The Rainbow Experience

All the rainbows in the town!

 What you witness here is pretty glaringly colourful so be wary, very wary. This is what happens when your mother loves colours (too much of it) and it's her birthday.
Birthdays are always special in our households. So this time I wanted to make my mom something special. And this is what conspired out. A two-tier rainbow cake with homemade vanilla frosting and some rainbow cupcakes with the leftover cake batter.
The procedure was quite simple. As the adage goes, pictures speak louder than words. So here goes my photolog of the rainbow adventure.  

Colours yet to fill

 

Tomato Chutney

These days I share my abode with two other girls, one of whom is an enthusiastic cook (she calls herself 'over-enthusiastic', to which I sort of agree!) The one rule we follow around here is to have food together as frequently as possible. Like all spinsters/bachelors who live by themselves, we have this restaurant near our place we frequently order-in from. But since it's tiring, boring and slightly humiliating to be recognised as 'those girls with the daily order'. And hence, we started cooking!
 Breakfasts and dinners are mostly where we experiment around. So my flatmate and myself have been on the look out for some interesting chutney recipes to go with dosa. Our one catch was that we didn't have a lot of dessicated coconut, so wanted to find recipes which didn't need coconut. That's when we happened to taste tomato chutney from this restaurant we frequented; and we loved it. This put us on a hunt for the recipe of the perfect tomato chutney. Here's one that we tried and tested.

INGREDIENTS

1. Tomato............................... 1 (medium sized) 
2. Small onion........................ 8 nos.
3. Ginger................................ a piece (about 1 inch)
4. Dry chilly(de-seeded)........ 5 nos.
5. Salt..................................... to taste

For tempering

1. Mustard seeds................... half tsp
2. Urad.................................. half tsp
3. Asafoetida......................... a pinch
4. Oil...................................... 2 tbsp

METHOD

 This is the easiest part. Grind all the ingredients in the mixer. Heat the oil in a pan. Put in mustard seed and let it sputter. Add the mustard seed and the urad(uzhunn). Now add the asafoetida and then transfer the ground mixture into the pan and mix it. The tomato chutnety is ready. Enjoy it with dosa, idli and/or vada. 

How to cook: Rasagulla

I've been wanting to kick-start this blog for some time now. But then when I found it hard to get things going for me, I thought as Cadbury famously says, "Kuch Meetha ho jaye!" With minimal encouragement from my mom, who is almost as obsessive & possessive about her kitchen as a nursing grizzly bear mother finally gives me her nod to use her kitchen. So I go through these random recipes online (read YouTube). I stumble upon this Rasgulla recipe by Tarla Dalal. I haven't followed the recipe to the T and have made my own variations according to my convenience. So, this is how it ended. The sweetmeat was supple, sweet & juicy. Since I'm very pleased and moreover my mother, who does not give away her approval that easily, found my Rasgullas  "as good as those Haldiram ones that come in a bottle," I'm going to share the recipe with you.

Sweet juicy Rasgullas

Ingredients

1. Milk

 a) Low fat milk- half litre

 b) Full fat milk - half litre

2. Sugar           - 1 & a half cup

3. Lemon juice  - 1.5-2 tbsp

4. Water           - 5 cups

5.Rosewater     - optional

6. Elaichi           - optional

Since the sugar syrup (chashni) hardly has anything to do with preparing the rasagullas you will have to make it separately which can incorporate the rosewater and/or elaichi powder for added flavour.

Preparation time: 20-30 mins

Cooking time:       8-10 mins

Method

Curdling milk

We start by boiling both the low fat milk with the full fat milk together in a wide-mouthed pan. Using a wide-mouthed pan makes it easier to handle the milk. Once the milk is brought to boil we switch-off the gas and stir it for over a minute to let-off the steam. This is important because once the milk starts curdling we want the chenna (Indian cottage cheese) to be smooth & soft.

Curdled milk hung to make chenna

So after stirring it for over a minute we add 1.5-2 tbsps of lemon juice while still stirring the milk to start the curdling process. Since curdling of the milk largely depends on the quality of the milk, if the milk does not readily curdle even after a minute of introducing the lemon juice you may want to start the gas once again in low flame for under a minute to hasten the curdling. Once the milk starts curdling and the milk solids start separating giving way to the light green coloured whey water you may go on stirring the mixture. Once the curdling is done you make keep it aside for 3-5 mins & then strain the concoction into a clean muslin cloth (I used a large, clean handkerchief).

Chenna being knead to a smooth batter

Now what we would have is the chenna, ie. the dough for our Rasagullas. Then we would proceed to squeeze out the whey water from the chenna. (But before you throw away the resulting whey water you may want to look at how it can be put to good use. Instead of lemon juice Whey water can be used the next time you want to curdle milk. Click here for more uses of Whey water.) After we have squeezed away the Whey water we may now rinse the chenna in clean & cold water, twice. When we wash it for the second time we open the muslin cloth pouch, immersing it in the cold water and kneading it in the water. Then we tie the muslin cloth again which the chenna in it & squeeze the excess water to hang it someplace so that the extra water is drained.
After a good 10-15mins we may remove the chenna, knead it for 4-5mins, pressing it with our palm and looking for any chenna pellets & crushing if we find any, to making a smooth batter. Once the batter is ready we make tiny round balls out of the batter. I made 16 tiny balls out of chenna I made from 1lt of milk.

Rasagulla balls in sugar water (uncooked)

Rasagulla balls cooked

In the meanwhile we can now take 5 cups of water and add a cup of sugar and let it boil on high flame. Once the sugary water (PS. this is not the sugar syrup) has come to boil, drop your Rasagulla balls into the concoction. Put on a lid, while allowing steam to escape, on the pan and cook for 8 mins.
Your Rasagullas are ready. Do not disturb them for another minute.
While you wait for the rasagullas to settle you might want to make the sugar syrup. Take 2 cups of milk with a cup of sugar and heat it. When the sugar is dissolved check for consistency and add the rosewater & elaichi, if you choose to.

Now your rasagullas must be ready to dive into the sugar syrup. If you want more sugar syrup feel free to add more sugar to the sugary water we used to cook our rasagullas. And there you have it. Soft, sweet & supple Rasagullas!

Soft, sweet & supple Rasagullas!

The Rasagullas came out pretty well, much to my amazement. And mind you, I am not a professional or even someone who cooks that often. But the rasagullas sure have encouraged me to cook more often. So look out for this space for more of my culinary adventures & more. Do try it out and let me know how it turned out for you. See you soon. Cheerio!

Iced Cold Coffee

Monday mornings are a horror, but Mondays in general are always boring, Don't you think? So I devised this super strong way to shake me up this Monday. I love a good, strong cup of coffee. And being raised by a lovely, bold & strong woman with Brahmin roots, my mother, introduced me to filter-coffee pretty early in my life. Ever since, we haven't NOT had atleast a cup of filter-coffee a day. We as a family own atleast 3 filters of different sizes, all meant to make the decoction required for filter coffee.

Coffee filter

What is a coffee-filter you might ask! 

Coffee filter is a 3-piece metal device to make decoction, used to make coffee, from ground coffee beans. It has two tumblers, one of which comes with a perforated bottom and the other with a normal bottom. The tumbler with the perforated bottom is to be stacked on the other tumbler, and the sieve-umbrella is to sit in the perforated tumbler. The ground coffee powder goes into the perforated tumbler, and the sieve-umbrella is positioned on the coffee powder slightly pushing it in position. The tumbler is then filled with boiling water. Now the decoction gets collected into the tumbler below. Coffee-filters come with lids that you may put on and store away the decoction for future use.

(In case you can't find a coffee-filter in a store near you click here.)

I've had friends come over just for a cup of hot n steamy, not to mention creamy, cup of filter coffee that I may almost always serve. But sometimes a hot coffee is not something you crave for. So I looked up at how I can turn this sweet and energizing shot of caffeine into a chilled and refreshing mocktail. And here is what I came up with.

Ingredients

Coffee powder(ground) 2-3tsps
Water                           1/2 cup
Condensed milk            3/4 tbsp
Milk                              2-3 tsp

How to make the decoction
Put 2-3 teaspoonfuls of ground coffee powder into the seived mug and press down the unbrella over it. Then pour about half a cup to a full cup of boiling water onto the umbrella structure. Wait till the decoction is collected in the lower mug. Now to make the coffee.

Iced-cold Coffee
The sweetness of the iced-cold coffee all depends on you. So I'll refrain from telling you how much condensed milk you need to use. But all you need to do is get your tall glass and place a good number of ice cubes in it. Then you need to pour a good 3-4 teaspoons of decoction and a spoon or two of condensed milk; and you are good to go!
Enjoy your chilled Iced coffee with a solid good book to read on a comfy sofa.

Caramel candied Popcorn

I've loved going to multiplexes all through my time at Mumbai as a student of Journalism on a budget. Yes, they did burn holes into my budgets, but my love for movies and the caramel popcorn would drag me into the halls time an again. So here is yet another Friday around the corner it's movie time; only this time I'm not burning a hole into my pockets. I've made some fresh, hot Caramel-candied Popcorn at home from a recipe I found on an American blogger's blog. (Click here). But I found that lot of the ingredients & method could not be followed here in India. So I've Indian-ised it to my convenience. And I had some fresh, hot, crispy, gooey Caramel-candied Popcorn!

Hot & Crispy Caramel-candied Popcorn

Here's how it's done.

Ingredients

1. Popcorn (Act II- Golden Sizzle flavour)- 140g
2. Brown sugar                                         - 2 cups
    Butter                                                   - 1/2 cup
    Lemon juice (or honey)                         - 1/4 cup
3. Baking soda                                          - 1/2 tbsp


Preparation time: 3 mins (popcorn)
Cooking time    : 20 mins

Method

Fresh 'n' hot popcorn

Though we may use any plain or mildly salted popcorn with no other spice, I've used the Golden sizzle flavour of Act II popcorn here. The classic salted may be a little too salty to my taste, though the caramel-candied popcorn needs to have a slightly salty flavour in it. As per instructions in the pack, I popped the popcorn for 3 minutes flat, in my cooker without using the whistle and then kept it aside to cool. Now, is the tricky part; the caramel sauce.

Brown sugar to be caramelised

We may start fresh in a hard-bottomed kadai by heating the measured up 2 cups of brown sugar and 1/2 a cup of the butter (I used Amul salted) in the kadai. Try and use the butter in room temperature, as it helps for the sugar to blend in faster and saves gas. Once the sugar is all melted into the butter and turns a dark brown you may add the quarter cup of lemon juice in it to get the saucy consistency. The lemon juice helps from the sugar to re-crystallize after being heated & melted. Though the recipe I found suggested using corn syrup, since finding corn-syrup in India is not that easy, I found that lemon juice is a good alternative and works just fine.After adding the lemon juice the caramel turns into a golden-brown shade. We may now stop stirring the sauce & let it boil for 2-3 mins. (You may add a little water if you think the sauce may get drained.) Once the sauce is boiling you may switch-off the gas & add the baking soda and stir the sauce.

Hot caramel sauce

After laying the popcorn onto a microwave over safe platter pour half the sauce over the popcorn and microwave it for about 2.5 mins. Take the dish out and turn the popcorn over to the next side and pour rest of the caramel sauce. And stir again. Microwave it for another 2.5mins. Take the Caramel-candied Popcorn out and let it cool for another 5 mins.

Hot, crispy, gooey and sweet Caramel-candied Popcorn

You may want to crush bite size pieces of the popcorn candy. You may pack it up for your next movie-date or make a bowl full of the candy for your next house party. I'm sure everyone would love it. Everyone at my place did. My mum & our neighbour, who dropped in catching the scent wouldn't stop munching on it. So I'd call this candy crush a grand success!

Well, see you'll again soon. Until then, cheerio!

How F.R.I.E.N.D.S is related to Gastronomy.

Appreciating food requires our auditory senses along with the sense of sight, smell, touch, taste & a certain passion towards. How much ever you have stuffed your tummy, is it not possible to eat that last tiny morsel of you favorite desert?! That is exactly why I think that Joey from F.R.I.E.N.D.S is the classic example of a Gastronome. In case of any doubt, refer to the video below.

 Coming to think of it, the entire universe of F.R.I.E.N.D.S revolves about food. Who can forget their hangouts?! Central Perk or even Monica's Greenwich village apartment. Food is directly involved with either of the places. Let's also not forget how Monica is the  the dutiful host & good cook who also makes those 'tiny drops of heaven' for Xmas.Refer video for a flashback.

Yet for every ying there has to be a yang, & Rachel Greene had to be the terrible cook.Refer the video for a memory refresh.

Also in the video you can witness how diligently and dutifully Joey takes on his 'responsibility' of finishing the Thanksgiving Turkey,or Raechal beef-cream pudding! He is one absolutely dedicated Gastronome, though it surprises me that he is never seen working out given that he stays fit almost all the time (sigh!) He truly is every Gastronomes' role model.So Gastronomy, I believe could be our much hyped 6th sense, no? 

Snack it, Honey!

Ms.Balan in a heightened sense of taste!

Like Vidya Balan famously once said, and let me quote her, "Mujhe jo chahiye, uska maza sirf raat ko aata hai...". Yes my dear fellow gastronomes, we are talking about midnight snacks! Or may be snacks in particular. Boy! Does she look like an avid 'snacker'? (Not to be mistaken as a cheese cracker a.k.a pataka biskut!) Infact I would go to the length of saying that Ms.Balan here is the most deserving among Bollywood actresses who can endorse a snack brand.(Don't you?) I wonder why nobody has thought of it yet?! I mean, amongst the skinny brigade, her voluminous figure seldom leaves us guessing! Atleast not after 'Dirty Picture'. With the pout of lips and writhing about, she has left everyone reaching for more. Who can forget the scene where Ms.Balan & Mr.Shah race against herds of oranges in a probable competition of who gorges most of them.And of course, the after National award release 'Kahani' suffices to strengthen my point. But mind you! Of all people, I am not one among those who despise a well fed woman! This is plainly intended as an ode to the new age Bollywood actress who dared to be unapologetic about her opulence of size, even where it really doesn't matter-or does it? Anyhow, lets not forget those Ok, now enough of that and moving on to what really matters, S-N-A-C-K-S!!

Snacks are widely favored in India, almost like Bollywood,ie anytime, anywhere, anyhow. Infact I dare say that they are the perfect accompaniments with Bollywood cinema. The only set of movies that you wouldn't watch with a popcorn indulgence would be the kind that's illegal in India.So you see why they should serve, if not popcorn, atleast some snacks in the Parliament? With snacks at hand the Ministers would have kept their hands busy elsewhere!What are you thoughts on Finger food? wouldn't these be best served in the Parliament?! Finger food, better known as snacks are the best accomplice of men/women with too much talent and yet plenty more time at hand.

The kind of time that Rahul Dravid a.k.a The Wall is being gifted with. He has decided to indulge in everything the regular job-less house-husband does. Buy groceries, send his kid to school are just the few of his post-retirement plans. But that said, the man has done his due & tried to save the Indian cricket of dishonour time and again.At this threshold Saurav Ganguly was quick to opine that this most definitely was a good decision. But for some reason, failed to ask some other to follow suit. Maybe the many pleasures of joblessness and the productive use of the art of grocery bargaining would lure in the rest into retirement! I say they should have a jobless cricketers party once in a while with snacks in plenty to remind the non-retired of the many pleasure of sitting back and bitching about the youngsters in the team, over a finger food. It's can get as cloying as an all girls pyjama party with loads of chic-flicks and popcorn to run down. Now that reminds me of a serious koschien!!

Ever wondered why snacks are always referred to in plural? Because No One Can Eat Just One!