Baking Blog 'Passionate About Baking'

CHIPOTLE GARLIC FOCACCIA & ROMESCO DIP

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Tue, 05 May 2009 09:53:45 PDT

"We may not be able to get certainty, but we can get probability, and half a loaf is better than no bread."

C.S. Lewis

Made some scrumptious Chipotle Garlic Focaccia some days ago, & it's begging me to get posted. The pressure of posts lining up is threatening to burst my drafts folder, as I struggle with this silly writer's block. No time on hand is another matter altogether, & as I recently said to Judy (on Twitter obviously) - It's a wonder we get anything done...half my recent life has been twittered away!! And then of course there's always the Greek foodie, Peter, who twitters about wondering which post to post. Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh...how come he has so much time?

Now for the focaccia. The recipe is the one I use often, the 'Roasted Garlic & Bell Pepper Focaccia' posted here. This time, I gave it a twist with some smoked chipotle paste from a bottle that Nic @ Cherrapeno mailed from the UK. That stuff is seriously addictive & I love it. Have tried it in many avatars including spiking up a basic tomato ketchup, & also giving a delicious kick to a yogurt dip! It's a zingy thing to have on hand, & lent a lovely, subtle yet smokey flavour to the focaccia. Not spicy, not chili...just GREAT!!

We finished 1 and 3/4's of the focaccia loaves, & I had a 1/4 on hand. Currently trying very hard not to waste food as far as possible. Word food wastage figures are going through the roof, & world hunger figures continue to explode. My attempts to stop food wastage are in line with an ongoing initiative - BloggerAid Changing the Face of Famine, being led by 2 Canadian food bloggers, Val of More Than Burnt Toast & Giz of Equal Opportunity Kitchen, aimed at fundraising, and creating a community to alleviate world food hunger. This initiative is supported by the World Food Programme. To learn more about this initiative, do visit us @ BloggerAid Changing the Face of Famine.

Got lucky one morning. The day I was sitting with a 1/4 focaccia, wondering what to do with it, I tripped on this really GOOD looking Romesco dip on Tastespotting (or was it FoodGawker), I followed the dip to Dinner With Julie's. Imagine my delight, I had all the ingredients on hand, even found 2 roasted red bell peppers sitting in the fridge. All items checked, I hit the counter pronto to make the dip. It was delicious. I roasted some garlic too while toasting the bread, & the almonds as well in between. This is a seriously good dip. The almonds work some magic in there to give it a nutty flavour, the bread adds some texture, the paprika a kick of colour...& the olive oil just brings it all alive. I used some extra olive oil, made a few minor changes,& the found a keeper of a recipe. The kids loved it too, & I licked the bowl clean (a rare moment, but unavoidable!). Michelle @ Big Black Dogs made it while I twittered about it, & she loved the dip too. Thank you for posting this YUM Romesco Julie!ROMESCO DIP
as adapted from Dinner With Julie
In her words, "All the amounts here are approximate - it’s a dip, so feel free to wing it."
Ingredients:
1/4 cup roasted almonds (roasted in the oven at 180C for 10-15minutes till fragrant)
3 garlic cloves ( I toasted the garlic with the bread)
4 thick slices focaccia bread, toasted (or 3 if you’re using a baguette)
2 red peppers, roasted
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. paprika
Salt to taste
2-6 Tbsp. olive oil (or canola)Method:

Toast almonds in a medium oven till they are pale golden and fragrant.
Toast the bread & unpeeled garlic cloves for 10-15 minutes in a medium hot oven. Peel the garlic, & tear the bread into chunks.
Transfer to a food processor & pulse until the bread and nuts turn to crumbs.
Add the red peppers, vinegar, paprika and salt and whiz until well blended. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil and process until the mixture has the consistency of thick mayonnaise, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Serve with pitas, slices of crusty baguette, cooked tail-on shrimp, naan or veggies.
Makes about 1 cup. (Will keep in the fridge for a day or two. Make sure the top is covered with a thin film of oil.)
I served it the next time with slices of French bread...mmmmmmmmm!

On another note, Andrea @ FoodBlogger 2008 included me in her post for the Best of Foodblogs 2008...& I proudly display the badge she gave me. Thanks for the mention Andrea, & for being so patient with me. Please feel free to mail Andrea @ andrea.mahlers@gmx.de if you wish to send her your favourite 2008 recipe from your blog.

INDIAN BERRY FRO YO ... INSPIRATIONAL BLOGGING...

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Sat, 09 May 2009 09:11:44 PDT

"Ice cream cravings are not to be taken lightly."

Betsy Cañas Garmon

Blogging about food is something entirely fulfilling, a world I can unwind in. It's a different space altogether, where you don't have to seek inspiration. It's there in every post, on everyblog. One such blog is Canela's Kitchen Recipes, which belongs to lovely Gloria, who blogs from Santiago, Chile. She makes great use of fruit & has a mind-boggling array of fruity compositions on her blog. Gloria's post about Blueberries & Raspberry Ice-cream is the source of inspiration for this fro yo that I made. The colour of her ice-cream was enough to unnerve me, & set me thinking. I HAD to get that colour in my freezer, by hook or crook. No blueberries or raspberries here, but this tart Indian berry, phalsa, was the perfect answer to my craving. Made this beautifully coloured, sweet & tart frozen yogurt to give colour to my dreams. It was one delicious & refreshing ice-cream!

Discovering David Levobitz's Strawberry Frozen Yogurt off Purple Foodies blog was the best thing that happened to me this Spring. The Strawberry Frozen Yogurt was more ice-cream / less yogurt, & very very worth every lick of the spatula while making it! The recipe offers a perfect balance of sweetness, a little tanginess, & total satisfaction ... all without the guilt of 'fatty' calories.A treat of this sort, with the goodness of berries, is more than I could have asked for. Going a step further now, as strawberries are out of season now, I decided to experiment with phalsas or Indian berries called 'grewia asiatica'.

INDIAN BERRY FROZEN YOGURT
as adapted from David Levobitz
Ingredients:
1/2 kg Indian berries /(phalsa berries / grewia asiatica)
1 1/2 cup sugar (increase if need be)
1/2 cup water
Juice of 1 lime
Pinch of salt
1 cup thick yogurt (I hung it for 2-3 hours)
150ml cream (light 25% fat)
Method:

Macerate the berries in sugar for 1-2 hours. Mash well, add water if required (these Indian berries do require some water as they are very tiny).
Pass through a strainer & push out as much thick pulp as you can. I got 2 cups of berry pulp.
Whip the yogurt & cream. Add a pinch of salt & the berry pulp. Whisk till smooth.
Put into a plastic container & freeze, whisking every hour to break & distribute the crystals. Freeze till set; works better overnight.
Enjoy!!

A CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRY CAKE, & a tart that didn't oblige!

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Sun, 10 May 2009 08:16:08 PDT

"When your mother asks, "Do you want a piece of advice?" it is a mere formality. It doesn't matter if you answer yes or no. You're going to get it anyway."
Erma Bombeck

Happy Mother's Day! To all you great Mum's out there, this one's for you. We blog, we bake, we hug, we love, we yell, we twitter, we sigh, we cry, we are divas, we are devils, we are pushed to the limit, we push others to the limit ... we are MOTHERS!! How difficult to put us in one word, but HEY, someone did it, & called us 'mother'. Have a good day!! The kids made cards for me ... pretty ones, & each reflective of their current personalities. The daughter's in her trademark black, with a B&W picture of me she clicked a few days ago. The son's in all the colours he could use, with words to say he made it on his OWN...no help from anyone! They got me a set of pretty coffee mugs... & then we tried to bake together! A bit tough, with tempers quickly taking off because the weather was so HOT, then we & the weather cooled down with a sudden hailstorm!

It's another matter that I went to the bazaar yesterday & got talked into buying strawberries. My regular fruit vendor was standing there with a 32 teeth grin planted across his face. Handing me a box of strawberries, he gleefully exclaimed that he had got them from Malaysia!! A little bit of investigation revealed Meghlaya, a North-Eastern Indian hill state, but he knew no better. He was too excited to care, & told me that stuff sells better if he can say they are imported! A sign of the times...sigh! I bought them anyway. The strawberries were meant to go into a chocolate tart, which didn't oblige, so made a cake 'with' the kids today. They'd been on my case to bake something for Mother's day; they wanted to help me make it. Got up this morning with a MD spring in my step, & reached the kitchen with David Levobitz's recent French Tart scribbled on a scrap of paper. Failed to see the writing on the wall; I am obviously not a pastry chef in the making, & have a long way to go. It started off badly. Someone wrote to me the other day asking if I ever had baking disasters? Ever? This is just to put it on record ... & is just one of the many I've had!!

Levobitz said use a Pyrex bowl; I used a microwave bowl, but it wasn't a Pyrex one. Disaster struck, like I knew the voice in my head was telling me it would...why did I ignore it? I did... & paid the price with shards of glass & brown butter puddles, 5 minutes into the morning. Bravely got a Pyrex bowl & started again. Need my head examined I suspect. 5oz of flour was not making anything called dough. Added more...almost another 5oz. Still a pretty gloppy dough ... but not to be disheartened, I slathered it into my tart tin, & baked it.

Got a tart crust alright, but it's very very fragile, & is still cooling it's heels in the fridge. I think the fridge is my rightful place though, after my pretty pathetic baker's morning at 40C! The picture has a lovey shell, but it is = crumbs!! Maybe chilling will fix it, & only time will tell! Almost 200gms of butter later, finally made a 'fat less' chocolate sponge out of the Le Cordon Bleu Cook's Bible. Sliced it into 2, sandwiched it with a whipped cream & chopped strawberries, topped it with a quick dark chocolate ganache, & sliced strawberries. Finished the top off with sliced almonds & roughly chopped pistachio nuts ... with help from the kids. Daughter did all the dirty work for the sponge (I did the washing though). Then we had an argument (she teen, me not), & she disappeared with a bruised ego. The son helped me with the ganache ... I mean, he clicked a couple of pics, & then religiously licked every spatula, offset & otherwise, said thank you, & scooted! Here's what we made...

CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRY CAKE

Sponge cake
4 eggs; separated
4 1/2 oz Castor sugar
2 oz cocoa
3 oz flour
Filling
200gms strawberries (sliced)
3-4 tbsps Castor sugar
200ml low fat cream
Slivered almonds, chopped pistachios for garnishing
Topping
150gms dark chocolate
100ml cream

Method:

Preheat oven to 220C. Grease & line a Swiss roll tin. (I used a 6' square tin, & cut 2 layers out of the cake. I think the jelly roll might work easier)
Sift the flour & cocoa thrice. Reserve.
Whisk the egg whites till soft peaks, then gradually add sugar & whisk till smooth. Add yolks & vanilla extract. Whisk.
Gently fold in the dry ingredients, with light spoon movements, so the air doesn't get released.
Bake in a greased lined jelly roll tin for 8-10minutes.(I baked it for 20-25minutes because the tin was deep & not a jelly roll one)
Cool completely, & cut into half.

Filling:

Whip cream & Castor sugar till holds peaks.
Slice the strawberries, chopping up the edges for the filling.
Put one layer of sponge on a platter, cover with whipped cream, top with chopped strawberries, & then sandwich with the second layer of sponge.

Topping:

Gently heat the cream & dark chocolate on simmer till smooth. Take off heat, & whisk with a smooth till smooth & shiny. Cool to room temperature & pour over cake.
Top the cake with rows of sliced strawberries etc. Chill until served.

WORLD OATMEAL COOKIES ... with Dried Cranberries, Crystallised Ginger, Walnuts & Raisins

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Wed, 13 May 2009 08:18:34 PDT

“I'll feed them milk and cookies.”
Brent Sutter

I love a good oatmeal cookie. Had a bag of dates & thought I'd do a date & walnut something. Surfed the net for ages looking for something 'cookie' to make with dates & walnuts. Obviously & predictably, got hopelessly distracted, & ended up making these tasty morsels ... without using dates of course! Not really sure if I would like dates in my cookies, I played around with ingredients in an old oatmeal cookie recipe I had. Ended up with these delish cookies, using some crystallised ginger & dried cranberries I had on hand. What I like about this recipe is that it gives me the freedom to use up whatever extras I have on hand, &, it makes a generous 5 dozen cookies. Else, 4 dozen cookies, & a COOKIE PIZZA!!The cookies keep well for 2-3 weeks in an airtight box, & I've made them several times over the past few months. I love them because they use 'healthy' oats, & refer to them as my 'World Oatmeal Cookies' ... because they got born with inputs from across the globe. I used crystallised ginger that I made from a Levobitz recipe, one that I have come to love. Nothing like home made crystallized ginger; it's addictive, it's beautifully flavoured, & keeps well. I've used it in Ginger Florentines & Candied Ginger & Tangerine Shortbread cookies, & in the Daring Bakers Yule Log too. Something else went into the cookies ... dried cranberries from a big bag that Nic mailed from Kent! Also in there, walnuts that my Mom's friend sent in from Kashmir, & finally on top, a sprinkling of vanilla sugar that a dear friend constantly gets in from Lviv, Ukraine. I've made these cookies SO MANY TIMES! Feel free to use what you like in them ... chocolate chips, pistachio nuts, chopped dates, dried cherries, mixed winter berries...I've even used crystallised orange peel on one instance! A store house of energy, the kids love them!

WORLD OATMEAL COOKIES with dried cranberries, crystallised ginger & toasted walnuts
Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup wholewheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
3 cups rolled oats (I use Quaker oats)

1/4 cup crystallised ginger, chopped

1/2-1 cup dried cranberries or dried cherries (cut roughly with kitchen scissors if you like)
1 cup chopped toasted walnuts (untoasted are fine too)

1/2 cup raisins

Vanilla sugar for sprinkling (optional)Method:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 2-3 baking sheets.
Mix the flours, baking soda, baking powder & salt in a bowl. Keep aside.
Beat the butter & both sugars in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in the eggs & vanilla.
Mix in the blended flour mix. Stir in the oats, dried cranberries, crystallised ginger, walnuts & raisins (or whatever you fancy).
Drop tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets, 2 inches apart.
Flatten cookies slightly with a fork. Sprinkle with vanilla sugar (optional) ... OR
Make a cookie pizza, & then use the rest of the dough for cookies. I got about 4 dozen cookies, & 1 pizza. If you plan on making a cookie pizza, make sure you score the sections prior to baking.
Bake cookies until golden brown, about 10-12 minutes. remove from oven & leave on baking sheet for a minute.
Transfer to racks & cool completely.

ZUNI RICOTTA GNOCCHI - Time For the Daring Cooks!!

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Thu, 14 May 2009 06:00:30 PDT

“Try to cook so that it will surprise a little, agreeably and astonish slightly, without shocking.”
Jean Marie Amat

Here we are with the very first Daring Cooks' challenge ... Ricotta Gnocchi being hosted by Lis & Yvonne, the bravehearts behind the Daring Kitchen! They have chosen 'a recipe from the stunning cookbook by Judy Rodgers, named after her restaurant, The Zuni Café Cookbook.' This challenge takes me back to my first Daring Bakers challenge, where I signed up after many tugs between the head & the heart, & ran straight into a Lemon Meringue Pie. That was my first challenge with the Daring Bakers & I wept with my weepy pie, though thankfully I wasn't alone that time! I thought I'd moved on from weepy disasters in time, & despite a similar tug of war, signed up for Daring Cooks the minute it was announced. How daring huh? Something in the back of my head was telling me I have enough on my plate. No time in any case, as the 'fill in the blanks', even up to seconds, have been filled by Twitter.To cut a long story short, I've arrived as a Daring Cook too. The Daring Baker challenges have been a huge learning & meeting ground, & totally fulfilling as an experience. When the first challenge for the Daring Cooks was announced, Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi, I did a little jig, egged on by Nandini @ Reluctant Chefs. Die hard... yes, that's me! It was time to try my hand at some fresh & creamy home made ricotta from Vera's beautiful blog @ Baking Obsession! The result was outstanding. Creamy, full of flavour & I could have sat there like little Miss Muffet & eating the whole bowlful, & I almost did! I really didn't want it to go into gnocchi because the weather is really hot & I was dreaming of cheesecake with ricotta. Slapped myself back to reality, got onto following the recipe for gnocchi. A bit of a fiddle it is, but what kept me going were the songs of praises that I read on the net often about ricotta gnocchi = little pillows of delight! I was floating like a cloud, & had them all made & then froze them for lunch the next day I didn't end up with little pillows of delight though. What I actually got was little pillows of sheer fright! And I wouldn't be talking about them here if this hadn't been a challenge but here I am. In hindsight, I think ricotta gnocchi is for cooler weather and maybe not 40C. Mine might have done better had I drained it some more. Initially, as expected, each gnocchi sank to the bottom, then rose to the top. Then the drama began! Oh boy, with each bubble of the boiling water, the gnocchi disintegrated & covered the surface like a cumulonimbus cloud cover! I was transported right back to my LMP!! I stuck the uncooked gnocchi right back into the freezer, & began again gingerly, & barely got a few that stayed in one piece, but very unpillow like, & not pretty. The saving grace was the tomato sauce. Aaaaaah, if I enjoyed the challenge it was because of this Food Network's tomato based Vodka Cream Sauce. Simple & decidedly delicious! I fried a few basil leaves for the garnish. The hub loved the flavours of both the gnocchi & the sauce...& I sulked because I dislike serving sad looking platters! Having said all this, I really can't wait to see the next challenge, he he!!Vodka Cream Sauce

from Food Network
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon finely chopped red onion
1 tablespoon vodka (optional)
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 cup Gabriel's Tomato Sauce, recipe below
Directions
To make the sauce: Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until they soften. Add the vodka, cream, and tomato sauce, and simmer until the flavors blend, 2 to 3 minutes. Gabriel's Tomato Sauce

1/2 kilo fresh ripe tomatoes ; blended

3 tablespoons olive oil
6 fresh basil leaves (slightly bruised)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Puree whole tomatoes without their liquid in a food mill. Heat the oil in a large deep skillet over medium heat. Add the pureed tomatoes. Add the basil, season with salt and pepper and simmer, stirring frequently until the sauce is concentrated, about 25 minutes. Remove the basil and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use. Yield: 2 cups
Immediately before serving, add the gnocchi to the sauce and heat, stirring gently to coat. Spoon the gnocchi into warm bowls, top with fried basil leaves & some lime zest and serve.

CHOCOLATE MERINGUE STRAWBERRY CREAM SLICE ... bidding adieu to strawberries

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Sat, 16 May 2009 08:36:12 PDT

“Scenes of strawberries, across crisp farmland.”
Michael Easton

Here's a bake I made to bid strawberries adieu, calling an end to the strawberry season in our part of the world. I wanted it to be a special farewell, something different. It's a dessert I made out of a little baking book I have on my shelf, with the last batch of strawberries of the season. The original recipe was 'Chocolate Meringue Cream Slice', from a Sue Ross authored cookbook, 'Cream Cakes & Gateaux'. The book is a tiny, little, unassuming one, but has a clutch of some pretty fabulous recipes. I adapted this intriguing recipe to accommodate my last batch of luscious strawberries. The recipe has appealed to me every time I've turned the pages of this book. Though a little fiddly to make, it's an interesting departure from regular cakes. The original one, sans strawberries, leaves plenty of room to get creative, & can be paired with an array of seasonal fruits. I think it can well be made into a tiramisu of sorts also, with mascarpone & some coffee flavouring! It's turned out to be an unusual dessert ... unusual for me, at least, because it's a first for me with a meringue topped cake. It's a bit delicate to handle; needed TLC while transferring it to the platter, & some more care while topping the 'cream & strawberries layer' with the top layer. Otherwise a pretty, light & delicate bake! We loved it!

CHOCOLATE MERINGUE STRAWBERRY CREAM SLICE
as adapted from 'Cream Cakes & Gateaux' by Sue Ross, pg 36
Ingredients:
100gms butter
250gms Castor sugar, divide into 2
2 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
75gms plain flour
2 tsps baking powder (yes it is 2)
pinch of salt
2 1/2 tbsps cocoa
90ml milk
100gms flaked almonds
200ml light cream (I used 25% fat Amul cream)
3-4 tbsps powdered sugar
250gms strawberries, save 6 for garnishing & chop rest
Method:

Grease & line a 20 X 30cm Swiss roll tin.
Sift flour, baking powder, salt & cocoa together & keep aside.
Beat the butter & 1/2 cup sugar till light & fluffy. Add egg yolks & vanilla extract & beat again.
Add the flour mix to the above with the milk & stir together well. Spread out thinly in prepared pan.
With clean beaters, beat the whites till stiff. Gradually add the other 1/2 cup sugar & whisk till blended in. Spread on top of the chocolate mixture, sprinkle with slivered almonds, & bake for 20 minutes. Allow to cool completely in pan.
Handle with care, GENTLY, as it is fragile. Turn out very carefully onto a wire rack, & peel off paper. (I marked it into 2 with a knife before doing this).
Slide one half onto a serving platter, chocolate side up.
Whip the cream with sugar till firm & holds peaks. Spread the cake with whipped cream & chopped strawberries. Top with the remaining cake layer, chocolate side down.
Garnish with whipped cream, halved strawberries & sprigs of mint. (or melt dark chocolate in a baggie, & drizzle in zig-zags over the top, as in the original recipe).
Chill until served.

APRICOT CHERRY MINI CRUMBLES...there's joy in blogging!

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:58:31 PDT

“You've got to go out on a limb sometimes because that's where the fruit is.”

Will Rogers

Summer's here in full swing, & we're slowly seeing the market getting flooded with 'stone fruits'. It began with mangoes, then cherries, & now it's apricots. Peaches are beginning to surface as well, but haven't reached the 'fully ripe' & 'lusciously juicy' stage yet. This is what I love about summer in North India ... all the fruit from the fruit basket in the Himalayas that reach the plains in much abundance. Very yummy situation indeed ...

It's one of those rare days that I bake, & then try & blog about it within 24 hours ... but these were so good, that I feel compelled to. I spent a large part of day-before trying to find a recipe to use the fresh apricots that I had bought, but weren't quite as sweet as I expected them to be. From one fruit board to another, hopping between Food Network & Epicurean, nothing was the 'one'. There was clafoutis on my list, but that has egg, & I wanted egg less.Then late at at night, while twittering & blog surfing, stopped by at No Fear Entertaining, a blog which belongs to wonderful & enthusiastic Judy...BOING...found it! She posted a 'First of the Season Georgia Peach Pie' ... & it clicked instantly. This is what my apricots would need to get into. A tweet later, after confirming with Judy whether she thought apricots might work, which she tweetly did, I went to bed with sweet dreams.

As it often happens with me, woke up the next morning, & went straight to my cupboard for my little ramekins. I was going to make mini crumbles sans the pie base, using Judy's recipe. Great idea & very satisfying indeed. When you hand individually set desserts out to a bunch of folk, who enjoy this fruity delight to the last crumb, then proceed to lick the juices off the bowl, you just know it's very good, & is going to be made again & again.

Rummaged around in the fridge & came out with a bowl of cherries. Yes, they were going to keep the apricots company ... squish, squish. The pitting of the cherries was a bit tedious, but the very thought of all the fruit getting deliciously cooked under the crumble kept me going.

Pitted the cherries (by hand), halved & pitted the apricots, & I was set. The rest of the process was a breeze, so I wasted a little time clicking merrily because I love fruity colours! Judy poured her filling into a pie shell for the peach pie. I just went for a basic fruit crumble; light & juicy. Just so right for our summer here!Bubble bubble ... they came out of the oven in 30 minutes all deliciously bubbly & oozing wickedly from the sides. Because it is very HOT here, I cooled & refrigerated them, & served them with a dollop of whipped, unsweetened, low fat cream. They are also wonderful warm, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

APRICOT & CHERRY MINI CRUMBLES

as adapted from Judy @ No Fear Entertaining

Ingredients:
3 tbsp flour

1/2 cup vanilla sugar ( I make mine in a jar, & love using it)

500gms apricots, halved & pitted

250gms cherries, pitted

Juice of 1/2 lime

Topping:
1/2 cup vanilla sugar ( I ran out of brown sugar)

1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup rolled oats

4 tbsp butter, chilled

Method:

Preheat oven to 190C.
In a large bowl, combine flour & sugar; stir in the apricots, cherries & lime juice & toss to coat well. You can taste the sugar here just in case the fruit are a bit tart.
Spoon portions into ramekins (or into a large pie dish if making 1 big portion).

For the topping: In a small bowl, combine vanilla sugar , flour and rolled oats. Cut in the butter until crumbly. Sprinkle a couple of tbsp ot topping over each ramekin, pressing down gently to seal the top.
Bake for 25-30 minutes till the top is light brown & fruit juices are bubbling. (or about 40 minutes if you are using a single/big pie dish). Makes 8 small ramekins or a 9" crumble.
Serve warm or cold. A dollop of unsweetened whipped cream, or a scoop of vanilla ice-cream make this crumble unforgettable!

MANGO MOUSSE TART...forced into obligation!

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Thu, 21 May 2009 09:23:51 PDT

“All men's gains are the fruit of venturing”
Herodotus

You might remember the French tart I tried to make here on Mother's Day, & it didn't oblige at all. I admonished the misbehaving tart shell, & it cooled it's heels in the fridge for 2 days, while I tried to figure out how best to resurrect it. I tried, & managed to come up with something, which worked out quite well eventually! Not one to take a baking defeat lightly, a bruised ego very much there, the tart shell bugged me for 2 days. Each time I opened the fridge, it sat there cheekily trying to engage me in conversation! Phew ... thought for a long time, & then decided to paint the base & sides with some form of melted chocolate in an attempt to hold the fragile crumbs of the tart base together. I made a very thick ganache of sorts, & spread it around. Seemed to work, & did the trick. I had used up my precious strawberries in the chocolate cake, so I pottered around the fridge for other fruit. Aaaah, mangoes, & loads of them. Finally made a mango mousse, an eggless one, & topped the chocolate with it. The result was a light, silky, fruity mousse, which offered quite the light & perfect summer dessert!
MANGO MOUSSE TART
1 tart shell
1/4 cup cold milk
1 1/2 tsp gelatin
2 medium mangoes; pureed
3 tbsps vanilla sugar
100ml low-fat cream
75gms dark chocolate; melted in the microwave or double boiler Method:

Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold milk. Place the bowl over hot water till the gelatin dissolves & becomes a clear liquid.
Melt the dark chocolate & mix in 2 tbsps of cream to form a thick ganache.
Whip the rest of the cream till it holds stiff peaks.
Puree the mangoes & vanilla sugar with an immersion blender, then pour in the liquid gelatin mixture & run the blender again to mix thoroughly. (Reserve 1-2 tbsps of this in a baggie for marbling on top if you like)
Take 2 tbsps of the mango puree-gelatin mixture & fold it lightly into the whipped cream to loosen it a bit, & then fold the cream mixture through the remaining mango-gelatin mixture, lightly but uniformly.
Paint the tart shell with the thick chocolate ganache, & pour the mousse over it, gently spreading it around.
Chill for half an hour, then marble the top with the reserved mango puree if you like. Leave to set for at least 6-7 hours, or better, overnight.
Slice & serve.

This Mango Mousse Tart off to Lori @ Fake Food Free for her Mango Recipe Challenge

BALSAMIC & HERB LAMB CHOPS, FRENCH FOUGASSE...& PEACH & MIXED FRUIT CRUMBLES!

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Sun, 24 May 2009 06:28:17 PDT

"Talk of joy: there may be things better than beef stew and baked potatoes and home-made bread - there may be."

David Grayson

We had a good meal ... it was yummy. I was in a mood to cook LOTS, & the lad joined in with his requests! At the meat shop yesterday, while I was trying to find direction in what to buy, he requested for lamb chops ... "like you had made earlier Mama", he said, "and the 'French fries' too!" Those refer to Greek Roasted Potatoes that I often make from Kalofagas. I sometimes do a variation on them ... an addition of lots of garlic, & some red chili flakes. I simmer the olive oil with the ingredients to get a deep flavour, & then leave it to cool while the flavours mature. Toss the potato wedges in the oil, & bake till fork tender, about 30 minutes. The request didn't end there of course. "If you are making bread Mama, then can you make the one you made with walnuts the other day? I really loved that one." Back to making French Fougasse, which is indeed delicious & addictive! You can play around with the stuffing as you like. The crumbles, I must admit, were my own calling, & they were also deeply satisfying!!

MARINATED BALSAMIC & HERB LAMB CHOPS
Ingredients:

750gms Lamb Chops (about 10-12)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsps balsamic vinegar
2 tbsps roasted garlic paste
Handful fresh herbs, chopped (I use lots of oregano, & some basil & thyme)
Salt & pepper to taste
1 tbsps each phalsa concentrate & plum sauce (or any berry sauce)
Balsamico Glaze to serve (optional)

Method:

Whisk the oil, balsamic vinegar,garlic paste, salt & pepper & half the chopped herbs, & marinate the lamb in it for at least an hour, though overnight is better.
Turn into the cooker & cook under pressure for 20 minutes on medium till lamb is tender.
Allow the steam to die down, then simmer the lamb in the juices, with the berry sauce & remaining herbs. Once the sauce is nice & thick, add the balsamico glaze if using.
Serve with French fougasse (recipe follows), or focaccia, Peter's Greek Roasted Potatoes @ Kalofagas or a cold sweetcorn-potato salad in buttermilk ranch yogurt dressing, steamed green beans, a Romesco dip...

I've been on a positive bread baking high these days. Found some fresh yeast in a store I was visiting, & have timidly begun experimenting. I can say that baking with fresh yeast is a totally satisfying experience. WOW ... the first time I made the dough it rose so much, it frightened me.It's a bread that I have now to hide from the kids. Made 4 loaves, & 1 was history before I knew it, coz the little mites are having a nibble each time they passed by the cooling racks. This is the second time I've made it, on popular request. Helen said the other day that she loves fougasse, & grew up on it. I wasn't that lucky, but hopefully my kids shall repeat her words one day.I used a firm cottage cheese within in place of Roquefort. This is a bread worth experimenting with. Use your own fillings. The one in the main picture is one in which I rolled & twisted the dough into a spiral to see if it would hold the filling. It did, & looked rather rustic & moreish. The other loaves are as explained below!!

A fougasse is a lattice-shaped, flattish loaf from the South of France. it can be cooked as a plain bread, or flavoured with cheese, anchovies, herbs, nuts or olives. This Fougasse has been Yeastspotted, & is off to Susan @ Wild Yeast!

FRENCH FOUGASSE
From The Practical Encyclopaedia of Baking, pg 444
Ingredients:
450gms all purpose flour
280ml warm water
20gms fresh yeast
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp sea salt (+ a little extra for sprinkling on the cottage cheese if using)
200gms firm cottage cheese, crumble (or 50gms Roquefort cheese)
1 cup walnuts, chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil for brushing
Method:

Take 4 tbsps of water from the 280ml, & dissolve the fresh yeast into it. Stir the salt & 2 tbsp olive oil into the remaining water.
Make a well with the flour, & pour the dissolved yeast & water mixture into it. Knead to a dough, kneading further on a floured surface for 8-10 minutes, till it gets smooth & elastic.
Place in an oiled bowl, cover the bowl with cling wrap & leave in a warm place for about an hour until doubled.
Punch down & divide into 4 balls of dough (or 2 if you have a big oven)
Roll out to about an 8" circle, sprinkle with walnuts, & 1/4 of the crumbled cottage cheese. Season lightly with sale & pepper.
Fold over the dough 2-3 times on itself to incorporate the stuffing. Shape each back into a ball.
Flatten each & fold the bottom third up, & top third down to make an oblong.
Roll 2 of these long rectangle shapes & cut 6 slits. Stretch the dough to look like a ladder.
Roll 2 into ovals with a flat base, cut slits diagonally, three on each side. Pull slightly to open the cuts.
Place on oiled baking sheets. Cover with cling wrap & leave to double for 35-40minutes.
Preheat the oven to 220C, brush the loaves with olive oil, & bake for approximately 25-30 minutes till golden brown. Cool on racks.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
Note: A suggested sweet variation is to replace 1 tbsp of water with 1 tbsp of orange flower water, & include 50gms of chopped candied peel, & 25gms of sugar.

With the main meal done, in our home, there's always room for dessert! Judy mentioned the other day that her peach pie is perfect for any fruit looking like it's about to rot. Can't happen to me I thought, but foodie that I am, eating my words is becoming very second nature. Decided to clear out the fridge. Hmmmm...did she say 'fruit ready to spoil'? I dug a cartload out. I had a bunch of peaches which were fine, & had been bought for a peach crumble (along with brown sugar). Behind them, came tumbling some more fruit crying to be used - apricots, cherries, mangoes ... all ready to crumble. Chopped up everything in a frenzy, with the daughter helping with pitting the cherries ... (I spent a good 5 minutes picking the pips out that she kept dropping in 'by mistake'). Once everything is chopped, this dessert is a cakewalk. You can find the recipe for Apricot & Cherry Mini Crumbles here, that I made just a couple of days ago from Judy's @ No Fear Entertaining. The only change from my earlier post is that I used a variety of fruits here, as mentioned above, & brown sugar this time. Once you got all the fruit chopped up, the sugar & flour in, taste the mixture for sweetness. There's nothing else to this beautiful, addictive dessert ... other than a scoop of ice-cream or a dollop of whipped cream of course!!

GETTING STONED ON STRUDEL...DARING BAKERS MAY '09

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:40:01 PDT

"I have no truck with lettuce, cabbage, and similar chlorophyll. Any dietitian will tell you that a running foot of apple strudel contains four times the vitamins of a bushel of beans."

S.J. Perelman

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers. These are exciting times for the Daring Bakers. I've reached a stage where the next challenge seems more exciting than the one gone by. Month after month, one keeps wondering what the next challenge is going to be, & the excitement is palpable. I checked a 100 times on the 1st of May but it hadn't been posted, because we wake up to a new day before the West. Courtney aka Coco aka Glamah caught the buzz the minute it was posted, & twittered about it. I swooped down almost instantly. YAY...An 'Apple Strudel', with room for creativity on the filling. First thoughts:
YAY, no eggs (I love that)
A dough to knead...yes! And it was a simple dough at that, & LOW FAT!!

Stone fruits creeping into the market = YUM filling options!

Strudel dough
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
Method:

Combine the flour and salt. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour and knead to a soft dough. Continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally (check the hosts blog for making it by machine).
Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).
It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.
The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

I love kneading doughs, however nonsensical that might sound, but I do find it therapeutic. This dough was no different. I kneaded it, I flung it on the counter several times...& I think the more you hit it, the better it gets. Was beautiful to work with after 2 hours of rest, and overnight on another occasion. I divided it into 2 because I wanted to ambitiously try 2 different sweet fillings, & almost got cold feet halfway through. It's the peak of summer here & the market is flooded with stone fruits. Apricots, plums & mangoes were just surfacing in the first week of May, so my strudels got 'stoned'! Mango strudel
adapted from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers
Ingredients:
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup vanilla sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs (made from 3 slices of fresh brown bread, edges trimmed)
1 recipe strudel dough (recipe above)
1/2 cup toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 ripe mango, peeled & chopped (300-350gms)Method:

Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.
Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 200°C. Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper).
Make the strudel dough as described below. I used 1/2 of the dough & half filling ingredients for the each variant.
Spread about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands).
Sprinkle the buttered dough with 1/2 the bread crumbs. Spread 1/2 the walnuts about 3 inches (8 cm) from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm)-wide strip. Mix the mangoes with the raisins & the vanilla sugar. Spread the mixture over the walnuts.
Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter. Sprinkle with vanilla sugar.
Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.
I made this little 'pouch strudel' with the left over trimmings...

Check for some handy tips on the hosts blogs - Courtney of Coco Cooks and Linda of Make life sweeter! Apricot and plum strudel
Sugar roasted fruit and toasted walnuts make a fabulous filling for sweet crisp strudel
Inspired by Mike Robinson, as adapted from UKTV Food
Ingredients:
250g apricots & plums
1 sachet of vanilla sugar (or icing sugar, for dusting)
Handful dried cherries (snipped)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon,
1/2 tbsp cornflour
Juice of 1/2 lime
50g walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
2 tbsp vanilla sugar (or golden caster sugar)
1/2 quantity strudel dough Method:

Peel, core and slice the apricots and plums. Lay them on a baking tray and dust with vanilla/icing sugar. Bake for 15 minutes. Leave to cool and then transfer to a large bowl.
Stir in the fruit, lime juice, cinnamon and cornflour. Mix well.
Then follow the recipe for the mango strudel above.

They were pretty straightforward to make, & very really scrumptious because of the crisp breadcrumbs within. I think the pastry works better if rested overnight, and is one of the simplest I've ever made. Apple strudel has been on my to-do list for absolutely ages, ever since I saw it on Manggy's blog ages ago. I went on to make a savoury version too a few days later as I was quite taken in by the ease & lightness of the dough. I did this one with shredded grilled chicken, roasted red bell peppers, mango/peach salsa & mozzarella. This savoury version was very delicious too, & served as part of the main meal.

THANK YOU Courtney and Linda for hosting a great challenge ... Please do stop by at the Daring Bakers blogroll and take a look at all the fantastic strudels Daring Bakers across the globe have rolled out!

BEANIE TORTILLAS

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:23:27 PDT

"Cookery is not chemistry. It is an art. It requires instinct and taste rather than exact measurements."
Marcel Boulestin

We're going off to a beautiful little hamlet in the Himalayas, called Ramgarh, for a couple of days but this is a post that I'm rushing to put on this post on tortillas. More so, for my friend Ben from What's Cooking US our monthly Homemade challenge. This month we are making tortillas.

I made a vegetarian filling this time & using cannellini beans. Didn't reveal the ingredients to the kids as the lad will not touch his lentils. They had a fine time trying to figure out what was inside, & finally decided it was a mince. Let sleeping dogs lie...which is what i did. They loved the quesidillas! You can use whichever vegetable you like in the stuffing. I used a mix of sliced bell pepper (red,yellow & green), onion & sweetcorn, all tossed in a little olive oil, & roasted for 15 minutes in a hot oven.TORTILLAS

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup plain flour
1/2cup wholewheat
1 1/2t baking powder
1t salt
2T oil
Method:

Sift the flours with the baking powder and salt.
Add the oil & mix through with fingertips. Add enough water & knead to a pliable smooth dough,knead well. Cover & leave to rest for about an hour.
Make small walnut sized balls of dough & roll out as thin as possible. That is usually the trick for a good tortilla.
Put on a hot griddle, cook for 2-3 minutes, till small bubbles appear. Turn 7 cook the other side for a further 2 minutes.
Take off & keep warm.

Filling

Ingredients:
250gms cannelini beans soaked overnight
4 cloves garlic
2-3 bay leaves
Salt to taste
1 small bunch fresh coriander; chopped
2-3 green chillies; chopped
1 small onion; chopped
Juice of 1 lime

Method:

Pressure cook the beans with the salt, bay leaves & garlic for 20-25 minutes till soft.
Strain, pick out bay leaves & discard. mash the beans roughly with a masher.I did it in my processor because the son cannot stand beans & I wasn't going to risk a refusal!
Mix in the lime juice, finely chopped green chillies, fresh coriander & onion. Adjust seasoning if required.
Heat the grill pan. Take a tortilla, & cover half with the bean mix. Top with roasted bell peppers, onions & corn. Top with grated mozzarella.
Fold over & brush lightly with oil. place on grill pan for 1-2 minutes each side till the cheese melts.
Serve with fresh tomato salsa & sour cream.

A TRIP TO THE HIMALAYAS...a recipe for happiness!

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:36:50 PDT

“I've been staying at their lodge in the Himalayas for years, ... They have this beautiful lodge. You look out and there's Ama Dablam. Oh man, it's like heaven.”
Pete Shelley

It was something we've wanted to do for long, but somehow it never materialised. Though we've been into the hills before, the Himalayas hadn't ever been explored by self-drive. Luckily for us in the plains of North India, there are a number of Himalayan hill stations that are accessible by road, & summer is the best time to escape the heat of the plains. For once, things seemed to fall into place, & we managed to take our dream trip into the Himalayas. There were 6 of us, the hub, the 2 kids, my mother, my sis-in-law, & me. On our to-do list was something off-beat, something relaxing, sans the hustle-bustle, & surrounded by nature. We managed all this & much more, lived beyond our dreams, & experienced the beauty of nature, often untouched by man. The kids were 'detoxified' due to the absence of computers, TV, electricity too at times ... & the presence of fresh mountain air & fruit laden trees! They had a whale of a time!The Himalayas are exciting, invigorating & offer the unexpected around every bend, as every road trip in India promises. Not always for the faint-hearted, as Indian roads can often be 'adventurous', but rest assured, a very liberating experience. This was a break away from the 'mismatched discipline' of the urban India ... roads jammed with trucks & tractors, cattle weaving through, people for whom time has stood still, no one in a hurry, missing road signs, treacherous curves in the hills, stop where you feel like hill roads, broken bridges, honest-to-goodness people of the Kumaon region ... truly incredible! We drove off into sun-rise, having left home at an unearthly 4am, with a 7-8 hour drive in mind. Roads in India come laden with surprises, & life-time experiences. Where else would you get caught in a religious procession across a bridge full of 'sadhus' or holy-men? ... or be stuck in a traffic jam for hours in complete chaos, with tractors doing 'wheelies' on non-existent roads, surrounded by motorcycle bound milk-men, drive through village spice markets, see roadside 'chai' stalls with 'm & m' print lined tables... ... roads reduced to rubble, traffic jams which force you to drive off the road for hours to end, toll booths that charge Rs 5 per entry ($1 = Rs 45), colourful tractors loaded with people, monkeys on the sidewalks, straw huts dotting the country-side ... This was the beginning of our drive. Then we ran into a massive traffic jam due to a political rally or something, which held us up for an hour. Nothing budged! Out of the blue came a very helpful rickshaw-puller who told us he would lead us to an alternative route. We drove through the narrowest of lanes, touching the sides of houses, through paths I was ready to bail out at every second, over culverts, & after many near misses, we finally scraped through. The helpful fellow waved goodbye & rode off before we could even catch our breath!Once we were into the hill climb, we stopped to see the Corbett Museum, as it was only a short diversion away. Reminiscent of times gone by, it's a small unassuming building, but steeped in history. Located at Kaladhungi, Corbett Museum is in a heritage bungalow of Jim Corbett, the renowned environmentalist, hunter as well as a front runner in the tiger conservation. This magnificent museum brings to the forefront of memory the life and activities of the spectacular and distinguished personality. The museum show cases some memorabilia connected to Jim Corbett, which include some great valued personal belongings, letters written by him as well as his friends and well wishers, antiques and rare photographs. Unexpectedly it began to pour, followed by a hailstorm, & even more unexpectedly there was a landslide, just about 30-40kms before our destination. Predictably enough, as we've been stuck in one for hours many years ago near Kalimpong, we remained stuck in the middle of nowhere for 3-4 hours. No vehicle could get through - trucks, buses & cars, nothing! We each took our chances & got caught in the landslide quicksand, only to be pushed back by the locals who were extremely helpful! Then some 'labour' (local manpower with picks & shovels) sauntered in, & patiently, manually shovelled the slush off. We reached our destination 4 hours late, much to the kids relief.

We chose to stay at a beautiful cottage, a Welcomgroup 'Heritage' hotel, known as Taradale Cottage, situated at above 6500 ft sea level. Situated in a picturesque hamlet tucked away in the hills, the cottage owned by retired Brigadier AS Bal, is surrounded by fruit orchards.

'Taradale Cottage' is 325 Kms from Delhi, in the north-eastern part of the Kumaon region of the Himalayas. This relatively undiscovered destination is often termed as the fruit basket of the picturesque Uttarakhand state because of its sprawling peach, plum, apricot, apple & pear orchards. The beauty of Ramgarh and its surrounding majestic mountains, pristine Oak & Rhododendron forests, crisp cool air and vast clear skies attracted several industrial & royal houses to set up their estates here.Overflowing with interesting bric-a-brac, & the interiors have been tastefully done up by the Brigadier's wife, with each room displaying its own individual character.

The cottage is in a fairly secluded spot overlooking tree covered slopes and a verdant green valley or 'Dale' from which it derives the latter half of its name. A three minutes easy downhill walk from the road leads you to the property which is reminiscent of the summer houses built during the British Raj .

More later on what we did there...

FRUITS IN THE HIMALAYAS...& PEACH-ROSEMARY JAM RECIPE

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 04:54:34 PDT

"Thought is the blossom,language the bud,action the fruit behind."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Here's a little more about our recent trip into the hills, the adventurous beginning of which you can read about in my first post here. This second post is a bit of a fruity one; well mostly anyway. Ramgarh is a serene hill station in the Himalayas, perched at an altitude of about 1800 m above the sea level. It is quite the idyllic place for offbeat leisurely holidays in peace and tranquility, & is known for its fruit orchards and wonderful views of the Himalayas. On clear days you can see the snow-capped ranges of the Himalayas from the windows of the cottage we stayed at. Unfortunately for us, it was quite cloudy & misty the few days we were there for, so we didn't quite get to see the snow-capped ranges. What we did get to do loads of was enjoy the fruit hanging heavy from the boughs in the orchards surrounding Taradale.

An invigorating & exciting experience. The kids enjoyed it the most, & by the end of our trip, the lad knew which peach was going to be sweet & rightly ripe, & which wasn't. He literally ate truckloads of peaches. Eventually, I had to stalk him to make sure he didn't overeat fruit, & fall sick. At any given time, you could find him with a peach in his dirty little hands, the juice flowing down his arms. SIGH! I could visualise the poor birds fighting my lad for ripe fruit...LOL. We would wake up to an orchestra of bird songs every morning, thanks to these fruit laden boughs. The owner of the cottage told us that he's spotted over 230 species of birds in Ramgarh.Ramgarh is known for orchards of a variety of Himalayan fruits like apples, apricots, and peaches, & this region of the Himalayas is often referred to as 'the fruit basket of India'.

Around the cottage, the trees were laden with ripe peaches. Plums & apricots were still tart, but yummy if you didn't mind the sour taste. I certainly didn't! Pears & apple were still in blossom & young fruit stage. We dug into the peaches big time, & carried some back too. I also brought back a rosemary & a lavendar plant that I luckily tripped across at quite a nondescript little nursery tucked into the hillside. I found the nursery while talking to some sweet local kids, who were being taught by their grandfather, & were ready to go to school. They insisted I sing & dance for them, which I didn't because my kids looked at me in absolute horror, wondering if I was going to oblige. I fooled around with the naughty mites for a bit & then they set off for school. Schools in the district begin at 10am ... why so late one might wonder? ...Well, because there is no school transportation available. Little huts dot the countryside for miles, & are very far apart, often in complete wilderness, with no roads, just dirt tracks. It's quite a revelation to see all the kids go to school, safely walking the distance for hours, even the littlest of them! They seem quite happy with this way of life, & it takes them about an hour, on an average, to get to school. You can see them setting off 9am onwards, & while trekking one morning, we came across students in uniforms all over the hills!

On to the jam now... I made some Peach-Rosemary jam on my return as I was keen to preserve a few peaches, & some memories with them! The son polished off most the the remaining peaches! The daughter prefers mango.

PEACH-ROSEMARY JAM
adapted from Martha Stewart
Try this jam with yogurt or toast topped with fresh ricotta cheese.
Ingredients
4 pounds yellow peaches, peeled
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 cups sugar
4 large sprigs fresh rosemary Method:

Halve and pit peaches, then cut into 1/2-inch-thick wedges. Transfer to a large bowl. Add lemon juice; toss. Add sugar and rosemary; toss. Cover; let stand, tossing every hour, for 4 hours (sugar should be completely dissolved).
Put peach mixture into a large, wide pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook until liquid is syrupy, 12 to 13 minutes. (I cooked it for almost 30 minutes).
Crush lightly with a potato masher, leaving one-quarter of the wedges intact. Skim foam from surface. Discard rosemary sprigs.
Note: Refer to the recipe @ Martha's website for sterilising, sealing & processing guidelines.

More later on the beautiful biodiversity of the hills, a bit about trekking, about the people & the place ...

PEACHES & CREAM...The peach monster turns 10!

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:33:00 PDT

"There's your karma ripe as peaches."
Jack Kerouacwho...

Got back recently from a short sojourn in a the hills with a veritable peach monster...LOL! I have never seen any kid eating as many peaches as this guy did. It's his birthday today so I decided to make him a cake using peaches...

The filling partly inspired by a Bavarian cream from Helen @ Tartlette which used pears. I love hanging around her blog. It's inspirational!! I used the Bavarian cream part of Helen's recipe, substituted the pears for peeled & chopped peaches. We shall know how good it tastes later tonight, but it was wonderful to unmold the cake this morning to find a well set Bavarian ... with peaches peeking out! YAY!!

Time flies & how. Our baby boy turned 10 today. It's amazing how soon the years pass you by. We shifted into our house when he was 2 weeks old. He's a happy kid, always ready to oblige with a smile. A foodie through & through, will sniff his way into the kitchen always! He lives to eat & begins his morning with - 'Can I have cornflakes with lots of milk, & then a hot-house egg please?'... predictably followed by, 'What's for lunch Mama?' School days find him eating lunch in school, so the first word as he steps off the school bus is,'What did you make today?'... trying to figure out if if there's some delicious dessert in the offing! Food blogging has made a world of a difference here...He's quite hysterically funny, an out-of-the box thinker, & keeps us in splits! Was a very cute little baby, as was his sister, who he follows around like a pup, & she, much to her teenage horror, can barely tolerate it. Yet, every bit of silly news must get to her first, every cookie must be shared with her, a call from me after dinner for whichever reason results in a loud yell...'Run Meher, there must be dessert!!"

He had a million plans for today. Everything was stage managed ... what time he would get up & find me sitting on the computer. If not, then he would wake his sis up, the time the 'birthday gifts' were to be given, where he would sit ... ye gads, he drove me bonkers. As luck would have it, his dear dad & sis didn't get up until 8am; he was up since 5.30am, giddy with excitement. "This is the moment I've been waiting for for the past 10 days", he announced. I almost wept. I had snuck out of bed early to get the cake etc done before he emerged ... bad timing, & nothing got done. He showered & still no sign of an 'awakening', so I took him out to take a picture. He kept himself busy by taking some of me too ... results of the morning session below!

Thankfully his world woke up, by which time the sun was up too, & very hot. The cake had to have chilled butter cream & that was near impossible to achieve. I did some doodling on the top & hated it. Then scraped it off & had another go to make it look decent. Will dress it up with some cake toppings I made with the daughters help. I baked 2 sponges - one a vanilla-almond sponge & the other a chocolate sponge, from a recipe I use often, this one here. It's a bit like a genoise sponge, but uses oil rather than melted butter to keep it moist. I split each cake into 2 horizontally to get 4 layers.

Layered it like this...base of a vanilla-almond, some thick chocolate ganache, a layer of chocolate sponge, a thick layer of Bavarian cream with chopped peaches. Each layer was first spread with some Peach-Rosemary Jam that I recently made. The cake was then left in the fridge overnight held closely by a spring form cake tin, to give time for the Bavarian cream to get set. Covered the cake with a butter cream this morning...

He's had a good day so far with his best friend over for the day. Enjoyed a meal of chicken burgers. Even luckily got huge thumbs up from the hub. Bought the buns from the market, but made the patties at home.

Used a very simple, basic kebab mixture for the patties, flavoured with Italian spices & chili flakes, flattened them out in bread crumbs & shallow fried them. Once the patties were ready, I smoked them with a piece of hot caol for about 20 minutes. YUM!! A beautiful flavour...

What followed was a round of cookies & vanilla ice-cream which was hungrily lapped up too. I did a batch of oatmeal cookies with walnuts & chocolate chips the other day, & made a few flat ones in tartlet moulds for dessert. The kids enjoyed this too...

That's been the day so far... Happy Birthday Rohan!!

NATURE & TREKKING IN THE HILLS...the last Himalayan post!

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 08:54:08 PDT

"Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains..."

Diane Ackerman

My third & last account of our trip into the hills. Since we stayed in a remote little heritage cottage, far removed from the hustle & bustle of urban life, much of our time was spent exploring the hills around. It was easy to set off in any direction, & we would find man made foot trodden paths winding along hillsides for miles to end. On & off we'd come across small cottages, made of mud & wood, self-sufficient in their own little ways, with vegetable patches on the outside - their source of food. One thing common across all the hill people we met, were BIG smiles. The people of this region are pleasant & courteous beyond words, honest & helpful to the core. It's a revelation to find such unselfish & satisfied people. Unbelievably, they have little access to the outside world. No telephones in houses, no cable TV, no system of organised transport. They walk miles to get to main roads to catch buses & are never in a hurry. It's as if time waits for them! We took treks deep into the forest to explore the region. Unlike the West, the forested areas are completely unmarked & wild. There are paths that lead deep into the forest as the hills are dotted by the odd thatched house here & there. In the picture above, our starting point was at the arrow you might be able to see in the centre right on top. I almost expired when I saw the distance we had covered...phew! The hub is very good with logistics & planning. He planned the trek after gathering enough information that the climb wasn't very steep... ...primarily because we had my 70 year old Mum with us on the trip (I think he had me in mind too, LOL, coz I told him I wasn't doing a steep uphill walk). We were told to walk until she could, & then we would turn & return whenever she didn't feel good enough. He made her walk first to set the pace for the Brady bunch...so we followed her. She did well (& me too), & we completed the entire charted out route, an hour to get there, & another to get back!!

The kids would walk ahead at times, but within safe distance as the place was totally uninhabited, with not a soul in sight. I t was hilarious when at one point, deep in the forest, we heard sounds in the trees & my mum declared it could be a leopard. White faces of 2 very scared kids clutched their Dad. They never strayed away thereafter. I was then made front runner because I'm not scared of animals...in any case, the sound turned out to be from a large bunch of black faced monkeys, wildly jumping through the trees. My not so brave, hysterical kids didn't let me stop to take pictures! Sigh!

The Brigadier & his son, the folks who own the cottage we stayed at, were very hospitable & made our stay very worthwhile. They helped us plan our few days there, & guided us to explore sites like the abandoned house that Rabindranath Tagore lived in. Many writers and thinkers make their trip to rejuvenate their thinking and ideas. It is commemorated that some of the compositions of Rabindranath Tagore was compiled while he stayed here. Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel laureate Bengali poet, short-story writer, song composer, playwright, essayist, painter and philosopher stayed in a bungalow perched way up in the hills.

The peace & tranquillity of this place inspired the likes of Rabindranath Tagore who penned parts of his famous Gitanjali here. It was an hour long unmarked trek into the deep forest, with biodiversity beyond belief, which finally took us to the old house, which is unfortunately in a state of abject neglect. Unfortunately, even though the bungalow is owned by the government, it is in a ramshackle & dilapidated state, every last thing stripped from the house, except for a few latches which were firmly attached. It's a government owned property, but has been completely run-down & is ghost-like.

Mahadevi Verma, one of the luminaries of Hindi literature, a prose & poetry writer, built an abode here too, which is now a national museum. She not only wrote poems here but also worked for the development of Ramgarh. She worked for the welfare of villagers and women, & wanted to create awareness among the people of Ramgarh, and was a social activist.

While we were in the kumaon hills, we also visited a few local 'hot-spots' like Naukuchiatal, a picturesque lake situated at an altitude of 1,219 m. It has nine corners and hence the name, 'nau means 9 in hindi'. Naukuchiatal attracts migratory birds, which makes it a ‘bird watchers paradise’, and is a haven for fishing enthusiasts.

Both yachts and paddle-boats are available and this is a favourite spot for anglers. There are facilities for para gliding as well. We had a just a little time that day, so we did a little boating on the lake, & then the kids enjoyed some like horse riding. Silly pleasures, but a great deal of fun!

Next we drove on to Saatal, an emerald green lake, situated at a distance of 23kms from Nainital. Saatal is a unique, unforgettable spot which has a cluster of lakes placed amidst the oak forest.

A tranquil & calm lake, surrounded by hills housing old bungalows & beautiful sights. Our final stop that day was at Nainital, a small town in the hills of Kumaon, which is a popular hill station surrounded by mountains on three sides. Once this area had many lakes and it was called the City of 60 lakes, but most lakes have disappeared now.

We spent a short while wandering around, did a round of boating on the lake on the kids insistence, had an early lunch, which was nothing to write home about, & left in a hurry as the place was teeming with holidayers. There were local fruit sellers selling an assortment of local fruit in leaf baskets, & then there were locals from bakeries selling colourfully iced butter cream pastries in trunks...

The next morning, we had an early breakfast in beautiful dining room at the cottage & drove back home to Gurgaon, next to New Delhi! Home sweet home!!

Part 1 here

Part 2 here

MANGO-PEACH LOW FAT ICE-CREAM...eggless

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 06:19:22 PDT

"Ice cream is the original soul food."

Lexie Saige

With summer here, can ice-cream & popsicles be far behind? Finally mangoes have reached their peak in availability & taste. There can be nothing better than enjoying their superb flavour...it's amazing how flooded the market is, but just until July, because this is the time when the fruit begins to ripen. It's also the saving grace for the high temperatures we suffer here during this time...43-44C wouldn't have been possible without this delectable fruit!Bought more than a few kilos of mangoes than I needed too a while ago ... because the batch looked so good. With peaches keeping them good company, they were quite obviously headed for the freezer ... time for ice-cream, what else? I wanted to make a mango kulfi, but the peaches were naughty, & tripped me along the way ... & I landed up with this! I love the combination of peaches & mangoes. Might increase the peaches next time to get a deeper, more-pronounced peach flavour for my little peach monster! You can skip the peaches altogether & make just a mango version too. I think roasting the peaches before might twist the flavour differently! I used a combination of low fat cream & hung yogurt in the recipe here to cut the calories. The ice-cream was delicious & refreshing ... & melting fast, might I add!

MANGO-PEACH ICE-CREAM (Eggless)
Ingredients:
5 mangoes - (about 1.5kg), peeled & roughly chopped
7-8 peaches ; blanched,peeled & roughly chopped
1 1/2 cups sugar (adjust according to sweetness of mangoes)
200ml low fat cream (25% fat)
1/2 cup hung yogurt (hung from a height for about 2 hours)
Juice of 2 limes
1tsp almond essence
Pinch of salt

Method:

Place the mangoes & peaches in a deep bowl & blend with the immersion blender.
Add the remaining ingredients & blend well again till thoroughly mixed. Adjust sugar if required.
Turn into a freezer container, & whisk every hour to distribute the crystals, at least 4-5 times. (or use the instructions on your ice-cream maker; I don't have one so I use elbow grease!!)
Leave to set for 6-8 hours, or preferably overnight.
You can also make a few ice-lollies if you like. The kids loved them!

This delicious ice-cream is off to Ben @ What's Cooking for his latest homemade challenge -Homemade #5 Ice-cream

FOOD, INC. Time to make thoughtful food choices?

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:45:41 PDT

"Health requires healthy food."

Roger Williams

A new film & book just released is raising the heat, & asking somewhat uncomfortable questions about the food we eat. When Megan Bedard wrote to me asking if I would be interested in promoting healthier food consciousness, I had no doubt in my mind. The foodie is me strives to offer healthy eating options to the family. On a daily basis, it's about bringing healthy & affordable meals to the table ... at times a struggle.The book, Food Inc.: A Participant Guide: How Industrial Food is Making Us Sicker, Fatter, and Poorer-And What You Can Do About It, attempts to unravel the obstacles faced by families trying to eat healthy at an affordable price. Though the book & film are centred around huge food corporates in the US, the malaise is already creeping into our system here in India too. Globalisation brings with it highs & lows, we are certainly looking both in the face!

Food, Inc. is guaranteed to shake up our perceptions of what we eat. This powerful documentary deconstructing the corporate food industry in America was hailed by Entertainment Weekly as “more than a terrific movie—it’s an important movie.” Aided by expert commentators such as Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser, the film poses questions such as: Where has my food come from, and who has processed it? What are the giant agribusinesses and what stake do they have in maintaining the status quo of food production and consumption? How can I feed my family healthy foods affordably? Expanding on the film’s themes, the book Food, Inc. will answer those questions through a series of challenging essays by leading experts and thinkers. This book will encourage those inspired by the film to learn more about the issues, and act to change the world. The book , written by food experts, is a companion to the new documentary, Food, Inc., which deconstructs the food industry in America. Participant Media is running a campaign to bring awareness to the issues in the movie, from cloning our food supply to E.Coli to the obstacles for families to eat healthy at an affordable price.

The book is also available for purchase here. "Food, Inc", the movie, is a documentary that was created to look deeper into how the FDA and USDA control the food we eat, and the choices we have in our food supply. The film is already gaining national attention in the U.S. for its bold venture into the depths of the enormous corporations that are controlling the food supply.

You can learn more about the movie itself here. Good Morning America discussed it here, and the New York Times wrote about it here. "Into this world comes “Food, Inc.,” a documentary on the state of the nation’s food system that opens in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco on Friday. “Food, Inc.” is part of a new generation of food films that drip with politics, not sauces. It’s eat-your-peas cinema that could make viewers not want to eat anything at all."

The film was released in theaters June 12. You can see a trailer here.

To end, an interesting excerpt from Gina Telaroli who reports on Take Part ... To whet your appetite ABC has put up an excerpt from the book, specifically an interview with Eric Schlosser. The below section really highlights why the film is necessary (and illustrates how the food problem goes beyond just what we eat):
“One of the more remarkable moments of my research occurred while I was visiting a home in the Midwest where a group of impoverished meatpacking workers lived. They were all illegal immigrants. And while I was talking with them, I learned that some of them had worked at a strawberry farm I’d visited for the Atlantic Monthly piece. That’s when I realized that this was a really important story, one that deserved a lot more of my time and attention. California has been exploiting migrant workers from Mexico for a hundred years. But that form of exploitation had, until recently, been limited to California and a handful of Southwestern states. Now it seemed to be spreading throughout the United States. Finding that illegal immigrants were being exploited in the heartland of America, in a little town that on the surface looked straight out of a Normal Rockwell postcard–well, to me, this was something new, a disturbing and important new trend.”

MINI PEACH, CHERRY & BLUEBERRY GALETTES with almonds -Little bites!

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:42:06 PDT

"Yield to temptation -- it may not pass your way again"

Lazarus Long

Do you get hypnotized by certain posts. I'm afraid I'm afflicted by this strange phenomena, but I love it. And it kicks in whenever I see a post with galettes, the sweet ones, full of fruit. I find galettes to be very 'free spirited'.......in the sense that they don't need to conform to boundaries, something that is reflective of my inherent nature. I like my freedom, I like rustic & moreish appeal, so I like galettes. Inspiration continues to come from unexpected sources. Been twittering with Edna's Cafe for really long, & so one fine day decided to stop by. I was enamoured by her gorgeous Peach Blueberry Galette. It enticed me no end, as did her post asking if there were more like her who go to the store to fetch something, get totally distracted & get things that were far from the list?

Moi, I yelled! That is so like me. Fruit chomped as fruit is good, & that condition is fulfilled by my little peach monster. Beyond that, I firmly tell myself before I enter the local bazaar, no more peaches for baking, no more berries for the cooler, too much sugar entering the system... No matter how firm the resolve is, I always give in to the delicious fruit that call my name softly from shelves. It doesn't help that the kind vendor pulls out reserved stuff from boxes below to offer me prime pieces that he keeps for me. Vicious circle...like the galettes.

So I walked out of Edna's Cafe in a virtual trance, and before I knew it, I had dough ready for galettes. Have made an absolutely delicious Peach-Plum Galette adapted from Susan's recipe at Food Blogga quite a while ago. I really loved the pastry she used, & that's been the only one I've ever used after that. I think it's a connection between me & galettes, because I remember being hypnotized after seeing the galette post at Susan's last year too. The nonconformist that I am, I decided to make individual little ones as I LOVE individual dessert servings. An entirely intriguing prospect, where each one gets served their own precious rustic pie, complete in it's miniature beauty. SIGH ... food has unlimited appeal at times!

MINI PEACH, CHERRY & BLUEBERRY GALETTES

as adapted 'minimally' from Susan @ Food Blogga
Makes 8 individual ones or 1 8-9" pie
Ingredients:
Dough:
1 3/4 cups All-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated vanilla sugar

1/4 cup coarse cornmeal

1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup; cold butter (I grated frozen butter)
1/3 cup fat-free buttermilk

Fruit Filling:
7-8 peaches - medium, skinned & chopped
250gms cherries, pitted & halved
1 packet freeze dried blueberries (or 1 cup of fresh blueberries)
1/4 cup granulated vanilla sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
Juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 chopped almonds (optional)
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon granulated vanilla sugar or turbinado sugar
Vanilla sugar for sprinkling
Slivered almonds for topping

Method:

For the dough: Combine flour, sugar, cornmeal, and salt in a processor; pulse 2-3 times.
Grate in frozen butter and pulse 4-5 times, or until mixture resembles coarse meal. With the processor running, slowing pour the buttermilk through the chute, processing until the dough forms a ball.
Remove the dough ball and adhere any remaining pieces of dough to it, divide into 2 if making min galettes, or 1 large ball, flattened slightly, then wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30-35 minutes. (I did it for almost an hour because the weather was HOT)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees C.
To make the fruit filling: Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, and toss gently, making sure that the cornstarch is coating the fruit. (This will prevent too much juice from leaking out while the galette bakes.)
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. For mini galettes, divide each 1/2 ball into 4. Starting at the center of the dough, roll out each quarter on a floured surface to form a 6" wide circle.
Transfer the rolled out dough to the lined baking sheet. Add the fruit mixture to the center of the dough, leaving a 2-inch border. (I had to hold my filling in a sieve briefly because it has a little excess liquid)
Fold the border over the filling, overlapping where necessary and pressing gently to adhere the folds. Seal any stubborn edges with remaining fruit juice.
Brush galettes with milk and sprinkle with granular vanilla sugar.
Bake for 25-30 minutes (1 hour for big galette), or until crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack to cool for at least 20 minutes. (Cutting it too quickly will cause the dough to crack).
Note: Galettes are best served at room temperature or slightly warm. Our seconds were enjoyed chilled too. Optional garnishes include vanilla ice cream, a dollop of creme fraiche, or freshly whipped cream.

This is off to Mansi @ Fun & Food Blog for SHF-Fruit and Nut which she is playing host to this month .

YEASTED BUCKWHEAT WAFFLES...HAPPY FATHER's DAY!!

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:58:04 PDT

“You know, fathers just have a way of putting everything together.”
Erika Cosby

The kids kept up until late last night, hurriedly drawing cards for Father's Day. Alongside, they wanted something special on the table too for him. The decision of what was left to me because they were running out of time. I had buckwheat something on my mind ever since I had read of Buckwheat Pancakes on Marie's blog @ Two Peas and Their Pod.Too hot to rustle up a cake, so I decided to inaugurate the Belgian waffle Iron my sis had presented me quite a while ago. She had tired of asking me if I had used it. With pretty erratic electricity supply here, I daren't begin my Sunday around any electrical appliance on a big scale. Waffles meant big scale for a novice like me, but something felt right to try the next morning. I googled quickly for some buckwheat waffle recipes, because I had a bag of buckwheat I wanted to use. Also wanted healthy waffles!! Yes, Epicurious had an interesting buckwheat waffle recipe & the good thing was that you could put the batter together & let it rest overnight! Great feeling to get up the next morning to ready batter, & get waffling!!

I'm glad I did! For the first time, in many Sundays, we didn't have a power cut. The waffles came out beautifully. Crisp & slightly nutty in flavour & texture. The next time will probably increase the sugar a bit. I used oil instead of melted butter & they were very, very good. The colour is a little dark because of the buckwheat flour. Loved my first attempt, & can't wait to use the iron again!

I made 7 rounds of waffles with the batter & got 28 waffles. I stirred in chocolate chips into the last 2 rounds for a variation. Served the waffles with whipped vanilla Chantilly cream, diced fresh mango & almond praline. The lad had his with cream & homemade Peach-Rosemary Jam, & then had another just with a teeny bit of salted butter. I've frozen the remaining few to pop into the toaster another day! YEASTED BUCKWHEAT WAFFLES

adapted from Epicurious.com
Ingredients:
2 1/4 teaspoons or 1 package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups lukewarm milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup buckwheat flour
2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 tablespoons canola oil or butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)Method:

In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast into 1/4 cup warm water and stir in the sugar. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.
Put the warm milk and salt in a large bowl, then add the yeast mixture and whisk in the flours. Cover and refrigerate overnight if the weather is warm or leave out on the counter if it's cool.
Next morning, add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, eggs, and soda. Cook according to your waffle iron's instructions.

This post has been Yeastspotted, & is off to Susan @ Wild Yeast!

Note: My apologies if you are experiencing difficulties accessing my blog. There is a technical problem with bloggers custom domains. They are working on it, but it's been a week and the issue is still outstanding.

INDIAN CHICKEN WINGS THE MONICA BHIDE WAY!

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:41:44 PDT

“That should spice things up.”
Shane Vandiver

It's time to let some spice into our lives. I have a spring in my step as I carry along finger-licking good 'Indian Chicken Wings' to celebrate summer and have a 'Virtual Bloggers Dinner' for Monica Bhide's new cookbook, Modern Spice. The recipe from her book is a brilliant twist to the great American classic, where Monica uses a cream marinade, instead of a yogurt-based marinade which is conventionally used in Indian cooking. Be forewarned, the marinade is so good & irresistible on its own, that you can almost serve it as a tangy dip! Having kept away from wings as they are usually served deep fried, this is a refreshing new take! Indian Chicken Wings is a keeper of a recipe, so well worth stocking up spice jars for."

Mark Bittman has written the introduction to her gorgeous new book, her third so far, & it is creating quite a rage. Taking Indian cooking to dizzying new heights, with this book Monica reignites a passion for Indian cuisine made easy at home. An easy way to use Indian spices in cooking, breaking away from tradition when required, & yet, managing to keep the connection going. It's a bold book, an exciting look at fusion cuisine, & with good timing. The book arrives at a time when food bloggers are cooking up a storm. It's time to get the 'perfect pantry' together and incorporate a lot of fun food into your meals.

I bumped into Monica quite by chance. My first introduction to her was through my friend Chris Walker of Mostly Food Journal, who had done a review of the book a while ago, & sent me a link in April '09. Next read about Modern Spice in Heidi's post on 101 Cookbooks when she made Chili Pea Puffs from the book. Maybe our paths were meant to cross, because a few days later I ran into an urgent tweet from Jaden of Steamy Kitchen asking anyone for the correct pronunciation of Monica Bhide as she was going in for a recording in 10 minutes. Twitter continued to surprise me, & I intercepted Monica's tweet about the virtual party to see if anyone else wanted to join. I'm always game, so I tweeted right back. We exchanged a couple of mails, and here I am. Monica's a wonderful, warm person & will be visiting India later this year.

In the meantime, onto the finger-licking good appetizer that I've chosen to carry to the party. Indian Chicken Wings! How yum does that sound? I think it's a brilliant twist to the great American classic! Indian chicken wing recipes are few & far between, and this one is different because of the marinade. The marinade was tangy & so good, that I had a tough enough time trying not to have another & another go at it, so hurriedly put the chicken in. Even the whisk got a good licking! Had a good idea halfway through, though it came a little late. I could have made some extra marinade & reserved it as a dipping sauce for serving alongside. Since this was part of main course on my table that day, I paired the wings with some oven roasted baby potatoes using the same seasoning (tossed in lime, garlic, red chili with oil), & made a quick bread with garlic & red chili. A salad on the side completed a quick summer meal - light & pleasing! The book has so many enticing & inviting recipes, vegetarian & non vegetarian, that you'll find the spices being put to good use; well worth stocking up the spice jars with ingredients.

INDIAN CHICKEN WINGS

Here’s an American classic with a twist. These grilled wings provide all the flavor yet are healthier than their deep-fried cousins. I make these in bulk, as they freeze well. When you are ready, just throw them on the grill and get ready to party.
Reprinted with permission from Modern Spice: Inspired Indian Flavors for the Contemporary Kitchen by Monica Bhide. (Simon & Schuster, 2009)
Serves 6 to 8
Prep/Cook time: about 25 minutes, plus 3 hours marination
Ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon store-bought ginger-garlic paste
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 ½ teaspoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons red chile flakes
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 ½ teaspoons dried fenugreek leaves, crushed
1 teaspoon dried mango powder
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 ½ teaspoons table salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 ½ pounds chicken wings (about 20 wings), tips cut off
Nonstick cooking spray
Store-bought chaat masala for garnishDirections:
1. In a large bowl, combine the cream, ginger-garlic paste, turmeric, cumin, coriander, chile flakes, lemon juice, fenugreek, mango powder, vegetable oil, salt, and pepper.
2. Add the chicken wings and toss to thoroughly coat them. Refrigerate, covered, for at least 3 hours.
3. Turn on the broiler to high. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray it lightly.
4. Place the wings on the baking sheet. Pour any remaining marinade on top of the wings.
5. Broil the wings about 4 inches from the heat until cooked through, about 12 minutes on each side or until they begin to brown well. Turn the wings once.
6. Serve sprinkled with chaat masala.

DARING BAKERS do BAKEWELL TARTS...& I do a few HEARTS too!!

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:51:09 PDT

"The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts, All of a summer day,

The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts And took them quite away!"
Lewis Carroll

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Inspirations and References: Allan Davidson, Tamasin Day Lewis, Anton Edelmann, Jane Grigson, Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver

A giant tart, medium tarts or little tartlettes

Mandatory element 1: Sweet Shortcrust Pastry. Yes, it’s a pie pastry.

Mandatory element 2: Frangipane - it’s rich, sweet and slightly luxurious.
Optional element: Home made jam or curd

My inspiration for the frangipane: Aran @ Canelle et Vanille

Rich, delicious & indulgent. That's what the tart was... & more.

The pastry excellent & crisp.

The challenge providing an optional opportunity to make jam, something I love to do.

The timing just right for jam as stone fruit flood our market, & I bottled up some peachy memories in a jar. You can view my 'Peach-Rosemary Jam' recipe here. I posted it a short while ago.

A Wonderful Challenge!

I adapted the shortcrust recipe a bit as am vary of egg in pastry. It's more of a psychological thing, & I cannot enjoy it if I knead egg into it. Nevertheless, with the family in mind, I amended the recipe slightly. The resultant pastry was still beautiful, light & crisp. The only little hassle I had was that it remained soft, actually far too soft to roll after a couple of hours in the fridge as our weather is HOT (42-44C) & not pastry rolling/making weather. I rested it in the fridge overnight & got up early the next morning & rolled it out. It still broke up a few times, but patchwork in this recipe works magic, & I got a decent base. We had it at room temperature the first day. Seconds were delicious served cold the next day, & the base remained crisp in the fridge. I think the frozen butter & quick, minimal handling of dough is key here. It's a beautiful recipe, a keeper! Sweet shortcrust pastry
Ingredients:

as adapted from the recipe here
225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) vanilla sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
100g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
1 egg yolk
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract

5ml (1 tsp) pure vanilla extract
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Method:

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.
Lightly beat the egg yolk with the almond & vanilla extract and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.
Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes . I rested it overnight.

Frangipane
adapted from Aran @ Canelle et Vanille
Ingredients:
100gms unsalted butter, softened
100 powdered vanilla sugar
1 egg
1tsp almond extract
1tsp vanilla extract
100g ground almonds
30g all purpose flour

Method:

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the egg and beat well one The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. Pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour. Use immediately or refridgerate for a day in a ziploc/baggie.
My Peach-Rosemary Jam recipe can be found here, as adapted from Martha Stewart.

Assembling the tart

Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 200C/400F.
Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish. When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough. The origins of the tart are not clear, however the generally accepted story is that it was first made by accident in 1820 when the landlady of the White Horse Inn left instructions for her cook to make a jam tart. The cook, instead of stirring the eggs and almond paste mixture into the pastry, spread it on top of the jam. When cooked the jam rose through the paste. The result was successful enough for it to become a popular dish at the inn, and commercial variations, usually with icing sugar on top, have spread the name. The name is believed to have come from a customer who decided that the tart was "baked well" thus the inn called it their "Bakewell" tart, a pun on the town of Bakewell and a well baked tart.

The tart tasted spectacular. An easy & delicious challenge for the month, with room for creativity in the filling once again. I was thrilled to see it because I have been enamoured with the name frangipane for ages. A romantic sounding name, I often wondered how it tasted. Have seen it used beautifully by Aran @ Canelle et Vanille, & that recipe stuck in my head. The moment I read the challenge, I was off to compare recipes. Aran's recipe appealed to me primarily because it used fewer eggs, & marginally less butter. The portion was enough for 1 rectangular tart, though I had some pastry dough left sans filling.I could have left the pastry a few mms thicker to use all the dough. Made a few rustic heart shaped tart cases with the left over dough. I filled those with some left over Bavarian cream from my peach monster's 10th birthday cake. I used the recipe for the Bavarian cream from Helen's post @ Tartlette here. These little hearts were divine too.

Thank you for another great challenge ladies - Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict & Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. I love being a Daring Baker, & the family loves being a Daring Baker family, because now they're also interested in what the next challenge is going to be. The good thing is the pin-drop silence & tip-toeing around when they know it's the baker being daring in the kitchen!! LOL!

To see how well the other bakers have done on the tart, do stop by at our blogroll here.

CHOCOLATE CHERRY MUFFINS...healthy muffins we love!

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 09:20:55 PDT

“Life is just a bowl of cherries.”
Proverb

There's so much to do as always, & so little time. With the kids still at home on vacation, the day gallops by so fast. Still, I can't figure out why it's taken me so long to post these muffins. They're on my file for quick reference, one of the quickest & best chocolate fixes I have on record. Found them on this blog - Cooking During Stolen Moments as I browsed the net for recipes for 'muffins using dried cherries'. I amended the recipe a teeny bit to make them a twitch healthier, with some whole wheat flour substitution.

What do I love about them? E V E R Y T H I N G !! To begin with, they're chocolate & a great fix for sweet cravings. The recipe uses cocoa which is more easily available in India vis a vis baking chocolate. Secondly, they use oil instead of buttah! I'm actively trying to substitute butter with oil as often as possible. Nothing but a personal attempt to try incorporate healthier food choices into our ' daily bread', so as to say! Further, you don't need a beater to get the batter together. A simple whisk is good enough. What's more, no sifting! Here's a recipe that falls together in 5-7 minutes flat, and also allows for easy substitution. No cherries = no problem. Use chocolate chips &/or walnuts instead. I love it! The muffins taste great the day they're baked because the tops are crisp & crusty in a moreish way ... almost endearing! They maintain a wonderful taste, sans crisp top, thereafter, and keep moist & delicious stored in the fridge, thanks to the oil!

They remind me of the Cappuccino Muffins I make when I have coffee cravings, which is quite often! That recipe belongs to Nic's @ Cherrapeno, and is a firm favourite for it's ease & wonderful flavour, and is in my 'quick to make' recipe file. The kids love cappuccino muffins. A close contender, jostling for space right on top has been this bundt cake from the Food Librarian ... Cinnamon Chocolate Bundt Cake is another huge favourite at home these days. Now, we have another fighter in the ring, & more competition is always healthy! The Chocolate Cherry Muffins have marked their permanent abode in this file, & are a lot of fun. I've made them thrice already, & sometimes place fresh cherries on top prior to baking. A sprinkling of vanilla sugar adds to flavour!

CHOCOLATE CHERRY MUFFINS
as adapted minimally from Cooking During Stolen Moments
Ingredients:
1 1/4 c. flour
1/2 c. wholewheat flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
2 T. cocoa powder
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. chocolate chips
1/2 c. dried cherries
1 c. milk
1/2 c. oil
1 egg
1 t. pure vanilla extract
Method:

In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients, including the chocolate chips and dried cherries.
In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, oil, egg and vanilla extract. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until completely moistened and combined.
Pour about 1/3 - 1/2 c. batter into greased or lined muffin tin. Bake at 200C for about 20 minutes, or until the muffins are done.

Chocolate, Dried Cherry & Walnut Bar Cookies

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:01:32 PDT

"Will work for chocolate"

Summer in North India has become a drag, & I can't wait for better days to come. I've been desperate to bake but lack motivation. Everything is HOT, & I almost don't need to switch on the oven to bake. Power outages rule our days with electricity more absent than present. The kids summer vacations in this entire region have been extended in view of the heat wave. The mayhem at home continues...& in the midst of this, I still want to bake...I had an old Martha Stewart recipe using oats & dried cherries jotted down on a scrap of paper. I found it a couple of days ago while clearing my desk & decided to make the biscuits. With my limited supply of dried cherries all gone in many batches of these yum Chocolate Cherry Muffins, I stumbled on a bag of dried cranberries which a friend got from the UK recently. I was all set... Walnuts are always on my list to add to anything & everything that compliments the nut, so in went some walnuts. I kept changing ingredients as I went along, substituting some flour with cocoa, & eventually came up with these delicious little bar cookies. Not too sweet, the tart cranberries compliment the walnuts & chocolate beautifully. You can omit the cocoa if you like, & use 1 1/4 cups of plain flour instead. If you like sweeter cookies, increase the sugar by 1/4 cup.

There are times that I really enjoy rolling out cookies at any time of the day, & find it entirely therapeutic. Not these days though. The heat is sapping, electricity is playing truant & humidity is making life worse. So I took a call & pressed the cookie dough into my tart pan, hoping some sort of brownie/cookie/bar would emerge...

Scored lines through the unbaked dough to get 12 equal pieces (later I thought I might have managed 16 instead), sprinkled on some vanilla sugar from sachets my friend from Kiev regularly gets for me. The sachets remind me of the many dessert mix sachets I had picked up while on vacation in Moscow way back in 1995. Everything looked so good, and I picked up loads of chocolate & coffee mousses etc. It was only when we returned home, did I realise that all instructions were in Ukrainian & I couldn't do anything with them. My limited knowledge of words like allo, da, idi suda, kharoshe, perciba didn't help!! In those days it cost a fortune to call overseas, so my poor sachets expired silently!The last time my friend was here from Kiev, in addition to vanilla sugar sachets (the writing on which is still in Ukrainian), she got me beautiful hand painted flat wooden spoons from there, which I really love.
CHOCOLATE, WALNUT & DRIED CRANBERRY BAR COOKIES

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup demerera sugar
1/4 cup vanilla sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Fine vanilla sugar, for sprinkling (or sanding sugar)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, oats, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, cut butter into oat mixture until mixture resembles a coarse meal. In another medium bowl, mix together egg, buttermilk, and vanilla and almond extract until well combined. Stir in dried cranberries, chopped walnuts/chocolate chips.
Add egg mixture to flour mixture; mix until well combined.
Turn out dough into a lightly greased tart tin with a removable base, push it to cover the pan evenly & uniformly. Cut into 12 equal squares using a sharp knife; or roll out to 1-inch-thick rectangle, cut into 12 equal squares & transfer to a prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with vanilla sugar.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes/ till done. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool slightly before serving.

ITALIAN CHICKEN ON STICKS... & SOME SHOPPING IN NEW DELHI !!

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:55:32 PDT

“Do not be afraid of simplicity. If you have a cold chicken for supper, why cover it with a tasteless white sauce which makes it look like a pretentious dish on the buffet table at some fancy dress ball?”

Marcel Boulestin

Have had a busy week, & just when I thought the kids were finally back to school after a 2 month vacation, 'they' (the district authorities) decided to extend the vacations! Too hot for all kids to be at school, so we have them home for another week. Phew! On the brighter side of life, we did manage to get a few random showers, which means we might expect respite from the harsh Indian summer pretty soon. These appear to be pre-monsoon showers, & though they give us an overdose of humidity, they keep our hopes raised.

With the kids home again, the thought process & body mechanism involuntarily heads towards the kitchen no matter what. These past 2 months have run me ragged trying to think of how best to serve 'food with a difference'. Left with few exciting options for dinner as I've been through the normal run of dinner table items, I often need the change, more than the kids. I took chicken tenders out for a supposedly light version of Butter Chicken, but chickened out at the thought as it still involves cream & butter. These hot summer days call for lighter fare, so I decided to give the Indian tikka an Italian twist. I made Italian Chicken on sticks & served it with some bread & salad. They were delicious, full of light summer flavour & a hit with the kids. Served them with a hung yogurt-garlic creamy dip, & I was in business again! An artisan bread on the side gave me additional brownie points!! There was also a light salad that I tossed in some reserved marinade. Simple & delicious!!

ITALIAN CHICKEN ON STICKS

Ingredients:

750gms chicken thigh tenders, cut into bite size pieces

1/3 cup olive oil

Zest & juice of 2 limes

6-8 cloves garlic, minced

Handful of fresh oregano, finely chopped

2 tsp smoked chipotle paste (optional)

Salt to taste

Method:

Whisk together oil , zest, juice of limes, garlic, oregano and salt. Taste and adjust seasonings if required.
Remove 2 tbsp of the marinade for a salad if you like (optional), & whisk in the chipotle paste in the rest.
Soak bamboo sticks in water for 30 minutes,
Marinate the chicken tenders in this for at least an hour, or overnight. Take it out of the fridge half an hour before cooking.
Preheat the oven to 300C.
Thread the tenders on bamboo sticks alternatively with bell peppers & onions.
Cook in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Let drip for a 5 minutes. Grill the tenders on sticks on a heated grill pan, pressing down gently to get the BBQ lines. Serve with a dipping sauce of your choice.

My sis has been visiting from the US so I got my lucky haul of stuff. Have finally laid my hands on books I've been waiting to read for ages - Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes & A HomeMade Life. In addition, I got baking tins, tart pans & loads of more exciting stuff, including another Cookie book. FUN!! My dream run continued & sis # 2 had a friend flying in from the US and sent me some more 'loot'! A fluted cake tin, silicon muffin cups,an oven thermometer ... & much more! Now all I need is a little time...A few days ago Meeta @ WFLH tweeted about her day out shopping at Ikea ,& I was terribly envious of the brilliant stuff she got. Ikea's India plans have been shelved, at least for the time being, & I was quite bummed!! Quite forgot that retail therapy is quite possible anywhere under the sun. While sis #1 has been here, we've been out in town, exploring & shopping. Central Delhi is a beautiful place to visit, full of interesting history, architecture... & SHOPS!! It had to be me taking her out shopping, but for some insane reason I ended up shopping more than her. One of my favourite haunts is the Tibetan market on Janpath. The Lonely Planet review sums it up ... "Beckoning tourists with its shimmering mirrorwork textiles, colourful shawls, brass Oms, psychedelic T-shirts, dangly earrings and trinkets galore, is this touristy belt running north of the Imperial hotel. It has some good finds if you rummage through the junk. Haggle hard." It's a Little Tibet in India.You can easily spend a couple of hours, if not an entire day, wandering around here. While exploring the Tibetan market, we discovered quaint little shops overflowing with bric-a-brac, & one special shop full of the most beautiful pots & pans. A pleasant young man, Tashi Nima, runs his shop, Doma Copper Brass, with a passion. He knows his stuff & his prices are fixed. He has his suppliers, & is known to supply a lot of people with Indian/sub continent bric-a brac. The wares move fast & he sells a mix of old & new culinary items. Everything is handmade. The things aren't antique, but do date back to the 1910's etc, & the artwork is entirely intriguing. We spent most of our morning in his shop, & I'm going back soon to explore it some more!

CHOCOLATE BUCKWHEAT LIME CURD TART...Fresh & Exciting

vindee@airtelmail.in (Deeba @Passionate About Baking) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:36:29 PDT

"When life gives you lemons, find someone who's life gives them vodka. Then party."

There is an old lady who lives nearby, one of the kindest souls around, who is very fond of me. She makes it a point to stop by our home on her morning walks, at least twice a week, to make sure all is well with me. Constantly spoiling me with sweets & chocolates, this time she sent me a bag of limes off her lime tree. I love anything & everything citrus, & I was overjoyed! The basket of limes sang to me & then, along came Judy twittering about lemon curd!!

It's been my first go at lemon curd (lime as in my case). I've drooled over Meeta @ WFLH 's fresh homemade lemon curd for long enough. It's enticing & refreshing, as her posts always are, but have never had the courage to make it because of the 'egg' issues that I have. Egg yolk & me are not good friends, & I tend to associate eggy aromas with anything that uses egg yolk.Being a Daring Baker has made me use egg yolks more often than I would otherwise, & frankly, this has been a turning point in my baking obsession. I've yet to wander into eggy ice-creams which are equally tempting, but the Bavarian cream I did here made me change my eggy-huliar feelings to quite an extent. I gingerly tried a little bit & found that there was nothing too eggy there. Was twittering with Judy @ No Fear Entertaining the other day, exchanging notes on summer vacations, kids, beaches & food of course. She mentioned she had just made lemon curd off Meeta's recipe & it was delish. She was thoroughly cross-twittered to make sure egg didn't feature in the curd aromas, & I was sold on the idea. I made fresh lime curd the next morning thanks to my haul of fresh limes...

Fresh Homemade Lime Curd
as adapted from What's For Lunch Honey
Ingredients
8-10 limes, zest & juice (increase lime juice if you think it isn't tart enough.Meeta used 4 lemons)
100g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 eggs, beaten
450g fine granulated sugar Method

Set a fine strainer over a medium bowl, then set aside.
In a medium sized saucepan whisk together the juice, zest, sugar and eggs until incorporated and the sugar has dissolved.
Place the saucepan over medium heat and gently cook the mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon, until steaming. Make sure the curd does not boil. Stir frequently and continue to cook until the curd has thickened and the curd coats the back of the wooden spoon - approx 3-7 minutes.
Take the curd off the heat and then add the butter, stirring to incorporate it to the curd. Pour the curd mixture through the prepared strainer to make sure there are no lumps in the lemon curd.
Pour into warm sterile jars , cover and seal. Allow to come to room temperature, then refrigerate.

With rich curd on hand, could dessert be far away? So much lime curd needed a destination. Thought I'd put it into an ice-cream as Judy had made, but currently suffer from freezer overload. Next thought 'lemon shortbread bars'. One thing led to another, & I finally thought 'TART'. How would 'tart and rich' fresh lime curd taste in a nice tart? LOL, pretty much talking to myself, I set off to make a regular plain tart, & then found my bag of buckwheat next to plain flour. A combination of random ingredients later, I ended up with a nice, crisp tart shell, inaugurating the flan/tart pan my sis had just got for me! The result was a nice dessert which we enjoyed with unsweetend whipped cream. INDULGENT!!Am sending this picture off to Jugalbandi for CLICK: July 2009. (Bi-Colour)
BUCKWHEAT CHOCOLATE TART SHELL
Ingredients:
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3T cocoa
3T vanilla sugar
2/3 stick (75gms)cold butter, cut into pieces (or grated)
1/8 cup olive oil
Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C.
Place the flours, baking soda, cocoa & vanilla sugar in food processor. Pulse for 30 seconds.
Add in chilled butter (I like to grate frozen butter directly into the processor), and pulse till the mixture forms breadcrumbs.
Add in the olive oil & process for a further 30seconds till it all comes together in clumps. Put into a bowl & gather into a ball of dough. Do not knead.
Take a loose bottom tart/flan tin, & spread the dough around evenly with your fingers to cover the bottom & sides. (You could even chill the dough for 30 minutes & roll it out I think).
Bake at 180C for 15-20 minutes. Cool in tart pan for 30 minutes.
To finish:
Cover the baked tart shell with the lime curd, sprinkle flaked almonds if you like, & bake at 180C for 30 minutes/until you can see the curd beginning to set. Lightly top with a sheet of foil if beginning to brown too fast.
Cool completely on rack & chill for 6-8 hours. Slice & serve with unsweetened whipped cream.