French Onion Soup

Winters are generally very pleasant in my city, but this year its quite cold. I crave for something piping hot throughout the day. I keep switching between Black Coffee and Green tea during during the day and soup or porridge as a snack in the evening. I've been wanting to make this soup for a long time and after watching Jaime Oliver, make this French classic on TV, I just couldn't stop myself. Here's my version of 'The French Onion Soup' and of course, like all my recipes, I added my own twist to it!

Difficulty level: Low

Quantity: Serves 5  

Prep time: 60 minutes

Can be served as: Appetizer 

Ingredients:

Onions – 4 medium sized, finely sliced

Garlic – 4 pods grated

Butter – 75 grams

Olive oil – 1 teaspoon

Salt and pepper as per taste (be careful how much salt is added if you are using chicken stock cubes)

Dried Thyme – 1 pinch

Bay leaves- 2

Vinegar – ¼ teaspoon

Cumin powder – ½ teaspoon

Chicken or mutton stock - 1 liter (if you are using stock cubes, check for salt content)

All purpose flour (maida) - 2 heaped tablespoon

Bread – French loaf or garlic loaf or baguette (any long loaf bread sliced at an angle)

Cheddar Cheese – as per needed

               

Must have tools:

Heavy bottom non-stick pot

Grill oven or microwave oven

Preparation:

Add butter and oil in the pot; once the butter has melted, add onions, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, cumin powder, salt, pepper and cook on medium high flame for 20-30 mins till the onions are caramelized and golden brown.  Once the onions are cooked, add the vinegar and cook for further 2 mins. Remove the bay leaves from the pot and discard; turn the flame to low. Start adding the flour slowly into the onion mixture, working the flour into the mixture cooking it gently; don’t burn the flour. Once the flour is cooked, start adding the stock gradually and mix it well into the onion mixture getting rid of any flour lumps. Cook till the oniony stock is bubbling.  Check salt and pepper and alter as per taste.

The classic soup is served with the strips of onions but since my hubby was not really sure how it would taste, I blended the mixture with a hand blender. It turned into a nice thick porridge consistency. You can add more chicken stock or just water to take it to the consistency you prefer.  While the onion mixture is bubbling, heat a pan and toast the bread slices lightly. Just before serving, pour the onion mixture into a microwave/grilled safe bowl and place the bread slices on top of the soup, grate the cheese on to the bread liberally. Microwave for 30 seconds or grill for 5 mins till the cheese is melted and golden.  

 Reality check:

• It’s an absolutely yummy and a hearty soup!
• Serve with some more slices of bread, a salad and it becomes a complete meal.
• The original recipe actually has Red Wine in it; you want, add some wine just before adding in the flour.
• We were feeling full after having one big serving of the soup at about 7.30 pm and skipped dinner. So watch the quantity you serve. 

Cheesy Mushrooms & Spinach Pierogi

After watching tons of food shows on TLC and Fox Traveller on TV, I have learnt so much about food. Luckily, I have a very encouraging family that allows me to experiment on them, with the food I make! Last night's dinner, I tried making Pierogi. It was just an amazing melt in the mouth dumpling; and was perfect for a cold winter night supper. Pierogi is a Russian word for pie.

Pierogi /pɨˈroʊɡi/ (Polish pronunciation: [pjɛˈrɔɡʲi];  also spelled perogi, pierogy, perogy, pierógi, pyrohy, pirogi,pyrogie, or pyrogy in English or other Slavic languages) are dumplings of unleavened dough – first boiled, at which point they can be served with melted butter or various toppings, or then fried with onions – traditionally stuffed with potato filling, sauerkraut, ground meat, cheese, or fruit. Of Central and Eastern European provenance, they are usually semicircular, but are rectangular or triangular in some cuisines. Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierogi

Difficulty Level: Medium

Serves: 6-8 (makes about 40-45 dumplings)
Preparation Time: 2 hours (incl. prep, resting of dough and cooking)
Can be served as: Appetizer or make it a main dish by adding some baked/grilled meat, fish or chicken.

Ingredients:

For the dumpling 

• All purpose flour (maida) - 1 cup/about 100 gms; extra for dusting and rolling
• Dehydrated Potato Flakes (Available as Aloo Mash in supermarkets) - 1/2 cup
• Single cream - 150 ml
• Water as per required

For the filling

• Mushroom - 200 grams; cleaned, fine chopped in a food processor
• Spinach- 100 grams (after stocks are removed), fine chopped in a food processor after washing
• Garlic 3-4 cloves; finely chopped
• Cheddar cheese cubes - 3; grated
• Salt as per needed
• Pepper powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Dried mixed herbs - 1/4 teaspoon (oregano, thyme, rosemary)

For saute 

• Onions - 3 big; finely chopped in a food processor
• Butter - 6 tablespoon
• Cumin power - 1 teaspoon
• Oil - just few teaspoons to be kept close to stop the butter from burning; I used olive oil. 

Cooking equipment:

2 saute pans, kadia/wok, deep but wide stainless steel cooking vessel.

3 inch cookie cutter or a sharp edged bowl to cut out the dumplings.
Fork
Rolling pin and board.
Food processor - not mandatory; if you don't have one, you'll have the tedious job of chopping the veggies & mushroom finely, with a knife.

Preparation:
The dough: Mix all the ingredients except and knead like a normal roti/poori dough. Add a bit of water if required. The dough consistency must be roll-able just like for roti. Wrap in a cling film and leave it in the fridge for min of 15 mins. 

The filling: 

1. Cook spinach first: Take the kadia/wok and put the spinach in and cook it in medium heat without adding any water. The spinach has high water content so cover it and cook for 10 mins, once you feel its cooked then leave the vessel open and let it cook in high till the water evaporates completely.
2. Cook mushrooms: Take a saute pan place it on high heat and throw in the mushrooms when the pan is extremely hot. It's important to have a heated pan because the mushrooms have a high water content and the hot pan will dry out the water quickly. This process should take about 10 mins. Don't worry mushrooms will look like it is leaving lots of water, but it's ok. Ensure you keep the heat up all throughout so that the water evaporates while cooking the mushrooms. Add salt as per taste in the last 3 mins of cooking along with some ground pepper. Once the water is completely evaporated then take off the heat and transfer the mushrooms to another place/dish.
3. Take the same pan, put it on medium heat, add 1/2 teaspoon of butter with just a dash of oil to stop the butter from burning. Toss in the chopped garlic. Once the garlic starts becoming golden, add the mushrooms, cooked spinach and the grated cheese. Once the cheese starts melting in, mix well till the spinach, cheese and mushrooms come together nicely. Taste and see if it the spice and salt is enough for you. Take off from heat and leave it to cool.

Filling the dumpling:

1. Remove the dough from the fridge and knead it once; by now the dough would have firmed up making it easy to roll. Make small balls larger than the size you would take for a roti/paratha. Flour the board and roll the dough very thin; it must be thin enough to cook in a water bath in less than 2 mins but must be thick enough to hold the filling in there when folded and cooked. I would say it must be as thinner than a lasagna sheet. 
2. Cut out the dough into circles with the cookie cutter or sharp edges of the bowl, place less than half a teaspoon of the filling in the center of the circle and fold into half. Press and seal the edges with a fork which will also give a nice design to the edges of the dumpling. 
3. Place the dumplings on a floured surface/plate till you prepare all the dumplings. 
4. Take a deep but wide stainless steel vessel and boil water to cook the dumplings in. Add a pinch of salt while the water is boiling. 
5. Take another saute pan and put it on medium high flame. Drop in a tablespoon of butter with a dash of oil. Once the butter is melted, throw in 1/2 a chopped onion and cook it on a medium flame.
6. Gently drop 6-8 dumplings in the boiling water and leave it to poach. The dumplings will raise to the top once they are cooked. 
7. Always ensure you have the saute pan on the stove cooking the onions when you put in the dumplings in the boiling water. By the time the dumpling cooks the onions would also have turned golden. 
8. Add a sprinkle ground cumin powder to the onions and mix. Then remove the floating dumplings and toss them straight into the buttery onions. Saute the dumplings in the butter till the dumpling turn slightly golden. You must handle the dumplings very carefully as they are very delicate. Turn the dumplings so that both the sides get a light golder colour
9. Transfer to a plate and serve hot as soon as the dumplings get off the pan with all that lovely buttery onions. 
10. Repeat till you saute all the dumplings and have been served. Please DO NOT cook the dumplings and leave them, else they would break. Always cook and saute them when you have the family waiting at the table to eat. 

Reality check:

• You can make any kind of filing for the dumplings; savory-meats, chicken, fish, prawns, crab meat, cheese, green leafy veggies, panner just what ever you feel like. 
• Also sweet fillings - sugary dry fruits, prunes, caramelized nuts etc and then saute the dumplings in burnt butter and serve with a drizzle of maple syrup. Or you can just deep fry the sweet dumplings and serve with a snow of icing sugar. 
• Get your kids to eat things that they would not normally eat with roti or rice. 
• You can also use the dumplings in a nice chicken/veg stock and make it a dumpling soup instead of sauteing it. 
• You can also deep fry these dumplings instead of sauteing it; but obviously they will be high in calories.
• I have served this along with a nice purple cabbage n corn salad, garlic bread and buttered beans; it made up for a complete meal. 
• You can make the dumplings (roll, cut, fill and seal) even a day before and refrigerate. Pierogi are perfect for freezing but do not freeze raw Pierogi. Since not boiled raw Pierogi will crack in a freezer, it should be slightly boiled first (blanching). Throw the Pierogi into a pot with boiling water + some salt + 1 spoonful of oil. Stir and wait until they float to the top. Then, immediately remove the Pierogi and drop into the second pot with very cold water containing 1-2 spoonfuls of oil. Lay the Pierogi in such a way so that they don't press and freeze after its cooled down completely. Thaw them for 4-6 hours and then cook them as instructed above. 

Air can fry! - Philips Air Fryer

Honestly when I heard of oil free frying, I thought to myself, whom are you kidding! How can you call something fried, unless you use oil? When I was asked to try the Philips Air Fryer, I was very excited cause I love to use technology, to make cooking easy and enjoyable. 

At the first look of the appliance, I felt its sophisticated, high end techno gadget. It comes in two variant colors - Blue+White and Black. Black looks very classy and it will be easy to maintain. The Philips Air Fryer uses "Rapid Air Technology" which is basically hot air in combination with high-speed air circulation which allows you to use very less or almost no oil while cooking. I tried cooking 3 different types of food which I make at home most often in a kadai full of oil!

French Fries are an absolute favorite; I love them long, nice and crisp. I tried the first batch of frozen french fries by adding a little more than half a teaspoon of refined oil. The fries were so beautifully cooked, crisp and golden just the way you will get fries when you deep fry in oil. The second batch that I did, I did not use any oil and guess what? The fries of the second batch tasted and cooked same way the first batch with oil did. What struck me then is that the second batch looked oily too and then when I looked up on the packet of the fries, oil was mentioned in the ingredients! So depending on whether or not the manufacturer has added oil you can decide if you want to add oil. In case there is no oil in the ingredients then you may add a bit of olive oil if you feel necessary. 

How to make crispy French fries in the Air Fryer?

1. Set the Air fryer to 200 Degrees if you are using Frozen Fries and 180 Degree of they are homemade fries.
2. Open a pack of fries and drop it in the basket; ensure not to overload the tray. I would say 300 gms of fries for one batch of frying is good. (Thaw the frozen food as mentioned on the package).
3. Close the tray and set the timer to 12 mins and let the Fryer do its job!

* If the fries are thick, then you may have to keep then 2-3 mins longer in the fryer. 

Chicken Popcorn is a nice evening snack, when we are not really hungry and want to munch on something. But the deep fried version of it is quite unhealthy. When I made the Frozen Chicken Popcorn I was quite unsure of how crisp it would come out. To my surprise they were nicely crisp and cooked to perfection. It had a nice golden color and was soft inside; but due to the lack of fat content, it seems a bit dry but having it with some nice spicy sauce or mayonnaise will balance it. Looking at the way this Chicken Popcorn cooked, I am sure the rest of the range of frozen foods Veg/Chicken Nuggets, Veg/Chicken Fingers, Veg/Chicken Cheese balls, Fish Fillets/Fingers etc will cook perfectly in this Air Fryer. 

How to make hot n crispy Chicken Popcorn in the Air Fryer?

1. Set the Air fryer to 180 Degrees.
2. Open a pack of Chicken Popcorn and drop it in the basket; ensure not to overload the tray. I would say 250-300 grams for one batch of frying is good. (Thaw the frozen food as mentioned on the package).
3. Close the tray and set the timer to 8 mins and let the Fryer do its job! 

* The temperature for frozen food as mentioned above can be the same but you may have to alter the time based on the size of the individual pieces. 

The last one which I tried was the ever loving Papad which is a staple for most South Indian Families. Unfortunately it did not cook the way I expected. Since papad's are so light, one of the papad's flew to the air vent of the fryer and started burning. The other 3 papad's did cook well, but I guess its too risky to cook such food. Please don't forget that there is lot of air circulating in the fryer and anything that is as light as a papad is not really advisable to be cooked in it. I feel we will face similar issue if we try to cook popcorn in the fryer, because its very light and small which can enter into the air vents of the fryer. I am also not convinced that we must try cooking high fat content foods such as bacon. So better to stick with the list of food stuff mentioned in the instruction manual.  

The air fryer comes with a handy instructions manual which will help you get started. I absolutely loved this product and what amazes me the most is how the food we call junk when deep fried in oil instantly is transformed into healthy food. We can make them healthier by making home made snacks instead of using store brought processed frozen food. I am not very sure how good will runny batter dipped pakoras or bhajia will trun out in this because of the dripping texture of the batter, which may not hold well. On the outset product is perfect for frying, grilling, roasting and even baking. 

Other things that you can make in the Philips Air Fryer:

• Veg and Non-veg Cutlets

• Paneer Tikka

• Chicken Tikkas

• Veg/ Non-veg Kababs

• Cake

• Veg/Non-veg Samosas

• Fish cakes

• Grilled veggies

• Stuffed veggies

• Marinated Mushrooms

• Veg/Non veg stuffed pies

Please note the above mentioned are just a few that came to my mind, but the options are unlimited. Just analyze with your common sense and if you are a creative cook, you will end up creating some new recipes with the Philips Air Fryer. 

Key Features

• Rapid Air Technology

• Adjustable Temperature Control

• Timer

• Easy to clean and dishwasher-safe parts

• Aesthetically good looking

• Additional available accessory - Food separator
• Safe to use and has an auto power cut off when you pull the tray while the machine is still on
• High end-technology for an affordable price

Kitchen full of useful appliances is quite exciting but you need enough space to work around these appliances. So always I plan appliances based on how often I use them and do I have enough space in my kitchen. This is the first thing I suggest you readers to think before buying the Philips Air Fryer. It's big and bulky when compared to the usual deep fryers, but if you make fried

food often, then this will be a great buy.

For all the lovely food it promises to make and for the fat-free assurance it gives, I give the Philips Air Fryer a "Must Buy" status. 

Cheesy pizza with Sweet basil and Peppers

The clock strikes 7 pm each day with a hunger bell in our tummies. Fixing a quick evening snack means bread n butter sandwich, 2-minute noodles or the street side pani puri. But there are special evenings when I get special requests from my ever hungry cousin Clement (incidentally just like me- ever hungry) and my grandmother who has a very modern palette! She loves burgers, pasta, pizza and alike. So this Cheesy pizza kept us busy and tummy full on a Saturday evening with no room for dinner.

I love to make my own pizza sauce, since it gives the actually feeling of making a pizza not just assembling one, by using a store bought sauce. But I had to use a store bought pizza base, as I did not have enough time to make dough. Fresh pizza base dough needs to sit for a while and rise to double of its size; so let’s keep this topic for later.

Difficulty level: Average

Quantity: 1 pizza per person

Prep time: 30-45 mins

Can be served as: Generally an evening snack, but you can add a salad & a dessert to fill as dinner. You can opt for small bite sized pizza base as well, available at most super markets.

Ingredients:

Store bought 6-inch pizza base

For Sauce: Makes enough sauce for 3, 6-inch pizza base

Tomato puree – 200 gms (tetra packed store bought or if fresh ground use 3 big tomatoes)

Garlic –5 pods; finely chopped

Dried herb mix – ¼ tsp (oregano, thyme, rosemary)

Powdered black pepper – ¼ tsp

Tomato sauce – 1 tbsp

Salt as per required

Sweet Basil – 5 leafs; finely chopped

Olive oil – 2 tbsp

For topping: Actually you can add anything here; I’m not mentioning any quantity as you can decide how much you really want.  

Red peppers – Finely sliced

Yellow peppers – Finely sliced

Green peppers – Finely sliced

Sliced pitted black olives

Sweet basil leaves

Mozzarella Cheese – 100 gms will be enough for 4 pizzas of 6-inch (Some of the brands have a mix of cheddar and mozzarella, this will also taste very good)

Cooking equipment:

OTG or a Electric tandoor grill

A sharp long knife or chef knife

Cheese grater

Preparation:

The Sauce:

Add all the ingredients into a pan with the oil in first and cook till the tomato puree cooks well and the oil rises on to the surface. Check the salt and pepper so that its according to your taste.  Turn of the heat and leave it to cool.

The toppings:

Prepare the toppings as mentioned above and grate the cheese and keep aside.  Do not cut/chop the basil.

The assembly:

Take the pizza base and spread the sauce over it. For a 6-inch you will need about 3 tbsp of sauce, too much of sauce will make the pizza taste pungent. Lay the peppers, olives and any other toppings you are using and then the basil leaves (I added the basil on top of the cheese because some of our kids don’t like it and had a choice to remove it). Then sprinkle on top the grated cheese, as generously as you want.

The Baking:

Place the pizza in a pre-heated OTG/grill and cook till the cheese melts and the base become crisp. In an electric tandoor it will generally take 8-10 mins.

Cut when hot, into wedges and serve immediately with tomato ketchup.

Reality check

• Cost effective and a healthy option for an evening snack.
• You can refrigerate the sauce for 2-3 days and also use for pasta or a open faced sandwich.
• You can assemble the pizza in advance and freeze it for use up to a week to 10 days.
• Toppings can range from chicken, paneer, mushroom, broccoli, onions, sun-dried tomatoes, pepperoni, ham, bacon, mutton/beef Kheema, shredded meats, chopped fresh /tined pineapple, chopped pork sausages, chopped chicken frankfurters and many more.  Or you can go for the classic Plain cheese margarita (just sauce and loads of cheese). 
• If you like the pizza spicy, you can sprinkle some chilli flakes and mixed herbs for additional seasoning after baking it. 

Kheema Biryani

Cooking is not rocket science, but it’s certainly an artistic science! Reading a recipe book is one thing and then bringing in your own twist and making that recipe yours is another. I incidentally tried this dish on a special farmaish (“wish” in Hindi) from my father-in-law. I have never made Kheema Biryani before or even tasted one. Google, my best pal threw up some recipes of this Biryani and I came up with my version of it. I was pleased, by how simple this dish turned out to be and I would recommend everyone who thinks Biryani is a complex dish, to try making this one.

Difficulty level: Average

Quantity: 8-10 Biryani Lovers

Prep time: 1 hour

Can be served as: Main course; but for Hyderabadis it's Biryani anytime!

Ingredients

For the Kheema Mix

700 kg mutton Kheema

250 gms curd; slightly beaten

Green Chillies as per spice needed (for medium 5-6; small cut lenght wise in the centre)

Fresh Ginger Garlic paste – 1 ½ tablespoon

Fresh Coriander leaves - 1 bunch

Fresh Mint leaves – 1 bunch

Chilli powder – as per spice needed

Turmeric Powder – ½ tea spoon

Dhania Powder – 1 table spoon

Jeera Powder – 1 tea spoon

Garam masala powder- 1 table spoon

Lime juice of 1 large lime

Salt as per needed

For Rice layer:

1 kg good Basmati Rice

Whole spices - cardamom, cinnamon, clove, start anise and bay leaves

Saffron few strands dissolved in about 15 ml of warm milk.

Refined Oil and some ghee

Onions – finely julienne; deep fried in oil generally done for Biryani; 

Use the left over oil for cooking the below Kheema mixture; if the oil is too much please pour out and keep aside.

Preperation: 

Heat left over oil and add ginger garlic paste and fry till brown. Add Kheema and the rest of the ingredients under Kheema mix mentioned above except lime and cook till the meat is cooked and oil comes above the mixture. Take off heat when there is some gravy in the Kheema and not completely dry. if it becomes dry then add some curd and cook for about 5 mins and take off from heat.

While the Kheema is cooking, take 1 kg of good Basmati rice in another dish, add water (1: 3 ratio of rice to water as you will need to drain out the rice) and cook it with whole spices. Also add salt as per usual preference while cooking.  Add some oil so that the rice grains don't stick to each other when the water is drained. Cook till the rice is good to eat but slightly stiff, but not raw. Drain the water from the rice completely.

If you cannot manage both at once cook the Kheema first and then the rice. Please don’t cook the rice first. The Kheema must be ready when the rice is drained out.Take a hard bottom wide vessel to layer the Biryani. Make 2 portions of the Kheema and spread one portion on the bottom of the vessel. Then sprinkle some crushed fried onions and then layer half of the rice on the Kheema. Then layer the Kheema again, top with crushed onions and then rice. Then sprinkle the rest of the onions and pour some saffron mixed with warm milk for the colour. For extra flavor I recommend,  heat 2 tablespoons of Ghee and pour over the rice. 

Take an old pan and leave it on flame; once it’s hot keep the Biryani vessel on that tightly covered. Lower the flame completely and let it stay in the low heat till you can see some steam coming from the rice. 

You don’t need to cook anything now, but doing the above procedure will help to bring out the flavors of the Biryani. 

Enjoy hot with raita. (basic recipe for raita is slightly beaten curd with onions, green chillies and chopped coriander; add salt as required).

Reality check:

• You can just say one thing about Biryani – Yummy Yummy Yummy!
• Have it with a dash of lime and sliced onions
• You can save it for the next day in the refrigerator and it will taste much better
• There are various versions of raita – mixed veg, bhoondi, fried onions, cucumber any of them will taste equally good. 

Hard Rock Cafe - Hyderabad

Choosing a place from so many options to eat n drink in Hyderabad is quite a task in itself. Hard Rock Cafe was incidentally never on my places to hang out a year ago. One work day evening, a colleague said let's hang out some where coz I don't need to be back home early to cook. I suggested Hard Rock Cafe (HRC) as it was a kilometer away from our work place.

The minute we walked in, we could feel the spur of energy around. Great rock music and a 32 teeth wide smile from one of the waiters was a great start. We were escorted to comfortable seating area and all I can remember now a year later, that we surely enjoyed the evening. Now, HRC is one of my favorite places to hang out, with friends, if not my laptop! The food is amazing always, but it's purely American. The ambiance is very energetic and you can be assured your mood will get pepped up if you are low. What I like most about HRC, is the themes / festivals they hold often; mostly American culture, but it's fun. Just to mention a few, St. Patrick's Day, Halloween night, Sizzler festival .... and they keep coming all round the year. Their effort is commendable to keep their guests happy and indulged! You can never say "Aree yaar kitne baar jagooge vahan" with HRC. There's something happening always. Summer in Hyderabad has been very humid this year and I got a great reason to check out their Mojito Mania. Out of 25 of their long list of Mojitos, HRC shortlisted these 8 refreshing summer special Mojitos. It was a treat to watch these guys serve up the glass. Each of them tastes quite distinct with the base of classic Mojito mix- Bacardi Rum (white), lime wedges and mint. I am not going to describe each one of the Mojitos as the names suggest for itself. Telling which one is best / worst will be biased coz what works for me may not work for you. Best is to pick your Mojito based on your favorite fruit/vegetable. But I'll tell you what you can expect. 

• Watermelon Mojito: Mild and refreshing but turns watery very quickly because watermelon chunks are added. 
• Orange Mojito: Citrusy & strong.
• Green apple Mojito: Slightly bitter as the lime infuses with the apple after a while changing the flavor of the apple. 
• Bell Pepper Mojito: A strong peppery taste is a really good combination with the lime and mint.
• Cucumber Mojito: You can imagine summer in your head; I couldn't get the real experience of cucumber in this Mojito because it was just chunks of cucumber I would have preferred the juice.
• Grape Mojito: Sweet n sour the balance is just right.
• Strawberry Mojito: Blended frozen Strawberries are used and hence you will get the rough seed like texture in the mouth. I couldn't feel much of difference between this one and the Grape Mojito.
• Mango Mojito: A unique summer flavor, so don't miss it otherwise. But if you don't like your cocktail very sweet please avoid this one.
• Kiwi Mojito: Again a mild one and I love the color. Just Kiwi fruit chunks are used in this one.

These Mojitos are an excellent way to beat the heat, but beware; you must have your Mojito as quick as you can. There is enough of ice to make the cocktail lose its original flavor. Some of them also have high water content fruit/vegetable chunks that can ruin the taste as well. Personally for me the amount of lime wedges and mint leaves had made all the options taste alike. And also Bacardi Rum was too strong for my palette. But as I said, you may feel otherwise; so best is to get there and try as many as you can!


So coming back to HRC, I hear that there is a Burger fest around the corner. Well, let's meet then!

Snapshot

Taste: 9/10

Ambiance: 9/10

Service: 9/10

Overall rating: 9/10

Hygienic: YES

Serves Alcohol:  YES

Children friendly: NO

Valet parking: YES

Reservation: Preferred
Cards Accepted: YES

Black Forest Cake - Homestyle

A Birthday is incomplete without a cake and for our family we are just not happy with something simple. I made this cake for my mom’s birthday and it turned out yummy.  

Difficulty level: Medium (if you know how to bake)

Quantity: Serves 15-20  

Prep time: 60 minutes – Baking time + prep-time and cooling time additional

Can be served as: Celebration cake or a dessert

Ingredients – The pic shown is a 2 kg cake; I am providing recipe for a 1 kg cake.

For cake:

250 grams – Butter @ room temperature

250 grams – Refined Flour (Maida)

250 grams – Sugar

1 tbsp - Baking Soda

½ tsp- Cooking Soda

2 tbsp - Instant Coffee powder (I used Nescafe)

4 tbsp – Dark Cocoa powder

5 eggs

1 tbsp - Vanilla extract

¼ cup of Milk

Cooled sugar syrup to moisten the cake after baking

For filling:

Double heavy cream – 100 ml

Icing sugar – as much as sweetness required.  

Canned cherries – 1 can

Must have tools:

1 metre clean sewing thread

Wide 1 kg round baking tray

Electric Hand mixer to mix cake

A good convection oven

Large mixing bowl

Parchment paper (Butter paper)

Flour sieve

Clean long knife

Preparation:

Make the cake batter:

Start with powdering the sugar in a blender jar along with cocoa powder and coffer powder.  It must be a fine powder else the cake will be hard on the outside. Place the butter in the mixing bowl and add the powdered sugar mixer into it. In the flour sieve throw in the flour, baking soda and cooking soda. Sieve them all together into the mixing bowl which has butter and sugar. Add the eggs (both white and yellow), add vanilla extract and milk.

Mix the cake using the electric hand mixer; this quantity of cake is huge hence use of the electric mixer is inevitable. Mix well, till all the ingredients have blended well and have no lumps.

Bake the cake:

Pre-heat the oven at 210 Degrees. Rub the baking tray with some oil or butter so that it’s easy to release the cake after baking. Line the baking tray with the butter paper, neatly cut to its measurements. The fat you have rubbed to the tray will help hold the butter paper intact to the tray. Pour the cake batter into the tray, leaving at least 1 inch space for the cake to rise while baking. 

Once the oven is pre-heated, place the tray in the oven. Don’t let the temperature in the oven decrease else your cake will not cook in time mentioned below. Let the cake bake in 210 degrees and don’t open the door of the oven, else the cake will sink in the center.

Once the cake has cooked for 45 mins, take a long thin skewer and poke in the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, that means the cake is cooked. If not, cook the cake for another 10 mins.  Once the cake is cooked, it must rest for a while outside the oven so that it can cool. This step is very important. For the cake to cool down without drying it, take a aluminium foil and cover the cake gently, so that steam moistens the cake in the process of cooling down.

Preparing the filing:

Pour the double cream in a bowl and add icing sugar depending on how much sweetness of the filing you need as you need. Whip till the sugar melts in the cream.

Open the can of cherries, drain the water and de-seed it. Chop de-seeded cherries coarsely.

Layering the cake:

Once the cake has cooled down, it’s time to cut into layers. Remove the foil; invert the cake on a cake stand. (Any deep tray can be used as a stand when inverted).  Remove the butter paper from bottom and sides of the cake.

How to cut the cake? I found a video of this procedure on YouTube that can be helpful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHyGSrCm8c8

If you want to avoid this procedure just bake the layers separately. Divide the batter into half and bake them separately. Also make sure you bake each layer for 20-30mins only.

Remove the top half by pushing a thin plate in between both the layers and keep aside to cool. Now pour the sugar syrup on both the layers so that the cake can become moist. Don’t pour too much else the cake will become soggy.

Pour half of the cream filing on the bottom layer of the cake along with the cherries. Place the top layer on the bottom layer and pour the remaining cream over the top layer spread the cream evenly. Now the cake is ready; you can decorate it with anything you like; I have used shaved chocolate here.

 Reality check:

• Cost effective, if you have to serve cake at a people gathering!  It will cost you half of what you will spend for a bakery made cake.
• Trust me, even if you are baking this recipe this for the first time, it will not go wrong. People will think you are an expert baker! But please follow the recipe correctly.
• The coffee will give a rich colour and add more flavour to the cocoa powder. People who don’t like coffee will not recognise the flavour; so just go ahead and use it. 
• Cake tastes best when chilled.
• You can also use cake whipping cream instead of double cream for the perfect bakery made black forest cake.  Just follow the instructions on the package to use the whipping cream. Beware the whipping cream is generally available sweetened, so you don’t have to add icing sugar. Check the package for the details. 

Chocolate Ganache Cake

This is an absolute indulgence! Have it at room temperature to taste like the famous Death by Chocolate Cake OR eat it warm with Vanilla Ice cream for a Hot Fudge Cake feel. We have tried it both ways and it absolutely amazing in any form.

Difficulty level: Medium (if you know how to bake)

Quantity: Serves 30  

Prep time: 100 minutes – Baking time + prep-time and cooling time additional

Can be served as: Celebration cake or a dessert

Ingredients – This makes 2 kg cake; in case you want a 1 kg cake you can use half of measurements mentioned; simple!

For cake:

500 grams – Butter @ room temperature (I used salted AMUL butter; unsalted is also fine. Just add a pinch of salt later if using unsalted butter)

500 grams – Refined Flour (Maida)

500 grams – Sugar

2 tbsp - Baking Soda

1 tsp- Cooking Soda

4 tbsp - Instant Coffee powder (I used Nescafe)

8 tbsp – Dark Cocoa powder

10 eggs

1 tbsp - Vanilla extract

½ cup of Milk

Cooled sugar syrup to moisten the cake after baking

For Ganache:

350 grams - Dark Chocolate (Please use good Dark Chocolate only not milk chocolate)

200 ml – Fresh Cream

Must have tools:

1 metre clean sewing thread

Wide 2 kgs baking tray

Electric Hand mixer to mix cake

A good convection oven

Large mixing bowl

Parchment paper (Butter paper)

Flour sieve

Preparation:

Make the cake batter:

Start with powdering the sugar in a blender jar along with cocoa powder and coffer powder.  It must be a fine powder else the cake will be hard on the outside. Place the butter in the mixing bowl and add the powdered sugar mixer into it. In the flour sieve throw in the flour, baking soda and cooking soda. Sieve them all together into the mixing bowl which has butter and sugar. Add the eggs (both white and yellow), add vanilla extract and milk.

Mix the cake using the electric hand mixer; this quantity of cake is huge hence use of the electric mixer is inevitable. Mix well, till all the ingredients have blended well and have no lumps.

Bake the cake:

Pre-heat the oven at 210 Degrees. Rub the baking tray with some oil or butter so that it’s easy to release the cake after baking. Line the baking tray with the butter paper, neatly cut to its measurements. The fat you have rubbed to the tray will help hold the butter paper intact to the tray. Pour the cake batter into the tray, leaving at least 1inch space for the cake to rise while baking.  

Once the oven is pre-heated, place the tray in the oven. Don’t let the temperature in the oven decrease else your cake will not cook in time mentioned above.

Let the cake bake in 210 degrees and don’t open the door of the oven, else the cake will sink in the centre. (This actually happened with my cakeL)

Once the cake has cooked for 100 mins, take a long thin skewer and poke in the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, that means the cake is cooked. If not, cook the cake for another 10 mins.  Once the cake is cooked, it must rest for a while outside the oven so that it can cool. This step is very important. For the cake to cool down without drying it, take a aluminium foil and cover the cake gently, so that steam moistens the cake in the process of cooling down.

You may have some left over batter, which you can make some muffins for kids later. Just mix some choc chips, pour the batter in a muffin tin and bake for 10 mins in a pre-heated oven @ 210 degrees.  You have just learned how to woo your children into doing their homework!

Preparing the Ganache:

Take a heavy bottom saucepan and boil the cream. Ensure not to burn the cream. Chop the dark chocolate well, so that it melts quickly in the cream. Once the cream comes to a boil, remove from flame and add the dark chocolate. Stir till the chocolate has melted completely in the cream. Let the Ganache cool down before using it. BUT do not refrigerate it; it will become hard and difficult to use.

Layering the cake:

Once the cake has cooled down, it’s time to cut into layers. Remove the foil; invert the cake on a cake stand. (Any deep tray can be used as a stand when inverted).  Remove the butter paper from bottom and sides of the cake.

How to cut the cake? I found a video of this procedure on YouTube that can be helpful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHyGSrCm8c8

If you want to avoid this procedure just bake the layers separately. Divide the batter into half and bake them separately. Also make sure you bake each layer for 35-45mins only.

Remove the top half by pushing a thin plate in between both the layers and keep aside to cool. Now pour the sugar syrup on both the layers so that the cake can become moist. Don’t pour too much else the cake will become soggy.

Pour the Ganache on the bottom layer of the cake. Place the top layer on the Ganache topped bottom layer and pour the Ganache over the top layer.  Cover the cake well with the Ganache. Now the cake is ready; you can decorate it with anything you like. Cherries, Gems, wafers will be most easily available to deck it up quickly for a child’s Birthday cake. I like it plain and simple!

The remaining Ganache can be used to pour over the cake like hot fudge if eating with ice cream.

Reality check:

• Cost effective, if you have to serve cake at a 30-40 people gathering!  It will cost you half of what you will spend for a bakery made cake.
• Trust me, even if you are baking this recipe this for the first time, it will not go wrong. People will think you are an expert baker! But please follow the recipe correctly.
• The coffee will give a rich colour and add more flavour to the cocoa powder. People who don’t like coffee will not recognise the flavour; so just go ahead and use it.  
• As mentioned above, you can make lesser or higher quantities by simply dividing or multiplying the quality mentioned. For example; to make 1 kg cake divide by 2 and for ½ kg cake divide by 4.
• Left over batter can be kept in the refrigerator, for up to 18 hours.
• If you refrigerate the cake, it will become hard. Microwave it for 10-15 seconds before serving or leave it out in a warm place for some time for it to come to room temperature by itself.