Decadent Mocha Brownies

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One night I was restless and got up at 4.45 am and how much ever I tried I couldn’t sleep. A friend suggested that I bake bread. Hmm not a bad idea, but me being me, it had to be dessert. Sometimes you have so many ideas in mind but never an occasion to bake.

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Finally, my sister called up and said that her colleagues would always say that you only praise your sister’s cooking but you have never made us taste it. So she asked me to make a box of goodies to floor them with. Now I was excited, yippee finally I had a free hand.

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I had a chocolate brownie recipe by a wonderful foodie friend Saloni Sharma which I had made before. Gooey, chocolatey and fudge. Wanted to give it a twist so decided to make them Mocha brownies and they were just as decadent as i thought they would be.

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Serve it plain or a friend said topped with milkmaid or the conventional way with ice cream or still better dollops of Nutella. yumm

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Ingredients

Morde Dark Chocolate – 220 gm
Amul Butter- 110 gm
Eggs- 3
Brown Sugar- 210 gm
Flour- 80 gm
Cocoa powder- 10 gm
Vanilla extract- 1 tsp
Choco chips- 2 tbsp 
Instant coffee powder – 1 tbsp (u can add a bit more if you want a strong coffee flavour)

 

  1. Melt the butter and chocolate together. Cool to room temp. 
  2. Add the sugar to the chocolate mix and whisk. 
  3. Add the eggs, one by one, whisking between each addition. 
  4. Add the vanilla extract and give another quick whisk. 
  5. Sift the flour, coffee powder and cocoa powder.
  6. Fold the flour in two increments. Do not over-mix.
  7. Pour into an oven-proof dish lined with butter paper, leaving a little bit of overhang on all sides, just enough to be able to pull the baked layer from the dish. Smoothen the top with a spatula. 
  8. Sprinkle the choco chips over the surface. 
  9. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 C for 30-35 minutes. 
  10. The tops should be firm and a toothpick inserted in the centre should come away with just a little stickiness.
  11. Leave it in the oven for a few more minutes. Cool. 
  12. Holding firmly to both sides, tug the paper free from the baking dish and place on a flat surface. Cut into bars.

Mutton Vindaloo

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As kids, mom would make pork vindaloo often as it was my dad’s and middle sister’s favourite dish, We used to order this bread wala naan from the bakery and gobble the vindaloo with it. My eldest sister is a vegetarian (delivered at the wrong address maybe :P) and she would eat the creamy potatoes from any non veg dish but couldn’t digest meat.

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I am not a big fan of pork as find it quite fatty though loooovvvee Bacon anytime. When I started cooking, I decided to use mutton instead of pork. And it tastes as delicious as I remembered it.

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Super spicy, delicious and the perfect tang. Goan mutton vindaloo. Adjust spice levels as per your choice and if you have Goan fermented vinegar, it will add wonders to your dish. That gravy is the perfect place for the pav to swim in

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ingredients

1 kg mutton

15-20 Kashmiri dried red chillies
6-8 pepper
1 tsp rye
2-3 onions
8-10 garlic
2″ ginger
1/4 cup vinegar
2 star anise
1″ cinnamon
1 bay leaf
6 curry pata
Salt
Haldi
6 whole baby potatoes or 2 big potatoes chopped to big pieces.

 

  1. mix together ingredients 2-8 with little water in a mixer to a fine paste
  2. heat oil in cooker, add ingredients 9-12. When it sizzles, add the masala, salt, haldi and mutton.
  3. add very little water and pressure cook to 2 whistles. Lower gas and cook for 10-15 mins or on quality of mutton
  4. semi cook the potatoes separately
  5. when pressure drops, open the lid and check if the mutton is 90% cooked. If not give it a few more whistles.
  6. When done, add the potatoes and adjust seasoning.
  7. cook for some time to dry out excess liquid.

Kuku Da Kajipu (Mango curry)

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Summer is here and the season of mangoes is in full bloom. Mangoes usually means aamras, pickles, mousse, milkshakes, desserts. In Mangalore we make curries out of it. I have previously posted a pineapple menaskai (curry) recipe that can also be made into a mango menaskai

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Another variant in curries is the Kuku Da Kajipu which is like a light mango curry. Tangy and sweet and delicious with rice. I have used alphonso as had some ripe ones with me but this curry calls for the basic ordinary mango which is not too sweet.

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Enjoying the mango at the end of the meal, till the seed looks all forlorn after savouring the pulp is the best part of this dish.

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Ingredients

4 regular medium size very ripe mangoes (any variety that is not too sweet)

1 big chopped onion

1 tsp mustard seeds

4-5 karipata

3-4 dried red chillies

1 lime size tamarind ball soaked in 1/2 cup of hot water

1 cup lukewarm water

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

Jaggery (optional and as per taste)

  1. Peel (Do not slice) the mango skin allowing some flesh to come away with the peel. Keep the full mango aside.
  2. Soak this peel in lukewarm water for 20 mins
  3. Squeeze whatever pulp u can manage from the peel into the water in which they are soaked. Throw the peel.
  4. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel, add the mustard seeds and when they splutter then add the kari pata and onion.
  5. When the onion turns pink add the dried chilli and chilli powder. Mix well
  6. When the onions are done, add the full mangoes and the pulpy water that we had collected from the peel. Let it cook for 10-15 mins
  7. Add the tamarind water and salt. Taste the curry, if its sweet avoid the jaggery but if u feel the mangoes are not sweet enough then add jaggery as per taste.
  8. Cook and let it thicken for another 15-20 mins. Adjust seasoning. Serve hot with rice

 

 

Mushroom Stacks

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There used to be a time when I absolutely hated mushrooms. Like abhorred them. I used to work in Pune that time and there used to be a restaurant called Zamus which was famous for their crispy fried mushrooms with garlic sauce. My friends ate there all the time and I was left looking at their faces.

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Then one day I can’t remember how and when, I felt deeply madly in love with mushrooms and couldn’t wait to get back to Zamus to hog on their crispy mushrooms . And my love affair with mushrooms led me to try so many styles

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Presenting mushroom stacks. Crispy bread topped with spiced tomato chutney and garlicky sautéed mushrooms. Made stacks and topped with caramelised onions. So pretty that you can easily celebrate an occasion with it. So today I celebrate my love for mushrooms 

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Ingredients
1 loaf brown bread
1 pkt of button mushrooms sliced
1 onion chopped 

7-8 garlic minced
Salt
1/2 tsp each – chilli flakes, oregano
Butter/olive oil 

1) heat butter and sauté the onion and garlic till they start to sweat. 
2) add the mushrooms on a high flame. Sauté till it leaves water. 
3) add the salt and herbs and keep on high flame mixing occasionally. 
4) shut the gas when the water has dried up and the mushrooms are golden

Spiced tomato chutney 

3 big chopped Tomatoes
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp paprika/Chilli powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp jeera powder
Pinch sugar
Salt
Olive oil

1) heat olive oil in the pan, add the ginger garlic paste and fry for 1 minute.
2) add the tomatoes and all the other ingredients. Cook on slow flame for 20-30 mins.
3) once the tomatoes leave oil, mash them till they have a chutney texture.

Caramelised onions

1 round sliced onions
1/2 tsp butter
1/2 tsp oil
Salt
Pinch sugar

1) heat oil and butter in a pan on high heat
2) add the onions and mix well
3) lower gas and cook the onion for 10 mins
4) add sugar and salt and let the onions turn a nice amber colour mixing frequently. About 20-25 mins.
Assembly

1) cut the bread into shapes of your choice and brush the bread slices with olive oil and pan fry to make them crispy. 
2) spread the spiced tomato chutney on one slice of bread, top with the mushrooms. Add another slice of bread and spread chutney and then the mushrooms. Add the top slice and sprinkle some caramelised onions on top. Serve hot.

Hot Garlic Prawns

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Whats spicy, tangy and garlicky all at once. This delicious hot garlic prawns. I can devote my life to prawns and oh yes bacon and of course Nutella and…. Stop I am deviating. Lets get back to prawns.

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So this dish is a fantastic starter or a main and barely takes 15-20 mins to put together. Spice levels can be adjusted to your taste buds from Tingling to OH MY GOD

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Ingredients

½ kg prawns

Salt

Oil

Chilli flakes/pepper

15 flakes crushed and chopped garlic

6 dried red chillies – soaked in water and ground to a paste

4 tbsp readymade purée

1 tbsp soya sauce

1 tbsp ketchup

1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

1 tbsp soya sauce

¼ tsp sugar

1 tsp cornflour dissolved in 1 cup of water

 

  1. Marinate the prawns in salt and chilli flakes/pepper for 2 hrs
  2. Fry prawns with little oil. Keep aside
  3. In another pan heat oil, add garlic and fry to golden brown
  4. On low heat, add red chilli paste, sweet chilli sauce, tomato purée, soya sauce, ketchup, sugar, salt. Stir for a few seconds.
  5. Add the dissolved cornflour and little water. Stir till the sauce thickens
  6. Add the prawns and cook till sauce coats the prawns.

Dal Makhani

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I am a fan of Nita Mehta’s recipes. I know a lot of purists will not agree but I find it simple and the end results never fail.

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This is a dal makhani I make using her recipe and its an absolute favourite with the kids. All you need is some steamed or jeera rice and a light raita to accompany it. Here is the recipe modified to my taste buds.

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Ingredients

1 cup saboot urad

1 tbsp ghee + 1 tbsp ghee

1 tsp ginger garlic paste + 1 tsp ginger garlic paste

3-4 dried red chillies

4-5 tomatoes pureed

1 tbsp kasoori methi

2 tsp dhania powder

1/2 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1 tbsp butter

1 pkt Amul cream

salt

 

  1. Wash the dal well, put it in a big cooker along with lots of water, 1 tsp ginger garlic paste, ghee and dried red chilli. After the first whistle, keep on low for 40 mins. Shut the gas.
  2. In a heavy bottom vessel, add a tbsp of ghee and 1 tsp of ginger garlic paste, fry it and then add the tomato puree. cook till the paste is dry and leaves oil
  3. Add the masalas and salt and fry it for a while. Add the kasoori methi and mix it well.
  4. Add this masala to the boiled dal and cook on low flame.
  5. Add the butter and keep cooking for another 20 mins, stirring at intervals.
  6. Adjust seasoning and add the cream, mix well.
  7. Let it simmer for another 15 mins on a low flame, Serve hot

Lebanese delicacy – Hashweh and baked Zaatar chicken

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Chefs across Boundaries is a wonderful group of foodie chefs who come together once a month to experiment with different cuisines. Garima www.cafegarima.wordpress.com hosted the theme for the month which was Lebanese.

Lebanese cuisine is an ancient one and part of the Levantine cuisine, which includes Egyptian cuisine, Palestinian cuisine, Syrian cuisine etc.

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Many dishes in the Lebanese cuisine can be traced back to thousands of years to Roman, and even Phoenician times. For most of its recent past, Lebanon has been ruled by foreign powers that have influenced the types of food the Lebanese ate. From 1516 to 1918, the Ottoman Turks controlled Lebanon and introduced a variety of foods that have become staples in the Lebanese diet, such as cooking with lamb. (source – wikipedia)

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I have always been fascinated with the Lebanese feast pictures with so many tantalising dishes on display. When I decided to attempt Lebanese cuisine, I happily made a huge list of dishes, breads and dips and thought am gonna go all out this time. Then the heat wave hit and I knew that there is no way I could muster up the stamina for such a huge spread, but the idea of a feast wouldn’t leave my mind. I had these amazing spice mixes that i had bought from Delhi which were perfect for these flavours so did some research and came across a simple Hashweh recipe and thought why not make a sharing plate with some baked chicken and a yoghurt dip on the side.  With the flavour profiles in my mind, created my own simple recipes.

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For Za’atar baked chicken:

1 kg chicken legs cut into big pieces

1/2 cup Olive oil

4 cloves of crushed garlic

1 tsp salt

Juice from 1/2 – 1 lemon

2 heaping tsp Za’atar

1/2 tsp red chilli flakes

 

  1. Mix all the ingredients in the oil. Adjust seasoning
  2. Rub each piece of chicken all over with the mixture and marinate it overnight.
  3. In one layer, place the chicken on a greased baking dish.  Cover with foil.
  4. Bake in a pre heated oven at 180 degrees C for 30 minutes, covered.
  5. Remove foil, and bake another 20-30 minutes (approx.). Till chicken is cooked (baste with the juices from the pan when u remove the foil to cook)

 

For Hashweh:

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup pine nuts

450 gms mutton mince

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp Ras Al Hanout spice mix

1/2 tbsp paprika powder

1 cup basmati rice (washed and soaked for 30 mins)

2 cups water + 3-4 tbsp of the chicken juices from the Za’atar baked chicken

1/4 cup pomegranate seeds (for garnish)

1/2 tsp cinnamon (for garnish)

few toasted Pine nuts (for garnish)

 

  1. Melt butter in large pot and add pine nuts. Stir regularly until the pine nuts brown or turn golden (be careful, as once the pine nuts start turning brown, they will burn quickly afterwards). Remove from heat immediately.
  2. Add mince and return back to burner on medium high. Break up the meat finely with wooden spoon.
  3. Add salt and spices, while browning meat, and mix thoroughly.
  4. Once meat is browned, add the rice and stir together.
  5. At this stage, the chicken will have been cooking for about 30 minutes and will have just come out of the oven to remove the foil. Collect the chicken pan juices and add the 3-4 tbsp juices to the rice mixture before returning the chicken back to oven to continue cooking uncovered.
  6. After adding pan juices to rice, add the water and stir. Cover pot and bring to boiling, then simmer for 15 minutes or until rice is cooked. Garnish with pomegranate seeds, sprinkled pine nuts and ground cinnamon.

 

Yoghurt Dip

1 box of Brittania curd

2-3 tbsp Amul cream

1/2 lime

salt

2-3 crushed minced garlic

1/2 tsp Za’atar

 

  1. Hang curd for 1 hr
  2. Mix all the ingredients except the Zaatar, adjust seasoning
  3. sprinkle the Za’atar mix on top and serve it with the chicken

Khus Khus Malai chicken

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Whenever I want to try some new Indian chicken dishes, I usually refer to recipes from a foodie chef Jaspreet Nirula. This time I chose the Khus Khus Malai chicken and didn’t realise what i was getting into.

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This recipe asked for quite an elaborate process, First the thinly sliced onions had to be fried just right, then the masalas had to be ground well and cooked at various stages. And the finale ended with a dum style of cooking to extract the maximum flavour from the dish. The dish is super delicious and a must try to impress your guests.

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Ingredients

Chicken 700gm
Oil 1/2 cup
Cloves 7-8 nos
Cumin 1tsp
Onions thinly sliced 3-4 medium
Tomatoes 4 medium (deseed and make puree)
Green Chillies 2nos
Khus Khus 1/2 cup (soaked in warm water for 30 mins)
Malai 3tbsp
Degi Mirch 2tsp
Chicken Masala Powder 2tsp
Garam Masala powder 1tsp
Salt to taste
Green Corriander chopped – 2tbsp for paste
Ghee 2tbsp

 

  1. Make a fine paste of Khus Khus, green chillies and coriander leaves. Keep aside
  2. Wipe the onions with a cloth and sprinkle some salt on it. Deep fry sliced onions to golden brown in color (be careful not to burn the onions, else they will taste bitter. Reserve the oil.
  3. In the same oil add cloves and cumin seeds, then add tomato puree and stir for a couple of minutes.
  4. Add degi mirch, chicken masala and salt. Mix well and keep stirring for 5 minutes.
  5. Add the khus khus paste to the tomato masala and mix well. Bhunno the masala till the oil separates. Keep stirring time to time. Make sure the heat is medium during this entire process.
  6. Now add Chicken and mix well. Bhunno it along with masala for 3-4 minutes and lower the heat.
  7. Now add 3/4th of fried onions – crush them with your hands and add over the chicken. Mix well and stir for a minute or so. Now add some water (enough for the chicken to cook). Adjust seasoning and cover the utensil and cook chicken on a low flame.
  8. Once the chicken is almost done, remove from flame and add malai. Mix in well. Adjust seasoning.
  9. Put the entire chicken with gravy in a degchi (for dum) – sprinkle remaining fried onions and green coriander and blobs of ghee – cover and seal the degchi with dough and put it on dum on a griddle(tawa) on a low heat for 15 minutes approx.
  10. Remove the seal and mix the chicken well and serve hot.

Boozy Chocolate Mousse

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I got an order for chocolate mousse from a friend of mine for later this week. I gladly said yes of course and then began to panic.

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Had never made mousse before and now had to do a trial before I made it for the order. Searched the net, read books, asked friends but was quite confused. So many different techniques – cooking, whipping, gelatin and what not.

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Then remembered I had saved a recipe a while back. It was a boozy recipe, just my kind of dessert. I thought for the trial will do the boozy one and for the order will make it without. Needed to test the taste and texture, so made it today.

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It’s Rhea Mitra Dalal’s recipe (www.euphoRHEA.blogspot.in) with no cream, very little sugar and made light and airy with the way the eggs are treated. Absolutely delicious.

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Ingredients

Morde pure chocolate – 250 gms
3 tsp castor sugar
6 eggs
Cointreau – 2 tsps (if u do not want to use alcohol, add 2 tsp of vanilla extract)
Dried candied orange peel, whipped cream and sprinkles for garnish

 

  1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler (put a bowl with the chocolate in it on top of a saucepan with simmering water. Ensure that no water gets into the chocolate).
  2. In one of the mixing bowls measure out the cointreau and 2 tsp sugar.
  3. In the other put 1 tsp sugar.
  4. Separate the eggs putting the yolks with the cointreau and sugar and the whites in the other bowl. Make sure that the whites have no trace absolutely of any yolk. Separate the eggs individually in a small bowl and then add into the large bowls. This ensures that in case a yolk breaks the entire batch of whites is not ruined.
  5. Once the eggs are separated, add the melted chocolate to the egg yolks and beat till smooth.
  6. Clean the beaters thoroughly and wipe clean. Beat the egg whites till firm peaks form.
  7. Fold in the egg whites into the chocolate mixture using vertical circular movements with the large spoon. Don’t stir as if you’re cooking curry!! Fold in gradually incorporating as much air as you can. Scrape clean using a the spatula.
  8. Pour mousse into a clean glass bowl, cover with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate to set. The mousse will be set in a couple of hours.
  9. Garnish with chocolate sprinkles and candied orange peel and  or whipped cream.Note – This recipe gives you about a litre of mousse…enough for about 8 people. You can use liqueurs like Schnapps, Kirsch, Pear liqueur, Coffee liqueur, Cointreau…whatever you like

Recipe – Rhea Mitra Dalal

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Cake Pops

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Last week’s bakes left me with quite a few chocolate cake trimmings. Was wondering what to do with them and then thought why not cake pops?

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Had the whole thing worked out in my mind and this morning when I opened the fridge to remove the trimmings, saw that the box was half empty. Could barely make 3 pops from them. Investigations revealed my husband was the cake thief.

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Now my mind was set on the pops so quickly made a few cupcakes and patiently waited for them to cool. Made the pops and covered them with coloured white chocolate. Different hues of blue to match the gorgeous summer sky.

 

Ingredients (Makes 8-9 pops)

 

2 1/2 cups chocolate sponge cake (u can use trimmings or leftovers)

2-3 tbsp chocolate ganache (2:1 ratio of melted chocolate:cream with a spoon of butter)

lollypop sticks

300 gms white chocolate

candy colour of your choice (i used Wilton Blue)

sprinkles

 

  1. Crumble the cake to make fine crumbs.
  2. Mix 2 tbsp of chocolate ganache to make a binding dough. Judge the consistency, Don’t make it too wet else they will leave water later.
  3. Make balls out of the dough and lay them away from each other on a baking sheet or tray. keep in the fridge for 30 mins.
  4. Melt little white chocolate, dip the ridged end of the stick in the white chocolate and poke it in the cake balls.
  5. Once all are done, keep in the fridge for 1 hr.
  6. Melt the remaining white chocolate in the double boiler and once completely melted, add the colour of your choice. Just dip a toothpick in your colour and mix it in the chocolate, adjust shade as per your preference.
  7. Dip 1 cake ball in the chocolate to coat well, allow few seconds to drip of excess chocolate and immediately cover in sprinkles of your choice. Do not wait longer as the chocolate will harden up immediately. Repeat process with all other pops.
  8. Leave out to air dry, ensuring they are not touching each other,  Ready to serve in 10 mins.