[Max]

Depends how much you can splurge on the stuff........

Cheap: ........got to be ChungKing Mansions, or even Mirador.....

Moderate: Indian Provison Stores, and the like....

Expensive: other upmarket Indian restaurants, etc...

Otherwise, if you want to gift them to someone in India (God knows why??, they get better stuff there), try http://shopping.indiatimes.com.

good luck.

[kombuchakid]

of course the Cobra avec mithai was a windup [nice to know Paul can utter a YUK] but seriously Mithai with a half decent dessert wine goes down a treat.
HKF as you obviously know your mithai-ever had the "Sagla Bagla" from Surat ?

[HKFella]

No I haven't, KK.

Hmm...wondering now whether we should try out one of the late harvest ice-wines from our summer in Ontario with milk-cake shortly going to be hand-carried here from Delhi (Nathu's of New Friends Colony) - a real meeting of east and west.

BTW, KK, have you ever tried 'Palangtod' from Pathankot? No, it's not a stimulant-laced paan, but a milk-cake elevated to a serious level of class, much different from the ones in the pix.

[Hal]

Thanks, Shan, for your suggestion. It helps since I'm not Indian and wouldn't know where to look. I will check out Bombay Dreams and get a box of mithai for the Indian family who has kindly invited me to dinner here.

To everyone else who is celebrating the Festival of Lights, A Happy Diwali (or a Happy Deepavali if you are from the south)!

[kombuchakid]

Ice Wine is a brilliant idea. Will defintely have to head to Remy to get some.

'Palangtod' from Pathankot

Brilliant name for a mithai-why does it remind me of a broken bed I wonder? Will have to head for Pathankot on my next trip back.

[shanx999]

Hal
fyi this is the one in Wyndham Road.
not sure whether there is another one

[HKFella]

>KK.

No idea why it got that name (generally breaking of beds is crudely alluded to owing to "performance enhancement" properties of whatever is being sold ). It's always been called that, and in a completely matter-of-fact manner by the public at large.

As kids we'd stop there each way every (long) vacation land-journey between boarding school in Rajasthan and home in Kashmir, as Pathankot used to be the rail-head in the north. The highlight always used to be the loading up on Palangtod. Later we started taking the plane over the magnificent snow-clad Pir Panjals but we were lucky to have had a relative in Pathankot who'd bring/send it across, later on even to the plains.

Nowadays you may not want to head there to travel to Kashmir, but it could still be a good way to get to Kangra Valley and Dalai Lama's Dharamsala/McLeodganj township. The halwai shop in question would still be around.

[kombuchakid]

Yo panditji,
Compliments of the season, and thanks for sharing your memories from your breaking bed days.
Now I really do have to head up north
Cheers
KK

[HKFella]

There you have it - they must have called it that because all the kids would jump on their beds demanding it. (BTW, it takes more than having lived there to qualify as a pandit).

[kombuchakid]

My apologies if I misrepresented your antecedents- but if you were being pedantic, have you filled in this form?

http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscrape.../1285/form.htm

A poor cousin to the bedbreaker perhaps, but here is a Scotch receipe for a Butter Tablet??

Butter Tablet

Ingredients : 5 fl oz (150ml) milk; 6oz (175g) unsalted butter; 1lb 12oz (800 g) caster sugar; 8oz (225g) condensed milk

Yields : 32 pieces

Use a large 5-6 pt (3 L) thick-based aluminium pot to make tablet. Line tray 7 x 10 1/2 inch (18 x 27 cm) with layer of tinfoil covered with layer of cling film. Place prepared baking tray in the freezer overnight.

Put milk and butter cut into cubes into the pan and melt. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. When dissolved and beginning to simmer, add the condensed milk. Stirring all the time to prevent burning, simmer for about 9-10 minutes or until the mixture turns light amber in colour. To test for readiness : put a little in a cup of cold water and it should form a softball (116 deg C on sugar thermometer). Take off the heat, place on a wet cloth and beat until the mixture lightens a little in colour and begins to thicken and 'grain'. Do not allow it to become too thick or it will not pour well.

Pour into the chilled tray. Leave for 30 minutes to set. Cover with cling film and put in the freezer for one-and-a-half hours. Take out. Remove from tin and turn onto a cutting board. Leave for ten minutes. Score the tablet into four squares with the heel of a sharp knife. Break into four. Then score each square into three lengths. Break off each length. Score into cubes. Finally break into small cubes.