Limes of Kachhwa

During winter, lemons are a common sight in the Kachhwa Christian Hospital campus. So far, in addition to the Grapefruit, I've sort of identified 4 types of them. 

We start with the grapefruit. There's so much of them that quite a lot goes waste and eaten by the birds and squirrels . . .

That's grapefruit . . . 

Grapefruits . . . 

The next is Pomelos . . .

A close up of a pomelo . . . 

Then, there are the large lemons . . . Similar to the Pomelos, nobody knows what to do with them. Someone told how the mess tried to make pickles out of them and nobody wanted to eat it . . . There's so much of them and it's a real spectacle. The untrained eye can mistake them for orange . . . 

Then, there are some good for nothing limes, which tastes like water. Mr. Barsati, our gardener says that it is the stalk which was used for budding and unwittingly was allowed to grow when the graft dried out. Everybody calls it 'musambi'. But I'm sure it is not 'musambi'. 

The last one, is a little member of the family. The snap is below, but I shall tell more about it in my next post . . . Any guesses . . . it makes great marmalade . . . 

Grapefruit Cake

Kachhwa is very famous for it's grapefruits. Not much cherished by everyone in the campus, it is a major attraction for our family. All of us except Shalom likes it. 

This Christmas season, we stumbled upon a recipe for making Grapefruit flavoured cake. 

Ingredients (for a 9 inch baking pan) - - -

Grapefruit - 1

Zest of 1 grapefruit - about 4 teaspoons

Eggs - 3 nos

Butter - 1 cup

Flour - 2 cups

Sugar - 1 cup

Baking powder - 2 teaspoon

Dried grapes - 1/2 cup

Candied grape fruit peel - 1/2 cup

Candied colored papaya (assorted colors) - 1 cup

** If you want to use cooking oil instead of butter, you need half a cup oil instead of the 1 cup of butter and 4 eggs instead of 3 eggs. A 1/4 cup of additional flour will give more firmness to the cake when you use oil. 

Method - 

1. Peel the grapefruit and take the juicy parts of the fruit. Remove as much peel as possible. The rind gives a very sour taste. 

2. Sift the flour, along with baking powder and the candied grape fruit peel, grapes and the tooti fruiti. Sieve the flour to separate the flour coated fruits. 

3. Cream the butter and sugar.

4. To the above batter, add the eggs one after the other and cream. 

5. Add the grapefruit and the zest to this mixture and mix. 

5. Now, incorporate the flour to the batter. 

6. Using a spatula, fold the flour coated fruits into the batter. 

7. Bake at 160 degree celcius for 50-60 minutes or till a tooth pick comes out clean. 

So, chances are that you will be served grapefruit cake if you visit us over the next couple of days.

Wish you all a blessed time during this Christmas. May the New Year see the Almighty bring you the choicest blessings . . .