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A Leftover Story From Vietnam

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 03:30:47 +0000

Flummoxed by leftovers? We have a tasty solution for you – rice paper rolls all the way from Vietnam!

By Somali Roy

Leftovers make me nervous.

They have this annoying habit of disrupting perfectly charted out meal plans.

And for someone with a fetish for order and harmony when it comes to food, they are ridiculously incongruous kitchen contingencies that stick out like a sore thumb.

And yet, once in a while everyone has to deal with the wrath of leftovers.

You don’t have the heart to throw them, but are not really psyched about keeping them. And if you keep them, there’s that burden of consuming them before they go stale. And if they go stale, which isn’t uncommon in my kitchen, you are ridden with the guilt of wasting food. What good comes out of all this anyway?

I found out after a Sunday lunch of roasted chicken.

Though I pressed my guests to consume more – as politely as the art of entertaining would permit – I had this ominous inkling of inheriting leftovers at the end of the party, which I did. But that night, Luke Nguyen, a Vietnamese Australian chef, initiating home cooks to Vietnamese cuisine in a television series, gave me just the idea.

I set my mind on making Gỏi Cuốn, one of the hallmarks of Vietnamese cuisine that most importantly promised to subsume my leftovers. These delicate rice paper rolls stuffed with goodies are a minimalist’s dream come true – outright simple design and technique, fresh basic ingredients yet divinely balanced flavours – and a perfect antidote to a sinful meal of fried, roasted calorie-ridden food or perhaps an entrée before such a meal.

So, the first task of making this salubrious summer roll, was to acquire the rice paper or Bánh Tráng, which is a thin steamed rice crepe that has been dried on bamboo mats under the intense Vietnamese sun in family courtyards or manufactured in factories. They can be used only once rehydrated in lukewarm water.

Shopping for rice papers is not daunting if you remember two things – buying a size that you’ll be comfortable working with and choosing your rice paper wisely. Circular rice paper sheets of the size 8.5 to 9 inches are now widely available in specialty stores in most Indian metros and considered easy to manipulate.

Secondly, you’ll notice that rice papers are made from just rice, a mixture of rice and tapioca starch or just tapioca. More the amount of rice in the rice paper, thicker and opaque it will be and needs relatively hot water to be pliable. However my vote goes to the rice and tapioca combos that are thinner and translucent and soften in lukewarm water.

Once the rice papers arrive, next up is the stuffing, which is the exciting part. Traditionally Gỏi Cuốn is stuffed with thinly sliced pork meat, shrimps, rice vermicelli, lettuce and fragrant herbs like mint and Perilla leaves. Keeping the noodles and herbs as standard, I like to add pretty much anything I wish. If I don’t have leftover chicken, I lightly sauté mince meat with finely chopped onions, garlic and ginger and use that along with the greens. Crabmeat makes for a fantastic filling too.

Adding sliced prawns to the filling is optional. However the pink outline of the cooked prawns visible over the translucent rice paper enhances the aesthetics as well as the taste. If you’re not in the mood for fancy, another great idea is to cut an omelette into thin strips and add that to the fillings. To score on the health factor, I also add julienned carrots, mushrooms and green peppers. Just make sure that all ingredients are thin and firm to conform to the shape of the roll.

The last and most crucial stage is to assemble everything and roll the rice paper. Rice papers have a nice woven pattern on one side rendered by the bamboo mats upon which they are dried, while the other side is smooth. Put the smooth side down and the rough side up to encase the filling. It’s a good idea to keep a shallow vessel of lukewarm water nearby to soak the rice papers and a clean working space to place the soft sheets on. Also, while wrapping, try not to overstuff the rolls, to avoid chances of bursting.

Wrapping rice papers can be lot of fun. If you’re not keen on rolling them all by yourself, you can choose to take the entire activity to a communal DIY level by letting your guests pick fillings of their choice and wrap their own customized rolls amidst the usual bantering.

These delicate rice paper rolls stuffed with goodies are a minimalist’s dream come true – outright simple design and technique, fresh basic ingredients yet divinely balanced flavours…

My leftover story will remain incomplete without a mention of Nước chấm, the ultimate dipping sauce of Vietnam. It’s a condiment made from fish sauce (Nuoc mam) and has the four flavours of sweet, sour, savoury and spicy in a tantalizing combination.

While eating, dunk your nimble bundles of rice papers in this dipping sauce and I am confident you’ll be praying for leftovers.

Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls with Dipping Sauce Recipe

Fish Sauce or Nước mắm, the most essential ingredient in this dipping sauce is the lifeblood of Vietnamese cuisine and is used as a dipping sauce, flavouring agent and dressing for countless dishes. It is made from the liquid that comes from fermenting fish (anchovies) with salt.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

For rice papers rolls

16 rice paper sheets

200 gms minced chicken sautéed in chopped onions, garlic and ginger / leftover roasted chicken cut in thin slices

25 gms cooked rice vermicelli

16 cooked prawns (one piece sliced in two per roll)

1 carrot cut into fine matchsticks

Lettuce leaves (remove the spine)

1 green pepper cut into fine matchsticks

Fresh mint leaves

Chives or coriander leaves with stems

For dipping sauce

2 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp vinegar

½ cup water

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp fish sauce

½ tbsp soya sauce

2 chopped garlic cloves

1 or 2 birds eye chillies

Method

Soak a rice paper in lukewarm water for 15 to 20 seconds and place it on a clean working space.

Mentally divide the sheet horizontally into three parts and place the filling roughly on the third part.

While layering the filling, place a sliced prawn cut in two, side by side at the bottom, then a lettuce leaf on top of the prawns for support, followed by mint leaves, handful of rice vermicelli, slice of chicken and lastly the veggies.

Pull the bottom flap of the rice paper over the filling, then fold both sides of the rice paper like an envelope to secure the filling and keep rolling towards the top with a bit of pressure, keeping everything firm and tight. On the way, tuck in some long springs of coriander leaves or chives, half sticking out of the roll for decoration.

You can either slice the roll in half or serve as whole.

Repeat the process with other sheets.

For the dipping sauce, mix all the ingredients together and taste for flavour consistency and balance. The sauce is usually a bit pungent owing to the fish sauce and has a very distinct taste of all the flavours.

Arrange the rolls on a plate and serve with the dipping sauce.

*Photo credit: Subhashish Dasgupta

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A Foodie’s Letter To God

admin — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 05:30:22 +0000

If a foodie prayed to God, what would she pray for? Find out, and get an orange and chocolate cake recipe too!

By Suma Rowjee

I am a big (literally!) foodie and a foodie with a terrible sweet-tooth to boot. Having genes which are not exactly hour-glass-figure friendly doesn’t help; having a family who are equally dessert crazy compounds the problem. I never seem to run out of excuses to cook and bake and of course eat a… ahem… decent portion of it too – some as testing and tasting and some as a portion to be eaten in peace.

Undoubtedly one of the biggest pleasures of life, it’s extremely unfair that the Creator created both something as divine as food and something as dreadful as weight-woes. Having been at the receiving end of this dialectic, I send an appeal to God.

Dear God,

This is me, one of those people who call out to you so very often, in different contexts. For example when I taste food, I say, “Godddhh! This tastes unbelievable!”, on other occasions “GAWD!!! Did this have to happen NOW??” – this is of course when there is a power-cut while I’m baking. “God! What have you done now?” – from me the harassed mom when my kids do things which don’t exactly make me proud. The resounding ‘nnnn’ of my groan you heard the other day was God, when I stepped on my bathroom scales to find it betraying me – yet again! I sincerely hope you do know me God, at least as one of your devotees who eats every bit of the ghee soaked uber delicious prasad given at the temple.

Trust me when I say this dear God, I really count my blessings everyday, swear on that fudgy walnut brownie! But God, may I bring some more matters to your attention. Small things, but in my humble opinion, very, very important.

For beginners, can you please redefine a balanced diet as enough appetizers (with paneer or cheese preferably), a main course (creamy pasta, dum biriyani or even pizza would do) and a dessert, instead of adequate carbohydrates, proteins, fiber etc etc? Yaawn! I know you are God, but I hope you have a heart too?

Dieticians could prescribe high fat, high sugar, carbs rich diet for weight loss and good health. This is surely possible, don’t forget YOU ARE GOD!

Doctors could write prescriptions which read something like – Rx – Buttery cinnamon rolls (snack) - Pots De Creme (after food) – Nachos with salsa (before food). Doctors should examine patients and gravely remark, “So you have been skipping your daily dose of dessert I presume?”

Boring salads could make us gain weight, hence something to be eaten in minute quantities. Well, if you insist on exceptions, we could say coleslaw, waldorf salad or creamy potato salad.

How about the grease in the fries, pakoras and cottage cheese fingers, actually transferring the shine of the fat onto the face? Actually make the skin glow I mean! Please say yes! I will chuck that warm lemon water and honey!

If someone fell seriously ill, people should whisper and say, ”Never have I seen him eating a decent serving of dessert or fried stuff, this was bound to happen..tch, tch.”

I know you think people don’t exercise as often as they should. Please do very seriously consider making chewing the most intensive workout possible, burning calories like no other workout can. I will NEVER miss a workout as long as I live, God promise!

Healthy desserts and snacks could be carrot and walnut cakes, strawberry mascarpone ice cream, caramelized pears with almonds and vanilla ice cream, Iyengar bakery Khara biscuits, garlic and cheese focaccia (Please notice, I am trying to be virtuous and including fruit, vegetables, herbs and garlic, all of them good for health).

…a baking obsessed, sweet-toothed, weight watching foodie’s life can be really tough.

Of course you may not have given much thought to these things, but a baking obsessed, sweet-toothed, weight watching foodie’s life can be really tough. I have so much more to say … sigh! But I know other important matters such as global warming and world peace command your immediate attention. So let me stop here today and hope you ‘process’ my request. Amen!

And while you do that God, I would like to de-stress myself with just a teeeny-weeny slice of this simple, easy and quick, One Bowl Orange and Chocolate Cake with Orange Infused Ganache.

Recipe adapted from Citrus And Candy

Ingredients

150 gm unsalted butter – cut up

220 gm brown sugar ( I have used 120 gm brown and 80 gm white)

100 gm good quality dark chocolate, chopped

50 gm cocoa powder

160 ml milk

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/4 tsp orange zest, grated

170 gm plain flour (maida)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt (I skipped this)

For the orange infused ganache

360 ml/ 1 1/2 cups fresh cream (I use Amul)

1 3/4 cups dark chocolate, finely chopped

2 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tsp grated orange zest

Method :

Pre heat oven to 170 degrees C / 340 degree F. Grease and line a 9” square tin with baking parchment, flour lightly. (An 8” square tin used in the original recipe, gives you a taller cake)

Measure all the ingredients and do a Mise en place – everything in place. It ensures that you don’t run around for that forgotten ingredient half way through mixing the batter.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt if using, set aside.

Take the butter, sugar(s), chocolate, cocoa and milk in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH power to get a smooth mixture. You could do this in spurts of one minute, stir and then microwave again. If you still see small bits of chocolate it’s fine, it will continue cooking and melt due to the internal heat. Alternatively, you could melt on the stove top above a large bowl placed over simmering water (i.e using the double-boiler method). Allow the mixture to cool for 5 minutes.

Whisk the eggs with the orange zest (ensure no clumps of zest remain), add it to the chocolate mixture and whisk to combine.

Sift over the flour mixture and then gently fold it in.

Scrape batter into tin and bake for 40 – 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. If using an 8” square tin, the baking time will be more, about 45 – 50 minutes. DO NOT OVER BAKE.

Cool in the tin for 5 minutes then turn out and cool completely on a wire rack.

Slice horizontally into 2 – 3 layers.

For the orange infused ganache

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, bring the cream and unsalted butter to a boil over low heat.

Whisk in the orange zest ensuring no clumps remain.

Add the chocolate. Turn off the heat.

Let stand for a few minutes till the chocolate is completely melted.

Strain through a fine meshed strainer.

Fill this between the layers and finally pour the remaining ganache on the top.

Decorate with candied orange zest or tangerines, slice and serve.

*Photo credit: Suma Rowjee

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Cooking The Mob Grub

admin — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 03:30:59 +0000

Our culinary repertoire is often shaped by our mothers and grandmothers. Here is a different inspiration – Italian food courtesy the mafia!

By Somali Roy

(This is part of a series where our current resident foodie, Somali Roy, will take readers through experimenting with various cuisines in their home kitchens).

Those who were stoked with The Godfather and later Goodfellas, the two greatest mafia movies ever – may know I am alluding to a dish that was conjured and later iconized by the wave of Italian immigrants (mostly Sicilians) settling in America at the turn of 19^th century, namely Spaghetti and Meatballs.

You watch these swarthy, sunglass wearing, thick accented Italian-American bad boys in The Godfather, cutting, slicing, stabbing people at the drop of a hat and then you double take when one of them (Peter Clemenza), deftly instructs Michael, son of the Godfather, on cooking this very dish:

“Heh, come over here, kid, learn something. You never know, you might have to cook for 20 guys someday. You see, you start out with a little bit of oil. Then you fry some garlic. Then you throw in some tomatoes, tomato paste, you fry it; ya make sure it doesn’t stick. You get it to a boil; you shove in all your sausage and your meatballs; heh…? And a little bit o’ wine. An’ a little bit o’ sugar, and that’s my trick.”

Francis Ford Coppola, the Director of The Godfather is believed to have said – if the movie flops, people would at least learn to make Spaghetti sauce. Well, bonus points – I loved the movie and picked up a recipe that jump-started my tryst with Italian cooking at home.

One of the most versatile dishes I know, Spaghetti and meatballs fits the one-dish–for-all bill. It can be picked as a weeknight dinner owing to its ease of preparation or cooked for guests because it looks fancy on a plate or served at a kid’s birthday party because it’s mild on the palate.

One of the most versatile dishes I know, Spaghetti and meatballs fits the one-dish–for-all bill.

And, though it entails four simple staccato steps – cooking the pasta or spaghetti in this case, preparing the meatballs, the tomato sauce and lastly bringing everything together – there is technique involved, which once mastered becomes second nature, and goes a long way in cooking many other Italian pasta dishes.

While all you need to care about in cooking the pasta is to generously salt the boiling water before putting the spaghetti in to let it soak the salty flavour and to cut the heat precisely when the pasta is al dente or firm to the bite, let me assure you there is room for creativity and personal touch in cooking meatballs and tomato sauce. And creativity beckons variety, options and opinions.

No two people will have the same recipe for meatballs and each will vouch for theirs to be superior. Martin Scorsese, Director of Goodfellas, asked his mother to cook the onscreen food and she used veal, pork and beef for her meatballs that we watch Vinnie so delicately put in his tomato sauce in the prison scene, where incarcerated mobsters are preparing a lavish dinner.

As besotted as I am by the cooking scenes in a Mafia biopic, I stick with ground chicken for my meatballs. But do try to follow the two precepts of meatball making – using fatty chicken, so that it’s juicy when fried and highly seasoned meat that will exude great flavours. And this is where I partly depart from mainstream Italian and go native. Think of the unseasoned bland meat, as an empty canvas and use your imagination. I season the meat with garam masala, chopped green chillies, coriander/parsley and lemon juice in my version.

Call it indolence or convenience, I often use bottled pasta sauce and flavour it with chopped shallots, garlic, oregano and a pinch of salt and pepper in the pan. Tomato puree works perfectly well too. Bear in mind that Italian pasta dishes do not swim in their sauce, therefore use in moderation. But in case you need to thicken or thin the sauce later, always reserve the starch water from cooking the pasta to adjust the consistency.

Finally, it’s not just the flavour of the sauce that matters, but also how and when the sauce and the pasta come together. I always have my sauce ready together with the pasta or ideally before it. The pasta shouldn’t have to wait for the sauce, rather the other way round. Once the sauce is nearly done I add the meatballs and let them flavour the sauce before adding the pasta.

All said and done, chances are you might not even find this dish on your trip to Italy, except on menu turistica (tourist menu) owing to its American provenance. But every time I sit with a bowl of luscious meatballs smothered in comforting tomato sauce clinging onto perfectly cooked strings of Spaghetti, I wonder if this homespun recipe is any less representative of the Italian cuisine that we so lovingly devour.

Spaghetti and Meatballs Recipe

For the scene in The Godfather where Clemenza is cooking, Francis Ford Coppola originally wrote in the script, “Clemenza browns some sausage”.

Upon seeing this, Mario Puzo, the author, crossed out “browns” and replaced it with “fries”, writing in the margin, “Gangsters don’t brown.”

So, depending on your mean streak, feel free to fry or brown your meatballs!

Ingredients (serves 2)

For the meatballs

250 gms ground chicken

½ beaten egg

1 tbsp Parmesan cheese (optional)

1 tsp garam masala powder

1 chopped green chilli

Coriander leaves / parsley roughly chopped

Breadcrumbs (to bind it all together)

1 tsp lemon juice

Pinch of salt and pepper

Olive oil for frying

For the sauce

1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

1 shallot or half medium sized onion

1 tsp minced garlic

1.5 cups canned pasta sauce / tomato puree

1 tsp oregano

Pinch of salt, pepper

For serving

200 gms Spaghetti cooked as per packet instructions.

Parmesan cheese grated on top

Handful of basil leaves

Method

Combine all ingredients for the meatballs in a bowl and mix them together with a fork. Now, using the palm of your hand, roll 1-inch meatballs. This mixture will yield about 8 – 10 balls.

Heat olive oil in a non-stick pan and gently place the meatballs in oil. Very carefully turn them around using a spatula and brown them on all sides over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes. Remove the meatballs on a plate covered with kitchen towel to soak the extra oil.

In the same pan, put some olive oil and heat. Put minced onion and stir over medium heat till translucent. Add chopped garlic and cook for a minute. Now put the tomato sauce and stir everything together. Sprinkle some oregano, a pinch of salt and pepper. Return the meatballs to the sauce and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes on low heat. Add reserved pasta water to adjust the consistency of the sauce if needed.

Add the cooked spaghetti to the sauce and stir everything together for about 2 minutes. Serve onto plates. Garnish with basil leaves and grated Parmesan on top.

*Photo credit: Subhashish Dasgupta

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From Plate To Film

admin — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 05:30:21 +0000

We devour food with our eyes, before we can even taste it. Some tips to make your food photos appear tempting – and a salad recipe!

By Kiran Srivastava

I’ve always been inspired by food magazines not only for the recipes, but also for the visual drool-factor. Yup, photos are the major culprits. Shooting food involves the time taken from brainstorming recipes, to prepping, cooking, visualizing the prop and styling ideas, styling, photographing and finally, eating!

Phew! That’s a lot of steps and a boat-load of patience indeed.

So, sit back with a cuppa tea and enjoy this visually fun food styling tips. I’ll try to minimize any photography lingo/jargons. Pinky promise.

Photography kit

The basic rule of thumb is investing in a Digital Single Lens Reflex or in short, DSLR camera. You don’t necessarily have to spend thousands of dollars. Just a basic beginner DSLR would do it.

A tripod is “always” recommended.

The best part about a DSLR camera is that it comes with lens flexibility. Choose a lens that would work best with your project. That way, you don’t end up spending too much money on something that you might not even use in the future.

The next best investment is on a good tripod. There’s nothing worse than shooting blurry images as the end result. Whether you are shooting manually, automatically, with a prime (macro) or zoom lens, using a tripod is “always” recommended.

Essential styling tools

While taking photos might seem easy to many, styling foods can get very tedious and time consuming. Some of my essential styling tools to help me elevate common plating issues such as spills, rearranging noodles, ingredient placement are: cotton swabs, chopsticks, spritzer, cotton ball and tweezers.

Food props

The essential part of food styling is the ability to select props to suit each food recipe or idea. Having a variety of food props definitely broadens a styling idea. Using interesting cutlery makes a lot of difference to the end result. Avoid similar shades of colours in one styling. Colour contrast between background and food is essential to bring focus to the food and overall styling.

Interesting cutlery makes a lot of difference.

Textures and backgrounds

Food styling is not limited to what’s on the plate, but where the plate is placed. It’s important to achieve an overall balance between the colours of foods, background and surface colours/textures. Experiment by plating with different textures/colours of fabrics, multiple surfaces, using ingredients from the recipe, floral arrangements etc.

Lighting

Colour contrast between background and food is essential.

I love shooting in natural light. I think it brings out the best of both worlds – the natural look of foods translates seamlessly in the photos. Try shooting using natural lighting as much as possible. Shoot during the day near a window where you would get plenty of natural sunlight. Most importantly, avoid using flash at any cost.

Post processing software

Whether you are photographing for leisure or as a professional, investing in image post processing software allows flexibility for image editing. My favourite post processing software is Lightroom by Adobe. There are still quite a few affordable software options out there.

And now, for the best part – a recipe! Bon Appetit!

Pan seared baby carrots and paneer salad with orange ginger spiced dressing recipe

Ingredients:

170 gm paneer, cubed

12 – 15 baby carrots, sliced

1 tbsp cooking oil

½ cup edamame or any whole beans such as channa (garbanzo) or rajma

Try shooting using natural lighting as much as possible.

A handful of salad greens like baby spinach, lettuce and sprouts

For orange spiced dressing

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Half an orange, zested and juiced

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp chilli powder

½ tsp fresh ginger, grated

Salt & pepper to taste

Method:

Heat a non-stick skillet on medium flame. Once the skillet is hot, add cooking oil.

Throw in the sliced carrots and paneer cubes. Fry until paneer is golden browned and carrots are cooked through – al dente.

Prepare dressing by adding all the ingredients in a bowl. Mix to combine.

Add pan roasted carrots and paneer with edamame in the bowl with dressing. Coat to combine.

Refrigerate for a few hours.

To plate, add salad greens, topped with marinated salad and a healthy dose of sprouts.

Grab a fork and dig in!

Once the food is prepared, styling is sketched and tripod is propped – get ready to shoot and don’t forget to have fun!

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Feeding The Thai Addiction

admin — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 03:30:18 +0000

If exotic ingredients have put you off trying Thai food, here is how you can recreate it – in the comfort of your own kitchen.

By Somali Roy

(This is part of a series where our current resident foodie, Somali Roy, will take readers through experimenting with various cuisines in their home kitchens).

“I’m calling from room 304”, I said, after much deliberation.

“Sawadee Ka (Hello)! What can I do for you, Madam?”, asked the same voice.

I could sense a smile. She knows.

I was trying to change my mind, just to show I could be unpredictable. “Is your kitchen still open? Can I order a (pause)..”, I flipped through the menu card like a maniac.

“The usual?”, suggested the voice gently, almost patronizing.

I flinched, muttered my consent and slumped on the bed.

Let me start by saying, I am Somali and I am an addict. It began when I ordered a humble dish of “Pad Thai” at my hotel room, in Bangkok, overlooking the Chao Phraya river, oblivious to the fact that this popular dish of Thailand is sold at every curb and sidewalk. I picked it simply because I was drawn to the description that said – rice noodles stir fried with eggs, prawns and tofu, garnished with bean sprouts, ground peanut and chilli flakes. How bad could it be?

It wasn’t. And I kept ordering it till the last meal on the last day of my trip. Pad Thai, as many Thai food lovers would agree, may look unassumingly ordinary, thus lowering your expectations in the first place. But then, when you put that first bite into your mouth – the softness of the noodles with a lightly fried shrimp against the crunch of peanuts, all bound together with the delicate sweetness of palm sugar that gently gives way to the tartness of tamarind and an occasional pungent whiff of fish sauce, finishing it abruptly with a kick of heat from the red pepper – you are swept off your feet and possibly end up ordering another plate, then another.

That was my fate; could be yours if it isn’t already.

To me, the beauty of this dish lies in its perfect balance of the four flavours – hot from red pepper, sweet from palm sugar, sour from tamarind, and salty from fish sauce/soy sauce. And if you can sense each of these distinctly and somehow etch them in your mind, at least till you can hustle back into your kitchen to replicate it, you have hope of creating something you can be proud of. This mantra is true for most of the Thai dishes that I have tried out in my kitchen, be it the fragrant Pineapple and shrimp fried rice, Tom Yum soup, Thai Red / Green curry or another personal favourite – Stir fried chicken with cashew nuts. As long as you let these four lighthouses guide your ship, you won’t be doomed.

…the beauty of this dish lies in its perfect balance of the four flavours – hot from red pepper, sweet from palm sugar, sour from tamarind, and salty from fish sauce/soy sauce.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But please don’t kill yourself if the first (or more) attempt despite following the recipe to the t, isn’t the pièce de résistance you had devoured earlier on. Not to worry. Attaining that perfect balance of flavours is not rocket science, but intuition that you develop with practice and an understanding of how each ingredient works. It took me a couple of attempts to create a Pad Thai recipe that I like and it’s worth the effort, simply because once you get the essence, you can apply it to other Thai recipes as well. My tip is to taste, taste and taste as often as you can while cooking this one to adjust the flavours.

And talking about ingredients, let me state that there are many pertaining to this dish or other Thai dishes. This may seem overwhelming at the outset but you’ll notice that most of them are either easily available in the market or are at home usually. The secret to cooking this or other Thai dishes is to prep ahead – the entire cutting, slicing, chopping, mixing – and arrange everything in the order they go into the cooking. Once this is done, you will be surprised at how astonishingly minimal the actual cooking time and how blatantly simple the process is.

While foraying into Thai cuisine, I remember how some of the ingredients like galangal, lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, palm sugar and fish sauce intimidated me and kept me away. Not anymore. As a home cook, I am not an advocate of buying everything a recipe calls for, especially if it’s the only recipe I know that asks for it. The good news is, many of these are easily substitutable in making Pad Thai and the taste, if calibrated is nevertheless exceptional.

And that is why I can’t stop feeding my addiction.

Pad Thai Recipe

The traditional recipe calls for ingredients like tofu, palm sugar, peanut oil, dried shrimps, sweetened radish, bean sprouts that were not always available at places where I have lived. Therefore, I either substituted them or skipped them (though the recipe mentions all) in my version, and that hasn’t made a huge difference to the taste. However, I would stress on the garnishing – the lime, crushed peanuts and chilli flakes give an extra edge that you wouldn’t expect till you dig in!

Ingredients (serves 2)

150 gm thin rice noodles

1 tbsp fish sauce or soya sauce

2 tbsp tamarind juice or vinegar

1/2 tbsp palm sugar or brown sugar

4 tbsp peanut oil or vegetable oil or olive oil

250 gm fresh shrimp, shelled and de-veined

3/4 cup firm pressed tofu, cut into small cubes (can be substituted with diced chicken. I use none.)

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 shallots or a medium sized onion finely chopped

1/4 cup small dried shrimp (optional)

1/4 cup chopped sweetened salted radish (optional)

2 eggs

1 cup fresh bean sprouts (optional)

½ cup water or chicken stock

Garnish

2 tbsp of crushed roasted peanuts

1 lime cut into small wedges

½ cup chopped spring onions

2-3 tsp dried red chilli flakes

Method

Soak the rice noodles in lukewarm water for 40 minutes to one hour until the noodles are limp but firm to touch. Drain and set aside.

Prepare the sauce by mixing the fish sauce / soy sauce, tamarind juice / vinegar, palm sugar / brown sugar. Stir to melt the sugar. Add some chilli flakes to it. Taste and adjust flavours to the desired combination of salty, sour and sweet.

In a bowl, add a tsp of oil, a pinch of pepper and salt to the shrimp and keep it aside.

Heat the wok with 2 teaspoons of oil and quickly stir-fry the shrimp until they turn pink and then remove from the wok.

Add the remaining oil, saving a tsp to the hot wok. Add tofu (if using or diced chicken pieces), frying 1 to 2 minutes (bit more for chicken) until the pieces turn golden. Add the chopped garlic and stir-fry for few seconds. Then add the shallots and stir everything.

If you are using dried shrimp and sweetened salted radish, add it now.

Add the noodles and toss well with the ingredients in the wok. Stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes till the noodles change texture and have softened.

Now push the mass to one side of the wok. Add a tsp of oil to the cleared area, crack the eggs onto it and scramble lightly. When the eggs set, cut into small chunks with the spatula and toss them in with the noodles.

Add the Pad Thai sauce. Stir well to evenly coat noodles. If the noodles still seem firm, sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons of water / chicken stock.

Return the shrimp to the wok. Add bean sprouts (if using) and chopped spring onions. Stir everything together.

Transfer to individual serving-size plates. Squeeze the lime over each portion. Garnish with crushed peanuts (ground in a mixer) and chilli flakes sprinkled on top.

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In Pursuit Of Epicurean Inspiration

admin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 03:30:28 +0000

Everyday cooking can often erode the magic and joy of cooking. All the more reason, to get inspired with a simple and easy spaghetti recipe!

By Somali Roy

As kids we must all have gone through the phase when mothers would act hammy, let out a hapless sigh, look heavenwards and ask, “Now, what do I cook today?”. While the answer never came from above, I could scarcely fathom my mother’s dilemma (specially, in light of my algebra problems) that something as trivial as this might warrant divine intervention; till it was me standing in my kitchen in a quasi-meltdown state, asking the same question.

I remember reading: When a man says, “I have nothing to wear”, while perusing his wardrobe, he actually means, he has nothing clean to wear and when a woman says it, she means she has nothing new to wear. Using that logic, I wasn’t bringing anything new to the table, quite literally. In retrospect, I was clamouring for inspiration, so was my mother and all those women for whom, there comes a stage when cooking turns into this insipid mundane chore, when all you care is to be united with the take-out menus.

While juggling a home, full time job and a two-year-old marriage, I had reached that spot too soon where any food that came bottled, tinned or packed was a life saver. Little did I know that intervention was on its way when we moved base from bustling New Delhi to south Germany’s quaint Alpine town of Munich.

While juggling a home, full time job and a two-year-old marriage, I had reached that spot too soon where any food that came bottled, tinned or packed was a life saver.

Munich’s high living costs made random eating out almost redundant, which meant I was to inspire myself to cook more often. With a handful of Indian recipes in my kitty, I was hardly warming up to the prospect. So I began scouting the city’s nifty supermarkets and historic (some dating back to the 17^th century) fresh farmer’s markets looking for inspiration.

I watched people feel luscious tomatoes in their hands, checking asparagus and brussels sprouts for freshness, picking out peppermint and hibiscus tea bags from counters, sniffing fresh marjoram and thyme, sampling feta cheese with herbs and olives, picking loaves of whole-grain bread, a jar of sunflower seeds, queuing up for freshly cut slices of salami and bacon strips and then loading up on cartons of beer and sacks of potatoes.

My covert operation was a good start but inspiration, as I soon found out is most elusive when you chase it in the Holmesian spirit. It’s not a task; it’s a process that needs time, patience and heaps of curiosity. So I signed up for German classes. Soon I was blurting out vegetable and fruit names in Deutsch, reading labels on jars, identifying Angebote (special offers) in supermarkets, making basic conversation with vendors and even ordering food off the Speisekarte (menu cards). I believed I was getting closer, so I pursued further (though, not so clandestinely as before).

On occasional eat outs, I would stare unabashedly at other diners’ food, read out the ludicrous names on the menu and study their fancy descriptions in English and wonder – why does Bruschetta need balsamic vinegar or why do prawns in coconut curry always taste heavenly. What might have been gross embarrassment to my meal partner was supremely educational for this benighted soul for I dissected my food, smelled it, touched it, rolled it around my tongue, felt it against my palate and produced mumbling sounds.

I wasn’t eating to just fill-up; I was unfolding the surprise and delight of treading an unknown cuisine – the taste of warm crusty Apfelstrudel (a traditional Austrian pastry popular in Europe) against creamy vanilla ice-cream. And I was beginning to be conscious of flavours in isolation and in harmony, like sensing that subtle hint of saffron almost obscured in Paella de marisco (Seafood Paella – a Spanish rice dish) or the refreshing scent of lime leaves in Thai green curry that makes it divine.

One of my vivid memories of sublime dining was when I chanced upon a rustic dish of lemon chicken with coarse rice at an atmospheric Greek tavern in Santorini. Struck by its blatant simplicity, unpretentious presentation and superb juxtaposing of flavours – the moist meat doused in a pale garlic-lemon broth garnished with fresh herbs – I had this unrelenting urge to recreate it in my home.

Since then I have been pinning down random frames of my travel memories – like eating scrumptious Aglio e Olio at a modest trattoria in Vatican City or noshing on Papoutsakia in a crowded neighbourhood of Athens or tasting pita bread with Hummus in Lisbon’s old quarter – through food onto plates.

I realized – when you put all your senses on high alert and pass every morsel under the radar of consciousness, that’s when a simple meal becomes transcendent and that’s precisely when you are inspired. So, look around, wonder, ask questions, experiment, make mistakes, let your curiosity guide you to discover new things and as Julia Child said, “Above all, have a good time!”

…look around, wonder, ask questions, experiment, make mistakes, let your curiosity guide you.

My inspiration led me to discover eclectic cuisines across the world and recreate them in my own kitchen, sometimes adding my own spin to classic recipes. It’s really been ages since I asked myself that dreaded question, What do I cook today?

Spaghetti Aglio e Olio with prawns and mushrooms

This is my go-to recipe whenever I am pressed for time or too lazy to cook anything elaborate. The literal translation of this traditional Italian pasta dish is – “Spaghetti in garlic and olive oil” and is very popular across the country. Though delicious on its own, I like to add prawns and Shitake mushrooms to add substance. Also, I love garlic, but feel free to go easy on it, if you’re not a fan. Buon Appetito!

Ingredients (serves 2)

200 gm spaghetti

250 gm prawns (peeled and deveined)

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

5 large garlic cloves minced

150 gm shitake mushrooms cut lengthwise (can be substituted with button mushrooms)

1.5 tsp cornflower

5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

A slice of lemon

Salt to taste

Pinch of black pepper

Method:

Coat the prawns in cornflower, salt, pepper, a dash of lemon and few drops of olive oil. Heat a tsp of olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the prawns for about 3 minutes until pink and firm. Keep them aside.

Cook pasta in boiling, salted water until al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving some of the cooking liquid.

Meanwhile heat rest of the olive oil in a saucepan over medium – low heat and toss in the garlic and red pepper flakes. The idea is to infuse the smell of garlic in the oil.

When the garlic turns slightly brown, add the mushrooms and some salt and stir them together. Drizzle some oil if it becomes dry and cover it till the mushrooms become soft.

Turn off the heat. Add the pasta, the prawns and toss everything together. Add the reserved liquid if mixture seems dry and serve immediately.

*Photo credit: Kim Jensen

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My Top 5 Cookbook Picks

lavanyad — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 03:06:44 +0000

Good cookbooks are a treat to the senses as well as a lifeline at desperate times! A list of some great cookbooks for all seasons.

By Lavanya Donthamshetty

How many of you dread the, “What’s for dinner, Amma?”. I hate the, “Oh no! Not THAT again!” that usually follows my response. My son is perfectly happy to eat pasta every night of the week but feed him dosa for the third day in a row and he’ll go “AGAIN?” followed by a long moan. What are today’s children coming to, I ask. The womenfolk of my family made merry with an inexhaustible supply of idli/dosa batter and I ate dosas every day, thrice a day if I had to and liked it too! No wonder mums like me are hitting the (cook)books like every night is Board Exam night!

Despite the fact that my cookbooks occupy a whole shelf all by themselves in my bookshelf (I had to offload quite a bit when we moved to Chennai last summer), there are still a few that are my go-to books for any season. In-laws’ coming for lunch? High tea with school mums? Healthy fare to satisfy the brother? There are no issues these cooking gods cannot deal with. Which is why, these books form my top 5 favourite cookbooks.

At the top of the list, standing alone in her regal splendour, redolent in the knowledge that she has saved me and many a Tamilian cook half a dozen times every day, is the inimitable Meenakshi Ammal and her eponymous Samaithu Paar. This wonderful tome in 5 parts used to be a part of a new bride’s loot as she left the safe confines of her mum’s kitchen and ventured into the untested waters of her mother-in-law’s. Translated into English and most regional Indian languages, this book is a massive favourite and has a cult following in the southern states. Even if I had done a dish many times over, I still feel better making it with the battered copy of Samaithu Paar in my hands, gently guiding my way. Be it a simple rasam or a complicated rasavangi, Meenakshi Ammal will tell you what’s what.

When I was in college, my mum got me a copy of Sanjeev Kapoor’s, Khana Khazana and that was the start of a beautiful relationship. I love his simple explanations and no-fuss methodologies which mean one need not be a culinary institute graduate to be able to follow his instructions. I was a big fan of his TV show and he was the one who made me want to make rotis every night and introduced me to the gloriousness that is paneer. When I asked a bunch of friends who their favourite chef was, every second person said Sanjeev Kapoor.

A recent addition to my collection is Jigyasa Giri and Pratibha Jain’s, Cooking At Home with Pedatha. As the spouse is Telugu, I am always after learning an Andhra dish and bought this one after a few of my favourite food blogs praised it effusively. And boy! Were they not exaggerating or what? It was just like trying to make a dish with your granny standing behind you and telling you what to do, when. A novice to Andhra cooking, I had no problems following instructions and was most pleased with the results. So much so that my husband’s cousins asked me for the recipe! Now THAT’s what I call a compliment! The follow-up to this book, Sukham Ayu, their ayurvedic cookbook is also a massive hit at home.

One of the most famous vegetarian chefs in the western world, Rose Elliot has been my saviour since the days I decided to embrace healthy eating. Her The Vegetarian Low Carb Diet Cookbook is one of the most thumbed volumes and one that is the starting point for many a weekly dinner. Her ingenuity staggers me – who can come up with an asparagus quiche that is not a quiche in the everyday sense but is supremely yummy that even fussy 2.5 year olds fight for second helpings?

When the supremely awesome Stephanie Jaworski finally releases her cookbook, I’ll probably mow everyone else down to stand at the top of the queue but for now, like millions of her fans around the world, I lap up her words daily from her website, Joyofbaking.com. Every time a cake or a cookie or any baked goodie is on the menu, there’s none whose words I trust more than Stephanie’s tried and tested recipes. For someone with no grounding in baking, her detailed explanations go a long way in helping me know why I am doing what I do, which is rather important especially when it comes to baking. Recently, I made madeleines based on her recipe and it was far superior to the ones I used to bake previously. Even my mother-in-law said so!

So, which is your favourite cookbook? Do you have a particular favourite chef whose books you (pardon the pun) devour? Or, like many avid cooks, do you have a mini library of cookbooks at home? Do share in the comments section.

Meenakshi Ammal comes to my rescue most days and her dishes are a big hit in my house. The humble potato can take only so many forms before the kids start moaning, “Oh no, not that one again!” and it was on such a day, when requests for pie & mash were floating in the air that I came upon the Urulai Podimaas recipe in Samaithu Paar. Podimaas is like the Tamilian form of mashed veg and urulai podimaas is nothing but mashed potato, with a twist. But what a twist! Try making it this way and you’ll never go back to eating plain old mashed potato ever again!

You can also make the same dish using raw plantains – you’d have never tasted a vazhaikkai (raw plantain) in such an exotic format!

Vazhaikkai Podimaas

Ingredients

Raw plantain – 2
Toor dal, parboiled – 2 tbsp
Urad dal – 1 tsp
Channa dal – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Green chillies – 1-2
Ginger – 1 inch piece
Dessicated coconut – 1 tbsp
Curry leaves – a handful
Salt, asafoetida and turmeric – a pinch each
Oil – 2 tbsp

Method:

To start with, cut a plantain roughly into 3 small chunks and drop it in salted, boiling water. Do not peel the skin now. Once it is cooked, drain the hot water and keep the vegetable aside.

Cook the toor dal till it is half done.

In a non-stick pan, heat the oil. Drop the channa and ural dals in it and saute till golden. Next, add the slit green chillies and continue sauteing. Add grated ginger, dessicated coconut and torn curry leaves and fry for a minute or two. Finally, add some mustard seeds and allow it to splutter.

Strain the parboiled toor dal so no water remains and mix with the ingredients of the pan and let it all cook together.

Meanwhile, peel the skin off the cooked plantains and mash the chunks roughly, using the back of a fork. Season it with salt.

Add the mashed plantains to the non-stick pan and mix well. Add asafoetida and turmeric, check the salt and mix well.

Serve hot with rice.

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The Art Of Entertaining

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:30:27 +0000

Entertaining guests is about having a good time, not impressing them; on the ‘dangers’ of potlucks and an easy Pineapple-Banana Crumble recipe.

By Neeraja Subrahmaniyan

Every little girl in every country/culture plays with a mini kitchen set at some point in her life. Mine comprised of lovely wooden toys, hand-painted in bright reds, greens, yellows, and oranges. There were grinders, cookers, pots, jars, ladles and so many cute little things that were used to host mock-tea or pakoda-parties in the backyard. The guests were usually a mix of toys, friends and bemused adults who munched on non-existent or unpalatable “food” hashed out of spices stolen from mom’s kitchen, crushed leaves and unknown berries from nearby trees. But, there was always plenty of giggles and laughter. The giggles and laughter – they remain most special. It was creative, interesting and everybody had fun – kitchen sets are still being sold as toys, aren’t they?

Then, something happened as we grew up into all-important adults. Entertaining people has become a task; a stressful one at that. As creative and interesting as cooking is, the prospect of entertaining a small crowd of people is daunting, because of a few misplaced social conventions. It’s hardly about enjoying something simple and homey amongst friendly company. Entertaining is now about showcasing one’s talent as a worldly, versatile super-chef. Meals are expected to be elegant, yet unique and fancy, the house is expected to be chic and contemporary with everything in its place, and you, the hostess are supposed to look dashing and interesting, with not a hair out of place. Ideal. But, idealism is far from reality.

As much as we look forward to spending time with friends and close family at the end of a tiring week, we keenly dread throwing such an “event”. One can’t hope to unwind by bringing in more work.

So, potlucks are now a rage everywhere – it simplifies things (or so they say), but there are so many unsaid rules and unmentioned competition that hangs at the dinner table as people try out the different dishes and profess the “best” one and lavish compliments. A little part of us wants our dish to be complimented or at the very least, be eaten heartily. No one wants to enter a potluck with day-old sambar (please don’t judge me) and plain idlis, and place them next to a platter of tofu-kababs, lasagna, risotto, and dishes that look alien! As you watch people go for third and fourth helpings, your sad little idlis remain untouched, for idlis are so bourgeois in an Indian crowd, right?

A little part of us wants our dish to be complimented or at the very least, be eaten heartily.

The next time around, you mutter and curse, feverishly run through “exotic” recipes, frantically purchase unheard-of ingredients, and attempt something brand-new for the very first time, hoping against hope it will turn out right! Ironically, you sometimes wouldn’t even know if the final dish tastes as it is supposed to… As this stress culminates to a grand finale meltdown, you begin turning down invitations, and remind your spouse you’re a classified introvert. But really, this shouldn’t merit so much stress.

We really need to cut ourselves some slack now and then, and re-kindle that lost spirit of entertaining that involved fun and good-times – that’s the whole point of get-togethers. So, I have “evolved” from the frazzled hostess to someone more easy-going. I borrow ideas from books, online resources and TV shows on easy, simple dishes that cross culinary boundaries. I love experimenting with simple dishes by adding my own little spins to make them healthier, “Indian” and interesting. I remind myself to enjoy the experience. Most importantly, I don’t mind “losing” at potlucks. It’s the company that matters, food is secondary. And boosting my ego is even more worthless.

Here is a simple fruit dessert that can be adapted and prepared in a jiffy. Bonus point– it’s relatively “fancy”.

Ingredients (serves 6-8)

6 cups (total) of diced pineapple and banana (approximately 1/2 a pineapple and 2 bananas). Use any fruits that taste well together.

The zest and juice of 1 lemon (2 lemons if they are very small)

3-4 teaspoons + 1/4 cup of white sugar (depends on how sweet the fruits are)

1/4 cup brown sugar (can substitute with white sugar)

1 cup all purpose flour (maida)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cardamom powder

3/4 – 1 stick unsalted butter

Method

Marinate the fruits with 3-4 teaspoons sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice for 1/2-1 hour.

Mix the white sugar and brown sugar, flour, salt and cardamom powder. Dice the cold butter and add it to the mixture.

Pulse this in a mixer, or using a fork work the butter into the dry ingredients until it looks like coarse-meal and the butter is the size of peas. The topping should be crumbly, and the butter should remain in tiny bits so that the topping is flakey.

Pack this on top of the fruits. Bake in a pre-heated 176 C oven (or 350 F) for 40-45 minutes until the fruits begin to bubble in their juices and the corners brown. If you would like the topping to brown, sprinkle a few bits of butter on top.

Don’t own an oven? Not to worry, marinate the fruits in the same manner. Prepare the topping by frying some bread crumbs (a cup or two) in melted butter, toss them in sugar and cardamom, and add this as a topping.

Hope this recipe comes to your aid when it’s time for the next get-together. Think of the simpler and happier times when you were proud to serve leaves and plastic cookies. Always remember to keep things simple; as Coco Chanel said, “Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.” Happy and stress-free entertaining!

*Photo credit: bloggyboulga

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My Top 5 Kitchen Gadget Picks

lavanyad — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 05:09:24 +0000

Can one have too many gadgets in the kitchen? Not if you go by this foodie, who picks her 5 kitchen essentials.

By Lavanya Donthamshetty

You know when you hear me admit that The Gadget Show was one of my favourite shows in England, that I am a massive gadget freak. If anything can do any type of technical wizardry, then it can have my total attention. Put that with my love for cooking/food, and you’ve got a massive kitchen gadget addict. Looking at stuff that will make it easier for me to come up with delectable goodies, ranks among my favourite things.

As it is the start of a brand new 2012 (happy new year, dear reader!), I thought it is great timing to put together a list of what I feel are some great kitchen tools that can make your life easier. These are personal choices and are ranked according to how much I have come to rely on them.

1. My absolute favourite piece of kit, one I use every time I turn my stove on, is my hand-held blender. In a few seconds, it can beat into pulp whatever I want it to. It is easy as pie to get it going and doesn’t involve any fancy gadgetry. Pureeing was never simpler! And the best bit? No extra-washing up as all you need to wash up is the blender itself. On lazy days, I blend it straight in the wok, something I am sure the manufacturer warns against!

2. If you are a coffee lover like yours truly, then a good percolator is definitely a must for your kitchen. With the new-fangled ones that can switch on by themselves at the crack of dawn or whenever it is you want them, waking up to the unbeatable aroma of fresh coffee is comparable to pure heaven! I have a French-style cafetiere just for desert island type emergencies (you know, if I were ever in marooned on an island and had nothing else, I’d still need my coffee!)

3. My third favourite gadget is my old reliable food processor. I bought it five years ago on a whim at a New Year’s sale and it has made my life so much easier. The first time it grated this huge chunk of cabbage into thin strands, I knew I was onto a winner! It is such a marvellous thing that can grate, dice and chop vegetables, beat eggs, mix chapati dough, powder coffee beans…. other than making the darned dish itself, it can do everything else! As most processors, like mine, come with a small chutney grinder as well, it truly is an all-in-one kitchen gadget.

4. When I moved to Chennai last summer, my mother-in-law donated her old steamer to me as she thought I might put it to good use and boy, have I! It is magical how this can breathe life into your tired vegetables. Never have we eaten yummier tasting veggies. Steaming vegetables in a steamer and just adding the tadka to it lends a whole dimension to your side-dish and makes even your children fall in love with eating them.. You know when your daughter looks at her plate and names all the colours from the dishes she is tucking into that you are on to a good thing, right?

5. After having a massive oven as a part of my cooker range for the past decade, I was a bit worried how I was going to get on with my baking in a smaller kitchen. Avid baker Monika Manchanda came to my rescue when she suggested I get myself a Morphy Richards OTG and my family have been sending up silent prayers of thanks ever since! Compact, the size of a microwave, this fits neatly into your worktop space and is perfect for the amateur baker. Marry it with an electric beater and you can churn out perfectly baked goodies in a jiffy!

So, what are your favourite gadgets, readers? What is the one thing your kitchen cannot do without? Is there one that makes your culinary heart go pitty-pat? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

To get the new year off to a sweet start, here is a sweet dish of mine, made easy with the help of a few gadgets.

A Recipe for Dry Fruits Peda

Dry fruits and a dash of honey – well it is almost health food, innit?

Ingredients:

To make it, you’d need:

Almonds – 100 gms

Cashew – 100 gms

Pistachios – 100 gms

Walnuts – 100 gms

Dates – 150 gms

Dried figs – 150 gms

Honey – 1 tbsp (optional)

Method:

Soak the figs in warm water for 10 minutes. Pulverize the assorted nuts using a food processor till they are coarsely chopped. You want to be able to chew them so make sure you don’t powder them into nothingness. Empty the contents into a dry bowl.

Tear and drop in the soaked figs and juicy dates into the processor. Blitz them well. Now drop in the pulverized nuts and let them all whizz together for a minute.

Take the mixture out. Drizzle some honey if you wish to loosen it up and knead it nicely. Spread it thickly onto a greased plate. Mark them into shapes.

Once the contents have firmed up, separate the pedas. Enjoy!

Pic credit: Cinnachick

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Of Cakes And Christmas

lavanyad — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:08:44 +0000

Once a silent affair in most parts of India, now Christmas is celebrated joyfully by many – with cakes, carols et al!

By Lavanya Donthamshetty

When I was a little girl growing up in Chennai, I used to be quite fascinated with the plastic stars that were hung outside some homes in the month of margazhi (December). Why did they have it? What did it mean? Why didn’t we have the stars? Were some of the questions I used to plague my family with. I absorbed the barest info about Christmas and the Star of David and just waited for the lone Christian classmate of mine to come to school with some cake.

The past decade when I made England my home, Christmas was one glorious affair. The hoopla around it started sometime in mid-October itself and the almost unbearable excitement that built up has to be seen to be believed. Moving back to Chennai this summer, I was all set for a muted December.

Imagine my surprise last week when newspaper after newspaper carried details of ‘cake-mixing’ ceremonies, wherein ‘celebs’ helped mix together Christmas cake ingredients in one grand ceremony. How far we have come from a lone plastic star marking the biggest holiday in the Christian calendar!

Now there are all sorts of events happening in every part of the country to celebrate Christmas and what’s more, the holiday isn’t just for Christians alone. My neighbour maami (aunty) will be celebrating it, complete with a small Christmas tree and presents for her grandchildren. My daughter’s school is planning a Winter fete, along the lines of what I have seen schools do in England, complete with stalls selling goodies and puppet theatre. There are even Christmas pantomimes! How exciting is that?!

Personally, the biggest part of Christmas is the truly delectable cake. Filled with dried fruits and nuts, topped up with belly warming booze, a good Christmas cake is a true joy. Last year in Britain, superchef Heston Blumenthal broke all records when the cake he made for supermarket chain Waitrose literally flew off the shelves. Google ‘christmas cake recipe’ and you’ll be awarded with more than 5 million links. This year, as I cannot pass off the Marks & Spencer’s cake as my own, like I generally try to do every year, I have decided to try my hand at baking it. A true Christmas cake should be baked sometime in October so you can ‘feed’ it spoonfuls of brandy (or rum, if you prefer) and it can gradually prove over time and thus, improve its taste. But I am told this is not vital and so, am forging on.

A good substitute for Christmas cake, in my case, is Sponge Pudding. Hot, dripping with syrup and with some custard on the side, it is simply heaven on a plate. During the winter nights, this waistline-bursting pudding will warm you from the inside and fill you with a wonderful glow.

Now there are all sorts of events happening in every part of the country to celebrate Christmas and what’s more, the holiday isn’t just for Christians alone.

So tell me, how are you celebrating Christmas this year? Christmas lunch with friends and family, complete with tree, presents and crackers? Going to midnight mass, listening to carols and hymns? Having as many variations of boozy Christmas cake as possible? Or, like most of my family, taking advantage of the extra holiday to get some much-needed sleep?

Whatever your plans are, have a very lovely Christmas. Give a shot to baking a Christmas cake by trying fellow Women’s Web writer Anne John’s family recipe. A slice of this decadent goodness with a glass of chilled homemade wine, is reason enough to look forward to Christmas every year! Be good and I will catch up with you in 2012!

Easy Christmas Fruit Cake Recipe:

Ingredients:

Raisins 150g

Cherries 100g

Cashewnuts 75g

Mixed peel 25g (crystallized ginger and orange zest works great!)

Sugar 200g

Plain flour 200g

Butter 200g

Eggs 6

Baking powder 3/4 tsp

Marmalade 2 tbsps

Cocoa powder 2 tbsps

Rum/orange juice 4 tsps

Caramel syrup 3 tbsps (To make this, add 1/4 cup of sugar to a heavy bottom pan, melt it over a low flame without stirring and then add ¼ cup of hot water. Stir to make slightly thick golden brown syrup.)

Salt a pinch

Method:

Chop the fruit fine and marinate them in rum/orange juice overnight (upto 24 hours in the refrigerator). Add marmalade and mix well.

Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition.

Sieve together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.

Fold the flour, fruit and peel into the egg mixture until combined.

Add the slightly cooled caramel syrup (If left to cool too much it will harden) and fold into the mixture. (This gives the deep brown colour characteristic of Christmas cake)

Pour into a greased and lined tin and bake at 200 degrees C for the first 20 minutes. Then turn down the heat to 175 degrees and bake for a further 30 minutes. The cake should be dark golden brown and firm to the touch. Check with a fine skewer for doneness.

Christmas Wine:

Ingredients:

Grapes 6kg

Sugar 6kg

Yeast 25gms

Method:

Dissolve 1/2 teaspoon sugar in lukewarm water, mix the yeast in and keep aside for 30 minutes. The yeast will bubble.

Clean grapes, remove stems and soft ones. Place the cleaned grapes in a large vessel; pour boiling water over the grapes and wash.

Boil 12 litres of water and cool it.

Crush the grapes, add sugar and mix till it dissolves. Add 12 litres water, add yeast and mix well. Cover with plastic cling film and keep for atleast 21 days undisturbed in a dark place for it to ferment.

Filter and sip away!

(You will get more than 12 litres of wine. So you can spread the cheer by gifting some or reduce the quantities proportionally.)

Photo credit: Uros Kotnik

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