Gingersnaps - Do you know Ginger is a doctor?

Do you know Mr. Ginger is a doctor?

Ginger used to be a star fellow  for me, if not for many. He ruled our house at some point and I was pretty comfortable with that. Now don’t ask me why is G, a he. I consider him more masculine, if not a macho, quite built with the woody kinda body.  

I used to admire the doctor fellow Ginger so much so that I used to boil my water with G, chai with G (adrak wali chai), and last not but the least I often forced others to drink the same.

Some 5 years ago, I was dealing with a bad throat. Now I can see, It was all part of getting accustomed to winter (it was not freezing cold, but I was all skin and bones, so you know what I mean ....... that’s quite a challenge…..… right girlies), a new town, new apartment, and to top it all a new job.  I could have done anything and everything to ward off my coughing.  It was so necessary that I was continuously coughing for hours with a small pause in between.

There was sadly less time to care about coughing, but I can now remember the coughing used to result in popped out eyes accompanied with an exploding sound, and a feeling that I was ripping my very own heart and lungs just the way we do with chickens and duck, and the weird look from strangers when you move up and down a lift for the fear of getting infected …… oh! kill me……that was even more brutal.

The pills in the foiled case used to look like small bullets gushing out from a pistol and when they couldn’t work out their magic. Dr. concluded my immune system was bad. He gave me vitamin C pills to dissolve in water and drink. Ms. M at work used to share this with me as it was intensely citrusy with a fizz and quite a relief from the weary work. So I became the master contributor of orange flavored vitamin C pills.

I was inclined to ward off my cough as medicines could not give me any relief, . Someone told me ginger could do the trick. So I used to stash my freezer with loads of chopped ginger like a crazy lady to feed a massive crowd. 

Switching between work, travel, and cooking  there was very little time to care about me. Food used to be merely soups with some basmati rice poured over, but it was real comforting given that a big bowl could easily put me to sleep and that was another way to get a bit of relief.

In between I was studying and whatever little time I got I used to arrange my files, so that it is easy to cram during exams. That said I am not a studious person, but to lead a decent life I did it all in the stride like anybody else …… exams, job, exams, job ……. period.

I can remember my early love for ginger, candied one, sold in bus stands around TN. I used to love it. It was like rectangle sticks (inji mittai), then of course inji puli ……. Perfect when you are looking for something spicy saucy.

Happy news was that Dr. Ginger did all the work and I no more had to deal with the COUGH.

This time I thought around Christmas time to celebrate that long gone days of ginger with gingersnaps, but I messed it up so badly by using a year or so old ginger powder. Otherwise it was all right, not the best. 

Ingredients
Self-raising flour 350 g
pinch of salt
Caster sugar 200 g
Ground ginger 1 tbsp
Bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp
Butter plus extra for greasing 125 g
Golden syrup 75 g
Egg - 1 beaten
Grated orange rind - 1 tsp

Method
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius, then lightly grease several baking trays. Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, ginger, and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl. Heat the butter and golden syrup together in a saucepan over a very low heat until the butter has melted. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool slightly, then pour the contents onto the dry ingredients. Add the egg and orange rind and mix thoroughly to form a dough. Using your hands, carefully shape the dough into 30 even-sized balls. Place the balls well apart on the prepared baking trays, then flatten them slightly with your fingers. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool.