Molten Lava Chocolate Cake

 S loves chocolate more than I do and he picks chocolate based desserts or pure chocolate over any other dessert! He enjoyed drinking a glass full of molten chocolate (so called hot chocolate) from Bent spoon in Princeton and finished a pack of twenty baking chocolate, Scharffen Berger, without me even getting a chance to bake something from it.

So I always had some motivation to make desserts out of chocolate which do not take too much effort like chocolate coated strawberries. To increase this simplistic list, I started sharpening my baking weapons (oven, pans, chocolates) specifically to make molten lava cake.

Serving size: 8 small ramekin cups

Ingredients:
13 tablespoon unsalted butter
6.4 oz chocolate Scharffen Berger (65% dark)
4 large eggs
6.5 tablespoon sugar
pinch of salt
3 teaspoon all purpose flour

Garnish
18-20 pieces of raspberry (or small pieces of tangerines/oranges)
1/4-1/2 cup confectioner sugar or cocoa powder

Sauce
1/2 cup raspberry jam (or orange jam if using oranges for garnish)

Procedure
- Preheat oven to 425 F
- Melt butter and chocolate pieces into a cup in microwave for 30 to 60 seconds
- Mix together to get a liquid mixture and let is cool slightly
- Beat eggs, sugar and salt until sugar dissolves in the egg mixture
- Combine egg mixture with chocolate mixture
- Add flour to the mixture and stir gently
- Grease small ramekins and divide the mixture equally into eight ramekins
- Bake for about 8-10 minutes until sides are firm and center is soft and when top part starts to crack
- Invert onto a plate.
- Combine sugar (or cocoa powder) and raspberry/orange and decorate the inverted cake with few pieces
- Melt raspberry/orange jam in a small pan and serve on side to be poured on the cake

Enjoy!

Shakarpara "sweet little devils"

Shakarpara's are often made during diwali festival in north India, with every family having a favorite recipe  which has been passed down to them through generation.

For diwali this year, I wanted to make something traditional. Natural step was to ask MIL for her amazing shakarpara recipe.  For the last five years, I have always got two boxes from her upon departure, one full of home made mathri (my favorite), other of shakarpara (S's favorite). Five years back I was not a big fan of Shakarpara and S. was not a big fan of Mathri. Now, we both love mathri and shakarpara!

Also, did I tell you ? In addition to thanking my MIL for the recipe, I have to thank two gadgets without which this would have been very difficult. These are my new electronic weighing machine for kitchen and Kitchenaid stand mixture. I resisted electronic weighing machine for years. S kept suggesting that I should get it. Finally, he gifted it to me on my birthday. I am not exactly sure if it was a gift for me or him:) By doing so, he saved himself from the "last minute weight to cup conversion through google for various ingredients"- that were forced on him often in the crisis state. Jokes apart, this is really handy and totally worth it. Now I can easily make european and indian recipes without worrying about the conversion.  Thanks S.

Second thing that has made my life super easy for making mathri and shakarpara is the kichenaid stand mixer. The key to fluffy mathri and shakarpara is the kneading process. More you knead softer they turn out to be. Well stand mixer can knead for you as long as want :) This was gift  from my dear sister (thanks didi !). I also enjoy it a lot for making dough for pizza, naan, puri etc. Its quite handy if you are making anything at large scale:)

Now time for the shakarpara recipe:

Ingredients:

500 gm (1/2 KG) all purpose flour (Maida)

150 ml oil for kneading (2/3 cup)

~ 3/4 cup warm water
oil for frying (~2-3 cups)

For syrup
1 and 1/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup water 

- Add all purpose flour and oil in the stand mixer and mix/knead on low setting for 15-20  minutes
- Add little warm water (about 1/4 cup) at a time to make a tight dough (you will need little water so add slowly)
- Leave it covered for 15-20 minutes
- Divide the dough into four equal parts
- Roll out one of the parts into 1/4 inch thickness
- Cut parallel lines in the circular part and then perpendicular (at an angle) lines to make small pieces out of the rolled dough
- Heat oil for frying in a kadai/deep pan on low-medium settings and place all the pieces once the oil is hot and let them fry for  10-15 minutes until golden brown color and remove with a slotted spoon on a paper towel
- While first batch is frying, roll out the second ball of dough and cut into pieces
- Repeat for 3rd and 4th ball
- Let them cool in a wide pan

  Syrup
   - While frying the fourth batch of shakarpara,  start making the syrup
   - add 1 1/4 cup sugar and 3/4 cup water in a pan and place it on medium heat
   - Once the mixture starts boiling reduce heat to low-medium setting
   - Make 2 taar chasni (sugar syrup) by heating it on low for 20 minutes
   - Meanwhile spread the cooled fried shakarpara in a wide pan and spread the sugar syrup on it.
   - Mix the sugar syrup and shakarpara gently and quickly with spoon for five minutes to  evenly coat  them with sugar syrup
   - Leave the mixture open for 30 minutes and then let it cool covered over night and the next day your shakarpara are ready to be eaten. Pieces might stick to each other so gently separate them.

Enjoy your shakarpara with Tea or as is!

Aata ka Halwa

I remember waking up in late morning hours with an aroma in house. Often it was from aata (wheat flour) halwa in winters. Behind the aroma was a trick. A trick played by my mom to wake me up. As she new I would want to eat it as soon as it is removed from the gas. Sizzling hot halwa eaten with fingers is one of my favorite breakfast in the winters . This is one thing that I feel does not taste good if you eat it with spoon :) You can eat it plain or with papad for breakfast or after aloo puri as dessert.

This is one of the favorite sweet dish prepared in India for guests, during festivals and celebrations.  At times, this is the first dish prepared by a new bride at her in-laws place. If someone bought a new car or new house, first thing that was done was to make halwa at home and offer it to god. I have made very few attempts to make halwa at home. Even though it comprises of three simple and essential ingredients: Flour, Ghee (clarified butter) and Sugar. Some people may find it easy to make it but somehow I always thought its quite complicated precisely for the same reason: it only has three simple ingredients!

I am very picky with this dish  as I really like it when it is well cooked and looks dark brown in color in comparison to the less cooked (light brown) version. When I would ask my mom for the recipe, she always says andaje se daal lo, 20 logon ka khana banoge to measuring spoons mein hi aadha din lag jayega ( Just add ingredients with approximation, if you have to prepare food for twenty people every day, half the day will be spend in using measuring spoon).  I am amazed how she never tastes the food while she is making it and yet all the spices are perfectly balanced.

When she was visiting me last summer, I convinced her to use the measuring cups to take out each of the ingredients (although she was still making it with her "andaja" but I had my numbers right :)

Ingredients for ~ 1 1/2 -2 cup halwa

1/2 cup wheat flour
6-8 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
1/2 cup sugar
about 3 1/2-4 cups hot water

- Put a karahi (a deep pan) on gas stove on medium heat. Immediately add wheat flour and ghee to the karahi and mix them.  Slowly cook them, stirring often so that flour and ghee mixture does not stick to the karahi

- After about 15 minutes, flour mixture will change color from light to dark (if you like your halwa really well done continue to cook for another couple of minutes)

- In parallel, boil 4 cups of water in a pan

- Add hot boiling water to the flour ghee mixture and stir everything really fast. Mix everything properly for about 3-4 minutes or until it becomes a thick mixture. It is very important to mix it properly to remove any clusters of aata in the water/flour mixture. A special type of flat ladle  is used to make halwa so that it is easier to mix and scrap while making the halwa.

- Add sugar and continue to stir for another 2 minutes. The mixture will become darker after adding sugar
- Enjoy this for breakfast or eat with papad and add some nuts for garnish

Mango in Estyle!

 

" What diamonds are for women, mangoes are for Indians! "

American: What do you miss most about India in summers ?

Indian: Mangoes man!

After putting things in perspective, let me share the legendary story of mango flower with you. 

Cauliflower Soup

Sorry for disappearing for a while. Things are kind of busy at my front and I really missed not adding anything on the blog. Today's post is about "soups". Somehow I have never been a soup person. Really strange, I know. The first soup that I really liked was creamy carrot soup, which I learnt from a Chef in Philly, perhaps because it was full of cream and butter.

Breakfast Parfait almost from Nanihal

Like many kids, I went with my mom to my Nanihal/Nanera (Maternal grandmother's house) during summer vacations.  I played with other kids without any time restriction and got pampered by zillions of Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents. Like everyone's Nani (Grandmother), my Nani pampered us by cooking delicious food. Her cooking style was very simple. Yet she made the best moong daal (lentil) I have ever had and perhaps the reason that moong daal is by far my favorite daal till date. She cooked the lentils on a Chulha (Stove) in a dekchi (vessel) using coal without pressure cooker and cooking gas in 1-2 hours.  She is no longer with us but her lovely memories will always remain with us.  Here is a picture of the Haveli where my maternal grandparents used to live.  The place where I have spent countless hours/days/months full of fun during summer vacations.

Zucchini Pancakes with Sweet Tomato Chutney and Greek Yogurt

These little savory pancakes are rare. Rare because pancakes do not ring a "healthy" bell that often.  These little angels are as healthy and delicious as it can get for breakfast.  Alternate pieces with greek yogurt and sweet tomato chutney (or tomato ketchup) give the right satisfaction.  The satisfaction that you need on a weekend morning after having morning tea. The morning that really wants you to get out of your comfortable bed and help you plan your day. These little angels provide the energy exactly for that.

Sahi Tukre/ Double ka meetha

I read about Sahi Tukre (Egg less bread pudding) through a recent post by Shayma of The spice spoon. Shamya writes beautiful stories with each post and I always look forward to reading them. Pictures of Sahi Tukre looked so delicious that I couldn't resist making them at an earliest opportunity.  Apparently, these are similar to a dessert called "Double ka meetha" in Hyderabad.  It was such a treat. I will surely be making this on a regular basis now.

Almond Brittle (Badam ki chikki)

This recipe is quick yet very complicated. It is extremely easy to mess up while caramelizing the sugar. After failing couple of times while caramelizing the sugar, I finally found a recipe to make it consistently (most of the times!) It surely brings back the memories of "chikki" (Peanut brittle).

Egg Biryani

One of my dear friend, Rashmi, in Philly often raved about an Egg biryani that her friend would prepare who belongs to the "biryani" city - Hyderabad.   When Rashmi narrated the recipe it did sound exotic and perhaps closer to Mugal heritage arising from the mannerism in which mint and coriander leaves are utilized.  Mint and coriander leaves are quintessential for many Indian recipes in raw form.  Use of these in fried form brings different flavors and aromas all together. 

Warm Chocolate Tart

French are leaders in pastry making among many other things! Often recipes from famous chefs are long and time demanding given the perfection desired. Not surprisingly, I have been looking for recipes by French chefs which are short and sweet for some time now!  One of my favorite places to go and work (or to pretend) on weekends is the public library where I happily take rather frequent breaks to search through the cookbook sections.

Surprise breakfast: Dukkah, honey glazed onion polenta and chocolate cake

Somehow weekends have been pretty hectic for the last couple of months and I didn't get much time to have a relaxing breakfast. Either we had to rush somewhere or high carb breakfast choice was on the plate!! To surprise Sid (or perhaps treat myself!), I woke up much earlier than my usual Sunday mornings to have the following on the table:

(1) Griddled polenta with caramalized onions, honey and goat cheese [winner of Food 52 contest for category " Polenta"]
(2) Dukkah (Egyptian mix of nuts and spices) with boiled eggs! Recently I learnt about it at the amazing blog Chocolate and Zucchini. I replaced chestnuts with walnuts in the recipe. Later on we also enjoyed dukkah in a more traditional way with olive oil and bread)
(3) Simple chocolate cake! [winner of Food 52 contest for the category "Best Chocolate Cake"]. I used instant coffee in this recipe.

All are easy to make and taste really good. Highly recommended!!!

Venetian Polenta with Swiss Chard

Somehow I have never been tempted with restaurants right across the street from our apartment in the past.  I don't have a solid reason but some hypothesis which I would rather not explain here:) Somehow, one fine Sunday night, with no desire to cook at home and company of my lazy legs, we found our way to have dinner at Spiritland Bistro which is right across the street from our apartment. It is a cute little, fine-dine restaurant with European style ambiance.  Their menu has large number of vegetarian options from many cuisines around the world (something that I have always dreamt of).  Food was delicious so much so that we ended up eating here again in less than a week with some friends!  Both the times, we tried their tasty appetizer - Venetian Polenta Cake.  Here is a reasonable attempt to replicate this dish in our own kitchen!

Baked oatmeal

As promised, I am here with a post on Baked oatmeal. Picky I am with what I eat. Perhaps like everyone else, I enjoy certain things cooked in a particular style otherwise they are avoided using my best possible behavior :)  Oatmeal falls in such a category. I never enjoyed oatmeal in its default form - served in hot milk- despite knowing its endless benefits.  A Bed & Breakfast place named Pomaika'i "Lucky" Farm at Big Island (Hawaii) served baked oatmeal which I throughly enjoyed.  Naturally, upon return to mainland, I began my hunt for baked oatmeal recipes.  After much needed browsing on internet and an experiment in my Kitchen,  here I present the recipe to you fellow readers.

Besan Ladoo

Wednesday mornings were special for a little girl as her mother would give her 11 Rupees  to get Besan Ladoo for lord Ganesha from a Mithaiwala (Sweet shop) next door.  On special occasions, she tried two varieties of besan ladoo after visiting  Ganesh temple on Wednesdays with her sister and brother. Time flies and now she enjoys Besan ladoo made by her mother-in-law (MIL) while remembering her childhood days. Then, one day thousands of miles apart from her memories, she attempts to make them with an andaaza (approximate) recipe -  remembering bits and pieces of how MIL moved the ladle effortlessly with a lot of patience and love and yet, thinking about the little girl running to the sweet shop.