest of the mixture. Place the rolled dates separated in a flat dish.
These chocolate delicasies are off to
CFK - chocolate hosted by Hema of Salt to taste an event started by Sharmi of Neivedhyam
and to
Kids Delight happening @ Srivalli's Spice your life to mark the anniversary of the blog.

16 comments:

  1. Very nice Latha.. Inspired by your story...
    You know wot.. I look forward to your post..s to read a bit of story behind it !!
    Now I know wot to do with the dates at home.. !

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  2. Thats such a sweet gesture dear, your chocolate dates sound delicious, a nice idea!

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  3. Lovely gesture..Choco dates looks marvellous, definitely a kid's delight..

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  4. Nice anecdote and a lovely gesture that you have made. :)

    I just loved the way you said "a minute on lips and forever on hips" such a true fact. :)

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  5. Wow..that looks so tempting..The color and texture. You are so right abt the calories, what to do, all tasy ones comes with loads of calories.
    I wanted to try some dates recipes, have bookmarked this. Thanks for such unique recipes..

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  6. Loved your write up, a definite kid pleaser.

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  7. Hi Lata,

    A minute on lips and forever on the hips nu sonna how can you kill us like this??? Facts like these shd never be divulged!!!

    Shobha

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  8. Thats a mouthwatering recipe! Looks good too!

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  9. Dates looks so chocolaty!!!Nice reading the story!!

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  10. Friendship knows no religion and festivals are always for the love to be shared.. The choco dates look yummy.. Thanks for sending it to the event!

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Hello,
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Thanks once again,
Lata Raja.