Mom's Homemade Stuffed buns with mushroom filling

Its only befitting to follow the last post that was on Mother’s Day with a recipe from my mom’s repertoire. In my last post, I did not mention how great a cook she is. I did not forget, but for once I did not want it to be about her cooking. But there is no doubt that she is an amazing cook.

My mom never cooked before marriage, and all that she learnt was after marriage. With a foodie for a husband and a few trusted Indian Tarla Dala books, and a willingness to always experiment new dishes, she became famous for her cooking. As a result my dad grew a truck tyre for a stomach and her children became gourmands (or well more aptly gluttons).

I have in the past shared her famous date cake recipe. Believe me when I say, this is one recipe you should always have with you. My sister-in-law made it recently for her friends and she said out of all the things she made, the date cake was the star. And she and I both get that every time we make it.

My mom’s homemade chocolate balls that she sent to my hostel are the reason why I was always in the good books of my hostel seniors. It’s only half true when they say a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. I think it holds for everyone.

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mocha swirl breadSHU_6326Seriously this cake is jinxed.

This is the second time I am trying it and the second time I am getting it wrong.

Last time I dropped the whole cake halfway through the baking process, while I was trying to check on doneness. You can refresh your memory here. This time even before starting, I managed to drop the box of cornmeal on the floor. On the plus side, the box did not empty completely and some of the cornmeal did not spill onto the floor, leaving me with sufficient cornmeal to use in the cake. On the negative side, the cornmeal did make quite a mess on the floor.

If that was not enough, like last time I forgot that I was supposed to put the espresso water and cocoa after I divided the batter. I would like to blame the whole cleaning up of the corn meal from the floor process for my temporary absent mindedness, but I dont think it was just that. The cake is just jinxed.

Since it was too late to do anything I thought I will make a mocha chocolate swirl bread. So I added 4tsp of cocoa, 3 tsp of sugar and 2 tsp of yogurt to one of the parts and baked it. It might not be like the original, but it did not turn that bad either. Anyway I will try again. Maybe third time’s the charm?

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There will always be people who will try to divert you from your dream. They will try to make your talents or your abilities feel inadequate. These people might be absolute strangers or they might be really close relatives/friends, who in their own respect, have your best interests in mind. Instead of getting angry at them or getting discouraged by them feel lucky because it is the negativity of these people that will help fuel the passion you have in your dream. Its their pessimism that will help build your belief in yourself. Its their attitude towards your dreams that will strengthen your resolve to prove them wrong.

If you give up when they say its not your cup of tea, you basically let them win and stay as someone who could never cross the finish line. Instead smile at them when they lecture you on how ludicrous your dream seems, and wish them the best in their life’s endeavours. And when they aren’t looking, work on your dream and cross that finish line. When you have accomplished what you had set out for and when your ideas start taking shape, send the people who discouraged you a thank you card. Because if it wasn’t for your will to prove these people wrong you would have probably given up eons ago.

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