Cooking In Chennai

So lately I have had the itch to bake. This is made difficult by the fact that ingredients to recipes are in a foreign language (Tamil) I could not understand let alone read on the labels. Another major hiccup in accomplishing a baking success is the fact that in Southern India, we do not have ovens. I do however have a toaster oven and thought it would be interesting to attempt to satisfy my deepest craving since my arrival: The Custis Sister’s Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies. Anything chocolate sounded good to me but these cookies sounded especially homey and as I was feeling rather homesick I knew these cookies would be just the thing I needed. Andrea and Krista have perfected this recipe and Miles and I both can attest to its wonders. And while mine will never be as good as theirs, it is still my favorite chocolate chip recipe. It’s the only one I have used since I got married. Plus I just wanted to bake. It has been a couple months of being here and I wanted- no, needed to bake something.

So Miles and I went to the local grocery store within walking distance of our house. There we struggled for a good hour to find flour that was not rice flour or corn flour or whatever the heck flour that was on the shelves that was NOT regular baking flour. Sugar was easy and plentiful; however brown sugar is nonexistent in India. Four stores later all I could find was the Indian cane sugar called Jaggery. It was brown in color and looked like the right consistency so we put it in our little basket. It was going to have to work, because it was all the country had. The vanilla I found that was in a tiny bottle (half used somehow- not exactly sure) but the chocolate chips, and baking soda were not to be found. I finally found some baking powder and chopped up candy bars from the local market instead of chocolate chips. Oh my. I was very nervous about making these cookies. The ingredients were less than ideal for my cookies and after all I had never baked in a toaster oven before. I was not sure this was actually going to work.

Well when we got home I started to put it all together. I was just at the point of my mixing where the wet ingredients were to be added when I realized I was out of eggs. AHHHHHH! It happened to me all the time at home, how it is also happening here in INDIA? Well, my cookie dough was going to have to be put off for another day until we could get some eggs. Tomorrow….

Tomorrow came and Miles graciously brought me home some eggs after work. That evening I finished up the dough and plopped little mounds of chocolaty goodness onto the toaster oven tray. I had even preheated the mini oven but only to 220 as that is as high as the oven went to. Waiting anxiously in anticipation for those cookies to rise and fill my tummy with delight I took a break from the kitchen and happily landed on the couch next to Miles to watch a show. Just a few minutes later I noticed a slight smell lighty waffed through the air that was growing in intensity. BURNING! OH NO! My cookies were burning! I raced into the kitchen and sure enough they were black all around underneath, and edges while the middles were puddles of uncooked dough. FAIL! I turned the temp on the oven down a bit and tried the next batch (which was like 6 cookies on the tiny tray) dumping all the previous blackened disasters directly into the trash. Well, the second attempt was no better. Still burnt. Oh me Oh my. Miles graciously ate a few of the second and third batch of very-eeeewy-and-not-at-all-gooooey disappointments I still plated. I tried a few myself and they were difficult to eat as they were hardly edible. But every once in a while you would get a bite that would just slightly give a hint of a reminder that this could have been a real cookie. Oh dear. As huge of a disappointment as it was I figured it was just the lack of solid and good quality ingredients and an unpredictable unevenly heated toaster oven, or course. My hopes were dashed and my craving was left unsatisfied. As for the itch to bake- OVER!

My story gets worse if you can believe it. It was the moment of sheer embarrassment when I realized what I had done. A truly “stupid expat” moment as it were. It is difficult to even bring myself to admit this as my head is still hanging from shame. I had cooked the bejeebers out those darn cookies at about 420 degrees (F). You see, my toaster oven is in Celsius. Not Fahrenheit. THIS IS INDIA! You know, Dummy, the other side of the world? I needed 350 F which is about 177 C, not 220 C. Oh my stars! Yes, I feel very dumb and No, to those of you who are reading this, the blonde highlights were artificial and disappeared long, long ago… I simply forgot that I live in a foreign country. I have much to help remind myself of this fact –DAILY- and yet, I still forgot. I have learned my lesson.

Upon discovering this fact I have picked my head up confidently and I have high hopes for my next baking adventure. SCONES! I might try and master those cookies first though. They are sounding awfully good and I would desperately like the chance to redeem my epic failure.

And so the adventure continues.