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| Two of my favorite people – Rahul Arora and +Pranaadhika SinhaDevburman. |
It actually makes sense when you have friends who want you to come over to help mix dry fruits for Christmas Cake. I woke up in the morning with a lot of anger, my alarm going off after what seemed like seconds after I have fallen asleep. However, at precisely 11.00 am, Rahul Arora was going to start off the mixing of dry fruits, so I basically ran to meet him at Bon Appetit Cafe, Hazra Outlet.
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| Rahul Arora – Restaurant Owner, Chef, Teacher, Food Blogger, Critic. |
I was slightly late, and right after entering, the mixing began in earnest. Rahul stood in the center, behind an empty gamla and he had a lot of things around him. He called me in, and soon after, it all began.
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| L-R – chopped dates, petha, cashews, ground orange peel/ booze/ cinnamon, cloves and allspice powder/ more dry fruits – walnuts, almonds. |
Chopped almonds, petha, cashews, raisins, walnuts, dates, tutti frutti (2 colors), orange peel, cinnamon powder, clove powder, allspice powder, nutmeg powder, honey, golden syrup, sugar were all around him.
And there was the booze. And cocktail mixes. About 14 liters of it. There was brandy, port wine, red wine, beer, whiskey, vodka, rum and passion fruit cocktail mix.
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| Pouring everything into the gamla |
And we mixed everything together. It was a lot of fun. First went the dry fruits, then the honey and sugar, then spices, and then the booze. The smell was intoxicating enough to floor a few people. I was intoxicated too.
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| Result |
The result was something like the picture up there.
And then Rahul sealed the Gamla. With cling film. Because now he would let this rest for a month. And after a month he would put it in cakes to make the most incredible fruit cakes for Christmas. I got one last year and it was DIVINE.
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| In a month’s time, these will be coming out fresh out of the oven. |
Oh yum. I can’t wait for Christmas.
