The four people sitting on the mat were concentration personified. The youngest of them, a four year old due to his age kept the chatter going. If you watched closely, three of them were engaged in a mechanical operation of high precision. This is how the process went: first the person responsible for making dough balls would deftly turn out the balls and pass them on to the roller. The roller took the ball and using a wooden roller pin would press the ball in to extremely flat circular shapes. Next she would pass this almost skin thin shape back to the ball maker who would then use a wet ear bud to moisten the outer periphery.
The ball maker then passed on the slighty wet circular sheath of dough to the third member of the team. She, the oldest and most experienced, would collect in the small of her palm a specified amount of prepared sweet paste which was the stuffing for the delicacy. After placing the stuffing in the center of the sheath she would fold it by bringing together the ends of the covering and pressing them together. And now comes the moment when the artist would affix her signature. The shape resembled a seal lying on its side. The lead artist would hold the thin edge of the delicacy and using her thumb and index finger pullout the skin and then fold it back and she now repeats the same action over and over again till she she reached the other end. It now actually resembled a rather motionless seal whose thin side was somewhat corrugated.
The pastry is now deep fried in pure butter till its slightly golden red. And as some of you might have guessed by now, we are ready to partake the yummy "Gujiya".
Let me now introduce the members. My mother, my wife and my daughter. The youngest guy is my son who with his incessant chatter and entreaties to his mother for some of the sweet paste provided the background music.
A beautiful day in our lives, the feeling of family reinforced even more as my parents return to Delhi tomorrow. However, I go back to savouring this precious moment and of course the mouth watering gujiyas.
The ball maker then passed on the slighty wet circular sheath of dough to the third member of the team. She, the oldest and most experienced, would collect in the small of her palm a specified amount of prepared sweet paste which was the stuffing for the delicacy. After placing the stuffing in the center of the sheath she would fold it by bringing together the ends of the covering and pressing them together. And now comes the moment when the artist would affix her signature. The shape resembled a seal lying on its side. The lead artist would hold the thin edge of the delicacy and using her thumb and index finger pullout the skin and then fold it back and she now repeats the same action over and over again till she she reached the other end. It now actually resembled a rather motionless seal whose thin side was somewhat corrugated.
The pastry is now deep fried in pure butter till its slightly golden red. And as some of you might have guessed by now, we are ready to partake the yummy "Gujiya".
Let me now introduce the members. My mother, my wife and my daughter. The youngest guy is my son who with his incessant chatter and entreaties to his mother for some of the sweet paste provided the background music.
A beautiful day in our lives, the feeling of family reinforced even more as my parents return to Delhi tomorrow. However, I go back to savouring this precious moment and of course the mouth watering gujiyas.
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